Triple Chocolate Loaf Cake

I made this cake in a loaf tin. It’s one of those lovely “stand by” cakes which are great to have for just in case moments or a “I fancy a slice of something nice” moment … you know what I mean. It’s quite dense bake but it’s still moist and full of chocolate yumminess throughout.

A good one to add to your baking repertoire!

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Apple & Blackberry Loaf Cake

This recipe for Blackberry & Apple Loaf Cake is like a pudding as well as a cake as it’s so moist. It feels like a dessert you would have sitting at your granny’s table with the option of some custard or cream on the side. It’s pure comfort and as it’s not particularly sweet, you don’t feel bad having a slice. I simply sprinkled the top with a little icing sugar but you could do a vanilla glaze if you wanted to dress it up a bit.

I’m still struggling with a top oven grill combi as my fan oven is kaput! I’m waiting for a new Neff one to be installed and will hopefully be flying once that’s sorted. It’s a bit of a guessing game with temperatures and tops burning at the minute!!

One word of warning, do NOT remove it from the tin until it’s out of the oven for at least 30 minutes, preferably even 45/50 minutes if you can leave it and do NOT try to cut it for at least another hour or more till it’s completely cooled. It will simply fall apart on you. I know I used capital letters so I’m sort of shouting but it’s that important 😉 

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Lemon Drizzle Cake

This is a traditional Lemon Drizzle Cake with a crunchy top. I’ve made the original version and then adapted it a bit – delicious as it was, I felt there was something not quite hitting the mark. I’m delighted with the second version too so I’ll write up both and it’s up to you which you make.

The first one is a light, moist sponge with a nice tangy, slightly crunchy topping – the second, ingredients in the brackets, will give you a light, very lemony sponge with a tangy, crunchy topping. As usual, I’ve reduced the sugar substantially and it’s still perfectly lovely 🙂

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Cinnamon Swirl Bread

A totally delicious recipe that offers just the right amount of sweetness with the lovely warmth of cinnamon in every bite and a cinnamon flavoured slightly crusty top drizzled in a glaze. If you prefer, you can leave the glaze off..

I’ve adapted this recipe from a US magazine to grams and changed some  ingredients to try and make it a little healthier than in it’s original form. It’s made in quick time with only a spoon to mix, no special equipment needed. Ticks lots of boxes!

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Blueberry, Lemon & Honey Cake

I really can’t resist anything that says lemon and then they add blueberries and what do you know, another favourite, honey! Had to be made!  It’s a simple and quick to make loaf cake and it’s so moist and full of fresh blueberries and yet you can still taste a hint of honey throughout. Really nice!

You can dress it up as much as you like depending what you want it for. I brought it to a coffee morning so I added a lemon icing drizzle and used edible flowers. Equally you can just sieve a bit of icing sugar over the top and serve with a bit of fromage frais if you prefer.

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Strawberries & Cream Cake

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I spotted this lovely, traditional style loaf cake on the front of the Easy Food magazine and it immediately caught my attention. Topped with fresh cream and delicious strawberries, it’s perfect for a summer tea.

I took a quick peek inside to see how they made the cake and was delighted to see they used layers of fresh strawberries in between the batter mix which gives such a lovely red and cream marble effect when you cut slices. It’s a dense enough sponge cake so it will take an hour in the oven to bake.

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Lemon Curd & Blueberry Loaf Cake

A wonderfully light and moist loaf cake which combines two of my favourite taste combinations – lemons and blueberries. The addition of Greek yoghurt helps to create a very light, tasty result.

You can choose to cover the entire cake with a lemon icing, drizzle it lightly over the top or leave it off completely. That’s the beauty of this lovely anytime recipe! It will adapt to most occasions. Serve it with some extra blueberries and a dollop of Greek yoghurt.

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Gluten Free Blueberry & Lemon Loaf Cake

Reading the Irish Times magazine during the summer, I saw this recipe and thought, I’ll definitely make that and just the other day I remembered I had put it away safely – you know that place?? After a little bit of searching, I found the torn out page and decided, that’s it, definitely making it now!

I can’t resist anything with blueberries and lemon; it’s like a perfect match and the fact this cake is gluten free is an added bonus for my house and it’s occupiers!

There’s no flour in this cake at all, it’s just ground almonds and then the usual suspects of ingredients and it’s amazing that it holds itself so beautifully when cut.

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Barmbrack Recipe – Gluten Free option included

Barmbrack is a traditional Irish fruit cake, not unlike a sweet bread and usually made at Halloween. It’s very similar to a tea brack but with the addition of whiskey. This recipe makes a really beautiful, moist loaf, packed with flavour from the mixed spice and dried fruit, which has soaked overnight in cold tea and whiskey. There is another version which includes yeast but I personally feel it’s not as moist as this one.

Notes for Gluten Free Barmbrack method in the recipe below

This is the gluten free version:

The fun in making a Barmbrack is deciding what surprises you’ll pop in for people to discover. The ring, the lucky coin, the not so lucky pea or piece of cloth! Let’s keep with the positive vibe and only put in positive charms! Just remember to wrap any additions very well in greaseproof paper!  For me, there’s only one way to eat this …. thickly sliced with lashings of good Irish butter … oh and a cup of tea. Yes indeedeee 😉

Ideally try to make this recipe at least 1 or 2 days before you need it. It needs a little settling time to be perfect for slicing.

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Mixed Berry Drizzle Loaf Cake

Such a delicious loaf cake which is easily adapted to whatever berries you have in your fridge. The only ones not to use are strawberries as they go totally mushy and will ruin the cake. You still want to be able to bite into bits of berries with each slice.

The sugary berry coating on top finishes it beautifully with bright, jewel colours and a little crunch!

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Gluten Free Pistachio & Almond Cake with Limoncello Icing

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This is a lovely cake, baked in a loaf tin which uses ground almonds and pistachio nuts for it’s main flavour. Originally the topping used lemon juice but I replaced it with Limoncello for an extra kick and it worked beautifully but you can use lemon juice if you prefer. I’ve adapted it from a book called Ginger & White.

Making it again, I would reduce the ground almonds to 100g and increase the guten free flour to 70g and for my fan oven, I would set it 150C as the top can brown quite easily but you can guage yourself what works with your oven.

The only slightly testing part of this recipe was removing the shells off the pistachio nuts and realizing that you need twice the weight that you bought after removing said shells! So when you go to buy the pistachio nuts, you will need 200g to get 100g of peeled, ground nuts.

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