Zesty Lemon

This week has been a roller coaster of emotions. We made the awful decision to put out beloved dog to sleep on Monday after old age and kidney failure got the better of her. She was the closest thing I had to a sibling, as well as my best friend. She will be greatly missed in our household but I know she's in a better place :) 

But before all the drama, I baked some lemon meringue cupcakes. My wife from uni (aka Jenny) came to visit as her boyfriend Tom has moved to Bournemouth so I baked for the occasion. Lemon sponge filled with zesty lemon curd topped with meringue and then popped under the grill (I ideally need a cooks blowtorch, hint hint) for the finishing touch!

I took a few into work yesterday and was told they were the best cake people had tasted! I must be doing something right :)

Yee-haww cowboy!

I've just come back from a brilliant two weeks in Canada! Had such an amazing time..went to the Rockie Mountains, Lake Louise, the Calgary Stampede, loads of places! I don't want to ramble on about my holiday, but here's one picture of Lake Louise which was absolutely breath taking..

And now I've got over the jet lag, I did some baking today. No cupcakes though. I wanted to bake something super yummy and comforting as this weather is hideous, so I settled on a lemon loaf with lemon syrup drizzled over the top. Yuuuummy. And I got to use my new mixing bowl that I bought from John Lewis in clearance as a treat to myself so working so hard through a hellish time in retail! 

And tonight is my night to cook for me and my dad..burritos are on the menu! :)

Ta da! Maracroons!

Two blog posts in one day..wowee. So today I baked macaroons for the first time. I must admit my first batch went terribly wrong and ended up in the bin (over beating egg whites is never a good idea) but second time around I got it right! I managed to make a right old mess in the kitchen (standard behaviour) and had to put them in the oven in about 5 stages due to lack of baking trays, but I got there eventually. So here they are, lemon macaroons with lemon curd filling..yummyyy :)

  

The finished ones! :)