Lemon Drizzle Loaf //

Is there anything better on a summer afternoon than cracking out the teapot and enjoying a spot of afternoon tea and a bit of cake in the sunshine? I didn't think so. This particular loaf was enjoyed with the boyf on a delightful tea-for-two teaset I bought in Camden two weeks ago.

Ingredients:

175g butter, softened
175g caster sugar
Pinch of salt
Finely grated zest of two lemons, unwaxed
Juice of 1 lemon
2 eggs
75ml milk
175g self raising flour, sieved

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven at 170c/Gas mark 3. Butter a 1lb loaf tin and line with baking paper.

2. Beat the butter, sugar  and salt together until light and fluffy. Add the lemon zest and mix until fully incorporated. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition, then add the milk and lemon juice. Sift the flour into the mixture and combine.

3. Pour the mixture into you prepared tin and bake for 40 - 45 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.

4. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then remove from the tin and leave to cool completely.

5. To make the glaze, gently heat 100g of caster sugar and juice of 1 lemon in a small pan until all the sugar is dissolved and the mixture goes thick and syrupy (test by seeing how quickly it rolls of the back of your wooden spoon - slower is better!) Don't allow to boil.

6. Prick all over the top of the loaf cake with a skewer or small knife. Place the load on a wire rack over a plate or bowl, then gently pour the glaze all over, trying to get it into the holes. This will enrich the loaf from the inside and make it lovely and moist.

And we're ready to serve! Enjoy with a lovely Earl Grey in the sunshine.

Rich Chocolate Torte //

If there's one thing you've probably noticed about my blog at this point, it's that I'm rather partial to chocolate. Really. I love it. I think I might be 80% cocoa solids myself I eat it so much. God I want some chocolate... anyway. This delightful torte is from Will Torrent's lovely book, 'Patisserie At Home' which I bought a few months ago. I've not yet tackled some of the more complex recipes but this one is delightfully simple, and bound to impress anyone you present it to. Please bear in mind that this recipe requires a reasonable amount of chilling, so I'd recommend making it the day before it's required.

Ingredients:

Pâte sablée (Sweet Pastry)

200g butter

100g icing sugar, sieved

pinch of salt

1 vanilla bean/vanilla bean paste

2 eggs, lightly beaten

250g plain flour, sieved

Ganache Filling:
150ml whipping cream
2 tablespoons of  butter
pinch of salt
100g milk chocolate, chopped
175g dark chocolate, chopped

Method:
1. Beat the butter, sugar and salt together until pale and well combined. Split the vanilla bean lengthways and scrape out the seeds, or if you have paste, put in about 1/2 teaspoon of paste into the mix and combine.

2. Whilst mixing, add the eggs one at a time until combined. Gently mix the flour in, but do not overwork or the dough will become tough. Stop once combined.

3. Bring together as a ball, wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, overnight if possible.

4. Once well chilled, remove from fridge and roll out to the size of your tart tin (approx 24cm wide is ideal). Loosely wrap around the rolling pin and drape over the tin, then gently press into the folds until all covered. Trim off any edges, leaving an overhang, as the pastry will shrink slightly in the oven.

5. Heat oven to 180c/Gas Mark 4. Line the bottom of the pastry case with baking paper, and fill with baking beans. Bake blind for 15-20 minutes. Lower the temperature to 160c/Gas Mark 3. Remove the baking beans and paper, and return to the oven for another 5 - 10 minutes, til the pastry starts turning golden. Then remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.

6. Whilst your pie crust is cooling, melt the cream, butter and salt together in a pan. Once at boiling point, turn off the heat and add the chocolate. Using a spatula, stir in continuous motion in small circles until the chocolate has started to melt, then in larger circles until all the chocolate and melted. This mixture is called ganache, and it's delicious!

7. Pour your ganache into the tart case straight away, smooth over the top chill for several hours, until set. Once set, scatter with chocolate curls (I used a potato peeler on a bar of milk chocolate) and serve! .

Indulgent Chocolate Cake //

I'm making my sisters wedding cake this year (end of August, eep) and as well as a tiered wedding cake she also wants a chocolate heart shaped cake, so I'm on a mission to find the best darn chocolate cake possible before August!

This was a candidate, as it sounded soooo amazing. It scores pretty highly but I've got a few more recipes up my sleeve before then... tehehe. This one is adapted from book Paris Pastry Club by Fanny Zanotti, who also runs a gorgeous blog called Like A Strawberry Milk. It's very rich, containing lots of chocolate and cream. It's a generous mixture, I got a cake and a small loaf tin out of it, so make sure you have a spare receptacle handy! The baked cake was quite crumbley when cooled, so be careful when handling. It's so rich, it requires no frosting.

Ingredients:

200g plain flour, sieved

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

50g cocoa powder

275g caster sugar

pinch of salt

175g butter

2 eggs

175g 70% dark chocolate, melted

80g double cream

125g boiling water

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 170c. Butter a 1 litre loaf tin or 24cm cake tin and line with baking parchment, leaving a 2cm collar above the rim.

2. Mix all the ingredients together (except the boiling water) in a bowl until you have a smooth mixture. Slowly incorporate the boiling water, then pour the batter into your tin/s.

3. Bake for approximately 50 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Leave in the tin for a while to cool, then turn out onto a wire rack.

4. When cold, grate dark chocolate over the top, or dust with icing sugar, and serve with ice cream or cream!

Last weekend I went to Manchester and York, with a little trip on the Hogwarts Express! It was part of Neil's birthday present, as he loves steam trains and I love Harry Potter! It was a most excellent trip and we had a lovely, yet damp, day in York!

Paddling goslings.

York Minister towering above the streets.

We stopped for tea and cake at a lovely little cafe called Me & Mrs Fisher, a tiny but perfectly formed cafe just outside the city walls. They run great sounding craft nights, as well as serve their selection of lovelty cakes. Their website with details can be found here!

Me & Mrs Fisher

In between epic baking and jaunts in the rain, the weather has been nice for a couple of days! I've taken Captain out for some nice walks - he just loves walking through the long grass! He also likes a roll in the grass to cool down! Crossing my fingers for more nice weather this week.

Next week I'm going to London to see some of my best friends and also my favourite band - The Used! Excited is not the word, I've not seen them for over 2 years. Woohoo!

Meringues //

This week I made Neil & myself creme brulee, which are yummy little vanilla-custard desserts with burnt sugar on top (I always use this recipe here when I make them). The recipe required 6 egg yolks, but not the whites... so this seemed a great opportunity to try making meringues! Unfortunately as I wasn't planning to make them, I didn't have any flavours or anything exciting to put in them, so these are just decorated with pink colour gel.

I used the Meringue Girls recipe for this, and spent a good while drooling all over the gorgeous recipes in their book - definitely need to try some of those out soon! It's very easy to make, only 2 ingredients. It can be done by hand but it's much easier if you have a food mixer with a balloon whisk.

Ingredients:

150g free range egg whites (about 5 eggs)

300g caster sugar

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 200c/gas mark 6. Line a baking tray with baking paper.

2. Pour caster sugar onto the baking tray and pop in the oven for about 5 minutes, until the edges have just started to melt.

3. Meanwhile, weigh your egg whites in (ideally) a glass bowl, free from any grease, as grease stops the whites obtaining the air needed to make lovely meringues. Whisk slowly to start with to create stabilising bubbles, then slowly increase speed until the whites form stiff peaks (which is when you can hold them over your head without them dropping ;)

4. Remove sugar from the oven, and turn your oven down to 100c. Whilst whisking, add the hot sugar one tablespoonful at a time, ensuring it remains stiff and has been well combined. Once all sugar is in, keep whisking for another few minutes, until the mixture no longer feels gritty, and has a lovely smooth shine to it.

5. With a pastry brush paint stripes of food colouring onto the inside of your piping bag. Carefully spoon your mixture into the bag, trying not to allow any air bubbles. Once you're ready, cut off the bottom 2cm of the bag and pipe small whirls, about the size of a 50p, onto the baking sheet.

6. Put into the oven and bake for about 45 minutes. They are done when they come off the baking sheet with ease (don't force them or they'll break!) Take out and leave to cool on a wire rack. Munch several with a lovely cuppa. Mmhmm!

This week I've been practicing making stacked Victoria Sponges for my sisters wedding cake (!) the first attempt went very well, she's given me some feedback on how she wants it (even bigger! eek!) so I'll be trying that again this we 

Chocolate & Coffee Madeleines //

The weather has been so beautiful recently! I'm not a huge hot weather person but I do appreciate a lovely sunny day. Last Saturday I drove to Nottingham to visit some of my best friends, especially my bestest friend Rachel, whose birthday it was last week! She's the biggest coffee fan I know so I knew she'd love these madeleines as part of her present. They were so rich and delicious, I had to have a sneaky couple warm from the oven.

Ingredients:

125g butter

100 icing sugar

30g ground almonds

1.5 tbsp cocoa

pinch of salt

1.5 tbsp instant coffee

3 large egg whites
2 tsp honey
1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

1. Put the butter in a small saucepan and heat until it turns golden brown (aka beurre noisette aka nut coloured!) When it's a lovely golden brown colour it's ready. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.

2. Sift the sugar, ground almonds, cocoa and salt together in a mixing bowl. In a separate bowl whisk the egg whites, honey, coffee granules and vanilla extract. Once combined, add the sugar/ground almond mix. Once combined again, add the cooled beurre noisette.

3. Cover the bowl with clingfilm and place in the fridge for 30 - 40 minutes, to let the mixture rest. Pre-heat the oven to 170c/Gas Mark 3.

4. Pipe or spoon your mixture into your madeleine tray. Try not to overfill, an approximate tablespoon is a good measure for my pan. Refrigerate again for 20 minutes.

5. Put in the oven for 10 - 15 minutes, until the madeleines have filled the moulds and are firm to the touch. Allow to partly cool in the tray then turn out onto a wire rack and allow to cool completely.

For an extra touch of decadence, you could half-dip your madeleines in melted chocolate!

Butterscotch Pecan Cheesecake //

Who doesn't love a good cheesecake?! I've got to admit, I'd never made cheesecake before, and I was a little worried as I wasn't sure I liked pecans... or butterscotch... but it was yummy! I didn't manage to get a photo of the whole thing as it collapsed when I first sliced it. I hadn't chilled it long enough, and it needs a looooong time to chill, at least overnight, so bear that in mind if you try it yourself.

Adapted from 'Hummingbird Bakery: Cake Days'.

Ingredients:

Biscuit Base:

220g digestive biscuits

100g unsalted butter, melted

2 tbsp Golden Syrup

Cheesecake:

700g full-fat cream cheese (marscapone, Philadelphia)

120g caster sugar

1tsp vanilla extract

3 large eggs

80g pecans, chopped, plus more to decorate

Butterscotch Glaze:

60g unsalted butter

45g soft light brown sugar

2tbsp whole milk

120g icing sugar

1tsp vanilla extract

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 160c, gas mark 3.

2. Line your 20cm wide tin with baking paper, then crush/blitz your digestive biscuits into fine breadcrumbs. Add the melted butter and syrup and combine. Push into the tin and refrigerate for 20 - 30 mins.

3. Mix cream cheese, sugar and vanilla extract until smooth either by hand or with a food mixer. Add the eggs one at a time and combine. Stir in the chopped pecans, then pour over the biscuit base.

4. The cake needs to be baked in a bain marie. Fill a roasting tin with approx 5mm of water. Wrap the base of the cake tin thoroughly in tin foil and place in the roasting pan, then place that in the oven, and bake for 35 - 45 minutes, until cake is light golden brown, firm to the touch with a very slight wobble to it.

5. Remove from the oven and allow to cool at room temperature, then refrigerate for 3-4 hours.

6. Once the cheesecake is chilled we can make the butterscotch glaze. Put the butter, sugar and milk in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Once boiling, remove from the heat and stir in the icing sugar and vanilla extract, and whisk until smooth.

7. Allow to cool slightly then pour over cheesecake and decorate with halved pecans. The butterscotch sets very quickly so be fast! Once finished pop back in the fridge for as long as possible, I strongly recommend overnight as 6+ hours chilling wasn't enough for my cake and it flopped!

This cheesecake was super decadent, the butterscotch was so yummy~

This week I've mostly been on holiday with my lovely boyfriend, Neil. We spent 2 nights in Brighton, one in London, saw lots of flea markets, ate lots of food, and caught up with some good friends. I absolutely love Brighton, it's somewhere I could really see myself living. Not only is it an awesome, cosmopolitan, independent business haven, full of cafes and vintage shops, but it's also by the sea! So perfect!

Brunch @ Bill's - so good.

The Booth Natural History Museum - smiling rhino!

The Booth Natural History Museum - butterflies!

The beautiful west pier in the moonlight.

Brighton Pavilion - so fascinating.

Decor at our hotel - a bit OTT.

Deckchairs and the sea - bliss.

We stayed at the fabulous Hotel Pelirocco, which is on Regency Square overlooking the West Pier. Our room was the Pin-Up's Parlour, which was all in homage to Diana Dors, the 'British Marilyn Monroe'. On our day in London we had breakfast at the Spitalfield's Breakfast Club (which was awesooome, so good) and then went for a mooch around the flea market which is held on a Thursday. I got a fantastic glass sugar bowl with little in-built tongs (little video on my Instagram) which I've been looking for for ages, since I used to have one and I sold it! Then we went to the Viking exhibition at the British Museum, which was also super.

British Museum in London

It was a lovely trip, and I'm excited to go back sometime again soon! I've been baking some treats today for a special someone's birthday, so no spoilers, but they ware delicious so I'll be posting the recipe in a few days~

My Vintage Crockery Collection //

Something slightly different for you guys today! My dear friend Denni (who's just started her own blog over at Elderflower Press, give her a follow) was asking me about my teasets, where I got them, and wanted to see some photos. Now I've been collecting them for about 8 years now, so they're from a pretty diverse range of places, but I thought I'd do a little post about them, where they're from, some of my ~thrifting tips and so on!

I got this gorgeous set of teacups at Vintage Heaven on Columbia Road, London (which incidentally also has a fab cafe attatched) It's an absolute trove of vintage goodies, I think it's basically one woman's expensive collection which she's decided to trim down a bit. She had a lot of lovely stuff, it wasn't cheap but it also wasn't expensive. I'd really recommend going if you get a chance, Columbia Road on a Sunday is an absolute treat. It is only open on the weekends so factor that into your plans!

It's not just teacups I collect, but cute animals too!

Crown Clarence

Bilton Ware, Staffordshire

The 'Crinoline Lady'

You'll notice this lady on a LOT of vintage crockery once you start looking... I believe she's known as the crinoline lady! I have her in a pink and yellow frock, on different sets.

Paragon Ware

This is a dainty set I got from a charity shop somewhere years ago. Charity shops (thrift shops for any USA readers) are usually your best source of vintage china. Inexpensive and varied, I'm a bit obsessed with diving into charity shops on the off chance they might have some lovely bits hidden away! They're something you must be patient with, as it's totally luck of the draw what they might have. I find charity shops in small towns, or places with a high elderly population, are the best ones!

Tamsware

Okay I have to say I am besotted with this set! It's just so gorgeous, it's like a dolls tea set! But for people! Ughh I love it. I got this from a vintage/junk shop in Otley (one of my local excellent charity shop sources) for just £6. I want to start collecting these 'tea for two' sets as I love the idea of them, the tiny teapot just perfectly holds two cups of tea. I've taken another photo for scale as to how big it is:

So tiny! So cute!

I got this hollyhock printed one from a junk market in Todmorden (which runs on a Thursday) for a couple of pounds, some of the cups are slightly chipped but it was so beautiful I couldn't resist! Plus I thought the plates/working teacups may be handy one day if I do open the cafe~

This was another charity shop buy. I'd check your local car boot sale listings, they often have them in school fields, marketplaces etc (if you're in the UK you can check this site for information). I'd go to car boots every weekend if I didn't work on a Sunday! Most market towns will have a weekly flea/junk market.

I try avoid vintage shops just because they can get quite expensive, but I've picked up some lovely stuff for reasonable prices at vintage shops in the past so don't write them off. I think for me, it's the thrill of finding something, chancing upon something wonderful, that I enjoy, so vintage shops, Etsy and eBay are a bit easy (though fantastic sources for all kinds of amazing stuff!)

Vintage deer collection.

I also have a small collection of vintage deer that I've been working on for a few years now. I particularly like very kitsch, big eyed, eyelashed, slightly creepy looking ones (similar to the one middle-front-left) which I'll be looking out for next week in Brighton! I actually got a new one earlier this week who I looove, pics on my Instagram (link above).

So in short: charity shops, car boot sales and flea markets are the best places to source vintage china and other goodies. I'm super happy to try recommend places in certain cities around the UK (and a few abroad) if anyone wants, and if you have any great tips for me I'd love to hear them!