Sometimes life can reward you in unexpected ways.

I have been going to and using the Moat Theatre in Naas, Co. Kildare since I was a teenager. Recently, when the cafe in the theatre became available for new management, I debated the option. I hummed and hawed but eventually decided that it wasn’t the right thing for me. Really what I wanted was to bake for a cafe. I was delighted when I realised a school friend, Amy had taken on the challenge. I was excited for the creativity and imagination she would bring to the venture. Amy asked me if I would be interested in baking for the newly named Duck and Cup Cafe, and it seemed like perfect serendipity.

Coffee Bundt Launch

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This recipe is taken from The River Cottage Veg Everyday Book by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. The book was a present I got for Christmas and so far everything I have made from it has been delicious! I embarked on a meat free or at least meat reduced diet in January. There are, of course, countless benefits to doing this in the month of January including improved health and bank balance, however, my reason was largely culinary.

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There are few pleasures greater in life than getting a lovely crunchy biscuit on the side of your coffee. (Ok, there may be a few greater pleasures!). We commonly call them biscotti, but they are also known as cantuccini. I believe that the latter means coffee bread while the former refers to biscuits that would have traditionally been baked twice.

I know that some people don’t enjoy this type of biscuit, citing it as too hard but I think dipped in coffee, that the nuts and crunch are really delicious. I chose chopped hazelnuts and walnuts for this recipe because I quite like to have little bits of nut distributed throughout the biscuit, as well as the lovely whole chunks of walnut.
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