Zesty lime cupcake with a sugar crunch top.

Lime has a vibrant refreshing taste that really reminds me of summer days and holidays. In a cupcake, it's perfect. Sweet comforting light morish sponge with a zingy fresh flavour of lime, it'll keep  makeing you reach out for 'just one more'.

The recipe and method couldn't be simpler. It's just a matter of adding all the ingredients in a bowl, giving it a good mix and spooning them into the cases to bake.

What you'll need is: 4oz unsalted butter,4oz caster sugar, 4 oz selfraising flour, 2eggs, 1 tsp lime juice, zest of one lime, 1 tbsp milk.

Once those ingredients are mixed and in cases, bake at gas mark 4 till cooked (about 10 to 15 min). Leave to cool for 5 min and brush on a little lime juice on each cupcake and sprinkle on caster sugar. Decorate with lime zest and enjoy!

I love the crunch of sugar ontop but if you prefer, a lime sugar syrup works well too. You could change the recipe to orange, lemon or any other citrus flavour. Why not let me know how it goes. I would love to hear from all you foodies out there...

Individual mocha desserts, using up the last bits of chocolate cake.

If you've ever wondered what you could make with the last few pieces of chocolate cake to feed some extra mouths (or simply oneself ofcourse), I have a solution. It started off as a bit of an experiment and turned out quite morish. All you need is those few bits of chocolate cake, some black coffee, sweetened whipped cream (just add icing sugar) and cocoa powder.

First break up the cake into chunks and layer in ramekins. Use a tablespoon to spoon over a bit of coffee till the sponge is moist but not soaking!

Now sprinkle with a bit of cocoa powder for chocolatey hit and then spoon over the whipped cream. 

Chill to allow the flavours to mingle. Dust with more cocoa powder and enjoy. A lovely mocha dessert, perfect as individual servings in ramekins or great for sharing in a trifle bowl too. You could even add a bit of a crunch with roasted toasted chopped hazelnuts. I think I may try that next time!!

Cute 3D duck cookies, let me hear you say Aaaah!

I fell in love with a picture of these adorable duck cookies on the net and had to make them for a baby shower. I've just finished making them and just know they'll be a hit with adults and kids alike.

The biscuit is light and buttery with a hint of lemon and the icing has a dash of lemon too. It's a happy cookie, sure to make you smile :)

The recipe is quite easy. All that's needed is 225g butter and 225g caster sugar is beaten till creamy in the mixer. Then you beat in one egg and lemon zest. Lastly add the 375g plain flour and mix till a ball of dough is formed. Chill for about half an hour, roll to 1/4 inch thickness and bake for 10 minutes at gas mark 4 (till edges go slightly golden).

For these duck cookies, I made a rectangle shape for the duck to sit on and four wheels. 

The tricky part is the icing. I used fondant icing sugar so didn't have to add egg white but I did add a squeeze of lemon for flavour. The icing initially has to be thick to pipe lines around the shapes and then thinned down to fill the shape as seen in the picture below.

It takes a little while to dry and when done, assemble the duck on top of the rectangle and two wheels on each side. Use the icing as glue and allow to dry before enjoying... Quack quack!

Sweet shop nostalgia Swiss roll, a delightful dessert.

The pink and cream stripes make this Swiss roll look playful and conjure up all those delightful feelings of summer days and corner shop bought penny sweets.

I have to admit I'm a Bake Off fan, so when I watched the masterclass of the Black and white liquorish and blackberry swissroll, I really wanted to give it a go. 

It just so happened that I had a dinner party last night so I decided it was my chance to give it a go, ( I bought a tub of icecream for back up just in case!)

The recipe for Paul's cake and method is on the following link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/blackcurrant_and_96079 but I did make some changes.

Do you like liquorish? I quite enjoy the deep rich strong flavour of liquorish but for a dinner party I didn't think the flavour would be to everyone's taste. Instead, I coloured my stripes pink flavoured with almond essence and the filling I changed to whipped cream and raspberries. 

The result and the verdict: a delicious swissroll and looks stunning. The only part I found a bit tricky was the flipping out and rolling up of the swissroll. 

Not the best pic but here's me taking a quick photo of my plate of dessert and yes, I ended up serving the icecream too.