The Homemade Heart

sometimes plain cake is just right

 

May is one of my favourite months; Mother Nature is clearing her throat and tuning up for the full blown song of summer, new life is established in field, woods and garden. A late spring favourite in my own garden is a beautiful, blowsy peony rose, which faithfully bursts into glorious bloom for a few weeks at this time of year. 
It is also the birthday month of my younger brother. He was born when I was 13, in the year of the Queen's Silver Jubilee. One of his birth gifts, from a generous friend of the family, was a pair of  silver (or 'solid silver' as my 10 year old sister and I said in awestruck tones) commemorative cufflinks, from Hamilton and Inches, 'the Queen's jeweller', a fact still referred to semi-frequently by my mother. As we were living in the far north of Scotland at the time, and our retail needs were met by a row of scruffy shops twenty one miles away in one direction, and a lone 'Mace' store seventeen miles in the other, the mere existence of a shop sufficiently luxurious to supply such elegant trifles seemed impossibly romantic to us. The uselessness of silver cufflinks for a new born baby was also impressive.
I had given my new brother a crochet blanket of wobbly granny squares, made over many painstaking weeks, in purple and cream wool. My sister, seeing this effort and fearing that she would be left behind, had started knitting him a toy, which proved, unsurprisingly, too complicated, and my Mum quietly completed it for her to give to the baby. The cufflinks were in a stratosphere far beyond these humble offerings.
The baby in question is now 6'3", lives and works in London, and is grown up enough to wear his solid silver commemorative cufflinks any time he wishes. He comes home frequently to see family and friends, and it is always wonderful to see him when he does.
Last year, I wrote about his birthday brunch here. This year he just wanted tea and cake, which I was happy to supply.

I made a simple vanilla sponge, increasing the proportions of the ingredients to fit the size of the Bundt tin. I am always apprehensive about turning out a Bundt cake, for obvious reasons, however careful brushing with melted butter, and a light dusting of flour usually ensures success. This time, a simple shake of icing sugar and some strawberries finished the cake in a manner sufficiently celebratory for a birthday, but plain enough to be eaten at 11am with tea. Sometimes plain cake is just right, and this was one of those times. (I only managed a phone shot before the cake was cut, hence the slightly squashed proportions of the image above.)
It was delicious, here is the recipe. If you have a Bundt tin languishing at the back of a cupboard, do dust it off and use it. The high proportion of cake crust to soft inside is what makes it taste so good.

Ingredients.

340g butter at room temp (and approx. 50g for preparing the tin)
330g caster sugar
310 g self raising flour (and small amount for preparing the tin)
35g cornflour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
5 large free range eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3-4 tablespoons semi skimmed milk

Method.

Preheat oven to 180c/Gas 4. Melt approx. 30g butter and brush it over the inside of the tin lightly but thoroughly. Dust the inside of the tin with self raising flour, ensuring all inside contours are covered. Thoroughly shake the excess flour out of the tin. Set aside until needed.
Beat butter and sugar together in Kitchenaid mixer or with a hand held electric mixer until light and fluffy.
Sift together the dry ingredients. Break the eggs into a bowl and add the vanilla extract.
Alternately add the eggs and flour, mixing well with each addition, but not over-mixing, or the cake will be tough.
Start to add the milk until a consistency on the firm side of dropping is achieved, you are likely to need 3 tablespoons but may not need as much as 4.
Scrape carefully into Bundt tin, and smooth the mixture.
Bake for 45-55 mins depending on your oven. The cake should be golden and no crumbs should adhere to a cocktail sick inserted in to the middle of the cake. Set aside in tin to cool until the tin can be handled comfortably.
When the cake has cooled and started to settle in the tin (about 20 minutes), invert onto a wire cooling rack and allow to cool completely before decorating as desired.

a quilt for Jacob

I started learning how to quilt last year, and consider myself a novice. I made my first quilt by hand last summer, and the Christmas quilt mentioned in this post last autumn. It was always my hope and dream to make quilts for my family to use and love, and my plan for 2016 was to complete a quilt for each of my boys (the first of many I hope). Jacob was very interested in, and enthusiastic about having a quilt made for him, and since the beginning of February I have been working on his quilt. I finished it late last night, stitching the binding at the kitchen table when everyone was asleep, and I gave it to him this morning.
He had requested a quilt in greys, greens and camouflage, with a stag's head appliqued on a central panel. The overall feel of the quilt was to be as though made by an old trapper over-wintering in a log cabin in the wilds somewhere. With this vivid description I could see the quilt very clearly in my mind's eye, and although the end result has some mistakes and a few wobbly bits here and there, I really don't mind; these 'irregularities' probably fit the brief!
The fabric came from various sources; an old camouflage jacket of Jacob's which I filleted, saving the breast pocket and a cuff, with the idea of incorporating them into the quilt. Billow Fabrics was an excellent source of quilting cotton, and eBay also provided rich pickings. The 'running hare' fabric was a tote bag from Habitat which caught my eye in the January sale. The wadding is Hobbs Heirloom cotton. The 'tartan stags' backing fabric (the 4th picture in the collage, above) is a brushed cotton duvet cover, bought online. The quilting is simple diagonal lines, hand stitched in green quilting cotton.
Photographing a 70" square quilt outside in a stiff breeze this morning was something of a challenge, but a few clothes pegs secured the quilt to the garden fence, and the brushed cotton of the quilt's backing fabric found purchase on the weathered wood of the old garden bench, holding it securely whilst I took a few photographs.

After photographing, it was smoothed into place on Jacob's bed, where it looked instantly at home. I have mentally handed it over to him now, and don't mind if it gets crumpled, or has tea spilled on it, or lands in a heap on the floor. It is there to be used, and loved.

There was not one part of making this quilt that I did not enjoy. Everything from discussing it with Jacob, to choosing the fabric, cutting and sewing the blocks, piecing the top, even the tedious business of basting the quilt sandwich; each step was absorbing and interesting. Someone told me that a well made (i.e. secure) quilt will last a hundred years. That fact fills me with untold pleasure. I hope Jacob will continue to use his quilt for years to come. I know I will make other quilts for him, but I have a feeling that this first quilt will always hold a warm spot in his heart, and in mine.

Cookery calendar Challenge- May

Welcome to the Cookery Calendar Challenge for May.

Click here for the Cookery Calendar Challenge page, which has all the information about the challenge.

My cookery book for April was 'French Leave' by John Bourton Race.

I have owned this recipe book for a long time (I talked about it here), but have not cooked many recipes from it. It is not what I would consider an everyday or family recipe book, as many of the dishes use expensive ingredients, however the recipes are interesting, and inspiring, and the book feels very much like the work of one man who knows exactly what he is talking about. It is a genuine cook book, built on the strength of the recipes and writing, not a 'celebrity chef'  pumping out a meaningless volume for the sake of it (though it was originally written to accompany a television series, so perhaps without that project it would never have been written). In addition the recipes, though sometimes involving many steps, are reliable, and easy to follow. John Bourton Race is a chef, and it is clear when reading the recipes that he is used to having someone else in the kitchen washing up after him; he is keen on a multi-pot approach! With a little kitchen know-how, however, some of the steps in his recipes can be simplified. Probably not a book for a novice for this reason.

The two new recipes I tried from this book were Daube de Boeuf, and Warm Chocolate Tart.

The Daube de Boeuf was a big success, and was simple to make. The flavour (as I was reliably informed by the meat eaters of the family) was excellent, very rich and delicious. John Bourton Race advocates home made beef stock, but I can honestly say I will never in my life make beef stock, I used a Knorr stock pot, and it seemed perfectly adequate. It didn't look particularly pretty on the plate, being essentially brown meat; no doubt a  handful of finely chopped parsley would have lifted the appearance, but these small finishing touches can elude me on busy week nights. I served it with roast onions and small new potatoes. Here is the recipe, which I simplified very slightly by making in one pot rather than the plethora of pots and casserole dishes advised by the book (with apologies to Mr Bourton Race).

Daube de Boeuf.

2kg braising

500g smoked bacon lardons

50 ml vegetable oil

1 litre beef stock

salt and pepper

For the marinade:

1 bottle red wine

2 garlic cloves peeled and chopped

1 bay leaf

2 sprigs fresh thyme

2 strips orange rind

Method

Place the beef; lardons, garlic, herbs and orange peel in a large bowl. Pour over the bottle of wine. Stir to ensure everything is well combined. Cover the bowl with cling film and leave in a cool place, or in the fridge, overnight.

Next day, strain the marinade and reserve. Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed, oven proof pot and fry off the beef in batches, removing to a plate or bowl until all meat is browned.

Pour the marinade into the pot; bring to the boil and reduce by half.  Add the beef back into the pot, along with the orange peel, herbs and lardons. Add the beef stock and bring to the boil. Cover with a tight fitting lid and place in the oven for two hours or until the meat is tender. Check the pot; if there is still a lot of liquid round the meat, simmer gently on the stove top with the lid off, checking frequently. Remove from the heat when the meat is still very moist, and there is only a small amount of liquid in the bottom of the pot.

Eat same day with veg and carbohydrate of your choice, or even better, cool quickly, store overnight in the fridge, and gently reheat until piping hot next day.

My second recipe from 'French Leave' was Warm Chocolate Tart. Due to time constraints, I did not make the sweet shortcrust pastry specified; instead I used filo, which looked pretty, and was easy to use. The filling in this tart was, unusually, a light chocolate sponge.

 I had a slice, and thought it had a delicate flavour; the chocolate cake was light, and not too rich, and the filo gave a pleasant contrasting texture. As ever, my dear family were tripping over themselves to give me their opinions; and this received a universal thumbs down. Everyone felt it was neither cake nor tart, but a strange combination of both. Can you hear my resigned sigh from where you sit?

My cookery book choice for May is ' How to Cook' by Annie Bell. Annie Bell is one of my favourite cookery writers; her recipes are simple, elegant, and totally reliable. This is her most recent book, I have already made a few recipes from it, and am looking forward to getting to know it even better during May.

Many thanks to those who joined the link up last month, I hope you enjoyed it and will continue the challenge with me. If you haven't joined before, and would like to, here's how to take part.

How it works:

The challenge is simple: the first week of every month, select a cookery book from your shelf, and cook two new recipes from it. The recipes can be for any meal. Cakes and bakes are excluded, but puddings are included. At the beginning of the following month, blog about the recipes you have used, and announce your chosen cookery book for the month ahead. This is an ongoing project, it's never too late to get involved, and everyone is very welcome.
I would appreciate a link back to this Cookery Calendar Challenge post in your post. Grab the Cookery Calendar Challenge badge to display on your blog too, if you like (just copy and paste the code on to your dashboard to display). You can also join via Instagram using hashtag #cookerycalendarchallenge (you will find me on Instagram @penny.homemadeheart )

An InLinkz Link-up