Gingerbread Santa Hats

Festive, cute, bite-sized, and most importantly quick, these are a real Christmas star to serve. 

Empty your ingredients for a basic sponge into a bowl.
If you don't have a go-to sponge recipe use 150g (6oz) self-raising flour, 150g caster sugar, 150g butter and 2 eggs. 

Add to that a heaped tablespoon of ginger & a (little less) heaped tablespoon of mixed spice, cinnamon & a grating of nutmeg. 

Then however many eggs your sponge recipe requires. I used one egg, but if you're following the 6oz-6oz-6oz recipe then you need 2 eggs & a splash of milk. 

Whisk/Beat/Stir the cake batter together. 

And bake! 

Whilst they cool, you want to make Santa's hats...
Chop the stalks off a handful of strawberries and whip up half a tub (about 150ml) of double cream & add 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla essence. 

Grab a circular cookie cutter or improvise (mine broke half way through cutting and I ended up using a metal napkin holder!) 

In the centre of each cake bite, pipe a small circle of cream then stick a strawberry on top. 
Pipe around the edges and delicately dollop a dab of cream to complete the hat.

See, told you it was quick & easy. 
Happy Christmas Eve Eve!! (this exists right?)  

The Spongiest Sponge

This is simply the spongiest sponge cake recipe I know. 

It's light & fluffy & really cakey.  

I had a couple of left over mini tubs of cream from the week of Wimbledon & decided a Victoria sponge would go down a treat. 

My fellow hungry-cake-loving-sun-lovers confirmed I wasn't wrong. 

You'll need:

200g self raising flour

200g caster sugar

200g unsalted butter

4 eggs

1tsp vanilla essence 

And for a Vic-y sponge you'll need double cream & strawberry or raspberry jam. Or if you're making a chocolate sponge you'll need cocoa powder.

Start by creaming together the vanilla, butter & sugar. Oh, and turn the oven on to 190°C & grease the cake tins. 

Crack the eggs in one by one & combine. Then fold in the flour.

Divide the mixture between the cake tins & bake for 20 minutes/ until a skewer comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. 

Slap on whatever you like really. Or keep it classic with jam & cream.

Messy, cream overload. We overheated in the sun & over ate on the cake.

The Coffee Shop On The Corner

One of my favourite coffee, cake-y, tea places in Brighton. 

Honeyed Banana & Rasin Cake

I'm forever baking with bananas. In fact, in this household we get through bunches every week. 

Occasionally a newer, sparkly-er, green-y bunch will swam its way onto the countertop and the old bunch will sit there lifelessly & go brown, until someone (usually me) bungs them into the freezer & thinks I gotta bake them up.  

I could have baked my 'nana bread but I wanted something sweeter...

You'll need: 

3 very ripe bananas (the darker the sweeter)
175g butter, softened
175g self raising flour
175g caster sugar (or you could use half muscovado for a richer flavour) 
2 eggs
100g rasins 
1 tsp vanilla extract or paste 
2 tbsp honey 

All you gotta do is... 
Preheat the oven to 170°C & line a loaf tin with baking parchment.
Beat the butter and sugar together in a bowl until it's all combined & then slowly crack your eggs in one by one. Add the flour and fold through.  

Chop up your buh-nananas. Keep 'em chunky if you like them chunky or mash them up if you want a smoother texture. Add them to the cake mixture. 

Carefully fold in the vanilla extract and raisins. 
Spoon the mixture into your prepared loaf tin & bake for an 1hr or so. 

Check regularly. If the top is browning too quickly place some tin foil over the top. 

And there you go. This is how banana cake should be - sweet, fruity, warm, moist. I literally could eat it at every meal of the day. But that's another story. 

(July The 4th) Lemon Cupcakes

If you're a Brit or American you'll have noticed there's a lot of red, white & blue around. So I thought these cupcakes were appropriate: 

Wimbledon excitement is building as we enter the second week - what an extraordinary first week for tennis fans!  
And across the pond July the 4th is just around the corner. C is half American so I half heartily said these were to celebrate his heritage. Of course, for me, it was just an excuse to bake & eat cupcakes!  

You'll need: 
250g butter
250g caster sugar
3 eggs, beaten
250g self-raising flour
Zest & juice of 2 lemons    

And for the buttercream:
140g butter
280g icing sugar   

Heat the oven to 160°C/140°C fan & line a muffin tin with 12 cases. 
Put the butter, sugar, eggs, flour, zest of 2 lemons and juice from 1 lemon into a bowl and whisk with an electric whisk. 

Whisk until your cake mixture is just combined - don't over whisk. Divide between the muffin cases then bake for 30 minutes, until a skewer poked in comes out clean.

Transfer to a cooling rack. See? Easaay! 

Cream the butter & icing sugar together, add about a tablespoon of lemon juice to loosen it & add flavour. Leave the cupcakes to cool completely and pipe the buttercream on. 

Sprinkle red, white & blue things on top!

Eat them watching Wimbledon, with a Pimm's in hand, punnet of strawberries to your side. 

American friends: eat them watching fireworks, after a BBQ worthy of your British friends envy, with a Pabst in hand. 

Tea + Cake + More Tea

Because that's what makes a good afternoon: plenty of cake, plenty of tea (preferable from slightly eccentric horse-y teapots). 

Carrot cake and pistachio & orange cake are one of our five-a-day, right!? 

If you fancy horse-ing around here (sorry, couldn't resist!) then make sure you check out the tea room's claim to fame, their signed London 2012 Olympics photo book, and remember to browse their quirky interiors, cards and wrapping papers on sale too. 

Carrot Cupcakes

This is an easy peasy cupcake recipe that I use over and over again and always get great results with. It should make about 12 cupcakes. 

I promise you they'll turn out beautifully moist and they'll never be dry (hence no need for icing). Ideal for mid-afternoon munchies washed down with a giant pot of tea. Or grab one for a mornin' gorge (obviously with all that veggie/fruit influence it means they're practically good for you...maybe!? Okay... you got me, maybe not...they're a lot yummier than granola though!) 

You'll need: 

• 150g carrots, peeled
• 70g rasins
• 175g self-rasing flour, sifted
• 150g light muscovado sugar
• 3 medium eggs
• 100ml sunflower oil
• grated zest of 1 orange
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate soda
• 1 tsp ground mixed spice
• 75ml buttermilk 

1. Heat the oven to 170°C and line your muffin tin with cases. Coarsely grate the carrots into a large bowl. 

2. Then add to the bowl the raisins, flour, bicarbonate of soda, light muscovado sugar, orange zest and mixed spice.

3. Put the eggs, oil and buttermilk into a jug and lightly whisk. If you can't find buttermilk in the shop use this link and make a substitute (easy I promise)! 

4. Pour the egg mixture into the flour bowl and stir until combined. Divide the mixture into the paper cases. 

5. Bake for 20 mins or until a skewer comes out clean. Cool in the tin for 5 mins then leave to cool. Maybe eat the ugly one...just to make sure they're not poisonous or anything...