A special Afternoon Tea for Mother’s Day

I’ve been experimenting with Grandma Abson’s Victoria Sandwich recipe to create a special treat for Mother’s Day. My friend Charlotte asked me to come up with a homemade ‘All in One Afternoon Tea’ sponge cake for her mum as a surprise for Mother’s Day. Since Charlotte’s mum likes all sorts of cakes, I came up with the idea of a 3 tiered sponge cake with each tier baked in a different flavour and finished with different butter cream fillings. You could say a cornucopia of tastes in a slice!

As a basis for the mixture I used Grandma Abson's Victoria Sandwich recipe with 8 inch/21 cms cake tins for each tier or layer.

Basic Sponge Cake for 2 tiers

3 large eggs and their weight (= approx 6-7oz /175g-200g) in each of

6 oz /175g butter 

6oz/175g caster sugar (*see below for Toffee or Butterscotch use soft brown sugar)

60z/175g self raising flour (sieved)

For 3 tiers use 5 eggs and weight of these in butter, sugar and flour

For 4 tiers use 6 eggs and weight of these in butter, sugar or flour

Preheat the oven to 180°C, 350°F, Mark 4. Line the cake tins with baking paper. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat the eggs and add to the creamed mixture. Fold in the flour. Now divide the mixture into 2, 3 or 4 depending on the amount of mixture and number of tiers you have chosen.

Create different mixtures as you wish all at one if you have a large enough bowl and several cake tins. I prefer to do this in batches

For a Victoria Sandwich tier add a little milk

For a Lemon Cake tier add the zest and juice of ½ lemon

For an Orange Cake tier add the zest and juice of ½ orange

For a Chocolate Cake tier add 1 tbsp cocoa powder, ¼ tsp vanilla extract, 1 tbsp black treacle and a little milk to mix.

For a Coffee Cake tier add ½ dsp coffee essence or powder (Meryl’s Tip : You must grind coffee granules to a powder first!)

*For a Toffee or Butterscotch Cake tier – use soft brown sugar instead of caster sugar.

Put the mixture into the cake tins. Bake for about 25-30 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean or the top is firm to the touch. Place on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then turn the cake out onto the rack and leave until cool.

Butter cream fillings 

(This will be enough for 3 tiers of cakes)

4 oz/110g butter

8 oz/225 icing sugar

A few drops vanilla extract

1-2 tbsps tepid water or milk

Cream the butter and icing sugar. Add the vanilla extract and water or milk.

Now choose your fillings :

For a Victoria Sandwich use raspberry jam and butter cream.

For a Lemon Cake add the zest and juice of ½ lemon or 2 tbsps of lemon curd to the butter cream

For an Orange Cake add the zest and juice of ½ orange to the butter cream

For a Chocolate Cake tier melt 1 oz/25g of plain chocolate into the butter cream.

For a Coffee Cake add ½ dsp coffee essence

*For a Toffee or Butterscotch Cake use soft brown sugar instead of icing sugar.

Spread the butter cream (and raspberry jam for the Victoria Sandwich) on the top of one cake and place the other on top.  Carry on with the different tiers and fillings as you have chosen. If you wish you can cover the sides and top of the cake with butter cream.

 Add a Mother’s Day decoration and your home made Afternoon Tea gift is ready to serve for your special Mum!  Don't forget a card too!

Or try a traditional Simnel Cake for Mothering Sunday as Grandma used to bake. 

Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers out there!

Give Mum a treat for Mother’s Day

Ana Cecilia’s Coffee Cake from Grandma’s recipe

Grandma’s fame has already reached Paris – here’s the picture of Grandma’s coffee cake made in Paris by Ana Cecilia who is a fashion blogger. She’s written all about Grandma’s recipes. It’s great fun to read and a real tribute to Grandma's many talents! 

I love March as it’s Mother’s Day and also my birthday so double treats! Last weekend, I got an early taste of indulgence with a weekend trip to Paris. Paris has many brilliant memories for me as I used to go there every Friday from my work at a school in St Quentin. I had no lessons to teach on Fridays so was free to travel to Paris, about an hour away by train. I loved to explore the different areas of the city.

The trip began at St Pancras International in London with a glass of bubbly in the Champagne Bar and a surprise ticket in Eurostar's  standard premier. Quel luxe! We stayed in the Opera area, central to all points to visit.

Tres cool at the Pyramide        

                          

La Tour Eiffel  

On Saturday, we breakfasted in style at a nearby café with a freshly made ham and cheese omelette, petit pains au chocolat washed down with fresh orange juice and café au lait. Since it was all about relaxing, we took the Batobus on the river to see the sights, stopping off wherever we fancied to ramble near the Place de the Concorde, Ile de la cite and the Louvre and of course linger over Croque-messieurs and chocolats chauds  at Le Cafe Marly (the weather wasn’t too warm!). It was Paris Fashion week so we saw fashion models and photographers - ‘tres cool’! 

On Sunday we set out for Montmartre to sample the latest Parisian craze for ‘le Brunch’ and managed to get there before the queue snaked around the building. Just time to see Le Sacre Coeur before winding our way to the newly restored café at the Opera, before back to La Gare du Nord. 

If you want an idea for Mother’s Day at home, here’s a traditional Mothering Sunday Simnel Cake. Or have a look at Grandma's Recipes page and choose a favourite one to bake. Go on, give mum a treat, she deserves  it!

Simnel Cake for Mothering Sunday

A jewel of a Cake for Mother’s Day

We all think of Simnel Cake decorated with almond balls, chocolate eggs and fluffy chicks for Easter but it’s also a tradition on Mothering Sunday or Mother’s Day. Young men and women away from home took gifts to their mothers. Traditionally, they gave them Simnel Cake and violets. An ancient rhyme tells of the old custom of ‘going a mothering’: “When at Mid-lent thou dost wake, to thy mother beat thy cake. She will prize it for thy sake”. Simnel Cake probably owes its tradition to Latin ‘siminellus’ which signifies the finest wheat flour, so the cake would be made with the finest ingredients.  

Simnel Cake

4oz/110g butter

3oz/75g sugar

1 tbsp syrup

2oz/50g ground almonds

2 large eggs (save some of egg white)

1lb/450g mixed fruit

2oz/50g chopped peel

2oz/50g glace cherries

Grated rind of one orange or lemon

8oz/225g self raising flour

¼ tsp mixed spice

2-3 tbsp milk

1lb/450g almond paste  

Mix all of the ingredients together. Turn half the mixture into a well greased tin and on it place one third of the almond paste, rolled out slightly smaller than the cake measurement. Turn the remaining mixture onto this and bake for 2 - 2 ½ hours in a slow oven. ” (300 F, Mark 2, 150 C) “Allow to cool. Then brush the top of the cake with the apricot jam. Roll out the remaining almond paste and place on top of cake. Place under a hot grill or in a very hot oven for 1- 2 minutes to allow top to brown. Then decorate as you like with Glace Cherries.  

For an Easter Simnel Cake, shape the remaining almond paste into 11 balls and arrange them around the edge of the cake and brush with egg white then grill as before.  

Whatever the occasion, Simnel Cake is a great one to enjoy!