Lockdown Baking Therapy

This week marked one year of the lockdown in the UK which means for me one year of lockdown baking, mind you I never need an excuse to bake but lockdown gave me the time to get creative and try new recipes. 

I have always enjoyed baking cakes and as a child I would help my mum with her weekly cake which she used to make for our Sunday tea. I also remember going with her to cake decorating classes before I started school. 

During the first lockdown in the UK there was a problem with buying flour as everyone went baking crazy and started to make cakes, bread and pizza at home. Banana bread seemed to become the most popular choice. 

I made a special cake in June to celebrate our lockdown 25th silver wedding anniversary which we enjoyed as part of a picnic at beautiful Painshill Park in Surrey. 

It is now sixteen months since we turned the locks and closed the doors on our Sicilian house and we would have never thought back then that we would not know when we would be able to return. Next month we should be embarking on our spring road trip home with Daisy but we have had to cancel yet again and we would love to say a BIG thank you to GNV ferries yet again for their amazing help and for extending our tickets from last year for another twelve months. I have flights booked for July and September so I am keeping my fingers crossed especially now as Mount Etna decided last week on her fourteenth eruption in the past month to turn our roof terrace into an ash tray and turned our town and beach black.

It has been heart breaking for us not to be able to go to our Sicilian house and therefore baking has been the perfect therapy to take my mind off things and get into the flow of really good baking projects and of course cake is always a comfort food. I even had a go at making bread and I still managed to do my annual blackberry picking and jam making, I even tried some new jam flavours for a new project. I also made my own meat pies but they are not as exciting as sweet ones, although I did fall in love with my little pie bird.

A cake does not last very long in our house and my husband always wants a slice as soon as it comes out of the oven but only after I have taken a photo of course 😜 

Here are my Top 30 Lockdown Baking Projects, or should I say my husband's favourite eating projects.

My recipes are from all kinds of sources, out of cookery books, magazines and websites written by a variety of different chefs. Some are old recipes and some are new. 

My next project CASSATA SICILIANA !!!!!!!!!

Please feel free to ask me for the recipes:


OLIVE AND FENNEL SEED BREAD



KEY LIME PIE



GIANT CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES



ANNIVERSARY LEMON DRIZZLE CAKE



RASPBERRY & CHOCOLATE CHIP MUFFINS


STRAWBERRY CHEESECAKE


BLACKBERRY MUFFINS


BLACKBERRY PUDDINGS


UPSIDE DOWN BLACKBERRY CAKE


GERMAN APPLE CAKE


BLUEBERRY & LAVENDER MUFFINS


CHOCOLATE ALMOND CAKE


ALMOND COOKIES


CHOCOLATE AND RICOTTA PIE


CHOCOLATE BANANA BREAD


PANETTONE


VANILLA CAKE WITH CLEMENTINE FROSTING


SHORTBREAD BISCUITS


CHOCOLATE OLIVE OIL CAKE


GINGERBREAD LOAF



RETRO ICED BUNS


VANILLA, ROSE & CHOCOLATE MARBLE CAKE


CHOCOLATE BROWNIES


CHOCOLATE & COCONUT MACAROONS


ROSEMARY FOCACCIA


GIANT CHOCOLATE CHIP MUFFINS


IRISH SODA BREAD


CAPPUCINO CAKE


TURKEY AND HAM PIE


BLACKBERRY & LIME JAM


RASPBERRY & ROSEWATER JAM



If you enjoyed this post then you might enjoy these sweet ones from my archive;

20 Sicilian Desserts You Must Try https://whitealmond-privatesicily.blogspot.com/2020/09/20-sicilian-sweets-desserts-you-must-try.html

... an abundance of Summer Berries https://whitealmond-privatesicily.blogspot.com/2020/08/abundance-of-summer-berries.html

Locked down in London https://whitealmond-privatesicily.blogspot.com/2020/03/locked-down-in-london.html

Cassata ... The Queen of all Easter Cakes https://whitealmond-privatesicily.blogspot.com/2019/04/cassata-queen-of-easter-cakes.html

14 Ways to use Sicilian Almonds https://whitealmond-privatesicily.blogspot.com/2019/03/14-ways-to-use-sicilian-almonds.html

... a day at Painshill Park https://whitealmond-privatesicily.blogspot.com/2020/07/lockdown-in-london-afternoon-at.html



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