Roses and Gooseberries

Having started a Garden Group for my WI, I've had to up my game in this area. I've learned a bit but of course still have miles to go. I deliberately didn't call it 'Gardening' as I thought some would be put off by this: taking pleasure in someone else's garden or in visiting a garden centre counts in my group!

I knew some time ago that the least harmful way to fight aphids on one's roses was to wipe them off with a rag and soapy water - bathe them in a manner of speaking. Up until now I've left it with Bill who sprayed them with some sort of chemical, with only moderate success. So I did the bath thing a couple of times and it's worked a treat. 

Another thing I read somewhere was to soak banana peels in water and pour this on the roses' roots. Apparently this feeds them potassium, which they crave. I've no idea if this is fact or fiction but I've done it this spring and now have loads of buds.

My roses seem to come out much later than most, but they do hang about for quite a while. I see loads of potential there and just the first few pink blooms.

Also, I kept reading that gooseberries came in June but we saw none on our two youngish gooseberry bushes, in spite of having had a small crop last year. Then one day I lifted a branch - prickly things they are - and saw a neat row of pale green berries underneath! But they were tiny, no bigger than peas. So I did some internet research and found the advice to pick alternate berries and leave the remainder to grow and ripen into July and August. So that's what I've done.

In a very old book, Every Man His Own Gardener, by John Abercrombie (published in 1782), I found the advice to prune gooseberry bushes in the shape of an umbrella. I can see how this would make everything a lot tidier, which is very useful when dealing with something as prickly as this.

I found this book at Berrington Hall a few years ago when we were down sound for Simon's wedding. I have been working at indexing my digital photos of late. This is a wonderful way to re-discover what you've done with your life, also to find new topics never before blogged about. 

A Friend's Garden

I have an American friend I met at my WI. We've managed to keep in touch throughout the pandemic and I've twice been invited to visit her in her garden. Three times if you count when she hosted our Book Group. She kindly gave permission to take this photos for this blog.

I've known where she lived for several years now, but I was stunned to realise that my back gate and hers are just about lined up through the alley that crosses the streets between us. Coming in through her back gate is like entering a magic kingdom. Perhaps I exaggerate a bit, but have a look for yourself. 

This last time it was rather drizzly and I told her I had water-proofs at the ready. She sensibly sat in her conservatory with the door open. I sat outside covered in Bill's walking gear as none of my coats are more than water resistant. We managed a good two hours before my knees were stiff and feet frozen and I took myself home. 

A south-facing garden is highly desirable here in the UK as is a double-fronted house. These odd things never crossed my mind when I came across. 

In addition to this lovely garden, her husband also keeps an allotment. I've occasionally been gifted a giant marrow or a box of red currents, so I on this visit I brought her a couple of jars of my homemade jam. All this the benefit of being a WI member!

Vegetable Tangerine

Our next WI has started having Zoom coffee mornings with a theme. The next Saturday's theme is 'Positive things that came out of the pandemic'. I'm still thinking on this, but one of them I think is that people got re-acquainted with their kitchens. I think cooking from ingredients is a vital life skill and that it is idiocy to be dependent on eating out / fast food / processed convenience foods. I almost see it as a form of slow suicide. I've noticed the older I get the less moderate my opinions.

I can't say the pandemic reintroduced me to my kitchen, but rather it reminded me I had a load of cookbooks - and acquired more - with recipes I'd never tried. I started our WI's Food Group on Facebook and the lady who agreed to take it over - I can't run everything - felt that photos were important so I've tried to take pictures. Mine are never as good as hers - my kitchen must not have the right lighting, but Bill and I have enjoyed greater variety in our meals. 

The Food Group also introduced me to some new cookbooks called A Pinch of Nom. I guess 'nom' must be the British version of 'yum'? I like these books because they have calorie counts. I'm only interested in those under 300 calories. I generally find I can make the recipes faster each time I make them and find shortcuts. For example, I make cauliflower rice in the microwave rather than adding it to the chicken and spices in a Harry Dieters Fast Food recipe. 

One of Bill's favourites is from A Pinch of Nom and it is called Vegetable Tagine. I'm still working on finding shortcuts for this, but I already have substituted potato for the parsnip and swede I didn't have; also tumeric for the saffron I'm not likely to ever have and ground cinnamon instead of sticks. Also, this recipe says to use a large frying pan on top of the stove, not the conical shaped clay dish which is also called a tagine. The first time I made it I sent Bill after a pomegranate to garnish the dish, my first ever encounter with a pomegranate. I thought it was delicious, but awfully fiddly, even with instructions from the internet. Subsequent uses of this recipe have omitted that garnish.

 I struggle to say this word, wanting to make it tan-gine and then Bill turned that into tangerine. We're pretty silly around here sometimes. I wondered how one should actually say 'tagine'. It turns out that there are two ways, a British and an American pronunciation. The British word sounds like 'ta-ching' as in money. No doubt Bill will have fun playing with that as well. I notice the American pronunciation has a softer 'g', like the French use. Doing something other than way the French speak seems to be a hallmark in British differences. 

Hearts

Our WI Craft group Zoomed in May to chat and share what each of us had made during the past month or so. Someone suggested we have a theme for what we made in June and they came up with 'hearts'.  After we all signed off, I promptly forgot all about it.

The committee for our WI decided we should join Zoom for the £12-13 a month it costs so that we didn't need to bother with the 40 minute limit. We Zoom for our regular meetings, for committee meetings, book groups and book social meetings, craft group and other chat meetings and, soon, coffee mornings. While it is true we aren't bringing in money at face to face meetings we do have a substantial financial cushion and the Zoom fee is something like 20% of the rent we paid to rent the Parish Hall.

Some email or other about booking the Zoom call reminded me about hearts and so that very Monday I sat down with my three cookie cutters (bought for crafting, not baking) and came up with lavender bags. I have about three years' worth of dried lavender from my seven or eight bushes which are growing nicely just now, but not yet in flower. Except for the French lavender which has done it's best ever this year. 

I started with some black net fabric that was in my Aunt Rita's stash. Sadly the plastic red hearts stamped on the netting stuck together after being folded for years. I liked the silver back better than the now patchy red and silver fronts. My sewing machine didn't like any of it, so I sat down to do some hand sewing. I don't care for the look of the lavender through the net, but Bill liked it.

Years ago I played around making heart and star shapes out of sheer fabric bits in my stash. My sewing machine liked this sheer fabric better, apparently (a sharp, new needle, perhaps) and I sort of got away with making these shapes. I called them 'fairy bandaids'... no comment. Anyhow, I found a couple of these and stitched them together for another lavender bag.

Finally, I tried something larger with some more solid fabrics. The back solid is a kind of textured silk I imagine Rita making a cocktail dress from. The front vintage print is in polyester. I think it was given me by one of the sewing ladies from the Linskill group and I imagine it dates back to at least the 70s if not 60s. I had to look up how to do a blanket stitch again and putting this last one together took the most time, but I think I like it the best. They all smell delicious!

The two other ladies produced hearts in a similar fashion as lavender bags, though I think theirs may have been stuffed with something else. One new person had made a great hanging of three hearts in different blue fabrics from old clothes plus some twine and a couple of sticks. Someone else had worked on a cross-stitch for their first grandchild, a girl, which had lots of hearts in it. One lady made some paper cards which employed hearts; I envy her great eye for design. And one of our very clever knitters knitted a three-dimensional snail character whose shell was in the shape of a heart. 

Our theme for next month is flowers. I'll be working on the knitted flower squares of a blanket I'm making, which is a bit boring, but I'm looking forward to seeing what the others come up with!

A Proper WI Home

I wrote earlier about wishing for fresh flowers in our house during lockdown. (And regardless of what this government decides about lifting restrictions for the sake of the economy, the fact remains that Bill and I are high risk for a bad outcome if infected and so will continue practising safety measures).

I was amused at reading this month's letter from the "Chairman" (a woman) of our WI Federation in which she wrote:

I recently discovered in a book 69 things that "No English home should be without". I have definitely got 43 of them but in the spirit of being in the WI I thought I would share 6 of them that would possibly be in every WI home: A TEAPOT, STRING, A SET OF PLAYING CARDS, BEST CHINA, SPARE BIRTHDAY CARDS AND FRESH FLOWERS."

We are invited to send suggestions about the other 63 items, which I look forward to reading about next month. I should think it would include a hat of some sort, at least one unfinished craft project, some gardening gloves, a map of the region in which they live, family photos, a pet (or mementos of a previous pet), some wellington type boots. Those are the things that just came to mind now.  I hope she'll also reveal the title of her book, as my searches on Google and Amazon (they make no money off my searches or wishlist) have not revealed it.

We have several tea pots, lots of string (and even more yarn), I have spare birthday cards, but we use our best china most days at breakfast and dinner and my playing cards are almost never used as Bill doesn't care for playing, which is sad; the paper cards are in the motor home but I still have Grandma and Grandpa's Kem cards (plastic, in a nice bakelite box; last time I looked they were worth something like £40).

My peonies have been blooming the past couple of weeks, always a glorious display. On one of our walks I spotted something vaguely like baby's breath that I thought might make a good filler. Turned out there was some on my own street never mind down at the park, so I marched out of my front gate with secateurs. 

The flowers lasted on our dining table for over a week, longer than I expected. And then one morning I came down to breakfast and Bill pointed out that we'd had an 'event', pointing to the floral arrangement. Sure enough one of the peonies had dumped its petals all at once, just like the tree in the Harry Potter film when autumn arrived. 

So I shall have to cast around to figure out something else for the next few days. I know I will get flowers on my birthday this weekend, because I gave Bill a specific list of things I wanted (steak from Nicholson's, a book about a cutting garden and a Lord Peter Wimsey novel we'd overlooked, flowers from a florist who happens to be married to our fruit and veg man and the last bottle of beaujolais wine from the Brexit stash.)

After that, if I can't figure out something from my garden or the wilds around us, I shall be calling on Pansy's in North Shields. 

What do you think are the essential items found in every proper English / Scottish / Irish / Welsh / American / Australian / etc. home?

Flowers

I'm quite ambivalent about cut flowers. I love the way they cheer up any room. I enjoy arranging and re-arranging them as they die off, finding the right sized vessel and not necessarily flower vases, in fact most often not vases. 

On the other hand, my frugal side sees them as a waste of money. I'm aware that most flowers are shipped stupid distances which makes them environmentally wasteful and some die off ridiculously quick - I find roses are the worst extravagance for this reason never mind the cost. I dream of having a cut flower garden but my softer side knows I'll shy away from cutting (killing) them even though I know they'll die in the garden eventually anyhow. 

Bill and I are both classed as 'vulnerable' to coronavirus, because he's 72 and I have asthma. We don't plan to visit any supermarkets any time soon. We've found local shops that can meet most of our needs and that we like to support. However, when this lock down first began I started thinking about what small things might make staying home more pleasurable and it made me reconsider my stance on cut flowers. They do lift my spirits and they would be unusual enough around our house that I thought they might also lift Bill's. And I was right. Only I've not found flowers on any supermarket delivery list and florists around us are all closed. 

I mentioned being sad about this at a Zoom conference of our WI Committee. A few days later my front door bell rang and there in front of my door was a bouquet of flowers. My fellow committee member, Angela, was standing at my front gate several feet away. 

L-R: Christmas poinsetta from Aldi still surviving sitting on a silicone poppy, a gift
from Vivien; red pointy glass souvenirs from a visit to Mexico in the 1980s;
 green flowers from Angela in a vase that belonged to Bill's mother, Ella; two
glass pots of lettuce stumps growing leaves behind a ruby glass goblet that belonged
 to my Mom; two of three decorative squashes I picked up to display on the front
porch last autumn (I'm amazed they  haven't rotted); more about the third squash later;
a pot containing a spider plant, confused Christmas cactus and a bit of aloe vera
(picked off a gift from one of Simon's old girlfriends), sitting on a glass brick -
one of four bought at a local salvage shop (Huscroft's in North Shields);
a fused glass ornament depicting Souter Light House in South Shields,
 a memento of a race Bill did there last year.
A lot of stuff for one window sill, I know, but we look at it a lot
while washing dishes.

I chastised her that the police might not see this as a reasonable excuse for her, but since she is a nurse and is out and about in the world anyhow, I could see why she'd feel this was permitted. Another lady on the committee said she'd had the same intent and been beaten to it. I felt very loved. I had hoped someone could tell me about a source of flowers, I certainly didn't expect to be gifted some. I won't forget that unexpected kindness soon.

We've enjoyed these flowers on our dining table for a full month now. The orange rose was the first to go. Then the hot pink ?chrysanthemums? When I moved to a smaller vase the tree foliage had to go. I couldn't get all the green whatever-they-are into the next smaller container and when I left one on the kitchen counter Bill picked it up at put it in a vase to add to the kitchen window, which I thought worked nicely. He surprises me like that sometimes. 

We are down to the last of this bouquet, some yellow and some green flowers and they are just beginning to turn brown underneath. I shall have to consult Fiona at Perennial Favourites in Blyth about what these are. She and her husband Adam talked at our WI some time in the past and I've kept in touch since, attending workshops and shopping at their Royal Quays outlet, which has since shut. We've never made it up to their nursery in Blyth but hopefully that will be on the cards one day when we are out of lock down. 

What remains now are yellow and green flowers;
sparse but still attractive. I know the orange and yellow
don't exactly go with the red and pink table cloth,
but do I care?

I see the peonies in my garden are in bud. I'm hoping I'll have the nerve to clip one or two gorgeous blooms to take inside. They'll make a real mess they make when they shed petals but I won't mind. It will remind me of the opening to Downtown Abbey, where a white petal is falling off the roses in the etched glass vase. 

[No further flower gifts required.]

Bunting

[Note: For some reason Google, who hosts this blog, has taken a disliking to my photos on some of my recent posts. I'm checking them and replacing photos, but perhaps not always in the same location, as this is fairly tedious the first time, never mind a second and I've no idea if there will be a third...]

So far as I can remember, I didn't know what bunting was before I came to Britain. Not that I never saw it before, I just didn't have that word for it. I mostly remember it being a bunch of plastic flags, all one primary colour, on used car lots. They were strung from a pole or a roof to the ground to make a person notice the cars or the sale or whatever.  I just thought of it as 'a row of flags'. I thought of bunting as something to do with babies, but I'd no idea what to do with babies - still don't. I wasn't around babies much when I was growing up, being an only child and an only grandchild on both sides until I was 12. Surely 'baby bunting' isn't just this bunting in baby fabrics hung in a nursery? I thought it was some old-fashioned kind of swaddling or diapering or something. Anyhow.

I've been making some bunting for our WI's 10th birthday party in June. Not that we are likely to celebrate it in June, but we'll celebrate it someday.  I may or may not be there. Oh, I'm planning on being alive, but I don't really fancy returning to 'normal' life until they find a good treatment for this Covid-19, better yet, a vaccine. I doubt I can tie Bill down until a vaccine emerges, however. But enough of that stuff that never goes away.

Bunting. It's not too hard to make, depending upon how fancy you want it. Mine involved dinking around with a 1" strip of fabric folded into quarters, for the binding the flags would be hanging from. I used tons of pins and still got some steam burns, but none that blistered. 

I have a tape maker somewhere, a gadget that is supposed to magically produce bias binding. However, I  never succeeded in even getting the fabric inserted, so felt it a was of money. 

Then I tried a trick I saw on Youtube countless times, where you put a long needle into your ironing board cover and run the strips under it. That worked a lot easier than pinning. Then Bill suggested I make a video, which I did with his help - two of them. About as amateur as you can imagine. Not to mention my 90-year-old hands, due to baking in the sun for 40 years (hands on steering wheels get all the wrinkle making rays). He also suggested the second one, showing how to put the needle in. Seemed obvious to me, but I humoured him.

I finally worked out ot bring the two edges together in the middle before they went under the needle, then to use the weight of the iron back before the un-pressed section, to help me pull it all tight. That made the ends lie down to be pressed and it all went much faster after that.

I made my first flags with opposites sides in complementary colours (opposite side of the colour wheel) just to have a system. Those went in the centre of my binding. Then I made a diagram on an envelope and selected pairings of colours so that nothing would repeat very close on each side, in colour or at least in pattern.  No idea if that makes sense. I tried to use the whole rainbow, including lighter shades but not including neutrals. 

Me trying to figure out how to control the fabric, also to get the cameraman
to not burn himself and not block my sight.

It makes a big mess having all those colours out at once! But then I always make a big mess when I sew. Hope to make a few more sets of bunting and then move on to something else. I'll let you know how that goes.

Placing the needle was far easier without the first time, without an audience!

Enjoy the videos (good for a laugh if nothing else). I'll never take a slick production for granted again!

"Not Just Jam and Jerusalem"

That's what they always seem to say about the modern day Women's Institute.  I've always thought "What's so bad about jam...or Jerusalem for that matter?" Other than it is impossible for me to sing and I think William Blake was crackers.  

For Americans reading here, Jerusalem is a hymn, the words of which were written by Blake. The first line is "And did those feet in ancient times walk upon England's mountains green", referring to Jesus having possibly visited England. See what I mean? It's got a nice tune though and a room full of women singing is often quite majestic. There is a fun part about a chariot of fire and a sword in there. My favourite line is the last part about "England's green and pleasant land" which is absolutely true. But our WI doesn't sing Jerusalem at our meetings.

So what is the Women's Institute you might ask? For the moment, look it up in Wikipedia. Or visit their national website. If one day you might have access to Lucy Worsley's programmes, which are excellent, she did one called Cake Bakers and Trouble Makers. There seems to be some cross over between the Suffragettes and the Women's Institute in that they both rose to fame in Britain around the time of WWI. But enough of history.

Blackberry Jam and Apple Brandy Ginger Jam

What I really want to talk about is jam. My jam. My homemade jam. Although we did get a jam making demonstration some years ago, I never really got into jam making. I figured I wouldn't be able to do it 'right' and all that worry about it setting properly was too much of a headache.

At some point I wanted to find information about gardening in a location with similar weather to ours up here in Tyneside. Seems like most gardeners are down south, like most of the people in Britain, and it's not the same weather at all. I don't know if I was right in picking Seattle, Washington as a similar location but I grew to love the blog northwest edible life. And when she wrote about pectin free jam, I had to try it. She doesn't write much for the general public, I guess all of her new stuff is for Patreon subscribers or maybe she's retired on the proceeds of her book The Hands-On Home - A Seasonal Guide to cooking, preserving and natural homekeeping, by Erica Strauss. Of which I have a copy.

Strawberry Ginger Jam and Cinnamon Apple Rum Jam

I've pulled it out the last couple of autumn's when we started foraging and when my friends with apple trees shared their bounty. Anyhow, inspired by Erica's pectin-free recipe and even more by her dry zingers (spices) and wet zingers (alcohol/liqueurs) I started experimenting. Instead of using pectic she simmers the liquid out of the fruit until it is a jam-ish consistency or thereabouts. It's a lot more fun than the serious jam making you read about elsewhere.

Crabby Lime Chutney/Marmalade, Elder Apple Jelly, Blackberry jam

We've had cereal for breakfast for years but this winter switched to porridge and when it looked like spring was coming Bill decided to get out the bread maker; my scales have nagged me ever since. But we've been working our way through my home made jams. I gave away a lot of it at Christmas and we've gone through a few jars. However, I have a jar of home made pectin (from crab apples) yet and I may have some more fruit in the freezer. If not, I have quite a bit of tinned fruit and alcohol soaked fruits from my damson gin and blackberry whiskey Christmas gifts. Also some gifts from Vivien in the form of alcohol soaked fruits. I'm torn between getting ice cream to eat them over and turning them into jam. We'll see how it goes. And there is a load of sea buck thorn juice in the freezer. That's probably another post altogether.

I can't tell you how much satisfaction I get each morning, eating jam I made on bread Bill made.  I highly recommend having your own go at jam...and you could always learn to sing Jerusalem as well.

Rudolph's Cousin

I was going to tell you about a wire bird I made but then when trying explain why on earth I would bother I realised I never told you about Rupert (apologies to Vivien's brother). The WI Federation offered a class in making a willow reindeer back in November and for some reason I bit. I think because of willow being a natural material I didn't feel so bad about using it to craft something useless. Obviously such noble reasoning went out the window concerning the bird, but that's another post.

I took a series of pictures thinking I would remember how to do all this and maybe make some more. That's not going to happen and I'll tell you why later. 

First you have a heavy board with holes at the corners to pack in a bunch of willow sticks. We had to really pack these in so they wouldn't have room to spring back out. The 'ankles' were then secured with plastic cable ties (so much for natural materials).

We were given the technical names for parts of said sticks (but it wasn't called a stick). I remember the thick end is the 'butt' and the skinny end is the 'tip' and there is a name for the bendy bit in the middle, but it's escaped me. That's what comes of writing four months late. It has a natural bend that you have to work with, I remember that much. Also that it has to be kept damp so that it remains flexible.

Then you pull some strands across to form the beginnings of a body. And then make some circles or rings, wrapping the tip around the circle to secure it. Those circles go inside the frame of the body.

Then you make some smaller circles that are put together in such a way as to make a sphere. That forms the basis of the face.

Then you deal with the back end and the chest, just generally filling them in.

I think it was about here that the woman in front of me declared that her hands were swelling and she was having an allergic reaction to the willow. She'd told me earlier she was a bit concerned whether this might happen, as she is allergic to Christmas trees. I was thinking about all the work during the holidays she was able to avoid, unless of course the family agreed to a fake tree; but then one could simply develop an allergy to that. And on this day the instructor kindly came over and finished her reindeer for her. I was rather tired by then and quite envious of this woman's allergy. I was thinking I must remember to get one of those myself. Now, I'm not saying I don't believe people have allergies to things, only that she didn't seem to display any of the usual symptoms and my hands were equally as red as hers.

I can't tell you which end this is - they look remarkably similar so I've not shared the other photo.

Make some triangular shapes for the ears and tail. The left over bits not used for the face or chest become antlers (of a sort - I think you have to use your imagination there).

The most perverse part, I thought, was that you get all this work done and then you have to clip away the front bit of the face (talk about nervous!) in order to stick in a red pine cone for the nose. And of course add the red bow.

The most interesting part of the class, other than the revelation of the construction techniques, was when the instructor was chatting and telling that they had a farm where they grew their own willow - and sheep. It sounded rather idyllic until the reality of all that work dawned on me.

So, Rupert took about four hours to make. He'll not be getting any siblings because this is terrifically hard on the hands, not to mention you can't do this sitting in a comfortable chair. I felt as though the skin had been stripped off, though I had no real injuries to speak of. I did give myself a few stinging slaps in the face with the tips of willow and that wasn't very pleasant either.

He went on display in the front garden as part of the Christmas decorations. We tried to place him so that he was seen by occupants of the house but not necessarily by every passer-by. I expect I was flattering myself about the risk of theft. I wouldn't so much have grieved the loss of Rupert, poor guy, so much as the hard work (and £60) that went into making him. I must remember to 'paint' him with a mixture of linseed oil and turpentine before he goes outside again. 

So, Rupert will have to be an only child. After all, it hasn't done me any harm.

100 Years of Food - 2018

This is the final post in this series about a Centenary celebration event held at the Northumberland Federation of the Women's Institute back in September 2018 (can I string these things out or what?).

Sue and Dorothy figured that the phrase 'Eat the Rainbow' is the biggest 'fad' of today, that is being more aware of the nutritional value in food and of the public health push for '5 a Day'. 

She made us a lovely vegetable salad with 'oak leaf' lettuce she had grown herself (green at the base but red on the tips), spinach leaves, water cress, chopped fennel, raw julienne-cut beetroot, baby corn, French breakfast radishes (mild), asparagus (cooked 2 minutes then plunged into ice water), orange and yellow bell peppers and "bell drop" cherry tomatoes. The dressing was made with pomegranate in two parts walnut oil to one part white vinegar, salt & pepper. On top of the salad were pan fried skinless salmon steaks.

As you know, after watching all this astonishing cookery / lecture, we were treated to lunch. In addition to the dishes I've described, we also had two kinds of homemade bread on offer along with with two flavours of butter (lemon and parsley, chive and parmesan). There was enough of each dish to get at least a generous spoonful of each, sometimes more. 

I thought it was excellent value for money and will look forward to any other presentations or feasts they offer.

Spice Cake

Last week (OK, last month now) we had our autumn Coastal meeting, a gathering of the WI's that are generally in the area near the coast. It was our turn to provide refreshments. We were asked to provide short bread, mince pies and fruit cake, traditional Christmas fare. Home baked goods were welcome but our President took the view that most of us were too busy and decided to provide store-bought goods. I didn't mind, but decided I would bring my fall back Christmas cake: spice cake.

To my amazement, two ladies from other WIs and a friend from our own asked me for the recipe, going on about how much they liked it. I was sure I'd typed it up for a blog post at some point, but I couldn't find it anywhere. So here is my email to them, sent the next day before I forgot. I try never to say I'll do something and then not do it.

Ladies - 

I'm sending you the spice cake recipe as promised. I hope it makes sense (I don't really follow the recipe). I'm really flattered you liked my cake. I don't consider myself much of a baker but I do enjoy having a go now and then.

Zucchini Spice Cake
Betty Crocker's Cookbook, 1987

2 cups all-purpose flour*
2 cups finely chopped zucchini (about 3 medium)
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 cup chopped nuts
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup water
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs

Heat oven to 350 F (180 C). Grease and flour rectangular pan 13x9x2 inches. Beat all ingredients on low speed, scraping bowl constantly, until blended, about 1 minute. Beat on medium speed, scraping bowl occasionally, 2 minutes.

Pour into pan.

Bake until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, 45-50 minutes. Frost with Cream Cheese Frosting if desired.

15 servings; 265 calories per serving.

*If using self-raising flour, decrease baking soda to 1/2 teaspoon and omit salt.

---------------------------------------

That's the official recipe, but I've never followed it. I find it is quite a flexible and forgiving cake. For example, I've never made it with zucchini / courgettes, always with pureed fruit. I save my elderly-but-not-spoiled fruit in the freezer and make a large batch of these cakes as Christmas presents. Last night's cake only had one cup of sugar and no nuts. It had two large eggs and a heaping tablespoon of soya flour and a tablespoon of water to substitute for the third egg. I used a 9x9x2 inch pan and cooked the cake in my fan oven for 45 minutes, then for another 10 minutes when the initial toothpick came out wet.

Last night's cake had 1 3/4 cups of pureed cooking apples (fresh from a friend's tree) with the remainder of the 2 cups made up with pureed banana (out of my fruit bowl, not the freezer). I just use a stick blender on finely chopped fruit. I've used every kind of fresh, frozen or tinned fruit over the years. I think it is the spices that make this cake what it is, that and the high moisture content.

In addition to substituting soya flour and water for eggs (some of my cakes have had no eggs at all), you can substitute up to half the fat in most baking recipes with pureed fruit, making them a bit healthier. I never put nuts in my cakes, but sometimes substitute a cup of raisins. Nuts are expensive and not everyone likes them - or raisins for that matter. If I happen to have some fruit juice I have been known to substitute that for the water. These cakes freeze well, though of course warm from the oven is best. I normally sprinkle the top with icing sugar, I don't have much of a sweet tooth myself, but last night's cake was bare as I ran short of time. 

I've never used a mixer for these cakes, I just stir the ingredients with a fork, generally, making sure it's all well mixed. I'm sure that if one followed all the directions to the letter it would be a miraculous creation, but that's not what was served last night.

Hope your cakes turn out well!

NB*-:  Remembering that a friend was counting calories last I saw her, I calculated the number in the cake I made her for Christmas. Half of this recipe plus about a teaspoon of icing sugar came to 1372 calories.