The Proof Is Always In The Eating...

I think it worked - the One Of Your Five Drizzle Cake. The drizzle was more of a glaze, but was tangy and gingery (is that a word?), and the cake was dense and moist. The husband seemed happy - he wanted to know if the cake was for general consumption or out of bounds. So here's a photo. And as the lovely friend would say "nom nom nom" especially if it was served with a cup of Earl Grey tea.

One of Your Five Drizzle Cake

Sorry to say, there will be no photographs of the peanut butter 'Fudged Fudge'. It simply didn't last long enough because it was too scrumptiously tempting - chocolatey, creamy, fudgey, nutty perfection. Ahem. Even if I do say so myself.


I've not been feeling so well over the last week - but you could tell I started to feel better this afternoon as I actually did some cooking after 9 days of living off the freezer and the generosity of the lovely friend (the same friend who brought me my Raffles Earl Grey tea back from Singapore - she is really, really lovely!). Ok, so dinner for everyone was from the freezer stockpile (that is looking a little low now) but I have baked a cake!


Due to a glut of overripe bananas, some old carrots and some slightly wrinkly courgettes (due to the no-cooking-for-9-days thing) I have made a cake by mashing and grating these, with some sunflower and pumpkin seeds thrown in too. I also haven't been to the shops for a while, so the rest of the ingredients were cobbled together so we will have to see if it works........


1/3 cup melted butter
4 mashed up overripe bananas
1 grated courgette
2 grated carrots
1 cup of golden caster sugar
1 cup of soft brown sugar
2 cups semolina flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp ground ginger
1/3 cup sunflower oil
3 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup pumpkin seeds
1/3 cup sunflower seeds

1. Preheat the oven to 175 degrees centigrade

2. Melt the butter and then mix in a large bowl with the mashed bananas, grated carrots and courgette

3. Stir in the sugars well, followed by the flours, the baking powder and the ground ginger

4. Stir in the oil and the beaten eggs, followed by the pumpkin and sunflower seeds

5. Pour into a large square baking tray - my preferred one is silicone as there is no need to grease or line it

6. Bake in the middle of the oven for about 50-60 minutes, or until you are sure it is cooked through when a skewer comes out clean

7. Once you remove from the oven poke holes with the skewer all over the cake......you'll see why as you read on......


I also decided to do a crunchy lemon drizzle topping - but only had 1 very old lemon which barely yielded any juice. So I added the juice of 3 pretty ropey oranges, grated some fresh ginger (which wasn't all that fresh!) and heated this to dissolve the last 1/4 of a jar of lemon curd before letting it cool. Once cool I added in about 150g golden caster sugar and poured it over the skewered cake. 

Now all that is needed is some patience while the cake cools and the topping (hopefully!) goes crunchy (as it should!!) and an open mind when tasting it! We'll see what the husband and sons think, and I'll try to post a photograph or two. If nothing else, we will all have had one of our five portions of fruit or vegetables for the day after eating a slice of this cake!

Fudged Fudge....

I bought some very cheap peanut butter yesterday. It's actually ok, even more than ok. You wouldn't know it was the cheap stuff. Other than putting it in sandwiches for the sons with some raspberry jam I had an urge to make peanut butter fudge. I found a recipe and then hugely adapted it based on what I had at home......hence the name fudged fudge as I sort of made it up as I went along.

65g butter
250g dark brown sugar
100g full fat cream cheese
60ml semi-skimmed milk
150g crunchy peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
150g icing sugar
50g dark chocolate (broken up - again, the cheap stuff)
50g cocoa powder

1. melt the butter in a pan over a low heat
2. add the dark brown sugar, cream cheese and milk - stir well until combined
3. bring to the boil for about 3 minutes only stirring if it looks like frothing over the sides of the pan!
4. remove from the heat and stir in the peanut butter and vanilla extract
5. put the icing sugar, dark chocolate and cocoa powder into a large bowl
6. pour the warm mixture over the icing sugar etc in the bowl and beat with a wooden spoon until smooth
7. pour into a square baking tray (I use a silicon one for ease of removal!), smooth the top with a spatula
8. put into the fridge to set once it has cooled slightly, then cut into squares and enjoy!

Simple really - hoping it is nice as I could be tempted to make lots as presents. I'll try to post a photo or two of the finished results.

The Mushroom of Love!

I was bringing son 2 home from school with a friend yesterday and overheard part of their conversation.....

son 2 "do you still have the mushroom of love?"

friend "yes i do, i haven't finished with it yet"

son 2 "can i have it back when you are finished with it?"

WHAT is a 'mushroom of love' I asked myself, mentally noting that Valentine's Day is not far away and it might possibly be connected to some clever marketing scheme that appeals to boys of 8 or 9 who actually have NO interest in matters of romance!

So I asked........and was answered with much laughter as they explained they were talking about "From Russia With Love" - the James Bond DVD. It will forever now be known as 'The Mushroom of Love" in our house.

Infused and Enthused.....

Lying in bed with my favourite cup of Earl Grey tea (this one from Raffles Hotel in Singapore, thank you to a lovely friend for that!) I have been looking for recipes. I need to make a dessert (or possibly 2) that is suitable/desirable for a family lunch next weekend. This involves accommodating everyone from a 3 year old to a nearly 93 year old, and many ages in between with different likes and dislikes....

In doing so I have been stumbling across many foodie blogs - and feel somewhat inspired to start my own. Probably more for my pleasure than anything else as not sure how many people will read this but it could be fun! So here goes.

Incidentally I think I have decided on my puddings - mulled poached pears with a spiced nut stuffing for the more refined palates and chocolate malteser tray bake for the kids (big and small). My preference? - I'll be having both!