Week 28 - Raspberry Bakewell Cake

Quote from website -  This simple almondy cake is a great way of using up pick-your-own raspberries

Faff Factor = 9

Bake = 9

Keeping Up Appearances = 9

Total score = 27/30

I think I've just found my second favourite bake of the challenge.  If you love a good Cherry Bakewell Tart you've just got to try this recipe.  I stumbled upon this one from The Good Food website whilst looking for raspberry recipes and you can find the recipe here. 

I managed to get this cake weighed and into the oven within 15 minutes as it used the all in one method, something that I have never tried before and to be honest it felt a little lazy way to bake a cake but who's complaining when it gives you this great result. 

I was also getting a little concerned as the mixture was very very thick and I went into a little panic so added a tablespoon of milk which seemed to help a little but as the method suggests it's easier to use your hands to spread the mixture when levelling in the tin, yes it is that thick!

I substituted the vanilla essence for almond essence and I also used the new liquid stork, which speeded up the process, and which I feel suited this recipe instead of butter. 

When I bake this cake again (yes it's that good) one other thing I will do next time will be to add more raspberries so it has a nice even layer in the middle.  A good lesson learned this week :-)

I also think this cake would make a welcome addition to the tea table on a winter's afternoon with custard,  oooh just thinking about that made my mouth water :-)

Bye for now

Lynetta Xx

 

The not so perfect Cream Tea.

Last Saturday I was a very lucky girl and was invited out to a Cream Tea at Pinewood Nurseries in Stoke Poges.  Both myself and Sarah put on our posh frocks and off we went happily thinking of the sandwiches and cakes we were about to eat.

On arriving we realised that all was not as seemed from the advert.  Giving benefit of the doubt we went into the nursery, through to the conservatory and took our seat.  The young assistants really could not cope with the small amount of people wanting to partake in some tea and cakes and after 15 minutes came to take our order. 

Oh dear, what a shock we got when asked what kind of ploughmans we wanted, ham or cheese?  When we finally received the food I can honestly say the only enjoyable thing on the plate was the fresh bread.  After another 10 minutes I could wait no longer as we had not been given any drinks so had to ask for our tea which was given in a teapot that dripped and leaked whilst pouring.  Then to top it all off when we were finally served our scones they were only half baked and not cooked inside.

So I did something I have never done before, we got up and left and politely informed the staff we were not satisfied.  They were very apologetic and made their excuses even offering us 2 free drinks on our next visit (as if we would travel that far again for free drinks) but in all honesty looking at the other side of the coin I feel they probably have taken on more than they are capable of and do hope they can sort it out before business takes a downwards turn.

Returning to the car we started our journey home but both myself and Sarah really needed our sugar rush with a decent cup of tea.  Not knowing the area very well we decided to stop off in Sainsbury's to get a take away tea and a most delicious Raspberry and Cream turnover and to find a park to have our afternoon tea.  Deary me, even that was a task and a half so we ended up eating in the car.

What an adventure for an Afternoon Tea.  I think I may have to organise my own to make up for our very disappointing afternoon.

TTFN

Lynetta Xx

Teenagers!

For the life of me I cannot remember sleeping in later than 9:00am during the summer holidays when I was a teenager.  If you look closely at the photo you will find Jack fast asleep at 10:30am.

I vowed when Jack was a baby that I would go into his room at 7:30am every morning and wake him up as he was a very early riser and for his first 4 years of his life he woke up at 5:30am, every morning! 

BUT, I just cannot do it.  You see Jack is suffering from the Teenage Hormone syndrome where he needs to reserve all his energy just to function for at least 9 hours a day.  I have been reading that during the ages of 13-16 it's a tough life for boys and their hormones so I've cut him some slack and I'll let him sleep, but only until 10:45am then he is getting out of that bed, washed dressed and fed.

I'm a thoughtful and considerate mum don't you think?

Have a lovely Thursday.

Lynetta Xx

Olympic Games

It's here, its finally here.  We spent Friday evening watching the absolutley, fantastic, jaw dropping, high tech, spectactular Olympic opening ceremony.

Not wanting to bore  you all with a very long post about the ceremony these links are more detailed and will serve as a reminder for me of all the details here, how they made those magic moments here and only 8 hours from when it all finished how our fantastic hard working Queen went back to the Olympic Village for a guided tour.

If only I knew they would be doing this I would of volunteered in a blink of an eye.  A missed opportunity I think.

During the evening I logged on to Facebook to ask my overseas friends how they enjoyed the events but this article sums it up all nicely - here.

We have enjoyed the first few days of events and already with Lizzie Armitstead winning a Silver Medal in the ladies cycling which has been my favourite so far we are all looking forward to the track and field events which start at the weekend.

Bring it On......

Lynetta Xx

Summer holiday - Week 1

I will be posting a weekly log of my life/adventures/boring bits over the 6 week holiday as a quick record to look back on as I will need to jog my memory as I have an urge to make a scrapbook, yikes not done that for a while!

Here goes for week 1

• Monday - Bike hunting for Walter (will explain in another post)
• Tuesday - Evening bike ride stopping off for a quick half pint then onto park for chips and cricket
• Wednesday - Went to numerous garages to look for a new car
• Thursday - Ian's birthday. Went for a lovely meal and then to cinema to see Dark Knight Rises
• Friday - Shopping and quiet day relaxing around the house
• Saturday - Afternoon Tea with Sarah at a diobolical garden centre (post to follow)
• Sunday - Gardening, watching Olympics and then onto a neighbourly Bar-B-Q

My 6 week Summer holiday has got off to a nice steady start and considering we are not taking a holiday this year I need to make sure I 'do' a few things away from the home.  I am planning a few trips on Lilibet and hopefully weather permitting the first one will be this weekend.

Have a happy Tuesday.  Be back soon

Lynetta Xx

Week 27 - Pavlova

Quote from book -  Originally from Australia this is the perfect summer dessert with lashings

of whipped fresh cream and berries or fruits.  I love the rustic look of it, so don't try too hard

to make it look perfect. - Home Bake Eric Lanlard.

Faff Factor = 6

Bake = 7

Keeping Up Appearances = 8

Total score = 21/30

Phew, I finally managed to make a Pavlova.  I have tried to make this dessert at least 3 times before using different recipes but finally had success with Eric Lanlard, thank you Eric :-)  And thank you too for giving me permission to not produce a perfect looking dessert.

First off the negative - having Ken on speed #5 for 15 minutes whisking the egg whites was a little noisy and faffing about waiting for the meringue to cool before I could construct was nail biting as I didn't know how the middle would turn out.

Now the positives - happy that it rose a little and didn't crack too much, very happy with the middle as it was all soft and gooey just as we like it and very very happy it tasted divine.

It didn't last very long too!

I am so glad I persevered and made this pudding and I suppose you are going to ask if I will make this again (especially Jack as it is one of his favourite desserts and previously it's ended up an Eton Mess as I didn't want to waste the ingredients) well the answer to this is yes, I would give it another go just to see it was not a fluke that I managed to make a Pavlova, but that will probably not be until I get invited to another Bar-B-Q where I have to supply a dessert.  Do I hear any offers?

Off to watch the Olympics for a bit :-)

Toot Toot

Lynetta Xx

 

 

Happy Birthday Old Man!......

It was Ian's birthday on Thursday, reaching the grand old age of 44 - mind you I shouldn't say anything as I am a little bit (a lot a bit) older. 

I left the day completely free and leaving any decisions and plans up to Ian on what he would like to do. Oh dear, I don't think I will do that again at one point we were going to go to Ikea!  Ian struggled to decide on what he wanted to do and in the end we went out to dinner and to the cinema to watch The Dark Knight Rises, a great film and highly recommend you to watch it.

Even down to the cake he struggled to make a decision and finally decided he wanted me to bake a Victoria Sponge, nothing fancy and no chocolate! However, me being me I could not leave it at that and decided to make mini sponges with fresh strawberries and cream, delicious if I say so myself.

Here's my boys waiting to go into the film.  Love you both :-)

and Happy Birthday once again :-)

TTFN

Lynetta

Xx