Five free things to see and do in London

We've just returned from another summer trip to the British capital, seeing some of the sights that we didn't manage to fit in last year. Although London is a vibrant and exciting place to visit, this can come with a hefty price tag; it's a city with a reputation for being stonkingly expensive, whether you're a hapless holidaymaker or a bona fide Londoner. But it doesn't need to be - having conducted extensive research, I've compiled a list of my top five things to do in London which don't need to set you back a single penny.

1. Browse at Borough Market - Admittedly, you'll need some serious willpower here; if you have as little self-discipline as me, you're likely to come away clutching a bunch of artisan goodies and an empty purse. It is, though, perfectly possible to enjoy the market's sights, sounds and smells for nothing. Many stallholders offer free samples of their wares - particularly if you ask nicely - such as honey, breads, oils and sweets, so that you can try before you buy. My absolute favourites have to be The Cinnamon Tree Bakery, who I first encountered last year at The Cake and Bake Show, and Bread Ahead, whose doughnuts are out of this world. To really make the most of the market, head to Borough High Street on a Friday or Saturday, when traders set up early and go home late.

Nearest underground station: London Bridge.

2. Visit the Imperial War Museum - One thing that pleases me immensely, as I've always been a bit of a history nerd, is that wherever you go in Britain, the museums are, more often than not, free. The Imperial War Museum is one such institution, and has been on our list for a while. It's only just reopened after undergoing massive transformation, including the construction of a state-of-the-art sunken atrium and brand-new terraces, and looks absolutely stunning - the entrance hall alone houses a Spitfire, a V2 rocket, a Harrier jet, and a T-34 tank, among other over-sized artefacts. Upstairs, the Family in Wartime follows the lives of a local family during the Second World War, while the refurbished Holocaust exhibition documents the rise of Nazism and its appalling culmination. It makes for sombre viewing, but is an absolute must-see.

Nearest underground station: Lambeth North or Elephant and Castle.

3. Take a Thames-side walk - If you want to see some of the main London attractions, but don't fancy shelling out for a bus tour, a great way to see the city is to walk along the banks of the Thames. Following the Thames footpath, you can take in such sights as the Shard, Southbank, the London Eye, and even - if you're not completely out of puff - the Houses of Parliament. One not to miss is the Tower of London, currently home to 'Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red', the installation of ceramic poppies commemorating the centenary of the outbreak of war in 1914. It's possible to walk from Tower Bridge right up to Westminster (though you might need frequent breathers!), but you'll have to cross the river at various points. This, though, is a good excuse to see - and set foot on - some of the city's famous bridges, like London Bridge, Westminster Bridge, and, for Harry Potter fans, the Millennium Bridge. Thankfully, in real life, it's still standing.

Nearest underground station: you can begin wherever you like, but I recommend starting from Tower Hill and heading west.

4. Wander through Regent's Park - despite being such a huge city, London has green spaces in abundance. I think that Regent's Park is one of the prettiest - even on a thundery day like the one pictured above! It's a pleasant mix of open grassy areas, perfect for little ones to run around and let off steam, and landscaped gardens, complete with manicured flowerbeds and fountains. There are a handful of places to eat within the park, including cafes, a restaurant and the Smokehouse, a barbecue takeaway, but make an afternoon of it by bringing your own snacks and eating al fresco - though perhaps hold out for better weather before you unfurl your picnic blanket!

Nearest underground station - Baker Street, Regent's Park, or Great Portland Street.

5. Take in the Tate Modern - if contemporary art is your thing, you definitely won't want to miss this off your itinerary. Although it's one of London's premier tourist attractions, entry is free, unless, as with most museums and galleries, you want to visit one of the special exhibitions, which are on throughout the year (Henri Matisse's cutouts are currently on show, as are works by Kazimir Malevich, created during one of the most turbulent periods of Russian history). However, with so much to see inside the old Bankside Power Station, a trip to the Tate Modern can be just as absorbing without seeing one of these, with free guided tours every day. You'll also find free displays on various themes, like 'Poetry and Dream', within which are mini-displays such as 'Beyond Surrealism' or 'Energy and Process', featuring Cy Twombly among others.

Nearest underground station: Southwark or Blackfriars

If you've enjoyed a free or budget day out in London recently and want to shout about it, or if there's anything at all you'd like to see featured on my blog, feel free to leave a comment below!

In praise of... the sandwich cake

As I'm back home from uni for the summer and I no longer have any problematic sharing-a-tiny-kitchen-with-housemates-type problems, I've started baking again. It's been quite a while since I last wrote a post for the cake 'n' bake section of the blog, but my most recent kitchen escapades have provided me with some inspiration: in the form of the humble sandwich cake.

What I love most about this cake is that it's infinitely customisable; above, you can see that I've tried out a few different flavour combinations. Some of my favourites include coffee, chocolate, or a traditional Victoria sandwich with strawberry jam. You can mix things up further by adding an extra sponge layer, or even topping off your creation with a meringue and an icing drizzle.

Today, though, for the second time in a fortnight, I've made a lemon curd sandwich cake. For this variation, I used my standard sandwich sponge mix, which consists of 8oz butter, sugar and flour and four eggs - you can scale this up and down to your heart's content, to make bigger and smaller cakes. To this, I added the grated zest of two lemons.

If you fancy creating a chocolate version, you can substitute 2oz flour for 2oz cocoa powder, and for a coffee-infused cake, add a tablespoon of instant coffee to the mix.

Because lemon is probably my favourite cake flavour, I added an extra zestiness to one half of the cake with some citrus curd. I used this lemon and lime curd from Devon-based Hogs Bottom Garden Delights, which is absolutely delicious - highly recommended!

To counter the sharpness of the lemon and avoid a citrus overload, I spread the second half with vanilla butter cream. My fail-safe butter cream method is use twice as much icing sugar as butter; for the lemon sandwich, I used 4oz of icing sugar to 2oz butter.

Spread your chosen fillings over your two cakes - jam and butter cream work perfectly together, as does a combination of butter cream flavours, such as chocolate and vanilla. And with summer coming up and Wimbledon around the corner, you could create a luxurious sandwich of fresh strawberries and whipped cream.

All that's left to do is quickly and carefully sandwich the two halves of your sponge together. I'd recommend lifting them both off the cooling rack to do this, rather than dropping one half from a great height onto the other!

And there you have it: a complete sandwich cake. They're easy to bake and they're even easier to personalise. Once you find your favourite combination of flavours and fillings, this will definitely be your go-to sponge. And if it takes you a while to find the perfect match, I'm certain that you'll enjoy trying and tasting.

Just a quickie - testing Betty Crocker's cake mix

I've not been able to do all that much baking since going back to uni, what with essays to write, translations to do and so on, but I've been making a few cakes and biscuits here and there when I can. A few weeks ago, when my parents came up to visit and they brought up some lovely treats for us, including this cake mix, which I got in my goodie bag at The Cake and Bake Show at Earl's Court in September. Now, I must admit that I've been a bit of a cake snob in the past, so I would rather make cakes from scratch than use a box mix. But I thought that I'd give this one a go and see what happened.

At the show in London, we tried some very lovely salted caramel cupcakes at the Sainsbury's stall, which were made from a ready mix, so I was in fact quite looking forward to how Betty Crocker's version would measure up.

The kit comes with a bag of vanilla cake mix - presumably including sugar, flour, baking powder and flavouring - a bag of vanilla icing sugar, a sachet of white chocolate chips for decoration and some cupcake cases. All that I needed to do was add oil, water and two eggs for the cakes and butter and water for the icing. Easy peasy!

Using the cake mix certainly saved time on measuring things out and it made a nice, smooth mixture. It had quite a strong vanilla flavour, but it wasn't overpowering at all after baking.

I ended up with a batch of nine good-sized buns - the sponge seemed to rise nicely and the kitchen really smelt lovely! All that remained to do was mix up the pink icing sugar with butter and water and ice them.

The icing wasn't as bright pink as was shown on the box, but that was rather a neon shade and perhaps not very appetising! I ended up with a more delicate pink shade with a very strong vanilla flavour, much stronger than the cake; but together, thankfully, the two flavours mixed well. I topped the cakes with the chocolate chips and served them to a peckish little sister and boyfriend, who had been hovering ready to test the finished article.

In the end, we agreed that they did still taste a little 'shop-bought' - there's definitely some sort of homemade taste that boxed mixes can't replicate exactly, but what it is, I'm not certain. But overall, Betty Crocker's cakes turned out well and I was quite impressed. The sponge was very light and actually they were quite moreish. All nine seemed to disappear quite swiftly!

My mum and sister have been testing more of Betty Crocker's and Sainsbury's cake mix ranges at home, apparently with great success. I think that, if I were to try more mixes, the Sainsbury's salted caramel would be the top of my list, or perhaps the red velvet ones. 

In any case, I must definitely go and peruse the shelves in the homebaking aisle soon - university is starting to give me cake withdrawal! But Christmas is on its way and there should be plenty more baking opportunities of the festive variety in the works...