Marmalade is packed full of vitamins, antioxidants and other healthy ingredients. In my latest blog, I’ve looked into marmalade nutrition and history. I’ve been making my own marmalade and jam for more than 30 years now, so I know that whilst it’s made with fresh fruit, it also contains large amount of sugar. If you’ve seen the Paddington Bear film or red the books, you might remember his… Source ..read more

One question I often get asked during my sourdough bread baking class is ‘Is sourdough bread good for weight loss?’. Since I’m sure you already know that swapping a home baked bread for shop bought is always a good idea, I wanted to find out more about the benefits of eating sourdough bread. First of all I have to say, that I’m not a nutritionist, just a keen sourdough bread baker… Source ..read more

This traditional Welsh honey cake is a very light sponge recipe with a subtle honey flavour infused with cinnamon. It is an easy recipe to make, pretty much all in one cake baking method and baked in one or two loaf cake tins. The recipe is based on a traditional Welsh Honey Cake recipe. This honey cake recipe is one of the nicest recipes I’ve recently tried. We have just been on a walking… Source ..read more

A comprehensive timeline of chocolate history – from the Ancient Maya in 1500 BC to the introduction of popular brands of chocolate we all know today and all the way to 2024. The history of chocolate has always fastinated me. From how it was first cultivated in Central America as a bitter hot chocolate drink and then brought over to Europe and gradually developed into a chocolate bar for… Source ..read more

My favourite 17 Belgian chocolate brands for 2024, including Godiva, Neuhaus, Guylian and Corne Port-Royal chocolates. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from my 25 years of chocolate making, it’s that Belgian chocolate is in a league of its own. I always enjoy visiting artisan chocolate shops in London and of course eating the delicious chocolates, that that these master chocolatiers craft so… Source ..read more

My tried and tested 4 easy methods that are best to fix split chocolate ganache and work every time. If you’ve ever attempted to make chocolate ganache, you might have seen your lovely smooth ganache suddenly turning oily and weirdly separating. Split ganache, which is what this is called, is actually quite common and can happen to anyone even if you are an experienced cook or chocolate… Source ..read more

The history of traditional sweets and chocolates in the 1990s in UK and USA including a list of 17 iconic chocolates and sweets first introduced during the 1990s, such as Time Out, Kinder Bueno, Cadbury Heroes, Hershey’s Cookies ‘n’ Creme or Cadbury Fuse chocolate bar. The 1990s confectionery scene feels very risk averse with only few really new chocolate bar invented, such as the Dove chocolate bar. The rest of the bars and sweets were versions of already existing sweets, made with a new twist – like the white Toblerone or peanut butter Twix. The 1990s in the UK were marked by the tail end of ..read more

My favourite chocolate shops in London – a comprehensive guide to the best 24 chocolate shops in London in 2024 including the best chocolates to buy from each shop, history, location and photos. When I run my chocolate courses, my students always ask me what’s my favourite chocolate and where to find great chocolate shops in London. So, I thought that I’d let you know my favourite chocolate shops in London, the ones I keep coming back to and always take my friends to when they are visiting London. Over the last 25 years I’ve seen many shops come and go, but it seems that today (2024) there are ..read more

The history of traditional sweets and chocolates in the 1910s in UK and USA including a list of 8 iconic chocolates and sweets first introduced during the 1910s, such as Milk Tray, Fox Glaciers or Jelly Babies. It’s no surprise that the 1910s list of sweets and chocolates is very short. There was quite a lot of chocolate bars and sweets introduced in early 1900s and once the war broke out in 1914 there was no time to invent new confectionery. To celebrate the end of the war, Barrats brought out ‘Peace Babies’, which we all know now as ‘Jelly Babies’. But, the situation didn’t improve much unti ..read more

The history of traditional sweets and chocolates in the 1960s in UK and USA including a list of 14 iconic chocolates and sweets first introduced during the 1960s, such as Twix, Topic, Aztec, Cadbury Cream Egg, Starburst or Chocolate Mini Eggs. Living in the UK during the 1960s was marked by significant social, cultural, and political changes, with the era often characterized as a time of optimism, innovation, and transformation. The 1960s saw significant political developments in the UK, including the rise of the Labour Party under Harold Wilson, who became Prime Minister in 1964. The era was ..read more