Scones for Stoke !!

I'm afraid the Vagina Monlogues Cake Club choice had to be something easy and quick this week as I had so little time to bake on my day off - Boo !!
We decided on Scones and spruced them up into Afternoon Tea with clotted cream and strawberry jam - rude not to !!
The recipe has been handed down from my Grandma Holden to my Mum and on to me - It never fails me and I often make up the dry mix last thing at night and then add the milk and egg when I get up the next morning and bake warm scones for breakfast - YUM !!

Scones ( sorry it's in Imperial measures )

1 lb Self raising Flour
4 oz Butter
4 oz Caster sugar
4 oz Sultanas
1 large egg made up to 1/2 pint with whole milk

Preheat oven to 180 oC

Rub the butter into the flour to make breadcrumb consistency.
Mix in sugar and sultanas ( can make up to this point the night before)
Whisk egg and milk thoroughly and add a little at a time until the mix binds together wthout being sloppy.
Put onto board and shape ( don't mess with it too much or the air will be knocked out and the scones won't be light)
Cut out scones and place on greased tray.
Brush with any remaining egg wash and sprinkle with more sugar.
Bake for 12 - 15 mins until risen and golden.

We indulged and spread them with clotted cream and strawberry jam!!

Went down a treat with Louisa, Zaraah and Emma !!

Banoffee Cake for Zaraah Abrahams !!

Vagina Monologues Cake Club choice this week was in the hands of Miss Zaraah Abrahams." Banoffee Cake " she shouted - and that's what she got!!
She couldn't wait for the lid to come off the cake tin when I got into the Vagmobile ( our nickname for our touring people carrier ) and the smell of banana was amazing !! Then we had to be driven to Peterborough before we could cut it and dive in.

Here's the recipe

165g   soft butter
165g   soft light brown sugar
4         large eggs
1 tsp    baking powder (heaped)
1 tsp    ground cinnamon (heaped)
4 tblsp milk
2          large ripe bananas
325g    self raising flour

For the filling

300 ml  double cream
1           banana
450g     jar dulce de leche (or make your own with condensed milk if you have the time)

Preheat the oven to 190oC/170oC fan/gas 5

Grease and line the bottoms of two cake tins.
Cream together the butter and sugar then add the eggs, one at a time, beating as you go.
Sieve in the cinnamon, baking powder and flour and fold in.
Mash the bananas and fold into the mix along with the milk .
Split the mix between the two tins and bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

When cool - cut the 2 sponges with a serrated knife.
Whip the cream until it forms stiff peaks, then mash the banana and fold into the cream.
Fill the sponge layers with the cream mix and a spreading of dulce de leche.
Finish off the top with a generous layer of dulce de leche.

Zaraah loved it - as you can see !!

And so did everyone else!

It didn't take long for everyone to tuck in - gorgeous and very rich !!

There was a little bit left and we didn't want to have to throw it away  - The Bull Hotel in Peterborough, where we were staying , very kindly put it in their fridge overnight. Will it still be there in the morning???

Not really a Victoria Sponge !!

Tha Vagina Monologues Company requested a Victoria Sponge for Cake Club this week - then asked for cream and strawberries in it aswell !! This was the finished cake - a basic sponge mix filled with strawberry conserve, fresh cream and strawberries (with a hint of strawberry whisky!) Decided to ice it and managed to save an icing bag disaster - burst bag when piping the V !!

  It cheered us up after a long journey and ferry ride to the Isle of Wight !!

Wonder what they'll want next week!

Gower Cottage Brownies for us !!

The Vagina Monologues girls arrived in Stevenage on Tuesday to be greeted by a beautiful box of Gower Cottage Brownies sent to us by Kate Jenkins.They really are the most beautiful brownies I've tasted in a long, long time !! Melt in the mouth !! They cheered us up and gave us a big energy boost for the show - Thanks Kate !!

 They didn't last long  - Zaraah and Louisa loved them too !! They are a perfect present for any occasion - take a look at Kate's website  http://www.gowercottagebrownies.co.uk/

Poor Man's Black Forest Gateaux for Fi's Birthday!!

Vagina Monologues Tour is into week 3 and going really well - Great Audiences and having fun with the girls!! It was Fi's (our stage manager) birthday and I promised a cake.
Only had one day off and decided to make a cake with ingredients I could find in the cupboard. Fi requested chocolate so I made a chocolate cake with kirsch cream and black cherry jam - a poor man's Black Forest Gateau!!

250g butter
250g caster sugar
4 eggs
50g good quality cocoa powder
200g self raising flour

black cherry jam
300ml double cream
dessertspoon caster sugar
dessertspoon kirsch

icing sugar
cocoa powder
water
dark chocolate for grating

Preheat oven to 180 o C
Cream butter and sugar together, beat in the eggs. Sift in cocoa and flour and fold in.
Split between two greased cake tins (line the bottoms with parchment paper)and bake for 15-20 mins.

Allow to cool.
Whip cream with kirsch and sugar. Split the sponges in half and spread, liberally with jam and put together again. Sandwich the two sponges together with the cream.
Make up icing and cover , then grate choc over the top.

It lasted about 5 minutes!!

Apple,Blackberry and coconut Squares for Vagina Monologues Bake Club!!

Vagina Monologues National Tour began this week - we're on the road till December 4th coming to a theatre near you!! vaginamonologues.co.uk
Got a great bunch of girls in Louisa Lytton, Zaraah Abrahams and Emma Kelly and I know it's going to be fun - Girls on Tour!!
I've decided that there are enough of us for a Bake Club, so whenever I am home or get the chance I will be baking the company cakes or biscuits or whatever they request!!
Started the ball rolling today with Apple, Blackberry and Coconut Squares - picked the last of the blackberries on our common and made a traybake - it was a bit of an experiment but they turned out really - not too sweet and great texture with the fruit and the crumble topping.

250 g Self Raising Flour
100 g Oats
280 g Soft brown sugar
200 g Cold Butter - cut into pieces
75 g Dessicated Coconut
3 medium Eggs - beaten
250 g Bramley Apples  - chopped
150 g Blackberries - fresh or frozen

Preheat oven to 180 o C and grease and line a baking tray approx 20cm square

Place flour,sugar and oats in a food processor.
Add the butter and process until you have a breadcrumb consistency ( this can be done by hand if you prefer)
Mix in the coconut. 
Take out a cupful of the mix and reserve.
Add the beaten eggs to the rest and then place the mix into the tray - pressing right down and into the corners.
Spread out apple on top and then blackberries.
Sprikle the remainin crumble mix on top.
Bake in the oven for 55 - 60 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.
Leave to cool and then turn out and cut into squares.

A Tart for Sunday Lunch!!

Had friends round for Lunch yesterday and just had to make something from my new recipe book that arrived from Amazon this week - The Boy Who Bakes . Edd Kimber was the winner of last year's Great British Bakeoff and this is his first book  - I love it - Traditional recipes but also some that are a little different and very exciting. For lunch I decided on a traditional custard tart. Although the recipe suggested cherries as a filling, I opted for blueberries ( with apologies to Edd) as I had some that needed using up. It was so delicious - creamy but very light.

There wasn't even a crumb left !!!!
To have with our coffee, I made something from Edd's book that was new to me - Nanaimo Bars - a chocolate fridge cake with a custard icing centre. It hails from Canada and was just beautiful - very rich though and a small piece was enough - till our 2nd cup of coffee!!

Having made the custard tart I had six egg whites to use up, so I decided to make some individual meringues - well, it would have been rude not to!!
So, as they were made, we had to have peach melba pavlovas for pudding tonight!!