Quite a lot of baking has been going on in the last week in the Cardigan Girl kitchen. I made cake for two other people besides K this week.
I started with a Farmhouse fruit cake; I thought that K should perhaps have something slightly more nutritious after eating his way through the sachertorte (and actually I think he was quite pleased too!). This used up half my bag of mixed fruit and the last apple in the fridge. I made a big 18cm sized cake and gave half of it to my father. Sadly, most of it disappeared before the light was good enough for a photo, so this sad slice was all that remained on Sunday morning:
I also made sparkley lemon drizzle cupcakes for my colleague who is going to print my wedding invitations; I'd taken a larger version of them to his housewarming party back in September but it had disappeared before he and his partner got any of it! No photo of those, sadly.I made some cheese and thyme biscuits with a recipe from my Baking Magic book - these made a wonderful pre-dinner nibble and also were a perfect accompaniment to green detox soup (and look - there is SUN shining across them in the picture that I took)
The big bake of this week however, was Benedict Bars. I've never come across them before until I read about them on another blog, and then found the original recipe here. I am not sure what the origin of the name is, but they are essentially a layer of shortbread covered with a layer of jam and then a flaked almond, butter and sugar topping, all baked together. I've been wondering what to do with the two packets of flaked almonds that have been languishing in my cupboards for ages - here was the answer...
K is away skiing next week so I may experiment with a gluten free bake. Or I may have a bit of a break to work on my most enermous cross stitch (more about that another time)
That sad slice of Farmhouse fruitcake looks pretty delicious to me! Thanks for the reminder about flaked almonds, I plan on making a trifle this Sunday so mine will come in handy for that.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I store nuts in the fridge if I won't be using them for awhile. I've heard they can go off!
The Benedict Bars look delicious -- I've seen similar recipes with apricot jam, can't tell what flavor you used from the photo.
ReplyDeleteAnd I have to ask, what is green detox soup?
Delicious looking bakes!
ReplyDeleteI made my weetabix cake this week, this weekend coming I am trying a chocolate cake made out of some bizarre ingredients!
But you didn't make me a cake! LOL, I hope K realises how lucky he is to have you. The cupcakes sound divine. Can't wait to hear more about the cross stitch.
ReplyDeleteDarlene - I've heard that too but never had a problem with mine.
ReplyDeleteKaren - the Benedict bars ARE scrumptious (the picture doesnt' do it justice - I haven't been at home in the light at any point since making it to get a reasonable one) - I used strawberry jam as that was what we had in! I shall post about green detox soup in due course, maybe next week...
Jo - intrigued by your chocolate cake!
Vivienne - if you lived a bit closer, of course I'd do you cake, just don't think it would post :(