BBC Good Food

24 October 2009

"This tastes amazing and smells so aromatic - I used tomatoes from my garden and followed the recipe exactly, it's easy and straightforward to make, and everyone loved it. Makes quite a lot, I kept the left overs in the freezer and used them 6 weeks later and they were just as good as first time around. Only thing I'd do differently next time is use half the salt & pepper to suit my taste but my friends all loved it just the way it was."

21 October 2009

"Made a cheat's version of this cake for a friend's wedding last weekend, and it looked absolutely fabulous. I just used the idea - made my own favourite recipe choc cakes, then melted 70% cocoa solids chocolate with a little glycerine, laid it out on baking parchment cut to size with a wavy border, let it dry then carefully wrapped it around the sides of the cakes which I'd "glued" with boiled raspberry jam, and peeled off the paper backing. Stacked the two cakes using dowels as in this recipe, but left the top cake on the springform pan base for extra security, set the base on the dowels just above the top of the bottom cake. Set the bride & groom figurines on the top tier, filled in the top and bottom tiers with sugared red grapes, raspberries, strawberries and blueberries. It looked really sensational, it was a less complicated cheat's version, but looked just like the photo, and got its own round of applause at the reception!"

07 March 2008

"Reheating sausages and sauce making microwave smell? try this - get rid of smell by squeezing juice of half a lemon or lime into a ramekin, put in squeezed half as well, fill 2/3 with water and microwave on high until just bubbling over - microwave now smells deliciously citrus fresh!"

23 February 2008

"Made these for a party and they disappeared in no time - varied the recipe for the vegetarians by substituting hummus, and used less cream cheese to make them less moist and roll properly. Great to make ahead then just unwrap and slice immediately before serving - more time spent with my guests."

08 December 2007

"For a lower fat option, substitute low fat greek yoghurt or creme fraiche for the mascarpone and cream"