A few little cakes baked this weekend - some rather yummy almond fondant fancies (with cute sugar toadstools and leaves and pretty sugar flowers) and a cake for for a work colleague who likes fishing. It was very easy to prepare with a large grass nozzle and some green buttercream for the lake bank and I used blue edible lustre spray and some edible glitter for the top of the "lake" which made it quite shimmery. If you have not tried edible lustre spray yet, do - you will love it!
People often ask where my creative side comes from. It most definitely comes from my Mum and Dad - they were both art teachers and are hugely more artistic than I am. This is a picture that my Dad did at the weekend for an art exhibition - it is for a charity exhibition of tiny pictures in CD cases. Some famous people are taking part and also some less famous people like my Dad. This is his picture made with shredded bank notes (it is my Dad's favourite art medium - he gets them from the Bank of England - shame they have to be shredded first!) The picture is called 21st Centurary Banker and the portrait is of Fred Goodwin (aka Fred the Shred - for his leathal cost cutting - shredded bank notes - get it?) former CEO of RBS in the UK. Anyway, irrespective of your political views of banks, I hope you like my Dad's picture! Very proud of him xxx
This is probably a sad confession to make - I love Glee and I particularly love the Warblers. Imagine my excitement when I spotted this CD in the service station on my way back from Suffolk yesterday. Ok, Ok - I know I am a completely sad case, but for any Glee fans out there, I can definitely recommend this. I sang along all the way home!
My lovely brother Gareth recently gave me the cutest of presents - this little japenese toy box call Bread and Butter - you don't know what's in the box until you open it - a bit similar to Kinder Suprise toys but soooo much better. Mine was from "Uncle Will Famous Cookie shop" and contained, two trays, 9 different cookies (including some very topical cookie pops) and a bag to put the cookies in. OK so I know this was just plastic but my word it is just the cutest thing! Perfect for a dolls house or toy shop! If you see one of these boxes, buy it - the contents are sure to make you smile!
The perfectly situated Castle Menzies where the wedding was held. It doesn't look haunted at all, does it? It is just near the village of Aberfeldy - which has one other very important claim to fame - JK Rowling of Harry Potter Fame has a house there ( one of her three houses!) We took a short detour past her house but no sign of her or any witches or wizards! Still we were excited just to see where she lived and I imagine it is the perfect quiet spot for writing.
Finally!!!! I have been able to get back onto blogger again. I don't know whether any of you have suffered similar problems but an upgrade in Internet Explorer was incompatible with blogger and despite my best efforts I just haven't been able to log on for ages. I had almost given up but the problem finally seems to have resolved itself and I can happily get back to blogging again. In the intervening time I have finished and submitted my final book - hurrah. Popcorn was such a lovely book to create recipes for that I ended up doing 4 extra recipes - I just found it a bit hard to stop once I had got into the swing of popping corn! It now seems very strange not to have to be cooking all the time but I must admit that it is nice to have a bit of a rest and catch up with friends and housework (very overdue)! Last weekend we went to the Highlands in Scotland for my friend Sonya's wedding. She got married in a castle (Menzies Castle - apparently the second most haunted Scottish castle - I turned up to help with the flowers the night before the wedding and was asked if I was there for the ghost hunting tour!!!!!) It was a truly memorable day and Sonya even arrived in a glass carriage with white horses and her wedding dress was worthy of a princess. Kate Middleton would have been proud! Happy Wedding memories Sonya and Dan xxxx
Ever since I ate at the wonderful Soho restaurant Bob Bob Ricard, I have been dreaming of their seductive sweetcorn mash. Who would have thought that the addition of some golden creamed corn to mashed potatoes could create what is in my view the ultimate comfort food. Rather than just dreaming about the mash until my next visit to Bob Bob, I decided this month to try and recreate their recipe. Whilst eating it at home doesn’t quite have the restaurant atmosphere (they have blue leather banquettes and very plush wallpaper!), this mash tastes almost as good as theirs, and for a girl who doesn’t travel to London that often, it will do me just fine. Served here with some lip smackingly good lamb, cooked in treacle and mustard for a “tex mex” feel, this dish is perfect for a casual supper with friends, with a large bowl of tortilla chips, soured cream and guacamole served alongside.
Ryland Peters and Small have very kindly said they will publish another of my book ideas - this time its "Popcorn"! If I had a £1
The bluebell woods near our cottage are in full bloom. Everytime I pass them, they take my breath away seeing the bright blue carpet underneath the trees. It is one of our long term plans to plant bluebells in our woodland but we never seem to find the time - perhaps next year! This lovely photo of my Mum was taking by her friend Linda in the bluebell wood at Coton Manor not far from where we live. What a pretty picture! The bluebell season never lasts long so if you haven't been out to a bluebell wood yet, you'd better be quick!
Like many of you I'm sure, I am so excited about the Royal Wedding tomorrow. I have spent this evening hanging bunting and flags ready for our Royal Wedding Brunch tomorrow. What fun! I have baked a little cake (with sultanas and coconut soaked in gingerbread liqueur - delish) and have lots of other goodies on offer. I will be making red white and blue popcorn tomorrow for us to munch on whilst waiting for Kate's dress to appear! Have fun with your celebrations xxx
It seems to be not just raining but pouring cook books in my life at the moment. This is definitely not a complaint and something I welcome with open arms! Sadly it means that the other loves in my life, blogging, sewing and seeing friends are all taking a back seat at present. In addition to having to finish Sweetie Pops and Milkshake bar by early May (I only have 7 recipes left to do before writing everything up - woohoo) both my Gluten free and Mini cake books are also in the final stages before going to print. I am spending every hour that I am not lawyering, working on books. I can't complain as it is so much fun to see my little books coming to life! I am pleased to be able to share with you the cover of my Mini cake book which is now available to pre-order on Amazon - I do hope you like it, particularly the little sugar strawberry decorations on top of the cakes which I made and sent by courier down to London wrapped in bubble wrap for the shoot! 
You may remember my German friend Maren who regularly features on this blog. Maren loves all things English and has now bought herself a cottage in Norfolk - isn't it pretty! Just a few miles from Wells Next the Sea with its lovely beach huts - I know she will get to spent many happy holidays there. She picked up the keys this weekend and we went with her to help her "move in" (this consisted of unpacking a kitchenaid mixer, blender, kettle and some beautiful strawberrry crockery - a woman after my own heart). Happy Housewarming Maren xxx
Channel 4's food website now has a few of my whoopie pie recipes on if you want to give them a try - click here for a link to the recipes - popcorn caramel pies, ice cream pies and classic chocolate marshmallow fluff whoopies! 
Earth to planet Hannah...Earth to planet Hannah...is there anyone out there? Yes is the answer - I have not disappeared but I am snowed under with recipe testing at the moment. I don't think I have mentioned it but in addition to my Milkshake book I am also writing a book of "Sweetie Pops" - yummy cakes and biscuits and sweet treats on sticks. Baked alaskas and jam tarts and profiteroles as well as some cute decorated cakes and biscuits! I have just reached the half way stage in recipes - 37 done, only 33 more to go (what a relief). These are some little carrot cakes I made last week with piped icing leaves and fondant carrots. This is now my 7th book which is still quite hard for me to comprehend - 7 books!!!! - if you had told me this when I was on Masterchef I would never have believed it! The book is being published by Anness and should be out later this year or early next year - will keep you posted! 
Today I can give you a quick sneak peak of my lovely Gluten Free book - The Gluten Free Baker - which is just about to go to print! I am so, so thrilled with the wonderful pictures that Megan, Joss and William have taken and I really hope that this will give people suffering from Coeliac disease some nice new recipes to try! It is a book that I am very proud of - achieving puff pastry and bagels that work without gluten was no mean feat I can tell you - I am sure Heston would be proud of my lower bagels into a jug of boiling water on a spoon technic! Out in August 2011 and available to pre order on Amazon now - plug plug!
For the last few weeks my life has been taken over by Milkshakes - one of life's greatest pleasures. What a hardship it has been (not!) It is the topic of my next book (The Milkshake bar) and I don't need to tell you how excited I am to be working on this project. Lots of lovely thick shakes, thin shakes, fruit cocktail juices and ice cream floats! Last weekend I made 32 drinks - by Sunday evening we were all feeling just a little sick! The problem with a good milkshake is that you think you will just take one sip to taste but somehow one sip becomes three and before you know it the glass is empty! I dread to think how much ice cream and milk we consumed. Luckily I had some helpful milkshake tasters on hand - Sacha (pictured here with a mango lassi - it is his recipe and he was very proud!) tasted every single one (that is true dedication to your wife!) and our other neighbours tried lots too - including baby Josef who was keen to try the watermelon cooler! I have one milkshake left to test - a doughnut milkshake - and the recipes to write up and then the book is finished - out new spring published by lovely Ryland Peters and Small, hurrah
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I suppose this tale could start something along the lines of "you can't consider yourself to be a cake decorator until you have made a compost site cake" except that would probably leave me in a category of one as I can't imagine that there is much call for cakes in the shape of compost sites! Jason was however delighted with his cake - what a beaming smile. The "compost" was crushed oreo cookies and even had aeration pipes made with liquorish tubes and litter netting. It was a far cry from my usual pretty flowery feathered cakes but fun to decorate all the same!
I recently spent a lovely afternoon with budding young cook, Kate. She is only 8 and yet is such a good cook that I am sure she could give some of the Masterchef contestants a run for their money. Kate bake two cakes (with a very tiny bit of help from me) - a cute teddy bear cake that she iced and decorated all by herself - don't you just adore the little necklace with the ladybird locket in the centre and the cute iced paws. We also made her dad a birthday cake. Kate was very good and planned out the design of the top of the cake by laying the decorations out on a plate before she put them on the top of the cake - John Torode would have been so proud of her. I held the icing bag and she piped all the green grass on top of the cake herself. What a lot of work for little hands! The cake looked very lovely when it was finished. Her Dad has since reported that Kate decided to cook again last week but this time took her planning to a new level designing her presentation layout for the dish (Haddock Mornay) on the computer! I was seriously impressed! Everything was plated up perfectly and everyone was ready to tuck in when Kate said she had forgotten the last detail - she then sprinkled a little edible glitter over the fish for extra decoration - a girl after my own heart - you can never have too much edible glitter, even with fish! Well done Kate for your wonderful cooking! 
This weekends baking projects - an 18th birthday cake for our niece Devina decorated with mad feathers, orange birds, tiger ribbon and chocolate crunchies (the only orange and brown sweets I could think of. She celebrated with a crazy bollywood party - complete with dancing - soooo much fun! When wrapped in film for transporting to London, the cake looked enormous and I don't think the staff at the venue had ever seen anything like it! I also made a pretty little cake for my friend Tina who came to visit this weekend - not quite as flamboyant but still a few feathers and I think Tina liked it very much. Both cakes were made with toffee yoghurt to keep them moist (I had a moment of inspiration in the supermarket) which gave them a delicious caramel flavour and I packed them full of milk, white and dark chocolate chips too. Yum yum! 
Are you following the new series of Masterchef this year? We have been avidly watching! Tomorrow is our "previous finalists" episode which I am on (don't think I will dare watch in case I say anything wrong - watch out for the pomegranate ice cream - it was STUNNING!) This is what the Radio Times says about the episode "The remaining 12 contenders face a daunting challenge as they cook for previous finalists and winners of the competition, working under head chef John Torode in their first restaurant-style service. They are asked to design a stand-out dish for the three-course menu and have just 30 minutes to deliver their food once the orders have been taken. The diners include Dhruv Baker, Mat Follas, James Nathan, Steven Wallis, Peter Bayless and Thomasina Miers." [and me too!] So tune in at 9pm on BBC1 tonight to watch us all! The below is a snap shot in the hotel the night before filming. We had a lot of fun and it was so strange to meet people for the first time who I felt as if I already knew personally.
I thought I would share with you my February article in Country and Town - we liked this article as we got to eat all the macaroons at the end of the shoot - yum yum! 
A few photos from our Christmas day "take 2" last weekend - we all felt very festive and listened to Christmas music all day - I have been humming "Simply...having.. a wonderful Christmas time" and "Do they know its Christmas"! Poor brain is a tad confused that it is not my birthday and New Year in a few days!
Thanks Mum for a lovely day!
Many men I know complain that Valentine's day is just a commercial gimmick. Personally I think this is just an excuse for not having to bother buying anything!!!!! The sentiment of showing someone you love them is however a nice thing to do and I admire Valentine's day for that. So lovely blog readers - he is my home made Valentine for you all - a heart gingerbread cottage that I made at the weekend. I used this recipe for the gingerbread - click here - but added 2 teaspoons of cinnamon and the zest of an orange. You need to wait for the mixture to cool down before being able to roll it out (it doesn't say this in the recipe but if you try before it is coolish, the dough is way too sticky and you are tempted to add more flour which would make the gingerbread quite dry). To decorate I used 900g royal icing sugar whipped up with 150ml water and 1 tsp vanilla extra and then decorated it with lots of lovely pink sweets. I cut a little triangle in the back house panel at the base and inserted some fairy lights so that when you plug it in the windows light up. The peppermint glass was made with 10 glacier minuts crushed in a blender to a fine dust. Cut out window shapes in the gingerbread before baking and fill with peppermint dust which will become glass like during the baking. It is best to bake on silicon mats so that the glass doesn't stick!With the sheets of gingerbread only taking 12 minutes to cook, you still have time to bake one today! Have fun if you do!
