Fragrant and delicious olive oil and semolina syrup cakes with candied blood oranges.

Well March, I got to hand it to you. You have been a rollercoaster… upwardly soaring full of anticipation, swiftly speeding downwards towards dashed hopes and heartache. I can’t really go into details as to what is causing this turbulence – suffice to say I hope the ride will eventually settle and lead to a happy resolution.

There has been a lot of change which was put into motion at the beginning of the month and change always brings feelings of uncertainty and lack of control… which doesn’t sit well with me. Lots of plans have been cancelled at the last minute – take, for example, a blogger retreat to Dorset which I had been looking forward to for months. The night before I was due to go my son got another bout of tonsillitis and I had to stay by his side.

Which is why I love baking so much. If you follow a recipe and measure your ingredients with care you are almost guaranteed a delicious result. I say almost because there have been cases of an oven door exploding… Not to mention that deciding what to make, measuring the ingredients and using up every single bowl in the kitchen has a calming effect – there’s pleasure in the process as much as in the result. I woke up with a strong urge to bake this Sunday morning – the result of a restless and stressful night’s sleep. I looked around the kitchen to see what needs to be used most urgently (this often determines what I bake!) and the blood oranges in the fruit bowl were practically begging me to pick them.