I can't remember which US website I got this recipe. Has some handy tips at the end for GF baking.

1 1/3 cups white rice flour

1/2 cup sweet rice flour (I just used the same rice flour)

1/2 cup cornflour

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum (this prevents the cookies from spreading)

7 ounces (14 tablespoons) butter, softened

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 150°C. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. In sma...

400g dark choc (I used Whittaker's Dark Ghana)

360g unsalted butter

360g caster sugar (I used under 350g)

6 heaped Tbs plain flour (could easily be gluten free)

pinch cinnamon or cardamom, optional (I used about 1 tsp of each)

6 eggs

icing sugar

Preheat oven to 200C. Melt chocolate, butter and sugar ...

These cookies are adapted from the coffee snaps recipe. They're not gingernuts, but gingery.

125g butter, softened
1 cup (275g) firmly packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
3/4 cup (110g) plain flour
3/4 cup (110g) self-raising flour
3 teaspoons powdered ginger
walnut halves

Preheat oven to 180°C (350° F). Line cookie/oven tray with baking paper.
In a bowl, beat butter, sugar and vanilla extract until pale and fluffy. Add egg and beat until just combined.
Stir in ...

I went to an inspiring raw chocolate demo by Chef Rene at Wise Cicada in Newmarket, Auckland. He showed us how to make lots of chocolate recipes and we tasted them all! The energy in the food was amazing. Here’s his recipe for super fudge, which keeps nicely in the fridge. Just one piece in the afternoon is a great pick-me-up - packed with super foods!

3.5 c date paste (dates soaked in enough water to blend into a paste)
1 c chia seeds
1 c sultanas...

I appropriated this from Marian Keyes' espresso and walnut cake recipe in her latest book Saved by Cake. It's a great beginner's baking book with tips and witty repartee from Marian. She says baking didn't cure her depression but helped her along her way to happiness and peace. In her recipe she uses 2 sandwich tins and puts the icing in between the layers and on top.

50g butter
80ml milk
1 c espresso
2 eggs
225g caster sugar
100ml oil
100g chopped pecans
250g self-r...

After I made the chocolate fudge sandwiches I had 2 egg whites to use so I quickly made this batch of amaretti to bake after the chocolate biscuits came out of the oven.

The recipe is from Gino D’Acampo’s book Italian Home Baking (Kyle Books, 2011). Gino says the D’Acampo family always have freshly made amaretti biscuits when having tea or coffee. They’re also good crumbled on top of ice cream.

I used half portions in his recipe:

4 egg whites

350g caster sug...

This is from Recipes From the Baker (Murdoch Books, 2009). Thanks to Michelle who gave this sweet little book to me. She reviewed the baking and said: “Buttery, shorty and a hit of dark cocoa - they're better than TimTams, which I find too sweet!” Aw, thanks. I’ll be trying the two-seed crackers next!

This is my entry into March's Sweet New Zealand monthly blogging event, hosted by www.mydarlinglemonthyme.com -  check out Emma's lovely blog with loads of gluten and dair...

Another one of Nigella’s. Very moist and perfect with yoghurt. Gluten free!

150g caster sugar

125ml olive oil

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

150g ground almonds

1 tsp nutmeg

2 grated carrots

½ c golden sultanas soaked in rum (I just used normal sultanas soaked in brandy)

grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

pine nuts

Preheat oven to 180C. Whisk sugar and oil until thick. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Mix in rest of ingreds.

Pour into 23cm round lined tin. Sprin...

Made these quickly for a 1^st birthday party - this melt and mix recipe is super easy.

150g butter, at room temp

¼ lemon juice

¾ c sugar

1 Tbs finely grated lemon zest

2 eggs, beaten lightly

1 ¼ c dessicated coconut, plus 2 Tbs for sprinkling

1 ½ Tbs bought lemon butter (I used lemon curd)

Preheat oven to 180C/160 fan forced. Line 12-hole muffin tray with paper cases. (I made 18 mini muffins for little hands.)

Place butter and juice in saucepan over moderat...

This cake is an adaption of two recipes: Fijian chocolate cake by Alexa Johnston from foodie.co.nz (http://foodie.co.nz/Recipes/Fijian-Chocolate-Cake-by-Alexa-Johnston.aspx) with a Black Forest-type filling. Alexa calls in Fijian because it uses coconut cream. It makes a really dark, moist chocolate cake. I made 1 ½ times this recipe to make a big cake to feed 10 adults.

210 g flour
55 g cocoa
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
200 g sugar
2 eggs
125 g melted...

Coffee and snaps. Two lovely words that go together. So when I saw this recipe on Shirleen’s Sugar and Spice and All Things Nice blog I had to make it (http://sugarandspice-and-allthingsnice.blogspot.co.nz/2011/03/coffee-snaps_11.html). Shirleen said she had a ‘hankering’ for some cookies – I know exactly how she feels!

125g butter, softened
1 1/4 cups (275g) firmly packed brown sugar [next time I would just use 1 c]
3 teaspoon instant coffee, the stro...

Okay, this isn't baking but as I have previously posted gazpacho, one of my favourite soups to make in summer  (http://bakeclub.yolasite.com/index/frances-s-favourite-summer-soup-gazpacho-), I had to also include ‘white garlic’ soup from the Spanish, which is equally easy to make and tasty.

4 oz (1/2 cup) blanched, peeled almonds*

3-4 slices stale baguette or white bread

3 cloves garlic

4 cups water

5 Tbsp extra virgin Spanish olive oil

3-4 Tbsp Spanish sherry...

Nothing like a steaming hot date pudding with caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream!

Recipe from Toast: http://www.toast-nz.com/2010/09/supper-club-4.html

Sticky Ginger Date Pudding with Caramel Sauce
200g dates, chopped
1 1/4 cups boiling water
60g butter
3/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
3/4 cup of brown sugar
1/4 cup golden syrup
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 1/3 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
50g crystallised ginger, finely chopped (I added powde...

120g butter, in small cubes
½ c neutral oil
1 c water
100g dark chocolate, chopped
½ c cocoa, sifted
1 ½ c caster sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 ½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 c yoghurt or buttermilk
2 c flour
¾ c raspberries (or any fresh or frozen berries)

Preheat oven to 180C. Line 24 m...

From the good ol’ Edmonds Cookbook

3 eggs

175 g sugar

1/8 tsp salt

125 g flour

1 tsp baking powder

50 g butter

2 tbs boiling water

Beat eggs with salt , add sugar and beat until thick. Fold in sifted flour and BP lightly. Add melted butter in boiling water. Bake in greased 20cm tin or sandwich tins for 25-30 mins at 190 C.

Serve with cream and strawberries. I also spread strawberry jam in between the layers.

2 c self-raising flour
½ tsp salt
black pepper to taste
1 c grated cheese
50g butter, melted
2 large eggs
¾ c milk
250g zucchini, grated (about 3)

Heat oven to 210C. Line 12-muffin or 24-mini muffin tray with lightly greased muffin cases or just grease the tray. Mix flour and salt in a bowl with pepper and cheese. Mix eggs and milk in another bowl, add zucchini and butter. Fold dry ingreds into egg mixture and mix to just combined. Spoon into muffin cases amd bake for 12-15 min un...

I’m actually quite enjoying Nigella’s Xmas shows on the box at the mo. She’s decadent, with rich recipes and no excuses. In my opinion, Xmas time is more a celebration of getting to the end of another year, and to treat ourselves with eating whatever we desire. Her recipes aren’t complicated and she uses pre-bought items if it helps make preparation easier. One of her simple ones was mixing up fruit cake with port and melted chocolate, roll into balls and refrigerate...

At one of my jobs they like to decorate their offices with Christmas decorations. This is mainly because there’s a decorating competition at ACP Media and prizes to be won. Anyway, my contribution was these meringue wreaths from Alessandra Zecchini and Arantxa Zecchini Dowling’s book Party Food for Girls.

She says the recipe contains lots of sugar as the meringues are designed to be long-lasting Xmas decorations. They will keep for weeks. I haven’t done much icing in ...

1 c wholemeal flour
1 c white flour
100g desiccated coconut mixed
1 c hot water
2 tsp yeast
½ tsp sugar
½ c warm water
1 tsp salt
1 tsp tumeric
3 Tbs olive oil

Mix coconut and hot water. Blend yeast, sugar and warm water. When bubbly add other dry ingreds and oil and mix to a smooth and pliant dough, not sticky.

Cover and  rise until dou...

Makes about 24

175 g butter (or spread)
50 g icing sugar
225 g flour
1 tsp baking powder
3 tsp ground ginger

Preheat oven to 190C. Beat butter and sugar until creamy and pale. Add flour, bp and ginger and mix to a dough. Turn out onto a clean surface and knead until mixed.
Roll out to 3-5 mm thick and cut into shapes. I roll inbetween 2 sheets of baking paper.
Bake for 10-12 min until pale golden. Remove from tr...

Preheat the oven to 200 C.

In a bowl mix together:
200g ground almonds
1 cup of caster sugar
1 teaspoon ground cardamon
2 egg whites

You can use a mixer but just a fork or spoon does fine. My paste was a bit gloopy so I added some rice flour. Drop teaspoon fulls onto a greased baking sheet. Leave room for spreading. Press a blanched or sliver of almond on the top of each macaroon, bake for 10 minutes.
Thanks ...

Preheat oven to 180C and lightly butter a baking sheet or line sheet with baking paper.
Sift together flours, salt and sugar into a bowl, then sift together into another bowl. Add coconut and butter and mix in until crumbly. Add the extr...

This made a yummy half-time snack during the All Blacks’ whipping of the Wallabies in the RWC semifinal (20-6)!

It comes from Alessandra Zecchini’s book Savour.

Dough
250 ml warm water
2 1/2 tsp active yeast granules
1/4 tsp sugar
500 g high-grade flour
pinch salt

Filling
1 med red onion
20 g butter
pinch salt
1 tsp Aceto Balsamic di Modena (aged 12 yrs, if you have it)
1 tsp sugar (to add if you are not using real balsamico)

Put warm water, yeast and sugar in large bowl, and set as...

I had a strange hankering for good ol' cheese straws tonight. That crunchy, cheesy, salty hit. Also it's my turn for the office morning tea so I'm serving these plus a date loaf.

2 cups all-purpose flour (I used spelt and white)

2 cups grated cheese

3/4 cup butter or butter substitute

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup water

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C). Grease or line a baking sheet with parchment...

1 c chopped dates
2/3 c brown sugar or even less
60 g dairy free spread or butter
1 c boiling water
1 and 3/4 c gluten-free flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarb of soda
2 tsp vanilla essence

You could also add chopped walnuts and ginger if you're feeling spicy.

Put dates and sugar in bowl then add margarine. Pour in boiling water, stirring until ma...

I have an music video edit session going on in our dining room – what can I feed two hungry media types? Pre-rolled puff pastry to the rescue! Only three sheets left so I made one pear and pecan tart and some spinach and cheese pinwheels.

For pear and pecan tart: peel 3 pears, cut into slices and toss with handful of pecans, some brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger. Spread evenly over pastry sheet, folding up the edges. Baste with some melted honey; you could also brush...

Mmm. Nice sweet-savoury snack to take down to Party Central tonight to see the All Blacks beat Les Bleus! (Postscript: NZ 37: France 17 woo ha!) See the full post on Heidi Swanson's site, www.101cookbooks.com. She just uses walnuts but I used walnuts, almonds, hazels and brazils.

1 cup / 5 oz / 140 g brown sugar or natural cane sugar
2 teaspoons fine grain sea salt
1 teaspoon chopped rosemary leaves
1/4 cup / 1 oz / 30g sesame seeds
2 large egg whites
1 lb / ~4 cups shelled walnut halves
1/...

Bake Club is one year old! To celebrate I made some cinnamon crisps.

2/3 c (155 g) butter

1/3 c caster sugar

1 ½ c self-raising flour

½ c ground almonds

1 tsp ground cinnamon

pinch salt

Preheat oven to 180 C. Lightly grease baking sheets or line them with baking paper.
Cream butter and sugar. Sift together flour, almonds, cinnamon and salt and add to creamed mixture. Use wooden spoon to mix well.
Turn out onto lightly floured surface and roll out between 2 sheets o...

This is a wickedly good treat for watching films at home or in the cinema, or watching the Reds beat the Crusaders in the Super 15 final. Boo!

5 cups freshly popped popcorn
1 cup whole almonds
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
50 g butter
2 tbs golden syrup or maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 100 C. Grease a baking sheet.
Mix popcorn and almonds in large bowl.
Over low heat, mix sugar, butter and syrup in medium sauce...

I wanted to find a recipe to use my homemade yoghurt. I adapted Heidi Swanson’s buttermilk cake from her latest book, Super Natural Every Day. Her summer version uses sliced plums and she recommends a winter version of 12 chopped Medjool dates and 1 c toasted walnuts. I had neither so I used dried goldenberries, cranberries and hazelnuts.

1 ½ c spelt flour
1 c white flour
1 tbs baking powder
½ dark muscovado sugar
½ tsp sea salt
2 eggs
1 ½ c yoghurt or buttermilk
6...

Alessandra does a corn loaf with sultanas in her book Savour. I did a savoury version with cheese and gluten-free flour. Turned out to be a good firm loaf that cut easily. The slices toasted well too.

250ml warm water
2 tsp active yeast granules
¼ tsp sugar
200g flour (I used gluten-free mix)
100g fine ground cornmeal
pinch salt
1 c grated cheese

Place warm water in large bowl, add yeast and sugar and set aside. When yeast starts to bubble, add cornmeal, flour and salt...

Great to try a different kind of shortbread. The coffee/chocolate flavour came through really well. Took them to a function and they went like hot cakes.

1 c butter, softened
2/3 c icing sugar
2 c flour
1 tbs cocoa
1 tsp instant coffee granules
½ c chocolate bits

Preheat oven to 160 C. Line or lightly grease a baking sheet.
Using electric beaters, cream butter and sugar until light and creamy. Sift together flour, cocoa and coffee. Use a metal spoon to fold four mixtu...

This recipe is from Healthy Food Guide. It turned out really well and leftover lunch tasted good too.

2 teaspoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, peeled, chopped
2 stalks celery, trimmed, chopped
1 red capsicum, chopped
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 cloves garlic, crushed
pinch dried chilli flakes
1/4 cup no-added-salt tomato paste
400g can no-added-salt diced tomatoes
1⁄3 cup chopped fresh basil
75g fresh baby spinach
400g can borlotti beans, drain...

The Esplanade Theatre, nicknamed the “durian” as the “scales” look like a durian fruit.

Sticky, stinky, hot and humid. That is Singapore and Hong Kong in a nutshell - but don’t let the weather put you off. Just wear cotton and comfortable shoes, walk slowly, carry a fan and a bottle of water. I was in Singapore performing in Tempest: Without a Body with Mau dance group. We performed at the Arts Festival at the Esplanade Theatre.

Before I get to the food, the archit...

Spelt is one of my favourite grains to make bread with and I often use Alessandra Zecchini’s recipe from her book, Savour.

400 ml warm water
2 ½ tsp active yeast granules
¼ tsp sugar
250g spelt flour
250g white flour
pinch salt

Place warm water in bowl, add yeast and sugar and set aside for 5 mins until the yeast starts to bubble. Add flour and salt and mix with your hand then turn out onto a floured board and knead for 7-8 mins. Roll into ball, but back in the bowl,...

What to do with leftover cooked lentils and ready-rolled pastry? Make a good ol’ pie with bottom and top crust.
I blind baked the bottom crust for about 20-25 mins at 180 C.
I made the filling by sautéing these finely chopped veges:
1 onion
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 carrot
1 stick celery
1 pepper
few sundried tomatoes
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried marjoram
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander powder
salt and pepper

To the cooked veges I added 2 cups cooked brown lenti...

250 g bar of Whittaker's Dark Ghana Chocolate
100 g butter
3 eggs, whites beaten into stiff peaks
2 tbs sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract or paste
3 tbs self raising flour
10 feijoas peeled and cut in half

Melt chocolat...

I quite enjoyed Jamie Oliver's TV series travelling to different cities. In Athens he whipped us this cake and I recreated it with success using homemade yoghurt.
5 eggs
225g yoghurt
225g caster sugar
75g ground almonds
zest of lemon and orange
150g plain flour
200g polenta or semolina
2 tsp baking powder
200ml olive oil

Syrup:
100ml honey
juice of lemon and orange
150g toasted, chopped pistachios

Mix all the ingreds and pour into 20-22cm cake tin greased and floured. ...

Spring has sprung in NYC - tulips at the Rockefeller Center; view from the Top of the Rock

My final instalment of this trip is about our five holiday days in New York. Accommodation hassles and pounding the pavement tired us out somewhat, so we sought solace in good food, and weren’t disappointed. We arrived at Greenwich Village on a spectacular sunny Sunday and Bleecker St was buzzing. I had a hankering for comforting Italian and we fortuitously came across the original Ra...

Room with a view of Hanover's town green

What a culture shock to leave hip and happening colourful San Francisco, fly to Boston and bus three hours north to the township of Hanover, New Hampshire, home of ivy league Dartmouth College, founded 1769. The streets were spotless. Everyone was well dressed. There was an air of wealth and wisdom. The town green looked like the set from Back to the Future. It was flanked by grand university buildings that looked like facades (but the...

Chez Panisse - climb the stairs to food heaven

Now that our US tour has come to an end, I can say without a doubt, that nothing surpassed our dining experience at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, San Francisco.

Owner and organic/slow food guru, Alice Waters, first saw a MAU performance in Venice in 2003 and has been a supporter ever since. Eight years later, we perform in her town and she graciously invited us to lunch at her famous cafe and restaurant, founded in 1971. When the ni...

Spring blossoms in Union Square

What a joy to spend eight days in SF and NOT have a bad meal! First lunch off the plane was at friends Nick and Sabrina’s place in the Castro for homemade lentils and tortillas with all the trimmings – fresh avo, salsa, rice, chutney. It replenished our stomachs and our souls. Then Nick whipped up a Trader Joe’s brownie batch and even used vegan buttery sticks – moist and chocolatey.

We...

Downtown Los Angeles skyline around Pershing Square

Here is my first food report from the US while on tour with the dance group MAU. Nothing fancy, just miscellaneous observations on what I find as I travel across this great state…

In a nutshell, I had a week of very uninspiring food in Downtown LA. Broadway was the place of glamorous stars and movie premieres during the 1920s to the 50s but now it’s a wide treeless street of faded glory. It’s a primarily Hispanic area...

What a surprise it was to find an email in the Bake Club mail box from Christoph Vogel from The Aucklander saying he would like to do a story about Bake Club! It was the day before I was going to the US for a month so I quickly answered some questions via email. Christophe also wanted a pic. I thought it would look much better if I actually had some baking in front of me so after dinner that night I made the quickest batch of shortbread ever. But because I was going away ...

Mama Chan taught me how to make these and I am pleased to have been able
to show a few friends the technique, and now I can share it with the world wide web!

Makes about 20.
1 c boiled kumara, peeled and mashed (purple flesh but you can use the orangey ones if you like)
1 ½ c glutinous rice flour (available at Asian grocers. This does not have gluten in it;
it’s called glutinous because of the sticky nature of the flour when it’s cooked)
½ c sugar (could be icing, ...

I'm on a roll with soup. I know this one looks a bit like the gazpacho I made (tomato is tomato is tomato)
but this one is roasted, and uses tomatoes from Nabby, a very special suburb in Auckland
(Nic and Ben’s Back Yard). The recipe is adapted from Heidi Swanson’s Super Natural Cooking.

5 tomatoes, cored and quartered
1 large red capsicum, seeded and quartered
3 onions, quartered (Heidi uses brown onions)
salt and pepper
5 cloves garlic, unpeeled
3 c vegetable s...

Gazpacho! You need to say it several times in a Spanish accent. GazPAcho! Not baked, but that’s why it’s so easy and quick to make.

Chuck in a blender or food processor:
about 1/2 kilo peeled and chopped tomatoes, a variety if you like
1 cucumber peeled, seeded and chopped
1 red pepper seeded and chopped
2 cloves garlic peeled and chopped
1/2 onion chopped if you like, brown or red
1/3 c olive oil or thereabouts
2 tbs vinegar, any kind

1-2 tbs lemon juice
1 tbs wate...

4 Free Range Eggs
1C Milk
1C Rice Flour
1t Baking Powder
1C Grated Cheese
Salt & Pepper
Any vegetables you like cut into small pieces. I used mushrooms, asparagus, tomatoes and purple basil

Mix together eggs, milk, salt and pepper, then add flour and baking powder until just combined. Add in vegies and cheese. Pour into 20/23cm greased tin and bake at 220 C for 20-25 mins. Leave 5-10 mins before turning out.

Recipe f...

Aaaah…freelancing. In my world, it means more time to bake! I hadn’t made bread with gluten for a while so I thought I’d use up some spelt that I have at the back of the pantry. And if you’re going to make one batch you might as well double it and do two – one sweet and one savoury.

2 c warm water
4 tsp active dry yeast
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp butter or vegetable spread
2 tsp salt
6 c flour (I used 2 plain white and 4 wholemeal spelt)

savoury filling:
2 Tbs butter,...

Now that I’ve set a precedent by adding the deep fried frittelle di pere to Bake Club, here’s another fried snack featuring a new favourite flour at the moment, chickpea flour (aka garbanzo, gram, besan) or pea flour. This recipe is from Annabel Langbein.

Prep time:  5 mins + standing
Cook time:  3-5 mins per batchjk
Serves: Makes approx 30

2 cups chickpea or pea flour
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp coriander seeds or mustard seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds, roughly ground o...

I adapted this recipe from Miyuki McGuffie, the vegan baker on the Good blog. I made mine extra indulgent by using espresso coffee.

1 cup strong espresso
1 ¼ cup rice flour
1/4 cup muscovado sugar
½ cup brown sugar

¾ cup cocoa powder (I used fair trade cocoa but Valrhona from Sabato is excellent)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup dairy-free chocolate chips (you can get them at New World and Pak 'N Save but I used...

I was inspired by Birg (see previous post) and Alessandra (from her own blog) to make a gluten-free olive focaccia. This was the first time I had used GF flour to make bread – my favourite recipe is usually spelt bread. I decided to use Healtheries GF bread mix and the result looks good but is quite firm throughout. After I baked it I realised the yeast I used was best before 2008! We’ve been enjoying it as toasted slices with pesto.

450 ml warm water
3 tsp yeast
3...

OK, these aren’t officially baked goods, they are fried, but definitely worth the effort. I made them for a little dinner party. They looked posh and went down a treat.

2 ½ cups flour (I used gluten free)
¼ c caster sugar
pinch salt
2 eggs, separated
1 Tbs olive oil
about ¾ c ice water
4 firm yet ripe pears, peeled, cored and cut into ½ inch thick wedges
½ c vin santo (I used port)
canola oil for frying
icing sugar for dusting

In large bowl whisk together 1 ¾ c of the f...

Don’t get me wrong – I’ve got nothing against Annabel Langbein’s recipes as featured on her TV programme The Free Range Cook. I just wish this obviously bright and successful woman could add a few more adjectives to her vocabulary! Her superfluous gushing of ‘so good’, ‘so delicious’, ‘so easy’ and ‘so yum’ send me into a groaning fit. On the other side of the culinary coin, Nigella finds ways to promote food porn unlike any other TV chef: everythin...

Contentment is: blogging on Bake Club while dunking homemade gingernuts into a big mug of peppermint tea. Don’t they look cute in my kilt-shaped biscuit tin?! I feel like a decidedly flat-chested Asian version of Nigella Dawson tapping away at my laptop, extolling the virtues of homebaking with a smug look on my face.

But there is a genuine reason for my domestic bliss – our oven has finally been fixed, six months after moving into our house! I have been surviving with ...