Victoria Sponge

Annie & Clare came for supper on Tuesday night, and I felt inspired. I chose the Victoria Sponge recipe from Nigella's Domestic Goddess book, and went ahead and made it. The actual cake came out really nicely - well risen, golden colour and good texture. I suppose a part of me had expected it to be lighter, but there you go. I covered the cake in raspberry jam (home made by a B&B we stayed in near Tonbridge Wells). Annie sliced up the strawberries so that the assembly was a work-of-art, and we dolloped cream on top of that before adding the second layer. It was superb.

Scones

I felt like scones at lunchtime today, so whipped out Mary Berry's recipe book and put some together. The results were lovely and light, but also quite flat. The problem is that I take the instruction - roll 1 cm thin - far too literally. I think it'll be MUCH better if I keep them quite a bit thicker and double up on quantities next time. That way, they'll puff up more. Still - quite delicious with raspberry jam and cream.

Confession Time

I belong to a pretty good line of kitchen-persons, my great-grandmother arrived in Cape Town and worked as a cook in the late 1800's, before becoming a policeman's wife and bearing 3 children. I would say that her reputation in the kitchen has LONG survived her, and many people have told me how talented she was. My grand-mother turned her hand to many things, including a magnificent trifle and near-legendary boiled lamb & caper sauce. My mother's cooking won my husband's heart and his allegiance for life....

And as they say, that's where it all began.