Zesty orange cake with whipped cointreau ganache

I've been suffering from a chocolate orange craving recently that just WON'T QUIT. Now the thing is, I physically can't bring myself to buy a Terry's Chocolate Orange outside of Christmas time so I knew I'd have to bake myself out of this particular craving.


Orange cake isn't a very popular cake flavour is it? Lemon is the real citrus fruit that steals the show.

Frugal fun: simple homemade play dough!

And so the half term begins. It seems like a looooong time since the Christmas holidays, but I can confidently say that the kids and I have been needing this school break for the last few weeks. The pain of an early start is wearing thin after 6 long weeks...

But, we're still feeling the pinch after Christmas so this week I'm trying to keep it frugal and and create as as many homemade activities as possible.

Peanut butter cookies filled with praline centre chocolates

*Sigh* Peanut butter, how I love thee. Let me count the ways... Now, if I could write a poem in honour of my peanut butter addiction then I would do. But, I can't so let's just leave it there and end by saying I bloomin love the stuff.

A few supermarkets in Nottingham now sell the American Skippy peanut butter which is my all time favourite but it's very sweet, so if you're more of an earthy peanut butter fan then just keep moving...

Eggless chocolate cupcakes with cookie dough frosting

You all know the drill; you have an itching to bake, you have time to create something decadent for your family, all the ingredients are in place and then wham! You check the fridge and yep, no eggs. Gaaaah! Of course there are lots of yummy egg substitutes but nothing beats the real thing.

Well this happened to me today. I had *just* enough eggs for our meal that evening but the mood to bake had well and truly stuck and for the first time in ages I found myself craving cupcakes. In recent years I've baked waaay too many for work that it's kind put me off baking them for leisure (hence my cookie obsession).