Apple, cinnamon and sultana scone loaf

Afternoon tea

Afternoon tea has been a British institution since Anna Maria, the seventh Duchess of Bedford, asked her footman to bring her a pot of tea and light refreshment one afternoon in 1840. The ritual caught on and afternoon tea became the corner stone of high society dining. These days taking tea as a light afternoon meal has become much more accessible, but has not lost a crumb of its charm.

A full Afternoon tea is commonly composed of sandwiches – usually cut delicately into ‘fingers’ – scones with clotted cream and jam, sweet pastries and cakes. Interestingly, scones were not a common feature of early Afternoon Tea and were only introduced in the twentieth century.

Today, luxury country hotels and traditional tea rooms will provide welcoming surroundings for this decadent treat which really is a special experience to take your time over, an occasional indulgence and a treat to be had on special occasions.

However, at home, what is nicer than a scaled-down afternoon tea – simply a cup of tea and a scone or slice of cake? In the following recipe you have the best of both worlds. It’s an Apple, cinnamon and sultana scone loaf. Serve sliced when warm and butter generously.

100g wholemeal self-raising flour

125g white self-raising flour

75g butter

40g golden caster sugar

100g sultanas

50g grated apple

4 tsp ground cinnamon

A pinch of salt

1 large egg

4-5tbs milk

Also, for the topping  - 1 tbsp milk, ½ apple sliced, a little demerara sugar for dusting and a little ground cinnamon for dusting.

Preheat oven to 200C, 400F, gas mark 6. Grease and dust with flour a 2lb loaf tin.

In a large bowl, place flours and salt. Rub in the butter until it resembles breadcrumbs. Then add caster sugar, sultanas, apple and cinnamon. Stir until everything is well mixed. In a jug whisk the egg with the milk and then pour into dry ingredients.  Mix well before turning out to lightly knead together. Roll into large sausage shape and place in tin.

Brush with milk and decorate with a little sliced apple down the length of the loaf. Dust with demerara sugar and finish with a generous sprinkling of ground cinnamon.

Bake for 30-35 mins. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. 

Enjoy!

Latest cake with fondant icing - in pictures!

Ready to roll!

Covered

Trimmed

Preparing blossom decorations

Ready for detail

Sparkle added

Ready for transport

The mysterious Marlborough bun.

Marlborough bun

When we moved to Higham Ferrers in 2010 it was more luck than judgement that we found it had a huge Waitrose store not more than ½ a mile away. Since then, needless to say, we have visited on many an occasion and have taken to partaking of a free coffee (a Waitrose cardholder scheme) and sometimes – when we are feeling the need – accompanying it with a rather tasty Marlborough bun. 

Kneading fruits into sweet dough

Sweet bun dough, enriched with good things like milk, butter, fruit and sugar, has for centuries been made at celebratory times but buns, as a whole, I believe are diminishing in favour and more refined treats like cupcakes and muffins appear now to be more popular. What a pity – I think there should be a Great British Bun Revival! 

I have always thought that traditional English buns - like the Chelsea, Bath, or Hot cross - are second to none and now, thanks to Waitrose, the ‘Marlborough’ has joined their ranks  but can I find it elsewhere or, better still, can I make it myself?

Second rise before baking

Now, where to find a recipe? I have scoured the internet and, although the Marlborough bun does get a mention now and again, I can’t for the life of me find too much on the subject. Even books by baking high priests Dan Lepard and Paul Hollywood also drew a blank and so a little experimentation was called for and I have started with a recipe found on the BBC food website for ‘Dried fruit and almond buns’. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/dried_fruit_and_almond_47710

Hot buns

The buns turned out to be just about acceptable but were nothing like the mysterious Marlborough and so I must now tinker with the recipe, visit Waitrose when the need arises, and my research will undoubtedly continue.  Watch this space!

An (incr)edible experience – a masterclass with Ben Frazer

Pink Macarons

Last Tuesday, we – daughter Laura and I – were greeted warmly by Ben at ‘The Cake Artisan’ in Adnitt Road, Northampton for our evening macaron masterclass. Now, it’s one thing to bake in the privacy of one’s own kitchen but altogether another cooking challenge to be entrusted with someone else’s tools, ingredients and equipment.  Not only that but it was a brand new kitchen, with sparkling new utensils and an oven that had hardly been warmed…..yes, I was nervous!

Ben Frazer

But, I shouldn’t have been, as Ben put us quite at ease with his friendly, encouraging and knowledgeable manner, and we were soon undertaking his favoured delicate and delicious macaron recipe. 

At this point I think my trepidation started to disappear and my ‘have a go’ attitude returned as Ben instructed and we followed the step-by-step stages. 

He imparted so many fabulous tips along the way and we both left that evening totally enthused and encouraged to try making our own French-style macarons at home. 

Laura processing almonds

Ben, a Great British Bake Off 2011 contestant, will now be producing his beautiful cake creations – as well as running further courses - at his new couture cake boutique ‘The Cake Artisan’ in Northampton – if interested, take a look at the website www.cakeartisan.co.uk.

Clandestine Cake Club September 'The Hedgerow'

Question: What would be the one thing that would drag you away from the television on a Tuesday evening and hence miss Great British Bake Off?

Answer: A Clandestine Cake Club meeting of course!

Our latest event was held on September 17th at Bay Tree Cottage in Farthingstone and hosted by Cake Club member and Bay Tree owner, Jenny Dicks. It was a cold, rainy and murky evening and, for those that hadn’t visited this village before, they must have wondered where on earth the narrow and winding roads would lead. However, the warmth soon returned to everyone’s cheeks when all 14 of us sat in the comfortable super-sized kitchen, around a super-sized table, and the tea was poured from a super-sized teapot!  

Our theme – ‘the Hedgerow’ – had been embraced by our bakers and the deep colours, richness and beauty of all late summer/early autumn foraged fruit was in great evidence. The cakes looked so appetising and we were soon happily slicing and tucking in to the display.

Bay Tree Cottage is the home of a wonderfully diverse range of ‘Country Living Workshops’, including art, craft, gardening, floristry, foraging and cookery. Take a look at their website to learn more http://www.btcworkshops.co.uk/.

Thank you, Jenny, for your hospitality and thank you members for baking, for your company, and for supporting our local club. I look forward to seeing you all again at our next meeting on October 10^th. 

Plums by the bucketful!

Plums by the bucketful!

What could be better on a warm September day than picking fruit or harvesting ripe and ready vegetables? My garden this year has borne pounds of small, sweet tomatoes - thanks to a good friend presenting me with two young plants in early summer – and they will continue, hopefully, to do so until the threat of a frost makes me pick the remainder to make my favourite chutney. We have also had a good year with strawberries, blackcurrants, tayberries and now, finally, the cultivated thornless blackberry is giving us lush, dark and juicy specimens, which are going straight into the freezer for winter consumption.

Victoria plums ready to be picked

Whilst on holiday in Norfolk last week we had the brilliant experience of visiting family-run P.M. Farming, a fruit farm which specialises, primarily, in the growing of plums and gages. Our visit was timed perfectly for the main Victoria plum harvest and the trees were simply dripping with fruit. The young lady behind the weighing-counter and stall confirmed that this year the Victoria was a little late to ripen but they were certainly, as we could see, in abundance!

Several varieties for sale

This large orchard produces many varieties of fruit during the season and prefers to sell mainly to local suppliers and, of course, direct to the likes of me as, of course, I couldn’t resist plucking several kilos of warm and ripe plums and greengages from the trees to bring home. What a joy to pick healthy, British-grown fruit, on a farm.

Greengages ready to simmer with vanilla

So today I made several jars of Greengage and Vanilla jam and the same amount of Plum and Cinnamon jam. We also have a beautiful Greengage Crumble for tonight’s dinner, plums that are going to be used in a Plum Cake, and some will also be frozen for winter days when I need to remember the September warmth. As any Norfolk person would say……it was all just boootiful!

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Plumbe and Maufe Farming on the North Norfolk Coast can be found on Facebook here https://www.facebook.com/pages/Plumbe-and-Maufe-Farming/530889030287849?fref=ts

'Bread Making' by Ruth Clemens

I can bake cakes, and even the odd sourdough loaf, but when it comes to using yeast I am a complete novice. I felt I needed encouragement and so I was truly excited to learn that Ruth Clemens has added another volume to her ‘Pink Whisk Guide’ series, this time it’s Bread Making.

As with her ‘Guide to Cake Making’, these yeast recipes are so clearly set out, each step accompanied by colour photographs, and she has also added oodles of tips throughout. 

I couldn’t wait to bake and decided upon making some tasty-looking Iced Lemon Fingers. The ingredients were mainly already in my store-cupboard and I had only to buy some fast action yeast.

Ruth has the clever knack of breaking-down the instructions into simple stages and I found the dough easy to prepare – although I did take the angst out of kneading it by hand by using my trusty stand-mixer. The dough rose beautifully, in the time Ruth said it would, and the only hiccup after that was my clumsiness with the shaping of the fingers, as mine when completed didn’t look quite like Ruth’s neat row of dough sausages.

However, after the second rise, baking, cooling and icing, I was so very pleased with the result - not so perfectly uniform in shape but the texture and taste were great! Thanks to Ruth and her clever, simple, but effective recipe this ‘yeast-baking novice’ had produced a bun which wouldn’t have looked out of place in any baker’s shop. Of course, I have now been inspired to have a go at all manner of other breads – so watch this space!

There may be a plethora of home-bread baking books on the market already but ‘The Pink Whisk Guide to Bread Making’ by Great British Bake Off finalist, Ruth Clemens, is the one that I would thoroughly recommend as an essential for your cookery book shelf.

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This hardback is published by David & Charles and is priced at £12.99.