Happy Halloween!

In Scotland, we don't go trick or treating, we go 'guising'. Children walk from house to house in disguise and have to tell a joke or tale in exchange for sweets, money and monkey nuts. I've always been into Halloween but now I'm a mum, I scarily excited by this spooky day.

As of yet, no treats have been baked (well, it is only 7am) but a pumpkin has been carved and my front door has been decorated in anticipation of tonight's scary visitors.

Have a happy Halloween. 

Fondant lions!

For my son's 1st birthday last week I spent hours and hours and hours making his cake, complete with fondant lion.  I loved making this special cake but was a bit disappointed with the icing finish. It wasn't smooth enough and went shiny after leaving it in the fridge.  I was, however, pretty pleased with the sugar lion! 

Best of the Bake Off!

The wonderful Great British Bake Off is over (but thankfully we have one more week of Mary and Paul's masterclass programme) but I want to keep its spirit alive by baking as much from the show as possible.

Day 1 - Jo's mini Victoria sandwiches and Holly's bakewell tart cupcakes

Never too young for cake

This little celebration cake was made for 8 hour old Sophie Grace, who was born on Wednesday 27 July.  Welcome to the world little lady.

Some cakes look too good!

Maybe it's just because I don't have the patience or because I'm secretly jealous of people who can ice like Pierre Herme or Eric Lanard, but as long as my cakes taste amazing and look nice enough, I'm happy.

Don't get me wrong, I like a nice looking cake. No one wants to eat something that looks like a dogs dinner but I've eaten too many cakes (mainly cupcakes and merigues) that looked stunning but, frankly, were really disappointing. So, I'm on a mission to bake top quality, honest, tasty treats that you can enjoy with a cuppa.

As we baking addicts know, baking is back but lets do it without too many frills.