I had 6 hours of business planning meetings yesterday and for the first one my colleague Zoe asked for an “awesome” cake to keep the meeting going. Now Zoe is one of the most positive and energetic people I have ever met and living in Zoe’s orbit it is very hard to resist her positive…
Canapés for a Marriage Upgrade
I have a small confession to make. I have been calling my beloved of 22 years “the husband”, when in fact until Friday afternoon he was in fact my Civil Partner. No longer though. Thanks to the Equal Marriage Act we are now officially husband and husband, something which has been a long time coming. That…
Wrestling with an Easter Wreath
I can officially say I am now baked out for Easter. My finale was going to be a Polish Babka Wielkanocna, a rich bundt cake (12 egg yolks are just the start of its richness) that caught my eye on Mary Berry’s programme and in the papers, but after making this monster loaf it will…
Lolloping Easter Bunny Brioche
We have been having a very nice week off work at home, though as ever when one staycations, we have done a little too much round the house clearing out the dust from the building work and catching up on the garden. I may have also taken on a little too much when committing to…
A Lamb at Easter
Unofficially it is still Easter Week, although officially Easter week is the run up to Easter Sunday. However here in the UK, because of the long Public Holiday (which we call “Bank” Holidays for some bizarre reason), many of us take the week after Easter Sunday off. As part of my Easter tour around Europe I…
The Miraculous Hot Cross Bun
England was the birth place of the Industrial Revloution and the rapid urbanisation in the mid 19th Centtury, combined with the reforming religious zeal of both the Puritans and the Victorians, has stripped us of many of our older rural traditions. Happily the Hot Cross Bun is not one of them. No other food item…
Simnel Cake – an English Easter Tradition born of a very English Argument
The Easter holiday is here and both the hubby and I are greatly looking forward to the Easter break after a very busy start to the year. As ever with the British Easter, the weather forecast is atrocious. We are set for a beautiful Good Friday, followed by 3 days of solid rain through to…
La Dolce Gubana
My Easter Baking has begun and with so much choice from around the world (see my last post here) I was struggling to make a decision about what to do first. My first thoughts were a Simnel Cake, but I realised I needed to take one to my mother over Easter. Also we are making a…
The Joy of Easter
There is something deeply joyful about the Easter holiday. It is the first one after Christmas and those miserable last winter months are behind us. Best of all the days are getting longer, the sun is coming out, and the daffodils are bursting into flower. Spring is upon us and Summer is on the way, and something primal in us lights up…
A Delicious Bee Sting with a Bienenstich
Regular readers will know we have had the builders in for the last couple of weeks. Our old shower room needed replacing thanks to Suffolk’s hard water wreaking havoc with the plumbing over the years (and a bit of 1970’s jerry building). The job has been proving trickier than we thought, so we have been…
Difficulty with Bees
My plan this weekend was to bake a a classic German cake, the Bienenstich or Bee Sting Cake. This was to be my final stop in Germany before heading to new climes through I suspect I may be revisiting the land of my youth many times especially when we get to Christmas though a Black Forest Gateau…
Taking a Nut Corner too fast
It has been a busy weekend. We have been in Sheffield seeing our friend Alisdair perform in Into the Woods. Sheffield is quite transformed from 21 years ago when I first went to visit my new in laws and I can see why it is becoming more and more popular. We visited the very beautiful Hardwick Hall…
The Cottage Loaf 