Val Stones – The Cake Whisperer
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    • Spiced Cinnamon Cake
    • Christmas Pudding
    • Christmas Gingerbread Truffles
    • Tomato, Manchego cheese and basil savoury muffins
    • Piñata celebration cake
    • Cider Toffee Apple Cake
    • Sweet potato brownies
    • Elderflower and Lemon Cake
    • Carrot cake tray bake
    • Somerset Cider Bread
    • Somerset Easy Fruit Cake
    • Coconut Tarts
    • M&M Flapjacks
    • Rocky Roads
    • Raspberry Heart Friands
    • Seville Marmalade
    • Spiced Apple cake
    • Cheese and Onion Pasties
    • Holiday festive bakes
      • Festive Herby Sausage Rolls
      • Festive Mincemeat Cake
      • Quick and easy mincemeat
    • Meringues
    • Cheese Scones
    • Yorkshire Tea bread
    • Summer Fruit Tarts
    • Tear and Share Cheese herb and sun blush tomato bread
    • Friday Outrageous
    • Spiced tea cakes
    • Easter Biscuits
    • Best ever chocolate nut brownies
    • Rich Butter Biscuits
    • Oven Scones
    • Cherry and Coconut macaroons
    • Spelt and Ginger Biscuits
    • Banana Pecan Loaf
    • Virtuous cake
    • Cookies and Biscuits
    • Tray Bakes
    • Sausage Rolls
    • Tea Time Favorites
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  • Home
  • My Recipes
    • Spiced Marmalade Cake
    • Sticky Toffee Pudding
    • Cheese and Onion Tarts
    • Simnel Cake
    • Seville marmalade
    • Viennese Topped Mince Pies
    • Christmas Pudding
    • Sweet Mincemeat Ice Cream Christmas Cake
    • Festive gingerbread cookies
    • Halloween Spooky Brownies
    • Festive Mincemeat and Apple Squares
    • Strawberry and elderflower tart
    • Summer/Winter Puddings
    • Eve's Pudding
    • Spicy Chicken and Tomato Curry
    • Quick Bakes not using flour
    • Jamie Oliver’s Sourdough Starter
    • Buttermilk Scones
    • Sweet and Savoury Waffles
    • Spiced Cinnamon Cake
    • Christmas Pudding
    • Christmas Gingerbread Truffles
    • Tomato, Manchego cheese and basil savoury muffins
    • Piñata celebration cake
    • Cider Toffee Apple Cake
    • Sweet potato brownies
    • Elderflower and Lemon Cake
    • Carrot cake tray bake
    • Somerset Cider Bread
    • Somerset Easy Fruit Cake
    • Coconut Tarts
    • M&M Flapjacks
    • Rocky Roads
    • Raspberry Heart Friands
    • Seville Marmalade
    • Spiced Apple cake
    • Cheese and Onion Pasties
    • Holiday festive bakes
      • Festive Herby Sausage Rolls
      • Festive Mincemeat Cake
      • Quick and easy mincemeat
    • Meringues
    • Cheese Scones
    • Yorkshire Tea bread
    • Summer Fruit Tarts
    • Tear and Share Cheese herb and sun blush tomato bread
    • Friday Outrageous
    • Spiced tea cakes
    • Easter Biscuits
    • Best ever chocolate nut brownies
    • Rich Butter Biscuits
    • Oven Scones
    • Cherry and Coconut macaroons
    • Spelt and Ginger Biscuits
    • Banana Pecan Loaf
    • Virtuous cake
    • Cookies and Biscuits
    • Tray Bakes
    • Sausage Rolls
    • Tea Time Favorites
    • Cupcakes
  • Val in the News
  • Make a Difference
  • Events
  • Addendum to Recipe Book
  • Contact
  • Hints and tips for baking
  • Stannah Articles
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Introducing


​

Val Stones
The Cake Whisperer
 

I am originally from Conisbrough, near Doncaster but now live with my husband Ian in Somerton, Somerset. At 15 I took over the family baking and have been staying at the helm of the kitchen for over 50 years.

​In my  spare time I love to exercise and have even been caught doing aerobics in my kitchen whilst waiting for jam to boil or my bread to proove.

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You too can enter the next edition of  The Great British Bake Off!

Find out more here: ​https://gbbo.take-part.co.uk/
Feelings from the contestants' experiences from GBBO


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Val's new book is now available, what a great gift for any aspiring baker.

​From listening to her sponges to knowing the perfect way to feed a crowd, Val’s experience and warmth in the kitchen comes through in The Cake Whisperer, her first cookbook.

In this collection of 52 tried and tested recipes, Val Stones, star of the Great British Bake Off in 2016, shares the best way to bake cakes, biscuits, pies and bread. She teaches all her skills including how to listen to what your bakes are telling you.
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For those who missed tonight's live web-cast from Facebook's London HQ,  here it is.
You might want to click through past the first three minutes of intro card and get straight to the action.

The Great British Bake Off
After reaching Round 5 (and so becoming the eighth best baker in the programme!), I returned  to my own kitchen where I saw my Instagram account shoot up to almost 50,000 followers in a matter of weeks!
I really hope this website will allow even more people to follow my baking. My first recipes are here under Cookies, Tray bakes, Tea-time and Cup-cakes. More to follow!
I’ll be putting recipes up here whenever the mood takes me or followers ask me to – and there will be room for readers to add their own comments too! 

Go For It! Three wise words from Val to inspire us in 2017.
Apply for #GBBO now: https://t.co/RvENDaRw5O pic.twitter.com/1L8vVtZPh8

— British Bake Off (@BritishBakeOff) January 2, 2017
UNITS
After a lifetime of working in pounds and ounces and more recently in grams and kilos I have decided to enter the twenty-first century properly! All measurements on these pages will be in metric units.
As you all know of me by now, there will be the odd pinch, handful or cupful and I urge you to try your own adjustments to suit your own tastes because this is how you become a baker too!
All eggs are medium, all butter is unsalted (I use Lurpak or Le Président because they both have less water in them).
As to oven temperatures, mine works in degrees celsius and I always use a fan oven. All the recipes here will just show something like ‘160C’ which mean 160 degrees celsius in my fan oven. So if you plan to follow many of my recipes you might need to develop a conversion table to suit your kitchen!

HOW TO LISTEN TO A CAKE
Some people like to stab their cakes with askewer to see whether it’s cooked yet. Imagine: the poor thing has been in a hot, hot oven for three-quarters of an hour and suddenly someone opens the door, drives a skewer into its very heart then examines the blade like some roman oracle-reader!
My way involves gently sliding my creation out of the warmth of its metallic womb and putting it to my ear. If it’s still burbling away, clearly still a bit over-excited, I’ll pop it back for another few minutes before listening again. With time you’ll learn just how much longer it needs before it’s cooked to perfection. Sounds crazy? It works!
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What I want to hear is a calm, contented bake that announces – with little more than a whisper – that it is ready to come out into the world and cool down.
Beware though the totally silent cake, the cake with nothing to say at all. This is the cake that just might have gone past the point of no return. While it may still be 

A video posted by Val Stones (@valcake.walks) on Jan 10, 2017 at 12:07pm PST

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  • Home
  • My Recipes
    • Spiced Marmalade Cake
    • Sticky Toffee Pudding
    • Cheese and Onion Tarts
    • Simnel Cake
    • Seville marmalade
    • Viennese Topped Mince Pies
    • Christmas Pudding
    • Sweet Mincemeat Ice Cream Christmas Cake
    • Festive gingerbread cookies
    • Halloween Spooky Brownies
    • Festive Mincemeat and Apple Squares
    • Strawberry and elderflower tart
    • Summer/Winter Puddings
    • Eve's Pudding
    • Spicy Chicken and Tomato Curry
    • Quick Bakes not using flour
    • Jamie Oliver’s Sourdough Starter
    • Buttermilk Scones
    • Sweet and Savoury Waffles
    • Spiced Cinnamon Cake
    • Christmas Pudding
    • Christmas Gingerbread Truffles
    • Tomato, Manchego cheese and basil savoury muffins
    • Piñata celebration cake
    • Cider Toffee Apple Cake
    • Sweet potato brownies
    • Elderflower and Lemon Cake
    • Carrot cake tray bake
    • Somerset Cider Bread
    • Somerset Easy Fruit Cake
    • Coconut Tarts
    • M&M Flapjacks
    • Rocky Roads
    • Raspberry Heart Friands
    • Seville Marmalade
    • Spiced Apple cake
    • Cheese and Onion Pasties
    • Holiday festive bakes
      • Festive Herby Sausage Rolls
      • Festive Mincemeat Cake
      • Quick and easy mincemeat
    • Meringues
    • Cheese Scones
    • Yorkshire Tea bread
    • Summer Fruit Tarts
    • Tear and Share Cheese herb and sun blush tomato bread
    • Friday Outrageous
    • Spiced tea cakes
    • Easter Biscuits
    • Best ever chocolate nut brownies
    • Rich Butter Biscuits
    • Oven Scones
    • Cherry and Coconut macaroons
    • Spelt and Ginger Biscuits
    • Banana Pecan Loaf
    • Virtuous cake
    • Cookies and Biscuits
    • Tray Bakes
    • Sausage Rolls
    • Tea Time Favorites
    • Cupcakes
  • Val in the News
  • Make a Difference
  • Events
  • Addendum to Recipe Book
  • Contact
  • Hints and tips for baking
  • Stannah Articles