In September both Morrisons and Asda have promotions on your key Christmas baking ingredients.

So now that the weather is starting change and the nights pull in, why not get a head of that mad rush and indulge in some home baking.

If its Christmas recipes you are looking for we have lots on the Baking Mad site including gift ideas like Clementine Chutney or even the ultimate classics like Mini Christmas Puddings or Christmas Cake.

If you fancy just homecooked autumn classics you can also try Berry Bread or Spiced Apple Muffins.

Happy Baking x

The World’s Biggest Coffee Morning is Macmillan Cancer Support’s biggest fundraising event. They are asking people across the UK – and sometimes further a field – to hold a coffee morning, where donations on the day are made to Macmillan.
Last year 43,000 people registered to hold a coffee morning, raising a massive £7.9 million. This year they need your help to raise over £8 million to help change the lives of people affected by cancer.

History
The event started in 1990, when a local fundraising committee decided to hold a coffee morning ,where people came along to meet and mingle – as they might ordinarily do – but donate the cost of their coffee to Macmillan in the process.
The idea seemed such a simple, yet effective, one that they suggested the model be taken up nationally. The first National World’s Biggest Coffee Morning was in 1991, when 2,600 people registered to hold coffee mornings across the country. Since then it has raised over £60 million in total for Macmillan Cancer Support.

My how you’ve grown…
Over the years, the World’s Biggest Coffee Morning has grown to include many different types of event – from a traditional coffee morning with cake and conversation, to a pub quiz in the evening.
There have also been several record attempts, including the Highest Coffee Morning (on a jet fighter in 2004), the Most Distant Coffee Morning (in Antarctica in 2002) and the World’s Deepest Coffee Morning (down Poldark Mine in Cornwall in 2002).
Nowadays, it’s about more than just coffee
They ask supporters to do whatever suits them – and have fun doing it. Whether it’s a traditional coffee morning at home, work or school, or something different altogether – a garden party, pub quiz, or karaoke night – the main thing is getting together with friends and knowing that your collective efforts are making a huge difference to people affected by cancer. Whatever you do, they hope you’ll get together with friends, family and colleagues on Friday 24 September and raise some money (and a smile) for people affected by cancer.

It really is simple and Macmillan provide everything you need to fund raise

1. Register today for your free fundraising pack!
Here and they’ll provide you with all you need. From posters to balloons – everything you need to make your coffee morning a great success.

2. Pick a date, any date
The official day is Friday 24 September, but you can pick whatever date is best for you.

3. Choose your event
You can hold a coffee morning at work, home, school or in your local community. Have a get together with friends, a garden party with neighbours, or a pub quiz with your colleagues. Whatever suits you.

4. Send invitations
Email, Facebook or traditional, get the word out about your event. Use the handy e-invites to email your friends! Remind people when the date is coming up and let everyone know it’s all for a very important cause.

5. When the big day arrives…
Just ask your guests for donations. You can put a collection box out, charge a small donation for the cakes and coffee, or if you’re having an event like a pub quiz, charge a fee for taking part.

There are lots of other ways to raise additional money at your event – from raffles and quizzes to ‘bake-offs’ or other fun competitions.
Remember to put up lots of posters and other information about Macmillan, so everyone knows it’s all for a great cause.
Above all, have fun. It doesn’t matter whether you raise £20 or £2,000. Every bit counts and will help people living with cancer.

Why not get together with Friends, Family and Collegues on Friday 24th September and raise money (and a smile) for people affected by cancer.

The perfect recipe to bake for your coffee morning is our toffee mocha cupcakes we love them so much that we have made them our recipe of the month in the Baking Mad kitchen.

For more information on how to hold your own coffee morning, you can visit the Macmillan World’s Biggest Coffee Morning Website

We are all VERY excited at Baking Mad to welcome Daisy to the kitchen.
Daisy is our decorating expert and has added all her top tips to ensure all our members achieve perfect results. She even has her own discussion topic in the forum to share with you, your decorating experiences or challenges, so log on now.

As part of Daisy joining the team she has bought with her some new products. Silver Spoon Cakecraft which is perfect for getting creative with your baking and is recommended by Daisy. Why not try out some of the recipes that are new to Baking Mad this month and experiment. Go on have fun and get baking. We are here as ever to help if your need us.

Look out for more of Daisy’s recipes coming very soon. Daisy will also be tweeting so make sure you are following us on twitter

We are very excited that Allinson Nature Friendly Plain and Self Raising Flour is now available to buy in Sainsbury aswell as ASDA, Morrisons and the COOP!
So hurry up and get down to your local store to bake lovely homemade goods and help support wildlife habitats – what more could be better!

We have some lovely nature friendly recipes you will love to try….. we certainly enjoyed the baking (and eating of these) in the Baking Mad Kitchen

Now that the children have finished school for six whole weeks, why not keep them occupied by doing some Baking with them. You never know, you may have Britain’s next top chef on your hands!
We have the perfect selection of recipes that will keep them occupied and out of trouble – well, for a short time at least.

You could try our recipe of the month ‘Giant Cookies’ which children will love get creative a decorate. They can add their own special stamp on this recipe!

They could also help you make Whoopie Pies which are the latest trend in baking! Everyone young and old will love these – especially licking out the chocolate gooey mixture from the bowl!!

Alterntively why not try our Chocolate Macademia Fancies. This recipe is NEW to Baking Mad and a lovely alternative to chocolate brownies.

Now the sun is shining, at Baking Mad we have officially declared it BBQ season! So lets get cooking outdoors!

On the Baking Mad site we have some delicious marinade ideas to spice up your bbq. These recipes will really impress your friends rather than just boring old frozen burgers and sausages.
We have Sticky Plum Pork Chops and Lamb Skewers in Garlic and Balsamic . And the best thing about these recipes is they turn everyday ingredients we all have in our store cupboards into masterpieces!
To really finish off your bbq, why not also make your own bread rolls. Try these Poppy and Sunflower Seed Rolls or Herb Garden Focaccia
We hope you enjoy the recipes as much as we have putting them together. We would love to hear about you bbq experiences.

Unrefined Molasses Sugar is ideal for making your barbeque marinades rich and sticky.
By locking in rather than refining out the natural molasses of the sugar cane unrefined sugars have the best colour and flavour. By using these sugars, this will mean your recipes do to. The best ingredients = the very best recipes.
We have some recipes for you to try and really believe that by using Billington’s Unrefined Molasses Sugar you will achieve amazing bbq marinades.

In true Wimbledon style why not try some lovely recipes with berries. One of our favourites is the Victoria Sponge, perfect filled with strawberries. We also love making Buttermilk Scones and topping them fresh British strawberries and lashings of clotted cream! The ideal accompaniment to afternoon tea in the garden.
If you fancy a little sweet treat for dinner (or a snack!!) Mini Fruit Cheese Cakes topped with raspberries are simply delicious. You don’t need any fancy new moulds either, just make them in your normal patty or fairy cake tin.

This blog post is making my mouth water just thinking about it!

I am so proud now that Billington’s is sponsoring the WI’s Real Jam festival! Unrefined cane sugar is absolutely perfect for making jam so is the ideal partner.

The WI are looking for the best homemade jam and have a number of fantastic categories including strawberry jam, soft fruit jam, and even man made jam! So why not print off the attached entry form and have a go.

Entry Form

Now is the perfect time to get started as the summer fruits begin to come into season. If you would like recipe inspiration why not visit our Jams and Jellies Baking Idea. Don’t forget we are always here at Baking Mad to help with advice and top tips to achieve the perfect jam!

If you would like further information on the Jam Festival you can visit the website www.therealjamfestival.com

We have been busy bees recently meeting some fantastic people who we thought might be interested in hearing more about Baking Mad. We have been eating (cakes of course) and chatting to our hearts content. Last week we met with Alice from Dulwich Divorcee (no prizes for guessing where she hails from) and she has provided us with her very own top tip and blog post to go with it. We’re honoured and proud to bring it to you – enjoy!

My girls and I have always been great bakers. Partly, it’s a greed thing. Life seems a little bleak without cake, and we all know that shop bought cake is Not the Same At All. There’s also the sense of achievement involved for children. All that weighing, measuring and mixing leads, quite quickly, to a real, concrete result – although of course one always hopes it won’t look or taste like concrete. Even when my daughters were very small, the pride they felt at producing something edible was immense – and well worth a trashed kitchen.
These days, the kitchen stays relatively tidy and I can more or less take a back seat, particularly when fairycakes are on the menu. We must have made these a trillion times, yet they are a firm favourite and they only improve with each baking. We keep making small alterations in our mixture and icing which keep the baking interesting. And, of course, decorating the top of a fairycake is such a splendidly girly thing. Who could resist?

Our top tip for icing was only discovered recently. We got the recipe from fellow blogger English Mum – basically, half butter to icing sugar, and add milk. We didn’t bother adding milk to start with, and found it very hard to create nice swirly icing with a piping bag. A couple of tablespoons of milk makes all the difference and has really allowed us to go mad with the icing. And we’ve also just bought silicone fairycake cases for £3.50 for 12 in lovely pastel shades.

Here’s our fail safe fairycake recipe, adapted from an all-in-one sponge recipe:

Cake
Ingredients
8oz Nature Friendly self raising flour, sieved
8oz butter, softened
8oz sugar – we used Billington’s unrefined granulated sugar this time which really does make a difference, giving a lovely flavour and extra sweetness
4 large eggs
vanilla essence