Valentine Biscuits for your Heart’s desire

I've been using Grandma’s popular Shortbread recipe to bake Valentine biscuits. Pop a glace cherry on each biscuit or try crystallised ginger pieces, cranberries or almonds instead. 

Valentine Shortbread biscuits

10 oz/ 275g  butter

1 lb / 450g plain flour

6 oz / 175g caster sugar

2 yolks of eggs

Glace cherries to decorate

Rub the butter into the flour and add the sugar. Then add the egg yolks and work into the flour as quickly as possible, making a dry dough. Chill for around 15 minutes then roll out to about ½ inch/1 cm thick and cut into Valentine shapes. Put a cherry on top. Bake for 25 minutes in a slow oven. (300F, Mark 2, 150C). Makes about 30 biscuits.   

My Valentine shaped cutter comes in handy for these biscuits

 ValentineGingerbread biscuits  

Oat Ginger biscuits

or bake a heart shaped cake like this Valentine Cake.  

Your Valentine won’t be able to resist the appeal of home baking straight out of the oven! So what are you baking for a Happy Valentine’s Day?

“Heaven, I’m in heaven ....”

Ivy made our fabulous wedding cake

Christmas always has a tinge of sadness when there’s a well loved family member no longer around to celebrate the festive season. And so it was this year for us, when Grandma Abson’s niece, Ivy, passed away in early December 2013, aged 88.

Ivy followed in our great family tradition of baking. She would bake countless Christmas Cakes for family, friends and neighbours, all liberally laced with brandy, adopting the family method of letting her hand slip.  But her prowess extended well beyond producing tasty cakes, puddings, pastries and pies. She followed various cake decorating courses assiduously to develop her skills and became very proficient in sugar craft cake decorating and design, producing numerous wedding cakes with great artistry.

Ivy and Ron’s wedding 1950 

But as well as her culinary expertise, I’ll always remember Ivy for her great sense of fun in everything she did.  She loved dancing and was an ardent  'Strictly' fan, having spent her younger days travelling from her home in Manchester to enjoy the dancing spectacle at the Tower Ballroom in Blackpool. It hit just the right note when we heard Frank Sinatra singing ‘Dancing Cheek to Cheek'  as we remembered her with much affection at her funeral. So, I’m dedicating this post to Ivy and raising a toast of celebration (a glass of your favourite Chablis) and thanks for her long life. We’ll miss you! I bet you’re baking cakes up there in cake heaven.

Ivy celebrates Queen’s Diamond Jubilee 2012

And, just a final note to the end of the year, in the grand tradition of family baking, I’m delighted to say that Ivy has passed her skills down the generations onto granddaughter, Rachel, who now also excels in cake making and decorating. Long live home baking! 

Happy New Year. Let the baking continue!

A Twist of Lemon

Lemons are my favourite fruit for home baking whether it's a Lemon cake, Lemon pudding or Lemon biscuits as I love their tangy flavour.  Penny gave me this simple tray bake recipe for Spiced Lemon and Walnut Bake to add to the Recipes page. I’ve tweaked her original recipe by reducing the amount of sugar and adding more cinnamon and an extra twist of lemon.

Spiced Lemon and Walnut Bake 

110g/4 oz plain flour

1 level tsp baking powder

2 level tsp ground cinnamon

1 level tsp ground nutmeg

110g/4 oz rolled oats

50g/2 oz walnuts finely chopped

175g/6 oz butter

110g/4 oz brown sugar

2 large eggs

½ tsp vanilla essence

Finely grated rind of 1 lemon

Juice of 1½ lemons

3 tbsps milk (if needed)

Preheat the oven to 180C, Mark 4, 350F. Cream the butter and sugar and beat until light. Lightly mix the eggs with vanilla essence, lemon rind and juice and beat into the creamed mixture a little at a time. Sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add the rolled oats and chopped walnuts. Fold in the flour mixture, along with the extra milk if needed to make a soft consistency. Place in a greased tin measuring approximately 25 cm x 18 cm/10 x 7 inches or a square tin approximately 20 cm/8 inches and smooth the top with a palette knife. Bake in the centre of a moderate oven for about 30-35 minutes until golden brown.

Cut into squares, triangles or fingers 
Have you got a recipe to share to keep baking traditions alive?

Competing for the best cake

Cornucopia of Cakes

I had to judge a cake competition in our local church hall recently. The theme was about showcasing all that’s great in baking and embracing the huge variety of recipes which make up our cultural identity. It's such a difficult task when every cake looks very appealing in its own way. There were cakes of all sizes and designs but in the end, I had to go for this amazing Chocolate Cake.

Winning with Chocolate Cake

Grandma used to win prizes for her baking and her recipes. Her Victoria Sandwich was a serial winner. Baking competitions are certainly making home baking popular again and the Great British Bake Off or #GBBO has made a huge contribution to this. 

Meanwhile I'm loving sharing Grandma's recipes and collecting more to build the Recipes section of Grandma's Blog. So #keepbakingalive and everyone's a winner! What's your bake this week?

Hands on in Chiswick

Get set and ready to bake

It was hands on in Chiswick when Rose asked me to give a baking lesson for her friends and members of her Boot Camp group at her home. She has an amazing kitchen with an island station which Grandma would have loved. It was perfect for everyone to gather round and join in. I baked Marmalade Spice Cake as the tangy combination of marmalade and ginger is always very popular. Everyone wanted to have a go at weighing, stirring, mixing and tasting and get some baking tips before the cake went in the oven.

Marmalade Spice Cake 

While it was cooking, I talked about the story of Grandma’s life and home baking and there were some samples of the recipes I’d made earlier from  Grandma Abson's Traditional Baking book.

I’d made all the recipes with less sugar. One of the guests commented :  ‘I came and tasted a gorgeous (not overly sweet) cake and have been reading the book and showing it to friends ever since. It’s a gold mine of fantastic recipes. You won't get this from any TV chefs and it’s a breath of fresh air. Thank you Meryl.’

Dream Cake is disappearing

Once the cakes came out of the oven, there was hardly time for them to cool before they had disappeared. Who can resist the smell and taste of home baking warm and aromatic and straight out of the oven? Having a baking lesson is fabulous idea for a party. Huge thanks to Rose for being the perfect host. Let’s get baking!

Boot Camp team photo -  traditional baking experts!