Christmas in Brno

There are few things I truly love about London. However, the close proximity to major airports served by budget airlines is one of them. I can hop on an EasyBus (the cheap and terrifying bus transfer) and onto a Ryanair or Wizz Air flight and get away for the weekend for under £50 return and I like...

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Chocolate Truffles - Christmas Hamper

This year I've made a few Christmas hampers to give as gifts. It isn't a cost-saving exercise, trust me - high quality ingredients don't come cheap! Instead it was to give something thoughtful and consumable that wouldn't clutter the home. One of the items I included in the hamper was chocolate truffles....

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The Cake is NOT a Lie

Recently it was a friend's 21st birthday. She's into her gaming and I'm not so it took a bit of searching online before I found the perfect cake; the portal cake! Apparently this is a famous cake from the game Portal which is promised as a reward but never delivered, hence "the cake is a lie". What...

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Stir up Sunday

This year I'm making gifts for some of our family. This isn't necessarily a cost-saving move, in fact the ingredients for a Christmas cake really mount up - especially with all the alcohol involved! Instead it is more to provide something that can be consumed and won't lie around collecting clutter...

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Sun-dried Tomato and Parmesan Biscuits

Now that the Great British Bake Off has finished Mary Berry & Paul Hollywood have released three episodes of "masterclasses" - where they show us how they'd have done the bakes. The first episode featured these sun-dried tomato and parmesan biscuits and I have to say the minute I heard "sun-dried...

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Genoise Layer Cake - Attempt 1: FAIL!

I've been meaning for a while to bake my way through all the types of sponge cake, meringue and pastry. I thought this would be a perfect way to test all the skills I've gained baking over the last decade or so. So today I finally got round to my first bake. The first type of cake I've decided to make...

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Iced Finger Buns

Iced fingers are a classic British treat and you'll always find them stocked in the high street bakery. Sometimes this soft bun will be filled with whipped cream and jam and other times there is just a drizzle of icing over the top either way it's a satisfying treat. This, again, is another Paul...

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Cheese and Bacon Oval Loaves

Bread is one of my favourite types of baking, in fact any yeast based bake is. Slightly inspired by the Great British Bake Off's bread week I turned to Paul Hollywood's 'How to Bake' book. With the weather being slightly grim a good comforting loaf was in order and there aren't many things more...

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Ooey Gooey Chocolate Fondant

I was lucky enough to be bought some Paul A Young chocolate by my Dad last week. It's rated as some of the best chocolate in the country so I wanted to do something pretty special with it. Really there was only one thing that I wanted; an ooey gooey chocolate fondant. Ingredients: 50g chocolate...

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