guest chef - Jacob

For the school summer fayre Jacob made a cake and a fantastic cake it was too! In fact it was many cakes, not just one. He didn't win the competition but we all thought his cake was great!!!!!

Jacob's Hungry Caterpillar Cake

Each cake could be sold seperately to make a little more money for the school PTA Fund

And he even made one for us to eat a home which was devoured as quickly as you could say 'anyone for cake?'   And that is why I have my own bouyancy aid attached permenantly to my middle area!

And the cake master at work

Good for his mathematic skills too!

rain, rain go away

Our weather system seems to have changed over the years, we now have wet and miserable summers but we wait in anticipation from Christmas to June in the hope of a lovely summer. The last 4 years haven't seen a lovely summer here in Manchester, England. They have all been very wet, very miserable.

What's it like where you live?

I know from my younger brother that Vancouver, Canada is quite similar to here. Although when he skyped yesterday morning (in Canada, evening here in UK) it was looking rather sunny as he sat on his veranda and I sat here in my kitchen, lashing rain hitting the windows.

But.... cake making was the order of the day and as the school fair is next Saturday and is holding a cake making competition, my son decided to try his hand at making some cakes and trying out the new nozzles on the icing bag.

He has an idea in mind which means cooking lots of little iced fairy cakes along with a fully iced victoria sponge. He will put the two together to make a special cake but he won't let me put it on the blog until next week.  He did all the measuring, mixing and baking by himself. I did lend a hand when it came to putting on a big sheet of icing sugar over the lovely victoria sponge with almond butter cream and jam (I can't wait to get my gnashers into it, it looks gorgeous). He was very professional in the way he was smoothing the icing down to hug the shape of the sponge. Perhaps I have a little Eric Lanlard on my hands!
                                                                  

                                                                       Hard at work



Experiments with the new icing nozzles

And that is all I can show you for now

I'll post his competition entry next week

boo hoo to cleaning

Why is it I have just spent 3 and a half hours cleaning and the place looks no different!!!!

At least it's a good workout, I must have lost about a stone simpy through sweating alone.

And why are all those ladies smiling, me thinks they have other things on their minds. (like the great big cake they will eat when all the work is done, reminds me it's lunchtime).

Or maybe they are smiling 'cos they got a lovely Cath Kidston syle apron like mine...

With an apron like this you have to smile when cleaning! Although I can't imagine my husband will be as impressed.

happy father's day

To all Dad's young and old - Happy Father's Day

Pancakes for Jacob's Dad today

Whisk together 110g/4oz of sifted flour and 2 eggs, add a pinch of salt and then 10fl oz of milk

Fry in a hot frying pan with a little butter, flip when edges start to brown

Add some lovely filling, strawberries and maple syrup went down very well!

And enjoy





glamping is for me

Glamping, I'm not ashamed to admit, is for me!

Before I went in April a friend said to me, 'it's not real camping is it'.  After our recent experience, the second one I've had of glamping, all I can say is - You camp your way and I'll glamp mine.

We had rainy days, glimpses of sunshine, marshmallows round the camp fire, chatting all night, baggy eyes in the morning, lazy days, more lazy days, visits to the farm animals, sleeping in more clothes than worn in a week, rounders on the fields, bacon sandwiches........ oh the list is endless.

This is the type of tent you are provided with when Glamping

(First 2 Photos borrowed from the Feather Down Farm website)

www.featherdown.co.uk

Wide open fields

Feeding the goats

Dinner by candlelight

Finding wildlife, and putting it back again (we know these are protected so we took real care)

Good old fashioned 'make up your own entertainment'

And beautiful sunsets

oh, forgot to mention - wood burning stove on the wooden decked flooring, 3 separate bedrooms with wooden based beds, leather sofa, rolled topped bath with shower and ...... a kitchen sink.

With friends, friends children and no need to rush Glamping is a treat and a half.

Recipe for French Apple cake

Hello,

here it is for any who have looked in but not found the recipe.

cake
450g cooking apples, cored and sliced
115g self-raising flour
5ml/1tsp baking powder
115g caster sugar
90ml milk
50g butter, melted
2 eggs
50g/1tsp fresh nutmeg, grated

topping
75g butter, softended or sunflower margarine
115g caster sugar
5ml/1tsp vanilla essence
icing sugar, to dust
1 egg

method
Preheat the oven to 160 degrees/325F/Gas 3
Grease and line 9in round cake tin

Put all the cake ingredients into a bowl or food processor and beat to a smooth batter

Slice the apples and lay in the tin covering the bottom completely

Pour the batter over the apples in the tin, level the top then bake for 40-45 mins until lightly golden

Near to the end of cooking cream the topping ingredients together, remove the cake when time is up and pour the topping over the top and return to oven for 20-25mins until golden brown

Cool the cake in the tin, then turn it out and dust lightly with icing sugar

This is a delicious cake and really lovely with icecream or single cream poured over.

Enjoy x

hub's pud - cherry clafoutis

A pud the hub tried out and we all ate far too much. The cherry stoner I got him for Christmas came in very handy!

This is a Gary Rhodes recipe, easy and quick to make (and hardly any mess in the kitchen to clean up afterwards).

The vanilla cream makes this extra lovely but I wouldn't have minded a big spoon of ice cream too.

Ingredients


For the clafoutis
2 free-range eggs
75g/2¾oz caster sugar, plus extra for dusting
40g/1½oz plain flour
100ml/3½fl oz double cream or crème fraîche
100ml/3½fl oz milk
butter, for greasing
225g/8oz cherries, stoned


For the cream
150ml/5fl oz double cream
25g/1oz icing or caster sugar
seeds from 1 vanilla pod

Method


1.For the clafoutis, preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Place the eggs and sugar in a large bowl and whisk together. Sift over the flour and whisk well then stir in cream or crème fraîche and milk. Leave to rest for 10 minutes.

2.Lightly butter a large baking dish and sprinkle with sugar to coat. Scatter the cherries in the dish and gently pour over the clafoutis batter. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the batter is just firm to the touch. If it is too soft in the centre, bake for a further five minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool a little before serving.

3.Whip together the cream, sugar and vanilla seeds to soft peaks and spoon over the clafoutis.