Category Archives: afternoon tea

An author’s life (part 4) : country baking through the seasons – oh, and writing of course!

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Photo by Marta Dzedyshko on Pexels.com

If you’ve been following my seasonal series on using my lunch break from my laptop to bake something delicious and comforting, you’ll know that my summer bake is often my Chocolate Fudge Cake, so easy to make and so moreish the cake won’t last long! I don’t know why I feel that summer deserves chocolate (melting properties!), except that any season is the season for chocolate, isn’t it?

Chocolate Fudge Cake

So delicious and scrumptious with coffee or with tea. It’s rich, moist, and fudge-y with a gorgeous chocolate ganache. You can even have it as a pudding with fresh cream poured over a slice.

You’ll need:

200 g. (8 oz.) butter, cubed

200 g. (8 oz.) light muscovado sugar

125 g. (4.5 oz.) self-raising flour

125 g. (4.5 oz.) plain flour

3 large eggs

200 g. (8 oz.) good-quality dark chocolate, chopped (min 70% cocoa solids)

25 g. (1 oz.) cocoa powder

100ml (3.5 fl. oz.) water

75ml (3 fl. oz.) crème fraiche

For the buttercream filling:

50 g. (2 oz.) good quality dark chocolate

100 g. (4 oz.) butter, softened

200 g. (8 oz.) icing sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

A little milk

For the chocolate ganache:

150 ml. (5 fl. oz.) double cream

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. butter

150 g. (6 oz.) dark chocolate

Chocolate shavings to decorate if desired

Preheat the oven to 170ºC, 335ºF/gas mark 3. Grease and line with baking parchment/greaseproof paper, two 20-m. (8-in.) deep sandwich tins. Melt chocolate, butter, and water in a pan over low heat until smooth. Set aside to cool. Sift flours and cocoa powder into a bowl and stir in the sugars. Beat the eggs and crème fraiche together until smooth, then beat in the chocolate mixture. Fold in the flour mixture. Divide the mixture between the two cake tins and gently level the tops. Bake in the oven for about 35–-40 minutes. Cool and then turn out onto a cooling rack.

To make the buttercream: Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Meanwhile, beat the butter, icing sugar and vanilla in a bowl until smooth. Add the chocolate and fold until smooth. Add a little milk if the icing is too thick. Spread onto one cake and sandwich both together.

To make the ganache: gently heat the cream, vanilla butter and chocolate in a pan. Remove from the heat and beat until smooth. Smooth the ganache on the top of the cake. Circle the top with a fork, or pipe swirls of frosting along the edge and decorate with chocolate shavings.

This recipe and more can be found in my book: The Old Rectory: Escape to a Country Kitchen at http://myBook.to/TheOldRectory

An author’s life (part 3) : country baking through the seasons – oh, and writing of course!

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My favourite Spring bake

So, if you’ve been following my seasonal series on using my lunch break from my laptop to bake something delicious and comforting, you’ll know that my Spring bake is often my almond macaroons, so easy to make (one bowl) and so moreish, just like the chewy ginger flapjacks I like to make in the winter (Scroll down for that one!) …

Almond macaroons the easy way

Makes about 12

You’ll need:

75gm ground almonds

2 level tsp rice flour (or ground rice)

100gm caster sugar

1 egg, lightly beaten

A few drops of almond extract

Split almonds for decoration

Heat the oven to 160 degrees C

Line a tray with greased baking paper. Mix the sugar, almonds, flour, almond extract and lightly beaten egg. It should feel slightly sticky. Shape the mix into walnut sized balls with damp hands (about 1-2 tsp each) and place on the lined tray. Press lightly and decorate with split almonds (one on each is probably enough). Bake for 10-15 minutes until pale gold with slightly crisp edges but soft in the centre. Cool on a wire cooling rack.

These freeze really well, but you’ll probably need to bake two (or more) batches as they’re too scrumptious not to eat straight away!

More recipes in …

The Old Rectory: Escape to a Country Kitchen at http://myBook.to/TheOldRectory

An author’s life (part 2) : country baking through the seasons – oh, and writing of course!

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It’s Winter!

OK, so it’s not actually deep in snow here, but you get the drift – um, pun unintended! Coming up to Christmas, and chilly days of British rain and wind, we really need some comfort treats. There’s something about ginger in the autumn and winter that is lovely and cosy, for example personally I love rhubarb and ginger gin – but that’s another story!

If you’ve been following my seasonal series on using my lunch break from my laptop to bake something delicious and comforting, you’ll know that my winter bake is often my Chewy Ginger Flapjacks, so easy to make (one bowl) and so moreish …

Chewy Ginger Flapjacks

makes about 12-16 depending on the size you want

Chewy, gooey, filling, scrumptious. What more can I say? One of my easiest and favourite teatime/coffee break treats.

You’ll need:

100 g. (4 oz.) butter

100 g. (4 oz.) caster sugar

100 g. (4 oz.) self raising flour

112 g. (4.5 oz.) oats

0.5 tsp. bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp. ground ginger

Pinch salt

2 tbsp. golden syrup, gently warmed

Preheat the oven to 180ºC, 350ºF/gas mark 4. Grease a deepish oblong baking tray – a brownie tin is ideal. Mix the butter, sugar, and all the other dry ingredients in a bowl. Mix in the gently warmed syrup. Then spread in the baking tin and bake for about 20–30 minutes, until golden brown. Be careful the edges don’t burn. Cool a little and cut into squares or slices. Cool on a cooling rack and enjoy!

If you leave these unattended on the cooling rack in the kitchen, there may not be any left for you … so hide them. They’re also good for you, with lovely healthy oats.

What’s your favourite winter baking treat?

For more of my family recipes (and some from historical archives too), go to: The Old Rectory: Escape to a Country Kitchen at http://myBook.to/TheOldRectory

Look out Great British Bake Off – TOR rising up the book charts on Amazon!

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I’m thrilled that today I discovered that The Old Rectory is at #2 in the entire paid-for kindle sales in Canada and at #24 in the entire paid-for kindle sales in Australia! In the UK it’s #1 in the Food & Drink UK category, beating the Great British Bake Off, Mary Berry and Nadiya Hussain.

The Old Rectory: escape to a country kitchen has officially been awarded the ‘Best Seller’ badge!

http://myBook.to/TheOldRectory

A Shape on the Air has also reached #5 on Amazon so I’m pretty delighted!

http://myBook.to/ASOTA

Afternoon Tea Week!

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It’s Afternoon Tea Week this week and I’m sharing a couple of recipes from my book The Old Rectory: escape to a country kitchen, soon to be re-released by Endeavour Press (a week on Friday, 25th August). Wait for 25th as it’ll be available on Amazon and cheaper, in ebook and paperback!

The book has received many 5* reviews including “enchantingly told”, ” delightful”, ” a most engaging read”.

Cream Tea Scones

makes 10–12

A staple of the traditional English cream tea.

You’ll need:

50 g. (2 oz.) butter

25 g. (1 oz.) caster sugar

5tbsp milk

1 egg

225 g. (9 oz.) self raising flour

1 tsp. baking powder

Pinch salt

A little beaten egg or milk to glaze

Strawberry jam and double whipped cream (or Cornish clotted cream) to sandwich the scones, and a little icing sugar to dust the tops.

 Preheat the oven to 220ºC, 425ºF/gas mark 7. Mix the flour, baking powder, and salt. Place all the ingredients into a bowl and mix to form a soft dough. Turn out onto a floured board and roll out to about 1 cm. (0.5 in.) thickness. Cut into rounds with a 5-cm. (2-in.) cutter and place the scones on a greased baking sheet. Brush lightly with milk or a lightly beaten egg. Bake in the oven for about 12–15 minutes. Cool on a wire cooling tray. Split each scone and spread with a layer of good fruity strawberry jam, topped with a dollop of whipped double cream, then place the other half on the top and dust with sieved icing sugar.

 

Lemon Iced Buns

makes 8

 You’ll need:

250 g. (9 oz.) strong white flour, sifted

250 g. (9 oz.) plain flour, sifted

7 g. (0.25 oz.) fast-action dried yeast

2 tsp. fine sea salt

50 g. (2 oz.) caster sugar

125 ml. (4 fl. oz.) warmed milk

125 g. (4 fl. oz.) warmed water

1 egg, beaten

50 g. (2 oz.) butter, cut into cubes

Zest of 1 lemon

Vegetable oil for greasing

For the icing:

50 g. (2 oz.) icing sugar

Juice of 1 lemon

 Preheat the oven to 220ºC, 425ºF/gas mark 7. Sift the flours and salt into a bowl. Add the water, milk, yeast, sugar, and lemon zest and mix with a fork until combined. Add the beaten egg and butter and continue to mix until the mixture is a sticky dough. Put the dough on a lightly floured board and knead for 5 minutes, until the dough is smooth and stretches like elastic. Lightly oil a bowl with some of the vegetable oil. Turn the dough into the bowl and carefully turn until it is entirely coated with oil. Cover with oiled cling film and leave to rise in a warm place for an hour. The dough should have doubled in size. Lightly grease two baking trays. Knock the dough back to its original size and then turn onto a floured board again. Divide the dough into 8 pieces and shape into fingers or rounds. Place on the greased baking sheets, ensuring plenty of space. Cover with a tea towel and leave to prove for 30 minutes. Bake in the oven for about 20–25 minutes, until well risen and golden brown. Remove the buns from the oven and leave to cool on a wire cooling rack.

The icing for the top: Made by simply combining the icing sugar and fresh lemon juice until smooth. When the buns are cool, spread icing over each bun and set aside until hardened. You can decorate with a little lemon zest for that extra oomph.

Sweet and sticky, with a little zestiness from the lemon, these buns are a favourite for afternoon tea.

http://Author.to/JuliaIbbotsonauthor

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Old-Rectory-Escape-Country-Kitchen/dp/1909593753/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1502726298&sr=1-4&keywords=julia+ibbotson