Love Cake March 2015 round up

We've cleared the shelves, rummaged through drawers and sorted out piles of books on chairs and in corners. It's now time to see what we've been inspired to bake from our cooks book and what books we have in our collections.

We start with a trip back to Elizabeth's childhood for her Warm gingerbread cake with lemon sauce. Her memories of her younger days may not be the most treasured but her recipe is certainly heart warming. Elizabeth found it in one of her old, handwritten notebooks and has updated it so us Brits can make it without going on a hunt for Crosby's molasses!

It was time to look back to TV's favourite baking programme for Charlene this month. She was inspired by Jo Wheatley, the second winner of the Great British Bake Off, for her Rum and Raisin Cheesecake. The raisins are soaked overnight in rum to plump them up and then both mixed in and cooked in the cheesecake before some are scattered on top.

If you have a child under 10 then you probably won't have escape the phenomenon that is the film Frozen. Johanna decided to make a Frozen Castle Birthday Cake for her daughter's birthday. Aided by Annie Rigg's Birthday Cakes for Kids Johanna was able to construct a very impressive three layer, multi turreted castle. For the essential fire and ice effect sparklers were added.

I'm probably one of the few people who doesn't have a Delia Smith book in my house. Kate shows us with her version of Squidgy Chocolate Cake - gluten free that Delia's recipes are still very relevant today and can be adapted to your own requirements. This was based on Delia's original recipe for a chocolate log. It is naturally gluten-free as the sponge ingredients are simply eggs, caster sugar and cocoa powder. Everytime I look at it I can't can't believe it's just three ingredients!

Choclette over at Tin and Thyme (now incorporating Chocolate Log Bog; get with it!) was tasked with making a multi-layer for a sad occasion. For her Chocolate Layer Cake she combined two recipes from Will Torrent's Chocolate at Home. The actual cake is based on his Nan's chocolate fudge cake while the glazed is inspired by the Salted caramel and rum top hat cake. Together they make quite a glorious combination and one I hope Choclette can make for a happier occasion.

I gave you a glimpse this month of some of my favourite baking books. I managed to whittle it down to 10 to include books from Mary Berry, Jo Wheatley and of course the classic Be-Ro book!

To close the month I showed off my Jewel Box cake. Adorned with glossy multi-coloured glacé cherries it is a cake fit for a Queen!I saw it originally in Fiona Cairns' Birthday Cake Book but adapted it partly through choice and partly through not reading the recipe correctly.

Thank you to everyone who trawled through their books this month. I'll be back in a couple of days with April's theme and I promise no April Fool's jokes as cake is too serious too joke about!