Chitchat thread #24

[bramble]

Good morning all.
It's as dull as ditch water here with a completely grey sky.

Mothhawk, yes please to the crumpets but not the marmite.

Snoop, love the sound of your posh lunch, enjoy it.

Some family visiting today but not a lot else happening.
Off to church shortly.

Have a good day all.

[greenishfing]

Good morning all.

Grey and overcast here, with high winds forecast for tonight again.

I hope you enjoy your meal, Snoop. I hope the food is better than your expectations. What are the reviews like? I don't think my tastebuds are educated enough to appreciate a lot of "fancy" food.

I've just spent 20 minutes searching for the banana loaf recipe. Many years ago I wrote it inside the back cover of a recipe book. It was of course the last book I looked at, and I did get sidetracked along the way......

................. Sidetracked again. One of my sisters rang for a natter. Among other questions we are trying to decide who buys pancake mix, having both seen racks of it in our local supermarkets. She was also impressed when I told her what I'd ordered for our niece's birthday (the hanging basket blackberries).

It is definitely elevenses time now, so coffee and spiced gingerbread is on the menu.

[Nicos]

I’m thinking more and more that I’m not a very adventurous cake baker. Most of my ‘recipes’ are basically Victoria sandwich , tray baked, with added extras like cocoa/ coconut/citrus zest/ mashed bananas/almond/chopped dried fruit and ginger/pushed in fruit like bananas , pears, cherries.
I suppose it’s a bit lazy but they taste good.At least I know I have the flour/ sugar/ butter
/ eggs ratios in my head and always in my cupboard.

However, yesterday I pulled out a few recipes….tea loaf and coconut pyramids,then marble cake ( Victoria sponge with vanilla, cocoa and red colouring ) chocolate buns ( Victoria sponge again with cocoa and a piece of chocolate pushed in the middle) also lemon cake ( you guessed- V. sandwich again but with Sicilian lemon essence) which will be sandwiched with my lemon curd.
The tea loaf has worked out well - we cut off the ends and slathered butter on them yesterday evening!
I’m intending on preparing an afternoon tea with some friends next month - the non diet version! So those have been frozen.
I still have others on the list still to prepare.
Spiced gingerbread sounds yummy gf…do you have a recipe?

Oh heck…I think I’m getting hungry!
I’m always up for baking recipes

[greenishfing]

^^^This is the spiced gingerbread recipe I used.

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/...ey-loaf#rating

[Florence Fennel]

Good Morning All Sunny here and breakfast on the way, bacon,beans and mushrooms today. Have a lovely Sunday

[Florence Fennel]

I tried to post at nine this morning but failed till now! Better catch up with you all. Lovely and sunny but cold

[Florence Fennel]

Wow, hive of activity on here this morning! My son and I have been fiddling about with transferring my number to a new phone. I'm no technophobe but it had me befuddled.
The lemon drizzle was a simple all in one sponge ( I use 175g of butter, SR, CS, 3 eggs and BP as I'm sure you all do) with zest of one lemon and some lemon essence. I spear holes with a knitting needle and pour over a glaze of lemon juice and granulated sugar. It's so light and moist with a bit of crunch on top.

[Nicos]

Thanks for that Flo….it’s too late got me to add the lemon zest, but I’ll do the drizzle. When do you add that- whilst it’s cooking? If so, I’ll need to do a lemon icing instead.

[Snoop Puss]

Lunch was a winner and exceeded expectations. Fortunately...

As for drizzle cakes, I thought the drizzle was added after baking. Could you add extra lemon to make up for the lack of lemon in the mixture?

[Florence Fennel]

Let the cake cool in the tin for five minutes then prick and pour the lemon juice/sugar mix into the holes and on top. It'll soak into the cake as it's cooling. You could sprinkle zest on top, or the lemon icing.

[lottie dolly]

good evening all,i have landed home for the night,all this talk of cake,is not good to some of us you know,pleased you enjoyed your meal out snoop,very nice once in a while,now and again i get taken to a nice tea room/eatery ,where has the last 2 years gone with the new grandaughters ladies,seems only last week they were expecting them,nodded of during the long sermon in church this morning ,choir in the morning then maybe in the garden for a short time,i got a bit of ground to get prepped ready for the carrotts and snips,then a polly that needs clearing,it is nice to have the bug bitting again,my other half grows flowers,we both love our gardens,have a lovely evening,

[rary]

Good evening, was at church this morning, our minister is on holiday and the gentleman who filled in for him was very interesting to list to, he used to preaching the Southampton area and when he retired he came back up to his home town, must admit he was almost as good as our own minister,. After lunch headed out to the greenhouse where I potted on some plants and planted up my trailing brambles, I have them in a large half basket, just hope they are as good as advertised
You are so right LD all this talk of cake and home baking needs to stop, a virtual offering of a bit is not good enough they really need to get our address and post an actual slice of the cakes and loafs so that we can judge them actually a box of cakes or a full loaf is needed so that we can have a proper tasting and make a more accurate assessment of them 😁 now off to watch a series called North Sea Connections or something like that it's on the i player, will let you know if I enjoy it. Enjoy your evening if working with any tools be careful don't be doing anything silly Goodnight

[Snoop Puss]

Rary, this is the best I can do:

[Nicos]

Just for you rary…..
OH is the baker in our household, but help yourself…

[Nicos]

Those look lovely Snoop!