Classic Caggs

Those of you that don't follow me on Instagram ( @caggyp if you're interested) won't have been subjected to the constant barrage of photos of sunny Australia. I've just returned from 2 months Down Under and the food there was a big feature of my Instagram feed , so I thought I would share my breakfast/brunch favourites from Melbourne, where I spent the majority of my time, on here (i.e. impose my photos on you via all mediums I can think of) Tivoli Road Bakery (South Yarra, Melbourne) This Danish Pastry, if my memory serves me correctly, is a fig, almond and custard concoction, but whether I've got that correct or not it was abso-freaking-lutely delicious. I also enjoyed a slice of the Tivoli Road fruit loaf (jam-packed with apricots and figs) the mornings when I didn't indulge in their buttery pastries. The owner of the bakery is also originally from Cornwall, which I'm sure goes some way to explaining why I loved the bakery quite so much.  ...

I feel as if Instagram and Pinterest are awash with photos of breakfast bowls containing ingredients I just can't get my hands on in Wales (mail order acai berries anyone?) I did want to jump on the trend bandwagon however and so have been enjoying frozen yogurt breakfast bowls instead (sprinkled with some  homemade granola of course - this batch has cashews rather than ginger in though).  I make this in my smoothie maker - anything with the ability to blitz frozen fruit will do. I can thoroughly recommend this as a breakfast to get you kick-started in spring! To make 1 portion of frozen yogurt breakfast bowl you will need: A handful of frozen berries - the major supermarkets do this really well 1 banana 1 tablespoon of greek yogurt A splash of milk From experience of multiple attempts at this, you need to order the ingredients in the blender so that the banana and yogurt are nearest the blade (to create a kind of paste) with the frozen berries ...

Today is my housemate and friend of six years Aimee's birthday. Her favourite food in the whole world is mango, so it felt only right to make her some cupcakes with a very definite mango influence to them. Aimee hates coconut so I went with mango and lime instead.  The recipe will make 24 cupcakes and enough lime buttercream icing to cover them all (lucky as it's her 24th). To make a batch of tropical mango and lime cupcakes you will need: 1 cup of plain flour 1 tsp baking powder 1/4 cup soft salted butter 1/3 cup granulated sugar 2 eggs 1/3 cup milk Grated rind of 1 lime 1/2 cup finely chopped mango (I used tinned mango as unfortunately mangos in January in the UK are few and far between and not very nice if you do buy a fresh one!) 1/2 cup soft salted butter 4 cups icing sugar Juice of 1 lime A little lime zest A little chopped mango  Begin by preheating the oven to 180C (fan, 170C) and lining the baking tray with paper cases.  ...

My standard breakfast most of the time involves oats in some way, be it porridge or granola. Recently I've really got into coconut oil and so this granola recipe uses it with ginger to make for a really tasty but quite subtly flavoured granola. I enjoy mine with yogurt and fruit but it would work well with milk too! The quantities are enough to fill a large Kilner jar and tend to last me a fortnight. This granola doesn't hold quite as well as the shop bought type as there is less sugar; it is more like baked oats. The ginger syrup is the substitute for the sugar added to usual granola recipes and I think it is a lot more tasty. To make a large batch of coconut and ginger granola you will need: 3 cups oats  1 cup nuts/seeds (I use a variety of different ones including pine nuts and sunflower seeds) 2 tbsp coconut oil 1 tbsp ginger syrup from a jar of stem ginger (you could even add some finely sliced stem ginger if you wanted!) Preheat ...

On Wednesday it was my lovely friend Danny's birthday. I was invited to spend a long weekend with him and my favourite person, Emily, in Swansea. Danny's only request for his birthday cake was that it was "new flavours", which led to me and Emily baking Danny a chilli chocolate cake until 1am on Saturday morning.  Little duckling sheltering from the Welsh weather The cake was enjoyed on Saturday evening with everyone and it was super - the chilli isn't spicy at all but just gives a depth to the chocolate flavour that makes the cake taste extra special. The icing doesn't have any chilli in either so it just makes for a lovely celebration cake! It's important to use a good quality chocolate with a high cocoa content as it is so much more delicious than a cheap slab of chocolate; this cake deserves that sort of quality. The recipe is based upon one you bake in a  Le Creuset  but we instead baked it in a cake tin and it turned out perfectly. By al...

I have two friends coming over for supper this evening; I haven't seen them properly for a little while so I thought I'd pull out all the stops. For starter we'll be having this sweet potato hummus with some freshly baked, homemade bread that one of the boys is bringing over. I had a practice run with this hummus with my housemates yesterday and it went down well so I've got everything crossed the boys enjoy it as much as them! The hummus will keep for up to a week sealed in the fridge.  To make two medium-sized dishes of sweet potato hummus you will need: 1 tin of chickpeas 450g sweet potato 2 garlic cloves 1 lemon 2 tsp cumin 2-4 tbsp oil (dependent upon how thick you want your hummus) Peel and slice the sweet potato into thumb-sized chunks and add to boiling water for 10-15 minutes until nice and soft before draining. Throw all of the ingredients into a blender and combine.  HOWEVER  if you only have a little blender (like me!) and can't get al...