Summer fruit cheesecake

Page 100 - Summer fruit cheesecake

OMG This was amazing! I was scared about making this as I've been looking forward to it and thought it wouldn't live up to expectations... but it did. Dad gave it 9.5/10 and Leigh gave it 9.9/10 - definitely a record! The cheesecake and biscuit base were the perfect consistency and the berries just gave it a little bit of summery flavour.

I was dreading the whole bain marie thing but I'm guessing that's what stopped it drying out - looking forward to the strawberrys and cream cheesecake coming up!!

Marbled cupcakes

Page 96 - Marbled cupcakes

I knew these would be nice as it's combining two of the Hummingbird's simplest and finest recipes - chocolate cupcakes and vanilla cupcakes. The marbled icing and cake looked fab!

Courgette, walnut and cinnamon layer cake

Page 95 - Courgette, walnut and cinnamon layer cake

The title may not strictly be true for my version of this cake - I've found that the Hummingbird's layer cakes generally come out HUGE! So I only made 2 layers as opposed to three. It was still chunky though so I'm glad I did!

I was half dreading and half looking forward to this slightly random recipe - courgette in a cake?! But actually it was like a very moist carrot cake and I likes getting people at work to guess what the random ingredient was! I'd make this again for sure, and especially the icing which was amazing with the cinnamon and greek yogurt.

This is why I love doing this project :-)

Lemon and poppy seed loaf



Page 91 - lemon and poppy seed loaf

I was looking forward to this and wasn't disappointed, although I may have gone a bit nuts with the lemon as I love it tangy! Really (really) moist sponge due to the ricotta and also sheer amount of lemon juice I used.

Again, the taste test with work peeps will tell the true picture. I split the recipe in to two smaller loaf tins so dad could have his very own one as he loves lemon :-)

Carrot cake whoopie pies



Page 87 - Carrot cake whoopie pies

After my last few whoopie pie experiences (choc, pistachio and vanilla) I wasn't much looking forward to these... but I've definitely improved...

The marshmallow fluff does make the filling lovely and light - although it's expensive as I had to buy online. I only made half of the filling quantity (as I'm tight) and it was still plenty - when I put them in the fridge to set, the tops had still slipped off by the morning.

The sponge is lovely and moist and very warm with the cinnamon - I may have used too much as I love it!

Anyways - I like them, lets hope the guinea pigs at work too!

Mickey Mouse Ears cake



Mickey mouse ears cake

This turned out great, and I'm pleased as it's 150% better than when I last used red sugarpaste as I didn't totally cover it with cornflour when I dusted.

Tasted good (I've been told) - just need to practice tiered cakes a bit more as I might need to invest in proper supports for the next one...

Number one first birthday cake

Number One cake for Lily

I made this cake for Lily's first birthday. I was pretty happy with it, apart from it being really hard to ice an "odd" shaped cake.. Still - practice makes perfect I guess!