Trevone, Cornwall - September 2014

Earlier in the year, my friend and I went on holiday to Cornwall for a week. After the stress of this year with buying The Nest, it was great to get away for a change of scenery. We stayed in a small village called Trevone which is near Padstow, in a house right on the edge of two fantastic beaches, and with a fantastic month for weather, we had a brilliant time. Below are some photos from the trip, and a few highlights.

1. The Beaches - A fantastic choice of rocky and pebbly, with plenty of rock pools to explore, rocks to clamber over and a natural swimming pool. Or smooth and sandy with fantastically clear water! On the last day it was 24 C, just like being in Spain

2. Padstow - A lovely place to just wander and do a spot of shopping. Yes it is full of tourists and it's hard to escape them even out of season, but a typically Cornish harbour town with a view out to Rock on the other side of the estuary. Some pretty pastel coloured houses can be spotted up side streets, and a lovely yellow pub covered with flowers sets a lovely scene. Rick Steins eateries are obviously a good pull, but sample the traditional Cornish pasty for a treat on the go, or take a box home with you to keep the memories and the taste

3. Tintagel - Rumoured to be the birthplace of King Arthur, this windswept outcrop was once a stronghold for the Cornish kings, and with incredible far reaching views, it's easy to see way. Take sensible footwear, park in the town and scamper up the steps (there are a lot of them, some almost vertical!) to explore the ruins

4. The South West Coastal Path - We were so lucky that we stepped out of our front door and we were on it. Take a picnic and go as far as you want. Discover secret beaches, sheltered coves and amazing views as you walk, and enjoy the friendly smiles and greetings from other walkers on the path

5. St Ives - Again, a bit of a tourist trap but well worth a visit. We were lucky enough to visit on the last day of an art showcase, and spent many enjoyable hours wandering around free art galleries and studios, exploring art its from the present day back to the etchings and oil paintings of old. We also stumbled across the shop of one of my favourite textile artists, Poppy Treffry. Her shop was crammed with beautiful hand stitched things, and I couldn't leave without a lovely illustrated Singer sewing machine. We also found a fantastic fish and chop, Harbour fish and chips. After an incredibly windy and drizzly morning, a huge bowl of battered cod and chips with sweet potato crisps, salt and vinegar  and garlic mayonnaise hit the spot completely

Gingerbread Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Buttercream

As a first Christmas goodies test this year, I found a fantastic recipe for gingerbread cupcakes with a salted caramel buttercream icing. Recently I have found myself developing a taste for salted caramel, especially after sampling some amazing almond brittle crunch and salted caramel pecan brownies at The Cake and Bake Show from Lallapolosa. They were the kind of brownies that you never ever want to end and I was very disappointed when I finished the last crumb!

Even the Great British Bake Off this year went a little caramel crazy, and watching people heat sugar in an attempt to create amazing sculptures and exquisite flavours made me want to try it for myself.

This was my fist attempt at wet caramel (where you add water to the sugar) and I must admit it took a lot longer to caramelise than I thought! I don't know if it was because I was using a non-stick saucepan or because I stirred it, but only after 10 minutes of rapid boiling did it start to colour up. By that point I was slightly apprehensive and took the pan off the heat to add the cream as soon as it started to go golden. This resulted in a lovely tasty condensed milk tasting caramel, but did not have as deep a flavour as I had first hoped. Next time I will leave the sugar on the heat for longer in an attempt to get a stronger flavour.

When I added the salt to the caramel and buttercream, this did improve the flavour, and I even added an extra half teaspoon to really bring the flavour out. However, I thought that a full teaspoon in the cupcake batter was too much, so next time I will reduce it to half a teaspoon in the batter and a full teaspoon in the icing, which will hopefully be much more caramelly! Saying that, all of my tasters absolutely loved the cupcakes, and graciously offered their time and tastebuds to me should I want to trial another batch.

Double Raspberry Bakewell Tart

As my Mums belated birthday event, the family all got together last weekend for lovely Sunday lunch. Mum asked me to make the desert, and as I hadn't been able to make her a birthday cake due to the move to The Nest and their holiday, I decided to make a pudding using her favourite fruit, raspberries. Not very seasonal I know, but it was worth it!

I found the recipe online, and adapted it in my own way to make it special. I made my own Pate Sucree (sweet shortcrust pastry), infinitely superior to the versions you can buy in supermarkets. Six egg yolks gave it a beautiful golden colour, and when rolled out from the fridge it was a beautiful smooth silky dough to work with.

Tip: When lining the tin with the pastry, get it loosely into the correct place, then break off a spare piece of dough and use it to push the dough into the indentations on the side of the tin. If the dough cracks, don't worry, plug any gaps with spare pastry and when baked, you'll never see the difference.

When you need to trim the excess, either use your hand and the edge of the tin as the cutter to push the pastry down and away, or use a rolling pin to make a clean cut.

Some baking beans may say that you can put them straight onto the pastry, but I always line the pastry first with greaseproof paper. Not only is it less washing up, but it makes getting the little blighters out a lot easier too! Pour them into a spare baking tin to cool down completely before putting away, otherwise they may melt your container.

Once the case was baked (no need to let it cool) I spread the bottom with raspberry jam, then topped it with an almond frangipane with lemon zest, which gave a fantastic flavour to the filling, then returned the tart to the oven to bake. I was a little worried that the pastry was browning too quickly around the edges due to the high sugar content, however I was lucky that the frangipane took on its beautiful golden colour just in time to remove from the oven. Then, I left the tart to cool.

To decorate and serve, I made up a basic icing with icing sugar and water, and then decorated with beautiful fresh raspberries and toasted flaked almonds, which gave a fantastic deep nutty taste to the tart. Between seven of us we polished off a large part of it, and all agreed that it was a tasty triumph.