TEA BREAD

Tea bread sliced and buttered  is delicious and economical for tea time and  for packed lunches .Good with a cup of coffee too.



                                                                                                

 TEA BREAD 

375 ml (3/4  pint) cold tea saved from the tea pot.
350 grams mixed dried fruit
175 grams soft brown sugar
250grams self-raising flour
1 beaten egg

Method 

1. Put the tea,sugar, and dried fruit into a bowl and leave to soak for at least 1 hour ,preferably overnight.
2. Preheat the oven to 180C,Gas 4 ,
3. Line a 1kg loaf tin or 8 inch cake tin
4. Sieve the flour into the fruit mixture ,add the egg and beat well.
5. Put the mixture into the loaf tin  and bake for 1 to 1 1/2 hours until golden and firm and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean 
6. Leave in the tin for 5 minutes then turn out and cool on a wire rack
7.  When cold slice thickly and serve buttered

MOCHA CAKE USING A CAKE MIX TO CHEAT (a little)

 There are some excellent cake mixes on the market, take advantage of them

                                                MOCHA CAKE

                                                                   

Mocha is a delicious combination of chocolate and coffee.This method uses a cake mix topped with a mocha chocolate icing.

I packet Betty Crocker  Devils Food cake mix

3 teaspoons instant coffee

water, eggs and oil as described on the packet

for the frosting

5 tablespoons Apricot jam -slightly warm

150 grams dark chocolate (e.g. Bournville)

4 tablespoons black coffee

150 grams  sieved icing sugar

method

1.  Line 2x  8 or 9 inch cake tins
2.  Add the instant coffee to the water needed for the cake mix
3.  Follow the instructions on the packet ,leave the cakes to become cold  before attempting the frosting
4. The Frosting
5. Fill the 2 halves of the cake with most of apricot jam and sandwich them together.
6. Brush the remaining apricot jam over the top of the cake
   
7. Put the chocolate squares and coffee into a basin over a pan of hot water until the chocolate has melted then beat in the icing sugar
8. Pour the frosting over the cake and smooth with a round bladed knife dipped in hot water.Work quickly .

                     Allow to set for at least 1 hour before serving
       Good enough for a party dessert when served with thick cream .This cake can also be made as a tray bake-- omit the apricot jam filling.

CHOCOLATE CAKE-very easy

Lemon Drizzle Cake

 Requests for something to take to end of term school parties,picnics, church garden parties and bake sales have come in thick and fast this week.

         Here is an easy recipe for  a popular cake. Cakes do not have to be smothered with fancy frosting and icing which takes time, melts and squashes when travelling and adds sugar .

A stock of cake tin liners saves a lot of hassle and avoids the annoyance of cakes sticking in the tin. Sainburys and Lakeland have good stocksof these.The round ones can be cut down to fit in shallow sandwich cake tins.

                                                                             

                                                 Lemon Drizzle Cake

                                                                               

                                                                                                           

                     For The Cake

                75 g softened butter

                125g caster sugar

                150g self raising flour

                1 tsp baking powder

                2 medium eggs

                1 tablespoon lemon curd.

                 2  and 1/2  tablespoons milk

                 For The Drizzle

                     finely grated rind and juice of 1 large lemon

                     2 tablespoons granulated sugar

                                 

                 Method

1.  Heat the oven to 180 C
2.  Line a 1kg loaf tin.                  
3.  Beat the cake ingredients together until thoroughly combined 
4.  Pour into the prepared loaf tin and bake for 40-45 minutes .                               
5.  The cake should be firm to touch and a skewer inserted into the centre should come out clean           
6.  While the cake bakes make the drizzle  .
7.  Mix the juice, rind and sugar together
8.  Pour the drizzle over the cake while it is still very hot from the oven ,this will form a delicious lemon  crust  and moisten the  cake ,                  
9. Leave to cool completely before serving                    

                     

                  

                 

Cambridge Summer

Summer is a great time to visit Cambridge. There are so many  wonderful places to visit.A good place to relax in the evening is Quayside ride on a punt and then visit the nearby bars and restaurants.

Grandma's Weekend Supermarket Buys from Aldi and Ocado

As a professional home economist I am always looking for ways to keep the  shopping bills down without compromising quality.

I save on cleaning materials by a big shop of household cleaning products from Aldi. They all work well ,I cannot afford to ignore how much cheaper they are than branded products from other supermarkets.


                                                                        

The disadvantage of shopping here is having to visit the store and lug heavy stuff home.

Ocado delivery service is one I frequently use ,always worth looking out for special offers, this week they have a good offer lamb shanks , not the cheapest dish but a delicious ,easy supper for the bank holiday weekend.Serve with jacket potatoes and frozen peas. You need one per person.

FRUIT CAKE- very easy method

I now make all my rich fruit cakes this way  avoiding the awful creaming process and worrying about curdling eggs or the mixture being too dry.

It can be  made in advance and allowed to mature in an airtight container or is very good made last minute if you have run out of time. This a delicious cake for Christmas or Thanksgiving, one you can cut and come again.

I buy small bottles of orange oil, Sainsburys  have it ,it gives a lovely,intense aromatic flavour to any fruit cake and cuts out having to grate oranges.

I  keep a stock of ready shaped parchment cake tin liners available from Lakeland or Sainsburys ,I line the cake tin with 2 together ,no more cutting up parchment paper and trying to get it to fit. Life is too short.

Recipe-Boiled Fruit Cake

• 1 kg mixed dried fruit--currants, raisins, sultanas, mixed peel, glace cherries, chopped dried apricots, (whatever fruit you like as long as it adds up to I kilogram)
• 250 g.butter
• 275g. soft dark sugar
• 250 ml.port or sherry (plus extra for painting on top)
• 60 ml water
• 2tsp orange oil (zest of 2 oranges)
• 4 eggs well beaten
• 225g plain flour
• 75g self raising flour
• 2 tsp mixed spice
• 165 g ground almonds

Method

1. Preheat the oven,to 150C or130C fan
2. Grease and line a deep 8 inch cake tin
3. Place fruit, sugar, water,butter sherry/port and orange into a large saucepan. Heat gently, stir gently with a wooden spoon until the butter has melted and then bring the mixture up to the boil for 4 minutes. 
4. Remove the pan from the heat and leave until it is cool enough to  put you hand on the side of the pan-- this will take about 15 minutes.Take care
5. Beat the eggs into the cooled mixture and then fold in the dry ingredients.
6. Spoon into the prepared tin and bake for 3 hours.I put some foil over the top half way through to prevent the top from becoming too dark
7. Remove from the oven and paint with extra sherry/port.
8. Cool the cake in the tinthen remove the cake from the tin and finish cooling
9. Store until needed wrapped in foil in an airtight tin
10. The cake is delicious as it is but it may be decorated with traditional marzipan and icing
11. I prefer to finish the cake by brushing it with warmed apricot jam , crystallized fruit and nuts on the top and then finish with more warmed apricot jam brushed over that.





Mixing the ingredients in a large saucepan



Baked and cold.

Finishing the cake.

The Crown and Netflix

The weather is cold and damp ,this is the time of year to stay at home, catch up with some TV programmes and start some baking for Christmas time.

I have signed up for Netflix and  been totally absorbed by the series The Crown.The 1940s and 1950s of my childhood has been beautifully captured ,wonderful acting and exquisite attention to detail in the costumes and settings.
A moving performance of the farewell of King George VI to Princess Elizabeth before his sudden death took me right back to the day at school in 1952 when I was 10 years old and teacher came into the class room and announced his death. Our  nice class teacher burst into tears and we were sent home for the afternoon.
As children we were shocked to see how vulnerable an adult could be.


                                                                       

WINDOWS 10 upgrade disaster

 Ignore those nagging ads to upgrade to windows 10 that keep appearing on your screen.I have been unable to use my PC for a week since attempting this upgrade and have had to ask for professional help to repair the damage.

DO NOT  DOWNLOAD WINDOWS 10


                                                                             

The Scream--- E.Munch

Upgrading to Windows 10 and other gripes

Windows 10

 I have been constantly nagged by messages on my screen to upgrade to Windows 10. I  have spent      3 days trying to do this , the upgrade never gets beyond 97% even though I have left the computer        on for more than 15 hours.

Sony TV

2. Last January we bought a  smart Sony TV costing £700.Now there are problems with no sound      when it is turned on.It seems that we and hundreds of others have been affected by some faulty software, and we wait on Sony's pleasure to supply a solution to having to spend 30 minutes turning the set on and off to restore the sound.Do not buy a Sony TV.

Vodaphone

3.Where is this new cell phone I ordered from Vodaphone last week ?I have not received their advisory email .


Amazon

4. Still waiting for the book I ordered  from Amazon, delivery date quoted 21 July.this probably the fault of Royal Mail.



These companies take billions from us but treat us like grovelling peasants in their Game of Thrones.