Martha's Marvellous Munchies

Last week was a busy baking week.  Toby turned six on Friday, so of course I had to make him a chocolate cake - or maybe two!  Fortunately he requested a simple design, because then a friend asked me to make a christening cake for her daughter and a birthday cake for her husband, on the same weekend.  Suddenly every available surface started filling up with baked goods... So here's Toby's - a 6 with sprinkles in.  Basically the same as Theo's 2 earlier this year, except that I didn't sneak courgettes into this one.  We took this to his party at a local soft play centre, and I made a little one as well, for his birthday tea the evening before. The christening cake was a Madeira sponge, from my tried-and-tested list of recipes.  I was reminded just how long it's been since I've done any serious piping with royal icing, as I struggled to get just the right consistency.  It was slightly on the solid side, but ju-u-ust about squeezed through the nozzle.  The

I have spent over an hour writing, deleting, and re-writing a beginning to this post.  Somehow it is refusing to get written.  But after all this I'm determined to get down something which expresses a little of what I'm thinking, even if a full explanation has to wait.  So I give you this, from Matthew Henry's commentary on Hebrews 2: Let those who dread death, and strive to get the better of their terrors, no longer attempt to outbrave or to stifle them, no longer grow careless or wicked through despair. Let them not expect help from the world, or human devices; but let them seek pardon, peace, grace, and a lively hope of heaven, by faith in Him who died and rose again, that thus they may rise above the fear of death. ( Source ) And this from me: Life is precious and precarious.  Do the best you can with it.  But if you have any faith in Jesus and his resurrection, death is not the worst thing that can happen.  Please don't pray as if it is. (I should proba

It was the annual Macmillan Coffee Morning recently, raising money for the cancer support charity.  I had a couple to go to, at Toby's school and at Theo's playgroup, so I flicked through my recipe books and came up with these.  They are based on a recipe from sensational cupcakes by Alisa Morov, which has all sorts of interesting flavours (green tea cupcakes, anyone?)  This is a lovely combination. Apricot cupcakes with ginger buttercream Cupcakes 50ml whole milk 4 eggs 1 tsp vanilla 225g plain flour 190g sugar 1 tsp baking powder 200g butter 140g packet chopped dried apricots Buttercream 200g butter 400g icing sugar 1 tbsp milk 1 1/2 tsp ground ginger crystallized ginger, to decorate Preheat the oven to 170C.  Mix the milk, eggs and vanilla in a jug.  In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar and baking powder.  Make sure your butter is nice and soft, then add it to the dry ingredients with half of the egg mixture.  Mix slowly until everythi