I wanted to use up some of the blueberries that I have stored in my freezer. I always have some there. Whenever the store puts them on special I buy up extra punnets of them and stick them straight into the freezer.

That makes them ever so handy to use in cakes and puddings, crumbles and pies.



You can use them straight from the freezer without thawing them out. They work like a charm as long as you are using them to cook with.



I have never tried eating frozen blueberries, except in smoothies, and they work pretty well in those as well. A little frozen fruit makes a smoothie a beautiful thing in my opinion.



I remembered this fabulous recipe I have for a blueberry crumb cake, that has a wonderfully moist texture and is topped by a delicious crumble crunch.



You will love this. Your family will love this. Your guests will love this.
EVERYONE will love this!!



It's a KEEPER. Need I say anymore???



I think not! Let the pictures speak for themselves.



*Blueberry Crunch Cake*
Serves 8
Printable Recipe

A delicously moist cake, stogged to overflowing with blueberries and topped with a lovely sweet crunch! This is fabulous.

280G (2 cups) flour
300g (1 1/2 cups) caster sugar
5 1/2 (2/3 cup) ounces butter
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
250ml (1 cup) milk
2 large eggs, separated
1 tsp vanilla
1 X 200g (approx. 2 cups) blueberries

To serve:
pouring cream or custard

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F. Butter a 9 X 13 inch nonstick baking pan. Set aside.

Whisk together the flour and sugar. Rub in the butter with your fingertips, until the mixture resembles fine dry bread crumbs. Remove 3/4 of a cup of this to use for the topping, and set it aside. To the remainder add the salt and baking powder. Beat in the egg yolks, vanilla and milk. Blend together well.

Beat the egg whites until stiff. Fold them into the batter. Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the blueberries evenly over top of all. Sprinkle the reserved crumb mixture over top of the blueberries.

Bake in the heated oven for 40 top 50 minutes, until the cake is well risen and golden brown along the edges and is completely set in the middle and tests done. Remove from the oven to a wire rack to cool and serve warm from the pan with some pouring cream or custard.

Note - the leftovers are delicious!

There's something here today that you will seldom see in my kitchen. Yes, that's right, that is a chocolate cake.



And not just any chocolate cake either . . . but a scrummily delicious chocolate cake made with milky way chocolate bars.



Oh my but this is wonderful. We had company last night for dinner and this is what I made for dessert. I know . . . Todd hates chocolate cake . . .



Never fear, I made something else for him. (To be revealed soon)



This cake uses a cake mix, but there is no shame in that, seriously. The end result is so darned delicious that nobody will care that you cheated a little bit.



The satisfied looks on their faces once they put that first forkful into their mouths will say it all.

Moreish. Scrumptious. Heavenly Bliss.



You will want to make this again, although I do have to warn you now . . . one slice will not be enough. Seriously.



*Milky Way Cake*
Serves12 to 16 (depending on how big you cut the slices!)
Printable Recipe

A deliciously moist cake that uses delicious milky way chocolate bars in the batter and in the frosting! Scrummy!

for the cake:
6 (21.9g) milky way bars
2 TBS plus 8 ounces of water
1 package of chocolate fudge cake mix (Betty crocker)
4 ounces butter, melted
3 large eggs at room temperature
1 TBS flour
100g of chocolate chunks

For the Frosting:
6 (21.9g) milky way bars
2 TBS butter
4 ounces double cream
40g bar of dark chocolate, chopped

sprinkles, chocolate curls etc. to decorate. (optional)

Preheat the oven to 160*C/325*F. Grease a 12 cup bundt pan and flour it, tapping out any excess. Set aside.

Place the milky way bars for the cake into a saucepan along with the 2 TBS water. Cook, whisking constantly, over medium low heat until the bars are melted and the mixture is smooth. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside to cool

Combine the cake mix, 1 cup of water, butter and eggs in a large bowl. Beat on medium speed with an electric mixer until the batter is well mixed and creamy smooth. Measure out about 2/3 of a cup into a bowl and stir the melted candy mixture into it. Stir in the 1 TBS of flour, mixing it in well. Mix the chocolate chunks into the remaining batter.

Place about half of the regular batter into the prepared pan. Make a bit of a well in it all the way around the pan. Spoon the chocolate bar mixture into this, taking care not to let it touch the sides of the pan at all. Spread the remaining regular batter over top. Smooth it over.

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, until the cake springs back when lightly touched, about 45 to 50 minutes. Remove from the oven to a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes or so, before removing from the pan. Finish cooling on a wire rack before transferring to a plate to proceed.

Place the milky way bars for the frosting, aloong with the chopped dark chocolate, butter and cream into a sauce pan. Cook and stir over medium heat until smooth. It may look lumpy, but persevere, it will smooth out. Allow to cool slightly before spooning over the cake. Sprinkle with any decorations you may want to use immediately. Allow to set before cutting into slices to serve.

Growing up I often saw photos of Pineapple Upside Down cakes in my mother's ladies magazines and on the telly, but it was not something that my mother ever baked. I suppose she might have considered it somewhat exotic, and she was a good, but plain cook.



Exotic was not really in her vocabulary when it came to food, and my dad really wouldn't have liked anything out of the ordinary anyways.



I always thought they looked so delicious and once I was grown up and living on my own, and raising a family, I often baked Pineapple Upside Down Cakes as a special treat. I used an old cast iron skillet and they were always very well received by everyone. We used to have them with dollops of sweetened whipped cream on top, or scoops of cold Vanilla Ice Cream.



I don't have an iron skillet over here. I have been looking for one, but haven't come across one yet. They are much too heavy to bring back on a plane when I go to Canada for visits. I thought Todd was going to have a heart attack the last time we went when I tried to stuff a full size turkey roaster in my bag. It took me a while to convince him that I wasn't nuts and that once you stuffed it and surrounded it with clothing it didn't take up much more room than a piece of paper would . . . well, at least that was my theory anyways.



The other night I baked my honey bun a delicious upside down pudding . . . a rich and buttery cake with a lucious toffee, apricot and hazelnut topping baked right in. Oh my but it was good.



Of course he enjoyed it with lashings of double cream . . .



And why not. In for a penny . . . in for a pound is what I always say!!!



*Upside Down Pudding*
Serves 6 to 8
Printable Recipe

Sometimes known as upside down cake, this is a delicious creamed cake mixture that is baked over top of a scrummy brown sugar and fruit base. Once it is baked and turn out, the fruit makes a very attractive picture with it's lovely rich butter, sugar and nut topping. You could also use pear halves and walnuts instead of the apricots and hazelnuts.

225g unsalted butter, divided, plus extra for buttering the pan ( cup)
50g soft light brown sugar (1/4 cup packed)
14 to 16 hazelnuts
600g of tinned apricot halves, drained well (large tin, 21 ounces)
170g demerara sugar (14 TBS)
3 large free range eggs, beaten
 170g self raising flour (1 1/4 cup)
56g ground hazelnuts (1/3 cup)
2 TBS milk
custard or thick cream to serve
Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F. Butter a 10 inch round cake tin and base line it with nonstick baking paper.

Cream 60g/1/4 cup of the butter together with the soft light brown sugar until pale and fluffy. Spread over the base of the prepared tin. Put a hazelnut into the hollow of each apricot half and invert onto the base. The apricots should completely cover the surface.

Cream the remaining butter and the demerara sugar together until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, a little at a time, beating well after each addition. Sift the flour and then gently fold it into the creamed mixture, along with the nuts and milk, using a metal spoon. Spread the finished batter over the fruit.

Bake in the centre of the heated oven for 45 minutes, or until golden brown and well risen. Run a knife around the edge of the pudding and invert onto a armed plate to serve.

Serve warm and cut into wedges along with some custard or thick cream.

We arrived home from Chester late this afternoon, after having had a very successful house hunting experience. Whew!

We were so lucky. All the pieces have fallen into place, and at the end of this month we will be moving up there to take up residence in a lovely little 3 bedroom terrace house, with a gorgeously HUGE garden in the back, and a verypretty little garden in the front, with enough parking space for our car, so that it won't have to be parked on the road.



It's all carpeted, freshly painted, well appointed, and the kitchen is quite nice. It is a bit smaller than I have been spoiled with having here in our little cottage, but . . . I will get used to it in time. I now just want it to all be over with, and to be settled in at the other end. Moving is always such a pain, and can be quite stressful. We are trying to be as organized as we can, so that things go as smoothly as possible.



To celebrate our homecoming and our great luck in having found such a fabulous place to live I baked Todd a tasty Cherry and Almond Traybake this evening.



Calling it a Traybake is just a fancy way of saying snacking cake . . . for really that is all that this is.



Moist and tasty and stogged full of glace cherries. Nicely crunchy on the top with toasted almonds and just the hint of lemon in the crumb. This went down a real treat! (I am thinking a sticky lemon glaze would be just perfect on this.)



*Cherry and Almond Traybake*
Makes one 12 by 9 inch cake
Printable Recipe

A delicious snacking cake stogged full of almonds, glace cherries and just the merest hint of lemon. You can use fresh stoned cherries when in season instead of the glace cherries, but you must eat the cake up quickly then, as it will not keep well. NOT a problem!!! (You would need 1 pound of sweet black cherries, stoned)

8 ounces glace cherries (I like to use the natural coloured ones)
10 ounces self raising flour
2 level tsp baking powder
8 ounces softened butter
8 ounces caster sugar
the finely grated zest of 2 lemons
(I use my microplane grater)
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp lemon extract
3 ounces ground almonds
5 large eggs
1 ounce flaked almonds
TO finish:
Icing sugar to dust over top

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F. Butter a 12 by 9 inch tray bake tin, and line the base with parchment paper. (You may also use a roasting tin of the same size)

Cut the cherries into quarters. Place in a sieve and rinse well under running water. Drain and then dry well with some paper towels. Set aside.

Measure all the remaining cake ingredients, except for the flaked almonds into a large bowl. Beat with an electric whisk for about 2 minutes, until mixed thoroughly. Fold in the well dried cherries. Spread in the prepared pan, leveling it off evenly and then sprinkle the flaked almonds evenly over top.

Bake for 40 minutes, until the cake has shrunk from the sides of the tin and springs back when lightly touched in the centre. Leave to cool in the tin. Once cool, dust with icing sugar and then cut into squares to serve.

Once again, another attempt to pare down our fresh resources here at Oak Cottage. What better way to use up blueberries, than to bake a deliciously moist sour cream cake!!





Oh, I do hope that blueberries are available now up in Chester . . . they weren't when we last lived there some almost seven years ago now . . .



I was so very excited when I found them in the local shops down here in Kent. Blueberries were one of the things I had most missed over here when I first arrived. A local gal from Eastern Canada, I had never had to live without blueberries in my life!!!



I had taken them oh so very much for granted once upon a time. It took moving over here for me to realize just what a treasure they truly are.



But even if they are something that you can get all of the time . . . baked in a delicious cake such as this, they are a treasure anyways . . .




Moist . . . delicious . . . with just the merest hint of lemon in it's delicious buttercream frosting. This is a winning cake all the way around. Your family will thank you, and then . . . ask for more!!




*Sour Cream Blueberry Cake*
Serves 8 to 10
Printable Recipe

A deliciously moist sour cream cake stogged full of blueberries and covered in a tasty lemon scented buttercream icing.

for the cake:
175g soft butter
175g caster sugar
3 large free range eggs
225g self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp vanilla essence
4 TBS dairy sour cream
225g blueberries, fresh or frozen

For the Icing:
3 ounces softened butter
6 ounces icing sugar, sifted
1 TBS sour cream
1/4 tsp vanilla essence
1/4 tsp lemon essence

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F. Butter and baseline a loose bottomed 9 inch round cake tin.

Put the butter, sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder, and vanilla in a large bowl. Beat with an electric whisk for 1 to 2 minutes, until light in colour and well mixed. Beat in the sour cram and then fold in the blueberries.

Spread into the prepared tin, leveling off the top. Bake for 50 minutes, until risen and the top springs back when lightly touched. Remove from the oven. Allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes and then take out of the tin, peel off the paper and finish cooling on a wire rack.

To make the icing place all the ingredients into a bowl and beat well with an electric whisk until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Spread over the top of the cooled cake. Delicious!

As a Latter Day Saint, I ascribe to a health law called the Word of Wisdom. This means that I do not drink tea or coffee, or alcohol. This is not a problem for me and never has been. I do enjoy a nice cup of herbal tea once in a while, but generally speaking I have never been a lover of hot drinks. Regardless to what other people may think or believe, if this is what my God wants me to do, then I do it, no questions asked. I spose it is one of the things that makes us a peculiar and a wonderful people!



I do enjoy the coffee flavour in other things though . . . back in Canada there is a really tasty candy bar called Coffee Crisp, and it is quite . . . quite good. I kinda miss them over here and a bag of the bite sized ones is on my list of must buy's when I go home this next summer.




I love coffee flavoured cakes and biscuits as well.



Especially if it is combined with the flavour and crunch of toasted walnuts.



This is quite a common and a popular teatime treat over here in the UK. A deliciously moist cake covered in a tasty buttercream icing and flavoured with coffee essence and walnuts.



I have gone one step further though, as I am wont to do . . . and added a deliciously creamy topping of a French Creme au Beurre. Moreishly good.



Scrummy even. Do be sure to give this a try. You can use Camp Chickory flavouring if you like.



*Coffee and Walnut Cake*
Serves 8
Printable Recipe

A deliciously moist sandwich cake filled with a lucious buttercream icing and topped with a coffee Creme Au Beurre

3 ounces softened butter
3 ounces soft margarine
6 ounces soft light brown sugar
6 ounces self raising flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
3 eggs
1 tsp coffee essence

For the buttercream filling:
1 1/2 ounces softened butter
3 ounces sifted icing sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 TBS milk

For the Coffee Creme Au Beurre:
3 ounces caster sugar
4 TBS water
2 egg yolks
6 ounces unsalted butter, softened
1/4 tsp coffee essence

To decorate:
chopped toasted walnuts

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F. Butter and base line two 7 inch sandwich tins. Set aside.

Place the butter, margarine and sugar in a bowl. Sift the flour and baking powder together and add to the bowl along with the eggs. Whisk the ingredients together, beating them for about 2 minutes with an electric whisk, stopping halfway through to scrap down the sides, ensuring that all the ingredients are combined thoroughly. Quickly whisk in the coffee essense.

Divide the batter between the two baking tins. Smooth the surface and then bake for about 25 minutes, or until the sponges are well risen and the top spring back when lightly touched.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for five minutes in the tins before turning them out onto wire racks to finish cooling.

For the buttercream, beat the butter until smooth. Gradually beat in the icing sugar, vanilla and milk until the mixture is smooth and fluffy. Sandwich the two cake layers together with this.

Make theCreme au Beurre as follows. Dissolve the sugar in the water a small saucepan without boiling. Once the sugar is dissolved bring the syrup to the boil and cook steadily until it reaches the soft ball stage (120C/240*F) on a candy thermometer.

Whisk the egg yolks until foamy with an electric whisk and then gradually pour the syrup over them in a thin and steady stream, whisking the whole time. Continue to whisk for about 5 minutes, until the mixure cools and forms a thick mousse. In another bowl, beat the butter until smooth. Gradually beat in the egg yolk mixture along with the coffee essence, beating to give a light, glossy icing. spread this thickly over top of the cake. Sprinkle with the chopped toasted walnuts immediately.

Allow to set before cutting into wedges to serve. Delicious!

One of my favourite desserts over here has to be Sticky Toffee Pudding. So rich and lovely, and incredibly moreish. And to think it was only a few years ago that I discovered it!!



We were holidaying up in the Lake District and I picked up one of the Sticky Toffee Puddings made by Cartnell and I was immediately bowled over. For a store bought pud, it was fabulous. So fabulous in fact that we ended up picking one up almost every day of our holiday and sitting back in our holiday cottage each night scarfing it down with delight!!



But what is a sticky toffee pudding . . . not much more than a tasty and moist date cake, topped with a luciously rich toffee sauce. They are incredibly yummy.



This cake is not quite as rich as a sticky toffee pudding, but my oh my it is delicious in it's own right.



The cake moreishly filled with dates and that toffee icing gilding the top is just to die for. You'll find yourself getting up in the middle of the night and raiding the larder for

just . . . one . . . more . . . piece.


Trust me. Would I lie to you? I think not!!




*Sticky Toffee Cake*
Makes 18 serving
Printable Recipe

Our favourite pudding in a cake!! This is a real winner!

8 ounces dried dates (1/2 pound)
300ml of water (1 1/4 cups)
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (Baking soda)
6 ounces soft light brown sugar (13 1/2 TBS)
4 ounces butter, room temperature (1/2 cup)
1 tsp vanilla
2 large free range eggs, beaten
6 ounces self raising flour (1 1/3 cups)

For the icing:
6 TBS double cream (Whipping cream can be used)
3 ounces soft light brown sugar (scant 7 TBS)
1 ounce butter (2 TBS)
1 ounce icing sugar, sifted (3 1/2 TBS)
Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F. Butter and base line a shallow 11 by 7 inch baking tin. Set aside.

Cut each date into 3 or 4 pices. Place in a saucepan along with the water. Bring to the boil, and then boil uncovered, for about 10 minutes, until all the water is absorbed and the dates have softened. Remove from the heat. Stir in the bicarbonate of soda and set aside to cool.

Cream together the butter and brown sugar. Stir in the vanilla. Gradually beat in the eggs and then fold in the cooled date mixture. Stir in the flour.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Smooth the surface. Bake for 35 minutes, until risen and just set. Remove from the oven and leave in the tin for 15 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool.

For the icing, gently heat the cream, sugar and butter together in a small pan until the sugar is dissolved. Bring to the boil and then cook, uncovered for 4 minutes, until golden. Do not stir. Leave to cool. When cold, beat in the icing sugar until smooth. Using the back of a wet spoon, spread it over the cake. Leave to set before cutting into 18 rectangles.