RAW Baking

I love pouring a splash of brandy or rum over the Xmas pud and setting it alight. Then covering in custard and brandy cream. Pure xmas indulgence! 🎄 

 I loved baking all my treats for this year's Rawbaking Xmas selection boxes.  Thank you to everyone who ordered. Enjoy your treats!!

I have always wanted to make a yule log and am so glad I did. Why did I take so long to make one?!!  What a delight. A light chocolate sponge, filled with creamy chocolate butter icing.   Sprinkled with icing  sugar and topped with a bit of holly. It's so festive!!

Just organising my Xmas shortbread shapes! I do enjoy making shortbread and there is something lovely about cutting the dough into various Xmas shapes. 

A classic Christmas cake. A rock hard old fashioned royal icing,  a layer of marzipan and apricot jam on top of a rich, booze infused fruit cake. Gorgeous!!!

The Christmas pudding originated in the 14th-century  originally known as “frumenty”, which bears little resemblance to the dessert we know today.  Overtime, it was thickened with eggs, breadcrumbs, dried fruit and beer or spirits were added – and came to resemble something a bit more like a sweet pudding. I use an old recipe given to me by friend, whose grandmother gave it to her. I put brandy into my Xmas pud and leave to `mature' overnight before slow cooking for 5 hours. Here are 2 of my Xmas puds before they are cooked. The smell of brandy and mixed spice in the air is delicious!

It's that time of year again when I share with you what Rawbaking Christmas goodies will be available this year. My best-seller, the Christmas selection box. Beautifully presented in a festive cake box you have a selection of 9 different treats. The cost is £12.50 per box.   The treats included are as follows:-  Millionaire shortbread.  A shortbread base topped with lashings of smooth caramel sauce and topped with dark chocolate. Pure heaven. Jammy Dodger. Soft shortbread style biscuit with jam in the centre and sprinkled with glitter. A pure delight! Honeycomb and peanut chocolate slab .  My bestseller. A winning combination of chocolate, pieces of honeycomb and peanuts. `The Triple R’ - Rachels Rocky Road. A sticky chocolate base mixed with shortbread biscuit and stuffed with soft pieces of marshmallows. White chocolate fudge with cranberries. A smooth delicious creamy fudge mixed with cranberries. Snow Flecked Brownies. Everyone’s favourite! Dark chocolate, fudge style browni

 My rocky road skeleton 💀 Happy Halloween everyone!

 A very pink, girlie birthday cake for our neighbours daughters 21st birthday. A Victoria sponge filled with strawberry jam and creamy butter icing 😋 

A chocoholics birthday cake. Chocolate,  chocolate and more chocolate for my neice Tia's 11th birthday.  Chocolate sponge and butter icing topped with maltesers and chocolate fingers.

A rather large birthday coffee cake 🎂 Coffee sponge filled with coffee butter icing and topped with a few walnuts. 

 This is a cake for those of us with a very sweet tooth 😋  Lemon sponge with a white chocolate fudge butter icing in the centre. Topped with lemon icing and topped with white chocolate shavings!

  These delicious biscuits take a bit of time to make, as you have to pipe out the biscuit dough onto your baking tray but they are worth the time and effort! Once baked and cooled down, dip in melted chocolate then place in the fridge to set . As always-  delicious served alongside a cup of fresh coffee.

As a bit of a of a fun way to raise money towards The  British Hedgehog Preservation Society, I made some shortbread `hoggie biscuits' for my work colleagues.' I bought a great hedgehog cookie cutter in 2 sizes.  Sprinkled with sugar, these biscuits are great with a cup of coffee to keep you going in the morning. Hedgehog shortbread biscuits

Such a lovely birthday gift. An attachment to my kitchen aid mixer which makes pasta. I love it. Homemade pasta is delicious 😋 make the pasta on the kitchen aid mixer using the dough attachment then remove the bowl, attach the pasta maker and away you go! 

My Mojito Birthday cake! Bursting with the flavours of rum, lime and mint. This moist sponge is delicious- topped with a cream cheese and lime butter icing. My nearest & dearest, Lee made this for me. I was very impressed with his cake. 

 This is a very tasty alternative to the traditional pitta bread as irs much more light and fluffy. Great with hummus 😋  this recipe came from What Jessica Baked Next blog here  .  https://whatjessicabakednext.com/2021/08/10/greek-pita-bread/amp/

 I have been meaning to make honeycomb for years and here it is. I will be adding it into homemade gelato tonight. What a bank holiday weekend treat 😋  The recipe is so easy. Melt 150g of sugar with 2 tablespoons of golden syrup until it turns a golden colur ( about 3 mins simmering). Take off heat. Add 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda.  Mix with a metal spoon. Watch it rise and pour on a baking sheet, leaving to cool. 

With an excess of courgettes from the allotment I decided to try lemon and courgette cake. The courgette gives the cake a nice moistness. Although you have to be careful to squeeze out as much water as possible from the grated courgette. I should have squeezed out more as my cake was nice but a bit too moist.  It's worth a go at making though!  

I wanted to try this recipe for a long time. Pimms in a  cake? Sounded divine. Pimms is added at every stage - the sponge, buttercream and a delicious pimms syrup on the top!  I topped the cake with strawberry 🍓,  mint and edible borage flowers.  

This is such a lovely easy recipe and a great way for me to use up my large supply of plums, picked form the tree in my garden. I laid sliced up plums on the base, sprinkled them with cinnamon and then added the sponge mixture on top. The final stage is to add a crumble style mix which sits on top of cake. The end result is delicious.  A light sponge, with plums on the bottom and a lovely crumble on the top. Great with a spoon of crème fresh or a scoop (or 2!!) of ice cream. If you would like the recipe let me know and I'll post it up here as well.  

The tree is my garden has had a record number of plums this year, which considering the awful weather we have had is an absolute miracle. I have therefore been able to make masses of jam for family and friends this year to the point I have run out of jars! The jam tastes good on bread or add a bit to your porridge at breakfast.