A Step by Step Guide to Help You Make This Delicious Tiramisu Cake.

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As a recipe developer in my previous life, I came upon an intriguing ad on Facebook. The ad was for a scratch card style poster with '100 bakes to make with your family'. Going through the list, I realised that I know how to, or have made most of the bakes on the list. I set myself the challenge of taking these bakes and making them into a different version, a different recipe, whilst keeping the essence of the original bake.

I am beginning with Tiramisu.

Tiramisu is a coffee-flavoured Italian dessert. It is made of ladyfingers dipped in coffee, layered with a whipped mixture of eggs, sugar, and mascarpone cheese, flavoured with cocoa.

Roberto Linguanotto, owner of “Le Beccherie” of Treviso, Italy, was behind the creation of the first Tiramisu. This special dessert was created in the bakery of the restaurant.

This recipe is Coffee, Chocolate and vanilla flavoured sponge cakes, flavoured with a coffee syrup, layered with mascarpone cheese, sugar and vanilla frosting.

At first it sounds like a lot of faffing about, but trust me it's not. I hate anything that's faffy!

You might think that all of this coffee is going to be too strong, but honestly it's not. I don't like coffee cakes but I enjoyed this one. In fact, when I originally tried it I thought it wasn't coffee enough, so I added more to the recipe.

How to Make this cake

Make a cup of coffee.

Some parts of the recipe will require espresso powder to be added directly to the mix, other parts will require the espresso to be liquid.

Before you begin this recipe, put 5 tbsp of espresso powder in a cup, and dissolve with 5 tbsp of boiling water. Leave this to cool down before using in the cake.

Make the sponge cake.

The 3 flavours used in the recipe are made from one simple batter. Make it in a food processor and it will me done in minutes. I use the all-in-one method when making the majority of my sponge cakes - saves on time and effort.

The cake batter is then split into 4 equal quantities. 1 is to be flavoured chocolate with cocoa powder, 2 will be flavoured with coffee (these can both be put in the same bowl), and the remainder will stay as it is.

Make the coffee syrup.

This will be drizzled on the sponge cake layers to give an even stronger coffee flavour.

The syrup is brought to the boil to dissolve the sugar, so it will need time to cool down. I recommend using a pastry brush to add the syrup across each layer.

Make the Mascarpone Frosting.

In the same way as the cake batter was separated, so too is the frosting.

The mascarpone is must be brought to room temp for a few hours (less if it's hot). If it's too cold it will have to be beaten more to mix everything together, running the risk of it splitting or becoming runny. It can't be rectified it this happens.

The base frosting is mascarpone, icing sugar and vanilla extract or scrape the seeds from a pod.

Don't mix the frosting in a food processor. It should only be mixed together using a spatula, and only until the ingredients are all combined. If the mixture is whipped too much then it will become runny and you won't be able to spread it on your cake.

This time it's split into 1 part for chocolate, 1 part for coffee and 2 parts for vanilla. If you don't want to recreate this effect then leave out this stage and just use vanilla.

Tips to get the perfect cake.

1. Read the recipe form beginning to end, to familiarise yourself with what needs to be done, when.

2. I have used Espresso Instant Powder in this recipe. The only one I could find was by Nescafe. Use this not the stuff that's ground for cafetieres etc, it's too grainy and you won't get the full strength of the coffee.

3. If you want a weaker coffee taste then take out a tablespoon of coffee from the cake batter.

4. Use room temperature ingredients wherever possible, even the mascarpone cheese. Don't skip this bit thinking you can use the mascarpone straight from the fridge.

5. Bake the cakes the day before you assemble them. The coffee syrup will have longer to soak in and they will handle better.

6. Use the tin size recommended in the recipe. Different sized tins will require different quantities of batter. They can be purchased from any supermarket.

7. Weigh the cake batter accurately when dividing it. It makes all of the difference to the outcome.

8. Weigh the mascarpone frosting when dividing it to make the different flavours. It will make it taste the same as the recipe and look more like the photo.

This cake is extra special and ideal as a Birthday Cake.

The cake can be frozen. Wrap securely in clingfilm before placing in the freezer.

Store the cake in the fridge once it's completed. Remove just before it's going to be eaten.

If you don't manage to eat it all in one go, what's wrong with you? But, it will keep in the fridge for 5 days.

Easy Fruitilicious Flapjacks

This weeks quickie is a staple in my house - Flapjacks.

Whilst they are really easy, don't underestimate the impact of these no nonsense bakes.

You can get flpajacks so wrong but this recipe works every time.

If you don't have the fruit I have suggested, or you simply don't like it, substitute it for your favourites.

I even make these with just chocolate for my son who point blank refuses to eat dried fruit. Add M&M for added colour contrast.

A Gingerbread Man For All Seasons

Did you get the reference?

For those of you who know your films "A Man For All Seasons" is a 1966 film depicting the final years of Sir Thomas Moore, the 16th-century Lord Chancellor of England who refused to sign a letter asking The Pope to annul Henry VIII's marriage to Catherine of Aragon, and to accept him as the Head of The Church of England.

That's enough of that, it has absolutely nothing to do with this blogpost!

Now for the baking bit.

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Gingerbread biscuits are a favourite of many a child, and grown up child, as it's usually one of the first treats we are given from a local bakery. I know that the smell of Gingerbread is reminiscent of Christmas, but I think they should be enjoyed anytime. I want to take them from the every day to something special.

This time of year (it's currently October) lends itself ideally to producing the now popular Gingerbread Zombie Skeleton.

Gingerbread is made from plain flour, light brown sugar, butter, ground ginger and an egg. It's spicy and chewy and yummy.

Hints and Tips.

My gingerbread are a little lighter in colour than some but that's mainly because I don't add any other spices such as cinnamon or cloves. If you like the taste of those in your gingerbread, then by all means add a teaspoon.

It's best to make in a free standing mixer because the dough is a bit stiff and a mixer will make the dough in no time at all.

The dough must be chilled before rolling it out. Don't even attempt baking the dough if you haven't chilled it for at least an hour, preferably overnight. A well chilled dough will keep it's shape during baking.

The final baking time depends on how thick you rolled the dough and whether you like it on the softer side, or with a crunch. 1 minute either way can make all the difference to a biscuit.

If you would like some extra help then I have a How to Bake group over on Facebook that you can join and gain access to a number of videos including one for Gingerbread.

Decorating The Gingerbread

Go as minimal or blingy as you like at this stage.

You will need some Royal Icing for this.

If you haven't made royal icing or decorated biscuits before then I would go for the decorating icing kits that are readily available in supermarkets. There are some reasonable quality ones, although colours are limited. They will already be at the correct consistency for your needs.

If you have decorated biscuits before but don't want to make your own royal icing there are 2 options:

1. Royal Icing Sugar. All you do is add water according to the instructions on the packet and whip up using a mixer or electric whisk. It can be quite stiff so you are better off using a free standing mixer.

2. Ready Made Royal Icing. This is sold in all of the supermarkets and can be found in the baking aisle. It's very stiff but you can add water bit by bit, until you get the correct consistency. It is only sold in white so you will need to colour it yourself using gel colours, of which there are hundreds!

How to decorate biscuits is a whole other tutorial and soon you will be able to sign up to get your free copy.

You Will Need:

Coloured icing in tubes in White, Red & Black.

A pack of ready made eyes.

A bag of Piping Bags if the tubes don't already have a nozzle on the end.

Halloween sprinkles.

For safety purposes please make sure that children under 3 are fully supervised due to choking hazards from the eyes and sprinkles.

1. Squeeze some of each coloured icing into individual piping bags.

2. Place your undecorated gingerbread biscuits onto a clean, wipeable surface.

3. Cut the end of each piping bag, about 3 mm from the tip.

4. Pipe your design.

Here are a few suggestions for things you can pipe, depending on your skill level.

You aren't constrained by these suggestions, go with whatever suits your occasion or mood at the time. Kids prefer to go freestyle most of the time so let them play around.

If you do make some, show me your bakes and comment below.