As soon as Archie announced the theme for his party, my mind raced to the cake and I knew instantly, there was no way of avoiding the issue. It had to be the ship. As daunting as this sounded, the good thing is a few years ago, a friend asked me to make a ship […]
Ladybird Cupcakes
February 20, 2014 By 52 Comments
It’s Alfie’s birthday on the weekend and he’s going to be nine. At his primary school, when it’s your birthday, you’re allowed to bring in something for the class to share. The school does suggest that you order cupcakes from the canteen or that you can bring in a box of ice blocks and I […]
Frozen White-Chocolate Christmas Bombe
December 27, 2013 By 29 Comments
Thanks for all your comments about how you spent Christmas. I loved reading how you celebrated. As promised, here is my mother’s white chocolate bombe recipe. I’m not sure how long she’s been making this but I’m sure it’s been on our table every Christmas for at least 25 years. Back then my mother was […]
Reindeer Poo, a Christmas Cake and a Fairy-Bread Christmas Tree
December 23, 2013 By 41 Comments
How’s everyone holding up? Here at Hotly Spiced Headquarters we (mostly me) feel we’re drowning. With just one sleep to go before Christmas Eve and about 10 days of preparation to do, I’m clutching my worry beads. One of the things we had to fit into yesterday’s schedule was a trip to Terminal 2 at […]
Mum’s Buche de Noel and it’s Gluten-Free
December 8, 2013 By 48 Comments
A few posts ago I told you about my family’s traditions of celebrating Christmas and how one of these involved a Buche de Noel. Buche de Noel is a French Yule Log or Christmas log and is traditionally served late on Christmas Eve as a family gathers together to await the arrival of Santa, bounding […]
Gluten-Free Choc-Nut Cake
October 28, 2013 By 39 Comments
September is always a busy month for my family; so busy that as usual, this year we didn’t have time to get together to celebrate my sister’s birthday, my daughter’s birthday, my father’s birthday, my niece’s birthday and a nephew’s birthday that had been even a little bit earlier than the others. So in October […]
Sour Cream Black Forest Cake
October 18, 2013 By 46 Comments
I would love to have a nice and tidy scheduled life but it’s just never been that way. Today is a classic example where for a few weeks I’ve known that tonight Carl was going to be at a wine appreciation night. It’s just that somehow the communication containing the details broke down and it […]
No-Bake, Easy Hedgehog Slice and…Night Runs!
August 6, 2013 By 49 Comments
‘Night Runs’. It’s been a while since we’ve had a post about Archie and his goings-on at boarding school. A few weeks ago Archie said to me, ‘I really miss boarding school; I just had the best time’. Now you have all heard me talk about the highs and the lows of Archie’s boarding school […]
Sydney Chocolate School – Coco Chocolate
July 29, 2013 By 46 Comments
When introducing myself at parties and events, it’s most likely I’ll then be asked, And what do you do?’ And I’ve always wanted to say, ‘I’m a Chocolatier’, because it just sounds so interesting and fabulous and I’m sure I would receive a very animated response compared with saying something like, ‘I’m an Auditor for […]
Chocolate Whiskey Balls and…Christmas Eve Trauma
June 10, 2013 By 43 Comments
My parents like to organise holidays for our whole family however lately there have been some comments from my family directed at my family like, ‘But there’s no hospital in the area’, and, ‘But I don’t think the medical centre is open after hours’, and, ‘Do you still have medical insurance?’ It’s as if we’re […]
Follow Me!