Recipe

GET THE SCOOP ON MAKING SMOOTH, MELTINGLY DELICIOUS ICE CREAM IN YOUR OWN KITCHEN WITH HELP FROM THE HUMMINGBIRD BAKERY. If you’ve baked from our bestselling cookbook ‘Life is Sweet’, you might have been excited to see the chapter on ice cream but apprehensive if you’ve never tried to make ice cream before. Well, we are delighted to share the secret that ice cream is really easy to make! And once you have mastered the basic ice cream custard, you can get creative and make a whole world of new and delicious ice creams. So, flip to the chapter on ice cream in ‘Life is Sweet’ and give this frozen treat a go.     Top 10 tips for making irresistible homemade ice cream Here are our top ten tips for making your own ice cream:  

AMERICAN PANCAKES ARE A JOY, IF NOT A RIGHT, WHEN IT COMES TO A LAZY BREAKFAST, BRUNCH OR AFTERNOON TREAT. There’s something about pancakes that just makes us flip out! Served in a piping hot stack surrounded by fresh fruits and berries and drizzled in maple syrup. What could be more irresistible than freshly made pancakes from the griddle? As an American bakery, we have a lot of time for this mainstay of the American breakfast and we thought we’d share a few top tips to get your pancakes fluffy and golden every time. How does an American pancake differ from a flat pancake? Baking powder is the special raising agent that transforms flat pancake batter into well-risen American pancakes. The mixture also tends to be much less runny, so that the batter doesn't spread across the hot pan. Lots of pancake recipes include buttermilk, which helps with the reaction of the baking powder by producing carbon dioxide bubbles

These cupcakes will wow your friends and colleagues. Making your own toffee isn't hard but you need to be patient and remember not to stir the caramel as it boils. Investing in a sugar thermometer is worthwhile and will help you ensure that the toffee comes up to the correct temperature as it boils, which is important to achieve the delicious cinder flavour. Cinder Toffee Cupcakes Makes 12-16 Cupcakes Preparation time: 30-45 minutes Cooking time: 20-25 minutes Cooking time: 1.5-2 hours For the Sponge 70g (2 ½ Oz) Unsalted Butter, Softened  170g (6 Oz) Plain Flour  250g (9 Oz) Caster Sugar  50g (1 ¾ Oz) Cocoa Powder, Sifted  1 Tbsp Baking Powder  ½ Tsp Salt  210ml (7 ½ Fl Oz) Whole Milk  2 Large Eggs For the Cinder Toffee

The tartness of cranberries works wonderfully with the sweetness of white chocolate. These pretty cupcakes make a lovely festive alternative to traditional Christmas cake. White Chocolate and Cranberry Cupcakes Makes 12-16 Cupcakes Preparation time: 30 minutes Cooking time: 20-25 minutes Cooking time: 1.5-2 hours For the Sponge 70g (2 ½ Oz) Unsalted Butter, Softened  210g (7 ½ Oz) Plain Flour  250g (9 Oz) Caster Sugar  1 Tbsp Baking Powder  ½ Tsp Salt  210ml (7 ½ Fl Oz) Whole Milk  2 Large Eggs  60g (2oz) Dried Cranberries  1 Tsp Grated Orange Zest For the Frosting  60g (2oz) White Chocolate, Chopped  500g (1Ib 2oz) Icing Sugar, Sifted  160g (5 ½ Oz) Unsalted Butter, Softened 

Whether you say tomay-to or tomah-to, these cupcakes are incredible. Don’t let the name fool you; these sweet treats are far from savoury. Tomatoes are a fruit and full of flavour, we think they work much like carrots in a carrot cake to give an irresistibly moist sponge and natural sweetness. We promise that once you’ve tried these soup-er sponges you’ll be converted! Want a taster? Watch Tarek in our preview video for how to make Tomato Soup Cupcakes here:

BUCKLE YOUR SEATBELTS… BECAUSE THE MOTHER OF ALL CHOCOLATE CAKES HAS LANDED! Send your taste buds soaring with our new Mile High Chocolate Salted Caramel Cake. Six layers of luxuriously rich chocolate sponge sandwiched with caramel, smothered in our oh-so-good chocolate frosting and scattered with caramel curls. So why Mile High? This recipe was a new development based on the lofty layer cakes in our Life is Sweet cookbook. In olden days America, home bakers measured the might of their sponge cakes in quantity, and we like their style! Their reason for doing this was a reflection of tougher economic times. Sponge was cheaper to make than frostings and fillings, ingredients were expensive and cooks had to be frugal. With fresh fruits, chocolate and

WHAT COULD POSSIBLY IMPROVE UPON A FLUFFY STACK OF GRIDDLED AMERICAN PANCAKES SMOTHERED IN SYRUP? WHY, A FLUFFY STACK OF RED VELVET AMERICAN PANCAKES SMOTHERED IN CREAM CHEESE SYRUP, THAT’S WHAT!  Watch Tarek making a stack-load of amazing Red Velvet Pancakes in our video: Pancake brunch is calling…     Red Velvet Pancakes   With these beautiful pancakes, our affair with everything Red Velvet can start first thing in

It mayo or mayo-not sound tempting to you, but trust us, a spoonful of mayonnaise in your cakes is your secret baking weapon. Thank us later when you have people lining up for this super-moist chocolate Bundt cake!   Watch Tarek making this velvety and delicious Chocolate Mayonnaise Bundt Cake in our video. Don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more videos straight from the pages of our cookbooks to you!

AMERICAN ICEBOX CAKES, OR REFRIGERATOR CAKES FOR OUR UK BAKERS, ARE SO MUCH FUN TO MAKE AND WILL WOW YOUR GUESTS. This Gingerbread Icebox Cake from our cookbook Life is Sweet requires a little assembly, but with our simple instructions you’ll be enjoying a delicious dessert straight outta the icebox in no time. Spiced gingerbread wafers taste wonderful offset by the cool whipped cream and the process of refrigeration firms up this cake so it slices beautifully with lots of luscious layers once set. Cool, huh? Watch Tarek make the Gingerbread Icebox Cake here.

SOMETIMES IN BAKING YOU NEED A CHALLENGE AND THE ALABAMA LITTLE LAYER CAKE IS THE ULTIMATE AMERICAN BAKING CHALLENGE. This is a cake native to south-eastern Alabama and is a true work of art. Cakes like these were often seen at special family occasions and their size made them a centrepiece whilst also giving the wow-factor when you slice through to serve and you see all these fabulous layers of vanilla sponge and gooey chocolate frosting. It’s called a Little Layer Cake because it is made of lots of thin layers of sponge sandwiched with the most incredible boiled chocolate fudge frosting, rather than two or three thick layers. Our cake is twelve layers high, although if you have more sponge and frosting you can just keep on going until you’ve used them up! Watch Tarek make the Alabama Little Layer Cake here