CHERRY LAYER CAKE

This cake is a combination of layers of cake with marmelade, cherries and whipped cream on top with sprinkles chocolate.

JAM COOKIES

These swirls are the result of a vanilla biscuit and strawberry jam. I made a swirl with the dough and put half a teaspoon of jam in the middle. You can be very creative with the middle as you can put several kinds of jam or chocolate in there.

VANILLA CUPCAKE WITH GANACHE

I used my basic vanilla cupcake recipe, put a few cherries on top of the dough so whilst they baked they would end up in the middle of the cupcake. After cooling them off I covered them with a shiny chocolate ganache.

APPLE PASTRY

This a very popular and supereasy pastry dessert. You take a sheet of puff pastry, you cut out circles, fill it with apple saus (or whatever takes your fancy) and close it to create half moon shapes. Make sure that you close it properly or the filling will run out. It is also very important that your filling is cold. Once closed you cover it with egg yolk and sprinkle over some white granulated sugar. After about 15-20 minutes in the oven it looks crunchy and brown, ready to eat hot or cold!

CARAMEL SLICES

This is a combination of crushed biscuits with melted butter, homemade caramel and a layer of melted chocolate. You can best compare it to a twix bar and I just love the view of the layers and then the caramel that just drips over the biscuit layer.

SHORTBREAD (with peanut butter)

Shortbread is super easy to make and is very versatile. The two first pictures are shortbread covered with peanut butter and chocolate sprinkles and the two other pictures are plain just covered with some white granulated sugar.

CHECKERED COOKIES

I made these cookies as a thank you for one of my friends as I thought the checkered pattern would be popular with his little son but the cookies didn't make it to his son .. he ate them himself! :) On the tray you can see the other pattern which I made as well.

MIXED FRUIT PIE

I felt like making a fruit pie but I had too much pastry so I made two. One is with two kinds of grapes and the other one is with kiwi and slices of peach. I can't wait for the spring & summer season in which you get lovely summer fruits for crumbles, pies and coulis.

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MARSIPAN COVERED GENOISE

I made an airy genoise (very light vanilla cake), layers covered with strawberry jam and whipped cream and the top layer is covered with some more jam so the marsipan would stick nicely. It's best not to put too much on the layers as you you need to push it down a bit and you don't want it squirting out. I then covered the cake with a rolled out layer of marsipan. The flower was made from marsipan and a touch of chocolate to create the middle of the flower. I made one with strawberry jam and the other one with bits of cut up pineapple, quite teasty! :)

BANANA PIE WITH VANILLA CREME

This is a combination of home made pastry, vanilla creme and slices of banana soaked in crème de banane (a banana liqueur).

APPLE CRUMBLE PIE

this is my easy peasy apple crumble pie. It's a combination of apples, crumble and pastry. Made warm with some vanilla ice cream it can't go wrong!

CHOCOLATE PIECES WITH RAISINS AND NUTS

I melted milk chocolate, poured it onto baking paper to make (a kind of) circles, decorated them with nuts and two kind of raisins. You can also decorate them with lots of different items ranging from bits of dried fruits and a variation of nuts. I put them on a tray and let them cool in the fridge for a few hours. You can also make dark chocolate and white chocolate ones. This is a very easy gift to make and it gives it an extra charm if you make them yourselves in stead of buying the expensive ones from the shop.

APPLE PIE WITH CINNAMON TOPPING

This apple pie was made with a crunchy cinnamon topping, it's a slightly different recipe than the ones I've put on my blog already so let me know if you would like it.

PROFITEROLES

This is one of my favourites to make for guests. You can make it in advance and be creative with the filling; whipped cream, ice cream or custard.

Ingredients for 30 profiteroles:

• 225ml (7.fl oz) cold water
• 75g (3oz) butter
• 115g (4oz) plain flour
• a pinch of salt
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten

Steps:

• Place the water and butter in a saucepan and heat gently until the butter melts, and then bring to the boil.
• Remove from the heat and tip in the flour. Beat with a wooden spoon until combined. Return to the heat and cook over a low heat for a few seconds until the mixture leaves the sides of the pan to form a ball. Do not over-beat.
• Gradually pour the eggs. Mix until just mixed and the pastry forms a stiff, glossy paste. Do not over-process or it will become too thin.
• Spoon walnut-sized balls onto a baking sheet, then bake for 20-25 mins until golden. Remove from oven, poke the underneath with a teaspoon, turn upside-down, then bake for 5 mins to dry out. Cool on a wire rack before filling.
• once cooled you can fill them with vanilla creme, whipped cream or ice cream. Above I've added a picture with whipped cream and vanilla cream.

TIP: It's important to tip the flour in as soon as the water boils, because losing too much liquid by evaporation will affect your pastry.