Victoria Sponge This is my best version of a Victoria sponge recipe; I think there are at least a couple of similar versions in here, but this one is better. Preheat oven to 180C fan/200C. 3 eggs, room temperature, weighed in the shell (I assume 200g) 200g unsalted butter, soft (20-25C); same weight as the eggs 200g caster sugar 200g self raising flour 1 tsp baking powder 0.

From Baking With Granny Date And Walnut Cake 225g dates, chopped (best not medjool, they are too squishy) 1 tsp baking soda (aka bicarbonate of soda or sodium bicarbonate) 85g butter, melted 85g caster sugar 120ml water, hot (or tea) 1 egg 85g walnuts (use walnut halves and roughly chop them) 225g self raising flour Put the dates, bicarb, butter and sugar in a large bowl and pour over the hot water.

These make a very short biscuit (no egg), related to shortbread, but closer to the French sablé. The basic recipe is for a lemon flavour version, but these are readily adaptable to other flavours, even savoury version with cheese and herbs. The recipe started with the Lemon Spelt Sablés from Annie Bell’s Baking Bible, from which I also took Canelés (and should be subtitled “how to bake using only a food processor”!

Conversions are hell! Especially when every country in the world uses metric units, apart from the USA (and maybe Canada, sometimes?). Let it be said that cup measurements are inherently imprecise: should they be packed down hard, scooped, filled to the brim or heaped? Then what about dessertspoons, tablespoons, and sticks of butter? My choice is to use metric everywhere, with the exception of (metric) spoon measurements, which will be levelled.

Hitherto, I haven’t made any specific news updates for this site; a brief summary is in the About link. Recently, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, I have been spending a healthy chunk of time converting from Jekyll to Hugo, and at the same time revising old recipes and adding new ones. There was quite a backlog of these new (not so new) recipes, which I hadn’t added for a couple of years because of poor interactions between Jekyll, Jekyll updates, and my chosen Jekyll theme, which wasn’t being updated.

The first thing I need to say is that canelés are very easy to make, and have a simple list of ingredients. That is, perhaps, the surprising part. The second is rather more obvious, which is that they are delicious. Canelés Ingredients 250ml milk (NOT skimmed sugar water) 25g butter (unsalted) pinch of salt 0.5 tsp vanilla 2 tsp dark rum 50g plain flour 125g caster sugar 1 medium egg plus 1 egg yolk This quantity is just right for a single silicone mould of 18 miniature canelés (or 8 large canelés, but I only have the small mould).

Kugelhopf I’ve been making kugelhopf/gugelhopf for years. It’s an enriched leavened dough, like a plain brioche or pannetone, always made in a ring shaped (toroidal) mould. I like it as a simple, but rather different, type of coffee cake. From Saveur. 85g raisins 2 tbs kirsch 80g + 330g bread flour 7g dried yeast 240ml milk 16g caster sugar - maybe more? 6g salt (linked recipe says 18g, seems a lot!

Christmas Cake This is a rich fruit cake, suitable for use as a Christmas cake. This is the basic recipe that I have used for family Christmas for quite a few years (although I don’t make this every year). The same basic recipe is in Delia’s Book of Cakes, and online. I’ll add some notes on my personal alterations at the bottom. Ingredients 450g currants 175g sultanas 175g raisins 50g glacé cherries, rinsed & chopped 50g candied peel, chopped (“dried mixed fruit”, 900g can be used instead or the last five ingredients) 3 tbs brandy (100ml), or any brown spirit (brandy, rum, whisky) 225g unsalted butter 225g soft brown sugar 4 eggs 225g plain flour 0.

From David Lebovitz. I heard about Flo Braker from David Lebovitz' blog, and I’ve been baking a pick of her recipes. This one makes a slim, crunchy almond biscuit, shaped like some commercial ones you can get in the supermarkets. My batch made about 70 biscuits, but Flo reckons on 80-90. This is a lot. 115g butter 300g demarara sugar (David cites turbinado for Americans) 1.5 tsp cinnamon 80 ml water 325g plain flour 0.

Digestive Biscuits From Bon Appetit. Makes about 30 with a 5cm/2” cutter. 115g butter, cold, cubed 33g wheat germ 75g sugar 1 tsp baking powder 5g salt 167g whole wheat flour, and a little more for dusting 65g milk Set oven to 180C (160C fan). Pulse dry ingredients (in a food processor!) plus butter (so all except the milk) to a crumbs texture; just a little moister than a powder.