Start Partying

Time to put on the silly red white and blue clothes, cut the cakes,  stop arranging flowers and chill out until Wednesday.

Flowers for The Queen, Ely Cathedral

Diamond Jubilee Celebration Cake

 Fame at last.
 Have managed to get my cake in the best cakes line up in the Times diamond jubilee cake competition today-- hooray
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/


Diamond Jubilee Rose Cake

Recipe

Cake

225g (8 oz) self-raising flour
225g(8 oz ) butter
225g(8oz) caster sugar
2 level teaspoons baking powder
4 large eggs
2 rounded tablespoons cocoa mixed with 2 tablespoons boiling water
1 1/2 fluid oz red  food colouring

Filling and topping

 150 g (6 oz) butter
500g (1lb) icing sugar
2 tablespoons milk

Decorations

454 g white marzipan, food colourings, yellow sprinkles


Method

• Pre heat the oven,180c/160C Fan/Gas4
• Line 2 x 20 cm (8 inch) sandwich tins with baking parchment.
• Put all the cake ingredients into a bowl and beat using an electric mixer beat until everything is thoroughly mixed and creamy.
• Divide the mixture between the 2 tins. Smooth out.
• Bake for about 25 mins until firm to touch.
• Cool in the tins for 5 minutes then remove the parchment and cool the cakes on a wire rack.
• Divide the marzipan into 3 , colour as wanted with a few drops of food colouring ( about 3). Knead well and then roll out and use heart shaped and leaf cutters for the petals and leaves.
• Make the butter cream by beating all the ingredients together and when the cake is completely COLD use to sandwich the cake together and spread on the top and sides.
• Arrange the petals and leaves like a Tudor Rose ( see photo) on the top and more petals and leaves around the sides.
• This cake will keep well for several days in an airtight tin in a cool place.

For a speedy version omit the decoration and just use the butter cream. The red  cake is a great surprise when it is cut.

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Diamond Jubilee Party Recipes

Working my way through Mary Berry's Baking Bible.This is a useful book ,the tray bake recipes are practical for the home baker to make for events and parties. I made the banana loaf in about 10 minutes, a good way to use up over ripe bananas in the fruit bowl.

I will be making some of the recipes and  Duke of Cambridge Tart for sale at St Botolphs, Cambridge Refreshment day on Monday 7th May.Come and try them.Lakeland have disposable trays for tray bakes and some nice decorations for Jubilee cakes.

                                                  

Damien Hurst Exhibition

Went to see the Damien Hurst Exhibition at Tate Modern, London.I went round with 5 children ,they enjoyed it,a severed bleeding pig's head with accompanying maggots and flies is just the sort of thing 9 year old boys like.Not so sure about Grannies.

The accompanying literature says "Hurst presents cigarette butts lined along shelves of a cabinet as if they were natural history exhibits, extending his use of museological display techniques"

Ever heard the expression gobshite Damien?

Singapore- what is it like?

Several people have asked me what Singapore is like.

Think of an Asian Paris.A lovely city with wide avenues lined with exotic trees and flowers.Expensive shops , underground malls to protect you from the heat and rain, restaurants of every kind. A clean, well run city where nobody asks you for" spare change", vomits in the street or mugs you . A population of very hard working courteous people.

Yes, there are strict penalties for those who break the law but so what, it is a relief to walk around in a safe city , makes some of our western cities seem crude and out of control.

  

Shopping and Goodbye KL

This week has gone so fast.
The trip to Malacca was good, the driver was very nice and his car perfectly acceptable.
Yesterday was. our last day in KL.

We have done a lot of shopping, the goods are the same as in other stores around the world, e.g. Banana Republic, minus the purchase tax. and much cheaper. The exceptions to this are stingy old Top Shop and Marks and Spencer which charge the same as in the UK so they charge the UK VAT rate (20%) and fleece the customers. Avoid these shops .No bargains there.
The fake stuff is brilliant but check zips work and bargain for a discount.Petaling Street is the cheapest but the stuff is dodgy, could not believe people were buying optical stuff and electronics which were obvious fakes.

Flying Out

Going to Kuala Lumpur via Singapore tonight.13 hours flying time plus many more fannying around at the airports.
Hope I can get a shower at Singapore airport.
Weather forcast suggests it is still the rainy season.
Plan to do some fake ( sorry, inspired by) shopping in KL

Shoes and handbags are a good bet.

Diamond Jubilee Memorabilia

A lot of stuff is appearing in the shops, mostly tat.
Found this in Fortnum and Mason in Picadilly, London.
Quite a tasteful tin of biscuits  that plays God Save The Queen when you wind a key underneath the tin.Expensive at £12 , but a good excuse to visit F&M .
Worth a trip to look at the window displays.
Gorgeous Easter eggs.

                  
Try this link to see the Queen, Camilla and Kate at Fortnums     

  http://www.fortnumandmason.com/

Signs of Spring

The warm weather has brought the bulbs out over the weekend. These displays along the backs of Trinity College are always uplifting after the cold of winter.

Aconites and Crocus

                                                                               

Duke of Cambridge Tart and other Victorian Jubilee Recipes (5)

            
     The Duke of Cambridge and his Tart, Afternoon Tea and the Sinking Feeling

   Queen Victoria and Prince Albert  liked simple food.Their noon time lunches became increasingly meagre often consisting of a watery fish soup which was all that Queen Victoria's ladies in waiting  were offered. Anna ,Duchess of Bedford and lady-in -waiting complained that she suffered from  a "sinking feeling" by 4 pm and had a sneaky  pot of tea  and bread and butter in her dressing room .     
At home in Belvoir Castle the Duchess started a craze for tea parties sending out invitations for tea in the afternoon at 5 pm. This practice extended to London, was adopted by Queen Victoria and by 1855 some very formal tea parties were taking place.

Prince Albert died in 1861.Heartbroken, Victoria retreated to Osborne House and it was at this time that the famous Victoria Sandwich was named after her.    




Victoria Sandwich

Recipe

• 4 large eggs
• 225g (8 oz)caster sugar
• 225 g (8 oz)self raising flour
• 225g(8 oz)soft butter or margarine
• 2 tsp baking powder

for serving : good quality raspberry or apricot jam

                      butter cream or whipped double cream

For an outdoor party butter cream is safer

Method:

• Take the eggs and fat out of the fridge for at least an hour before you make the cake
• Heat the oven ,350 F,180C,Gas4
• Line the base of 2 x 8inch sandwich tins with silicon paper
• Put all the cake ingredients in to a large mixing bowl and use a hand mixer or Kenwood K beater  to beat everything to a soft creamy consistency that will drop off a spoon easily.
• Divide between the 2 tins
• Bake the cakes for 25 minutes
• When the cakes are light golden and firm to touch take them out a cool for a few minutes on a wire rack
• Run a blunt ended knife around the edge of the cakes to loosen them and turn out onto the rack, avoiding wire marks on the upper cake by turning it onto a tea towel first ,( this is not essential)
• When the cakes are completely cool assemble the cake on a plate with cream and jam.
• Finish with a dusting of caster sugar

Butter Cream

        3 oz butter

        6 oz icing sugar

        1 drop vanilla essence

        1 tablespoon milk

Method

Put all the ingredients into a medium sized bowl and beat well until all the ingredients are blended and creamy, use as wanted.

The Royal Family have continued the practice of holding tea parties in the gardens of Buckingham Palace.If you are lucky enough get invited this is a wonderful excuse for ladies to buy a lovely hat and  for gentlemen to wear morning dress.

Battenburg Cake is another Victorian favourite believed to have been made in honour of the wedding of Queen Victoria's granddaughter to Prince Louis of Battenburg in 1884.

                                                         Battenburg Cake

This is essentially a Victoria Sandwich mixture divided in 2, one half is coloured pink with some food colouring and the 2 halves  cooked in a an oblong cake tin with a thick fold of non-stick aluminium foil to divide the mixtures.When the cakes are cool cut and arrange the colours as shown using warm apricot jam to glue them in position them cover the whole thing in an oblong of rolled out marzipan large enough the wrap around the cake with the seam underneath.

This cake can be time consuming and tricky, there are many good commercial ones on the market, Marks and Spencer's version is a nice one.

The name Battenburg later became changed by the family to Mountbatten as they thought it sounded too German after 2 wars had been fought with Germany.

Prince Philip , husband to Queen Elizabeth 2nd is a member of this family .

The Duke of Cambridge  (1819-1904) and his tart

The Duke of Cambridge was a grandson of George 3rd.He joined the army at the age of 9 years and remained a professional soldier for most of his life.He was a florid man with a huge moustache and after Prince Albert's death often stood in to escort Queen Victoria and  help her entertain foreign dignitaries.The title of Duke of Cambridge has now been given to Prince William and his bride Kate Middleton is now the Duchess of Cambridge.

Duke of Cambridge Tart

                                                              

Recipe

4-6oz shortcrust or sweet pastry-

                              (Supermarkets like Sainsbury, Tesco, Waitrose sell good ready to use pastry)

Filling

3 oz butter

3 oz sugar

4 oz raisins (or chopped candied mixed peel)

2 os chopped glace cherries

2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons rum or brandy

grated lemon rind

Method

• Pre heat the oven 190C or Gas5, 375F
• Line a flan ring or pie dish with the pastry.Leave in a cool place while you make the filling
• Put the  raisins/peel  into a small pan with enough water to cover. Bring to the boil then drain.Cool them
• Put the raisins, cherries and lemon rind into the pastry case
• Melt the butter and sugar in a small pan, bring to the boil
• Remove from the heat and beat in the egg yolks and brandy
• Pour over the raisins and cherries
• Bake in the pre heated oven until the pastry is brown and the filling golden, about 25-30 mins
• Serve warm or cool with cream or icecream

    

Note

This recipe can be made into individual small tarts.