If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years, it’s this: Always Start Simple. With this in mind, the first recipe I thought to try from Mrs Crocombe’s recipe book was for her Victoria sponge. It’s the sort of cake for which I’ve several recipes, and I have all the ingredients already in the cupboard… Continue reading Cooking with Mrs Crocombe: Victoria Sandwich
Category: Kitchen
Recipes
Cooking With Mrs Crocombe
During the first lockdown last spring, one of the things that I found to help me through it was English Heritage’s Mrs Crocombe videos on YouTube. If you haven’t already discovered Mrs Crocombe, she was the cook at Audley End House in the late Victorian period, and English Heritage has a series called The Victorian… Continue reading Cooking With Mrs Crocombe
(Almost) According to Mrs Crocombe: Gingerbread Cake
After Delia’s Jamaican Gingerbread, I was going to make Mrs Crocombe’s gingerbread biscuits. But the recipe calls for a quarter of an egg, and I can’t, at this present, think what to do with the remaining three-quarters, so I’m putting that off until I can. Instead, I turned to her gingerbread cake, with adaptations. The… Continue reading (Almost) According to Mrs Crocombe: Gingerbread Cake
Festive Cheesecake Experiments: Spiced Orange and Cranberry
The thing with Christmas, for me and M, is that traditional Christmas cakes and puddings are out, because M doesn’t like them. Fair enough, not everyone does. I do, the Christmas cake anyway, so I stick to a little one, but I like the chocolate chip panettones that we get as an alternative as well.… Continue reading Festive Cheesecake Experiments: Spiced Orange and Cranberry
(Almost) According to Delia: Dark Jamaican Gingerbread
Gingerbread is a very wintry sort of cake. There will probably be several more ginger recipes in the coming weeks. Also, I really like gingerbread. This one is very suited to an afternoon tea. It’s a very dense sort of loaf, best served with butter. Or maybe chocolate spread or a jam, if that takes… Continue reading (Almost) According to Delia: Dark Jamaican Gingerbread
Christmas Baking: Pepparkakor
Now that we’re over half-way through November, I feel like I can step up my Christmas preparations. Not the Christmas crafting – that’s all long been underway – but the other preparations. The choosing of festive foods that don’t require ordering. Getting a Christmas tree (although that probably won’t be for another week or so).… Continue reading Christmas Baking: Pepparkakor
Life in Isolation: Thinking About Christmas and Raspberry Cakes
I had planned, this weekend, to make a Christmas cake. They’re best made early, to mature. But, given the current Covid-situation, I’ve decided to work on the basis that we probably won’t go home for Christmas. It seems safest to plan for that since we’re in a Tier 2 area. That way Christmas plans won’t… Continue reading Life in Isolation: Thinking About Christmas and Raspberry Cakes
Autumn Apple Crumble
This time of year is apple-picking, cider-making season, for fruit just off the trees, and apples don't get tastier than that. At no other time of the year, do apples taste as good as they do from the end of August to the middle of October. It's also the time of year when that wonderful… Continue reading Autumn Apple Crumble
(Almost) According to Mary Berry: Mincemeat
With all the thoughts of Christmas crafting, I’m also beginning to think about Christmas baking. Cakes and mincemeat can be made well in advance, and can use fruits currently in abundance, if you have an orchard. If you don’t, dried varieties are fine. The problem I have every year is that M doesn’t like dried… Continue reading (Almost) According to Mary Berry: Mincemeat
(Almost) According to Delia: Baked Mango Cheesecake with Raspberry Coulis
Delia’s recipe was actually a Vanilla Cheesecake with a Caramel Sauce, but by the time I was done, it wasn’t. It was a Mango Cheesecake. With raspberry coulis, because mango and raspberry go well together. After the deliciousness and success of the Hummingbird New York Cheesecake, M expressed a wish for mango cheesecake. He talked… Continue reading (Almost) According to Delia: Baked Mango Cheesecake with Raspberry Coulis