I’m always up for trying out new baking products, especially those which add an extra dimension or an extra special something to my bakes.

 Just recently I have discovered Sugar and Crumbs who make a range of natural cocoa powders and icing sugars to enhance your bakes and to turn them into something really special.  Not only this but they also sell a great range of crumbs and sprinkles to finish off the top of your cakes with a pretty touch.  Sugar and Crumbs sell their products online through their own website but they also have a really useful local stockist search facility on their website.  If you type in your postcode it comes up with who stocks the Sugar and Crumbs products nearby.  As I live in North Yorkshire I was pleased to see that Sugarcraft Supplies in Garforth sells them!  I know where I’ll be heading on my next day off from work!

I belong to to the Clandestine Cake Club and a few of my cakey friends had bought Sugar and Crumbs products to try out in their cakes from a stand at The Cake and Bake Show last year. They were absolutely delighted with them and I was intrigued to try the products out for myself.

From coconut to lime and from Black Forest to Cherry Bakewell there is a flavour to suit everyone’s taste buds.  I even noticed there is a chilli flavoured cocoa powder on the website which I would love to try out in the future! Though what I do wish to see is a mint flavour cocoa powder and icing sugar as that is my overall favourite and I would buy it by the shedload!

So when Sugar and Crumbs set me a challenge to bake with a goodie bag of their cocoa powder and icing sugars I jumped at the chance.  Mother’s Day is coming up and what better occasion than to bake a cake or something delicious for your mum?  I’m a mum of two teenagers myself but I love baking cakes for my own mum. She came to visit me when it was half term so I thought it was a great excuse to get out the cake tins and come up with some treats to share for Mother’s Day.

Sugar and Crumbs offered me a choice of cocoa powders and icing sugars from their wide variety of flavours and extensive range.  I chose to go with the Chocolate Orange Natural Flavoured Cocoa Powder which was accompanied by two different icing sugars.  One was the Jaffa Twist Natural Flavoured Cocoa Icing Sugar and the other was the Orange Zest Natural Flavoured Icing Sugar which all came in the most gorgeous pink or white resealable pouches. So pretty, just made me want to open it straightaway and get baking!   I was very impressed with the packaging and I felt you got a lot in a packet,  especially with the cocoa powder as it would last for a couple or several bakes depending on what you were making.

Those of you that read my SmartCookieSam blog regularly will know that I’m addicted to baking bundts and have started collecting Nordicware bundt pans.  So my Mother’s Day bake just HAD to include a bundt cake somewhere. I adapted the recipe from the latest Hummingbird Bakery recipe book which is just out called Life Is Sweet.  On page there is a recipe for the Tunnel of Fudge Bundt Cake which I turned into a Jaffa Orange Cake instead.  Not only this but I wanted to see what else I could create with my big bag of cocoa powder and hit upon the idea of baking some chocolate orange cookies at the same time.

The smell coming from my oven was just so enticing.  I chose to bake the cake in my Heritage Bundt pan which always produces excellent results so I thought I would try and see how the Sugar and Crumbs products worked when baked in a bundt!

Meanwhile I attempted to bake some cookies using some more of the Jaffa Orange Cocoa Powder.  I adapted a recipe from a trusty cookie book I have had for a few years now, called The Genuine American Cookie and Muffin Book.  In this book there is a recipe for double chocolate cookies.  This gave me a great idea to adapt the recipe using the cocoa powder and also to sprinkle some Orange Zest natural icing sugar on top of the cookies for an extra orangey hit.  The batch baked two dozen mouthwatering cookies to complement the Jaffa Orange Bundt Cake.

Meanwhile I had to finish off the bundt.  This was done by creating a chocolate glace to adorn the top of the cake.  I used the chocolate orange icing sugar accompanied with some sugar and mixed it all together with a little bit of butter to form a paste.  This was then drizzled carefully in the grooves on the cake.  Before it had chance to set I sprinkled on cut up pieces of mini Jaffa Cakes and then some whole ones on top.  I used Marks and Spencers’ own ones which are retangular, not round.

The extra flavour that the Sugar and Crumbs cocoa powder and icing sugars added to my bakes was phenomenal.  My whole family, including my mum said you could definitely taste the orange in the cake and the cookies.  We had a small slice of cake and a cookie each. They tasted absolutely delicious.  If there is cake around in my house it always disappears like lightning so I chose to take the rest into one of the schools I teach at to share out with the staff.  I hope they liked their treats!

After my Mother’s Day baking session I was pleased I still had most of one of the icing sugars left to use up and also a small amount of Jaffa Orange cocoa powder.  I ran out of time to bake more last Sunday but have earmarked  a couple of the recipes featured on the Sugar and Crumbs website.  There are numerous useful recipes including a mouthwatering sounding brownie recipe.  I am definitely going to try that one out.  There are also other recipes for fudge and for meringues amongst lots of others though I know that my mum would love a box of homemade fudge!

Here is a link to the Recipe section of the website:

http://www.sugarandcrumbs.co.uk/recipes/

So can I recommend the Sugar and Crumbs products to other bakers?  Yes I can and I can’t wait to try out the other varieties as and when my busy day job allows!

Happy Baking!

Love Sam xx