Yummy Post

Apart from my family my other love in life is cooking and baking. For me there is no greater compliment than seeing people enjoy what I have cooked and baked for them.
The last couple of days, with hubby being home, I have enjoyed some quality kitchen time.
This year I have started to bake all of our bread. At first it started out as a challenge as it was something that I had never tried to bake before. However, after the first loaf, I became enthralled with how the dough changes and transforms and becomes one of the most staple elements of our diets. I get such satisfaction from putting all the different, individual ingredients together, mixing with my hands, kneading and feeling the change within the dough and creating a food that everyone will love. I do like to get creative with my cooking and baking and I often take a basic recipe and add what I think will go well and create my own twist.
This weekend I was making some bread and decided to make a wholemeal loaf for the children but I also made an olive and seeded bloomer which was delicious served with some tangy chives and onion cheese and blue Stilton.
Every weekend my parents come down and I always bake a cake. Both my dad and hubby are huge cake fans so it is unthinkable to not serve a cake. This week I tried a twist on a lemon drizzle cake. This week I made a St. Clements drizzle cake. I love to make a moist orange sponge but my lemon drizzle cakes have been going down a storm. So what better way to add a twist, I mixed the two! This created such a light, moist cake and one that I definitely will be baking again. Needless to say by the time my parents left there was only one piece left!
It certainly does sound like all I have done during these last couple of days is bake cakes!
Today we went to have lunch with my father in law for his birthday. Now, it really would be rude to go cakeless. So I baked his favorite. Carrot cake. This too is my absolute favorite cake. But, believe it or not, this is a cake that I have never dared bake until yesterday. It is extremely laborious preparing all of the ingredients and I think that this is one of the reasons that I have shied away from it. But I am always up for a culinary challenge and it was for my father in law. Yes it took me forever to grate the carrots and I felt like a work out had been done on my arm once the were done, but it was so worth it. I was over the moon with the results and this will not be the last one that I bake!
I do have one challenge that I have not conquered but I will not give up. My nanna used to make the most amazingly, scrummy, fruit scones and I have her trusted recipe. However mine never turn out like hers did. Sadly she is no longer with us. We lost her 3 days after the twins were born so I cannot ask for her advice. One thing is for sure, I will keep practicing until I have got them perfect! That is going to be my next bake this week, we'll see how I get on this time.