RAW Baking

 I couldn't resist making a few mince pies this weekend 😋 Delicious buttery pastry with a chilli shaped topping! 

My christmas cake has been feed with a dash or 2 of brandy over the past few weeks. Yesterday i finished it off with marzipan, royal icing and decorations.

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 £15.00 per box or 2 boxes for £28.00.    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,

My popular  Rawbaking Christmas selection box orders will be available to order soon. A selection of 9 different baking goodies including Snow-flecked brownies, white chocolate cranberry fudge and my triple R Rocky Road.

A cheeky smaller cake in a loaf style.  Cherry bakewell seems to be a favourite for lots of people! This cake has a moist sponge with almond extract and ground almonds.  Lashings of jam in the centre and topped with almond icing sugar and of course, lots of glace cherries 🍒 

I absolutely love this  great British pud. Its a real treat either either custard,  cream or ice cream or go the whole way and have all 3!! I used Nigella Lawsons quick stp recipe

 Cherry bakewell sponge. Moist sponge with a ground almonds and almond extract. Topped with almond flavour icing, glace cherries and toasted almonds. A heavenly combination! I made this birthday cake for my other half, Lee who is a nig fan of the bakewell tart. 

This summer I had the privilege of extracting honey with the Hampton apiary. The honey extraction day was held in a village hall on one of the hottest days in 2023 so it was challenging! But was it worth it. I took home 2 jars of beautiful, glistening honey. Lets see how long they last!! So good on fresh bread. What a treat!!  

The very hot weather this summer made cake making very challenging. I left this birthday cake to `set' in the kitchen but it was so hot, the sponge slid partially off the bottom part leaving a very subsided looking cake. And would it slide back together. Of course not. So I left it and renamed the cake `Climate crisis chocolate cake.' 😂

A great easy traybake recipe using the plums from my garden. I added some cinnamon as well. A layer of plums on the bottom, with a layer of sponge on top then finished with a crumble topping. Very tasty  on its own or with a scoop of ice cream. 

A decadent chocolate mousse filling on top of a biscoff biscuit base. I decorated the tart with some edible, very pretty nasturtium flowers from my garden!

Another order for the summer classic and a favourite for 2022. The strawberry 🍓 and fresh cream sponge.  I added a few edible borage flowers as decoration.  A very popular choice for birthdays 🎂 Happy birthday to my brother in law Paul!

Lovely on a summers day. A vanilla sponge topped and filled with strawberry 🍓 and fresh cream with a little bit of jam added in the middle. A great cake to make to celebrate my friend Janice's 50th birthday 🎂 🥳 

 Classic Victoria sponge cake with buttercream and passion fruit curd in the centre. The twang of the passion fruit goes well with the sweetness of the buttercream. 

Celebrating the Queens Jubilee. Vanilla cupcakes with the appropriate red, white and blue topping!   

A cheeky weekend treat to eat whilst we were in the garden I made a lemon drizzle loaf cake.  Such a classic cake, with the zesty lemon sponge and lemon icing drizzled over the top!  

My sisters birthday cake. A vanilla sponge cake filled with whipped double cream and strawberries. To finish off the decoration, I picked some edible borage flowers from the garden.  

 I made some Easter trears for my work colleagues.  Lots of chocolate of course! Afterall it is Easter.  Mini egg fudge.  White chocolate fudge filled with crushed mini eggs.  Brownies topped with a Lindt Mini egg.  

With a pastry base made from butter, egg & flour and a filling of double cream and eggs this is a beautiful tasting quiche. I ditched my usual low fat quiche recipe and opted for a Mary Berry one instead and what a treat.  It was delicious !! I used leeks grown in my allotment for the filling of the main quiche with some garlic and shallots and leftover mushrooms in the 2 smaller individual quiches. 

A lovely and easy to make fresh cream strawberry Gateau, as requested by my niece Eden for her 9th birthday! I made a victoria sponge, then whipped up the cream adding some vanilla extract and a tablespoon of icing sugar. This gives the cream a lighter and slightly sweeter taste. I added strawberries to the middle and top of the cake and voila the Gateau is finished! Strawberry Birthday Gateau  

Here is my entry for the Fairtrade Banana bread bake-off at Kingston University. I used as many Fairtrade  ingredients as I could including bananas, chocolate and sugar.   Fairtrade products mean high quality, ethically sourced products.  Banana bread with chocolate chips Look out for this symbol when you  are next in a supermarket  Why is Fairtrade important?

One of my favourite mini birthday cakes to make. Loaf style Victoria sponge, decorated with handmade edible roses and piped butter icing.