For the love of cake continued...

We demolished the Birthday cake. As always it took a lot less time than it took to make.





It was pretty yummy. The beauty of this fruit cake recipe is that it doesn't have to be made months in advance to mature. Here's the recipe if you fancy making it yourself:

350g plain flour
250g butter
350g soft brown sugar
40g whitefat
5 eggs
350g currants
350g sultanas
75g ground almonds
110g cherries
110g candied peel
Small tablespoon treacle
Brandy
¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda
¼ tsp nutmeg
¼ cinnamon

Rub in the fats to the flour and sugar. Add the fruits, spices, bicarb, treacle, almonds, eggs and brandy. Mix well.

Prepare a tin carefully with one or two layers of greaseproof paper inside the tin and brown paper or folded layers of tin foil ted round the outside and standing higher than the cake-tin top. Spoon in the mixture. Cover the top of the cake with a piece of tin foil for the first 3 half hours of cooking. Bake slowly at 140 degrees celcius for four and half hours, or until ready - the cake should look firm, and when a knife is inserted it should come out clean.

The Wonder of Wales

My family, Mum, Dad and brother have recently spent a week in Wales celebrating my Dad's 65th. The 6 of us stayed in a really comfortable cottage called Mayberry Cottage set high on the hillside in with views of the Black Mountain's over looking a village called Crickhowell. The views from the cottage were stunning and seemed to change every minute.

Breakfast is always somewhat of a feast when we all get together. Mum brought 5 different types of her own homemade marmalade!!!!

It meant that there was enough so we could spread it thickly onto fresh, soft white loaf from the local(ish) bakery.

Why does food always taste so much better on holiday?