Little One loves to bake so much, so when Littlest One is at nursery we always make sure that we bake something. A few weeks ago, we made these cherry and almond cupcakes. The day we baked them also happened to be her first day not being at nursery anymore, so we wanted to make something extra yummy. It’s lovely spending time baking together, and it’s a lovely thing to do when her little brother is at nursery! She always wants to know what we’ll be making, and I think it will be a lovely tradition. She chose how we would decorate them, and was very pleased that they look “a bit like space, Mummy!”. This recipe is actually originally for a cake, but it worked really well for cupcakes too. We used a muffin tray to make them.

Ingredients

200g glacé cherries

200g self-raising white flour

175g unsalted butter, softened

175g caster sugar

3 eggs (medium)

50g ground almonds 

1 tsp almond extract

2 tbsp flaked almonds – only use these if you’re making a cake version

For the frosting

250g icing sugar, sifted (plus extra for dusting)

80g unsalted butter, at room temperature

25ml semi skimmed milk

A few drops of almond extract

Food colouring (optional)

A few sprinkles (we used white chocolate stars)

Method

1.Preheat the oven to 170°C, (fan 150°C, gas mark 3). Cut the cherries in half and rinse in hot water to remove all the syrup. Pat dry with kitchen paper.

2. Beat the butter and sugar until light and creamy, then gradually beat in the eggs a little at a time until well mixed, adding a little of the flour if the mixture curdles.

3. Fold in the flour, salt, cherries, ground almonds and almond extract until evenly mixed.

4. Spread the mixture into a 7 inch cake tin, top with flaked almonds and bake for 60-75 minutes, until firm to the touch and the cake has just begun to shrink from the side of the tin. Allow to cool for 10 minutes then remove from the tin and cool completely.

I’m definitely going to make this as a celebration cake at some point. In my new book, Colourful Fun Embroidery, I have created a super sweet bunting cake topper that I think would look fab on top of this! If you’d like to order a copy, you can do that here.

The original recipe for cherry and almond cupcakes can be found here.

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I can’t really remember where this flapjack recipe came from, but we’ve been making it for years and have passed it on to so many people! I was actually very surprised to find that I haven’t blogged it before, so it’s good to finally post it. I’ve called it ‘squidgy flapjack’ because you get that gorgeous syrupy texture with this really easy recipe – no dry flapjacks here! It really is a lovely sugary treat.

You can make it plain, which is really tasty, or add cherries (as I did here) or chocolate chips, raisins, cranberries…the possibilities are endless, so just bake it for your own taste. We usually cut it into big slabs, but you could cut it into smaller pieces and it would go a long way.

Ingredients

300g butter (you could use margarine if you prefer)
240g soft brown sugar
4 tbsp golden syrup
700g oats
2 pinches salt
100g glacé cherries, chopped (optional)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas mark 4. Grease and line a 10 x 15 inch baking tray.

2. Melt the butter (or margarine), sugar and syrup in a pan over a low heat until melted and combined.

3. Mix in the oats and salt, and then press into the tray. It’s worth spending a few minutes pressing the mixture in with the back of a spoon, just to make sure that the mixture sticks really well.

4. Bake for 15-20 minutes and then leave to cool in the tray on a wire cooling rack. I usually let it cool for a little while and then cut it into pieces before it has completely cooled.

I really love making this squidgy flapjack, and it’s a real family favourite. You might also love this ginger and dark chocolate flapjack too!

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