#9 Peaches and Cream (with a valentines twist)

Can you guess the valentines twist?! I really am no fan of Valentines day, but I was quite excited watching 'baking make easy' the other week when she showed that pithing the strawberry means instant hearts when you chop'em, I usually just lop the top off! So what better time to try. Rather more tasty than the delightfully (disgustingly) furry red heart cushions I noticed in tesco earlier. Not that I tasted them but I think it's a given. So these are tasty little peach and vanilla sponges with cream cheesey butter icing and a straaaaawberry ona top! Nice and simple. Smashingly tasty.

#8 Lemon Cupcakes

Now I'm not usually one for citrussy sweet things... just not enough chocolate for my liking... but these- hooh! I could in fact have eaten this whole tray full if they were not for other people. I think I may infact be getting too-attached-to-my-cakes disorder hehe. Anyway, these are a slightly lemony sponge, filled with lovely lemon curd, and topped with lemony butter icing. That's a lorra' lemon! But not so much it makes you gurn like sucking on a lemon, they're just poifect!

#7 Blackcurrant Muffins

MMMmmmmmmmoist! Freshest of the fresh made with blackcurrants from Val's garden (it's a bit of a late back-blog for all you people who know the blackcurrant season is not exactly in full swing) With a yummy lemon cream cheese icing and some frosted berries on top. Who doesn't love a cake that also gives you one of your 5 a day?! It's practially an orange...

#6 Red Velvet

 Whaaaat a colour! And it only takes half a bottle of food colouring... The classic red velvet sponge with cream cheese icing, nice wee bit of cocoa in the sponge, tis super soft. Just in time for a wee valentine themed cupcakey day if you're running low on ideas! Much better than a bunch of flowers picked up from the local garage. A combination of the two however: unstoppable...

#5 Black Forest Cheesecake

 The first of the non-cupcakeular posts, but it's still a 'cake', and it's not dundee cake, so there we go. Tis infact a black forest baked cheesecake, with blackcurrant, cherry and raspberry swirls and fresh fruit topping. Little bit of orange zest in there for some zing. And a slightly choclolatey biscuit base. It weighs a ton! Much sadness comes with this cheesecake however... as I get to eat NONE OF IT!!! aaaaaah the pain. It is a birthday present.. but maybe I'll stop buy tesco on the way and buy some muffins instead. No... Must resist...

#4 Purely Pretty Vanilla

Well tis a plain old Vanilla sponge with butter icing, but it has made me remember how actually tasty the simple things are! Yummy. Also rather enjoying my other new piping noz for it's ability to create roses. Bit girly you say? Well 2 boys have had them so far and I didn't hear any complaints!

#3 Parma Violet

Well on a visit to my sister's house I decided to take advantage of her pestle and mortar and invent myself some parma violet cupcakes! Unfortunately I forgot to take my camera... so cue terrible phone photography.
These are just  wee vanilla sponges as thought anything else might just be sickly with the powdery flower taste, and a sort of italian meringuey topping recipe from the Eat Me! book of treats, adapted and including the parma violets! Of course there had to be some sprinkling of prettiness, so some violet pearly's did the job. Icing is a tad sickly on it's own (I found after eating around a kilo of it) but tasty with the cake. Intriguing....