Share a Spicy Slice of Mystical Power this Mother’s Day!

Spices were once considered the most valuable commodity on earth – merchants travelled far and wide to find them, fascinated by their exotic perfume, flavour and mystical powers.  The power of a mother’s love is unexplained too; you just know it exists, no questions asked.  So, on Mother’s Day (26 March), show her how precious she is with a cake subtly enhanced with such fabled spices as ginger, cardamom, cinnamon and cumin, using recipes from Spice Drops®.

Spice Drops® is a unique range of highly concentrated natural extracts of herbs and spices.  With as little as a single drop, they add an authentic aroma and flavour to any recipe, and can be added at any time in the baking process so you get the exact and perfect taste for you. 

Made using natural ingredients with no artificial flavourings, colourings or preservatives and no added sugar or salt, Spice Drops® remove the need to grate, grind, chop or peel the raw ingredients; instead, with a simple squeeze of the dropper you’ve added exactly what you need.  Each Spice Drops® bottle states clearly how many drops are required to replicate the effects of a standard measure of the fresh ingredient – for example – two drops of Ginger Spice Drops® is the same as adding half a teaspoon of grated root ginger, so the same fiery flavour just minus the grating and grazed knuckles! 

What’s more, the time you save by using Spice Drops® can be spent pampering your mum to make her feel truly special, but first, serve her a slice of one of these mouth-watering cakes:

Cardamom, Ginger & Cinnamon Banana Bread

Makes 4 mini loaves

150g soft, room temperature butter
100 g soft brown sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature

2 drops Cardamom Spice Drops®

2 drops Ginger Spice Drops®

3 drops Cinnamon Spice Drops®
200g self-raising flour

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
¼  teaspoon salt
3 bananas (over-ripe, mashed)
115g Greek yoghurt (plain, or with honey works well) 

50g unsalted, pistachio kernels, finely chopped 

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4.
2. Line the four mini loaf tins with a small piece of baking paper
3. Place the butter into a large bowl with the sugar. Beat with an electric whisk for 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one by one, and then add the spice drops. Mix again – the mixture may split a little.
4. Sift in the flour and bicarbonate of soda. Add the salt. Using a metal tablespoon, mix everything together until all the flour is incorporated.
5. Add the mashed bananas and Greek yoghurt, mix well again.
6. Divide the mixture equally into the four tins. Sprinkle over the chopped pistachio kernels.
7. Bake for 30 minutes. Check at 25 mins by inserting a skewer into the middle of the loaves. If it comes out clean, then it is cooked.
8. Remove the tins from the oven. Leave to cool and then transfer to a wire rack to cool before serving.

Notes: you can make this in a large, 1lb loaf tin. Bake for one hour and check that the banana bread is cooked through to the middle using the skewer test. 

These will keep well in an airtight tin for up to 3 days.

Chocolate Orange Brownies

Ingredients:

Makes 12-16 squares

• 200g butter, softened
• 300g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
• 8-10 drops Orange Spice Drops®
• 3 eggs
• 180-200g caster sugar
• 100g plain flour
• 50g cocoa powder
• the juice of 1 medium orange

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C and line a 24x20cm brownie tin with baking parchment.
2. Put the butter, dark chocolate and Orange Spice Drops® in a non-stick saucepan and very gently melt over a low heat, stirring every now and then, until smooth – take care not to overheat it. Leave to cool down.
3. Whisk the eggs and sugar together with an electric whisk until the mixture is pale, frothy and leaves a trail when the beaters are lifted.
4. Gently stir in the cooled chocolate mixture and the orange juice and continue to whisk. Sift over the flour and cocoa, stir in.
5. Pour into the lined tin and bake for 30-35 minutes. Cool in the tin, then cut into squares.

Carrot Cake with Rose and Cumin

Ingredients:

For the cake:

• 350 ml vegetable or sunflower oil
• 400 g plain flour
• 2 tsp. bicarbonate of soda
• 450 g sugar
• 6 free-range eggs
• 14 drops Cinnamon Spice Drops®
• 525 g carrots, grated
• 150 g walnuts, roughly chopped

For the icing:

• 200 g cream cheese
• 120 g caster sugar
• 100 g double cream
• 8 drops Cumin Spice Drops®
• 3 Drops of Rose Spice Drops®

Method

1. For the carrot cake, preheat the oven to 160°C/325°F/Gas 3. Grease and line a 26 cm/10 inch spring form cake tin.
2. In large bowl, mix all the ingredients for the carrot cake, except the carrots and walnuts, until well combined. Stir in the carrots and walnuts.
3. Spoon the mixture into the cake tin and bake for 1 hour 15 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
4. Remove the cake from the oven and set aside in the tin to cool for 10 minutes, then carefully remove the cake from the tin and set aside to cool completely on a cooling rack.
5. For the icing, beat the cream and caster sugar till soft peaks form then add the cream cheese and Spice Drops® in a bowl and beat until the mixture becomes fluffy.
6. Only when the cake is completely cooled down spread the icing on the top of the cake with a butter knife and sprinkle some walnuts on top.

This Mother’s Day celebrate with a cake made using Spice Drops® and experience a whole new way of baking.

Spice Drops® can be bought online from Ocado, Amazon, Not on the High Street or from www.holylamaspicedrops.com and instore at selected Whole Foods Markets for around £4.00 per bottle (except for Saffron Spice Drops®).