Long Distance Tea for Two

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baking, Blog, Books, Cape Town, Clifton Kitchen, Devonshire Honey Cake, Entertainment, food, Hi tea, honey, Lifestyle, Photography, Photos, recipes, tea, Travel, travel Writing, Writing

My long distance correspondent Harold Boardman sent me this delicious recipe for an easy to make cake. It is wonderfully moist, fragrant with honey and just perfect for a chilly afternoon tea, or if you prefer, serve it warm with some custard and you have a lovely dessert.

The cakes flavour can be mild or strong depending on the type of honey you use for the final glaze.

Hi Kate,

I may have mentioned I don’t do baking but this recipe is so simple I had a go earlier with average results!! In the hands of an expert like your good self it will probably taste excellent – hope you try it and mention it in your blog !!

Harold.

Thank you Harold, I love the cake and I am enjoying it with my tea.

Devonshire Honey Cake

Ingredients

250g clear honey, plus about 2 tbsp. extra to glaze

225g unsalted butter

100g dark muscovado sugar

3 large eggs beaten

300g self-raising flour

Method

Preheat the oven to 160C/gas 3/or fan oven fan 140C.

Butter and line a 20cm round loose bottomed cake tin.

Cut the butter into pieces and drop into a medium pan with the honey and sugar. Melt slowly over a low heat. When the mixture looks quite liquid, increase the heat under the pan and boil for about one minute. Leave to cool for 15-20 minutes, to prevent the eggs cooking when they are mixed in.

Beat the eggs into the melted honey mixture using a wooden spoon. Sift the flour into a large bowl and pour in the egg and honey mixture, beating until you have a smooth, quite runny batter.

Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 50 minutes-1 hour until the cake is well-risen, golden brown and springs back when pressed. A skewer pushed into the centre of the cake should come out clean.

Turn the cake out on a wire rack. Warm 2 tablespoons honey in a small pan and brush over the top of the cake to give a sticky glaze, then leave to cool. Keeps for 4-5 days wrapped, in an airtight tin.

Restocking the Pantry & Home-made Mustard to make

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Cape Town, cloves, Cook Books, cooking, Food Blogs, Food Writing, Herbs, Home made mustards. Mustard, honey, horseradish, Lifestyle, Mustard seeds, News, Photography, recipes, Spices, tarragon, Travel

On my schedule for today is the annual pantry clean-up; a laborious but necessary task which entails removing everything in stock, washing down shelves, inspecting expiry dates, repackaging and relabeling and then drawing up a list of goods to be replaced.

I usually do an herb and spice inspection every 3-6 months. Ground spices tend to lose their nutritional value and fragrance after about 3 months. Whole spices may last up to a year, some slightly more depending on where you purchase them from. It is obviously best to by spices from outlets which have a fast turnover that way you are more assured of the freshness of the product. The same goes for dried herbs; they will lose their fragrance and start to smell like old tea after 3 months.

A few packets of mustard seeds are not far from the expiry date, so they will be turned into some mustard, some for the kitchen and some for friends. So there is even more to do than planned.

With a good job done I am now hungry. Lunch is simple but delicious, a seasonal affair. Blanched tender stem broccoli and green beans, refreshed under cold water, drained and tossed into simple vinaigrette of garlic, Dijon mustard, red wine vinegar, olive oil, seasoned with sea salt flakes and black pepper. Add to this some crumbled crispy bacon, goats milk feta, pitted olives and voila! – Lunch is served.

This basic mustard recipe is reliable and may be varied by adding differ herbs and spices to produce different flavoured mustards. Quantities are very important, weigh and measure every ingredient exactly.

Basic Mustard & Variations

Ingredients

50 g white or brown mustard seed

30 g black mustard seed

50 g light brown sugar

5 ml salt

5 ml turmeric

60 ml finely chopped fresh herbs, or 5 ml dried herbs

200 ml grape vinegar

Method

Place all the dry ingredients, and the herbs in a blender, blend until fine. Slowly add the vinegar, about a tablespoon at a time and continue blending until you have a coarse paste. Let the mixture stand for about 10 minutes to thicken.

Place the mixture into sterilized jars and seal. Label jars accordingly.

Keep the mustard in a cool dark place for about 2 weeks to allow the flavours to develop.

Variations

This recipe lends itself to endless variations. You can flavour the mustard with any of the following ingredients.

Clove mustard: add the tip of a knife of ground cloves

Chilli & garlic mustard: add 1 dried chilli crumbled, and 1 clove of crushed garlic

Horseradish mustard: depending on how hot you want your mustard, add ½ teaspoon to 1 tablespoon of grated horseradish

Tarragon mustard: add 60ml finely chopped tarragon and a touch of ground cloves

Honey mustard: use 50ml honey in place of the brown sugar referred to in the recipe.

Seed, Date & Raisin Loaf

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baking, Blogging News, Books, Bread, Bushmans Kloof Wilderness Reserve, dates, Food Blogs, health breads, honey, Life, raisins, recipes, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, Travel, Writing

My trip to the Cederberg mountains  and Bushmanskloof Wilderness Reserve was wonderful. Everywhere you looked there were carpets, and carpets of the most beautiful display of wild flowers, the rock formation of the mountains were equally breath taking (see pictures below recipe).  And today is Sunday, the weather has closed in once again and it is pouring with rain, so I am heading for the kitchen to make bread and to try out a new chicken liver pate idea as well as start the oxtail for tomorrow evenings dinner menu.

The bread is dead easy to make, is also wonderfully healthy and stays fresh for a week if it lasts that long. It also makes excellent toast.

You will need two bowls in which to place dry ingredients A and the wet ingredients B. you will also need a 1 litre capacity bread tin rubbed with butter and dusted with flour.

Set oven temperature to 180C

Ingredients A

250g whole wheat flour

100g oats

75 g shelled sunflower seeds

50 g All bran flakes

50 g seedless raisins finely chopped

50 g sesame seeds

50 g wheat germ

50 g cornflower

50 g dates, pips removed and finely chopped

Ingredients B

500 ml Bulgarian yoghurt

3 tablespoons sunflower or olive oil

3 tablespoons honey

1 tsp. bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp. sea salt

2 tablespoons molasses

Method

Mix all the ingredients listed under A together and in a separate bowl all the ingredients listed under B. Add part B to part A and mix through well. Put the mixture into the bread tin and sprinkle the top with a little sunflower and sesame seeds.

Place the bread into the oven set to 180C and bake for 20 minutes. Reduce the heat to 150C and bake for a further 1/12 hours. Remove from oven and leave to cool in the tin before turning out.

This loaf cuts best when using a seated knife.

 

Bushmans Kloof Wilderness Reserve