Intensely Chocolate and Peanut Butter Cupcakes

My best friend recently celebrated his 18th birthday and I came up with this recipe for these Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes. Having read quite a few cookbooks in my time, most peanut butter recipes always seem to end up using 2 jars of peanut butter and whilst it tastes brilliant, it can be quite rich…

Cheesy Sausage Rolls

Inspired by my travels to Hong Kong in the summer, I found a recipe to make these Sausage Buns, which are incredibly popular over there and can be found in most of the bakeries on the street and in the shopping centres. The dough itself is enriched with egg, milk and butter as well as…

My Thoughts on GBBO Final 2015

Nadiya Hussein is your Bake Off champion for 2015! She might have come last in the first technical and first in the last technical but you cannot doubt the huge amount of talent Nadiya had amongst the many facial contortions that have been gif’d to hell and back. I am very happy, not only did…

Ultimate Lemon Drizzle Traybake

I have a lot of favourite cakes but my Ultimate Lemon Drizzle Cake has to be up in the top 5. A sweet and sticky lemon sponge with a crunchy sugary topping, it is an absolute classic! This recipe is slightly revamped and has been tested 4 times and it’s come out perfect every single…

Behind the Scenes at ‘An Extra Slice’

I was lucky enough to attend the filming of The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice with some members of the Sunday Baking Club for Week 8, Patisserie Week. You can find my review of that week by clicking here. The date is Friday 11th September and the theme for Week 8 has been…

My Thoughts on Patisserie Week

What do you get if you have a drunken nun with coffee and cream horns? No not The Vicar of Dibley, it’s Patisserie Week of Bake Off and the week that saw Paul leave the tent. Not the judge (although we do wish that was the case sometimes) but Paul the baker. The Signature was…

My Thoughts on Victorian Week

This week the tent went back in time to the Victorian era and was the week that my favourite, Mat, had to leave the tent (my support has now shifted to Nadiya!) and the week that Tamal was finally crowned Star Baker; I wonder if he managed to wear Ian’s ladyfinger crown? The Signature was…

Pizza Scrolls

There’s a debate when it comes to pizza; which is the ultimate pizza, thin crust or thick crust? If you love pizza so much that you can’t decide which is better, I think you should definitely try my Pizza Scrolls. Instead of using a yeasted dough for these Pizza Scrolls, I switched it up and…

GBBO Dessert Week Challenge 4: Vanilla Cheesecake

I love cheesecake. There’s something about the combination of a buttery biscuit base and a sweet creamy filling that works every single time. This recipe is a recipe which I’ve used ever since I first made it and I’d like to feel that I’ve perfected it. Now the challenge on Bake Off is making a…

Banana and Dark Chocolate Chunk Loaf Cake

Take those blackened overripe bananas and make this delicious Banana and Chocolate Chunk Loaf. Banana cakes are so simple to make and everyone seems to love them. They make use of those bananas you didn’t think could be eaten and are a great way to get your children in the kitchen. Whilst I’ve used chocolate…

My Thoughts on Bread Week

Bread Week was the best in Bake Off history; better than 8-strand plait in Series Three and even better than Paul the Psychic Octopus tribute loaf in Series Four. This week had one of the best Signatures by the cast and the single most impressive showstopper EVER. Let’s start with the (for me) controversial Signature…

GBBO Bread Week Challenge 3: Quick Chocolate Dough-Knots

The quick bread challenge is a fun one and I should expect it may encourage many at home to try their hand at bread making. The first thing I thought about was soda bread but I wanted to try something different, a sweet bread. I wracked my brain and came up with these Quick Chocolate…

GBBO Biscuit Week Challenge 2: Chocolate and Nut Biscotti

Biscotti are these dry twice-baked Italian biscuits, in fact the name itself originates from a word meaning “twice cooked/baked”. You’ll often see biscotti in coffee shops alongside an espresso or even as a dessert with vin santo, a Tuscan fortified wine. Some recipes for biscotti will make a very firm dough but this recipe is…

White Chocolate Crumble Cake

This delectable cake would be fit for any afternoon tea. My White Chocolate Crumble Cake composes of a crumbly and delicate white chocolate cake with an equally buttery crumble topping. This cake, despite containing white chocolate, is not sweet and I serve it with some Chantilly cream for that extra moisture as it is very…