Sometimes I'm asked about flour - mainly why there are so many types... Someone asked me last week if you can bake cakes with plain flour... Yes you can!
Self raising flour is basically plain flour (also called all-purpose flour) with a raising agent added. My good friend in Switzerland (let's call her Ernie!) tells me you can't even buy self raising flour in the supermarkets over there. Ernie needs to add her own ingredients to make the cakes rise - mainly baking powder. I also have a theory that plain flour is often used in 'heavy cakes' like Christmas cake as the pure volume of dried fruit in them won't allow the cake to rise much anyway. Does anyone know if this is right? **UPDATE** The Nigella Lawson website (yay Nigella!) says this: Nigella's Christmas cakes use plain flour rather than self-raising flour. This is partly as the amount of leavening needed for a rich fruit cake is different to that needed for a sponge cake and so the recipe needs a specific amount added separately. Ah ha, there we go! I guess having a potential for no need for self raising flour is good news for some bakers - self raising flour remains my preferred choice of flour for cakes, but it may give you a little more space in your cupboard if you want to just stock plain flour. It's not just for cookies and shortbread! Check out the BBC website for some great plain flour cake ideas - they are a real treasure trove of recipes. Louise 280 Bakes
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I've upgraded my letterbox cake service!Originally I was sending you and a friend a slice of cake and leaving the whole tea making process to you - along with the Zoom call arrangements! However, now I am throwing in a tea bag for you each too. It's only a small change, but it makes so much sense! The packages are sent first class, anywhere in the UK. So if you're a fan of 280 Bakes but perhaps you've moved from Bristol, or miss the cake from when I covered a larger area, you can get involved too! Eat cake, drink tea... together! Louise 280 Bakes  Christmas may look a little different to normal this year, but that won't stop the festive baking!Christmas cake is my favourite cake, Yule Logs are scrummy, Christmas cookies are so varied and fun... I just love festive baking! And this year I am going to make a pledge... I'm ONLY going to bake festive bakes for my family friends from now until Christmas! I've made family and friends many, many mince pies, mince pie brownies, and Christmas cakes for years during December, but this year I'm going to make an effort to only bake new recipes. I hope I can discover some unknown gem of a Christmas bake, making a change from what we normally enjoy at home (often carrot cakes, Tres Leches, Victoria Sponge...) and I hope to be able to share my findings with you, this year or next! So what am I planning to bake? I have some amazing new recipes to try, what do you think to these?! Photos added as I wade through my baking wishlist... - Peppermint Chocolate Slices - My first ever baked cheesecake, 'Snowed in' Vanilla Cheesecake
- Cranberry Red Velvet Cake (below) - Christmas pudding cookies - with crumbled pudding in the mix, mmm! - A large, single Christmas Tree gingerbread cookie  - Cranberry and walnut muffins - good for breakfast, I expect - Mince pie cookies - Chewy amaretti Christmas cookies - Stollen - I'm nervous about this one, shop bought versions are hard to beat! - Cinnamon swirl bread - Christmas monkey bread - for my 17 month old daughter, who we've just discovered knows the word 'monkey'! That's a lot of new recipes, and Christmas is coming up quickly, so I'd better get baking! Louise 280 Bakes Fab Fudge are probably my favourite Bristol business of mine, and not just because they gave me their Christmas fudge to review! Imaginative. Delicious. Dairy-free. Those are the three words I would use to describe what comes out of the kitchens of Fab Fudge. You can find out more about Fab Fudge on a blog I wrote back in 2017, but what you need to know is right here: Their (plastic-free!) fudge is UNBEATABLE. The company's founder, Jill, started her business in 2016, two months or so behind me, and we met at a local networking event. Since then, we've been working together every so often to help each other out, and keeping each other in sweet treats! Jill and her team have released their Christmas selection for 2020, and I was lucky enough to taste the first batches off the shelf.  Gingerbread FudgeAt the time of writing, Gingerbread fudge wasn't available on Fab Fudge's online store, but it's coming - and you'll be glad it did! I am a late convert to ginger flavoured things, but I'm really into it now. My firey gingerbread is YUMMY! So when Jill said she had a ginger delight up her sleeve, I jumped on it! Smooth, melt-in-the-mouth, and (like all Fab Fudge) 100% vegan. The ginger kick is subtle, but the creamy taste really won me over. Christmas cake fudgeChristmas cake may be my favourite cake, and the fudge version didn't disappoint. I love the triple layer fudge design - new for 2020. Rich, fully-festive, and it looks just like a mini slice with actual marzipan and icing! Christmas Cake fudge is my new favourite (sorry apricot fudge!). If you're looking for the perfect gift, I can only say, GO FAB FUDGE!! Even Theo Paphitis is a fan - you simple have to try something new with Fab Fudge's dairy-free fudge. Thanks Jill, and I hope it's not too early to wish you and yours a very merry and profitable Christmas. Louise 280 Bakes  Today is World Diabetes Day, so I am going to share a personal story with you. In January 2019 I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes (pregnancy diabetes). November 14th is a significant date in the diabetes calendar because it marks the birthday of the man who co-discovered insulin, Frederick Banting. Banting discovered insulin in 1922, alongside Charles Best. This blog is intended to reassure pregnant women who discover they have Gestational Diabetes, to help inform others, and to promote a low sugar lifestyle. I recognise that every diabetic's journey is different. Thanks for reading. Gestational Diabetes and Me I'm not going to lie - my Gestational Diabetes diagnosis last year was a total shock. I was a healthy 30-something year old with no underlying conditions, just a slightly elevated BMI when I became pregnant. I had a couple of tearful, angry, confusing days (all while all my family were abroad and I had a stomach bug to boot!), but got a grip on myself and got on with making the necessary appointments at the hospital and researching how to cope with the last two trimesters of my pregnancy. I joined a supportive Facebook group for GD mums - the name escapes me now but it was linked to this website - and made a decision: I was going to manage my gestational diabetes (GD) by altering my diet alone, as far as possible. Taking medication while I was pregnant was something I was not keen on doing. And something did have to be done. We all know too much sugar isn't good for anyone, but I thought we were doing ok. My husband and I exercised daily and had a balanced diet; we avoid fizzy drinks, I'm not that bothered by chocolate and sweets, we eat lots of veg, a mixture of meat and veggie dishes, hardly any puddings... but I needed to essentially cut out 90% of my starchy carbs, having to be super strict and focused, and change my eating times and habits completely. Food, more than ever, would be on my mind throughout the day, I could see! GD can be bad news for both mum and baby, so I had no other option. There was no way I was going to let my faulty placenta/hormones win!   How did life with GD feel? Those six months with no starchy carbs were tough. This was a huge challenge for me, as I still maintain bread is my favourite food, and cereal a close second. Pasta, chips, rice, potatoes - fine, I wouldn't miss them too much, but bread and cake??? ARGH! Even fruit intake was limited to blueberries and cherries (expensive), and pears (ick), no dried fruit at all and certainly no bananas. I live on bananas, normally!! I was diagnosed exceptionally early too, at 17 weeks pregnant, so the journey until the end of June seemed a dauntingly long one. Some days I'd fail and curse my blood tester, especially early on when I wasn't sure just how few carbohydrates I could tolerate (basically none!), but never did I fail because I didn't take care or thought 'oh handful of chips won't hurt'. I was so strict, my diabetes consultant appeared to think I was not being honest with my blood numbers recording! I even made my baby shower cake low sugar so I managed a little nibble of that. And being a baker? Oh boy, no cake for 6 months... That may explain my higher than ideal BMI though, cake was always around me. As a positive, just before I gave birth, I actually ended up weighing 8kg less than when I got pregnant due to my change in diet. Go figure - sugar, even in low doses, is naughty! After giving birth, GD thankfully generally disappears like magic. My first request in recovery was a giant baguette - no butter, no filling, just solid carbs intake. It was heaven. However, I do need to now keep an eye on my diet and exercise, being a little more mindful than before perhaps. I try hard to avoid carbs as snacks, and I always have a zero carb breakfast - eggs are my saviour. My treat is still ice cream, and I now make sure I drink more water as opposed to squash and absolutely no fruit juice. Desserts? Just when we have visitors for dinner. Should baby no.2 come along, there's a chance of another diagnosis of GD, but I now know what works for me - there hopefully won't be any failures on my blood test scores like when I was still learning how low my tolerance was for sugar. Diet controlled GD is possible, but I am sure hoping I will escape GD should I become pregnant again. Top Diet Tips for GD Mums! Roast dinners - no potatoes or parsnips. Cheese. Lots of cheese. Diet drinks are fine, and weirdly I didn't like Diet Coke before I was pregnant, so that gave me a bit of variety in liquid intake. Water can get so boring! Anything you can slather with peanut butter - including dark chocolate digestive biscuits! High fat icecream - oh yes! Meat: Cold cuts, double portions in a meal... GD unfortunately put a stop to my vegetarianism. Fry-ups - no baked beans, hash browns or toast, lots of sausage, egg, bacon, grilled tomato, mushrooms... How did having GD affect my business? Well, first of all, GD made me incredibly tired. There was one instance when I was on holiday and I slept night-day-night, only getting up for a music concert. I even fell asleep briefly at my desk - twice - at work, how embarrassing. I'd get home and go to bed. Life just didn't really have any excitement for a long time! This tiredness meant my capacity for baking was severely reduced. I hired a couple more bakers to my homebaking team and carried on as long as I could - until March, so not long, but I really was on my knees with exhaustion. Secondly, on a positive note, I discovered so many low and zero sugar cake recipes! I now offer a range of cakes called '280 Zero'. Not all of them were sensible options, the banana recipes in particular, but it was a relief and a serious treat to be able to nibble a little slice once a month or so. I still try to make the cake we eat at home low sugar - good habits die hard!  Almost 18 months on from waving a happy goodbye to GD, I definitely think getting through GD so successfully on diet alone is one of my greatest achievements - topped only by being a fab mum to the baby who appeared at the end of it all! I am so proud of how I managed it, especially given my dedication for cake and bread. Seriously.
Stay well, Louise 280 Bakes You heard it here first... All this week I'm giving away a free jar of Beanies coffee with every coffee cake order! I really love Beanies coffee (and I'm not getting paid or any free product from them for saying this! My two favourite instant coffees they make are amaretto and caramel (I totally get distracted on their website!), and they're sugar free as a bonus. So if you're looking to order a cake this week, why not make it my coffee or coffee and walnut one, and nab yourself a free jar of Beanies coffee (RRP £2.50)! Offer expires Sunday 15th November, limited jars available. Gluten free and vegan cakes included in the deal, of course! Louise 280 Bakes It's my favourite time of year - time to get my Christmas bake on! Here are some of the Christmas bakes from Christmas past - candy cane cake, Ho Ho Ho cupcakes, starry and snowy Christmas cakes, and a Yule Log. I love Christmas baking, and can't wait to get started! Vegan and gluten free options are available for cupcakes and Christmas cakes, but not for Yule Logs, sorry. Prices start at £15, and delivery is always included (BS9, 10, 11 only, but collection is available too, if it suits you better). Orders close on 20th December, so don't miss out! Louise 280 Bakes Missing having cake and coffee with your mates? |
AuthorWelcome to the 280 Bakes blog! Most posts are by myself, Louise, but if you fancy guest blogging, give me a shout! Archives
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