Round-up

Below I have added a few pictures from some of my recent (and admittedly not so recent) bakes.

Firstly the classic victoria sponge, simple and elegant, one of my favourites.

Secondly, an Almond and Banana bake. Mmm. The banana flavour worked well with the almond and the sponge was moist. In future I will use bananas that are 'more' ripe as on first attempt the banana was more of a hint. Nice though.

Speckled Mocha cake, what a treat! This was lovely. The flavours were rich and the sponge was light but ever-so flavoursome. It cannot be fully appreciated in the picture, but the sponge was specked with the grated dark chocolate. Easy to make but luxurious in taste.

That's not to mention the golden apricot and marzipan loaf. I have made this on a few occasions now as a treat post-nights. It has chopped up cubes of marzipan within the cake, forming nuggets of chewy sweetness to compliment the sultanas and apricots.

Another one I made a few months ago now was the chocolate and orange cupcake recipe. These were again straightforward to make. Also, they provided a much-needed opportunity to practice piping icing on cup cakes. Nice tried and tested combo.

Quick chocolate fudge cake. This was a good recipe and has a secret ingredient of coffee which brings out the flavour of the cake. Moreish.

With this I tried the chocolate crackle cookie recipe. They were mouth-wateringly good and melted in the mouth. Made less than the recipe indicated so therefore were all gone in less then 48hrs!

...and these are just the recipes from Mary's book! More baking news coming soon.

What have you been baking?