Celebratory Giveaway

It is time to celebrate that I have reached 300 Likes on my Garden Tea Cakes and Me Facebook page, and that I am also feeling much better following my close encounter with a chest infection. 

So if you would like to win some bunting handmade by myself why not pop over to my Facebook page, to make sure your name is in the virtual hat.  There is nothing nicer than having a touch of bunting hanging up whilst you sit at home or in your garden enjoying a homemade afternoon tea. 

Giveaway closes 2 September 2013.

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Lemon Madeira Cake with Raspberries Recipe

This Lemon Madeira cake with raspberries turned out to be the perfect choice for a travelling birthday cake. It needed to make it safely from Shropshire to South Devon during the recent heatwave we experienced. I felt a standard sandwich cake with butter cream would not fair well in the heat. I tweaked a standard Madeira recipe to include lemon zest and juice, topped with lemon curd and fresh raspberries.

Lemon Madeira Cake Recipe with Raspberries

A slice of Lemon Madeira Cake topped with Raspberries

Lemon Madeira Cake Recipe

9inch round cake tin, greased and lined
oven temp 160 degrees C 

Ingredients
200g softened butter or baking margarine
200g caster sugar
4 eggs
150g plain flour
50g self raising flour
zest of two lemons
1 tablespoon of lemon juice

juice of two large lemons
150g icing sugar 

Decoration
lemon curd
two large punnets of raspberries

Instructions

• Beat together the butter and caster sugar, until light and creamy.
• Add the eggs in gradually and beat until combined. 
• Add the flour and combine gently, then stir in the lemon zest and juice.
• Pour into the cake tin.

Bake in the oven for 1 hour 15 minutes 160 degrees C. 

Whilst the cake is baking in the oven mix together the lemon juice with the icing sugar, you can warm the lemon juice in the microwave first if you prefer. 

Once the cake is out of the oven, use a skewer to stab the top of the cake then drizzle the lemon syrup over the top.  I chose not to use all of my lemon syrup as I did not want the cake to be too sticky because of transporting it. Once the cake has cooled carefully take out of the tin, my tin had a loose bottom so it easily came out and I also removed it before it had cooled fully - naughty of me I know.

Once I arrived at Devon I topped the cake with lemon curd and raspberries - simple and effective. Oh and did I mention it was also very tasty!

Lemon Madeira Cake Recipe

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Time for a Tea Break

I am sorry things have been a little quiet on the blog, but that pesky chest infection is lingering on. Normal service will resume soon, in the meanwhile I am indulging in copious amounts of tea and cake.

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A visit to Shropshire Lavender

Lovely Shropshire Lavender

A few weeks ago my sister and I visited Shropshire Lavender, mainly to look at the selection of different Lavenders but also looking to pick up a few tips on which variety is best to use in baking. 

Shropshire Lavender located in a tiny village of Pickstock, Shropshire is run by Joanna and Robin Spencer, both of whom made us very welcome and were happy to answer the many questions we had about Lavender. 

They have a wonderful little shed/shop everything presented and co-ordinated so stylishly, even down to Joanna's earrings. They also had a Lavender garden with as you would expect many  different varieties, although I confess it did look in the need of a little tidying up. 

I treated myself to a few new lavender plants, one being the Mailette a variety suitable for baking with, not too overpowering with fragrance and flavour. I also received tips on the best time to harvest the flower heads - just before they bloom fully is best for baking. So next year I will be baking using my own home grown lavender.  But as I could not wait until next year I also purchased for just £3 a packet of culinary Lavender,  that way I do not have to wait to bake!

Obviously we also stopped and had a cup of tea in the garden as it was a lovely sunny Sunday afternoon, along with a very nice Lavender Scone and a piece of Orange, Almond and Lavender cake.

Will definitely be popping back next year, I know my friend Linda will certainly enjoy a trip here.

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