Almond Spice Cake

I have made this cake this afternoon. For quite a while I had thought the recipe included fruit, but the other day, I read it through properly and realised that there is no fruit in it at all. It does have a layer of marzipan through the middle of it though, rather like the simnel cake.
The cake was easy to make, and looked great, however, we were rather disappointed with the taste. It was moist, and the texture was fine, it just had quite an unusual taste because of the dried cloves. Not sure we are going to manage all of this one! We gave it only 6.5
P.s For those of you who think, what a mess, when you look at the photo, the picture in the book looks quite like this. Mary says that the topping should run down the sides! There is clearly too  much of it, hence the big puddle!

American Chocolate Wedding Cake

I had been wondering when I would make this cake, and then I realised that I could make it for a friend's birthday. I had already decided long ago that I would not make the whole wedding cake, which has three tiers, requires 38 eggs and 1.6kg chocolate!
The top tier of the cake required a 6in round tin. Having looked unsuccessfully for one this size, I decided to make it 6in square using my multi size tin. It meant that the cake was slightly shallower than it was meant to be, but I thought 5 x 5 would make it too deep.
The mixture used no flour or butter, just chocolate, eggs, sugar and ground almonds. It was straight forward enough to make, but as it cooked, it created a crust on the top of the cake. Apparently this is because the sugar content is so high. It was rather like the top of a brownie.
I ended up removing the complete crust when it cooled as I knew It was too cracked to ice it. Thankfully it came off neatly!
The icing was made from butter and chocolate, and there was loads of it!
I decided to decorate it with fresias as they are the flowers that are in the photo. I was pleased with the finished product, and my friend was too. Not sure what the score was, but I  am pretty sure it is rich and chocolatey!

Cheese and Olive Scone Bake

Of all the chapters in the book, the one on Buns and Scones is the one with most recipes left undone. I thought I had better tick some off.
Olives are really quite popular in our house, in fact Nathan, who is not a fruit and veg fan, and doesn't even like grapes, loves olives! I can't explain that personally, but at least it counts as one of his 5 a day!
This recipe makes a lot of scone! If I were doing it again, I would make half the amount. Also, I would leave out the tsp of salt as the olives make it salty enough. I think I would also make small scones out of it rather than one large one. We gave it 7.75.

English Cherry Cake

I made this cake on Thursday as I was having my hair cut (at home), and every time I see my hairdresser, and talk to her about my baking, I have nothing to offer her!
This was so fresh that it baked as I had my hair done, and I was able to send her on her way with a nice large (still warm) wedge of cake!
It was an easy cake to make, and very tasty. I did wash and dry my cherries very carefully, as Mary suggests, but there were still more at the bottom than at the top.
We gave it 8.0, and it lasted no time at all in our house - always a good sign.

Shrewsbury Biscuits

I had a moment of madness yesterday, and was baking these and 7.30 in the morning. Tom was due to stay at school all day, and was not being picked up until 9pm as it was the open evening, and he was helping. I thought he and his friends would like some biscuits to keep them going. Yes, I know I am mad, but then, I think that's already obvious!
Thankfully they were quick and easy to make, and Tom thought they were really nice. They did not have much of a snap, so Paul Hollywood would not have approved, but they went down well with hungry teenagers apparently. They were pretty average, and I would give them 7.0
I think I  should say at this point, "congratulations" to Frances, who won the Bake off. I thought she thoroughly deserved it, and I loved her creativity. It was possible to have style and substance after all!

Swiss Wild Strawberry and Walnut Cake

On Tuesday we had friends for lunch. I knew it was our friend's birthday, what I did not realise was that it was a special birthday. However, I don't think the cake disappointed!
This is supposed to be made with wild strawberries, but as they are few and far between in October, I used ordinary ones. Thank you Aldi! Mary does say that you can do this, so that's ok!
The cake is another fatless sponge. This time, more due to lack of attention than to a deliberate plan, I left the eggs and sugar to mix for quite a while. The mixture was very mousse like, and when it was baked I got a good rise on it. I think perhaps in previous recipes, I have not beat the eggs and sugar for long enough.
I would definitely make this again. The walnuts are a nice addition, and as it has two layers, there is plenty of moisture from the cream and strawberries. What the sponge lacks in the way of fat, the filling makes up for!
Adam and I scored it 8.75. I should say that our guests gave it higher, but then as Adam says, they do not have all the other bakes to compare it with.

Bath Buns

I have wanted to make these buns for some time, but whenever I have looked at them in the past, I have realised that I have not had enough time. They require two lots of proving, once after making the dough, and then secondly after the rolls are formed.
I decided that Saturday was the day! Also, some of our neighbours have a connection with Bath university and as the particular students were home for the weekend, I thought I could give them some buns! I am not sure how well they compare with the real thing, but they were pretty tasty.
I have a feeling that my yeast needs replacing. I bought a tub of it which I have kept in the fridge, but I have had it while, and I wonder whether it is not doing it's job properly. I am sure it wasn't down to my kneading! As a result of this, I did not get a very good rise. Having said all this, they didn't last long in our house, and I think they were well received by our friends. We gave them 8.0

Marmalade Traybake

I also made this on the day that the kids had off school. It was easy to make, and fairly tasty. Ad and Tom really liked it, I wasn't quite so bothered. It really is all down to personal taste.
I am not really sure why it is called marmalade cake, as it only has two tablespoons of marmalade in it, and does not taste of it at all. Mary says to be careful not to put too much marmalade in or it sinks, but I didn't have that problem.
I bought some sugar cubes to bash up and sprinkle on the top, rather than buy "nibbed sugar". Breaking the cubes up was quite a messy business, and the sugar tended to fly everywhere, but it seemed to do the trick.
Personally I give this traybake 7.5. The boys probably would have given in 8.5!

Almond Macaroons

Once again, I am playing catch up. For some reason I always end up posting about 5 recipes at once. Apologies to those of you who do look at my blog regularly - I know there are a few of you out there!
I made these macaroons with the boys last week as they were off school due to the teacher's strike.
They were very easy, and I think that the only comment that I would make is that Mary says to use half a blanched almond on top, and I think you could get  away with using a whole one! It was a bit of a pain slicing them in half, so don't bother! The scored 8.5. They were crunchy on the outside and chewy in the middle!

Janes Wholemeal Fruit cake

A while ago I bought some buttermilk, with the plan of making this cake. On Saturday, I noticed that it only had a couple more days before it needed using up, so I thought I had better get on with it.
It was a bit of an effort, especially as it took 3 hours to cook, but I thought it would be worth it in the end. Unfortunately it was not, but this was not the recipes fault. I made the big mistake of leaving out the currants!!!!
I was so concerned that I had enough sultanas, that I forgot to put the currants in. I actually had the pack of currants out on the side, which made it worse.
I think part of the reason that they got left out was that there was a great deal of mixture anyway, so I did not miss them. I realised my mistake after about half an hour of the cooking time when I came into the kitchen, and saw the unopened pack of currants on the side! I was really annoyed with myself, but there was nothing I could do by then.
As a result, this cake is very crumbly and dry, and sorely in need of its currants. some members of the family have bravely made their way through a piece of it, but I think in the end it is the birds who might benefit most! I don't feel that I can rate this cake, as it would not be fair. Having said that, due to it having wholemeal flour, I don't think that it would have been that popular in our house anyway. There are lots of other more delicious fruit cakes in the book that I would be quicker to make again.

Apple Strudel

On Saturday I decided to cook up the last of the cooking apples as they had been sitting around for a couple of weeks. I was in the middle of heating them, when I suddenly had the idea of making some apple strudel. This also fitted in with my plan of defrosting the freezer, as I would use up some filo pastry that I had had in there for a while. As it turned out, it was best before April this year, but as it was not a use by date, I thought I would go for it!
These turned out to be very simple, and tasty, however i would strongly recommend making sure that your pastry is within date!
Although it was perfectly edible, the pastry was not as crisp and flaky as it should have been. Also, I only made four strudels, as some of the pastry fell apart, so I just had to make do. I would definitely have a go at making these again. We gave them 8.75

Danish Pastries

On Tuesday evening, we had a pta meeting at our house. As I knew it was one of the committee's birthdays, I decided to have a go at making these. Also, my day was fairly free, and I thought these would be time consuming to make - I was right!!
When I made the eccles cakes a few weeks back, I had felt bad that I had not made the pastry myself, so this was my opportunity to redeem myself, and show my new found skill as a baker- lol!
My first, and biggest mistake was to make sure my butter was "softened", as the recipe suggests. Now, I am often guilty of forgetting to get the butter out of the fridge before baking, but not this time. My butter had plenty of time. It turned out to be too much time. This is the kind of pastry that you make, roll out, and then dot lots of butter over, before folding over and rolling again, and repeating with more butter. The problem with the softened butter was that it oozed out of the sides, all over the work surface and the rolling pin, making rather a mess, and rather spoiling the whole process. Having seen them make this pastry on the Bake off, I knew the kind of thing I was aiming for. Unfortunately mine did not look the part. However, with plenty of extra flour to keep it from sticking, I eventually managed to make some pastries.I used the apple filling, - yes, I still have some cooking apples left - and the almond filling. They were both nice, but next time I would make all apple ones, as they were most popular.
Amazingly the pastries turned out ok, and there was no problem eating them on the day they were baked!
One thing I would have to say is that having made them I realise why danish pastries are no good if you are trying to keep your cholesterol down! In 16 pastries there was 350g of butter!!!! It almost put me off eating - well almost! We gave them 8.5. They were not as good as shop bought ones, but worked out a lot cheaper!

Mini Jammy Cakes

I made these on Sunday afternoon, as they were a quick recipe. I didn't have any blackcurrant jam, so I used strawberry instead.
The recipe produces quite a firm cake - a little like a rock cake in texture. Mary says that the jam goes chewy, but mine didn't.
I was rather disappointed by them. They were ok, but nothing special. We gave them a 6.0

ClassicApple Pie

Continuing the apple theme, I made this apple pie for Sunday lunch.
I have to say that the picture makes it look very unappealing, but actually it was very tasty.
The recipe says to use cloves in with the apples, but I decided to leave them out as I did not think that the children would like the taste, and also, I had read on another blog that the flavour was rather overpowering.
The pastry was lovely to work with. My only disappointment was that the pastry was just on top. When my mum makes pies, she always puts pastry on the bottom as well. Still, I guess it is better for you like this - more apple, less pastry! We gave it 8.5.

Devonshire Apple Cake

A couple of weekends ago, I was given a bag of cooking apples, so I thought I had better use some up! I had been waiting for them to come into season before making this traybake.
This was straight forward to make. It is a sandwich of apple in between sponge, and it tastes delicious. Mary says that it looks a little unappetizing when its cold, but I wouldn't agree. It is better warmed, but it is certainly not difficult to eat cold!! We gave it 9.0, and I would say that it is equally good as a cake, as it is as a pudding.

Lemon Cream Tartlets

As well as the treacle tart, I made these little tartlets, which were very tasty.
They look very similar to tarts that I made back in the summer, but this pastry is more of a shortbread - and very delicate to work with.
The filling was lemon curd and cream, and so very easy to make.
I think, given the choice, I would probably make the glazed fruit tartlets with sweet pastry rather than these. We gave these 8.0, whereas the others scored 9.0.

Deep Treacle Tart

We had some neighbours round for tea on Tuesday evening. I confess that we shared a take away pizza, but then I did make the puddings!
This deep treacle tart was delicious. It had a nice lemony tang to it, and the top was slightly chewy.
I was particularly glad that, after my pecan pie leaky pastry, this pastry held everything in. I did wonder how it would cook in this glass dish, but it baked well. I would definitely make this again. We gave it 9.0.

Cheese Scone Round

We were having soup for lunch on Monday, so I made this scone as Mary says that it is nice served warm with soup...and she was right.
It was easy to make, and I was surprised by the amount of rise that there was - I don't think I put too much baking powder in! It made a nice change from bread.
We gave it 8.5

Walnut Teabread

 I have just noticed that I have baked 31 different things in September! I knew I had done quite a lot, but not that many. Still, I may yet bake all the recipes by the New Year, who knows?!
On Monday I had a friend for lunch, who I had not seen for about 9 years. I had helped look after her three boys when they were young, and they were page boys at Ad & I's wedding. They are now all in their twenties, so that makes me feel old!
We had a lovely time, and of course lunch involved cake. Actually, I managed two bakes as I made this and a cheese scone.
This walnut loaf was not was i was expecting. It had quite a lot of golden syrup in, so that made it quite different from the usual walnut cakes. It was a nice bake and we enjoyed it, but it is not one that the rest of the family particularly like. I would give it 7.5.