Oh, If you love the life you live then you'll get a lot more done

 ♫ Paolo Nutini- Simple Things  ♫

Hey all! 

Happy bank holiday to everyone, a barbeque is definitely on the cards today! Here is a little baking post as I felt we hadn't done one in a while- and today being a national holiday is the perfect excuse to get out your apron a make this tasty treat... you will not be disappointed!

Just a small note to say that me and Jess are having our AS exams in the coming weeks, we plan to schedule a few posts in because we really don't want to neglect the blog, so hopefully the blog won't have to be victim to our hetic and stressful exam schedules!! 

Loads of love, Paloma 

xxx

Cherry Bakewell Cake

                                          

200g golden caster sugar

200g butter, well softened                         

100g ground almonds

100g self-raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp almond extract or essence

4 large eggs

1) Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4

2)Butter and line the bases of 2 x 20cm round sandwich tins with baking paper.

3) Beat together all the cake ingredients with a pinch of salt until smooth,

4)Spoon into the tins and level the tops.

5) Bake for 30 mins or until golden and springy.

6)Let the sponges cool

7) Then, spread with jam and sandwich on top

8)Being the chocoholic that I am, I decided to top my cake with melted chocolate rather than icing, its a great alternative if you are not an icing fanatic

9) Create a small 'piping bag' out of baking paper- basically a cone shape with a tiny bit of sellotape- and drizzle the chocolate according

10) Eat the remaining chocolate

11) Decorate with blanched or flaked almonds

12) Voila!! It makes a fab birthday cake as my little sister would happily tell you!

What we made: Yummy Jammy Biscuits

Hey, 

With half term beginning, I fancied doing some baking, something which I haven't had the chance to so far this year! (terrible I know!) I have to admit that the whole experience was painful as I couldn't eat any of them (given up sweet things for lent!) but seeing how much other people enjoyed them made up for it, well almost...

I decided to make yummy jammy biscuits as they are always the first ones I grab out of the biscuit tin so I thought it would be great to try some homemade alternatives, and they didn't disappoint, well so I am told anyways!



Ingredients

250g butter

140g Caster Sugar

1 Egg Yolk

2tsp Vanilla Extract

300g Plain Flour

6tbsp Rasberry Jam

6tbsp Icing Sugar



1) Mix the butter and sugar together in a bowl

2) Add an egg yolk and vanilla extract
3) Sift in the flour and stir until well combined, mix with your hands

4) Split the dough into two, wrap in clingfilm and put in the fridge for 30 minutes

5) Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface, and cut out roughly 28 circles
6) Lay the biscuits onto two lined baking trays
7) Using a 4cm cutter, cut out a circle out of half of the biscuits
8)Bake for 10-12 mins until pale golden, then lift onto a cooling rack.

9) Mix the raspberry jam with the sifted icing sugar.
10) When the biscuits are cool, spoon a little of the jam onto each whole biscuit, then carefully sandwich the other biscuits on top.

Enjoy with a nice hot cup of tea or coffee!

Lot of love, Paloma xxx