Lemon Rose Cupcakes and Resolutions

Happy 2016!

I want to start the year by setting some goals for myself for this blog, as all my good intentions for 2015 slid a little! Hopefully by setting them out here I’ll stick to them. Here they are:

1. Post more. I have tens of blog post which have photos, or a recipe, or a description, but not all three. I’ve spent so many hours wasted taking photos I’m really proud of and then not posting them in time for the season. (Christmas, I’m looking at you) I’m going to make time and aim to post fortnightly.
2. Practice and improve my photography.  There’s only so many tutorials and tip round-ups you can read before realising that the way to improve is to take more photos. So that’s what I’ll do. (Follow me on Instagram to see how I’m doing with this one)
3. Don’t sweat the small stuff. If I only published posts I was 100% happy with, I’d never publish anything. The whole point of this blog is to share my baking and have fun, so I’m going to stop taking it all so seriously.

So in the spirit of my resolution, and in sharing some tasty cakes, I want to share some really simple lemon curd filled lemon cupcakes I made for a friend’s birthday in 2015. At this party, a friend of a friend asked if I was the Ruth who had a food blog because their girlfriend had read it and thought it was great! It made me incredibly happy for such a small things. And the cakes went down pretty well too!

Hot Cross Bun Fudge

I’ve come the the realisation that I need to get over myself.

Over the last few months I have spent many a weekend pottering about the house, baking something delicious, photographing it and editing the photos while I eat it. I even have separate folders and a naming convention for images in Google drive. But by the time I get to the point of posting I lose all confidence in my photos and the recipes I’m posting. So the photos sit there, the blogs stay as drafts and I get frustrated at myself.

I started this blog because I wanted to share the things I bake with other people. I love sharing recipes . I love coming up with ways to make recipes nut and coconut free so I can eat them. I love cooking!

My resolution going forward is to relax more. I’m not setting a schedule, and sometimes (like today) recipes won’t be tied in the season. But they will always be things I’ve made that I think are delicious, interesting and worth sharing. And as I go along I will improve.

The change starts here! So I thought I’d share an Easter recipe far too long after Easter. I saw this fudge recipe in Delicious Magazine and couldn’t wait to try it. My attempts at fudge have always been…mixed. I’ve never managed to achieve a smooth, creamy consistency. The basic recipe for this fudge is time consuming but worth it for the texture of the fudge you’ll get at the end. (You also need to beat it by hand for 15 mins – put some tunes on and stick with it!) I also used homemade candied orange in the fudge in mixed size pieces, as I find bought candied peel a bit fake tasting.

I sent a batch of this to work with my boyfriend (who works at the National Trust) to share with his volunteers, as they tend to be my barometer of success with a recipe.  The visitor’s centre liked the fudge so much they made their own batch for visitors and sent me a box as a thank you!

All in all, there is no reason for you not to make this fudge, even if it isn’t Hot Cross Bun season any more. Try the recipe and let me know how it goes – I’m planning my next flavours and will share how they go.

 

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Flourless Chocolate Orange Cake

Christmas is one of those times of year where amazing food is always around. Its also the time of year when I want to get my friends together, eat huge amounts of food with them and then play board games.

I wanted to share this recipe because it is really dense. Really chocolately. Really rich.  In my mind, this cake is the perfect end to a christmassy meal. Just make sure you have some yogurt or Crème fraîche on hand to make it a proper pudding.

Salted Cardamon Fudge

I really enjoy pottering around in the kitchen. Whether its making dinner, whipping up a cake or making something special, I find the process of chopping, stirring and baking calming. Even if I’ve had a stressful day, I know I can make something tasty, and if it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t matter.

There is another side to my style which is a bit more … haphazard. I don’t really plan what I’m going to make very far in advance. Sometimes I get halfway through a recipe and realise I don’t have all the ingredients, or have forgotten to heat the oven or grease the cake tin.