If your mouth is still watering over Part 1 of our Mother’s Day cookery delights, you’ll love Part 2 just as much! Mother’s Day really is the perfect day to show that special someone how much they mean to you, and there is no better way than with all things sweet and delicious. Read on for some delectable delights…
After spending a relaxed Sunday morning with the family and wondering if we were going to be braced with snow, we all voted for freshly baked bread for lunch. There’s something really satisfying about baking a loaf of bread to accompany a steaming bowl of soup, especially on a cold winter’s day. The appeal of baking soda bread is that it can be made in less than an hour and it uses ‘Bicarbonate of Soda’ rather than yeast as a leavening agent. It also requires the minimum amount of mixing and the dough doesn’t require any kneading. It’s no surprise it has a reputation of being a ‘quick bread’.
I reluctantly stepped on the scales last week to find that I have gained a good few pounds after the excess of Christmas. This can have its challenges when you bake for a living, and especially when you love cake and most diets completely forbid any cake to pass your lips. Well, I think that a little of what you fancy in moderation is fine, but if moderation is something you struggle with then maybe these skinny cupcakes could be the answer. Instead of the usual 300 calories per cupcake these skinny cupcakes check in at only a 167 per calories per (muffin-sized) cake!
image via Inky Pots
Happy New Year!
I hope you’ve enjoyed the recent festive period. Personally I’ve relished the rest. It’s a time of year where I really do switch off from work and being creative. I love baking and my work, however spending some quality time with my loved ones (who we see only a handful of times a year) felt really good. After New Year was over we said goodbye to family and friends, travelled home, took the decorations down, and then I’ve been working on my plans for 2013.
Day 10 of our ’30 Day Countdown to Christmas’ series
These Christmas pudding cupcakes look amazing from the amazing Sweet Paul Magazine. I love the recipes, styling and photography from their digitial magazine. Regular readers may recall that I reviewed the Sweet Paul magazine earlier this year ( you can read it here).
Image and Recipe by Sweet Paul
For my European readers, please note that the following recipe is in American cup measurements. You can convert these into grams or ozs using a conversion website such as Convert -Me.com as different ingredients have the different cup conversions.
Please note that Confectioners sugar is also the same as icing sugar.
See tomorrow on day 9 of our Christmas countdown.
As Mother’s Day in the UK is fast approaching, I thought I’d share with you a couple of gift ideas. These are ideal for mothers who love baking and indulging in the odd one (or two) cupcakes. Here is Part 1 of my top picks:
Flower Cupcakes
For those who wish to bake cupcakes as a gift for Mother’s Day, how about these pretty flower cupcakes from Betty Crocker (minus the candles). The flower petals have been made from cut up marshmallows that have been covered in pastel sugar sprinkles. For the centre of the flowers you could use a sugar coated jelly sweet for the centre (this may need a little sugar glue to stick it down). For full details of how to make these click here.
Image via Betty Crocker
Treat her to a Cupcake Class
Image via Ian Olsson
If your mum loves cupcakes and would like to learn how to professionally decorate them, then our 3 hour Let’s Decorate’ course is ideal for mothers and daughters. We have a few places available on our ‘Let’s Decorate’ cupcake class on Saturday 17th March ( shameless plug, I know 
). Relaxed and friendly fun is guaranteed.
Baking Gifts
If your mum loves to bake bread then these original Hovis bread tins from NOTHS* would make a lovely gift. They are solid and heavy duty, perfect for bread and would equally look lovely with flowers or herbs in. Click on the image for further details. Mr S and little T, please take note that I’m putting this one on my wish list. 
Happy Baking!
* Part of my affiliate program.
