*NEW!* Sarah Hurley Bakeware

Today we're launching a whole range of new products - so exciting! When Lisa first started working here she suggested we launch a bakeware range - I wasn't sure, I'm not a super duper baker and I like everything put together for me so it's super easy. Luckily thats exactly what she had in mind!

Lisa has since spent all of her free time baking, cutting and icing cookies to put together this fabulous range of cookie kits and accessories especially for the Sarah Hurley Bakeware range! (big thank you to Lisa for all the hard work and congratulations on our first collaboration, whoop! choccy cake all round - if we hadn't eaten it already, lol)

Each kit contains everything you need to get started (except ingredients!) with a cutter, icing bottles, instructions, recipes and hints and tips, they are perfect for adults and children (or to do together!)

You can check out the whole range here on my website or here on notonthehighstreet.com

We'd love to know what you think of the new range!

Thank you for dropping by today
Sarah x

Scrumptious Carrot Cake Recipe

Today I want to share my favourite ever Carrot Cake recipe! I'm super fussy about Carrot Cake, it's definitely one of my favourites but I'm very picky about how I like it, it must have fruit, it must NEVER have nuts (I'm not a fan of nuts in cake but you could add them to this recipe if you like them) it must have cream cheese frosting, and there must be lots of carrot (or what's the point!) this one was given to me some years ago, I lost it once (eeek! I now keep multiple copies and it's scanned and backed up on my pooter!) I hope you love it as much as I do...

You will need...

250grams / 9oz Wholemeal Flour

175grams / 6oz Muscovado Sugar

175grans / 6oz Brown Sugar

3 Large Eggs

6 fl Ozs (175ml) Sunflower Oil

2 fl Oz (55ml) Soured Cream

2 Teaspoons Vanilla Essence

1 Teaspoon Nutmeg

2 Level Teaspoons Cinnamon

1 teaspoon Bicarbonate of Soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

11 Ozs (300 grams) grated carrots

175 grams / 6 ozs Sultanas

85 grams / 3 Ozs Desiccated Coconut

For the Cream Cheese Frosting

110 grams / 4 Ozs Cream Cheese

50 grams / 2 Ozs Unsalted Butter

50 grams / 2 Ozs Icing Sugar

Juice of half a lemon or lime

To Make (approximately 2 hours)

Preheat the oven to 150c / 300f and lightly grease (or line with greaseproof paper) an 8" baking tin (it should be pretty deep, mine is around 5.5" deep and works great!)

Mix the eggs, oil, vanilla essence and soured cream together

Once combined slowly sieve in the dry ingredients - flour, cinnamon, Bicarbonate of Soda and salt 

(you could do all of this in the food mixer much quicker, I do this by hand as it's quite a dense cake and mine doesn't work great at combining all the ingredients properly - I am waiting patiently for my dream mint green KitchenAid mixer... *sigh*)

Fold the mixture in until well combined before adding the grated carrots, coconut and sultanas

Once everything is mixed well, pour the mixture into your baking tin and bake for around 1 and a half hours - be sure to test the centre with a toothpick to ensure it is properly cooked before removing from the oven and leaving to cool for at least an hour

Frosting...

Once your cake is completely cooled, sieve the icing sugar into a bowl and mix with the softened butter and cream cheese, add the lemon or lime juice and then top your cake and enjoy - preferably with a big mug of earl grey tea *slurp* my fave! (The carrot garnishes I used from the top picture were from Sainsburys)

I hope you enjoy it as much as we all do!

Thank you for dropping by today

Sarah x

Perfect Baked Ham Recipe

I'm not the best cook in the world, I'll be the first to admit it! but I guarantee that every week someone, whether it's B, my Dad, Lisa or one of my friends, will ask me to bake them a ham (B has actually started bringing them home for me now from work like some men do flowers! lol) So today I'm sharing my recipe for the perfect Baked Ham...

What you will need:

A small smoked or unsmoked (depending on your preference, I always go for smoked!) gammon joint (these cost around £4-5 in Waitrose / Sainsburys or Morrisons)

2 litres of Dr Pepper

Marmalade (with peel)

Brown Sugar

Colmans English Mustard

A jug (pint) of water

To Make (approximately 2 hours)

Start by unwrapping your gammon joint (make sure to remove the plastic bit around the side too (done that!) and place in a very large pan (it should be almost twice as deep with space all around the edge

Pour over around half of the Dr Pepper and add a jug of water, if needed add more Dr Pepper (the liquid should be just above the surface of the ham, put the lid on your pan (I've experimented without the lid, it still tastes lovely but a little drier - keeping the lid on seals in all the moisture and makes for a tastier ham!)

Simmer slowly to a rolling boil and leave for approximately 20 minutes (this should take around an hour in total - I use the very lowest setting on my hob)

Once done, remove from the boil and pour away the liquid, place the ham into a pyrex (or similar) ovenproof dish, score the top with a sharp knife in two directions to make a checkerboard pattern across the top of your ham. 

Spread some mustard (around a level tablespoonful) across the top of the ham, get into all the little cut areas you've just made

Add a heaped tablespoonful of marmalade and and spread over the top of the mustard and ham and into all the cut areas (I know marmalade and mustard sounds gross, but trust me, its awesome!) Sprinkle on a pinch or two of brown sugar

Bake on a medium heat for around 45 minutes or until the marmalade starts to bubble (I like mine to caramelise and go a little bit almost burnt at the edges)

Leave to cool for around half an hour (supervise if you have little piggies in the house - not mentioning any names!!) before cutting and serving with some lovely fresh bread (sourdough is my fave, tiger bread for B) or mash potato and pickles (Lisa's favourite)

I hope you enjoy it as much as we all do!

Thank you for dropping by today

Sarah x