Freckled Kirsty

Hello friends, This year my role at work has changed, and rather than working from an office I am based from home – this is fantastic and I love it, but one thing I miss is seeing my friends day to day. This week I popped back into the office and it was the perfect excuse to whip up some cakes and dish them out to my buddies. One of my friends has a favourite bake that I have taken in many times, and that is the Hummingbird Bakery’s Boston Cream Cupcakes. They are vanilla cupcakes, with a custard filling and smothered in a chocolate frosting. Absolutely gluttonous but a perfect treat to be enjoyed with a cup of tea – we devoured a fair few of these! This recipe can be found in the Hummingbird Bakery ‘Cake Days’ book, which you can find on Amazon here . Ingredients : This makes 12 cupcakes. For the cupcakes: 80g softened butter 280g caster sugar 240g plain flour 1 tbsp baking powder 240ml milk 2 eggs 1 tsp vanilla extract For the custard:

This week saw the final of the Great British Bake Off and I was very excited – of the three finalists I didn’t know who I wanted to win because they each bought something special to the table – Nadiya and her stunning, beautiful and flavorsome bakes, Ian and his originality and daring flavours inspired by his day to day life and Tamal, who seems like one of the loveliest people around. What I was sure of was that we were in for a visual treat, and probably a fairly tricky technical challenge and Millefeuille did not disappoint. Genuinely, whenever I head to a bakery this is one of the treats which tempt me the most, all of that yummy cream and jam sandwiched on crumbly layer rough puff – either that or an éclair!! So, the day after the final, to forget that Bake Off is over, I have decided to try the challenge. The recipe is one of Paul Hollywood’s and it is on the BBC Website here . Now, I have never made rough puff before, although I have made proper puff pastry, and it has

Hello friends, I haven't posted for a while, and the main reason for this is because I  have been on holiday, hurrah! I spent a week away with one of my girl friends on the Greek Island of Skiathos, and it was absolutely beautiful. We stayed in a little boutique hotel, and almost everyday  for breakfast  I had granola with Greek yogurt and honey. This isn't normally the type of breakfast I eat, but it was so good I resolved to make myself a batch as soon as I got home to continue the morning yumminess! Granola,  it turns out, is super easy to make and can be completely customised to your tastes - as long as you have a grain base and get the ratio of dry to wet right you can really chop and change this recipe as much as you like! Ingredients: 3 cups of grains - I used plain rolled oats, but you could mix this up with some quinoa, or use wheat or barley. 1 cup of chopped nuts - I used chopped hazelnuts and pistachios but again,  anything goes here. 1/2 cup of swe