Raspberry and Hazelnut Crumble Cake

Another take on the delicious crumble cake, perfect to use up the squashy raspberries at the bottom of the box and just the thing to munch with a cup of tea in this ridiculously cold weather.

For the cake:

6oz/150g self raising flour

2oz/50g caster sugar

1 egg

1.5fl oz/40ml milk

4oz/100g butter

few drops of vanilla essence
1oz/25g chocolate chips or chopped chocolate (milk dark or white)

A couple of handfuls of raspberries

For the crumble:
1oz/25g hazelnuts

1oz/25g oats

1oz/25g plain flour

1oz/25g butter

0.5oz/15g soft brown sugar

Preheat the oven to gas mark 6/200C.

Put the hazelnuts on a tray and put in the oven for 5 minutes, shake the tray and roast for another few minutes until starting to turn golden.  Leave to cool (if they have the skins on, rub them off).

If you have a loose bottomed tin (about 6" diameter), grease and dust with flour, or if using a normal tin, grease and line with baking parchment.

Melt the butter, then remove from heat and stir in the milk.

Once cool, whisk in the egg and vanilla essence.  In a bowl mix together the flour and sugar and beat in the wet ingredients.  Turn down the oven to 180C/gas mark 4.

Stir in the chocolate, then pour into the prepared tin and smooth over.

Top with a single layer of fruit.

Place the hazelnuts in a blender and blend until you have some fine bits and some chunky bits (technical terms...).

In a bowl mix together the flour and oats and rub in the butter to make a breadcrumb consistency.

Add the sugar and hazelnuts and stir until well incorporated, then sprinkle over the top of the cake.

Sprinkle this over the fruit layer and bung in the oven for 30-35 mins, until a skewer inserted in to the centre comes out clean.  Leave to cool for 10 mins before removing from the tin.

Sadly I made this quite late at night and then we rushed off with it early the next morning and I completely forgot to take a picture of it.  By the time I remembered there were only crumbs left in the tin.

You'll just have to make your own to see what it looks like and how quickly it disappears!

Bright and Blustery Dartmoor

We snatched a window of sunshine the other day and went up to Dartmoor for a quick walk to blow away the cobwebs.

We somehow haven't been up there since the winter and it was wonderful seeing the contrast to the winter moor.  Everything was beautifully green, spotted haphazardly with freshly shorn sheep and sprinkled with tiny flowers, and the wizened, wind-swept trees were covered in a blanket of green leaves clinging desperately to the crinkled bark and gnarled branches.

We managed to avoid the rain but there was a pretty stiff breeze going which blew up along the paths and harried the tops of the tors.

I managed too to collect a little snapshot of the summer Dartmoor.

We returned to the car minutes before the clouds rolled in and the rain began, a perfectly grabbed opportunity!

A Wedding at St James's

Oops, sorry for the delay!

The Friday before last we went up to London for an extremely exciting event.

Saturday morning I was left in charge of a bath full of gorgeous roses, some polystyrene discs and four tiers of wedding cake.

A bit of bodging and fiddling and I managed to make something that I hoped would pass muster!

The roses were soo beautiful that a simple circlet between each layer of cake was all that was needed to make the perfect wedding cake.

Meanwhile the bride was preparing her something old and new and things borrowed and blue, with help from a stunning mother of the bride in a fabulously swashbuckling hat.

Edward and I managed to find half a minute in the same place between usher duties and bridal finishing touches for a quick photo, which is just as well, as for the rest of the day I was so busy chatting and swigging champagne that forgot to take any others!

I made my dress the week before with such a pretty piece of fabric in my collection which I'd almost forgotten I had!  The pattern is a Vogue re-print of a 1950s pattern.  It was slightly fiddly to make as it written to 1950s sewing specifications and needed several tweaks, but once I'd sorted the sticky bits it was actually quite quick and absolutely gorgeous!  I also made a petticoat to keep the skirt satisfyingly poofy.

Suddenly it was time to go and we left the bridal party to make our way to the chapel.

(Although I couldn't resist a quick snap of them walking over!)

There were no cameras allowed in the chapel or during the reception so you will just have to imagine how beautiful it all was!

 A piper heralded the departure of the newly weds as we waited to send them off.

We cheered and clapped and showered them with confetti before they hopped into the getaway car and whizzed off into a beautiful soft London evening.

We said goodbye to family and friends and waved everyone off before creeping home to collapse for five minutes with a well earned cups of tea.  Our strength thus renewed, the girls abandoned their enormous hats and the boys swapped wool morning dress for something cooler and more relaxed and we set off for a celebratory supper in town, just the thing to finish a wonderful wonderful day!

Cloudy Lemonade Cordial

Not only does this make delicious homemade lemonade, but instead of just having one jugful, you have a whole bottle of cordial which will make several ice cold jugs to sit and sip in the sunshine!

Less effort, more drinks in the sunshine: excellent.

You will need:

5 lemons

1.25lb/550g sugar

1oz/25g citric acid (don't worry if you can't get hold of this, it just means your cordial will only keep for one week in the fridge rather than three)

1 pint boiling water

Peel the lemons, making sure not to get too much of the white pith.

Put the peel, sugar and citric acid in a heatproof bowl or jug and pour over the boiling water.  Stir well.  Add the juice of the lemons and leave to cool.

Strain and bottle.

The cordial will keep for up to three weeks in the fridge....if it lasts that long!

Dilute with water or sparkling water and top up with ice.

It is also just the thing to bring a touch of summer to the weekend, which currently isn't looking so promising weather-wise!

A couple of weeks ago we went up to London for my sister-in-law's hen party and had the most fabulous indoor picnic (due to the weather being indecisive and difficult) and endless classes of ice-cold lemonade was just the thing to keep us refreshed in the oppressive thundery heat!

Obviously we also needed champagne for such an occasion, and to keep with our elegant tea-time theme we drank it in teeny tiny vintage teacups.  Alarmingly as the afternoon progressed it got more and more difficult to keep track of how many thimble sized cups one had drunk...

Happy August!  Have a lovely weekend, whether you are holidaying or just enjoying the gloriousness of a summer weekend!