Wake up the taste buds with Lemon and Ginger Loaf

Lemon and Ginger Loaf

Here’s a recipe from Grandma to put a spring in our steps with a brilliant flavour combination. Lemon and ginger are well known old fashioned remedies to uplift our mood and banish the blues. It’s a perfect companion with an afternoon pot of tea or coffee and goes down superbly with my favourite Lemon and Ginger tea infusion.

Lemon and Ginger Loaf

110g/4 oz butter

175g/6 oz caster sugar

Grated zest of 2 lemons

2 eggs (beaten)

175g/6 oz self raising flour

2 tsp ground ginger

Milk to mix

Crystallised ginger

25g/1 oz granulated sugar

Juice of 1 lemon

Pre heat the oven to Mark 4, 350F, 180C. Grease a 1kg/2lb loaf tin.  Cream the butter, caster sugar and lemon zest until pale and fluffy. Gradually beat in the eggs. Mix in the flour and the ginger. Add a little milk to soften the mixture so it drops off the spoon.  Put the mixture in the loaf tin and smooth the top. Decorate the top with pieces of Crystallised ginger. Bake in a moderate oven for 45 minutes until risen and firm on top. 

For the topping

Prepare the lemon syrup by heating the lemon juice and granulated sugar until the sugar is dissolved. Once the cake is out of the oven, pierce the top with a cake skewer and pour over the lemon syrup. Leave the cake in the tin until cool.

Meryl’s tip :  Wrap the remaining lemon in clingfilm and it will keep in the fridge for a few days to use in cooking or baking. Or squeeze the lemon juice and freeze until required.

‘Ello to Yorkshire Brack

Yorkshire Brack

We’re very proud of our Yorkshire heritage, especially where food is concerned. When I went to talk to a local group about Grandma’s baking, Barrie proudly gave me his Yorkshire Brack tea loaf recipe. Although I am a Yorkshire lass, I hadn’t come across this recipe before. I’ve amended it slightly by reducing the amount of sugar and adding a little lemon juice to the mixture. There’s no fat in this tea loaf and it keeps well for a few days – that’s if you can resist it.

Yorkshire Brack

150 ml/¼ pint hot tea (preferably Yorkshire Tea *)

225g/8oz sultanas

110g/4 oz raisins

110g/4 oz currants

50g/mixed peel

75g/3 oz demerara sugar

1 egg

225g/8oz self raising flour

 1 tbsp lemon juice

Mix together the dried fruit and sugar and soak in the hot tea. Cover and leave overnight so the fruit becomes plump. Add the egg to the mixture and beat well. Stir in the flour. Line a ½ kg/1lb loaf tin. Put the mixture into the tin and bake in a preheated oven 160 C, 325 F, Mark 3 for about 1½ to 1¾ hours. 

Meryl says : *To make this loaf, it does taste best when the fruit is soaked in Yorkshire Tea of course but you can get a different flavour if you use Assam or Earl Grey teas.

Barrie told me that his wife had sadly died a couple of years previously and that she was a great cook. He’d decided to start baking. He had picked up his wife’s Bero recipe book and was working his way through it but this is his favourite recipe. Serve as a teabread with lashings of butter. 

Many thanks to Barrie for sharing his recipe – have you got a recipe to share? 

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?

Clementine and Ginger Cake

Clementine and Ginger Cake

It’s good to start off the New Year with a healthy recipe and this year I’ve created a cake with 5 clementines, based on Grandma's popular Marmalade Spice Cake. 

What you need 

5 clementines (sliced thinly and horizontally)

4 oz/100g granulated sugar

250 ml boiling water

8 oz/225g self raising flour

3 oz/75g butter

5 oz/150g marmalade

6 oz/175g golden syrup

2 tsps ginger

1 tsp cinnamon

2 tbsps hot water

1 egg (beaten) 

How to bake it

Dissolve the sugar in the water in a large flat pan (e.g. skillet or frying pan) until it forms a syrup. Add the sliced clementines and simmer until tender (about 5 minutes).  Allow to cool. Preheat the oven to 170 C (150C Fan), 325F, Mark 3. Grease and line an 8 inch/ 20cms cake tin. Arrange the clementine slices on the bottom of the tin. Melt the butter in the golden syrup in another pan. Mix the flour, ginger and cinnamon. Add the liquid from the pan gradually. Add the marmalade and beaten egg and stir in the hot water. Bake in a warm oven for about 50-55 minutes.

Meryl’s tip :  This is a naturally moist cake so use a cake tester to check the cake is fully baked.  It’s really an upside down cake. 

It's a scrumptious cake to kick start a New Year. Have a very Happy New Year #baking. Let me know if you have a recipe to share and what you think about Clementine and Ginger Cake. 

Winning ways with Mincemeat Cake

This is a great recipe for a lighter fruit cake at Christmas which I’ve based on one of Grandma’s Family Fruit cake recipes. You can make it in a 8 inch/20 cms round tin.  I’ve given the quantities below to make a loaf cake in 1kg/2lb loaf tin too. 

 Grandma’s recipe for homemade Mincemeat

Mincemeat Cake

For 8 inch/20 cms round tin

4 oz/110g butter 

4oz/110g soft brown sugar

2 eggs (beaten)

10oz/275g mincemeat (you can add 2 oz/50g more dried fruits  e.g. cranberries or apricots)

8oz/225g self raising flour (or a mixture of self raising and whole wheat flour to give a denser texture)

4-5 tbsps milk

To decorate : blanched almonds, brazil nuts or walnuts as you prefer

Apricot jam to glaze  

For 1 x 2lb/1kg loaf tin use

6 oz/150g butter 

6oz/150g soft brown sugar

3 eggs (beaten)

12oz/340g mincemeat (you can add 3 oz/75g more dried fruits e.g. cranberries or apricots)

10oz/275g self raising flour (or a mixture of self raising and whole wheat flour)

5-6 tbsps milk

To decorate : blanched almonds, brazil nuts or walnuts as you prefer

Apricot jam to glaze  

Preheat the oven to 160C/325F/Mark 3. Grease and line the cake tin with baking paper. Cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs gradually and then stir in the mincemeat and flour. Add enough milk to give a moist mixture. Decorate the top with nuts. Bake in the oven for about 1 to 1 ½ hours. Allow to cool slightly for 15 minutes then brush the top with the apricot glaze.

This cake keeps well for 7 to 10 days in an airtight tin. It’s always a winner! 

Christmas homemade gifts to impress

Meryl at Floral Media

Getting ready for the festive period by making homemade Christmas treats is great fun. This was the morning’s agenda at Floral Media recently when I showed how Grandma’s traditional recipes made impressive gifts for family and friends for not much money and not too much time and effort. And during the morning there was chance to taste the recipes. One of the participants said it was like ‘tasting heaven’! 

We started off with Cranberry& Apple Chutney 

Mincemeat in jars with attractive covers and ribbons

 

A Christmas cake tin contains Boxing Day Cake, a lighter cake with dates and honey and an alternative to Christmas Cake.

Pretty gift bags with Coconut Macaroons, MincePies, and Oat and Ginger biscuits. 

Shortbread stores well in a pretty tin.

Fill gift boxes with Peppermint Creams

Dip Almond Balls made from left over Almond Paste in melted chocolate 

Many thanks to Paula and Steven for such a warm welcome to this wonderful venue in Caunton, Newark UK. And an extra thank you to Steven for his fantastic support as sous chef!  

Don’t forget to tell me about home made edible Christmas gifts you've made. Happy Christmas baking!

Orange and Cinnamon take the biscuit

 Orange and Cinnamon Biscuits

Grandma always made the most of spices to enhance the flavour and reduce the sugar. Cinnamon is one of those very useful spices as it adds flavour to both sweet and savoury dishes and it’s even said to have a beneficial effect on your health by reducing blood pressure.

Here's a family recipe from Gill. These biscuits are very easy to bake and tick all the boxes for aroma and taste with orange and cinnamon. 

Orange and Cinnamon Biscuits

2 tsps cinnamon

8oz/225g self raising flour

4oz/110g butter

1 tbsp honey

1 tbsp golden syrup

1oz/25g soft brown sugar

1 egg beaten

Zest and juice of 1 orange

Sift the flour into a bowl and mix in the cinnamon. Melt the butter, honey, golden syrup in a pan with the sugar. Allow to cool slightly and then add this to the flour. Add the beaten egg and then the orange zest and juice. Mix well to combine. Place small teaspoonfuls of the mixture on baking trays about 5 cms/2 inches apart. Bake in a preheated oven  180C/Mark 4/350F for 10-12 minutes until brown at the edges. The mixture makes around 30 biscuits.

Meryl’s tip : These biscuits are very tempting but if you leave them to cool the flavour of the orange and cinnamon intensifies even more. Let me know what you think.

No bobbing about for Toffee Apple Cake

Toffee Apple Cake

With the nights drawing in, I've been thinking about Autumn recipes. What about a Toffee Apple Cake? I created this easy recipe based on Grandma’s recipes. It's a great treat for Halloween or Bonfire Night and a scrumptious cake for Apple Day on 21 October.

Toffee Apple Cake

175g/6 oz caster sugar

2 tbs water

2 large or 3 small apples (peeled, cored and thinly sliced)

1 orange (zest and juice)

2 tsps cinnamon

225g/8oz butter

300g/11 oz soft brown sugar

3 eggs (beaten)

175g/6oz self raising flour (sifted)

½ tsp baking powder

Line a 20cms/8 inch cake tin with a cake liner or greaseproof paper. Preheat the oven to 180C (160C Fan)/350F/Mark 4. Place the caster sugar and water in a pan over a high heat and cook until the sugar has melted and is turning light brown – do not stir. Pour the mixture into the cake tin to cover the base. 

Arrange the apple slices on top of this and sprinkle with the cinnamon and half of the orange zest. 

Cream 175g/6oz butter, 175g/6oz soft brown sugar in a bowl and add the eggs gradually. Then stir in the flour and baking powder, orange juice of half the orange and remaining orange zest. Spread this mixture over the apples and bake for around 45 -50 minutes. 

Turn the cake out onto a cooling rack and allow to cool.  Melt the remaining butter and soft brown sugar in a pan, and whisk in the remaining orange juice.  Pour the mixture over the top of the apples and allow to cool.

Meryl's tip :  Serve with crème fraiche, cream, ice cream or custard. 

I hope you like my Toffee Apple Cake. 

Let me know what you think? 

Grandma’s healthy baking options

Mens sana in corpore sano

There’s no way that I would claim to be a healthy eating expert but Grandma did leave us sound advice about eating healthily.  I did a talk the other week for a Patients’ Participation group at a local GPs practice. Since using less sugar is the advice today, it’s worth remembering that Grandma often enhanced the flavour of her baking with natural spices. She would use much less sugar than many modern recipes. Here’s a recipe where you could leave the sugar out altogether as the dried fruit and spices create a tasty cake.

Wholemeal Farmhouse Loaf

4 oz/110g self raising flour

4 oz/110g wholemeal flour

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp cinnamon

2 oz/50g soft brown sugar (optional)

4 oz/110g butter

2 eggs

5 tbsps milk

12 oz/340g mixed dried fruit (e.g. sultanas, raisins, currants)

Sift the flours into a bowl with the spices.  Add the sugar (optional). Rub in the fat until the mixture has a crumbly consistency. You can do this in a food mixer. Beat the eggs and milk together, add to the bowl and mix well. Then add the dried fruit, using a little more milk if necessary to give a fairly soft consistency. Put into a well greased 1lb/450g loaf tin. Bake in a preheated moderate oven at 180C (Fan Oven 160C), Mark 4, 350F for approximately 1 to 1¼ hours.

Meryl’s tip : This is a very easy recipe which can be served on its own or as a teabread with butter. It makes a great snack and keeps well.

Back at the  Patients’ group, I talked about how Grandma had baked in times of shortage. I showed them food charts from times of rationing and the poster campaigns to Dig for Victory when foods were often hard to come by. Grandma always used gluts of fruit and vegetables in season to make succulent jams and chutneys as well as fruit pies (no added sugar) and puddings. 

I’ve been trying out more recipes for cakes and biscuits with reduced sugar content. Here are some ideas :

 Kathleen's Apple and Nut Tealoaf

Spiced Lemon and WalnutBake

 Home made mincemeat

Be sweetwithout the sugar

And, as the Latin poet Juvenal said ‘mens sana in corpore sano’ – sharing a cup of tea and a piece of homemade cake is therapy itself. The group agreed we should enjoy a homemade treat now and again - it's the portion size which matters! What do you think?

My favourite Apricot Jam

Out of all the jams I’ve ever made, my favourite is homemade Apricot Jam. It’s such a useful jam as a glaze or seal between layers of cakes. Now we get apricots on the local market in summer, I can’t resist buying enough to make a few pots. Here’s Grandma’s easy recipe and it sets well. I made this batch in under an hour.  

Apricot Jam

 Approximately 1 lb (450g) (caster or jam) sugar

1 tbsp lemon juice 

¼ pint water for each 1lb (450g) of fruit.

 Wash the fruit, remove the stones and cut into quarters. Crack open about 3-4 of the stones to remove the kernels. Blanch these in a small pan of boiling water for about 2 minutes. Place the fruit, blanched kernels, lemon juice and water in a jam pan or a large heavy saucepan. Simmer for approximately 20 minutes, or until the apricots are softening. Remove the kernels with a slotted spoon, once they have risen to the surface. Add the sugar and continue to heat gently, stirring until it has dissolved. Add a knob of butter and boil for about 15 minutes. Test for setting. Leave to cool for around 30 minutes then pot into sterilised jars and cover.

I’m always inspired by the vast array of jams which my friend Laurent at Mille et une confitures in Chinon makes. His family have a long tradition of jam making for over 40 years.  Have you got a family favourite jam recipe to share?