Happy Belated New Year! Two days after my last blog post our gorgeous baby boy Liam came into the world! I was planning on making a gingerbread house but never got around to it as he decided to arrive early. My festive baking plans were sabotaged! Liam is doing really well now and we're almost in some sort of routine. I feel like I've known him forever and he sleeps most peacfully in the kitchen with the oven humming and the mixer whirring!

I've been up and down to Dublin doing a series of Baking demos on RTE's Fourlive programme for the past few weeks. We did four in total: Breads, Scones, Sponge cakes and pastries. They're all on RTE player now. I also did one just before Christmas on the Peanut Butter Cookies. One of my absolute favourites from Make Bake Love.

I've been doing lots of writing including a once a week piece for The Sunday Business Post's Agenda magazine. I really love that as it involves making a great family meal each week.Next Sunday's will be a gorgeous roast vegetable and goats cheese tart. It's great because I spend the week cooking and experimenting with different flavours. It really has become my dream job!  

So if you've only just come across my blog as a result of Make Bake Love or if you're a regular around here: Happy New Year and let's make 2012 an absolutely great year full of gorgeous food!

Lilly x

'Make Bake Love' is out!

The book is now finally out! Yay! It's incredible to see stacks of MakeBakeLove in bookshops all over the country. Even though it only came out on Friday I've already had loads of people baking from it and letting me know what their favourites from the book are. It really is so exciting to be able to share the book with people who have never seen the blog and to see so many people getting back to baking! Massive thanks to all at Gill & MacMillan and to the brilliant Kristin who copy edited the whole book for me. She has her own lovely blogs Edible Ireland and Dinner du Jour and co-founded The Irish Food Bloggers Association. It was an incredible stroke of luck to have such a talented perfectionist on my team!

I was also really lucky that my boyfriend Colm took the photos of me for the book, seeing the photo he took on the cover really makes it for me!

If you can't make it to a bookshop and want to order online then here's a list of places where you can get it. I'm told it's out of stock at the moment on Amazon so these are your best bet!

Dubray Books

Gill and MacMillan

The Book Depository

Also some brilliant news: The book has been shortlisted for Best Irish Published Book Of The Year! I'd love if you took the time to vote for MakeBakeLove here. Thanks a million!

Lilly x

The March Loaves&Fishes

The March Loaves&Fishes Menu

For some reason no photos will load! The server is 'rejecting' them apparently, how embarrassing. Anyway we are really looking forward to Loaves&Fishes next weekend and here is the menu:

Antipasto

Four Cheese Tortellini with sage butter

Pollo al burro with roast cherry tomatoes & Herb Tabbouleh

Sicilian Wedding Cake

Homemade Cantucci

Tea & Coffee

A few years ago we went to La Sostanza in Florence and had the most amazing steaks. The house red wine was beautiful and served in little glass tumblers, there was a big open grill in the kitchen where everything was cooked. The whole atmosphere was so relaxed, I really loved it. We went back a few times and every time the people at the tables around us were raving about the Pollo al burro. Chicken soaked in a buttery bath. We had to get it! It was absolutely gorgeous and I've been making it at home ever since.

Last year we went to a beautiful wedding in Tuscany and at the end of the night we had the most amazing berry Wedding Cake. I've been trying to find a recipe for it everywhere and just recently figured out that the filling is like the Scilian Cassata cake. Anyway it's gorgeous and I'll post the recipe with photos here next week!

Lilly x

Help me name my book please! x

So my lovelies I have exciting news! Eeek! I know.

I've been writing a book. All about Baking. For the past few months there have been four tier black forest gateaus,Banoffee Cake, Coffee Cakes, millions of muffins, tons of tarts and some gorgeous breads rising in the hot press! The whole house smells amazing and hopefully masks the fact that I've been neglecting the hoovering! The publishers, Gill & McMillan contacted me about the blog and would I like to do a book etc. so I decided on Baking as being what The Book would be about. But we simply cannot come up with a name! So I'd love if you would let me know what you think. Hopefully from reading the blog you know what the style of the book will be: gorgeous photos, approachable recipes and lots of beautiful baked stuff! Here are the suggestions so far. Please let me know any comments you have and let me know which one you think is best!

1. Baking Power

2. Bake it Easy (Lorriane Pascal kind of beat me to it with her new book 'Baking made Easy'.Doh!)

3. Bake, Eat, Love

4. Sweet Dreams

5. Flour Power

And if you can think up a completely different name do let me know too,The book will be out in the Autumn so the sooner the better!
Thanks a million!
Lilly x

Haaaappy New Year!

Happy New Year! Hurray! 2011 is upon us. I have to say I am one of those people that can't sleep in the run up to Christmas.I just LOVE it. Images of sugar plums really do dance in my head. I lie awake planning to get more brown sugar and cinnamon after work. Then make the gingerbread dough. Then make mincemeat and pot it etc. Then Christmas comes and goes and I'm left with a fridge empty but for a jar of rum butter to remind me of all the gorgeous things we ate and the glorious sitting around with nothing to do and nowhere to go.  I do suffer from the January Blues and often start to make Valentine themed biscuits pretty quickly! The New Year always seems so full of potential, a whole year to do whatever we want with it!