Farmersgirl Kitchen

Wednesday, 4 February 2015

Mary's Tea Time Cake for Recipe Clippings

We have finally eaten all the Christmas biscuits and the cake tin was looking rather bare, so I had a flip through one of my recipe clipping folders and came across Mary's teatime cake, a recipe from the very talented and delightful Mary Berry and published in BBC Good Food magazine.

I've made this cake before and even blogged about it, but in case you missed it the last time I thought I'd give you another chance to enjoy the recipe. I have found it to be a remarkably good recipe, works if you soak the dried fruit overnight, but also works if you soak it for a couple of hours as I did. Mary suggests Earl Grey tea for soaking, but you can use any tea you like. You can also use any combination of dried fruit you like, I had a lot of dates, so half of my loaf is dates, the rest a mix of raisins, currants and mixed dried fruit.

Mary's Tea Time Cake

350g/12oz mix dried fruit
225g/8oz soft light brown sugar
300ml/1/2 pt hot tea, made with two tea bags.
275g/10oz self-raising flour
zest of a lemon
1 large egg, beaten

1. Put the dried fruit and sugar in a bowl and pour over the hot tea.
2. Leave to soak overnight, or if you are in a hurry for two hours.
3. Heat the oven to 150C/130C fan/gas 2
4. Line a 900g/2lb loaf tin with baking parchment or use a loaf tin liner
5. Add the flour, lemon zest and beaten egg and stir with a spoon till mixed through.
6. Bake for 11/4 to 11/2 hrs or until it is well risen, firm to the touch and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
7. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to cool.
8. Peel of the baking paper or liner and serve sliced with or without butter

I'm linking up to Bake of the Week at Casa Costello

And also to my own Recipe Clippings challenge, if you have made a recipe that you have clipped from a magazine, handwritten or printed out from the internet, you can link up here or on the linked post. Full details of the Recipe Clippings blog event

An InLinkz Link-up

Labels: Bake of the Week, cake, fruit cake, Fruit Tea loaf, Mary Berry, Recipe Clippings

Sunday, 19 October 2014

Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood at BBC Good Food Show Scotland 2014

Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood

Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood were definitely the stars of the BBC Good Food Show Scotland this year. I attended the show on Friday 17th October, this was my first show in Scotland and the first time as a GFS Blogger, so let me tell you all about my experience.

Mary and Paul opening the show and at the Supertheatre

The show was opened by guess who? Yes, Mary and Paul stepped up with the giant scissors to cut the ribbon and start the show. They were also first up at the Supertheatre where they entertained the packed theatre with great recipes and the kind of banter that you have come to expect from watching The Great British Bake Off and the spin off Masterclasses.

The Showguide and Recipe Collection

I was super-impressed by the Showguide and Recipe Collection. Not only was it well laid out, with the floor plan and event timetables, featured right at the front, but it was also full of recipes featured in the shows and some extras too. There was a full A-Z listing of all the producers and a product guide which was also helpful.

The Good Food Show Bloggers

One of the real pleasures of the day was the chance to catch up with the other Good Good Show Bloggers. A special treat, and one of the main reasons I wanted to attend the show, was meeting Christina Conte of Christina's Cucina. Christina and I have been friends through Facebook but, although Christina is of Scottish/Italian descent she lives in California, so we had never met in person. Christina was visiting the show as part of a series of events including the Scottish Baking Championships and The World Porridge Making Championships Speciality Award which she won with her Sticky Toffee Pudding Porridge.

Other BBC Good Food Show Bloggers in attendance on Friday included Rachel from A wee pinch of sugar, Emma from Food and Drink Glasgow, Michelle from Ananyah, Paula from Get Stuffed, Julie from Breakfast at Julie's and Pam from Glasgow Food Geek.

Just a few of the producers at the BBC Good Food Show, Scotland clockwise from the top left Heck Food (fabulous sausages which previously featured at Farmersgirl Kitchen in some chorizo burgers I made from a Nigel Slater recipe); local to me in the SW of Scotland, Waulkmill Cider from Langholm; Seed and Bean Chocolate from Cornwall and Award winning David's Chilli Oil.

Across the top: sauces, mayonnaise, mutard chutney and relishes from Le Mesurier; The Little Veg Company, a veg box delivery company in Glasgow and the West of Scotland; Scotia Spice, authentic Punjabi Cookery School and Spice Kits and the bottom photo shows Gusto Artisan Foods purveyors of a wide range of oils and vinegars.

Once I knew I was going to the BBC Good Food Show, I was on a mission to get my 30+ year old Fast Cakes by Mary Berry signed by Queen Mary herself. Although I have been baking since I was a child, this is the book that really gave me confidence to bake and also the understanding of baking to allow me to experiment and create my own cakes and bakes.

The rules for book signings are pretty strict and only certain books could be signed. I saw one poor girl who had stood for 30 minutes turned away because she had a Bake Off Book rather than a Mary Berry book. I bought Mary's latest book, Mary Berry Cooks the Perfect, to be signed and given as a gift (that's why I'm not showing it here) and slid my old, cake batter splattered and scribbled on book underneath. I was nervous as I approached the table, wondering if I would be refused the signature. However, I need not have worried, as I handed over the new book, I explained about Fast Cakes and there was no problem at all. Mary signed and gave me a big smile, then continued working her way through the long queue.

Janice meets Paul Hollwood

After the 2.30 pm Supertheatre show, the bloggers had the opportunity to go back stage for a photo opportunity with Paul Hollywood. There was no opportunity to speak to Paul or to Mary, who was there only fleetingly, on her way to the Interview stage. I have to say I was hugely impressed by Mary Berry's stamina, she had few breaks and still looked fresh - she is the ultimate professional.

Overall it was a great day out and I can thoroughly recommend it. The Scottish show is over for this year, but there are still loads more BBC Good Food Shows that you can visit in the coming months.

Labels: BBC Good Food Show, chilli, chocolate, Christina's Cucuna, Food, Glasgow, Mary Berry, Paul Hollywood, Scotland

Thursday, 18 September 2014

Win tickets to the BBC Good Food Show Scotland

The BBC Good Food Show Scotland runs from 17 - 19 October at the SECC in Glasgow. It's going to be a fabulous show for food lovers, there's the Bakes and Cakes Village, the Supertheatre shows and interview stage featuring celebrity chefs Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry, James Martin, Ajmal Mushtaq Tom Kitchin and John Torode.

I'm also excited to introduce you to some of my foodie friends and fellow bloggers who will be demonstrating at the show:

Christina Conte of Christina's Cucina who will be coming all the way from Los Angeles
Emma Mykytyn, freelance writer and one half of Food and Drink Glasgow
Stuart Vettesse, who bakes and blogs at Cakeyboi, one of the top baking blogs in Scotland.

There will be hundreds of exhibitors and a producers village where you will discover a range of speciality food and artisan produce.

I'm going to be there on Friday 17th, as a Good Food Show Blogger, and will be reporting back on my foodie adventures at the show. If you would like to come along to the show too, then I have a couple of exciting options for you.

I have three pairs of tickets for the show (does not include Saturday or Supertheatre seats) to giveaway. Just enter the Rafflecopter Giveaway below, leave a comment and share as required

a Rafflecopter giveaway

If you want to guarantee your tickets, then I can also offer you a 20% discount until 3rd October, just use the code BL20 when you order your tickets.

Labels: discount, giveaway, Glasgow, Good Food Show Scotland, James Martin, Mary Berry, Paul Hollywood, Ticket

Monday, 13 January 2014

The Great Sport Relief Bake Off and Emma Bridgewater

Olympic cycling champion Victoria Pendleton, singer Michael Ball and actress Samantha Bond are among the celebrities competing in The Great Sport Relief Bake Off this month.

Judged by cookery writer Mary Berry and master baker Paul Hollywood, 16 celebrities will compete across four shows on BBC Two from today, Monday, 13th until Thursday16th January.
The other celebrity bakers include broadcasters Emma Freud and Johnny Vaughan, Dancing On Ice judge Jason Gardiner, and actresses Jane Horrocks and Doon Mackichan.
Also taking part are Olympic champion long-jumper Greg Rutherford and former England cricket captain Michael Vaughan.

Impressionist Alistair McGowan, former Blue Peter presenter Helen Skelton, Harry Potter actress Bonnie Wright, Desert Island Discs host Kirsty Young and singers Rochelle Humes, from The Saturdays; and Jamelia complete the line-up.

Quintessential British pottery maker Emma Bridgewater has created two limited edition aprons for Sport Relief 2014. One of the designs will be presented each night to the winner of ‘The Great Sport Relief Bake Off’ and both designs are available to buy exclusively from Sport Relief official partners, brands-for-less homeware retailer HomeSense, TK Maxx stores,TKmaxx.com and sportrelief.com throughout the UK from January 13^th 2014.

There’s been a resurgence in home baking across the nation and the apron is a great opportunity to be part of the baking movement whilst supporting a great cause.

Emma Bridgewater says: “After the success of our Emma Bridgewater range for Red Nose Day we were delighted to be asked to create something for Sport Relief 2014. Our two new aprons feature our signature black and white hand drawn design, encouraging everyone to be a sport and get involved. Whether it’s sport or baking it’s the taking part that counts – but this way everyone gets to take home a trophy.

The team at Emma Bridgewater are very passionate about Comic Relief and I know they are already looking at this year’s Sainsbury’s Sport Relief Games too… I personally quite fancy a swimming challenge.”

A spokesperson for HomeSense and TK Maxx added: “We are delighted to be working with Sport Relief and Emma Bridgewater again and supporting the good work that Comic Relief does both across the world and in the local communities where we have customers and stores.”

Since 2002, Sport Relief has raised over £195million. As one of the UK’s biggest fundraising events, Sport Relief brings the entire nation together to get active, raise cash and change lives. The money raised from the apron will be used to help transform the lives of some of the poorest and most disadvantaged people –both on your doorstep in the UK and around the world. So join in the fun and games and be sure to grab a limited edition Emma Bridgewater apron before they’re all scone!

Don’t miss out on your very own limited edition Emma Bridgewater apron and help raise money for Sport Relief 2014, from HomeSense and TKMaxx.com

Details and Prices:

£12.99 with at least £6.50 going to Sport Relief

Apron featured on ‘The Great Sport Relief Bake Off’

I was not paid for this post and am promoting it to support Sport Relief.

Labels: Apron, bake off, Emma Bridgewater, GBBO, Mary Berry, Paul Hollywood, Sport Relief, TK Maxx

Thursday, 15 December 2011

Heavenly Meringues

I do think there is something heavenly about meringues, and these ones came out particularly well, they just melted in the mouth like little sugary clouds filled with cream.

I've been using the same simple recipe for meringues for many years, it comes from Mary Berry's 'Fast Cakes' book first published in 1981 to accompany her appearances on Thames Television's After Noon Plus programme. I never saw the programme but Mary was featured in many magazines at the time. This is the book I turn to for good basic recipes for scones, traybakes, sponges and biscuits.

Basic White Meringues

4 egg whites

225g caster sugar

whipping cream

Heat the oven to 200F, 100C, gas 1/4 and ine two baking sheets with silicone paper.

Put the egg whites in a large bowl and whisk until they form soft peaks. Add the sugar, a teaspoonful at a time, whisking well after each addition, unti all the sugar has been added. Using two dessertspooons, spoon the meringue out onto the baking sheets, putting 12 meringues on each tray.

Bake in the oven for 3-4 hours until the meringues are firm and dry and will lift easily from the paper. They wshould be pale off white.

Whisk the cream until it is thick and use it to sandwich the meringues together.

Labels: cream, eggs, Fast Cakes, Mary Berry, meringues, sugar

Monday, 17 October 2011

Baked Chilli Chocolate Custards

The plan for the 'We should Cocoa' challenge was to make Chilli Chocolate Ice cream, but I forgot to put the ice cream maker bowl in the freezer soon enough, so had to find an alternative!

I had my new favourite cookbook, Supper for a Song by Tamasin Day Lewis, out on the counter from making the Pineapple Chilli Jam, so had a look to see what Tamasin had to offer in the way of choccie delights.

This recipe for Baked bitter chocolate custards was ideal for spicing up with a bit of chilli.

Baked Chilli Chocolate Custards

Serves 4

100g/3.5oz dark chocolate

4 tbsp double cream

1 tbsp freshly made strong coffee, cooled to tepid

200ml/half pint Jersey or full cream milk (I used semi-skimmed, was all I had)

4 large egg yolks

55g/2oz caster sugar

1 red chilli, desseeded and finely chopped

Preheat the oven to 150C/Gas 2.

Warm the cream gently in a pan with the chopped chilli. Remove from the heat (I have been listening to Mary Berry on the masterclass for the Great British Bake Off) chop the chocolate and add to the warm cream, as the chocolate melts stir in the coffee, then once it has all melted whisk in the milk.

Whisk the egg yolks in a separate bowl, then whisk in the sugar until the mixture is pale and creamy. Pour in the chocolate mixture and fold together using a spatula until evenly combined.

Pour the chocolate mixture into 4 ramekins, dividing it equally between them. Stand the ramekins in a roasting tin and surround with enough boiling water to come half way up the sides. Bake for about 25 minutes or until the custards have set.

Remove the ramekins from their bain marie and let the custards cool to warm before serving.

I topped it with some whipped cream. Initially I was a bit disappointed with the look of the custard, but when you break through the top...you hit the rich, gooey chocolate custard with just a hint of chilli heat. I would probably add more chilli next time, but I am definitely making these again with or without chilli.

Labels: chilli, chocolate, cream, custard, Great British Bake Off, Mary Berry, Supper for a Song, Tamasin Day-Lewis, We should Cocoa

Monday, 3 October 2011

The Great British Bake Off - Farmersgirl Bakes!

No, I'm not a contestant in the Great British Bake Off. I am sure I would crack under the pressure and probably swear, maybe even throw my cake at Paul Hollywood and tip my macaroons into Mary Berry's lap. Well, maybe I exaggerate a little, but I bake best when I have the kitchen to myself, some good music playing and permission to deviate from the recipe on a whim!

I have, however, given in and bought the book. I got it yesterday in Tesco for a tenner, I used my points vouchers which makes it feel like it cost nothing at all - result!

I thought I would honour the final of GBBO which will be shown on Tuesday 4th October by baking something from the book. I needed to make something for the Macmillan Cancer coffee morning we are having at work, it's not till Thursday so it had to be a biscuit that I could put in an airtight tin to keep.

I was taken with the shortbread recipe, which uses cornflour or rice flour as well as plain wheat flour. I didn't have any rice flour but plenty of cornflour. The recipe is for Ginger Shortbread, but I have left out the ginger because I didn't have any crystalised ginger so I just made it plain.

I make shortbread every Christmas with THIS recipe, which works well. It was interesting to see how a different recipe worked. I will try the variations from the GBBO book another time. The biscuits were easy to make and baked very evenly. Looking forward to trying more recipes from the book.

Good Luck to Holly, Jo and Mary Ann in the Final of the Great British Bake Off. You have given us some fabulous bakes, some nail biting moments and it will be strange not to join you all on a Tuesday evening.

Labels: Great British Bake Off, Macmillan Cancer, Mary Berry, Paul Hollywood, shortbread

Tuesday, 17 May 2011

A slice of cake and a visit from the Fairy Hobmother

I picked up a copy of the June BBC Good Food Magazine at the station last week and was immediately drawn to this simple recipe for a Family Fruit teabread. It comes from Mary Berry's book My Kitchen Table: 100 Cakes and Bakes by Mary Berry. I own quite a few Mary Berry books, mostly bought in the 1980s.

I have to say that I have many similar tea loaf recipes but I don't think that I've ever seen a more even looking tea loaf, it is a masterly recipe.

Here is my version of Mary's teatime cake:

350g/12oz mixture of raisins and dates (because that is what I had in the cupboard)

225g/8oz mix of light and dark muscovado sugar

300ml/1/2 pt hot Assam Tea, made with two tea bags.

275g/10oz self-raising flour

zest of a lemon

1 large egg, beaten

Put the dried fruit and sugar in a bowl and pour over the hot tea.

At this point you are supposed to leave it overnight to soak up the tea, but I didn't have time, so mine got 2 hours and was still pretty wet.

Heat the oven to 150C/130C fan/gas 2

Line a 900g/2lb loaf tin with baking parchment or one of those clever loaf tin liners you can buy from Lakeland.

Add the flour, lemon zest and beaten egg and stir iwth a spoon till mixed through. My mixture was still quite wet, so I poured it into the tin.

Bake for 11/4 to 11/2 hrs or until it is well risen, firm to the touch and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to cool.

Peel of the baking paper or liner and serve sliced with or without butter - mine didn't need any butter it was so moist and deliciously stuffed with fruit.

And so to the Fairy Hobmother, if you haven't heard of this phenomenon, then listen up! The Fairy Hobmother grants wishes to good food bloggers. She lives at Appliances Online , who sell cookers and other white goods and hangs around food blogs looking out for people to help.

I was lucky enough to be picked out for a gift from the Hobmother when I visited Choclette's Chocolate Log Blog

Here is what I got from the Fairy Hobmother, I've been eyeing it up for some time and this was just the excuse I needed. The only drawback I can see is that the writing seems tiny, however as it is a 'dipping into' book I'm hoping that that isn't going to put me off. I'll report back when I've had a proper look.

If you would like a gift from the Fairy Hobmother, leave a comment saying what it is that you would like and maybe you will get a visit.

Labels: Fairy Hobmother, Fruit Tea loaf, Mary Berry, The Flavour Thesaurus

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