This time last year my kitchen was filled with the mouthwatering smell of 16 Christmas Cakes baking.  Yes 16, that isn’t a typo!  I had decided to bake Mini Christmas Cakes for everyone in my family, so armed with over 3kgs of fruit and the help of my Mom we spent the day measuring, mixing, greasing and finally baking.

Whilst I wouldn’t really advise making 16 Christmas Cakes I would recommend the recipe I used. Everyone who received a homemade Christmas Cake told me how delicious it was (and no they weren’t just being polite – those cakes were yummy!)

This recipe will make a cake to feed 8 to 10 people.  Now is the ideal time to make your Christmas Cake, it will give you plenty of time to feed it with Brandy over the next few weeks before decorating it with marzipan and icing.

It’s an easy cake to make, just give yourself plenty of time.  So grab your apron, your wooden spoon and turn those Christmas tunes up!

You will need

• 250g butter, softened
• 250g  light soft brown sugar or light muscovado sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 300g plain flour
• 1 level tbsp ground mixed spice
• 250g dried apricots, chopped
• 340g dried cranberries
• 500g  sultanas
• 6tbsp brandy
• 20cm (8in) round, or 18cm (7in) square, cake tin, lined with baking parchment

Your cake will need to sit in the middle of the oven, so before you start move your oven shelf around so the cake will be positioned in the centre.  Pre heat your oven to 150 degrees

In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Add in the eggs one at a time, add in a little flour with each egg, then mix well before adding the next egg.

Sift in the remaining flour along with the ground mix spice and beat well again

Add the fruit to the mixture and fold together.  (Don’t forget to make a wish!)

Pour your cake mixture in to your lined tin then level the surface with a wet hand.

Place the cake in  the centre of the oven and bake for 3 to 3 1/2 hours or until the cake feels firm and a skewer comes out clean after being placed in the middle.

Remove the cake from the oven and place the tin on a wire rack to cool.  After about 15 minutes spoon over the Brandy then leave to completely cool in the tin.

Once your cake has cooled, wrap in parchment paper and store in an cool dark place for up to 6 months.

I continued to feed my cakes a tablespoon of brandy once a week until a week before Christmas when I iced and decorated them.

Check back soon for details on how to decorate your Christmas Cake!

Betterware - Laura

Melted Snowman Cookies are the perfect thing to make on a cold winters day.  When it’s grey and miserable outside these biscuits are guaranteed to make you smile.  The great thing is they require hardly any skill at all – you don’t have to be the neatest decorator to make these look good, in fact the messier they are the better!

To start you’ll need to make the cookies.  We used and followed the same recipe as we did here.  If you don’t have circle cookie cutters then don’t worry, you can roughly squash out circle-ish shapes but we used these, then manipulated the shape slightly for a more “melted” effect

Once your cookies are nice and brown, leave to cool before you decorate.

You can use a number of icing techniques to create the melted snowman, it just depends on the time you have and what you feel most comfortable doing.  We used Royal Icing to create the right consistency but you can use fondant icing.  Just mix icing sugar and a little water until it is smooth thick with a consistency of custard.

Royal Icing

You will need

• 500g icing sugar
• 80ml water
• 15g egg white powder

Add the ingredients to a bowl liquids first. Using an electric whisk mix for about 5 minutes.  To create the melted snowman you’re looking to have the consistency of custard, if your mixture is too thick add water a little at a time until you achieve this.

Save a little of the mixture for decorating later then fill a piping bag with the rest of the royal icing.  Using the piping bag, cover the biscuit in icing.  It doesn’t need to be neat or even cover the whole biscuit, just make it look melted.

To make the snowman’s head you can use either a marshmallow or a ball of rolled fondant. We used an edible pen to draw on the eyes and mouth but you can use black food gel.

To draw on the details, divide your left over icing in to 3 pots.  You will need more icing for the arms so make that the biggest.  The other two pots will be for the buttons and the snowman’s nose.  Colour the biggest amount of icing black, another orange and the other which ever colour you want your buttons to be (We chose red)

Wait until the icing on the base of your cookie is dry, then using a small nozzle and piping bag draw on the snowman’s arms.  Finally pipe on a few red buttons, a nose and you’re done!

Betterware - Laura

There are certain smells that instantly remind you of Christmas, mulled wine, oranges and cloves, cinnamon and most definitely gingerbread.

Whilst I’m not the biggest fan of gingerbread men but I do love making them and I love the smell of them.  Last Christmas I baked up a batch, popped them in cellophane bags and gave them away as gifts.  They were a huge hit so I’m going to share with you the recipe I followed for Gingerbread Men Cookies.

If you’re looking for a little stocking filler from the heart then I can definitely recommend baking up these little Gingerbread Men cookies.  They are very quick and easy to make (I made mine Christmas Eve!) so won’t take up too much of your time.

Gingerbread Men Cookies

• 350g plain flour, plus a little extra for rolling out
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 125g butter
• 175g light soft brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 4 tablespoon golden syrup

In a bowl sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, ginger and cinnamon.  Add in the butter and mix until it looks like breadcrumbs.  Then stir in the sugar.

Gently beat the egg and golden syrup together then pour into the mixture.  Blend until it comes together.  Remove the dough from the bowl and briefly knead.

Wrap in cling film and leave to chill in the fridge for about 15 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees and line two baking trays with baking paper.

Lightly dust your work surface with flour, then roll out the dough until it is about 1/2cm thick.

Using your gingerbread cookie cutter, cut our the shapes from your dough then place on to your baking trays.  Make sure you leave gaps in between each gingerbread man as they will expand slightly when baking.

Place in the oven and bake for 12-15 minutes or until lightly golden brown.

Once removed from the oven allow to cool on the tray for about 10 minutes before moving to a wire rack.  Once they have cooled you can decorate how ever you wish with icing and sweets.

Betterware - Laura

A firm favourite in my Christmas Recipe Folder, these deliciously light cupcakes are always a hit.  They are full of flavour and have an instant taste of Christmas.  The first time I made these they disappeared before I could even try one, so that should tell you how good they are!  I like to use simple decorations for my Cranberry and White Chocolate Cupcakes, but you could cut out fondant snowflakes, stars or even ivy leaves to embellish the top of yours.

Cranberry and White Chocolate Cupcakes

• 175g caster sugar
• 175g  butter
• 175g self raising flour
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 2 tablespoon milk
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 25g white chocolate chips
• 25g cranberries

Preheat your oven to 160 degrees and place your cake cases in your muffin pan.

In a bowl beat together the butter and sugar.  Then add in the egg and mix until light and fluffy.

Add the milk and vanilla essence, then carefully sieve in the flour and baking powder.

Mix in the cranberries and white chocolate chips, then divide into your cupcake cake cases.  (Depending on the size of your cases you will probably get about 12)

Bake in the oven for 15-18 minutes or until your cake tester comes out clean

Vanilla Butter Cream Frosting

• 150g butter
• 300g icing sugar
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence.

Beat the butter until light and fluffy then gradually add the icing sugar.  The more you  mix the paler the icing will become.

Add in the vanilla essence then scoop into a piping bag.  Swirl your icing on top of each cake and decorate with  cranberries and a sprinkling of icing sugar.

Betterware - Laura

A great idea for Christmas morning, something light yet festive before your big Christmas lunch.  This Christmas bread is best eaten on the day you make it, but tastes just as good the day after if you toast it.  Of course we know the the festive period is a busy one and you may not have time to prepare this bread on Christmas Eve, so why not make it the week before and enjoy it for breakfast during the run up to Christmas?

It takes a little skill and patience to make, but the results will be worth it.

Spiced Fruit Christmas Bread

You will need

• 450g strong whiteflour
• 2 x 7g sachets easy-blendyeast
• 50g caster sugar
• 150ml warm milk
• 1 egg
• 50g unsalted butter
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 50g dried apricots , chopped
• 50g cranberries
• 50g raisins
• 50g sultanas
• 50g glacé cherries , chopped
• juice 1 orange

You will also need 2 2lb loaf tins if you don’t have loaf tins you can mould the dough in to 2 loaf shapes and place them on a flour dusted baking sheet.

Soak all of your fruit in the orange juice for 30 minutes, then sieve and save the orange juice for later.

Place the flour, yeast, caster sugar, spices, soaked fruit and a teaspoon of salt in to a large bowl and mix well.

Make a well in the centre of the mixture and pour in the warm milk, the left over orange juice the beaten egg and the melted butter.

Mix everything together to form a dough.  You may find it easier to start with a wooden spoon but finish with your hands.  If the dough feels too dry add a little warm water, if it’s too wet add a little more flour.

Lightly dust a work surface with flour to knead your bread on.  Knead for about 10 minutes or until the dough becomes smooth and springy.

Place in a clean lightly greased bowl and cover loosely with a clean damp cloth or tea towel.  Leave to rise until it has doubled in size.  This could take an hour or more depending on how warm the room is.

Knock the dough back by kneading on a floured surface for a few seconds.  Dust your two loaf tins with flour and place half the dough in one tin and the other half in the other tin.

Again cover both tins with a clean damp tea towel and leave for a further 20 minutes.

Pre heat your oven to 180C . Then bake for 20 minutes.

To test if your bread is done, tap it and if it sounds hollow then it is more than likely ready.  However if you want more of a reliable method, place a thermometer into the bread if it reaches 87C then it’s done!

Leave to cool in the pan before turning out and slicing.

Betterware - Laura

The great thing about Cake Pops is that they are perfect for any occasion – especially Christmas.  Turn your cake pops into snowmen, Christmas Puddings or even snowflakes.

You will need to start by making your cake pops.  We wrote a whole post last month about how to make cake pops using the silicone cake pop mould.  It’s definitely worth a read if you’re new to cake pop baking.

Christmas Pudding Cake Pops.

Start by baking your cake balls.  You can use either a chocolate or vanilla sponge, but we chose chocolate.  Once your cake pops have cooled down cover completely in melted milk chocolate.

Leave the chocolate to set, either at room temperature or in the fridge.  Our new Cake Pop decorating stand will help hold the cake pops while they dry.  Whilst you’re waiting for the chocolate to set, make up a small batch of fondant icing by mixing icing sugar with a little water.  You’re looking for quite a thick consistency like toothpaste.  Fill a piping bag with the fondant icing and cut a small hole at the tip.

Once the chocolate on your cake pops has set, squeeze out a small amount of fondant icing on to the top, let it dribble down.  Use a tooth pick to manipulate the icing if needed.  Try not to add too much as it could dribble down too far.

Leave the icing to set slightly before adding on fondant holly leaves and two fondant berries.

You don’t even need to put these on cake pop sticks.  You could dunk the whole cake ball into chocolate and leave to set in a petit four case.

Snowflake Christmas Cake Pops.

Cover your baked cake pops in candy melts in a colour of your choice. Whilst you are waiting for the candy melts to set, roll out a piece of white fondant until it is about 5mm thick. Using your medium sized snowflake plunger cutter cut out several snowflakes and wait for them to dry.

Make up a little fondant icing – you only need this to glue the snowflakes on so as long as it’s not too runny you should be fine. Using a tooth pick spread a little fondant icing on to the back of one of your snowflakes and place on to the cake pop. Hold for a few seconds until it feels secure.  Leave to dry thoroughly before serving.

Reindeer Christmas Cake Pops

These little guys are so fun!  Children will love them and will go down a treat at your Christmas party.

You will need to break up some pretzels into antler shapes.  Don’t worry about them all looking the same, wonky antlers just add character!

Cover your baked cake pops in milk or dark chocolate then gently push in the pretzel antlers.  This is probably the trickiest part, you will probably need to hold the cake ball whilst you push the antler in so you will disturb the chocolate but don’t worry you can smooth over any messy bits with a tooth pick or the tip of a blunt knife.

Leave the chocolate to set, you can put your cake pops in the fridge to completely harden.  Use either red smarties or red fondant for the nose (You may want to give all of your reindeer’s brown noses and just make one special one red.)  Use tiny pieces of white or black fondant for the eyes.

You can use either a little melted chocolate or fondant icing to adhere the features to the cake pops.

Looking for Cake Pop Equipment?

Betterware - Laura

Looking for a quick and easy treat for your Christmas Party?  How about some Chocolate Peppermint Bark?

It is not only incredibly easy and cheap to make, but it tastes delicious too!

You Will Need

• 300g Milk Chocolate
• 300g White Chocolate
• Candy Canes

Prepare a baking sheet by covering it in parchment paper

Place your milk chocolate in a chocolate melting pot or glass bowl over a boiling pan of water,  the bowl shouldn’t touch the water.  Avoid splashing any water into the chocolate as it will not melt properly. In a separate bowl repeat with the white chocolate.

While you’re waiting for the chocolate to melt, place a few candy canes in a sandwich bag, try and remove the air then cover with a tea towel.  Break the candy canes into small pieces by bashing it with a rolling pin or kitchen mallet.

Remove both chocolates from the heat and pour the milk chocolate on to the paper.  Pour the white chocolate on top.

Sprinkle your smashed up candy canes over the chocolate.

Leave to harden, either in the fridge (fastest results) or on your work surface.

Once your Chocolate Peppermint Bark has hardened, remove from the baking sheet and break in to pieces.  The great thing is, they don’t need to be even!

Betterware - Laura

You may have heard the news that parts of the UK are expected to see a bit of snow this weekend, our advice?  Stay indoors wrap up in a blanket and tuck in to this yummy winter warmer recipe of Sausage Casserole.  Even if the snow doesn’t hit the temperatures are expected to be low and what’s nicer than a hearty casserole when it’s dark, cold and gloomy outside?

It’s incredibly easy to make, preparation takes around 15 to 20 minutes and about an hour to cook.

Sausage Casserole

• 4 large potatoes
• 4 carrots
• 8 good-quality sausages
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 tsp paprika
• 400g can of chopped tomatoes
• 400g can of cannellini beans
• 400ml vegetable stock
• 1-2 bay leaves

Start by pre heating your oven to 180°C

Wash and peel the potatoes then cut them in to quarters.

Wash and peel the carrots, cut them into bite size pieces.

Chop the onions and crush the garlic

Drizzle two tablespoons of olive oil into your casserole dish.

Pierce each sausage with a fork a few times, then fry in olive oil until they are lightly golden all over.  This should take around 10 minutes.  Remove from the pan and place in your casserole dish.

Fry the chopped onions in the pan until they are soft then add the garlic and paprika and continue cooking for another minute. Then add them to the casserole dish.

Add the potatoes and carrots and stir everything around so the vegetables are coated in the oil.  Add the chopped tomatoes, cannellini beans, bay leaves and vegetable stock to the casserole.

Place in the oven and cook for around 45 minutes to an hour or until  the potatoes are cooked through.

Serve your sausage casserole with a nice crusty loaf and enjoy!

Betterware - Laura

Valentines Day is just around the corner and if you’re celebrating this year we have a lovely little dessert that’s easy and quick to whip up.  Whether you’re having a quite night in with your sweetheart or ignoring it all completely this recipe can be adapted to suit.

Seeing as I’m a romantic at heart I gave my mini cherry pies a Valentines twist by shaping them into hearts but you can make circles, squares or even use our pie and pasty maker

Valentines Mini Cherry Heart Pies

You will need

• 200g Fresh Cherries
• 100g Sugar
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice.
• 375g Ready Rolled Shortcrust Pastry

Pre heat your oven to 180 degrees/Gas mark 4

Start by preparing your cherries, wash, chop in half and remove the stone.

Place in a saucepan with the sugar and lemon juice and bring to the boil, leave until over a medium heat until the sugar has dissolved and your cherries are plump. Put to the side and leave to cool.

Remove your ready rolled pastry from the packaging and cut out your pie shapes using a cookie cutter.  We have a selection of cutters, all of which can be found here.  I used the heart cutter from this set

Remember that for each pie you will need 2 hearts (or circles, which ever you prefer)  place one half on a baking tray lined with baking paper and lightly brush on some milk.

Spoon a little of the cherry mixture on to each heart.  There will be a lot of liquid so be careful not to add too much else it will dribble out whilst baking.

Place the second half on top and gently press down.  Use a fork to seal the edges and to decorate.

Place in the oven for 15 minutes.  Be mindful to check as they will cook differently depending on size.

Serve your Mini Cherry Heart Pies warm with a little custard or cream.  Lovely!

Betterware - Laura

Not only is this Chicken and Spring Vegetable Stir Fry delicious it is also healthy and counts towards your 5-a-day.

This really doesn’t take much effort and very little time to prepare so it’s perfect when you’ve been rushed off your feet all day.

You will need

• 100g Broccoli
• 100g Baby Sweetcorn
• 2 Chicken Breast Fillets
• 1 Bunch Spring Onions
• 1 Red Pepper
• 2 Medium Carrots
• 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
• Black Bean Stir Fry Sauce
• Rice (Optional)

This meal is also best prepared in a Wok.

Bring a large pan of water to the boil then prepare your vegetables, chopping into chunks.

Blanch the broccoli and sweetcorn for about 2 minutes then drain well

- If you are having rice – Bring a large pan of water to the boil and cook your rice as per the instructions on the packet.

Cut up your chicken in to bite size pieces.  Pour the olive oil into your wok, once it is sizzling hot add the chicken and cook for around 7 to 8 minutes or until golden brown.  Remember to stir often to avoid burning the chicken

Add the pepper, spring onions and carrots to the pan and cook for a further 2 minutes then add the broccoli, sweetcorn and the black bean sauce.

Heat through for roughly 2 minutes and serve immediately.

Betterware - Laura

St Patrick’s Day is this Sunday, will you be celebrating with a pint of Guinness?  We’ve been thinking up St Patrick’s Day Baking ideas and thought we’d share them here.

Rainbow Cupcakes

First of all bake up a batch of your favourite flavoured cupcakes (you can find lots of recipe inspiration here)

You’ll need some green glaze icing, vanilla buttercream and some rainbow belt sweets.

Start by making up your glaze icing.

• 100g icing sugar – sieved
• 1 tablespoon of water

Pot O’ Gold Cake Pops

Make up a batch of cake pops (instructions can be found here) the flavour is up to you.

Cover your cake pops with dark chocolate, (full instructions for covering cake pops can be found here) and instead of leaving them the right way up to dry, place the cake pop on a parchment paper, cake pop down and leave to dry.  You may need to hold them steady for a few minutes to make sure they don’t fall over.

Leaving the cake pop this way you’ll form the top  and lip of the pot ready to add your gold.

Once dry remove from the parchment paper and add a little more melted chocolate to the top and dip into your gold dragees.  If you can’t find or don’t have gold dragees you can always use gold sprinkes or yellow sweets such as M&Ms, Smarties or Skittles

St Patrick’s Day Macaroons with Chocolate Guinness Ganache

Macaroons are a little tricky to perfect, but once you have the right tools and practise a little they’ll become easier.  We wrote a post a little while ago on how to make macaroons using a macaroon pan which would be good to refer to before tackling this project.

Start by making the Chocolate Guinness Ganache as this can take some time to set.

Chocolate Guinness Ganache 

• 220g dark chocolate
• 180ml of heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon of Guinness

Chop up your chocolate and set aside in a heat proof bowl.

Heat the cream and butter in a pan over a medium heat, the moment it starts to boil, remove from the heat and pour over the chocolate.  Leave to stand for 5 minutes then stir with a whisk until smooth.

Add the Guinness then stir again.  Leave to set in the fridge.

Then follow the macaroon recipe, and use green food gel when it asks for the colour to be added.

Once your Guinness ganache has set, spoon into a piping bag and pipe a swirl of ganache on to one half of your macaroon. Grab the other half and sandwich together.

Will you be doing any St Patrick’s Day Baking?  We’d love to see your treats – share your photos with us on Facebook

Betterware - Laura

Although it doesn’t feel like it, today is the first day of Spring.  Whilst the weather must have missed that reminder, the days are certainly feeling longer and the fruit and vegetable aisles in the supermarket are filled with fresh produce signalling the start of warmer days.

Easter is also nearly upon us and there’s nothing I like to enjoy more at Easter than a good roast lamb with spring vegetables (aside from the chocolate eggs of course!)  so if you’re getting together with family this Easter why not treat them to a delicious meal.

Roast Lamb with Spring Vegetables

You will need

• 1 leg lamb (about 2kg)
• 2 onions
• olive oil
• 200g  leeks
• 200g peas
• 200g broad beans
• 200g baby carrots
• splash chicken stock or white wine
• 1 bunch tarragon

Pre -heat your oven to 200C

Chop your onions in to thick slices and put in a large roasting tray with 4 tablespoons of water.

Sit the lamb on top and rub the surface of the meat with olive oil a little tarragon and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Pop in the oven and baste 2-3 times with the juices from the roasting tray as it cooks.  Depending on how you like it, roast for 1 hour 15 for medium rare, 1 hour 30 for medium.

Add the carrots and leeks to boiling water and cook for 2 minutes.  Add the rest of the vegetables and cook for a further 2 minutes or until everything is tender.

Once cooked leave the lamb to rest on a plate for half an hour under foil.

Scoop out most of the fat from the roasting tray and discard, strain the juices in to a large pan, add the stock or white win and simmer for 5 minutes.

Add the vegetables and stir.  Add the rest of the tarragon.

Serve the roast lamb with spring vegetables and roast potatoes on a large platter and enjoy

Betterware - Laura

Easter is just a few weeks away and we are looking forward to baking up a few yummy treats.  We have a few new items in our catalogue that can help you create beautiful and delicious bakes.

One of the items that we are most excited about, is our Bunny & Egg Chocolate mould.  It allows you to create perfect 3D figures for the tops of your cakes.  So to try our new mould out we’re making a Easter Egg and Bunny Cake

First of all we made a chocolate cake covered with chocolate ganache ready for our 3D Easter shapes to sit on.

Chocolate Cake Recipe

• 230g Caster Sugar
• 230g Butter
• 4 eggs
• 230g Self Raising Flour
• 8 tablespoons of cocoa
• 4 tablespoons of whole milk

Take  a 6 inch cake tin and grease lightly with butter or cake release.  Preheat your oven to 180 degrees.

Start by beating the sugar and butter together until light and fluffy.

Add in the eggs and beat together until thoroughly combined.  Add the milk and beat again

Gently sieve in the flour and cocoa, don’t try and force all the bits of cocoa through, if it doesn’t fit through the sieve dispose of it.

Fold in the flour and cocoa until combined then gently spoon in to your cake pan.

Bake for 20 – 30 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.

Allow to cool completely before decorating.

For the chocolate ganache

• 250g good quality dark chocolate,
• 250ml double cream

Pour the cream into a saucepan and place over a low heat. In a separate bowl break up your pieces of chocolate. Once the cream has come to the boil, remove from the heat and pour over the chocolate. Mix together until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is well combined. Allow to cool slightly.

Decorating your Easter Egg and Bunny Cake

Melt enough chocolate to fill your moulds, we decided to melt half milk and half white chocolate.  Leave the chocolate to set – the fridge is the quickest way to do this.

Once your cake has completely cooled use a spatula to cover your cake completely in ganache.

Arrange your chocolate eggs around the outside then remove your bunny and egg chocolate pieces from the mould.  Fit them together then sit them on top.

Serve with a nice cup of tea and enjoy!

Betterware - Laura

A traditional Easter dessert, the  Simnel Cake is made from a light cake packed with fruit, spices and marzipan.

If you were to Google “Simnel Cake” you would find many stories of it’s origins.  The most popular being that it was invented by a cantankerous old couple called Simon and Nelly who combined left over dough and plum pudding then fought over whether it should be boiled or baked.  Another tale is that the cake was a test – girls would bake the cake on Mother’s Day and if it is still delicious on Easter Sunday then she was considered a good baker.

The Simnel Cake is also suppose to signal the end of lent, decorated with eleven marzipan balls to represent the Apostles, all except Judas.  Whatever the history, all we know for certain is that this cake is very moreish!

Simnel Cake Recipe

You will need

6 inch cake pan

For the almond paste

• 250g caster sugar
• 250gground almonds
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon almond essence

For the cake

• 175g butter or margarine
• 175g soft brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 175g plain flour
• Pinch salt
• Half a teaspoon ground mixed spice
• 350g mixed raisins, currants and sultanas
• 55g chopped mixed peel
• Half a lemon, grated zest only
• 1-2 tablespoons apricot jam
• 1 egg for glazing

Start by making the almond paste.  Add the sugar and ground in a bowl, then slowly add a little beaten egg until you achieve a fairly soft consistency.  Add the almond essence and knead until the paste is smooth and pliable.  This should take around 1 minute.

Roll out a third of the paste to make a circle roughly  6 inches in diameter, put to one side then save the rest for the topping.

Preheat oven to 140C then grease and line a 6 inch cake tin.

To make the cake, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy.

Beat in the eggs and mix well.  Gently sift in the flour, salt and mixed spice a little at a time.

Add the mixed dried fruit, peel and grated lemon zest.  Mix well.

Put half the mixture in to your cake tin, smooth down with a spatula then lower your circle of almond paste on top.  Add the rest of the cake mix and smooth down the top.

Bake for 1 hour 45 minutes.  Use a cake tester in the middle of the cake to see if it’s baked. If the tester comes out clean then your cake is ready.  Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack

Once the cake has cooled, brush the top with apricot jam.

Divide the remaining almond paste in half and roll out a circle to cover the case with one half and use the other half to make 11 small balls.

Place the circle of almond on top of the cake, crimping the edges to decorate.  Then place the balls around the edge.  Brush the top of the cake lightly with a little beaten egg

Preheat your oven to high, place the cake on a baking tray and grill for 1 minute or until the top of the marzipan begins to brown.  You can also use a cook’s blow torch if you have one.

Betterware - Laura

Will you be doing any Easter baking this week?  We can’t wait to get back in the kitchen to bake up some yummy treats.  We’ve already shared our recipe for Simnel Cake and showed you how we used our new mould to make an Easter Bunny and Egg Cake, now we’re sharing this tutorial on how we made this cute Easter Bunny Cupcake.

First of all you’ll need to bake up a batch of cupcakes.  We used chocolate so it would look like the dirt.

Chocolate Cupcakes

For the cupcake

• 115g Self Raising Flour
• 115g Butter
• 115g Caster Sugar
• 2 Eggs
• 4 Tablespoons of Cocoa
• 2 Tablespoons of Milk.

Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees and line your cupcake tray with cases.

Add the sugar and butter to a food processor and beat together.  The add the eggs and milk.  Mix well

Sieve in the flour and cocoa powder and mix until combined.

Add them to the mixture and stir until combined.

Divide the batter between the cupcake cases and place in the oven for around 12 minutes, or until a knife comes out clean when placed in the middle.

Leave to cool thoroughly.

Next you will need to make some green buttercream icing.

Buttercream Icing

• 200g butter
• 500g icing sugar
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• Green food gel colouring.

In a large bowl place the butter and beat until smooth

Sieve in the icing sugar, half at a time.  You may want to cover your bowl as the icing sugar will fly everywhere!

Beat on full power until smooth.  Add in the vanilla extract and gel colour.  (We advise using gel colours rather than liquid as it can change the consistency of your icing.)

Fondant Bunny

Follow our infographic for a detailed tutorial in how to make your fondant bunny.

Take a piece of sugar paste and roll it into a large ball, this will be the body.  Roll another piece for the tail.

Take another two equal sized pieces and manipulate into the shape of the bunny’s feet.  The easiest way to do this is to roll your piece into a ball then squash it using your finger.

You will need to colour a further two pieces with pink colouring to form the pads of the bunny’s feet.

Using your sugar paste modelling tools, score 3 lines on your bunny’s feet to make “toes” repeat this for the pink pads.

Using edible glue or a little water, brush a little onto the feet and adhere the pink pads to the bottom.  Leave to dry.

Meanwhile take the bunny’s tail and brush with edible glue then roll in white sprinkles.  You don’t need to cover it completely as one half will need to be stuck on to the body.

Once the different components are dry apply a little more edible glue to the feet and stick to the body.  You may need to hold each foot in place for a few minutes to ensure they stay in place.  Do the same for the tail.

Now you have your bunny!

Putting it all together

Using your green buttercream icing and a grass piping nozzle pipe “grass” on to the top of your cupcake.

Take your fondant bunny and place him in the grass.  Try to place him near to the edge rather than the middle.

Finish your cupcake by make some little flowers using these daisy plunger cutters in different colours and pop them in the “grass”.

And you’re done!

Betterware - Laura

Bread and butter pudding is one of my favourite desserts.  It’s so simple but oh so delicious!  I’d heard about the pudding being made with hot cross buns and knew instantly I had to try it.  I wasn’t disappointed!  Hot cross bun bread and butter pudding is the perfect dessert to serve after your Easter roast (and before you dive into the chocolate eggs!)

Hot Cross Bun Bread and Butter Pudding

• 50g soft butter
• 6 hot cross buns
• 1 tablespoon of raisins
• 1 tablespoon of golden sultanas
• 1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 350 ml milk
• 50 ml heavy/double cream
• 2 large free-range eggs
• 25g sugar
•  1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Pre heat your oven to 180C

Grease a roasting dish with a little butter.

Cut your hot cross buns in to halves then again into diagonals.  Use the remaining butter to spread the pieces thickly

Place the bun pieces butter side up into the base of your pan, overlapping as you go.

Lightly sprinkle a little nutmeg, cinnamon and a few raisins and sultanas.

Repeat the layers until the dish is full.  Sprinkle the rest of the raisins and sultanas on top.

Betterware - Laura