Glitter Waffles

This morning I was bullied into making breakfast waffles by my lovely housemate. Although I probably didn't take much convincing. Either way, she's going to make me macaroni cheese for dinner, so everyone wins. 


I've become a little obsessed with edible glitter, and I'll take any excuse to use it! So here are some glittery buttermilk waffles with maple syrup. Nutritious and delicious!*

A mixture of gold, silver and holographic glitter. We've spent the rest of the day finding it about our person. 

Found this on the wall of the adjacent house. Because everyone needs to keep a jar of dried chickpeas handy. 


I made them with the waffle iron I got last Christmas, but the recipe will make pancakes that taste just as great if you don't happen to have one. 


Here's the recipe:


125g plain flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
250ml buttermilk (or, the same amount of milk, soured with 1 teaspoon of white or apple cider vinegar)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
90ml vegetable oil (or same of melted butter)
2 beaten eggs


Combine the dry ingredients in one bowl, and the wet in another. Slowly mix the wet into the dry, stirring until just combined. 
Ladle 1/3 cup of this mixture into the iron/pan. 










*Read: not nutritious at all.

'Tis The Season

Holidays! I went back to my parents' for the holiday period, where I am still. Mostly sitting and watching TV and eating everything that is not proper food. Aside from Christmas lunch, I haven't eaten a main meal in 3 days. Rad.


Here's some photos of things that have happened in the recent present.

First some glittery panettone. Panettone was a gift from my brother's friend Fabio, sourced from Carluccio's. So delicious and moist with and almond-y macaron-y crackle glaze thing. I sprinkled some edible glitter on (gift from the boyfriend), much as I have been doing with all food these past couple of days...

We went for a pre-Christmas lunch at The Butcher and Grill in Wimbledon village, family, boyfriend and I. I had a delicious espresso martini, but somehow managed to throw it all over a cushion, my handbag, and my phone. 

Cheese burger....

Lamb burger...

Sparkly mince pies. Lazily made with shop-bought pastry and Heston Blumenthal's pine sugar left over from a packet of his mince pies. I added a little brandy butter to the filling.

The cat was suffering from food-pouch induced excess. He had 3 all before lunch...

Chocolate, hazlenut and pecan pie. Recipe adapted from the Hummingbird Bakery. The pastry looks a state due to the wrath I was experiencing from the pastry gods. No doubt in penance for the aforementioned shop-bought incident.

Crispy wonton thingies. And lots of Spode.

Bake Sale!

On Sunday the 26th June I will  be having a bake sale in my driveway (The Grange, Wimbledon) to celebrate the summer, moving house, new job, it being hot, and the middle weekend of the Wimbledon Tennis fortnight. 


If you're in the village, come and have a wander down, I'll be there from 10:30am (ish) until 4.00pm (or until stocks last!)


There will be some of this:

And this:

Also this:

And possibly some of this:

Come on, you know you want to...


EDIT: I will be using the profits to sponsor my friend Stef in his 10k run for Paul's Cancer Centre and will be selling my Mum's Wimbledon Scenes postcards with the profits going to the same cause. 


GUILT-FREE CAKE!! Who could resist?

Call Me Ismail

Some weeks ago - never mind how long precisely - having little or no money in my purse, I got a Facebook message. A friend from school was wondering about buying some cinnamon rolls, and on Friday evening he did! I couldn't help but take a photo, and it was all I could do not to eat them.

He tells me that he and his family loved them. They're pretty more-ish. I'm trying to find a good recipe for a dough that can be refrigerated for baking in the morning. Then I will be the perfect housemate. Or at the very least I will be queen of the breakfast treat.


Pretty simple to make - make dough, roll and fill with melted butter, cinnamon and sugar. Roll up, cut, let rise again and then bake. Om nom nom.

Bank Holiday Birthdays

Two birthdays, one bank holiday and lots of cake. I made a carrot cake with maple frosting for my boyfriend (with his age in binary...) and a chocolate orange cake for my brother. Both delicious, but somehow I only managed to photograph my brother's one properly. Ah well.

Marshmallow Fluff

Here's the recipe for marshmallow fluff. It can be used as a filling, topping, cake frosting and to dip strawberries and toast them on a BBQ. Or just shove your face in it. I'm not judging.


300g caster sugar
2 egg whites (at room temp.)
1 1/2 tablespoons golden syrup
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• Put 6 tablespoons of water and ingredients (except for the vanilla) in a heat-proof bowl. Set the bowl over a pan of simmering water, making sure it doesn't sit in the water.
• Beat with an electric whisk on high speed for 7 minutes until stiff peaks form.
• Remove bowl from the heat and add vanilla. Whisk on high for another 2 minutes until stiff glossy peaks are formed. 

This recipe will make enough to frost a 3-layer cake, so I usually half it. You can put any left-overs in the freezer - it won't freeze but it does keep a lot better than in the fridge. 

Another great BBQ idea from my friend:

• Cut a banana length-ways and open up like a little paper boat (leaving the skin on).
• Push squares of milk chocolate into the banana.
• Top with some marshmallow fluff and wrap in tin foil.
• Put on the BBQ after you've cooked everything else and leave for about 10 minutes or until the chocolate is melted and the banana looks squishy. Scoop out with a spoon.

At Least 3 of Your Five-A-Day

I have blueberries on the brain for some reason. I don't even really like them. But I love them in baked things. I was going to make some regular blueberry muffins but I decided that was boring and made these instead.

Hummingbird cake muffins with added blueberries. Recipe for the hummingbird cake here. There's banana, pineapple and blueberries. If that's not 3 of your five-a-day I don't know what is. Salad probably.

I was looking through stuff I'd put in the freezer the other day. There is a cake, several bran muffins, red velvet crumbled cake for decorating, marshmallow fluff, and some cream cheese frosting. Might throw out the bran muffins though...


EDIT - added some cream cheese frosting to balance out the healthy