Christmas Pudding...

Missed Stir-up Sunday...don't panic...there's still time to make your Christmas pud, and this version made in a slo-cooker is delicious. Or perhaps you've always wanted to make a home-made pudding, well why not try this one...it's so easy. I have to say I've never been much of a fan of Christmas pudding but a couple of years ago we tried this one at home and I haven't looked back since!

Don't forget Stir-up Sunday was the traditional day when everyone in the family would take turns in stirring the pudding, whilst making a wish... why not give it a try with your family?

• 50g plain flour
• 1tsp mixed spice
• 100g fresh white breadcrumbs
• 150g shredded suet
• 100g soft brown sugar
• 400g mixed dried fruit
• 50g chopped blanced almonds
• 1 small carrot, finely grated
• Finely grated rind and juice of 1 orange
• 2 eggs beaten
• 15ml black treacle
• 15ml brandy or dry sherry
• 75ml beer or milk

To start put your slo-cooker on high. Then sift the flour into a bowl and add the spices, breadcrumbs, suet, sugar, fruit, nuts, carrot and orange zest and then mix thoroughly. Whisk the eggs, orange juice, eggs, treacle, brandy and beer or milt togherther and add to the dry ingredients before mixing again.

Grease a 1.2 litre pudding basin and spoon in the mixture and level off the top. Once done, cover with greased foil, make sure the foil is securely covering the pudding basin. Then put your basin in the slo-cooker and pour in water three-quarters of the way up the sides. Place the cover on your slo-cooker and cook on high for 10-12 hours.

When done, leave to cool completely before wrapping in foil. The pudding should then be stored in a cool, dark place until Christmas! On Christmas Day you can reheat the pudding in the slo-cooker by preheating it on high for 20 minutes before putting in the pudding with water around the sides. Reheating takes 8 hours on low or 4 hours on high.

* Adapted from New Recipes for your Slo-cooker

Weekly Bake-Off: Mississippi Mud Pie

Do you love baking and are you a fan of Mary Berry? Then perhaps you should check out the Weekly Bake-Off blog. I recently discovered the Weekly Bake-Off where the aim is to work through all one hundred recipes in Mary Berry's 100 Cakes and Bakes, one per week.

The recipe is set by the host every Monday and then should you take on the challenge a picture of your efforts should be tweeted by the end of the week before all resulting pictures are rounded up on the blog at the end of the week.

The recipe this week was Mississippi Mud Pie! I've never made it before so was a little apprehensive as to what it would be like but in fact it turned out quite well. I followed the recipe faithfully, it called for 39% cocoa plain chocolate which I couldn't seem to find but when I googled it... turns out this is Bourneville! However, were I to make this again I think I would go for something a lot more chocolatey as the taste test panel felt that although quite tasty, it didn't quite deliver that chocolate intensity that you might expect and that it was not quite chocolatey enough. They also described the texture as half way between a mouse (or a mousse even!) and a torte.

When cooking the sides puffed up massively above the height of the tin which was quite alarming when the middle stayed put...however, don't panic, when you take it out of the oven it cools in the tin and sinks back down to level again!

Overall, I enjoyed the bake and will definitely be joining in with the Weekly Bake-Off again. Why not give it a go as it's a great way to widen your repetoire and Mary Berry's recipe book is currently only £4 on Amazon... a bargain. Happy baking!

For the crust:

• 100g crushed digestive biscuits ( I blitzed mine in a mini food processor)
• 50g butter, melted
• 25g demerara sugar

For the filling:

• 200g plain chocolate (39% cocoa solids)
• 100g butter
• 1 tbsp instant coffee powder
• 1 tbsp boiling water
• 300ml single cream
• 175g dark muscovado sugar
• 6 large eggs, beaten

Grease a 20cm springform tin and heat the oven to 180c/Fan 160c/Gas 4. First make the base by mising together, the biscuits, the melted butter and the demerara. Press the biscuit mixture in to the base of the tin in a even layer.

For the filling, break the chocolate in to pieces and then gently heat it in a pan with the butter, coffee powder and boiling water until completed melted. Once ready remove from the heat and then beat in the cream, sugar and eggs. The prepared mixture is then poured in to the tin over the biscuit base. Bake in the oven for around 1 hour and 15 minutes or until set. Leave to cool in the tin, before removing and serving with whipped cream and a dusting of icing sugar.

* Adapted from Mary Berry's 100 Cakes and Bakes (My Kitchen)

A Birthday Cake for Horse Lovers...

Need a cake for a young horse riding fan? This could be the one for you!

It's a sponge cake with buttercream and jam which was then covered in Regal Ice Celebration. The horse and the board are covered in celebration which was coloured with Dark Brown and Chestnut pastes. The mane is Teddy Bear Brown and the reins are M&B Dark Brown.

To make the picket fence around the side I used a fab wood grain effect impression mat (below). Once you've rolled your paste out pop the mat on top and then roll over it...it leaves a great wood grain effect, complete with knots!! You can use the wood grain for all sorts of things from garden sheds to pirate ships! Finally, I used the lower case Tappits set to add the writing. Result, a cute cake that is not too difficult to make.

Orange & Cranberry Torte

After some consideration and a good search through the recipes in Delicious magazine I decided that I would make this Orange & Cranberry Torte to email in for their Winter Bakes feature. The recipe is by Eric Lanlard and the brief for the entry was any wintery bake... their favourite pictures will be featured in the magazine...although tasty I'm not sure this one will make the cut as it's a bit... well...errr...brown! It definitely won't be winning any style awards but it did taste good with a dob of cream!!

• 350g almonds
• 350g caster sugar
• 3 tsp ground cinnamon
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 8 large free-range eggs, beaten
• 400ml sunflower oil
• Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
• Grated zest and juice of 1 orange
• 200g dried cranberries plus a handful to decorate
• 3 cloves

Heat the oven to 180c/fan 160c/gas 4. Butter and line a 23cm springform cake tin. Measure out the ground almonds, 300g of caster sugar, 2 tsp of cinnamon and the baking powder in to a large bowl.

Make a well and add the sunflower oil and eggs before mixing. Then add in the zests and dried cranberries. I used my new microplane grater (below) for finely zesting and it worked a treat! Once combined bake for 50 minutes - 1 hour. However, beware mine took a look longer... probably about an extra 20 minutes.

With about 5 minutes to go, gently heat the citrus juices in a saucepan with the remaining sugar, cinnamon and cloves. Dissolve the sugar and then simmer and cook for 3 minutes. When the cake is done remove it from the oven and pierce it with a skewer. Then pour the citrus syrup over the top. It then cools in the tin for an hour before turning out. Finally, decorate with a handful of dried cranberries and serve with pouring cream. Result... a tasty winter bake!

* Adapted from Eric Lanlard's Orange and Cranberry Torte recipe on the Delicious Magazine website.