Super Special Strawbs

Hi there Sunshine,

So it was the Wimbledon Men’s final yesterday. Did you know that? Pretty sure you didn’t, and if you did you most definitely didn’t care. Well...all you really need to know is that they played bat and ball, one man won and he ate some grass. Yep that’s right, actual grass. In honour of said sporting event, and of the fact that here in bonny Scotland we’ve had two consecutive days of proper sunshiney summer which feels like some sort of miracle, I thought we should get our strawberry hats on.

Now I usually don’t consider myself the biggest strawb fan, but that is because, more often than not, they are sooo disappointing. I know there are delish tasting strawbs in the world, so when I see them looking all shiney and pimpley, I buy them thinking ‘maybe these will be the ONES’...but year after year they prove hard and watery and convince me that those that partake in annual strawb worship are deluded. But this year my faith was restored by THE MOST strawberryish strawberries ever. I found them at a little food festival in a little town harbour down the road; the same town in which they were grown. 

They’re deliciousness mean that I will continue to buy boring tasting strawberries for the next 5 years or however long it takes me to find the next batch of the real thing. The food festival berries were too amazing tasting to do anything with other than just munch, sitting in the sun on the harbour wall looking out to sea, and if you find similarly fabulous berries I would suggest a similar tactic, as well as you running to the post office to send me some immediately. But if not, why don’t you make this easy peasy pud, which means you can eat rubbish tasting strawbs in a way that disguises they’re rubbishness, I hope you do...With Love and Cake.

Strawberry Shortcake

Inspired by Delia

A few notes:

·         You could use shop bought shortbread biscuits, which would mean you could whip the whole thing up in a matter of moments.

·         My fellow pudding eater said he would have preferred to have missed out the puree part, but I liked it, so include it or not depending on what you fancy.

Makes enough for 4

You will need

A baking sheet

For the biscuits...

75g softened butter

30g icing sugar

100g plain flour

55g ground almonds

For the purée...

110g strawberries, hulled and chopped

2 tsp caster sugar

For the filling...

225g strawberries, hulled and quartered

300ml double cream

A drop on vanilla extract

·         First make the biscuits, starting by lining the baking tray with parchment paper and preheating the oven to 180°c.

·         Now, in a bowl, cream the butter and sugar together with a wooden spoon until light and fluffy, then work in the flour and almonds. It may look a bit impossible at first but just keep going, it’ll all come together eventually.

·         Mix to a stiff dough, then rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.

·         Meanwhile, sprinkle the strawberries for the purée with the sugar and set aside. You can do this straight into the blender to save washing up.

·         After that, roll out the dough to about half a cm thick and cut out some rounds using a 9cm cutter or an upturned mug of a similar size. Keep gathering up the excess, rolling out and cutting until all the dough is used up and you have at least 8 rounds.

·         Arrange the biscuits on the baking tray, prick each one with a fork a few times and bake for around 10 minutes, until they just start to go golden

·         Leave them to cool on the baking tray first; for around 10 minutes, before moving onto a wire rack to cool completely.

·         Next job...blend the sugar covered strawberries from earlier to a purée, as lumpy or smooth as you like.

·         Now for the filling, whip the cream until it is airy and pillowy but not set too firm. Then fold in the strawberries and vanilla.

·         To assemble the pud, set a biscuit in the middle of each plate, top with some creamy strawbs, followed by some puréed strabs. Finish off with another biscuit and if you’re feeling fancy, top with another halved berry with the green part left on and dust with icing sugar. Yumyum.

Oranges and Lemons

Dear Little Sis,

I’m not usually one to get sucked in by fancy labels and shiny bottles when it comes to food shopping, I mean I love them and lust after them but will rarely spend extra pennies on something just because of what you take it home in. So usually a packet (yes packet, cardboard AND plastic!) of ‘Lemons with Leaves’ would have made me wishwishWISH I lived in Tuscany and could buy such things from a wrinkly old lady in the sun, and then scoff at the silly people that would buy such things in ASDA in Scotland. But everything changes when I see that little yellow ‘reduced’ sticker which tells me that buying said lemons will be cheaper than buying normal ones. I simply had to save the scoffing for another day and allow myself to be whisked away to sunny shores and cliff top lemon groves.

So when life gives you lemons...make Oranges and Lemons Battenberg Cake. That’s how the saying goes right? This cake looks like she’s the product of many hours of pampering and preening. But I promise she’s much more low maintenance than she appears; easy peasy lemon squeezy you could say. She is also light as a feather and would be perfect served with your favourite sugary tea and chats with friends or perhaps take her with you on a picnic, I can imagine her basking in the sun on a warm rug. Enjoy...With Love and Cake.

Oranges and Lemons Battenberg Cake

A few notes: 

•  Battenburg or Battenberg? Who’s to say.
• I made the lemon curd as I was in full on lemon-mode, but you could just as well use bought stuff or any sort of jam you fancy, ooo or even marmalade, now there’s an idea.
•   If you don’t fancy using marzipan (why? It’s amazing) then you could use shop-bought white icing. You could even paint it yellow with some colouring.

Makes one large cake

You will need...

1 small rectangle pan

150g softened butter

150g granulated or caster sugar

150g plain flour

3 eggs

2 tsp baking powder

2 lemons

2 oranges

2 tsp orange colouring

1 jar lemon curd

400-ish g of ready-rolled marzipan

·         -Preheat the oven to 180°.

·         -Line a rectangle pan (I used one measuring 29x18cm) with parchment paper, making a fold that runs along the centre so the pan is split into 2 sections, as above.

·         -Beat the butter, sugar and flour together until light and creamy. It may take a while to come together but it’ll get there eventually.

·        - Beat in the eggs, one at a time followed by the baking powder.

·         -Transfer half the mixture into another bowl.

·         -Into one half of the mixture fold the zest of both lemons and the juice of just one and into the other half fold the zest of both oranges, the juice of just one as well as the orange colouring.

·         -Gently pour the cake mixtures into each side of the prepared tin and bake for 25-30 minutes.

·         -Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.

·         -When it’s time to assemble the cake, lay one sponge on top of the other and trim so both rectangles are the same size and then slice down the middle to make 4 skinnier rectangles.

·         -Place the marzipan on a flat surface dusted with icing sugar and spread over a layer of lemon curd.

·         -Lay an one rectangle in the middle of the lemon curd and brush the 3 exposed sides with more curd.

·         -Lay a rectangle of the opposite colour snuggled next to it and brush with more curd.

·         Do the same with the remaining rectangles on top of those on the marzipan, making sure the lemon sponge is on top of the orange sponge and vice versa.

·         -Wrap the marzipan tightly around the sponge and trim the edges and seam neatly.

·         Press the seam together and turn the cake over so the join of marzipan is underneath.

·         -Stand back, feel proud and eat cake.

...With Love and Cake.

I love to cook and eat and eat and cook and she...well, not so much, though she is extremely partial to a sweet cup of tea and several biscuits. She does NOT like it when I tell her what to do, but I taught her how to make risotto once, which seems to have stuck.  These are my kitchen based imaginings from me to her and anyone else who cares to read them...with love and cake.