Recipe Journal

Jan 1
2 min

Blood Orange Marmalade Drizzle Cake

As Spring approaches, the last of the blood oranges appear in the shops; I made marmalade to preserve their amazing colour and flavour. ...

mel6202

Jan 1, 2022
2 min

Strawberry Ripple Cake

Food has the unique ability to transport us; from a time and place to the warm embrace of someone dear to us. For me, the chocolate...

Melanie Hall

Jan 1, 2022
2 min

Caramel Upside-down Cake

This is a cake for all seasons; in the warmer months it can be made with the amazing Queen Garnet plums, as it is in this recipe; in the...

Melanie Hall

Jan 1, 2022
2 min

10 Tips To Make You A Star Baker

10 tips for your best baking - no matter what time of year or season, these tips are the building blocks of good baking every time... If...

Melanie Hall

Jan 1, 2022
3 min

Blood Orange Cordial - Salute E Vita

I spent my early childhood years in the grey flinty midlands of England; before we came to Australia as ten pound tourists, I was lucky...

Melanie Hall

Dec 31, 2021
2 min

10 Tips To Make You A Star Baker

10 tips for your best baking - no matter what time of year or season, these tips are the building blocks of good baking every time... If...

Melanie Hall

Dec 31, 2021
2 min

Chocolate Chip Shortbread

Chocolate chip shortbread is the greatest biscuit; buttery, crunchy and melt-in-the-mouth. They keep well, are simple as anything to...

Melanie Hall

Dec 31, 2021
4 min

Just Like Your Nana's ... Simple and Delicious

Scones - who doesn't love them? Despite the endless quibbling about how to pronounce the name, whether you put the jam on first or the...

Melanie Hall

Dec 31, 2021
2 min

Yorkshire Ginernuts - Dunker's Delight

Yorkshire gingernuts - these are the biscuits of my childhood. I remember wondering what all the fuss what about, as ginger wasn't high...

Melanie Hall

Dec 31, 2021
3 min

Chocolate Fudge Cake... Your New Best Friend

Everyone needs a chocolate fudge cake recipe in their repertoire, an old friend that won't ever let you down. This is the first recipe...

Melanie Hall

Dec 31, 2021
1 min

Baking As Therapy

'life is what happens when you're busy making other plans' John Lennon's words have never rung so true as in the past few weeks of my...

Melanie Hall

Dec 31, 2021
2 min

Lemon Curd Shortbread - Tea Time Favourite

Shortbread is a universally popular biscuit, not just in Scotland, where it originated before the middle ages, but also in England,...

Melanie Hall

Dec 31, 2021
1 min

Chocolate Brownie Biscuits

As with many things in the annals of food history, and history in general, the origins of the brownie are somewhat obscured. Certainly...

Melanie Hall

Dec 31, 2021
1 min

Strawberry Financiers - mini almond cakes

These light delicious little French cakes originated in the 17th century, becoming popular in the 19th century, taking their name from...

Melanie Hall

Aug 1, 2016
3 min

Cookbook Addiction

How many cookbooks do you have? Oh my goodness there are ……! Is that too many?or not enough? I comfort myself with Nigella's admission...

Melanie Hall

Jul 16, 2015
4 min

Venice - I Still Love You

Beautiful Venice is surely a victim of her own popularity - on our latest visit, we were stunned to learn that La Serenissima now...