We're all foodies here

One of my favourites puddings, especially when served with ice cream. The light sponge, the gooey insides, the juxtaposition of hot and cold. What's more, it is deceptively easy to make (as long as you have a good recipe!) Although Paul Hollywood went for a peanut butter lava cake, I've decided to go for a classic chocolate interior. The recipe is therefore taken from BBC Good Food. The Ingredients 100g dark chocolate 100g butter 150g light soft brown sugar 3 large eggs 1 tsp vanilla extract 50g plain flour The Cake 1) Preheat your oven to 200'C / 180'C fan / Gas Mark 6. 2) Butter four ramekins well and place on a baking tray. (I did two at a time as I only have two ramekins) 3) Put the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of hot water. Stir until smooth. Set aside to cool slightly for 15 mins. (TOP TIP: the cooling part of step 3 is very important, as it ensure that the eggs don't cook when you mix...

This week's technical challenge required the use of a waffle maker. Sadly, I do not own a waffle maker. Happily, I love millionaire shortbreads. Doubly happily, millionaire shortbreads are much less fiddly than stroopwafels. (You will remember that the last fiddly bake that I attempted caused much more frustration that it was worth...) This week's recipe is taken from The Happy Foodie, who got it from James Morton. I've never made millionaire shortbreads before, so I stuck to the recipe quite rigidly this week. Enjoy! The Ingredients For the base: 100g softened, salted butter 50g caster sugar 150g plain flour For the caramel: 200g condensed milk 150g salted butter 50g caster sugar 50g golden syrup For the topping: 200g dark chocolate (70%) The Base 1) Preheat your oven to 160'C / 140'C fan / Gas Mark 3. 2) Line an 8-inch square brownie tin with baking paper and grease the sides. 3) Use a wooden spoon to combine 100g of butter with ...

Ah, bread week. There's nowhere to hide here. If the bake isn't perfect, Paul Hollywood will have something to say about it. This week's technical challenge is technically simple but very easy to get wrong. Slightly underproved dough, slightly overproved dough, slightly unsteady hands - any of these things can result in disaster. This week, I used the GBBO recipe. There wasn't much to change with this one, but I've swapped out lard for butter. This makes one large loaf and takes about 3 hours to make (two hours of which is proving). Have fun! The Ingredients 500g strong white bread flour 7g instant dry yeast 7g fine salt 50g butter 350ml water The Dough 1) Line a large baking tray with baking paper 2) Sieve the flour into a large bowl. Add the yeast, salt and butter. (TOP TIP: Put the yeast and the salt on opposite sides of the bowl. Otherwise, the salt may kill off some of the yeast, causing an imbalance of ingredients)...

This week's technical challenge caused a lot of frustration amongst the bakers. Today I learnt that making fortune cookies is, indeed, an exceedingly frustrating task. The fiddly, delicate and time-sensitive nature of this recipe makes it tricky to get 12 identical fortune cookies, all with that perfect shape and that satisfying 'snap'. But if you do decide to take on this recipe, rest assured, after 2 or 3 (or 5 or 10!) practice runs you'll get the hang of it. My recipe this week is taken from the GBBO website, but I have made some changes to the measurements and the oven temperature, which made the moulding part of this recipe much easier. It makes 12 fortune cookies (if you get it right every time!) and took me 2 hours to complete. Good luck! The Ingredients 2 large egg whites 3 tbsp vegetable oil 2 tbsp water 2 tsp cornflour 65g plain flour 100g caster sugar pinch of salt 2 tsp almond extract 1 tsp vanilla extract 150g white chocolate 100g b...

Channel 4's Great British Bake Off, which caused quite the controversy before filming had even started, is continuing to make waves. The first episode of GBBO caused a bit of a stir with shock ingredient peppermint extract. I've decided to give the peppermint a go. My recipe (based on the recipe by BBC good food, but with several important changes) makes 8 mini chocolate rolls, and takes about 1 hour to complete. I hope you enjoy! The Ingredients 3 eggs 100g golden caster sugar 80g of flour 2 tbsp of cocoa powder 1/2 tsp of baking powder 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract 120g of butter 120g of icing sugar 1 tsp of milk A few drops of peppermint extract 150g dark chocolate  150g milk chocolate 150g white chocolate  The Sponge 1) Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6 and l ine a Swiss roll tin (or any rectangular tin with a flat bottom and shallow sides will do just fine - mine was 24 x 37) with baking parchment and grease well. ...