Cricket club cake

Thanks for this recipe Janet!

Apparently we haven't quite got it right yet because it should be less risen, more solid and more fruity (so we are planning on take two next week with more fruit which could possibly solve both these issues... maybe a but less levure chimique). It is very tasty though and we are planning on taking slices skiing with us.

I find if I put in a full full cup of tea the cake rises a little more because the mixture is runnier. Little bit of experimentation required to find what you like best...

Ingredients

12 oz (340g) (dried fruit (sultanas, raisins, dates, nuts or whatever you fancy)

1 breakfast cup (230ml) cold tea 

1 breakfast cup (190g) sugar

2 breakfast cups (250g) self raising flour (or plain with 1 tsp baking powder)

2 eggs

Spice if you want (eg all spice)

Some salt

Cake tin (we used 500g bread tin)

Method

Soak the fruit in the tea with the sugar overnight

Stir in the flour, spice, salt and eggs

Put in to cake tin

Bake for 1 1/4 hours at 175 C

The cake will keep well wrapped in foil and we are considering putting whisky or brandy in to the next one (or the one after) if we don't eat it too quickly...

Galette recipe

A few days ago we had galette at l'Arret Bougnette in Valorcine, we have been there quite a few times because we love the galettes with an egg on. We decided to see if we could make our own.

Ingredients
For the galettes
200g Buckwheat flour (blé sarricin in France)
1 egg
Approx 400ml water/milk mix

For the filling
Anything you like really but we tried 

1. Ham, cheese and egg 
2. >Saucisson and cheese
3. Nutella and banana
4. Lemon and sugar (better on normal pancakes we thought as the lemon comes out the little holes in the galette and the flavour of the buckwheat is a bit strong and needs something 'meatier' with it)

Method
Mix the flour with the egg and enough of the water/milk mix to make a mixture with a similar consistency to double cream (probably slightly thicker if anything - better to start too thick and add a bit of water if the first one comes out too think and rubbery)
Leave for a few hours before using ideally.

Heat a non stick frying pan and then add a little butter, put in a ladle full of the mixture and swirl quickly to cover the pan. I found that the first one didn't get little holes in it like they should be subsequent ones did.
Flip the galette like you would a pancake (I use a spatula)
Depending on the filling you can add it now or when it is on the plate. If you are doing one with an egg crack it over the galette while still in that pan and spread the white out as much as you can so it cooks quicker.

Active day

We went up skiing quite early in the morning (blasting made us think there might be fresh snow like yesterday - but there wasn't) and skied a number of things including the Hotel Face

For lunch we took quiche up the Aiguille du Midi. It was really really cold at the top, minus 17 with some wind. Amazing views though.

Chez Nous

Chamonix

Apartment - Small but perfectly formed

As seen from Brévent (nearest ski area)

As seen from Aiguille du Midi (with Brévent ski area above)

New snow

It has been like Spring for a couple of weeks, which has been lovely. But it has been getting a bit worrying that all the snow is melting so we were pleased to have some new snow overnight.
It wasn't enough to cover the giant moguls that have formed in a lot of places (and turned to giant ice moguls with the colder weather) but on some more remote places was lovely.

A bit of cloud makes everything look more scenic too!!

Visitors

We had several visitors this week, timed to coincide with my birthday.
Iain and Hilary weren't skiing with them, but we had lunch at l'Arret Bougnette in Valorcine which does amazing galettes (savory pancakes made with buckwheat flour). We went for a short walk afterwards at the Col des Montets. Nice view or what?

Aidan was here a week and did plenty of skiing (despite evil torture implement ski boots)

Golden Syrup Cake

We set out to make a ginger cake, but ran in to difficulties when we couldn't find Black Treacle, dark brown sugar or stem ginger in syrup. On top of which, we managed to buy castor sugar instead of icing sugar (surely sucre poudre sounds like powdered or icing sugar!!). 

We were determined to make a cake anyway and I invented to use what we had (a lot of Golden Syrup).

This recipe is based on a top secret family recipe called '4 to 2 to 2 to 1 cake' which has been passed mother to daughter for generations. Doug insisted we had to go metric though...

Doug says it is the best cake he has been involved in making (although he also claims it is the only one...)

It made a good birthday cake

Original 4 to 2 to 2 to 1 recipe

Ingredients

4oz Self Raising Flour

2oz Butter

2oz White Sugar

1 egg

Some milk if required

Anything else you fancy like sultanas, mixed spice, ground ginger, cherries, chocolate drops, icing etc

Salt

Method

Cream butter and sugar together 

Mix in egg (it goes lumpy) 

Mix in flour (add milk if seems too stiff). 

Put in cake tin or individual cake cases and cook at 175 C until brown on top and a skewer comes out clean

Golden Syrup 'tastic recipe

Ingredients

225g Self raising flour (we actually used plan and added 4 tsp baking powder)

112g Butter

100g Soft Brown Sugar

2 eggs

Some raisins (ginger pieces would be nice too)

4 tsp ground ginger

200g Golden Syrup (or more if you want)

Salt

For icing

Caster sugar

Juice of half a lemon

Juice and zest of half an orange

Method

Melt together syrup, butter and sugar over low heat

Put dry ingredients in a bowl and add eggs then stir in the melted mixture

Put in a cake tin (8x8 inches for flat thin cake or we used a bread tin for 500g loaves, there needs to be some headroom for the cake rising) and bake at 170 until skewer comes out clean (approx 40 - 60 mins depending on dimensions of tin) 

If the cake seems to be getting very browned put some baking foil over the top

Make drizzle or 'icing' by putting lemon and orange juice and zest in to a bowl and adding castor sugar until it is quite thick but by no means solid.

Once the cake is cooled a bit drizzle the icing over and eat warm.