Individual Soured Cream Cakes with Butter Glaze

We had an old friend to come to visit and stay over night on Saturday. We had a blast: catching up on the last few years, laughing (he's a seriously funny guy) and generally relaxing in the early summer sun that graced our weekend. For supper that evening I cooked pizzas: tomato, chilli and sweet potato; asparagus, feta and pistachio and kale, onion and parmesan, which I served with a big green salad. For pudding, I made these individual soured cream cakes with butter glaze and served them alongside berries and mascarpone. I followed this recipe from BBC Good Food.

For a while I had been wanting to create some pretty little cakes. I bought a dainty tin mould for the purpose, but no matter how much I buttered and floured the tin, the cakes would get stuck and break when I attempted to ease them out. Needless to say I gave up with that tin. It was while in Milan last month that I came across a rather pretty silicone version of the original tin. I decided to try my luck and bought it. This recipe was its big moment - would the baked cakes come out effortlessly or would they become trifle sponges? I'm pleased to say that they popped out with no effort required. I think they are really pretty. No doubt there will be other versions of these appearing on the blog in time.

On the subject of pretty things, I just had to share these photographs of my gorgeous Hydrangea. It was my impulse purchase from my local florist last week. I simply adore its colour. It's in my kitchen and every time I see it, it makes me smile. That's 'flower power' for you.