A Slice of Cherry Pie

In the Bag Deadline Extended

noreply@blogger.com (Julia) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 19:49:00 +0000

What can you come up with using watermelon and mint? You now have until 14th July to show me. Click here for entry details. Happy cooking!

If you Can't Stand the Heat...

noreply@blogger.com (Julia) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:01:00 +0000

...make a jug of Pimm's and a Chorizo and New Potato salad.

Wow, what a scorcher it was last week! Temperatures hit the 30s, official health warnings were issued due to the heatwave and the UK was declared hotter than the Mediterranean. It was fabulous at the weekends and even the brief shower we had on my birthday barbecue didn’t spoil things: we just made a dash for the house carrying plates of food and cutlery while a few of the boys picked up the garden parasol and brought it over the barbecue to shelter under while they finished cooking the sausages. Us Brits have become experts at dealing with rainy barbecues; you have to in this climate.

But despite the shower still the heat didn’t let up. The trains to and from work were roasting and even with the windows open it was hard to sleep at night; my poor dog was panting and drinking lots of water.

So meals were light and drinks were refreshing, with plenty of Pimm's on offer. I made a how-to video for you to take a look at, not that you need it, it's so simple to make:

And I enjoyed this Chorizo and New Potato Salad I cooked up for lunch one day, it was perfect for the Mediterranean heat.

Chorizo and New Potato Salad

Serves 2 as a main meal, 4 as a starter

400g new potatoes
120g uncooked chorizo, diced
1 red pepper, diced
150g cherry tomatoes, halved
A handful of rocket
Sea salt

Cut the potatoes into equal sizes, or keep whole if very small, and boil them until just tender, about 5 minutes.

Fry the chorizo over a medium high heat until it releases its oil then add the peppers and tomatoes and cook for a few minutes, turning so that they cook evenly. Add the potatoes and fry until they turn golden.

Put the new potato and chorizo mixture onto plates then top with the rocket and sprinkle over some salt.

But as the good old British summertime goes, we’re now back to rain. And with the wind blowing up outside today you could be forgiven for thinking it was a sunny Autumn day. Anyone for hot chocolate?

Lazy Days

noreply@blogger.com (Julia) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 11:37:00 +0000

Join me on You Tube.

The Galvin Cup Cocktail Extravaganza

noreply@blogger.com (Julia) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 19:53:00 +0000

On Monday 15th June I had the honour of helping to judge The Galvin Cup, the cocktail mixology competition organised by Galvin at Windows and hosted at The Dorchester Hotel. The competition saw competitors in two categories, professional and student, mixing up their own creations in order to win first place and some fantastic prizes, with the top one being £1,000 and the silver Galvin cup.

It was a hard afternoon’s work for me, which started after a rather fabulous lunch with my fellow judges, who included Salvatore Calabrese, Silvano Giraldin, Peter Dorelli and Chris Galvin himself, and then moved onto the taxing task of tasting lots of delicious cocktails. OK, it wasn’t that much like hard work.

It was, however, an extremely difficult task to judge the cocktails. The talent and hard work that had gone into each was clearly evident. Each contestant had to create a vodka martini and then a cocktail of their own choice and I was really blown away by the creativity and excellence on display. I could quite happily have sipped cocktails all afternoon and into the evening but to avoid a messy exit and monster hangovers we used straws to taste the cocktails and had just a few drops of each. We also rotated so that we only tasted 3 cocktails in a row, to avoid killing our taste buds and finding the judging even harder than it already was.

All of the contenders, both professional and student, were incredible but at the end of the day there could only be two winners and they were:

In the professional category, Riccardo Semeria of The Connaught

In the student category, Jeoffrey Anthony Warmerdam-NHTV

Many congratulations to them both, and thank you again to Chris and Fred for inviting me to help judge the competition.

Morning

noreply@blogger.com (Julia) — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 06:29:00 +0000

In the Bag: Cooking the Month of June

noreply@blogger.com (Julia) — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 06:08:00 +0000

Here we are in the heart of June in what is promising to be a hot summer. To help us all cool down this month's bag contains refreshing watermelon and cooling mint. What exciting recipes can you come up with using them?

In the bag:

Watermelon
Mint

Entry Details
Make a dish using the ingredients and blog about it then send an email with ‘In the Bag in the subject line to asliceofcherrypie AT yahoo DOT co DOT uk by Sunday 5th July with the following information:

your name
a link to your post
a picture of your dish

Rules

Here are the loose rules - but ultimately remember the objective is to have fun whilst highlighting seasonal food:

1. Participants should attempt to use all the ingredients 'in the bag' for that particular month, but may leave one out if they prefer.

2. Participants can include any extra ingredients that they see fit.

3. Entries should include a link back to the host for that month, and the post should be tagged "In the Bag".

4. Entries can be written any time during the month, as long as the URL is emailed to that month's host before the closing date.

5. Particpants from outside of the UK are most welcome to join in and substitute an item from their own local seasonal produce if necessary.

How to make an Omelette

noreply@blogger.com (Julia) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 17:56:00 +0000

Shaken, Not Stirred

noreply@blogger.com (Julia) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 20:35:00 +0000

(Photograph courtesy of Galvin at Windows)

A while ago I posted about The Galvin Cup, the mixology competition to be held at The Dorchester in London tomorrow, which I have the honour of helping to judge.

I'm very excited to be a part of what promises to be a spectacular event and in preparation I've bought one of the cocktail bibles, recommended to me by a colleague: 'The Craft of the Cocktail' which I shall be reading intently this evening.

For news and a few words from the Galvin Cup committee, including myself, take a look at the Galvin Cup blog and if you can, come along to watch the action. But if you can't make it don't worry, as I'll be Twittering from the event to bring you the very latest as it unfolds and I'll be sure to blog all about it for you afterwards.

In the meantime, let me know: what's your favourite cocktail?

The Simplest of Meals can be the Greatest of All

noreply@blogger.com (Julia) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 09:02:00 +0000

First Day at the First Ever British Food Bloggers Stall

noreply@blogger.com (Julia) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 16:48:00 +0000

Thanks to MsMarmiteLover for the photo.

After weeks of preparation the first UKFBA stall was unveiled last Thursday and it was a huge success. Chris Drefus, from the blog 'More Tea, Vicar?' bravely volunteered to take the first slot, offering to bake his own breads and cakes. As he discovered, baking on a commercial basis in a domestic kitchen with one small oven and just a few loaf tins and baking trays is quite a challenge, but he rose to it tremendously, staying up until 3am baking. It was all rather manic for him in the days leading up to the stall, rushing around buying ingredients, getting the health and safety people to visit his kitchen, deciding what to bake. Like most of the people who will be at the stall, Chris is not a professional baker and has never sold his goods commercially before and so it was a brand new experience for him. Watch the video, filmed at the stall, to see what he has to say about it.

Although the stall is in London the UKFBA is a national association and we have members organising meet-ups and events across the country, which is wonderful to see happening. So, if you live outside of London and would like to get involved with the UKFBA community visit www.ukfba.co.uk to see what’s going on in your area, or to get something organised! And if you’re in London do stop by the stall, which will be at Covent Garden every Thursday through the summer, to say hello. This week the stall will be hosted by one of our selected producers, Boutique Bakehouse.

Sign up to the Newsletter

noreply@blogger.com (Julia) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 16:58:00 +0000

Scotch Eggs

noreply@blogger.com (Julia) — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 22:08:00 +0000

These were the scotch eggs I made for the picnic and bike ride I went on the other weekend. When I talked about them on Twitter there was some demand for a blog post so here it is!

Scotch eggs are one of those things that give high reward for little effort. Despite being very easy to make they are impressive and incredibly good to eat – so much better than anything you can buy in the shops, with the added advantage of containing fresh ingredients and nothing else. What’s more, you can eat them freshly cooked while they’re still warm and lovely and crispy on the outside; much my preferred way of eating them, as lovely as they are cold.

All you need to do is hard boil some eggs but, and here’s the trick for the perfect scotch egg, make sure they aren’t completely hard in the middle but at that almost-hard stage; about 7 minutes should do it for large eggs. Then you just wrap them in good quality, seasoned sausage meat - herbs mixed in if you like - dip them in a beaten egg and then breadcrumbs and fry them until they're crisp and golden and the sausage meat cooked through.

I’m right in the middle of testing recipes for my cookbook at the moment and shall be perfecting this recipe for inclusion, so you’ll be able to read the full recipe when it’s published next spring. In the meantime, here are some photographs of the steps to make scotch eggs.

Visit the UKFBA Stall at the Covent Garden Real Food Market

noreply@blogger.com (Julia) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 22:38:00 +0000

As many of you already know, back in 2007 I started the UK Food Bloggers Association (UKFBA) in order to help bring together British bloggers. It's been a huge success and a few months ago, with the help of TrustedPlaces, I moved its online home to a brand new social networking site. The new site is very similar to Facebook in that members have their own profile, can befriend each other and leave each other comments. It has a discussion forum, the facility to set up groups, such as the 'Borough Market' group and even a blogging feature, so you can start blogging straight away on the site. You don't have to be a blogger to join the association, you just need an interest in food and want to interact with the British bloggers; everyone is welcome to join in the fun. And what fun we're having! Members are chatting away and arranging meet-ups all over the country.

This Thursday sees the launch of the first ever UKFBA market stall, to be held at none other than the Covent Garden Real Food Market. The stall will feature various bloggers and selected producers and this Thursday, for the very first appearance of the stall, Chris Dreyfus, the man behind the brilliant blog 'More Tea, Vicar?' will be selling a variety of breads and cakes, along with some some products from his father's shop, 'Tray Gourmet' in Chelsea. I'll also be going down there and would love to meet you so please do come by and say hello.

(Not-so-Famous) Five go on a Bicycle Ride

noreply@blogger.com (Julia) — Mon, 25 May 2009 11:10:00 +0000

One hot and sunny Bank Holiday Sunday, Julia, Rob, Amanda, Jason and baby Hannah decided to go on a bicycle ride. Each group left their houses bright and early, carrying a picnic full of good things, and drove to the meeting point in Tonbridge. Julia and Rob got lost along the way, as they often did. “You’ve missed the turning!” cried Julia, examining the unfolded map, “Well you’re not reading the map properly” said Rob after they passed the same flower-seller on the roadside for the third time. Eventually they got onto the right road and made it just in time to see Jason unpacking the car. “Hello Jason!” they cried, “Hello Julia, hello Rob!” Jason waved. Off they went to find Amanda and baby Hannah who was very excited about the bicycle ride. She had her own special seat on the back of Jason’s bike and a pretty pink helmet for her head.

They set off on Cycle Route 12, Tonbridge to Penshurst Place; a grand 13th century house and estate which they were going to explore. It was a jolly good cycle; they passed through fields and woods, past pretty houses and even a lake where they saw a family of swans.

They had cycled for about 3 miles when they came to a very steep hill. “Peddle harder” the boys shouted to the girls as they shot off in front. “It’s too steep” the girls cried, huffing and puffing, their faces going redder and redder. “It’s no good” said Julia “I’m going to have to get off and walk”. “Me too” said Amanda as the two boys and baby Hannah laughed at the top of the hill. When the girls made it to the top they all looked out at the view. “Look!” cried Rob “I can see Penshurst Place from here” as he pointed to a picturesque mansion in the distance. “We’re nearly there now” said Amanda, “let’s get back on our bicycles”. They cycled on, passing lots of other cyclist along the way “This is a jolly popular route” said Jason. “I’m hungry” said Julia.

They reached Penshurst Place at about midday, rather hot and tired but pleased with themselves for having cycled 5 miles. They paid the nice man their entrance fee and then found a nice picnic bench near the playground where baby Hannah played for a while. It was such a fine day that they decided to eat their picnics on the grass so Jason and Rob laid the blankets out while Julia and Amanda unpacked the picnics. They had roast chicken rolls, home made scotch eggs, cherry tomatoes, olives, carrot sticks, crisps, grapes, apples and lashings and lashings of home made lemonade.

They were very sleepy after their picnic so they lay out on the blankets and closed their eyes with the midday sun beating down. “This is the life” said Julia. Amanda fell asleep but baby Hannah was far too excited to sleep. “I want to see the house” she said. So after a little rest Rob bought everyone an ice cream and then they all headed off to see the house and grounds. They passed an enclosure where a big woolly sheep was walking down to a water trough. It was a very hot day and the sheep enjoyed the cool water very much.

They walked on and came to the house. “Gosh, isn’t it big?” said Julia. It was very big indeed and surrounded by beautiful gardens which they all walked through. There was a pond with fishes in it, roses climbing over the walls, neatly cut hedges and an old disused swimming pool with a spurting fountain. “It’s so hot I could strip off and jump into that pool right now” said Rob. “I don’t think that’s a good idea” said Amanda doubtfully. “The water’s awfully murkey”.

They spent several hours at Penshurst Place. Baby Hannah had a little nap and then they all had tea before setting off again for the cycle back to the cars. On the way back they had another steep hill to climb but this time they were more prepared. They cycled quickly to pick up speed and they turned to the lower gears on their bicycles. Jason with Baby Hannah and Amanda made it to the top. Julia nearly made it but got puffed out and needed a push from Rob. “Gosh, this cycling is hard work” said Julia.

On they cycled, passing some more baby birds, and then some cows. People were walking past them and they seemed friendly enough so Julia and Amanda stopped to take some photographs. One of the cows had an itch and scratched his head with his back foot which made everyone laugh. “Doesn’t he look funny?” said Julia as she pointed her camera. But then the cow looked at Julia and Amanda in a way that made Amanda stop laughing and cry fearfully “Oh Julia!”. Julia and Amanda were quite scared for a moment so the boys distracted the cow with some grass while the girls quietly walked round the cow back to safety on the other side of the gate. “Gosh, that was a close shave” said Amanda. “I thought you were done for then” said Rob. “Cycling in the country is jolly good fun” said baby Hannah, giggling, as they headed off into the late afternoon.

Mayan Magic Chocolate-Making Kit Video

noreply@blogger.com (Julia) — Sun, 17 May 2009 21:33:00 +0000

For information about the kits visit www.mayanmagic.co.uk/kit.html

Roasted Sea Bass and Asparagus

noreply@blogger.com (Julia) — Sat, 16 May 2009 19:50:00 +0000

Every year at around the same time I catch asparagus fever. Into season it comes and onto my plate it lands. And lands, and lands. Despite eating it what seems like constantly throughout the season I never tire of it. Perhaps if the season were longer I would (although I really can't imagine that) but as it is asparagus is here for a preciously short time and I’m going to make the most of it while I can.

Therefore, no matter what I choose for dinner there's a high chance that asparagus is going to feature in there somewhere. Like the other evening, when I decided on baked sea bass, my favourite fish, for dinner. I prepared it very simply by stuffing it with lemon slices and parsley and put it into the oven at 220c for half an hour. After 20 minutes I added my prized spears of asparagus, drizzled in olive oil. Simple and flavoursome, the dish needed nothing else save a sprinkling of salt.

For more asparagus ideas take a look at this post on the UK Food Bloggers Association and also these Twitter-inspired ideas (which includes my boiled duck egg with asparagus) on The Guardian Word of Mouth. Talking of Twitter, there's much food-talk on there so come join me at http://twitter.com/JuliaCherryPie.

Announcing the Winner of the Easter Cake Bake 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Julia) — Sat, 09 May 2009 14:03:00 +0000

You have cast your votes and you've chosen these fabulous cupcakes by Chris over at Mele Cotte as the winner of the Easter Cake Bake 2009.

Many congratulations to Chris and a big well done and thank you to everyone who entered; every entry was just fantastic!

Ham, Egg and Pea Shoot Salad

noreply@blogger.com (Julia) — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 11:39:00 +0000

Spring is such an inspiring time of year. With the (hopefully) warmer weather and all the new growth it's as though a new lease of life is breathed into everything, and for anyone interested in food this time of year is surely a real joy. I sometimes get a lull in my food writing and recipe development for the book - I'm not always in the right frame of mind, sometimes creativity escapes me, sometimes I'm just plain tired - but these past few weeks I've been full of ideas and very active in the kitchen. But then, how could you not be with all the new produce becoming available - asparagus, herbs, new potatoes, spring onions, spinach, etc, etc - and with the sun shining and the warmer weather prompting us to fling windows and doors wide open and drag out the barbecues and picnic baskets?

One of my new favourites, which are making more and more of an appearance these days, are pea shoots; the delicate yet very flavoursome leaves of the pea plant. They're a real beauty in salads, such as this very simple one which I put together recently, consisting only of hard boiled eggs and ham with the pea shoots, and dressed with a mix of snipped chives and crème fraîche. Even if the sun doesn't always want to come out to play, you can always find a little bit of sunshine in a salad such as this.

Easter Cake Bake 2009 - The Round-up

noreply@blogger.com (Julia) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 18:03:00 +0000

For the third year running I ran my Easter Cake Bake and you excelled yourselves once again; just look at the cakes you baked:

Once again I'm going to open the competition up to a reader vote to find the winner. Let me know which cake you like the best by selecting the blog name (which you can find by hovering your mouse over the pictures) from the poll on the left hand menu. To view the posts click on the pictures.

If you missed out on this event how about entering my regular 'In the Bag' event, hosted this month by Scott over at Real Epicurean

Soft-boiled Duck Egg with Asparagus Soldiers

noreply@blogger.com (Julia) — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 20:30:00 +0000

At long last British asparagus is finally here to be devoured. Yesterday St George's Day marked the official start of the season, which runs through May and June, and today I had my first, long-awaited taste. The asparagus I had came from Herefordshire in England, and it was absolutely delicious; sweet, juicy and fresh. I teamed it with a boiled duck egg with a soft, creamy yolk to dip the asparagus into and ate it in the sunshine in my garden. What a treat!

To make this really easy dish all you need to do is bring a pan of water to the boil, add the duck egg and boil it for 6 minutes for a soft, creamy yolk. You should really use a separate pan for the asparagus, again bringing the water up to the boil then adding the asparagus once you've trimmed the woody ends, then boiling it for about 3 minutes. Remove the asparagus from the pan, cut the top off the egg, add a little sea salt and voilà - a sublime lunch for one.

For more on asparagus take a look at the new UK Food Bloggers Association site - I got my inspiration for today's lunch from one of the members.

Iced Easter Biscuits

noreply@blogger.com (Julia) — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 21:50:00 +0000

When Sarah Smith asked me if I would create a recipe for their monthly newsletter I was very happy to oblige. The Sarah Smith range of home products include beautiful tea towels, aprons, oven gloves and cleaning clothes in bright, floral designs that will certainly brighten up the spring cleaning jobs.

As the recipe was going into the April newsletter I decided to make some easy Iced Easter Biscuits in pretty flower shapes to match the Sarah Smith range. For the recipe visit the Sarah Smith blog

Sticky Fingers

noreply@blogger.com (Julia) — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 19:48:00 +0000

Yesterday I got to do the thing I’ve been looking forward to doing ever since my little god-daughter Hannah was born: bake fairy cakes with her. I love the child’s play element to baking; the puff of the flour, the stirring of the mixture, the lick of the wooden spoon, and I’ve been so looking forward to the time when I could have that fun with Hannah and see it through her eyes. And of course, as you know, cooking is one of my greatest passions in life and to finally be able to start sharing that with my god-daughter is very special indeed.

Now, I’m a very messy cook - just ask Rob – and so this little two year old was my perfect partner in crime - although if I’m totally honest she was probably tidier than me. Yesterday afternoon Rob took one last look around the kitchen, with Hannah stood on a chair, me by her side, both of us smiling angelically up at him before leaving us to it and letting chaos descend.

First up were those gourmet cakes, perfect for young food connoisseurs, none other than the chocolate rice crispy cakes. I was in charge of melting the chocolate in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and then it was over to Hannah to mix in the rice crispies. The fun part was seeing how much of the mixture Hannah could get into the cases and how much she could get onto the tea towel underneath, the kitchen top, my hand, the floor. We giggled with each dollop and it wasn’t long before we were tasting the mixture, as all good cooks do, with much of it ending up smeared around Hannah’s mouth and hands.

After a quick wipe up it was onto the fairy cakes. Sugar, flour, eggs, butter, a drop of vanilla essence and a lot of love; into the bowl they went. After a quick whiz of the mixer we were almost done, except for the final – and most important – stir with a wooden spoon by Hannah. With the cakes in the oven she was now a little tired; we had, after all, worked very hard indeed – such is the life of cake makers. But when the time came to ice the cakes and choose the toppings Hannah perked up and did a great job, with a little help from Aunty Julia and Mum.

Finally, after all that hard work, it was time for our reward: tea and cakes. And very nice they were too. Of course, as well as being nice, they were full of sugar - especially with all that icing on them – and this became apparent very quickly. Hannah went from being somewhat sleepy to somewhat bouncy and she soon had us all up dancing and playing. She was still full of beans when it was time for her to go home and as I waved them all off I knew my cousin and his wife were going to have their hands full. Oh dear. But of course that’s one of the thing’s that’s so great about being an Aunty and a Godmother; we get to have all the fun and then get to put our feet up!

In the Bag: Cooking the Month of March - the Round Up

noreply@blogger.com (Julia) — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 21:39:00 +0000

Last month's bag contained leeks, eggs and cheese - lovely spring ingredients - and here's what you cooked up:

Thanks to all the contributors:

Real Epicurean

Springtime

With Knife and Fork

What I Ate Today

The Hungriest Hippo

Good Things Come in Small Packages

A Brit's Dish A Day

eCurry

Allotment 2 Kitchen

Foodee

Apple Crumbles

Gato Azul

'In the Bag' is a monthly food event run by Julia from A Slice of Cherry Pie and Scott at Real Epicurean

The Guardian Word of Mouth Chocolate Tasting Event

noreply@blogger.com (Julia) — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 20:27:00 +0000

Last week I joined a group of Guardian Word of Mouth readers for an ‘Easter egg taste test-cum-festival of chocolate-celebration’. Like the children who followed the pied piper we followed the call of chocolate and the scent in the air all the way to deep inside the Guardian offices. We came out of the goodness of our hearts and, as Jay Rayner pointed out, completely selflessly, only for those enticing people of the Word and Mouth team to force feed us chocolate all evening. It really isn’t on you know…

…OK, so it wasn’t quite like that.

We were greeted with samples of Courvoisier and Cockburns, chosen to compliment the chocolate we were about to sample. I was particularly taken with the Cockburns Late Bottled Vintage 2003 Port; deeply fruity and chocolaty. When we entered the room where the chocolate tasting was to take place the delicious smell of the chocolate in the room hit us straight away. There was every kind of Easter egg for us to sample; from low through mid to high budget, from white to the darkest chocolate. We made notes as we tasted but unfortunately had to hand in our tasting cards and, believe me, there was a lot of chocolate to taste so it’s difficult to recall all of the findings. Luckily though my friend Nicole took some separate notes as she tasted: Drinking Courvoisier after tasting Green & Blacks dark chocolate gave a tingly sensation on the tongue; Lindt was one of the best, melting almost instantly; Thorntons white chocolate was very sweet and sugary; the Hotel Chocolate strawberry sensation had a really good strawberry taste and even had the texture of strawberry; the Marks & Spencer white egg was a favourite.

The Paul Young chocolates were a big hit, particularly the Guiness and the basil truffles, as was the Mayan Magic chocolate and the chocolate making kits, containing natural sweetener (agave nectar), butters (raw cacao and coconut) and powders (raw cacao, lucuma and carob); all the ingredients you need to make your own chocolate. Also on offer were samples of Choc Star chocolate brownies, which had a fantastically texture and lovely taste.

One of the biggest surprises of the evening was Nicole’s admission that she’d never had a Cadbury Cream Egg. Yes, really. I couldn’t quite believe it and insisted that she try one then and there. And her verdict? I think her face says it all:

P.S. For more on the event take a look at this Word of Mouth video with an adorable little star and the Twitter feed, and be sure to look out for the Word of Mouth write-up next week.

Easter Cake Bake 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Julia) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 19:40:00 +0000

Pat a cake pat a cake baker’s man
Bake me a cake as fast as you can!

For the third year running I'm very pleased to open up the 'Easter Cake Bake'; the competition that invites you to bake a cake for Easter, post it up on your blog or website and send a picture over to me for submission.

The competition has seen some absolutely fantastic cakes both years it's been running; take a look at the entries from 2007 and 2008.

Last year's winning entry was this Vegan Bunny Cake (Vegan Pistachio Spice Cake) submitted by Feeding Maybelle:

Are you inspired now?

Entry Details

All you need to do is bake a cake, or several smaller cakes, with an Easter theme then post about it on your blog, including a link to this post so that people know what the event is about and how to enter. Feel free to use the logo too.

Once you've baked your cake and posted about it send an email with ‘Easter Cake Bake’ in the subject line to asliceofcherrypie@yahoo.co.uk by Monday 20th April with the following information:

• your name
• the name of your blog
• a link to your post
• a picture of your cake(s)

I’ll post a round up of all entries and announce the winner. Happy baking!