I thought I would introduce you to the "almost" new member of our family - Grasshopper the Rooster (so named because he has a habit of standing on one leg as if in a Jackie Chan movie ready to leap in some wild karate move). I popped into a garden centre to buy a sandwich on my way back from a work meeting and clearly I wasn't thinking straight as I left with no sandwich and this tiny little rooster in a cardboard box. He was just such a dear little tame thing, with really funny long legs and needed a home. I was sold! Sadly my enormous grey hens decided otherwise and quickly showed him the door - I now completely understand the term "hen pecked", poor little rooster. Luckily my neighbours were looking for a rooster for their two hens (theirs having sadly been snaffled by the fox) and so he has happily moved in to the farm next door. This weekend he came to visit and sat on our fence crowing away - the garden centre said they had never heard him crow so he must be settled in. Almost as good as owning him and at least now he is living with two hens who dote on him and follow him round (rather than my grumpy old hens). Being so small, his crow is more of a "Cock a dooooodle" with no "Do" at the end - imagine standing on a dog toy and the squeeky noise you get when lift you foot off it and you would be about there!

Sometimes it is just knowing the tricks of the trade that produces the best cakes. I have always been amazed by the skill in posh wedding cakes encased in tall chocolate curls until I discovered recently that you can buy the curls ready made and just have to stick them onto icing! At the same time I discovered these dear pink chocolate curls. To make these little cakes I simply baked muffins (these were cherry and sour cream but any flavour will do). When cooled, remove the cake wrapper and carefully slice off a thin layer at the top of the cupcake so that it will sit flat when you turn it upside down. Cover the inverted cake in vanilla buttercream, then roll in the pink chocolate curls and top with sugar flowers for very pretty spring time cakes! The curls are available at Make a Wish Cake Shop (click here) and come in white and caramel too - needless to say I bought every flavour they had!

As part of my Easter afternoon tea, I served little fruit pots - in an attempt to counter the sugar content of all the cakes and at least give some semblance of heathly eating on the table! Finely chopped strawberries, kiwi and blueberries filled one topped with passion fruit and the second pots contained mango and strawberry, a drizzle of violet syrup and low fat creme fraiche. They went down very well and were so simple and quick to prepare. They would also make a lovely pre dessert as part of a dinner party to cleanse the palete!

Wishing you all a very Happy Easter. This is the little Easter tree I stitched for my Mum as an Easter present - so much beading and I only just finished it in time (yesterday!). Beading on an aeroplane on my way back from Germany was never going to be a good idea - I dropped my beads all over the floor of the plane!!!! Not very impressive when I was sitting next to my boss. Anyway luckily the end result is nice even if there are a few beads missing!!!

I hope that you all have a lovely Easter Day and get to spend some quality time with friends and family. I will be in Buxton in the Peak District with my Mum and Aunt - Bakewell tarts here we come!

Apricot and Coconut Simnel Cake

Happy Easter everyone! I hope that you are all having a nice few days off work. Yesterday my Dad and Liz (and my step sister Sarah and her boyfriend Mark) came for an Easter afternoon tea. A great excuse to do lots of baking! This was my take in Simnel cake - not quite traditional with the addition of Malibu and Apricots - but tasty all the same!

Simnel Cake

Serves 10 - 12

500g mixed fruit

100g chopped dried apricots

200g glace cherries

200g soft shredded coconut or dessicated coconut

400ml malibu

225g butter

225g caster sugar

4 large eggs

250g self raising flour

450g marzipan

Place the fruit, apricots, cherries and coconut in a bowl together with the malibu and leave to soak for 1 - 2 hours. Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 3/160C/325F and grease and line an 8 inch round spring form tin. Cream together the butter and sugar then add the eggs one at a time, whisking after each egg is added. Sift in the flour and fold in gently to incorporate. Fold in the fuit mixture and soaking liquor. Scrape half the mixture into the tin, then take 1/3 of the marzipan and roll out into a circle the same size as the tin. Use a little icing sugar to dust the surface you are rolling the marzipan out on. Place the maripan into the tin and top with the remaining cake batter. Bake in the oven for 1 1/2 - 2 hours until the cake is firm and a knife comes out clean when inserted into the middle. Allow the cake to cool and turn out upside down. Roll out the remaining marzipan into a circle the size of the cake, keeping the trimmings to make the balls for decoration. The underside of the cake should be sticky enough to secure the marzipan when you place it on top. If it is not, brush the cake with a little warmed apricot jam. Roll the trimmings into 11 balls to represent the 11 apostles, then place the cake under a grill for 2 - 5 minutes until the marzipan balls are golden brown, turning the cake half way through to ensure even colouring. Decorate with ribbon and Easter chicks.

I have some exciting news that I am now able to share with you. My next book to be published by Ryland Peters and Small will be Whoopie Pies - coming out next Spring! Needless to say I have a busy few weeks ahead creating and testing the recipes but I am so looking forward to working on this project. For those of you who are yet to discover the delights of the Whoopie pie, these are dreamy light and dainty cakes sandwiched together with very wicked fillings. It is such a me project and I am so excited to be working on it! Will keep you all posted on the writing/testing/photo process!

Buckwheat Cherry Cake

I am always on the hunt for delicious Gluten Free cakes and Maren kindly gave me her Mum's recipe for this Beechnut and Cherry cake. It was so delicious and I have never cooked with Buckwheat Flour before. It has a really nutty and distinctive flavour from the beechnuts it is made of. So next time you need a gluten free cake why not give this a try - five of us ate almost the whole cake within 15 minutes which is quite an achievement and it says a lot for Maren's delicious recipe.

Buckwheat and Cherry Cake
Serves 8 - 10

6 large eggs, separated
200g/7oz caster sugar
100g/3 1/2 oz buck wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 large jar of preserved sour cherries, drained
600ml double cream, whipped to soft peak
3 tbsp grated chocolate for decoration

Preheat the oven to Gas mark 175C and grease and line a 9inch spring form tin. Whisk together the egg yolks and caster sugar until thick and creamy. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks and then fold into the egg yolk mixture. Mix together the flour and baking powder and then sprinkle over the egg mixture and fold through gently. Gently pour into the baking tin and bake for 30 - 40 minutes until the cake is firm (it will feel quite foam like rather than cake like - almost like a marshmallow). Allow the cake to cool completely then cut into three layers and fill each layer with cream and cherries. Top with grated chocolate and serve immediately. Store any uneaten cake in the fridge due to the fresh cream.

Greetings from Hamburg. I am away visiting my dear friend Maren before heading to Berlin for a few day for work. We have had a lovely few days, eating delicious food and sight seeing and this evening have been to a lovely organ concert for Palm Sunday. This is the cutest Quark Easter Hare that I had for breakfast - almost too good to eat, but too delicious not to!

People are always either Magimix or Kitchenaid people. I am definitely a Kitchenaid girl (I so wish I was on commission but sadly am not). I use it for everything, pasta, cakes, bread. Two months ago my kitchenaid broke and I have been lost without it. To be fair I have owned it for about 10 years and use it almost every day so I guess it was only time before it gave up the ghost in protest. In the interim two months I have managed to blow up a cheap electric hand mixer through over use and am now on my second one. I am bereft without a heavy duty mixer. In the meantime, a parcel of car parts arrived at out house four weeks ago (there is a relevance to this and my mixer as you will see below). We knew it was car parts because it said so on the box but my husband said it had been sent in error and that we had to send them back. Needless to say, both of us being busy, the box sat in the kitchen getting in the way until last week when my husband told me to take it to the post office. Now the box was very heavy and I huffed and puffed all the way to the post office and then huffed a lot more at having to pay the princly sum of £19 to send the car parts away but at least they were out of the kitchen! This morning I received a very strange call from the car parts company to say that they couldn't understand why I had posted them an old mixer - the car parts box was the one we had reused to pack my mixer in when it was collected by Kitchenaid two months ago. So my mixer had sat in the kitchen for a whole four weeks without me knowing and now I have to pay £9 to get it sent back again!!!! (Just to clarify it didn't say anywhere on the box that it was from Kitchenaid and they had taken my postage label off!) Luckily, I managed to see the funny side (I can just imagine the look on the car part man's face when he opened the box) and can't wait to be reunited with my mixer tomorrow! Lets just hope it works. Lesson to be learned - always open parcels before sending them back....

Mocha Pretzel Cookies

This is one of my recipes features in the latest Country Kitchen magazine - click here for a link to the magazine. Pretzels and crisps in a biscuits may sound odd, but trust me - the salt and chocolate work REALLY well!!!

Preparation time 15 minutes, Baking time 10 – 15 minutes
Makes 15 - 18

1tbsp instant coffee granules
1 tbsp boiling water
125g/4oz butter, softened
115g/3½oz caster sugar
200g/7oz plain flour, sifted
1 tsp baking powder
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
60g/2oz plain salted pretzels
30g/1oz ready salted crisps
100g/3½oz white chocolate chips
200g/7oz plain chocolate, chopped into chunks
60g/2oz shelled pistachios

Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 4/180°C/350°F and grease and line two large baking trays. Dissolve the coffee in the boiling water and set aside to cool. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and caster sugar with an electric hand mixer or whisk. Add the flour and baking powder, cooled coffee mixture, egg and vanilla and whisk again to form a soft dough. Add the pretzels, crisps, white and plain chocolate and pistachios and whisk again so that everything is incorporated. The pretzels and crisps will break up as you mix. Place tablespoonfuls of the cookie mixture onto the trays about 3cm/1 inch apart as they will spread a little during cooking and bake for 10 – 15 minutes until golden brown on top but still slightly soft in the middle. Allow to cool on the trays for a few minutes then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

I just wanted to belatedly mention my lovely Mum and our Mother's Day Celebrations - here she is with her Mother's Day posy! Mum came to lunch on Sunday and for once the Aga didn't break down (as is did on Mother's Day last year and at Christmas!!!) so I managed to make my Mummy a nice lunch of smoked salmon, asparagus and potato cakes with a tarragon sauce, rack of lamb with wild mushrooms and port sauce with leek puree, cumin scented kale, potato and parsnip dauphinoise and for pudding a sultana sticky toffee pudding with clotted cream - very naughty but nice. We then went to see Alice in Wonderland in 3D - we loved it and I definitely recommend it! Happy Mother's Day Mum xxxx

Carrot and Carriander Salsa

Sometimes a simple salad can be so refreshing. This is lovely served with grilled meat or fish.

Preparation time 10 minutes, serves 4 as a side salad

1 large carrot, grated

3 tomatoes

1 large bunch fresh corriander, finely chopped (about 3 heaped tbsp)

1 tbsp seasame seeds

For the dressing

2 tbsp olive oil

Juice of 1 large lemon

2 tbsp maple syrup

salt and pepper to season

Cut the tomatoes in half and scoop out all the seeds with a spoon (if you prefer you can keep the seeds but they make the salsa more watery) and finely chop the tomato flesh. Mix the carrot, chopped tomato, corriander and seasame seeds in a bowl gently so that everything is combined. Place all the dressing ingredients in a bowl and whisk to emulsify, then stir gently through the salsa and serve immediately.

This is the little cake I made for a friend's daughter's birthday last night. She is completely into princesses and fairies so I hope that she will like it. The cake itself is a toffee sour cream cake with white and milk chocolate chips and vanilla butter cream. I had to work late yesterday and then to the supermarket so didn't take the cakes out of the oven until 10pm! There was then a very rapid cooling on our doorstep (thank goodness for sub zero temperatures), a quick splash or two of icing and the cake was finished by 11.30pm. The star wands are made with white chocolate mikado sticks with jelly stars on top. Carefully poke a sharp knife into each jelly star and twist it 360C so that you make a pocket inside the star. Gently press a mikado stick into the hole (this took a bit of practice and I have to admit I broke a few sticks to start with!). You could do this with other jelly sweets and use as a simple decoration around the outside of a plain cake - jelly spiders on dark chocolate mikado sticks for a Halloween cake perhaps - the possibilities are endless!!!!

Since retiring from working as Head of Art at a school, my Dad has become an art examiner marking International A Level and GCSE Art. As part of this he gets to travel around the world visiting schools. I am sure he is busier now than when he was working full time - some retirement hey! On a recent trip to New Zealand he came across these wonderful corrugated iron buildings and took photos as he thought that I might like to share them with you on the blog. Hope you enjoy! It is enough to make me want to visit NZ to see them, despite the VERY long flight! Perhaps we could think about creating one in the garden although I am not sure what our neighbours would think!

This weekend I finished Gareth and Amy's wedding sampler - in just under 4 weeks this is not bad going and I am really pleased with it. Sentiments to live life by. In case any of you are wondering - Monkeytown is where they got married - a quirky venue for a quirky couple!
(ps - a few of you have asked about the chart - it is Lizzie Kate ABC and I just used the charted letters to write the last line myself. The chart comes as a kit with threads - lots of lovely colours like lettuce leaf, queen bee and secondhand rose - I am such a sucker for nice threads! Stichaholic...who me???)

I am pleased to announce that my lovely ice cream book has been released a little sooner than scheduled and is now available on Amazon (and in book shops too) I really hope you all like it!

Brazil Nut Maple Cookies

I have always had a thing for Brazil nuts - the poor man's macadamia. I am sure it stems from receiving boxes of "Just Brazils" from my Grandma every year for my birthday (as well as other lovely presents I hasten to add - wouldn't want you to think that that was the only thing she gave me!) I recently came across some Brazil Nut cookies in a well known supermarket and was really excited to try them but they were so disappointing and didn't satisfy my Brazil nut craving at all - they didn't even taste of Brazil nuts. So here is my own version - with maple, caramel and chocolate for that extra indulgent treat

Preparation time 15 minutes Cooking time 12 - 15 minutes
Makes 18 approx

350g/12oz plain flour, sifted
pinch of salt
200g/7oz light brown sugar
½tsp bicarbonate of soda
125g/4½oz butter, softened plus extra for greasing
2tbsp maple
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 tbsp caramel sauce (Waitrose Seriously Buttery Caramel Dipping Sauce is dreamy)
200g/7oz Brazil Nuts, chopped
200g/7oz Dark Chocolate, chopped

Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 4/180°C/350°F. Grease and line two baking trays. Mix together the flour, salt, caster sugar and bicarbonate of soda in a mixing bowl. Heat the butter with the syrup until the butter has melted, cool slightly and then stir into the dry ingredients with a wooden spoon. Beat in the egg and caramel sauce and mix well. Add a little extra flour if the mixture is too sticky. Fold in the chopped chocolate and nuts. Divide the dough into 18 small pieces and place on the trays leaving a gap between each as the cookies will spread a little during cooking. Bake for about 12 - 15 minutes until the cookies are golden brown. Leave to cool on the trays for a few minutes then transfer to a rack with a spatula to cool.

My special friend Tina had her birthday party at the weekend. Tina loves everything Japanese, particularly the cherry blossom (she even works for a Japanese bank but I think this is just coincidental) so this is the Japanese themed cake I made for her birthday - complete with edible pictures of geisha, kimono ribbon and fresh orchids. I am glad to report that she was thrilled with the cake and said she would remember it for the rest of her life - praise indeed. To celebrate her birthday - Tina did an indoor skydive at Milton Keynes - I went along to watch (its definitely not on my list of things to try!!!!)

Leek and Gorgonzola Soufflés

Serves 6 as a starter Preparation time 30 minutes, cooking time 20 – 25 minutes

250g leeks, finely sliced

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp and 45g/1½oz butter plus extra for greasing

100ml sweet sherry

28g/1oz plain flour

300ml full fat milk, warmed

100g/3 ½ oz gorgonzola dolce

1 tsp Dijon mustard

3 large eggs, separated

Freshly ground salt and pepper to season

In a large saucepan, sauté the leeks in the olive oil and a tablespoon of butter until they are soft and translucent. Add the sherry to the pan and simmer for 2 – 3 minutes. Blitz the leeks and sherry to a puree in a food processor and leave aside to cool. Melt the remaining butter in a saucepan, then add the flour and beat with a wooden spoon. Add the warm milk a little at a time beating all the time over a gentle heat until you have a smooth white sauce. Chop the cheese into small pieces and add to the white sauce with the mustard and leek puree and whisk until the cheese has melted. Allow to cool slightly then whisk in the egg yolks. Grease six small ramekins with a little butter and preheat the oven to Gas Mark 5/190C/375CF. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks and then gently fold into the leek mixture. Place the dishes on a baking tray and fill almost to the top with the soufflé mixture. Transfer to the oven and bake for 20 – 25 minutes until the top of each soufflé is golden. Serve immediately.

Is this the latest trend in modern art? Move over chimpanzee painting, can I introduce icing art! (can you see an almost globe, santa clause leg, a little fish?) More importantly can you guess what I was making!!!! Actually this is the left over drip catching foil from under my baking rack for a wonderful project I am working on at the moment which I hope to be able to tell you about soon - although can't quite yet as I don't want to tempt fate! I wonder what my icing art would retail for - any takers?!!!!

Baby It's Cold Outside

More snow this weekend and it is still snowing this morning. My poor old hens gather round the backdoor hoping to be let the house (only allowed when Sacha is not here!) - their claw prints look so cute in the snow! They even tried to get in through the cat flap yesterday having watched peapod go in. Two small deer were also looking for food in our garden. Luckily our thick thatch roof is keeping us warm!

I am not quite sure about how I feel about this photo - it was taken on a visit to a bakery in Suffolk earlier this week and takes playing with your food to a completely new level. The baker had constructed a beach hut from tin loaves and baguette for the roof sandwiched together with margarine and complete with miniature bunting. I wonder if it would have appealed more if made from cake rather than bread - a project for another day perhaps!

Chicken Soup for the Soul

There is nothing worse than feeling poorly when you are away from home. Our poor house guest Maren has been poorly for the last two days and in bed and I have been trying my best to make her feel better. There is nothing nicer when you are feeling under the weather than chicken broth so this is what I made yesterday evening for Maren. Giancarlo Caldesi, when I spent time in his kitchen, taught me the importance of making a proper soffrito for the base of any soup. Although it takes a little extra time, it gives a delicious flavour. It seemed to work as by bedtime yesterday evening Maren was feeling a little better. Get well soon Maren xxx

Serves 4
Preparation time 35 minutes, cooking time 1.5 - 2 hours
3 tbsp olive oil
3 large carrots
2 small leeks
1 red onion
1 clove garlic, peeled
1 large sprig rosemary
3 bay leaves
salt and pepper to season
2 tbsp brandy
6 chicken thighs (skins removed)
2 litres chicken stock

Peel the carrots and onions and trim the leeks. Finely dice the carrots, onions and leeks by hand - as small as you can (Giancarlo says that chopping in a food processor just won't do - although if you are short of time you can of course use a food processor) Add the oil to a large saucepan and saute the vegetables, together with the sprig of rosemary (leave whole as you don't want the rosemary in the soup, just for flavour) and bay leaves. Crush the garlic clove under the flat blade of a large knife so that the flavour will be released but the clove stays whole and add to the pan. Simmer for 15 - 20 minutes over a gentle heat until the vegetables are very soft. Remove the rosemary, bay and garlic clove and discard. Add the brandy to the pan and cook for a further 5 minutes. Season the chicken and add to the pan (pushing the vegetables to the side of the pan so the chicken is in contact with the base of the pan) and brown gently. Once the chicken is browned, add the stock to the pan and simmer for 1 1/2 hours over a gentle heat. When the soup is ready, use a slotted spoon and remove the chicken from the pan. Chop into small pieces (allow to cool a few minutes before you do this as the chicken will be hot). Strain the vegetables from the soup so you are left with the clear soup base (but keep the vegetables as you will return them to the soup shortly). Skim the soup to remove the oil that will cover the surface using a large spoon or a gravy strainer. Return the chicken and vegetables to the pan and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot with crusty bread and you are sure to feel better soon.

Lovely Kathy Brown has just posted a feature on her blog about planting with my hen's blue eggs. I just knew there had to be a use for the leftover egg shells from all my baking and Kathy has the perfect idea. Displaying them in a cupcake cakestand is just genius and so me! Pop by and have a look at Kathy's lovely blog if you have time - she has some lovely stories about her garden and recipes too - www.kathybrowngarden.blogspot.com

Is this not the coolest popcorn you have ever seen? I found it in a deli in Leamington Spa at the weekend. You put the whole cob in the microwave in the special bag provided and 2 minutes later the cob is almost empty and you are left with lots and lots of popcorn. It was delicious! I served mine with maple syrup butter (just melt butter with maple syrup and a pinch of salt) - naughty but definitely nice!

On Friday evening my friend Jess and I made 150 cupcakes for her sister in law's birthday. Jess wanted the cupcakes to look as mad and brightly coloured as possible and I think we managed to achieve that! Thank goodness for disposable icing bags as we made 8 different coloured icings. The whole kitchen was covered in a dusting of edible glitter when we had finished including Jess and myself! My favourite were the purple ones with glace cherries - so simple but they looked so pretty with a little dazzleberry glitter! Can you spot the mad Crusty the Clown cupcake that we made with all the leftover icing at the end of the evening!!!!

Sometimes I really believe in destiny! There was definitely destiny in play when we were in a large antique/junk shop in Bath last weekend and, up in the attic rooms, came across this tiny miniature dresser. I have no idea why anyone would have had such a small dresser made (apparently it came from Croatia so perhaps kitchens there are small?) but we both looked at it and said in unison "Shepherd's Hut" and bought it there and then - even thought it was a little damp and I am sure had lived outside for a while (this helped greatly with the price negotiations)! So we are now the proud owners of what I am sure must be one of the smallest dressers in the UK which is gently drying out in front of the Aga and patiently awaiting the arrival of our hut. I don't think I have ever purchased a more "me"/"Hannah's Country Kitchen" piece of furniture!

Guinness and Irish Cheddar Easy Loaf

This is one of my recent recipes from Country Kitchen Magazine. A super quick bread with no yeast. You can substitute other fizzy beers or cider which will change the flavour of the bread if you prefer. Given the addition of sugar to the bread, it is a sweet loaf, but goes very well with soups and pates.

Preparation time 15 minutes, proving 30 minutes, baking 45 – 50 minutes
Makes one 8 inch round loaf

250ml Guinness
350g/12½oz self raising flour, sifted
60g/2oz caster sugar
100g/3½oz strong Irish cheddar cheese, grated
2 tbsp pumpkin seeds (optional)
2 tbsp butter, melted

Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 4/350F/180C and grease an 8inch round spring form tin. Place the Guinness, flour, sugar, grated cheese and seeds if using in a bowl and mix well with a wooden spoon until all the flour is combined. The dough will be sticky and not like a normal bread dough that you would kneed. Transfer the dough into the tin using a spatula and leave in a warm place for 30 minutes. Bake in the oven for 35 minutes then drizzle the melted butter over the top of the loaf and return to the oven for a further 10 – 15 minutes until the loaf is golden brown and sounds hollow when you tap it. Serve warm or cold. To freeze this bread, cut into slices and place in a zip lock bag in the freezer for up to 2 months.