If you ever wondered where I got my baking skills from -judging from these Pudsey Bear cookies she made today, the answer is clearly my Mum! She is selling them to raise money for Children in Need. So cute - well done Mum xxx

You can tell it is November and the run up to Christmas by the rate at which I am stitching - very fast!!! It is always my busiest time of year trying to finish presents in time for Christmas. These are two projects I finished at the weekend and I am pleased with them! Although the strawberry fields one is very out of season, I love the strawberries and little white flowers. Still plenty more stitching to do before Christmas though! With the Good Food Show Live next week, several trips to Germany before Christmas and New Moon coming out at the cinema this weekend (we have already booked tickets for Friday and Saturday - with my friend Maren flying over from Germany to watch - a definite Twi-Hard Fan) I may still end up finishing stitching on Christmas Eve as usual!

Rose and Violet is one of my favourite flavour combinations. I know to many people this conjures up images of gray haired ladies/draw liners/floral perfumes, but to me they are the best flavours for delicate dreamy desserts - ice creams, panne cottes, sorbets, jellies. These butter cookies were an experiment this morning and I think they worked and looked quite pretty too - if a little rustic!!

Rose and Violet Butter Cookies
Makes 18

180g butter
225g caster sugar
1 egg
280g plain flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tbsp double cream
1 tbsp rose water or rose syrup
1 tbsp violet syrup
crystallised rose and violet petals

Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 4/180F/350C and grease and line two baking trays. Whisk together the butter and caster sugar until light and creamy, then add the egg and whisk again. Sift in the flour and bicarbonate of soda, add the cream and floral syrups and then whisk again. Fold through some crystalise rose and violet petals (they are not cheap so just as many as you can justify!) The dough will be soft and not suitable for rolling. Using two spoons, place spoonfuls of the mixture on to the trays, leaving a little gap between each as they will spread. Press each cookie down with the back of a spoon and decorate with a few extra rose and violet petals on top. Bake in the oven for 10 - 12 minutes until pale golden brown, then transfer to a rack to cook.

I am sure if I ever had the time to trace back through my ancestry I would find that I had German roots. As my friend from Hamburg Maren will testify, I feel a natural affinity with Germany and love everything German. When I was studying German at school I went on lots of German exchanges to stay with families in a bid to improve my language skills. My overriding memory of my stays with the Hammel family is the delicious food cooked by Suzannah's mum - my favourite dish was pineapple sauerkraut which until this weekend I have not eaten since. This is my own version with bacon and a fragrant hint of star anise - served with large slices of spiced roast pork - it evoked so many memories of my trips to Germany and was just as good as I remember. It is about as good a comfort food as you will ever get! Don't be put off by the fact that it is cabbage - this is really a white version of our braised red cabbage with lovely sweet and sour tones.

Pineapple Sauerkraut
Serves 4
1 tbsp oil
1 tbsp butter
1 large onion, peeled and finely sliced
3 slices smoked back bacon, rind removed and cut into small strips
400g jar sauerkraut (available in most supermarkets)
2 star anise
227g tin of pineapple rings in juice, reserve the juice.
100ml sweet sherry
salt and pepper to season

In a large saucepan, gently fry the onion and bacon in the oil and butter until the onions are soft and translucent and the bacon is cooked through. Add the sauerkraut and star anise and cook for a further 5 minutes so that the cabbage absorbs the flavour of the bacon and onion. Chop the pineapple into small pieces and add to the pan together with the juice, sherry and 250ml of water. Simmer over a gentle heat for 30 minutes, season with salt and pepper and then serve with roast pork or sausages.

Last week I received a copy of this book in the post - link here. It is written by lovely Katie Ledger who works for BBC Click amongst other things. The reason I was sent the book was because this little blog is featured in it! Katie has written about the art of portfolio careers - which is apparently what I have - combining blogging, food writing, cooking with being a lawyer - and also about branding yourself which is where this blog comes in. So in honour of this, a big Thank You is due to you - my friendly blog readers - as without you this blog would definitely not exist! I am so grateful to you all for your lovely comments. I know that I rarely get time to reply to them, but I do read them all and really appreciate your thoughts and comments and knowing that you will pop by to read gives me the incentive to keep going. So give yourselves a pat on the back - a heartfelt thank you from me to each and every one of you xxxx Katie concludes the section on my blog by saying "If you are a secret cake lover, we strongly suggest you visit Hannah's blog. It's incredible what she can do with a Victoria sponge..." Thanks Katie - too kind!

I hope that you all had a lovely Bonfire Night - we managed a quick few fireworks and sparklers (see pic!), with comforting chilli and guacamole before I took a 5am flight to Germany this morning. A flying visit, landing back this evening! Completely exhausted and so glad it is the weekend!

This is a little sampler I finished last week. I really love the colours and the words and am so pleased with it. It is stitched on antique effect linen which I think works quite well and close up makes it look like someone stitched it along time ago (although the 2009 date is a bit of a give away!)

Isn't it funny how, as you close a chapter of your life, you immediately start to see things that should have been in that chapter! Last week I bade a fond farewell to my little sundae book, which, after final edits and my first look at the photographs, has gone off to be printed. I am so pleased with the pictures - Steve the styalist did a wonderful job - the plum crumble sundae is my favourite picture of all - pink and duck egg blue/green props and linen and the most enormous sundae I have ever seen! But of course, no sooner was the book finished and gone to print, then I found these perfect dainty ice cream dishes in Norfolk at the weekend - they would have looked so cute in the book and are just the perfect size for one scoop of ice cream or sorbet. With the book done and dusted, I struggled to convince anyone that they were an essential purchase but I bought them all the same! I love the little glass saucer at the bottom - perfect for resting a langue de chat or tuile biscuit on for munching with the ice cream. This is the simple strawberry ice cream from the book - alas if I told you the recipe now the publishers would be cross and I wouldn't want that - but as it is cold and rainy this week, I am sure you won't be too disappointed!

Our little Halloween tea - with scary witches, spiders and cats galore. We ate a fair few
Halloween cupcakes, pumpkin crispy cakes, eyeball biscuits and my gingerbread house was nibbled around the edges - the children loved it!! We all had a lot of fun. Hope you all had a good Halloween xxx

A few weeks ago I decided I was going to try and make a Halloween gingerbread house this year and here it is! It was actually easy to do and made me wonder why I hadn't made gingerbread houses before. The windows were made of peppermint glass and I lit the inside of the house with a short string of Christmas tree lights, inserted into the house before the roof went on with the wire iced in under one of the side panels. Once baked and cooled the gingerbread is very sturdy and was just joined together using royal icing which set enough to hold the house together within a few minutes. Once the house was firmly set, I had lots of fun decorating it with sweets! With the lights on, I think it looks pretty cute and I just know our halloween visitors will like it! I thought you might like to see the before shot too - its amazing what a little bit of icing and some sweets will do!

These are some cute rainbow cupcakes that I made at the weekend for our nephews and nieces. The white clouds were just piped with vanilla buttercream using a large round nozzle on top of a thin layer of blue buttercream for the sky. If you can't find sugar rainbows you could use a yellow boiled sweet or a yellow smartie as a sunshire and pipe thin yellow icing lines for the suns rays instead.

Since my friend Lucy has been diagnosed as gluten-allergic, I have been on a mission to make a perfect cake using gluten free flour that doesn't taste powdery. I find that some times when I use gluten free flour there is a slight texture of the almost squeekyness of custard powder which I think comes from the use of cornflour. Anyway, my latest attempt was I think the most successful I have been and I served this cake up without telling anyone I had used gluten free flour and when I asked - noone had spotted that it was anything other than a normal carrot cake. The coconut I use for this cake is American Baker's Angel Flake sweetened coconut. This is really the best sort of coconut for baking in my view and is available (sadly not cheaply) in the UK from American Sweets (click for a link - I am not on commission - its just that it is the best coconut) or they sell it at the American Food shop Lets Eat in Milton Keynes if you are ever passing. If you can't get this coconut then dessicated coconut will be fine but will give a slighly crunchy topping rather than the softened coconut strands of Angel Flakes.

Gluten Free Carrot and Coconut Cake
Preparation time 15 minutes baking time 40 - 55 minutes

180g/6oz butter
180g/6oz caster sugar
3 eggs
180g/6oz gluten free self raising flour
100g Angel shredded coconut
2 medium carrots, peeled and grated
1 apple, cored and grated
85g/3oz plump sultanas
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground mixed spice
200ml buttermilk

For the topping
100g Angel shredded coconut
2 tbsp golden syrup
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp ginger syrup (from a jar or stem ginger)

Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 4/180/350 and grease and line an 8in round spring form cake tin. Cream together the butter and sugar until light until an electric mixer. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each egg has been added. Fold in the flour, coconut, grated carrots and apple, spices, sultanas and buttermilk ensuring that everything is incorporated. Spoon the mixture into the tin and bake for 40 - 55 minutes until cakes is golden brown and springs back to your touch and a knife comes out clean with no cake batter on. If the cake starts to get too brown, cover with a sheet of silver foil.

For the topping, melt the butter, ginger and golden syrups in a saucepan until the butter has completely melted. Stir in the coconut and simmer for 2 - 3 minutes until the coconut has absorbed some of the syrup. Spoon the coconut evenly over the warm cake and allow to cool. If you are using dessicated coconut for the topping, try soaking it in hot water for 30 minutes or so and then squeeze out the water and add to the syrup.

This cake can be served warm or cold (my preference was warm straight from the oven but that's because I couldn't wait!!!)

If you've ever wondered what my brother is like - this is him - he is mad but I love him anyway!

Business Health Announcement from Innovation Ninja on Vimeo.

Work has taken over this week - I have so much to do and there are just not enough hours in the day. I have to leave for a meeting at 6.30am tomorrow and then return to do a cookery demo at 6.30 in the evening. I am needing to be very organised but am failing miserably. However a nice thing to look forward to is that my sundae book is arriving for final proof reading in a couple of days - it will be the first time I see all the pictures and I can't wait (I have only seen about 6 so far!) Luckily even though life is a little stressful, Peapod is always on hand for a good snuggle. She has taken to sleeping on my bed every night - I think because it is too cold for her hunting expeditions! I just love these pictures of her "reading" Little Grey Rabbit - one of my favourite books from when I was little. She gave up with the reading in the end and decided to have a little nap instead!

Some windfall apple and pears in our garden gave me a lovely photo opportunity at the weekend - two visiting deer stopped for a snack on Saturday afternoon. Although they visit often it is normally just a passing dash through the garden but this time they stopped and munched outside my office window for a whole 15 minutes. Just so cute!

My lovely "sister-in-law-to-be" (very imminently as my Brother's wedding is on 28th December in New York) Amy sent me a link to the latest in transport fashion - the cupcake car - on sale in New York for the bargain price of $25,000 and capable of reaching 7mph. Can't quite see myself in one of these but it made me smile all the same!

For Joshua's birthday I made Panda cookies - Josh loves Pandas. The clever design for these I found on the internet made by ruthiesaurus - click here for a link. Isn't it a clever design she came up with? I did what she said and re-moulded an old cookie cutter by heating it on the Aga and then bashing with my rolling pin - feeling very much like a blacksmith as I did it. I used 500g of fondant icing sugar to cover the 12 biscuits that my shortbread dough made. Place all the cookies on a cooling rack with a sheet of greaseproof paper or foil below to catch the drips and carefully spoon over the icing. Add a few tbsp of water to the icing - you need it to be fairly runny but not too runny - so that it leaves a good coating on the cookie and doesn't all run off. Allow to dry completely, then colour the leftover icing with black food colouring and carefully spoon a little over each of the ears. Place the rest of the icing in a piping bag with a small round nozzle and pipe eyes and noses. Leave to set overnight. I think next time I make them I will use royal icing as Ruthie suggests as hers had a nice fur effect with the royal icing. Anyway Joshie and Rosie loved them so mission accomplished. We gave Josh this adorable Panda kite as a present (can you tell I want one for myself?).

You may recall a while ago I made a 60th Birthday cake for my friend Lucy's mum. It was a dainty two tiered birdcage cake that Lucy somehow managed to transport all the way to the Scottish boarders on the train! As a thank you present for the cake (and it really really wasn't necessary) Lucy's Dad treated us to afternoon tea at the Dorcester. Oh my! Now I have sampled a lot of afternoon teas in my time at all sorts of places - some posh, others not - but I can safely say I have never experienced anything like tea at the Dorcester's Promenade. It was heavenly. Delicate sandwiches (caraway seed bread cucumber sandwiches were my favourite - the aniseed and cucumber worked so well together), a pannecotte infused with orange pekoe tea, scones with clotted cream and preserves and a selection of dainty cakes (my favourite the tonka bean coconut macaroon - yum yum). The best part of the whole afternoon was the effort they made for Lucy who is allergic to gluten. Not only did she receive plates of gluten free sandwiches but also gluten free scones and a whole plate of cakes - delicious macaroons and semolina cake but also two pots of fruit - one a tropical mango and kiwi salad - the other strawberry puree layered with whipped cream. These last two were just inspirational and looked so pretty and I will definitely serve these to anyone who comes here for tea in the future who is allergic to gluten. It was such a special treat and I really loved it. Thank you Lucy's Mum and Dad! We also popped to Waterstones at Piccadilly and they had my book! It was an exciting moment!

I am still poorly (alas the earlier report of being on the mend was a little premature) and feeling very sorry for myself - it has been almost two weeks now. I know I must be ill as I haven't cooked anything for over a week - very sad. Hopefully my antibiotics will kick in soon...please!!! Whilst lying in bed I have been planning ahead for the next baking project - Halloween is only a few weeks away and I thought this year I would make a Halloween gingerbread house. Any hints and tips on gingerbread house construction gratefully received - particularly from you lovely American readers as I know gingerbread houses are your National specialty! I am thinking that sugar glass windows and lights inside would be stunning...although perhaps this is a little too ambitious for a first attempt. In the meantime I thought I would share a few photos of the allotment show in my Mum's village - such a nice rural affair. I just love the scarecrows - Mum's was the large one in the green suit!

What a week! Not only did my first book, The Big Book of Cakes and Cookies come out but I can finally share with you the cover for my second book as it is now on Amazon - Sundaes and Splits. The cover shot is the Neopolitan sundae with vanilla strawberry and chocolate ice creams - toffee, summerberry and chocolate sauces - topped with white chocolate dipped wafer decorated with hundreds and thousands. Ridiculously decadent but definitely yummy! I hope you love the cover as much as I do! It is out on 8th April next year which feels like a life time away but I know will be here before you know it.

Before Masterchef I had not heard of Laduree. One day Ben, one of the other finalists was going to see his girlfriend and showed me a box of beautiful coloured macaroons he had bought her. I fell in love instantly (with Laduree just to be clear)! I think it would be my dream to work for Laduree - the cakes in their shop in Paris are just works of art - www.laduree.fr/public_fr/produits/patisseries_accueil.htm. My friend Maren is staying at the moment and she arrived clutching a pale green Laduree bag - I literally swooned as we opened the box - even the packaging is just so pretty to look at! The macaroons taste like little heavenily clouds flavoured violet and blackcurrent, pistachio, licorish, chocolate, lemon...! As well as macaroons, Maren had bought delicate crystalised violets - I will need to make a very special cake to put these on. What a nice friend I have!

I am feeling sorry for myself. I have been in bed poorly most of the weekend with a chest infection but am on the mend again. So much for wildly celebrating my book release!!! I also had three cakes to make this weekend - two birthday cakes and a 50 year celebration of Margaret living in our village. This was a gluten free chocolate cake for Lucy who loves Reindeer. Not the best icing in the world but I had a valid excuse! Anyway Lucy loved her cake. The Gluten free cake (recipe is in my book!!!!) was sandwiched in two layers with Damson cream and buttermilk buttercream which went well with the dark chocolate. Lucy's partner David had taken her away for a surprise weekend to Wells where we went last weekend and she had a lovely time flying the kite we bought her (a 2.5m long cat kite!) on the beach. Happy Birthday Lucy xxx

This morning I wanted to say a huge thank you for all the lovely messages from those of you who have my book! I can't quite believe that after all those months of work it is out - a week early which took me by surprise!!! I can't tell you how nice it is to think that some of you have it on your cook book shelfs and I really hope that you will enjoy the recipes. I am always here if you have any questions and will see if the publishers will let me publish one of the recipes on my blog for you. Thank you too for all the messages of support whilst writing it - they really did keep me going at times when the sheer number of recipes to test each day became overwhelming!

You would think that after writing so many recipes I would have run out of ideas for new cakes but..oh no... I am still coming up with new ideas. These were yesterday's harvest offering - it is our village harvest festival this weekend and harvest supper on Monday - a LARGE casserole is looming this weekend! These Harvest buns have been eaten already (not by me I hasten to add) so they must be good! I love damsons as they are so tangy and if you have not had time to make jam you could add some chopped damson flesh instead (stones removed of course)

Damson and Blackberry Harvest Buns
Preparation time 15 minutes baking time 20 - 25 minutes
Makes 15

225g/8oz butter
225g/8oz caster sugar
4 eggs
225g/8oz self raising flour
2 heaped tbsp creme fraiche
2 heaped tbsp damson jam (or plum jam would be fine too)
2 handfuls of blackberries (about 150gz would be about right - I used mine straight from the freezer and they worked fine)
zest and juice of 2 lemons
1 tbsp icing sugar

Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 4/180/350 and place muffin cases in two 12 hole muffin tins. Cream together the butter and sugar until light until an electric mixer. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each egg has been added. Fold in the flour, creme fraiche, jam, blackberries and lemon zest gently until everything is incorporated. Spoon the mixture into the cake cakes and bake for about15 - 20 minutes until the cakes are golden brown and spring back to your touch. Remove the cakes from the oven and heat the lemon juice with the icing sugar, bring to the boil and then spoon over the cakes. Serve warm or cold.

A trip to an antique book store at the weekend provided a haul of three wonderful new cook books. I think I was feeling inspired by watching the wonderful Julie and Julia film at the cinema the other week (I left the cinema feeling very virtuous that I had managed 365 recipes in 10 weeks - rather than Julia's 541 recipes in 8 years and Julies cooking Julia's 541 recipes in a year). If you haven't seen it and love food, then you MUST go and see this film. So my new books are 1) A 1970's viennese cook book - OK the photos may be very dated but the recipe for schnitzel and cucumber salad sounds perfect and I can't wait to try it out. 2) A book from 1905 written by Mrs Peel on Puddings and Sweets - I just had to had this for her sentiment at the front of the book "There is no such thing as High Class Cooking. There is merely good cooking and bad cooking, and the former is generally the most simple". A woman after my own heart!! And finally 3) a 1950's book The Complete Patissier written by a chef who worked at the Savoy (after my cooking dessert in the Savoy kitchen I just had to have this book - despite it ridiculous price tag of £27). The other reason I couldn't leave this book behind was that Mr Kollist has a receipe for Looking Glass - Miroirs which I just have to try to see if they are fit for an Alice in Wonderland party.