Twas the week before Easter...

Lots to show you today, from my recent deliveries to The Coffee Tree. This is a Chocolate & Salted Caramel Cake....

Dark, soft chocolate cake with milk chocolate whipped frosting in the middle & on top...drizzled with sea salted caramel....it's one of those cakes that I have to get out of the house quickly....as I'm in danger of burying my face in it otherwise!

I think it's the smooth silkiness of the frosting, the deep chocolate flavour and the crunch of the salt flakes with the ultra sweet caramel....mmmmmmm!

Toasted Coconut Cake....another beautifully fragranced offering to the Gateau Gods!

We don't get the lovely moist flaked coconut that's available in the US & Australia, so have to make do with sort of shavings that I toast myself...

Lemon Passionfruit Muffins went down a treat....all gone in 2 hours!

The actual muffins were just very lemony  quite plain...with a very zingy fruity fresh passionfruit glaze which I put on while they were still warm...

And here are two trays of my famous Cranberry Carmelita Bars. Difficult to show you because I couldn't cut into them to photograph...but imagine an oaty, buttery, crunchy top & bottom with dried cranberries, chocolate chips & caramel sauce in the middle...again, very popular (I make variations on them too...one with walnuts replacing the cranberries, which I prefer...)
So that's a little selection. There will be lots of egg-themed delights this week of course....so watch this space!

Happy Monday xo

A happy accident...

Today is such a gorgeous, warm sunny day...hardly like early April at all. If it weren't for the lack of leaves on some of the trees, I'd be convinced it was late May. To celebrate I made this Sunshine Orange Drizzle Cake for the Coffee Tree this morning. Flavoured with orange zest, soaked in orange syrup while still warm and then finsihed with an orange sugar glaze. When I took the lid off the delivery box we all 'aahhed' as we breathed in the smell!

Sometimes, a mistake can turn into something unexpectedly good. So it was when I created these Pecan Caramel Custard Bars...

I was going to make something completely different, and began to make my favourite caramel sauce. I boiled the sugar and water, and when I had a beautiful burnished brown colour & that unmistakeable toffee smell, I added double cream. But in my enthusiasm, I added far too much! I was left with a thick, creamy caramel custard that would never have done for what I'd intended...but of course, i couldn't waste it! I'd already made a shortbread base, so I toasted some pecan nuts I had....added some egg yolks to the custard ...added the nuts and poured it over the cooked shortbread before baking it for around half an hour at a low temperature. It turned out perfectly...smooth and rich and the caramel went perfectly with the pecans.

The recipe is now going in my book! You'll know the story behind it ...it proves that sometimes it can be good to make mistakes!

Have a great day xoxo

A few delights...

My weeks seem to be getting busier and busier...can you believe it's almost March already? Unbelievable to me. It's time to change the tone of my baking a little...not too Spring-like yet, but moving away from the very comforting, heavier cakes...slowly, slowly.
Yesterday, I made a tray of Cardamom Orange Cake with a cream cheese frosting...

Cardamom is a beautiful, warm and underused spice which goes perfectly with fresh orange. This smelt gorgeous.

Next, an Espresso Walnut Cake with Vanilla frosting...I replaced quite a proportion of the flour with ground walnuts to lighten and moisten the mixture and to make sure that there was a really good walnut flavour. Coffee is a natural partner...I used espresso, to make it slightly darker and more sophisticated than my usual Coffee & Walnut Cake. No filling in this one either...just the vanilla buttercream on top, with a sprinkle of espresso and broken walnuts to finish...
Today, as it's half-term here, I wanted a child pleaser for the Coffee Tree. I came up with this creation...

Caramel Peanut Shortbread. Another one that I had to make and deliver VERY quickly before I devoured it! Crisp, buttery polenta shortbread....caramel & peanut butter filling, topped with roasted salty peanuts and, finally, dark chocolate ganache....

oh I'm so glad that it's not still here!

Hoping your Thursday is as lovely as mine...and that you make time for a treat somewhere, somehow xo

.

Just words..

Good morning and welcome to Saturday! I'm in London this morning, where it's grey, overcast...but thankfully dry and even warm by recent standards (about 10c) which makes such a difference...the birds sing and everything is a little less....Winter! That's the only word!

I have no pictures for today's post. Because I left for the weekend yesterday afternoon, I made my Coffee Tree delivery for today then...and wouldn't you know it, the battery went on my camera. SO annoying because I think pictures are a necessity. BUT I didn't want to not tell you what I baked, so here I am and hope you will forgive me...we are taking lots of interesting photos today to make up for it!

Firstly, I had a special request to make more of the Mini Victoria Sponges from earlier in the week. They sold so well and everyone who tried one loved it...so I made another 10 of those (and you all know what they looked like anyway!)

Then, I made a tray of Double Mango Cake. This is a beautiful, sunny coloured dessert...it also contained ginger, cinnamon and a little allspice. I called it 'double mango' because it was made with fresh and dried fruit. Earlier this week, a very thoughtful friend gave me a present from his recent trip to Thailand of some wonderful, soft & fragrant dried mango. While we could eat our way through the whole box quite easily, I thought it would be interesting to add some to this cake and see how it turned out. It looked and smelled good...very good....so I'll await the feedback on Monday!

Lastly, I made a big, tall, Caramel Cake. Two layers of sponge (I used organic dark muscovado sugar to give a butterscotch-y flavour and extra softness to it...) filled and topped with vanilla buttercream frosting. I also made some burnt caramel sauce which I cooled and spread on the bottom layer before the frosting, and then drizzled over the top of the cake to finish with a Jackson Pollock-esque flourish!

I so wish you could see it - but I hope that you can close your eyes and imagine. I'd like to cut you a slice right now. Maybe one day?!

Have a wonderful Saturday....xo