St John's bakery donuts

After trying Crosstown donuts, I thought it would only be fair to try another donut to give a comparison. While at Maltby Street Market, there was a St john's bakery store selling just that. there were too choices; butterscotch or classic vanilla. We opted for the latter an it was a good choice. The dough was slightly sweet, so you knew it was pudding, and had a thin crisp to the outer layer form frying. This was the perfect donut texture and, I think better than Crosstown's with no crispy edge and less sweet dough. The vanilla centre was plentiful and has a decent vanilla flavour proven with the visible vanilla pod seeds. Great inside and out, a winner donut...so far.

Sty John's has a respectable name in London and is more known for it's bread. A strong contender with puddings as well it seems.

The Cheese Truck

We had another trip to Maltby Street market yesterday in london and ,somehow, it seems to expanding! There were more stalls and people than we had seen before and some new food to try. The newest stall was from 'The Cheese Truck'. Not actually a truck yesterday but they do travel around in one. They offered three assortments of cheese in sandwiches - cheddar, stilton and goats cheese. The cheddar looked deliciously gooey and stringy. I opted for goats cheese with honey and walnuts. It was cooked on a late with a weight on top and turned into the creamiest cheese with a hint of sweet form the honey ad a subtle crunch from the walnuts. Just the right amount of ingredients. It was a real treat. Next time I would go for cheddar and onion - I had cheese envy as I watch others string the melted cheddar away as they took a bite...

Fluffy victoria sponge

The Easter holidays go so quickly! We had a great trip to the Cotswolds - such beautiful countryside and a good time of year to see all the little lambs springing about and chasing each other. We have also been in the stressful process of house buying...a long waiting game but we will excited to move in (fingers crossed it all goes well!).

After eating a lot of chocolate, I have chosen a classic victoria sponge. A more spring like pudding due the lightness and fresh strawberry taste. (I tend to use jam but you could use real strawberries.) I have always followed the same recipe but, as it didn't rise so well last time, I have used a Great British bake Off recipe. It cam out pretty well, nice and light and fluffy. The book used real strawberries and mascarpone filling but I prefer jam and butter icing for extra sweetness.

Ingredients: -
180g unsalted butter (room temperature)
180g caster sugar
3 eggs
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
180g self raising flour
1 tbsp warm tap water

Butter icing:
250g icing sugar
80g softened butter
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Jam (any flavour)

1. Heat the oven to 180C. Put the butter in a mixing bowl and beat with a spoon until creamy. Gradually beat in the sugar one tablespoon at a time.
2. Put the eggs and vanilla in a separate jug and beat with a fork. gradually add the mixture into the butter mix, scraping down the sides as you go. Before the last addition of egg, add in one tablespoon of flour to stop the mixture from curdling.
3. Sift the rest of the flour into the mixture and fold in with a plastic spatula. Add the warm water after 3 folds and continue until you can no longer see flour.

4. Divide the mixture into two 20.5 cm round tins. Bake for 25 minutes, until golden.
5. Run a blade around the edge of the tin to loosen it. Leave for a minute in the tin then transfer to a cooling rack.
6. When the sponge is cool, mix the butter, icing sugar and vanilla essence then spread over one half of the sponge. Spread jam onto the other half and put together. Dust with icing on top.