Sicillian-style lemon amaretti

These amaretti are halfway between the hard little amaretti you get with a coffee after dinner and a macaron. They are crisp at the edges and soft in the middle. There’s a rich almond flavour as you’d expect but I have also spiked these with amaretto liqueur and lemon zest. The ingredients and consistency are

Candied citrus zest

How to make your own candied citrus peel

Lemon and poppy seed financiers

Luscious lemon and poppy seed financiers – crisp on the outside and fluffy in the middle

Limoncello and lemon curd baked cheesecake

Unctuous and tangy baked cheesecake flavoured with Limoncello and with large dollops of lemon curd and a biscuit base

Pistachio, lemon and strawberry friands

Gorgeous little mini-cakes flavoured with lemon and baked with fresh strawberries and pistachios.

Alice in Wonderland Victorian fancies

This was a little project I’ve been hatching for a while. It combines a bit of research into Victorian treats, a bit of illustration and drawing and some recipe reverse-engineering. It also marries an homage to Alice in Wonderland in its 150th birthday year (as I love the story and, in particular, John Tenniel’s original

Walnut cake with lemon buttercream

This is an amazingly bouncy walnut sponge topped with a lemon buttercream – this is a change to the traditional coffee and walnut combination but goes beautifully together.   Notes For this recipe I’ve used a mix of unsalted butter and baking margarine. I did some experimenting comparing all butter, all margarine and a mix