Fifty years of cake!

 Almost mid-October and the evenings are drawing in so quickly...where has the year gone? I sat in our kitchen at home yesterday afternoon, thinking up the recipe for a suitably autumnal cake to post here...but my mind kept wandering as I looked out of the glazed doors that lead to the garden and watched as the first little yellow leaves from the silver birch next door swirled before they landed on the deck. Although often it's still bright and sunny, the wind carries a real chill now and the shadows fall differently in the garden...it's a time of year I adore. New beginnings, new possibilities. Abundance. Harvest. Spices. All good things.

 I devised this recipe for a Plum & Walnut Cake - at least, that's what I used here. But it is easy to adapt to what you have, or prefer. Perhaps apples and hazelnuts? Or pears and almonds? As long as the properties are the same, it should work...so do experiment.
I adore walnuts. Of all the gorgeous Sugar Moon brownies flavours,theWalnut Fudge are my absolute favourite. We make sure there are lots of them inside and out, as I can't bear alleged 'walnut cakes' that just have a measly few nuts inside them...or, worse, sprinkled only on top!

So, for this cake you'll need:

200g butter - slightly softened if possible, but don't worry too much
200g light soft brown sugar or golden caster sugar (or just regular sugar if that's all you have - the golden versions add more caramelly undertones which are delicious, but all sugars will sweeten the same!)
3 free-range eggs
100g shelled walnuts
150g self-raising flour
50g wholewheat rye flour (if you have none, don't buy it specially....make up the difference in weight with an extra 50g self-raising flour instead. I just love the nuttiness of rye, so it's lovely if you have some handy!)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground allspice (or cinnamon if you prefer)
good pinch of sea salt

About 4 firm but ripe plums, de-stoned, quartered and then very thinly sliced to make crescents
About 1 dessertspoon of unrefined demerara sugar, for sprinkling.

Grease and line a 23cm/10" cake tin (I used a loose-bottomed one for ease of removal)

Preheat oven to 175c/350f

Put all the ingredients except the plums & demerara sugar into the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth...there will, of course, be little lumps of walnut visible...but otherwise the mixture should look silky...

 ...like this!

Scrape into the prepared tin...

 ...and arrange the crescents of plum in concentric circles, filling in any gaps as artistically as you can! It's important to lay the slices on the batter, rather than pushing them in...otherwise they may sink during baking.

 Sprinkle with the demerara sugar and then bake for around 1& 1/4 hours until well risen and golden brown...you can test for doneness with a metal skewer or special cake tester if you like. There should be a few crumbs clinging to it, but no obvious 'wetness' or sign of uncooked dough.

 Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes before turning out and cooling properly....

 ...or you could, of course, serve it with cream or ice-cream for pudding while still a bit warm.

It's a delicious cake...not too sweet, a tender crumb and full of Autumn!

There's another reason I love October so much - it's my birthday month. And this year is a big one. I can hardly believe it, but I'll be 50 in a few days. I've just been going through photos on the computer, and it's a bit like whizzing through my life! Lots of fabulous memories of people and places and times...some long gone. My grandparents...my Dad....schoolfriends whose names I can't quite remember now...boyfriends...pets...houses we've lived in. Such a journey!

And now, time to reflect, to take stock and also to look ahead and make plans.

Sugar Moon will be taking a short break to celebrate and re-calibrate from Monday 17th -Sunday 23rd October. Last orders will be 10am on Friday 13th through the website and normal service will resume on Monday 24th. You can still order while the kitchen is closed - but please do be aware that no orders will be baked and sent until Monday 24th.

Here I am (on the left in the white socks and the stylish plaid mini dress) about 45 years ago playing tug-of-war with my little sister, cousins and two uncles...it's all gone so fast! Here's to the next half century!

Thanks so much for your continued support and great custom xx

A Friendship Cake....

I met my longest-standing friend,Isobel, on my first day at a new primary school 42 years ago! Of course, the closeness of school years can't continue forever - those days when I would say goodbye to her on the school bus and then call her the minute I got home to continue our conversation....but we have been in each others lives in some way from that day to this. She and her husband, Brian, now run a successful & delicious crumble business based in beautiful Somerset - so our lives aren't so very different once again (although Isobel also has two young & gorgeous children to juggle!)

When she used to come to our house for tea, there was one cake that my Mum would bake that Isobel absolutely adored...& to this day my mother still refers to this as 'that cake Izy loves'! So, as the days are somewhat autumnal right now, I thought that I would reproduce the recipe here (with a few tweaks) in honour of our friendship. This one's for you, Is! xx

Blackberry Streusel Cake

For the streusel topping:

100g plain flour (you can use spelt/wholemeal if you have it)

80g butter

1 heaped tsp ground cinnamon

50g light brown muscovado sugar

For the cake:

200g self raising flour

100g light brown muscovado sugar

200g butter

3 free-range eggs

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (optional - but I love cinnamon!)

About 250g blackberries (preferably picked from a sun-drenched bramble bush! You can use raspberries or blueberries too, if blackberries aren't in season)

Line a 23cm square pan with baking parchment.

Preheat oven to 175c

First make the topping; just place all the streusel ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until it forms large crumbs...

 tip into a small bowl & set aside. Without washing the bowl of the processor, add in all the cake ingredients (except the fruit) & whizz to a smooth, silky batter..

 It won't be too liquid as it needs to hold up the berries & topping! Scrape the mixture into the prepared pan and level the top roughly...

 then stud with the blackberries...you don't have to be too precise, but try & make sure that there's an even covering of fruit all over the surface...

 finally scatter the streusel over the berries...

 distribute it fairly evenly over the top...don't pack it down, and I think it looks lovely when a few blackberries show through the crumbs too! Bake in the preheated oven for around 45 minutes...the streusel will look golden brown, the middle will be slightly domed. You can test by pushing a skewer or cocktail stick into the centre & checking that no wet dough is sticking!

 Then cool in the pan on a wire rack...however, this is so delicious served slightly warm so feel free to cut it then and enjoy a slice...perhaps with cream?

 Store in an airtight container, or wrap in foil securely...it will keep in a cool place for a couple of days (not longer, as the fresh fruit will deteriorate.)

 I recommend eating a large square, with a big steaming cup of coffee,sitting in the August sunshine in a garden somewhere...if you are sharing with a friend, so much the better (it doesn't have to be Isobel, although she would be my choice....)

Enjoy! And now I'm back to the brownies...also delicious with friends! xx

Carrot Cake & rejigging recipes...

Firstly, I'm sorry for the lack of post yesterday...January can be a tough month sometimes! Bills come in from Christmas, people decide to cut down, go on diets, be frugal. It's part of the warp & weft of life...and means that the coffee shop didn't need anything yesterday. C'est la vie.

Back to normal today...and here is the Carrot, Sunflower & Orange Cake that I just delivered. It was made with wholewheat flour, sunflower seeds, fresh orange zest, organic carrots...

the frosting is cream cheese, sprinkled with cinnamon. I love this cake. It's in my book...I've been making variations on it for years, and it never ever fails.
So far so good! The other part of the delivery was a little more complicated..

Cafe Latte Whoopie Pies. The whoopie pie is a fairly new phenomenon in the UK. Some people say that they will overtake the cupcake in popularity - I think not! The British are a cautious people...is it a biscuit, is it a cake? Something that mixes the two is not quite trusted...is it a cookie that went wrong? Should it be soft like that? These are some of the questions I'm asked whenever I make them - so you see the problem. But, following on from my last post, they make a nice individual cake. They look and taste good and are relatively easy & quick to bake. So I keep trying!
I usually take recipes for Whoopies from an American book I have, figuring that as they were invented in the US, this is the best place to find instruction on baking them. However, this morning I decided to try a recipe from a newcomer on the British baking scene. After 7 years of just making cakes & desserts, I can look at a recipe and tell immediately whether it's right or not. This one was not. There wasn't nearly enough flour for the amount of liquid ingredients listed, some of the equipment called for was superfluous and unnecessarily complicated. It made me cross!
I firmly believe that baking- and cooking in general - is not rocket science. Anyone can do it, with a little patience, instruction and a good recipe. I have the luxury of knowing a lot about the subject, so I could rescue these cakes and they turned out fine...but I couldn't help thinking of those without much confidence, who pick what they think will be an easy recipe and it doesn't turn out well. They will blame themselves and be loathe to try again, wasting time and ingredients. A good recipe should explain clearly, and the quantities & method should be tested, tested and tested again. It must work, perfectly, every time!

Ok, rant over! These turned out well in the end...smelt & tasted good...I think they look lovely too.

Friday tomorrow....and those Giveaway results. If you didn't post a comment on Saturday but would still like to be entered in the draw, then I'll take any new names today and add those to the entrants too. There is a little extra food related surprise to add to the package I'll be sending out - all will be revealed with the name of the lucky winner tomorrow!

Have a wonderful day, thanks for reading...I'll see you in the morning! xo