Happiest when I am about to tackle a new challenge and happier still if the job involves flowers, I set off into the frozen wastes of the Cottage Garden to see what I can pick. This wasteland of dried stems with the odd pernicious and very hardy weed is hardly an oasis of verdant growth … Continue reading
I am in a baking frenzy. There is a flour tornado in my kitchen as I open up self-raising, plain and gluten free flour and bag after bag of sugar. The KitchenAid mixer is maxed out and I am juggling four recipes whilst desperately channeling Bree Van de Kamp and trying to remind myself that I … Continue reading
“It’s a pop-up cake club on Dartmoor and the sweetest place to be” I used to own and run a restaurant and inn. So I know a bit about how to make a place look nice and how to make people feel welcome. I can cook, write a menu, lay a table, clear it and … Continue reading
Luxuriant with butter, laden with toasted nuts and rum-soaked fruits and cushioned with a moist layer of crème d’amande, this unashamedly rich Stollen is a heavenly Christmas treat. A labour of love to make; a slow, rhythmic exercise of sifting, blending, creaming and rising where every step is an investment of devotion and tenderness as … Continue reading
Mysteriously dark, fragrantly flavoured with beer, orange peel and fennel and sticky with molasses, Vort Limpa is my favourite Christmas bread. This spicy Scandinavian rye loaf is named after the Vort or Wort which is the liquid that results from the mashing process in the making of beer, before fermentation begins. The story goes that … Continue reading
It’s my Birthday and I am playing Russian roulette with a new cake recipe and I am far too excited by the whole day to really get into a baking zone. The kitchen is in chaos; and my happiness endorphins after an early power walk see me as high as a kite. I look up … Continue reading
Dartmoor Flower Shed 