Waking, baking and Sunday dinner making......

This has been the first weekend for about 4 weeks that I have not been racing around, sleeping in trenches or jet setting off to Dublin that I had a weekend to myself, so this weekend I decided that I had to make the most of it, especially Sunday.

Getting up at stupid o'clock to commute to Manchester every day there is somethine really magically in sleeping in.....and quite sad when you get excited about lying in till 8.00am, as it was I managed to sleep in till at least 8:45 :) but then what do you do with the unexpected day to yourself?

Well my Mother has a charidee cake sale tomorrow, so I offered to back something for her to sell. Whilst I love to cook I know that my food would never get onto Masterchief. So a simple bake for a Sunday afternoon.......scones!!!!! Pretty straight forward recipe, that will sit in a processor for a few minutes and then into the oven!

8oz         - self-raising flour
1tsp        - baking powder
1 1/2 oz  - soft butter
1oz         - caster sugar
1             - egg
1/4 pint   - milk

Mix flour, baking powder and butter, then add sugar and then egg, before mixing in the milk, roll out, cut out, wash with milk....bake.....simples tsk!

Having offered to bake for the charidee it was only fitting that being in the kitchen I stayed there to prepare Sunday lunch.

After a day in the kitchen I remember how much I love cooking, and how much (bank manager willing) I would love to open my own restaurant. Maybe I should get out of law now while I have the chance!

The rocky road to a Macmillan Coffee Morning!

I think I might have mentioned that the office is having a MacMillan Coffee Morning at the office tomorrow at which I have received the dubious honour of playing "trolley dolly" although I have refused the French Maid's outfit that The Girls in the office had picked out for me......(I really am not that upset. Not sure what an impression I would have made on my new bosses in a frilly little outfit!)

On the basis that there are currently about 100 members of staff in the office (although being a Friday not everyone will be in!) there has been something of a mad dash to produce or prepare cakes to be sold. Accordingly (and given that anything I was going to prepare would be after a two hour commute home!) I decided to go for something that is very easy, and which has always gone down really well in the past......Rocky Road!!!!!

In an effort to give me a little extra time this evening I kinda slinked off a little early, to catch my train an hour early......(another hour to actually spend time at home, not in bed asleep.....gotta be good!). I watched the weather get progressively worse throughout the day in Manchester, but by 4.20 this afternoon it did seem to have calmed down massively, and at worst there were a few spots of drizzle in the sky.....so imagine my delight on the approach to Howden station to be told by the conductor that lightning had struck the station and knocked out all the signals. Stuck outside Howden, advancing at a few metres at a time meant that I ended up home only a few minutes earlier that I would have done normally (.....although I dread to think what time I would have got home had I left at the normal time)

But once home it was time to start preparing......so here we go here is a really easy recipe that has never disappointed. You will need:

100g - unsalted butter
225g - plain chocolate
2tbsp - golden syrup
2tbsp - cocoa powder
2tbsp - caster sugar
100g - Maltesers
100g - milk and white chocolate chips
100g - mini marshmallows
225g - ginger biscuits or digestives
Icing sugar to dust

This is for double the quantity

Steps:

1. In  pan heat the butter, chocolate, golden syrup, caster sugar and cocoa powder and stir together with wooden spoon.

2.             Once melted together, leave to cool for 10 minutes.

3. In a large bowl mix together all the other ingredients, including the biscuits crumbled up into mixed sized pieces.

4.           Bind the other ingredients with the melted chocolate sauce.

6.     Pour the mixture into a 20cm square cake tin and leave to set in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours (or overnight if possible)

7.       Cut into pieces and dust with icing sugar.

Serve and enjoy.....with a nice cuppa tea!










Hope that you enjoy this recipe and the fun of making it!

When life gives you lemons......................

..........................make lemon drizzle cake!

At low points in my life I have found great enjoyment and relaxation in baking. There doesn't need to be a special occasion, and whilst my Grandmother was ill and whilst going through the stresses of handing my notice in and changing jobs it was almost a weekly thing for me to take freshly baked cakes into the office (it's rarely a case that I would actually eat the cakes, but the fun is in the making, and the enjoyment that other people gain from them.)

Now that the nightmare of the flat is almost over (although my expectations that the agreement that the remaining items would be cleared was somewhat optimistic) and in preparation for a visit to some good friends this weekend I have decided to bring out of the cupboard one of my favourite recipes.

Ingredients:

175g softened butter

175g caster sugar

3 large eggs

175g self-raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

Grated rind of one unwaxed lemon

pinch of salt

For drizzle:

125g granulated sugar

60ml lemon juice

Recipe:

1. Line the base of a greased 18cm round cake tin with a piece greaseproof paper.

2. Place all the ingredients into a bowl and beat with a wooden spoon (or for an even easier option place in a mixer for one minute - or just until the mixture is smooth!)

3. Pour the mixture into the tin and smooth and bake in the middle of a preheated oved (at 180°C ) for 45 - 50 minutes. The cake should be well risen and golden and can be tested by inserting a skewer into the centre, which should come out clean.

4. Let the cake cool in the tin for about 5 minutes and the run a knife around the edge before turning out onto a wire rack to cool.

5. After a few minutes prick the top of the cake with a skewer (carefully as the cake is likely to still be quite hot). Combine the drizzle mixture and poor over the top of the cake.

6. Enjoy!