How to make a strawberry meringue roulade

My boyfriend is brilliant, and knows how to make a strawberry meringue roulade, without any help from me... I feel proud, but also a little jealous that he's reasonably adequate in the baking department - that's supposed to be my thing!

 This recipe makes a really yummy meringue, squidgy in the middle, with a good crunch from the almonds.

4 medium egg whites
1 tsp lemon juice
225g caster sugar
1 tsp cornflour
Some flaked almonds
Some strawberries, chopped

Whisk the egg whites and lemon juice together until you have stiff peaks. It doesn't need to be totally stiff as if you were making proper meringues though.
Mix together the sugar and cornflour.
Whisk in the sugar mixture one spoonful at a time. You want the egg white mix to look thick, smooth, and gloss, but don't over-whisk.
Spread evenly into a roulade baking tin that you've lined with baking paper.
Sprinkle almonds on top.
Bake at 150C for about 45 minutes.
Turn meringue out of tin on to a piece of baking paper and allow to cool for about 15 minutes. Take the paper off and place on a cooling rack.
Once cool, whip some double cream - I never measure it, but used most of a 300ml tub of cream. Spread whipped cream on to meringue, sprinkle over the chopped strawberries.

Now, you're meant to roll from long edge to long edge, although sometimes I roll from short edge to short edge. The former gives you a longer sausage of roulade, meaning you get more slices out of it... however, the latter means you get less slices, but they're bigger slices...

Delicious. But it's best to feed a crowd - the boyfriend made it just for the two of us, and we kept the leftovers in the fridge, but with the strawberries this meant it leaked a bit. Best eaten on the day.

A recipe for leftover hot cross buns

I know leftover hot cross buns rarely ever happen, but if you do find a couple going a bit stale at the bottom of the tin, there's a lovely pudding you can make with them.

Cut hot cross buns in half.
Spread some lemon curd and sandwich back together.
Put buns in an ovenproof dish.
Cover with custard.
Bake for about 15 minutes.
Scoff.

Delicious, and adding to the taste is how easy and quick it is!

Admittedly, tonight's recipe for leftover hot cross buns was actually made with new ones from M&S - they don't really have a chance to become 'leftover' in my house!

Leftover hot cross bun pudding

Follow the recipe - how not to bake whoopie pies

I made some chocolate chip whoopie pies. They look OK, but I didn't enjoy them. Top tip: always follow the recipe.

I read a great blog by the brilliant Dolly Bakes the other week, about when does a recipe become yours - can you make your own recipe, knowing the science behind how much raising agent will impact on the weight of flour... Well, I don't know that much, and ought to trust those who do know enough to write a recipe book.

I didn't have enough plain flour (and again, couldn't be bothered to go to the shops - I wish I lived within walking distance) so I used a bit of self-raising flour as well, and just halved the amount of baking powder. Then, I didn't have enough cocoa powder, so I pretended that wasn't important. I also didn't have any yogurt, so I used buttermilk instead. And I didn't have any chocolate chips, so I just chopped up some chocolate. I didn't have enough dark chocolate, so I used half dark, half milk.

At this point I'm thinking, probably the same as you are, dear reader, why did I bother with a recipe when I didn't have half the correct ingredients?!? I don't know - sometimes you get that baking bug, and you can't ignore it even if your kitchen is empty. But yes, I should have gone to the shops.

Needless to say, the mixture looked rather odd, had a weird consistency, and actually didn't smell that appetising either - I have a sneaky feeling the buttermilk was a little off. They didn't cook in the right shapes, and they certainly didn't taste right.

I let the boyfriend eat them. He thought they were great. But he'll eat anything.

My friend said they looked like baked potatoes. I'd rather eat a baked potato than another of these.

Cake Club absence and a review of Ragdale Hall

After only one meeting of the Market Deeping Clandestine Cake Club, I had to be excused from the second inaugural get-together. I was distraught, as this meeting's theme was 'Death by chocolate - no calories spared'. Now that's my kind of theme. I planned a chocolate Devil's Food Cake, with a double cream and melted chocolate filling which could double up as the icing, to be finished off with dark and white chocolate curls. However, my chocolate feast was not to be, as the meeting date had to be changed and I was unable to go.

But, I still made cake...

It was deliciously dark and moist, and just scrumptious, if I do say so myself. Possibly the best cake I've made in a long time. I didn't bother with the double cream and melted chocolate filling in the end, as that required a trip to the shops - instead I went for a buttercream standby. Which did the job, and did it well.

50g cocoa powder

225ml water
100g marg
275g caster sugar
2 large eggs
175g plain flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarb

Blend the cocoa powder and water - I suggest using a mini whisk to make sure there's no lumps.
Beat together the sugar and butter until fluffy.
Whisk the eggs together, then add to the mixture - I needed to gently add a little flour at this point to stop the mixute separating.
Sift in half the flour, bicarb, and baking powder mixture, then stir in half the chocoaltey water, then the rest of the flour, and the rest of the liquid.
Divide into two prepared tins.
Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees for about 35 minutes until springy.

Once cooled, sandwich together with filling - which was butter and icing sugar blended until smooth and creamy. I never measure ingredients for my buttercream, I just rely on a little finger dipped in to taste.

I missed Cake Club as I was staying at Ragdale Hall Health Hydro for two nights. This was a special treat to myself, using the money I saved up from making quilts over the last two years. I went by myself and simply spent the time relaxing, reading, getting pampered, and spending time doing nothing.

In these days of non-stop hectic stress and pressure, we've forgotten the importance of doing nothing. Of appreciating silence, time to think, time to stop and let our minds wander. It was really hard to concentrate on relaxing, which is such a contradiction - it was hard work. I have so much on my mind, so much to fret and worry about, that it was almost impossible to relax. But I enjoyed the time to myself, away from reality, away from everything for just a couple of days.

The spa itself is amazing. There are several lounge areas to relax in with a book (I finally finished Sophie's Choice by William Styron, and also read Switched by Amanda Hocking), plus two main pools, a steam room, jacuzzi, sanarium... and the thermal spa area. This is a circular glass-roofed area filled with ferns and plants, surrounded by a variety of spa rooms: the rose sauna, the scent room, volcanic salt bath, thought zone, candle pool, colourflow cave, and the waterfall pool which flows outside - this was wonderful in the rain, as the warm water steamed upwards... Every possible way to relax is catered for. Dinner, lunch, and breakfast was all of a five-star hotel quality, every member of staff was brilliant, and the mud wrap dry floatation treatment was devine. I could stay there forever.... The weather was dreadful, and rained pretty much constantly - but I was cocooned away from the world and didn't care how much it bucketed it down.

Let's make whoopie pies

Red velvet whoopie pies. What other four words sound so yummy? Well, a few, but they sound pretty good don't they.

Red velvet whoopie pies...

I find whoopies pies quite addictive to make. Every time I bake some they turn out differently, and I'm learning each time to do them a little better. And who could resist such a colour? Originally the attraction of the red velvet was all down to the chemistry between the cocoa powder and the acidity of the buttermilk, but most modern recipes just rely on food colouring to make it so bright.

This recipe made about 14 whoopie pies (28 individual pie bits), but I'm sure they're supposed to be a lot bigger than I make them. But I'd rather have several smaller ones, than just a few big ones.

120g marg
200g soft dark brown sugar
1 large egg
120ml buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla essence
340g plain flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder (I ended up with just over 1, as I ran out when I thought I had a whole tub, woops)
1/2 tsp bicarb
1/4 tsp salt
15ml red food colouring

For the filling, I used some butter and some icing, with about half a tub of marshmallow fluff. I never measure when I make buttercream, I prefer to just make it to taste.

Red mixture - a tip is not to wear a white top while making these...

Cream together the marg and sugar until fluffy. Add the egg and mix.
Stir together buttermilk and vanilla, then stir into rest of mixture.
Sift into the bowl the flour, cocoa, bicarb, and salt, in two or three batches. Stir until combined, then add food colouring a bit at a time until the red colour really comes through.
Spoon on to baking trays lined with baking paper. I prefer to use an icing bag for this part, but mine burst and I haven't remembered to buy a new one yet... and folding up baking paper did not work.
Bake in the oven, preheated to 170 degrees, for about 15 minutes.
Wait until cool before making and spreading on the fluffy filling.

Looking good on the cake stand

Partly why I love these is the burst of colour, which you don't get from just a chocolate cake. But what I especially like is surprising, or rather, confusing, people who eat and enjoy them. No one can ever seem to figure out the flavour - because of the colour I think. It's like when you eat a raspberry jelly that's coloured green... our little brains are easily fooled.