Back to baking: sweet potato chocolate cake

It’s been quite some time since I last posted here, and indeed, quite some time since I last baked. The past few months have been a bit of a blur; my relationship of almost six years came to an end, I moved house, and seem to have spent most of my spare time since organising my new flat and toasting to the next chapter of my life with my wonderful friends.

At times of stress or trauma, it seems natural to retreat to self-preservation mode, living day-to-day and focusing on the basics of feeding yourself, general life-admin (mainly consisting of desperate attempts to get through the bottomless pit of laundry without the aid of a tumble dryer and phonecalls to utility companies), and work.

But living like this does little to inspire creativity, happiness, or wellbeing. I’ve found myself craving a return to the more well-rounded me, and a big part of that is tied up with baking and writing; the great satisfaction of creating something from scratch. Whether a piece of prose, or a slice of cake – to create, share, and enjoy, I’ve realised, is fundamental to my happiness.

Today brings the birthday of a wonderful friend, Esther, who has helped to make the last few months a time of fun, friendship and endless wine-fuelled laughter. So, last night, I dusted off my apron, turned my music up to 11, and spent an hour or two singing away at full-volume (apologies to my new neighbours) and baking up a storm with a smile on my face. ‘I’m back’, I thought to myself.

Esther isn’t a fan of citrus cakes, which are almost a go to for me, so I went back to the failsafe choice of chocolate – with a twist. I’ve posted before about my love of Harry Eastwood’s Red Velvet Chocolate cake, which features imaginative and decadent cakes made with vegetables in place of fat, and this recipe is adapted from one of hers.

I will admit to having something of a love-affair with sweet potato; its versatility, ability to hold its own against even the strongest of flavours, and quiet and assuming starring role in even the most decadent of cakes make it a staple in my shopping bag. It makes the texture of this cake quite unique; moist, but not heavy, sweet, and yet earthy. Like gravity, you never really notice it’s there, but it holds everything together. Ok, maybe that’s a little gushy, but it’s a damn good cake!

Besides that, it’s almost virtuous; the lack of butter in the cake surely compensates for the calorific content of the chocolate buttercream, and its vegetable content is a surefire way to convince yourself that seconds (and thirds) aren’t much worse than eating that dicey-looking apple in your desk drawer.  

Sweet potato chocolate cake

Ingredients

• 200g sweet potato, finely grated. Squeeze most of the moisture out by wrapping it in a muslin cloth or kitchen roll.
• 230g plain flour (use rice flour to make this gluten free)
• 160g caster sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 3 tbsp cocoa powder
• 80g ground almonds
• 125ml buttermilk (I used natural yoghurt with a dash of milk instead)

For the chocolate frosting

• 200g icing sugar
• 65g unsalted butter
• 25g cocoa powder
• 25-30 ml milk
• Small bar of milk or dark chocolate to decorate (optional)

Method

1. Grate your sweet potato into a bowl on your scales – it won’t weigh the same at the end as in the beginning as you’ll have lost moisture, so factor this in when buying.
2. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees / gas mark 4 and grease and line two circular baking tins
3. Whisk the eggs and sugar together for a good 4 minutes until very pale and fluffy
4. Add in your sweet potato and whisk again until combined.
5. Add the dry ingredients – flour, baking power, bicarb, cocoa powder, ground almonds, and mix again.
6. Finally, add in your buttermilk or yoghurt and beat until well combined.
7. Bake in the centre of the oven for 30 minutes. The cake should be moist, but firm enough to the touch that you know it will hold.

For the frosting

1. While the cake is cooking, start on your frosting. Beat together the butter, sugar and cocoa powder with an electric whisk or in a mixer until combined to a dusty texture.
2. Slow down the beaters, then gradually add the milk until the frosting combines into a smooth texture.
3. Et voila! Wait until the cake is completely cooled, before spreading in between the two layers and on the top with a spatula or pallet knife. (Feel free to like the whisk beaters while you’re waiting for the cake to cool down – in fact, I highly recommend it).
4. Decorate the top with grated chocolate and/or chocolate shavings. To make chocolate shavings, use the edge of a sharp knife with the tip pointed out to the side. Pull the knife down the length of the chocolate bar (carefully) and you’ll be left with long, delicate shards of chocolate.

Don’t forget to share; it’d be criminal to keep this little number to yourself. Besides, the look on people’s faces when you tell them it’s a sweet potato cake is usually fairly entertaining…

Berry burst muffins

Muffins are the busy lady’s best friend. After checking back on my blog for a recipe I’d posted a while back, I saw I hadn’t blogged since April; truly scandalous!

I’ve only baked a handful of times and have felt hard pushed for timea. I’d like to say it was result of working flat out and having a strenuous work out/hobby regime, but I’d been lying through my teeth. It’s mainly through socialising WAY too much with my new(ish) work colleagues (all in the name of ‘bonding’), and getting back into reading big time.

But these muffins truly are quick as a flash- AND they generate hardly any washing up. One big bowl, a small saucepan and a wooden spoon are all you need, and the whole process takes no more than 45 minutes from start to finish. What a dream. Now, this batch turned out a little flat for me, but that’s cause I only added the one egg and lazily didn’t defrost my berries first, but the taste is just lovely. Right my wrongs and you’ll get a lovely rise.

And not ONLY are they super speedy; they’re full of fruity goodness. Berries (frozen, in true speedy style) apple and banana? Surely, but surely one of your five a day..?

So here they are. Ideal for a lunchbox or to take on a last-minute picnic. Just remember to take at least two each..

Berry burst muffins

Ingredients

200g plain flour
75g light muscovado sugar
75g caster sugar
75g butter, melted
2 eggs
2 bananas- ideally very ripe!
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarb
Two tbsp natural yoghurt
3 heaped tablespoons berries (I used frozen)
1 apple, peeled and coarsely grated

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees/gas mark 4. Line your muffin tin with cases.
2. Pop your butter in a saucepan and melt on a low heat. Meanwhile, mash your bananas in a large mixing bowl.
3. Mix in the eggs, yoghurt, sugar, grated apple and the melted butter, and combine.
4. Sift in the flour, bicarb and baking powder, and stir thoroughly.
5. Mix in your berries, and spoon into cases about 3/4 full.
6. Bake for around 18-20 minutes, until golden brown and a skewer comes out clean.

Earl Grey and Rose Water Bundt Cake

Just a few weeks ago, newspaper headlines declared we were in drought, and decried the start of a hose pipe ban. ‘But how will I clean my block paved drive way witouth my fully-loaded penis-esque Karscher pressure washer?!’ demanded middle-aged men with middle-aged spread.

Fear not, hose-wealders. As if by magic – or by the power of that lesser known phenomenon, Sod’s Law – at the very mention of a hose pipe ban, the mighty sky retaliated by rounding up a gang of the greyest, densest, meanest clouds around, and heartily encouraging them to piss down upon us all for the best part of ten days.

Now, I’m not particularly fond of pounding London’s uneven, puddle-laden pavements in (usually) porous shoes, wrestling with an umbrella determined to show off its jellyfish impression. But what I am fond of is having a perfect excuse to stay indoors, whack the heating up, and get in the kitchen – which is just what this rainy Sunday provided.

Now, don’t judge me, but I only tried Earl Grey tea for the first time a few months ago. (I KNOW). Now, I adore it; I have at least one every day at work and it always feels like a treat. It’s also perfect with a light and lovely piece of cake or a delicate biscuit (not that these are usually in abundance at work – for shame!).

Since my first taste, I’ve wanted to try Earl Grey in a cake, and since I had a bottle of rosewater that I was determined to bake with, too, I decided to bring them both together in a fancy floral experiment using my new bundt tin.

I am thrilled with the result; bundt tins make such a beautiful-looking cake- even before you do anything to the top! In my case, I decorated with my new favourite frosting (that’s a BIG deal, by the way): rose water glaze.

It’s just so gorgeous! I would describe the glaze as like a delicate, fancy version of a krispy kreme glaze – and since it was a bundt cake, I felt like I’d made myself a giant, classy krispy kreme. The best part about a bundt cake is that you use proportionally much less frosting because of the surface area, so it’s great if you don’t enjoy lots of sickly frosting – it’s probably less calories too..? A little like throwing deck chairs off the Titanic, I know, but god loves a trier…

Serves 12

Ingredients

• 225 butter
• 125 g caster sugar
• 100g light muscovado sugar
• 225g plain flour
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 tbsp essence of rose water
• 3-4 earl grey tea bags, brewed with 100ml water to form a strong solution
• 2 tbsp lemon yoghurt (plain will do w/a few drops of lemon juice)
• pinch of salt

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees (fan)/gas mark 4. Grease a bundt tin with butter.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together. Whisk in the eggs one by one, then add the yoghurt, rosewater and most of tea solution – saving a tablespoon or so for the glaze.
3. Sift and fold in the flour, baking powder, and saly until thoroughly combined.
4. Distribute evenly into the bundt tin, and smooth around the top with a spatula.
5. Bake in the middle of the oven for 25 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. NB – the colour on the side you will see in the oven will be lighter of the colour of the ‘top’ when it’s flipped, so don’t worry if it’s not golden brown!

For the rose water glaze

• 120g icing sugar
• 2 tbsp rose water
• few drops of the earl grey solution

1. Sift the icing sugar into a bowl
2. Add a the rose water and tea, and mix together thoroughly with a fork until you have a reasonably thick glaze.
3. Once the cake has cooled, use a tablespoon to drizzle the glaze over the cake in lines or criss-crosses to finish.
4. Serve with a smug smile as you show-off an effortlessly pretty cake!

PS – Do you like my rather sweet table cloth?I I picked up two tea towels reduced to £1.50 in paperchase and thought they were too lovely to wipe the plates with, et voila!

PPS – What other recipes do you find work with with a bundt tin? I’d love to use it more!

Lemon and poppy seed yoghurt muffins

So here we are; spring has sprung! The cherry blossoms are out, the daffodils are saluting the sunshine, and we’ve had the few heady days of sunshine that will undoubtedly be reffered to fondly in hindsight as  ‘summer 2012′.

For me, the spring breeze blows away the cobwebs of winter and draws in the light; light clothing, light colours,  light food, and fluffy-like-a-cloud light cakes.

Gone are my darkest cravings for deep, dark, decadent chocolate cakes (we’ll see how long that lasts) and in comes the wish for something of a more delicate persuasion.

Now I don’t need much excuse to bring out the citrus fruits – in this case, an insanely cheap load of lemons from a local market, and a fancy for a breakfast treat. These muffins are just ideal with a morning tea or coffee; they’re light, yet moist, and not too naughty on the calories either. With yoghurt and lemon in them, I daresay they’re one of your five a day (ahem). At least.

The great thing about these is that they’re so easy you could practically do them while you’re asleep – which is what I usually am for the first two waking hours of every day. Perfect!

Makes 16

Ingredients

• 260g flour
• 150g caster sugar
• 25g poppy seeds
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp bicarb
• 2 eggs
• 300g low fat natural yoghurt (full fat is fine too!)
• 100ml vegetable oil
• juice of 2 lemons, zest of one

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees/gas mark 6. Line muffin tins with baking cases.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, seeds, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda
3. In a separate bowl, combine the eggs, yoghurt, vegetable oil, zest and juice of the lemons.
4. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until thoroughly combined using an electric whisk or a wooden spoon (and a bit of elbow grease!)
5. Spoon into the muffin cases until only just over half full, and bake in the pre-heated oven for 18-20 minutes until golden and springy.

Triple-Layer Trilogy part 3: Brooklyn Blackout Cake

Well, well, well. It’s been almost three weeks since I posted the second part of this triology; probably the time it has taken me to finish the Steig Larsson trilogy in the two hours a day I merrily spend with my Kindle on my commute.

Time seems to move at a different speed in London to Bristol or Newcastle; time seems much more precious, and I seem to have become worse at making the most of it. I hope that will change (at least a little) when I get the iPad I pre-ordered last week.

This was a HUGE splurge for me; I can’t remember the last time I spent that much cash in one go, but as I got a little money from a relative recently, I felt like I deserved a treat . I’m particularly delighted that this treat one which means I can blog, read other wonderful blogs, and do all kinds of clever things from the comfort of my sofa. In short – hopefully we’ll be seeing more of each other!

Now – on to the most important part; the cake. This was made as a birthday cake for a joint let’s-all-crash-at-my-little-flat reunion and birthday celebration for two of my very good friends from university. For the first time in well over a year, we came together to drink too much booze, dance like we were 19 again to hopelessly cheesy music, and, importantly, eat.

I wanted to make an unashamedly calorific, insanely indulgent, enormous cake. Naturally, my first port of call was the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook, and a recipe I’d been eyeing up for a very long time – ever since I saw these two glorious words:

chocolate custard

Who can argue with chocolate custard used as frosting? Really, who?

The cake wasn’t the best chocolate cake I’ve made – I like my chocolate cakes to use real dark chocolate, rather than just cocoa powder, otherwise it just doesn’t pack the punch. But the chocolate custard. Oh, MAN.

It’s pretty much what I’d bathe in if I was Willy Wonka. Which is why it’s the only part of the recipe I’m blogging. It also sort of reminds me of a particular pudding I used to eat in primary school. Which I’m not sure is a good or bad thing. But either way, I loved it. I think it’d be amazing sandwiched between fluffy, thin chocolate biscuits, or macarons, piped into the centre of cupcakes, or, if you’re anything like me, eaten directly from the bowl. With a wooden spoon. Or your face.

Chocolate Custard

(Makes enough to cover two triple layer cakes. With plenty left for dinner.)

Ingredients

• 500g caster sugar
• 1 tbsp golden syrup
• 125g cocoa powder
• 200g cornflour
• 85g unsalted butter, cubed
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Method

1. Put the sugar, golden syrup, cocoa powder and 600ml water into a large saucepan and bring to the boil ovr a medium head, whisking as you go.
2. Mix the cornflour with 120-200ml water, whisking as you add it.
3. Whisk gradually nito the cocoa mixture in the pan over a medium high. Bring back to the boil, whisking constantly.
4. Cook, whisking all the time, for a few minutes until thick. Decant into a bowl, cover with clingfilm and chill until firm.

Triple-layer trilogy part 2: Coconut and Lime Cake

Following on from the Drizzled Lemon Curd Cake I made recently, the second installment in my triple-layer triology is this utterly charming, porcelain white beauty.

Coconut and lime are one of my most favourite combinations; whether in a cocktail, a thai curry, or these super-cute coconut and lime cupcakes, there’s something about the sharp zing of lime paired with the sweet, creamy flavour of coconut that makes it simply irresistible for me.

This cake is delicate (perhaps not in looks but in taste – my icing technique leaves a little to be desired and my tins are slightly different sizes!), yet it packs a punch; light and fluffy, sweet and smooth, yet sharp and tangy. It would be right at home at a tea party, or for little something different for a birthday party. Me? I made it to brighten up a freezing-cold Monday morning at work – and to introduce my new colleagues to my baking obsession. It certainly stepped up to the plate.

I smiled as my inbox pinged with compliments.

‘This cake is AMAZING!’

‘Our resident office bakers have some stiff competition!’

Those are the kind of e-mails I just LOVE to receive. Who wouldn’t? I love knowing I’ve brightened up someone’s Monday morning or made a perfect match for their afternoon cup of Earl Grey to help them beat the 3pm slump.

Yeah, yeah; so I should probably give them a handful of Brazil nuts, some acai berries and a generous helping of dust if we’re being health-conscious – but who wants to be that girl?!

Triple-Layer Coconut and Lime Cake

The cake itself is adapted from Dan Lepard’s wonderful Short & Sweet. If you haven’t already, I highly recommend you buy a copy.

Serves 10-12

Ingredients

• 300g caster sugar
• 275g plain flour
• 250g butter, softened
• 3 eggs
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 150ml coconut milk
• 50g dessicated coconut
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• Juice and zest of 3 limes

Method

1. Line 3 20cm round baking tins with baking paper and grease the sides.
2. Heat the coconut milk until almost boiling, then stir in the dessicated coconut
3. Add two thirds of the lime juice to the coconut mixture. Leave to soak in for 30 minutes to moisten the dried coconut.
4. Preheat the oven to 180c/160 fan/gas 4
5. Sift the flour and baking powder together.
6. Cream the butter and sugar in a bowl and beat until fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time until combined and add the vanilla extract.
7. Fold in the flour mixture and half of the lime zest, alternating with the coconut mixture until smooth.
8. Divide between the 3 tins and bake for 30-35 minutes.

For the coconut and lime cream cheese frosting

• 175g icing sugar, sifted
• 25g butter
• 125g cream cheese
• 30ml coconut milk
• Juice and zest of 1 lime (as above)

1. Beat the icing sugar and butter together with an electric whisk until combined. Add the cream cheese, coconut milk, the rest of the lime juice and zest and whisk on medium-high speed until smooth – at least 5 minutes.

Smooth the frosting between the layers and over the top, et voila! A totally tropical, totally tangy, and totally naughty triple-layer-tastic treat.

Enjoy with a caipirinha or mojito for a very grown-up treat.

Triple-layer Trilogy: Part one – Drizzled Lemon Curd Cake

This post showcases the first of three tantalising triple-layer cakes I’ve baked recently. Why have I baked so many of them, you ask? Especially when most people are on a new year, clean-eating-boot-camping-green-tea-swigging-booze-craving de-tox.

Well, there are two reasons; one, I prefer dirty eating – particularly in January and February, generally the coldest, most depressing months of the year.  Secondly, when it comes to cake, I feel there are few things more satisfying than watching a cake slice gently glide through three decadent, fluffy layers of sponge, and lifting up a resplendent, towering triangle to endless ‘ooh’s and ‘aah’s.

A triple layer cake should be a perfect symphony of lusciously light layers, moist-making filling, and an irresistible topping that come together to woo anyone within a 2-mile radius. Cheeky.

The first in this series is something of a classic, created by a classic – Delia Smith. It’s a zesty, light, and simply sublime lemon drizzle cake, sandwiched with homemade lemon curd.

The only thing I’d change would be to make it bigger (with good reason, honest) by upping the quantities – Delia actually cooks this in two tins before slicing them both in two, but I found that I didn’t get as much rise as I’d like to get four good layers. And – obviously – bigger is always better when it comes to cake!

I’d probably also change the fact that I made it after getting around 3 hours’ sleep due to being stranded after a night-out when London’s transport system decided it didn’t want anyone in north London to get home. But that’s another story!

Triple-layer Drizzled Lemon Curd Cake

Serves 10-12 generously

For the cake

• 1 lemon, zest only, grated
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 175g/6oz self-raising flour sifted
• 1 level tsp baking powder
• 175g/6oz butter at room temperature
• 175g/6oz caster sugar
• 3 eggs

For the lemon curd

• 1 large juicy lemon, grated zest and juice only
• 75g/3oz caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 50g/2oz unsalted butter

For the icing

• 1 large lemon- zest only
• 50g/2oz sifted icing sugar
• 2-3 tsp lemon juice

Preparation method

1. Preheat the oven to 170C/325F/Gas 3.
2. Measure all the cake ingredients into a mixing bowl and beat – ideally with an electric hand whisk – until you have a smooth, creamy consistency.
3. Divide the mixture evenly between the two tins and bake them on the centre shelf of the oven for about 35 minutes or until the centres feel springy when lightly touched with a little finger.
4. While the cakes are cooking, make the lemon curd.
5. Pop  the sugar and grated lemon zest in a bowl, whisk the lemon juice together with the eggs, then pour this over the sugar. Then add the butter cut into little pieces, and place the bowl over a pan of barely simmering water.
6. Stir frequently with a whisk until thickened – about 20 minutes.
7. Remove the cakes from the oven and after about 30 seconds turn them out on to a wire rack. When they are absolutely cold – and not before – carefully cut each one horizontally into two using a sharp serrated knife.
8. Spread the curd thickly to sandwich the sponges together.
9. For the icing, begin by removing the zest from the lemon – it’s best to use a zester to get long, curly strips. Then sift the icing sugar into a bowl and gradually stir in the lemon juice until you have a soft, runny consistency.
10. Allow the icing to stand for 5 minutes before spreading it on top of the cake with a knife, almost to the edges, and don’t worry if it runs a little down the sides of the cake. Then scatter the lemon zest over the top and leave it for half an hour for the icing to firm up before serving.

 

Bake at your own peril; Dangerously Good Beetroot Brownies

Those of you who follow me on Twitter might know that I’ve got a very exciting and hectic few weeks ahead of me. I’ll be relocating from Bristol to London just before new year to start a brand new job fundraising for the Prince’s Trust – an amazing charity, and one I feel absolutely honoured to be joining.

You may also have noticed my numerous tweets whinging about packing up my life – sorry about that! This will be the third time I’ve moved around Christmas, and my 13th move in 23 years on this earth. You could say I should be a pro by now – which I am – but it doesn’t make me detest the process any less.

So, clearly, I need incentives. Incentives to reward myself every time I clear out a kitchen cupboard, empty a bookshelf, or bag up half of my wardrobe. Yes?

The other night, I told myself that if I packed three boxes, I could bake some brownies. Three boxes, two bags, and a tidy kitchen later, I started making my brownies, smug at having surpassed myself. I adapted my recipe from one of my favourite books, and one I regularly bang on about – Red Velvet Chocolate Heartache – and got baking.

Now, I know that beetroot and chocolate are a good match. I just had no idea they were this good. These are some of the best brownies I’ve ever baked or eaten.

Don’t believe me? My lovely friend Sarah – fabulous foodie, fellow home baker and all-round goddess – described them as

‘totally f***ing amazing’

- a description she does not use lightly.

They are devilishly dense, yet miraculously light. Sweet, yet romantically dark and earthy. They taste like they should be a thousand calories, yet come in at 265. I could (and did) eat them for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  They are – in short – dangerously good.

Bake at your own peril.

Dangerously Good Beetroot Brownies

(gluten free)

Ingredients

• 400g vacuum packed cooked beetroot (not in vinegar!) diced into small squares
• 100g ground almonds
• 3 medium eggs
• 220g golden caster or light muscovado sugar
• 70g cocoa powder
• 1/4tsp salt
• 150g dark chocolate (min. 67% cocoa solids), broken into small pieces.
• 3 tbsp white rice flour (or plain flour)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1tsp vanilla extract

To decorate

Chopped nuts of your choice – I used hazelnuts

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 160/325 F/ gas mark 3. Line a 27cm X 20 cm X 5cm brownie tin (I used a deeper square silicon tin, but rectangular would have been better). Lightly brush with a little oil.
2. Whisk the eggs, sugar, and salt with a hand-held whisk in a large mixing bowl for 5 minutes until tripled in volume.
3. Whack the diced beetroot into a suitable medium sized bowl and pop in the microwave with a splash of water for three minutes until piping hot. Blend into a puree, adding a little water if necessary – but not too much.
4. Ensure it’s still hot and throw in the chunks of chocolate. Cover with clingfilm and let the chocolate melt for a couple of minutes. Stir in the chocolate until you have a gorgeously purple puree.
5. Return to your egg mixture. Beat in the ground almonds, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and vanilla extract until well combined.
6. Add the beetroot chocolate puree and fold in thoroughly.
7. Pour into the tin, smooth with a pallette knife or the back of a spoon,  and sprinkle your chopped nuts on top to decorate. Bake for 35 minutes  in the middle of the oven.
8. Allow to cool in the tin for 20 minutes, before cutting into (small) portions.

Go on, I dare you….

Pudsey Bear Orange Blossom Cupcakes

Those who know me will know that by day, I work in fundraising, and by night I’m a baking fiend. Most fundraisers will tell you they rarely leave their fundraising hat at the door, and I for one love nothing more than a chance to bring these two passions together for a good cause. This week, that cause is Children in Need.

If you’re not aware, or are outside the UK, Children in Need raise vital funds to support projects across the UK that transform the lives of disadvantaged children and young people. From supporting young carers, to counselling for victims or trauma or those who’ve lost a parent, and from funding education projects in deprived towns, to critical care for disabled children. Since it was founded, the charity has raised over £600 million for these life-changing projects, and over £40 million was raised last year. That’s truly amazing.

What I find particularly inspiring about Children in Need is the tremendous sense of the country pulling together to give a helping hand to those who need it most. Times are tight, and we’re feeling the economic pinch more than ever, yet every year, hundreds of thousands of school children, parents, workplaces, friends, clubs and many more, dig deep and work together to do their bit to make life a little brighter for someone they’ll probably never meet.

My little bit this year is baking these cupcakes to sell at my office. They’re adapted from a recipe in the Hummingbird Cake Days book. They come scented with orange blossom to hint at the vibrance of the beloved Pudsey bear, some frosted with handmade little Pudseys and others with polka dots (cutting the pudseys out by hand with a tiny knife got a little exhausting after the hour of making the first six!).

Makes 14

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 tbsp orange blossom water
• 80g unsalted butter, softened
• 220g golden caster sugar
• 250g plain flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 170ml milk
• 2 tbsp greek yogurt (low fat is fine)

For the frosting

• 125g butter
• 140g icing sugar
• 1 tsp orange blossom water
• 1-2 tbsp milk to bring the frosting together
• few drops yellow food colouring

Method

1. Preheat oven to 190/375 F/ Gask mark 5 and line a muffin tin
2. Using an electric whisk, whisk together the butter, sugar, baking pwder and saly until well combined into a breadcrumb-like texture.
3. In a separate jug, whisk the milk, eggs and orange blossom water by hand. Pour 3/4 of the milk mixture into the dry ingredients and whisk to combine.
4. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula (my silicon spatula is literally my kitchen best friend), add the rest of the milk mixture, and whisk until lovely and smooth.
5. Divide between your muffin cases, and bake in the centre of the oven for around 18-20 minutes. Have a quick check at 15 if your oven’s on the hot side like mine/like to get hotter on one side (sigh!)
6. For the frosting, cream your softened butter, before whisking in the icing sugar with a bit of milk. Add your colouring and orange blossom water and combine, being careful not to overmix or the frosting will become runny.
7. Wait until the cakes have cooled and the icing has been in the fridge a little before piping on to the cakes, or smoothing on with a pallette knife if you prefer.

What about the pudseys?

At this stage, a good baker/cake decorator would give you expert instructions on how to make Pudsey toppers. I’m afraid I’m not going to do that. That’s because mine were hopelessly handcrafted with all of the wrong tools – but I had a lot of fun!

I rolled out my yellow sugarpaste, and hand cut the shapes I needed with a very small kitchen knife, followed by the bandana curves. I then rolled up teensy tiny bits of sugar paste into the dots, and painted on the facial features with *wait for it*…..a metal skewer and some blue food colouring – hence them being a little smudgy and far from perfect.

One thing’s for sure, though, they were made with a big smile on my face and the hope that they make a small contribution to smashing that £40 million total this year!

If you’d like to make a donation to Children in Need, you can text DONATE to 70505 to donate £5, or just click here to make a secure online donation.

How are you all supporting Children in Need this year? Are you doing bonkers challenges like a bath of beans, or baking your little bum off?

Made with love; why I bake

When a colleague of mine was agonizing over what to get her partner for her anniversary this weekend, I offered to help her celebrate the occasion with a batch of homemade cupcakes. I did it partially so I would have the chance to try out my lovely little heart-shaped icing plungers, but mainly because I think homemade cakes are a wonderful way to show your love for someone close to you. When my phone flashed up with a text saying ‘She loved them! Thanks so much x‘, I got that warm and fuzzy feeling that comes with knowing you’ve made someone else happy. And that got me thinking about why I bake.

I’m the first one to admit that I’m not the world’s greatest baker. I’ve only been cooking and eating actual food – as opposed to frozen chicken burgers/chicken nuggets/pizzas and chips (horrifying I know) – since I was dumped at university 5 years ago, 300 miles from home with a a few pots and pans and a 2kg bag of pasta. My love affair with baking started about 18 months ago, and I’m slowly improving all the time as my confidence improves and I learn from various cake-xperiments that go woefully wrong.

Part of the reason I bake is to show a little love for myself. To prove to myself that the girl who hadn’t eaten a pepper until the age of 18 can turn it around. To give myself a space to be creative outside of work hours, and a space to escape when stress hits.

But I don’t bake for perfection. I bake for that warm and fuzzy feeling. You know the one I mean – the one that comes with handing over a slice, a cupcake, a brownie, macaron or cookie to someone you love; the beaming face of the recipient of your handcrafted birthday cake.

The wonderful thing about cake that keeps me baking, keeps me covering my kitchen (and invetably myself) in explosions of icing sugar, and keeps me trotting home with another cookbook I don’t have space for under my arm, is that sharing cake with others is essentially like saying ‘let’s celebrate how much I care about you’. It’s like giving them a giant, chocolatey, buttercreamy, hug that lasts for two days – depending on how many people you’re hugging and how much they like cake!

It’s not hard to see, then, why cake is so popular. Where there’s love, friendship, family and celebration, there’s cake. Anniversaries, birthdays, baptisms, Christmas, new beginnings, or reuniting with old friends – those days we love to remember. They’re all marked with a slice of something sweet, made with love and remembered fondly through grainy, candlelit photographs.

Happy birthday to me...

That’s why, whether it’s a special day or just a Tuesday with my best friends, there’s a reason I always save a little room for cake. Why do you bake?