seventy-seven

exhale

We are well and truly in holiday mode now.   The end of term was to be honest completely exhausting.  This was the first year I'd had two schools worth of sports day, concerts, parents evenings and the rest.  Both schools seemed to have lots going on at the end of term and that combined with being ill made it all very hard work.   I usually try to make something simple and handmade for the teachers but this year it simply wasn't possible.  But every cloud has a silver lining and it meant that I found these beautiful mugs from a great charity called ARTHOUSE Meath.

I did manage at least to make personalized cards for the teachers.  A good lesson not to leave things to the last minute.  

Do teachers drink green tea?   By the end of term some of them look in need of something a little stronger. 

  

madeira cake

 

Madeira cake was always a favourite of my mum's when we were little.  As children we always preferred victoria sponge but I do now understand the simple pleasure of madeira cake.

 Preheat your oven to 170C/325F/gas mark 3, and prepare a 13 x 23cm (5x9 inches) loaf tin.

You will need:

240g / 8oz  soft unsalted butter

200g / 7oz golden caster sugar

3 free range eggs

200g / 7oz self raising flour

100g / 3½oz plain flour

zest (finely grated) and juice of 1 lemon

Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy.  Then sit in the lemon zest.   Beat the eggs in a separate bowl and add a little at a time to the butter and sugar.  Alternate with a spoonful of flour to stop the mixture curdling.  Gently stir in the remaining flour and then the lemon juice.   Pour the mixture into your prepared tin and bake in the oven for about 1 hour.  Allow the cake to cool in the tin before you turn it out.   

This is a good recipe to add to according to your tastes.  You can leave out the lemon and just have it as a rich butter cake, or swap the lemon zest and juice for orange.  Poppy seeds are alway a good match with lemon and my eldest daughter likes to leave out the lemon and add glace cherries.  I'd love to hear any other variations. 

back on form

I have been ill. A few weeks ago a small insect bite became a large swollen insect bite, then it became a completely swollen hand.  "Infected" pronounced the doctor "just take the antibiotics  - it's nothing to worry about unless the swelling goes past your wrist, but it won't".  It did.  I was in a pretty bad way.  But I'm now on the mend, back home which feels so good, and at last today back in the kitchen.  Which is a good thing because I have a large order for madeira cake*.  Should I post the recipe? Let me know.   

*I though it would be better to post a picture of a tasty madeira cake rather than my less than delightful, but now healing, hand. 

when all else fails ...

There are days when I just can't settle to what I am supposed to be doing and nights when I can't sleep and there is only one answer - bake.  I had become a little lazy just baking the things I know well.  Making things I could do in my sleep - if only I could sleep.  Well I have a large collection of cookbooks - I buy some myself and it seems like it's the default for family who don't know what else to get me for Christmas and birthdays -  and so it seemed like a good time to start using them all and figure out which ones to keep.  

 
 I love carrot cake but never made it at home until the cookbook sort out.  I've tried several recipes from different books and this is the one.  It's from Rachel Allen's book Bake but the recipe is generously supplied on her website.  There is only one thing I disagree with Rachel about in relation to this cake and it's that if you don't ice it then it's nice spread with butter - no no no!  I tried it iced and not and all who tried it agreed no icing and definitely no butter.

My sleeping problem is not about getting to sleep it about waking at 3 or 4 in the morning and not being able to get back to sleep - my family have become accustomed to waking to the smell of cake!