The Yorkshire Soap Company

As one of my leaving gifts from my last job, my friend Zoe kindly brought me a gift from the The Yorkshire Soap Company which came beautifully wrapped up in their packaging. I had never heard of the company so I didn't really know what to except when I opened the box and inside was this beautiful cake slice. I had never seen anything so pretty in my whole life and because I love baking it was just such a thoughtful gift.  Not only did the cake slice look amazing but it smells incredible, this one smelt of Apple Blossom. It is so pretty I don't really want to use it!

Apple Blossom Cake Slice

I was showing everyone at worked the photo of the cake slice on my phone and they all thought it was real until I told them it was made completely out of soap! A few of them mentioned they been to The Yorkshire Soap Company in my local town York so I decided I had to go and see for myself what all the fuss was about. I went around Christmas time and the store was full of Christmas decorated cupcakes and soap gingerbread men. It was like being in a winter wonderland of things made of soap. Everything smelled amazing and they had whole cakes in different scents cut up into slices that you can buy. It is one of them shops that you really need to experience in person.

   

Birthday Cake Slice and Bath Truffle 

I have now fallen so in love with this brand that for my birthday my sister even brought me a birthday cupcake in the scent Rhubarb and Custard, with a birthday candle which was really sweet of her.

Birthday Rhubarb and Custard Cupcake

The Yorkshire Soap Company also sell cupcakes, Bath Truffles, Bath salts, soap and Bath bombs which can make really unique gift for someone who likes baking. If your ever visiting Yorkshire its worth popping into one of their store.  

Bath Bombs

xxx

Recipe: Victoria Sponge Cake (Victoria Sandwich)

One of my favourite things to bake is a good cake and I always seem to crave a slice of Victoria Sponge Cake its one of my favourite cakes to eat. However I have to say I never seem to make my Victoria Sponge look like the photos  you see on recipe websites but it still tastes great. 

This is how I made mine:  

Ingredients:

225g Margarine

225g Caster Sugar

2225g Self-Raising Flour

2 tsp of Baking Powder

4 Eggs

How to make:

1. Preheat your oven to 180 C (gas mark 4) and grease and line two cake tins

2. Using an electric hand mixer mix together margarine, caster sugar, flour, baking powder in a bowl until well mixed

 

3. Spoon the mixture equally into the two cake tins and smooth over the tops. Place on the middle shelf and bake between 20 to 30 minutes until it has shrink away from the sides.

 

4. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 10 minutes, and then push them out of cake tins onto a cooling rack

To decorate the cake:

100g Margarine

140g Icing Sugar

Strawberry Jam

Place margarine and icing sugar in bowl and mix together to make butter cream

Then cover one half of the cake with the butter cream and then cover with Jam.

Place the other half on top, sprinkle with icing sugar and you're done

The original recipe came from here I just change the inside ingredients

xxx

Recipe: Coffee Iced Brownies / Cake

If you love coffee then you will love this recipe that I found in a recipe book called 1001 Cupcakes, Cookies and other tempting treats. I found this to be the best baking book that I have come across in a while that has a wide range of recipes that aren't so hard to follow. I am a really big coffee fan so this recipe was perfect for me however I didn't have the right sort of tin to put the mixture in so it turned out more like a cake but still it was really yummy. So this is how I did it: 

Ingredients Needed: 

225g of Butter

225g of Self Raising Flour

1 tsp of baking powder

1 tsp of coco powder

4 eggs lightly beaten

3 tbsp of instant coffee dissolved in 2tbsp of hot water, cooled

1. Grease and the base of a shallow tin (the book said 28 x 18cm) and pre-heat oven at 180C

2. Sift the flour, baking powder and coco into a bowl and add the butter, sugar, eggs and coffee. Beat until smooth

3. Spoon into the tin and smooth on top

4. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until risen and firm

5. Leave for 10 minutes on the side and then turn out onto a cooling rack

How to decorate 

In a small saucepan melt 55g of butter with 3 table spoons of milk, then add in 4 teaspoons of instant coffee granules and stir until they have dissolved. 

Next sift 225g of icing sugar into a bowl then add the coffee mixture into it, and beat to make a smooth icing, 

Spread all over the cake and if you want sprinkle some fudge pieces on top of the icing. Let the icing set and cut into bars or depending on its size you can leave it like a cake.

I decorated it with fudge and chocolate icing

Cake cut into brownie hand size pieces 

 xxx