blood orange poppy seed muffins with earl grey tea glaze

these muffins are perfect for breakfast and are great eaten still warm.

i love blood oranges and i wanted to make the most of a big bag i picked up recently to i made these muffins with some freshly squeezed orange juice for breakfast.

the season for blood oranges is almost over, but these would work well with regular oranges or even lemon.

Papaya and lime scones

i enjoy eating papaya with a little lime juice squeezed onto it so i thought it would be a nice flavour combination to add into a scone mixture. the two flavours go togther really well.

these scones were wonderfully crumbly and were really nice still warm with a bit of butter.

hummingbird cake with cinnamon and honey cream cheese frosting

The name of this cake made it appealing to me before I even knew what the ingredients where, when i found out i was totally sold, banana, pineapple and coconut. Can it be any more perfect?.

there is cinnamon and brown sugar in it too.

banana cake with salty honey creme fraiche

when i first imagined this cake it was going to be an large layered cake, but i changed by mind and decided to stick with the humble loaf cake.

it is a very special cake though as i have used nice ingredients like black Hawaiian salt, Madagascan vanilla beans and cut heather honey with some creme fraiche, lets just say its a fancy banana bread.

raspberry and lychee curd tarts with crystallised rose petal meringue

these tarts a little bit special,  you may be able to see the pastry is pink. that's because i added some freeze dried raspberry powder to it.

the curd is made from raspberries and lychee's and i added some crystallised rose petals into the Italian meringue. they are so yummy.

black grape lemon and thyme cake with comb honey and yogurt cheese

This cake was so wonderfully moist and delicious.

We all really enjoyed it.

I love black grapes they are my favourite they went really well with the lemon and thyme and I added some greek yoghurt too.

matcha green tea cake with black sesame frosting and brittle

this cake has layers of matcha green tea and vanilla cake with black sesame vanilla frosting.

i made a black sesame paste from ground up sesame seeds and mixed in some sesame oil but you can use store bought black sesame paste or tahini.

whole blood orange semolina cake with rosemary

when i saw the box of blood orange in the fruit and veg shop i bought loads,

 as before you know it the season has gone and you cant get any more until next year.

 this cake has two whole blood oranges in it that have been boiled until tender then pureed

earl grey cardamom and citrus cake with dates walnuts

this cake, wow where do i start?, it is so fragrant.

i added some Tunisian dates in a bowl of earl grey tea to soak up the flavour but i also added some of the tea into the cake batter.

 the sponge has brown sugar and ground cardamom with the zest of a lemon and pink grapefruit and some of the juice in it. for texture i added some chopped walnuts. 

A persian love cake of sorts for your valentine

i decided to make this cake with valentines day in mind.

have you heard the tale behind the Persian love cake? well it goes a bit like this, a woman was desperately in love with a prince and she made him this cake to make him fall in love with her.

vegan avocado chocolate muffins with cacao nibs

i know its not like me to try and create something healthy (or healthier than it would be with butter?)

but its incredible how good these vegan muffins taste.

if you want them to be extra healthy then swap the sugar for honey or maple syrup.

blood orange chocolate cake with cacao nibs

this cake has the juice and zest from a blood orange, with dutch process cocoa and cacao nibs and is drizzled with a blood orange glaze.

my kitchen smelt so amazing while this was baking i could not wait to try a slice.

rose lychee and raspberry shortbread cookies

These cookies have a wonderful flavour I used the juice from some lychees and I added some freeze dried raspberries and rosewater and dried rose petals. these cookies can be vegan if you use vegetable butter rather than dairy.

pomelo lemon and poppy seed muffins with ciitrus thyme syrup glaze

these buttermilk muffins have little pieces of chopped up pomelo in with the juice and zest of a lemon. i brushed them with a citrus honey and thyme syrup and sprinkled some pearl sugar on top.

guest post over on butter and brioche

I have been a bit M.I.A this week as I have been up in London and im away again next week so i don't have many posts to share but I do have this recipe for pink grapefruit and rosemary madeleines over on butter and brioche 

lemon and vanilla creme patissiere brioche tart

this was one of those recipes that just seemed to come together, i had some left over brioche dough and decided to make this tart,

sometimes the best things are made when you just play around with ingredients.

winter citrus honey and saffron syrup cakes with sweet labne

these little syrup soaked cakes a packed with citrus flavour. i added juice from a lime, lemon and pink grapefruit in to the sponge and the syrup.

i made the labne and sweetened it with honey and a vanilla pod

Caribbean princess cake from hand made baking cookbook

 I flicked through the cookbook "hand made baking" and saw the recipe for the Caribbean princess cake it looked amazing and i have been dreaming making it ever since.

it is based on a Dominican cake whixh is why i was so excited about making it.

pear and parsnip cake with rosemary syrup

I got April carters new book "decorated" for Christmas and fell in love with the apple and parsnip cake recipe in it, i decided to make it over the Christmas break and really enjoyed it,

 So i made it again today but this time with pears in place of apple.

pear salted caramel and almond challah

 I love making bread, especially challah.

i was making a pear challah and I was going to put honey in it then i changed my mind and used some salted caramel instead sauce instead it was lovely.  If you don't have any then try adding 3/4 cup of honey and only add 180ml water.