AlphaBakes "L" Round up

Where has the time gone? I can't believe it's the end of January already as it seems to have gone by in a flash. Thank you to everyone who took the time to participate in this month's AlphaBakes. We kicked off the first AlphaBakes challenge back in Feb 2012 with the letter L so this is the second time round and there are quite a few new ideas. Remember to check out Caroline's blog on 1st Feb to find out what letter we are using in February. 

Kate from the Gluten Free Alchemist kicks off the round up in style with her gorgeous Layered Dark & White Chocolate Raspberry Cake which is of course gluten free. It has a white chocolate ganache and raspberry-pomegranate sauce and was declared the best birthday cake ever by the lucky recipient. 

Next is Jacqueline with her lemon cupcakes with lemon icing. 

Moving on to the other citrus fruit beginning with L we have a Lime & Ginger Angel Food Cake by Kat from the Baking Explorer. This is a good option if you are counting the calories as it contains no butter and has no buttery/sugary icing. Kat has decorated hers beautifully with lime zest and crystallized ginger.

Next we have a very unusual L ingredient which I would not have guessed just by the title. Suelle from Mainly Baking made some Cranberry-Date Crumble Squares... with a hidden ingredient. Can you guess what it is just by looking at it? No? Me neither. The secret ingredient is Lentils! These sound deliciously fruity and are definitely healthier than regular oat square recipes. There's lots of goodness in these what with the lentils, spelt flour, wholemeal flour, dates and cranberries. 

Next is my co host Caroline from Caroline Makes with a Bertie Bassett Liquorice Allsorts Cake. She made this for her boyfriend's dad's birthday as he likes Liquorice Allsorts. She decided not to use liquorice in the cake as it's not to everyone's taste but to decorate the cake with it and to make a model of Bertie Bassett using fondant icing. The cake is a chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream. Great work with the icing Caroline! 

Next is another very creative entry from Johanna from The Green Gourmet Giraffe. She made these cute Lego biscuits for her nephew's birthday. She lives in Australia so it's summer over there and the weather was predicted to be 38 or 39C. She decided against a cake and decided on these Lego biscuits. I am impressed at how realistic it looks and I'm sure the kids were too. 

Caroline is back with another entry in the form of Limoncello Cupcakes. She had some last minute visitors and baked these in about 40 minutes! It has limoncello in the cake and in the icing. 

We have something a little differnet next from Fiona from Let Them Eat (gluten free, lactose free) Cake! She made a Baked Chicken Liver Mousse which is also gluten, lactose/dairy free. It was very mousse like when warm and more like a pate when eaten cold.

Elizabeth from Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary made one of my favourite treats - cookies! She baked Double Chocolate Chunk Oatmeal Cookies which is adapted from the infamous £250 Neiman Marcus Cookie recipe. It's the first sweet treat she's baked in a while for the sake of her waistline but luckily it did not go to waste. Read her blog to find out who the lucky recipients were! Oh in case you were wondering, the L for this recipe comes from the Light Brown Sugar.

Next is Choclette from Chocolate Log Blog with her Lemon Cake with Chocolate Icing. She actually baked this back in 2012 but has only gotten round to blogging about it now! She needed a cake for a birthday and it had to travel well so she found this recipe from G&B unwrapped and adapted it to suit her needs.

Next is my own entry with a Chocolate and Raspberry Layer Cake. It's a really impressive looking cake which is actually fairly simple to make. The chocolate pairs well with the raspberry and I love the chocolate ganache topping. My favourite bit was the icing which is made with butter, jam and icing sugar.

Johanna from Green Gourmet Giraffe has a second entry for us in the form of an Apricot and Almond Tart. She had lots of fresh apricots from the brother's tree and it finally gave her the chance to bake Bill Granger's apricot and almond tart. The L here is from the lime zest which was noticeable in taste.

Fiona from Let Them Eat (gluten free, lactose free) Cake! is also back with a second entry in the form of a Lemon Victoria Sponge. January seems like a long, cold, dark month to most and pay day seems forever away. Fiona baked this cake to brighten up her day and to remind her that spring is on the way!

Finally we have a delicious and fruity Apple, Coconut, Mango and Kiwi Crumble from Charlene from Food Glorious Food. She's put a tropical twist on a classic apple crumble with exotic fruits and a splash of rum! The L is from the lemon juice.

That's the end of the L AlphaBakes round up. I hope you've enjoyed reading it as much as I have putting it together. Remember to check out Caroline's blog on 1st February to find out which letter we are using in Feb.