Carrot and walnut cupcakes

These delicious little cakes were SOOOO moist and delicious. Every mouthful was a mixture of soft fluffy cake pickled with the crunch of walnuts. The colour of them was just lovely!! The orange strands of fresh carrots really brightened them up! :D (I'm just in LOVE with these!) 

They read didn't take long to bake either. Just 15 minutes before they were beautifully golden and firm to the touch. Absolutely delicious, if I do say so myself. :D 

To finish them off I iced them with a Philadelphia and icing sugar mixture with orange juice. That really finished it of. The icing was just so smooth and mixture of textures and colours was just divine! 

I'm using the recipe from my absolute favourite baking book at the moment: 'Home Baking'. I adore books and for me I low nothing more than sifting through cooking books :D I bought it last summer in 'The Works' in the UK for about £3.99 and every recipe I've made from it has turned out remarkably well for a heavy handed and poor decorating baker like me! 

As far as I can tell, 'The Works' no longer sells the book but follow the link below for the book on Amazon: 

tinyurl.com/k2whvmc

Fruit Flan

What I love love love about any summer pudding or dessert at brunch is the BEAUtiful array of fruits in store. Nothing says summer like ripe fruits stacked on a light cake or in a sweet pastry that can be enjoyed with cream in the garden. I love it! I've just made this flan and (call it geeky or weird) I can't help but feel warm inside when I look at this flan :D

Banana Bread; a twist

Banana bread is one of the most crucial recipes that anyone should learn but it super delicious and  moist. It is perfect as a warm pudding or taken in slices for packed lunches - like I had today :) This is my twist on the recipe which incorporates bananas, walnuts and coffee and finishes off with a toffee sauce. This is by far my favourite way to get rid of those over-ripe bananas without them going to waste.

Laura's Banana Bread

Ingredients:

3 large over-ripe bananas (mashed)

250g caster sugar

125g unsalted butter

2 eggs

'coffee concentrate' (2 heaped teaspoons of instant coffee dissolved in 50ml boiling water)

260g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 handfuls of walnuts

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup cream

1/3 cup butter

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees C

1. Line and grease a loaf tin with grease-proof paper
2. Whisk together the bananas and sugar for a good 4 minutes until smooth
3. Now beat in the butter until the mixture is, once again, smooth
4. Beat in the eggs, once at a time and then mix with 2 tablespoons of the coffee 'concentrate'
5. Now sift in the flour and baking powder and FOLD in with a wooden spoon
6. Fold in the walnuts pieces and the spread into the loaf tin
7. Bake for 45 minutes (This mixture tends to be quite wet so insert a skewer or fork from the top to the base of the cake to ensure it is fully cooked through - the skewer should come out of the cake clean)
8. Remove from the tin and leave to cool
9. Once cool, combine the brown sugar, butter and cream in a saucepan and constantly stir over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved
10. Reduce the heat and simmer the mixture until thickened the pour directly over banana bread