My 2017 Christmas Cake inspired by my Grandma

This years Christmas cake is now resting and being feed every two weeks with brandy to keep it moist.

I love Christmas cake. I really do. I love the spice and all the fruit that is packed into slice. I love the sweetness of the icing and marzipan that  just marries with the fruit.

Christmas should be about about eatting lots of lovely rich and seasonal food. From the end of October, our cupboards start to fill up with many of the treats that we will indulge in over the festive period. Some of those treats will be traditional ones such as homemade puddings and cakes.

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Gluten Free apple crumble muffins

Gluten Free apple crumble cakes are the perfect winter cupcake.

As winter approaches we find ourselves, here in the UK, seeking comfort in warming stews and baked puddings such as apple crumble and custard or steamed syrup sponge, hence the inspiration for putting apple crumble flavours into a gluten free muffin.

My 2016 Gluten free Christmas cake inspired by Grandma

This years Christmas cake is now resting and being feed every two weeks with brandy to keep it moist.

One of the many things that we love about Christmas is being to eat lots of lovely rich and seasonal food. From the end of October, our cupboards start to fill up with many of the treats that we will indulge in over the festive period. Some of those treats will be traditional ones such as homemade puddings and cakes.

Gluten free slow cooker Aero Bubble mint cake

This mint Aero Bubble cake is made in a slow cooker and is a great gluten free bake.

This may not be the most attractive of cakes and perhaps looks like an early life form, but this is mint Aero Bubble cake, baked in the slow cooker.

The cake, originally blogged by Bakingqueen74, went viral via social media  in 2014. What makes this cake unique, is that it is made in the slow cooker, and if you follow or have read Lucy’s blog she has blogged a number of great bakes that can be made in the slow cooker.

 

 

 

 

Gluten free cherry and choc chip muffins

These gluten free cherry and choc chip muffins, make a great breakfast tweet.

Having just moved house and having to change my daily routine, I have struggled to find the time to eat breakfast before work. Nowa days, like a growing number of people with busy lives, I eat breakfast when I get to work.

There are some great quick and easy gluten free breakfast products available from all good supermarkets, but sometimes I just fancy something a bit different rather than cereal bars, fruit and youghurt and instant porridge. 

Gluten free chocolate and Cointreau cake

Gluten free chocolate and Cointreau cake makes a delicious grown up tea time treat or pudding. The cake tastes just like chocolate orange.

Over the last few weeks I have been experimenting with adding alcohol to cake to see how they flavour them.

The cakes have been a huge hit with my taste testers and they have really enjoyed and liked the flavours. They have been impressed that you can’t taste the alcohol, but it gives it a nice flavour.

Over the last two weeks I have been experimenting with Cointreau and chocolate. Cointreau is an orange flavoured liquor, and the end result should be chocolate orange once baked. These two flavours work really well together, the bitter taste of the chocolate marries well with the sweet/sour flavour of the orange.

Gluten free Malibu cake

This gluten free cake with coconut water and Malibu makes the perfect summer time treat.

After the success of my gin and lemon cake, I started thinking about how I would incorporate other sprites into cake. For me there are two more very obvious spirits that would work well in a cake. One of them being Malibu or a white coconut rum of your choice.

Gluten free gin and lemon cake

Gluten free gin and lemon cake. This is perfect for any gin fan.

One of my favourite drinks is gin. My Grandmother for as long as I can remember has been a gin drinker. When visiting her in Spain she always had a glass of gin and tonic while preparing dinner, 6 o’clock in her house was gin o’clock.

As a very young child I was fascinated that this drink not only included cubes of ice to keep the drink cool, but it had to be served with a wedge of lemon.

Lincolnshire Show – Great local producers and some gluten free finds

Lincolnshire is well know for its great range of fresh local produce.

The Lincolnshire Show has celebrated its 130th year on the 18th and 19th June. The show is about celebrating all the great things about Lincolnshire and one of those is food.

The Lincolnshire showground dedicates a large area to locally produced food and mall companies come far and wide to show off their produce.

#AtoZchallenge – L is for lemon drizzle cakes with lemon curd

Gluten free lemon and poppy seeds cakes with lemon curd and a lemon icing

This is one of my favourite lemon cake recipes and I thought I would share it again with all of my old readers and if you have not dug into my archive this is for all of my new readers.