Category: cake

No. 12 Peartree Pantry and Pup troubles!

Finally, we tried out a new tea room.  It’s been so long since we went anywhere new that even Sister Y forgot to take a photo of our cakes – clearly we are out of practice!

Anyway, this week we went along to the Peartree Pantry on the outskirts of Hatfield Peverel and Witham.  It’s one we’ve been meaning to try for a while and we were glad we did – what a lovely place, enhanced further by the extremely warm welcome from the lady owner.  She made a big fuss of the teeny tot, giving her colouring and crayons, showed us to a table and gave us all the daily specials.  I had chocolate brownie which was delicious, warm and rich, Sister X had her fave – ginger and cinnamon cake – and Sister Y had lemon drizzle.  Unfortunately, they both said that they weren’t really lemony or gingery enough.  It was more expensive than other local cafes – £6.45 for a pot of tea and cake – but it was big (plenty of room for buggies if needed), comfortable – tables interspersed with sofas and snug areas, spotlessly clean and the friendliness of the staff left a lasting impression.  There is also lots of parking at the rear and, something that may be of interest to Husband X on his travels:

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Chuckle, chuckle . . .

So, on to the issues facing the Sisterhood this week: Sister X has a dog problem.  I’ve been there so totally feel her pain.  Her neighbour has acquired a dreaded yapper – a small, barky dog – which interrupts her constantly throughout the day when she is trying to nap … I mean work!!  No, seriously, she only took one nap, once – just the one time – and was unfortunate enough to get caught in the act by Husband X home early from work.  She really does work very hard, honestly.  Sister Y and I very sensibly and maturely advised her to put a note through the door and run . . . no, of course we didn’t really!  I pointed out that, if the neighbours are not there when the dog is barking, they probably don’t realise it’s doing it, so the best and first course of action is to knock and play the concerned neighbour – informative; understanding; supportive.  ‘You trap more flies with honey’ as my old mum would say.  If that doesn’t work then by all means go bad ass on them – and by bad ass, I mean telephone the council in a very grown up manner and request a noise disturbance form.  Or, get a laser pen and wind the dog up with it in the middle of the night so that they get an idea of how annoying it is.  Really, what a childish suggestion – I’d never do that.

Sister Y is still waiting to hear about the job. She’s not holding out much hope as her boss can’t seem to remember her name – but she does keep complimenting her choice of footwear . . . I have no idea how that translates in terms of career progression prospects!

Until next time, cake lovers x

 

Holiday Survival and Death By Chocolate!

Greetings, cake lovers!

It’s been a while since our last official Cake Thursday due to school holidays – you just can’t enjoy tea and cake properly with the kids in tow, although we did give it our best shot!  Sister X and I attended a MacMillan fundraiser over the holidays and ate enough for Sister Y as well.  We all survived the holidays – I, in fact, had a smashing six weeks with my kiddiwinkles and was quite sad when it was time for them to don the uniform again – one school run and it’s like they’ve never been away!  Not quite so many lycra clad mums on the playground as last year but I’m sure they will appear in time.  But there’s always Cake and there’s always the Sisters of da Hood although – shocking news – Sister Y has applied for a new job which might mean that she won’t be around for our get togethers anymore – sacrilege!  We have naturally impressed upon her the importance of a weekly dose of cake and gossip and will have no option but to taunt her with WhatsApped photos of cake every week whilst she is chained to her desk.  We aim to be supportive friends . . .

We revisited an old haunt this week so nothing new on the cake or venue front.  However, it was my daughter’s birthday and I made this cake, which is my go-to chocolate recipe.

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Incredibly simple, scrumptious and ridiculously chocolatey, particularly when decorated with ridiculous amounts of mini Boost bites, Fudge pieces, Oreo bites and chocolate covered peanuts … OMG sooo good but goodness knows how many calories each piece contains!  Here’s the recipe:

American Style Chocolate Fudge Cake

  • 1.5 cups self raising flour
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/3 cup oil (I use sunflower)
  • 1/4 cup cocoa powder
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 tsp bicarb
  • 2 tsp vinegar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 heaped tbsp. soured cream (optional – just adds a nice moistness)
  1. Place all ingredients in a bowl and beat until well mixed.
  2. Grease and line a 9″ cake tin and pour in mixture (it is quite a wet mix so if using a loose-bottomed tin it’s a good idea to put it on a baking sheet to prevent spillage).
  3. Bake at 180 for about 45 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
  4. Allow to cool slightly and then cut into two equal halves and allow to cool completely.

For the icing

  • 150g plain chocolate
  • 3 tbsp milk
  • 75g butter
  • 110g icing sugar
  1. Melt the chocolate, butter and milk together over a low heat.
  2. Sieve in the icing sugar and beat until combined.
  3. Allow to cool before sandwiching and spreading over cake.

** for a bit of extra yumminess, spread one half of the cake with chocolate spread/Nutella before sandwiching together with the icing.  Enjoy simply iced or go the whole hog and decorate with any kind of chocolate that takes your fancy!

No. 12 – owls, dead ducklings and a delectable tart!

We tried out a new tea room this week in Terling, a beautiful little village that we used to frequent fairly regularly when we had a mutual friend that lived there.  However, aside from walking from car to her front door and getting lost (as if) when I took the kids on a ‘magical-mystery-house-hunting-jaunt’ one day and having to ask a postman for directions, I had never explored further.  The Owl’s Hill Tea Room is handily located on Owl’s Hill Road so easy peasy for us three navigationally challenged ladies to find.  Having said that, we had agreed to meet at the Village Hall but Sister’s X and Y went rogue and located the tea room independently, leaving me and the littlest sister of the hood sitting on a bench by the village hall wondering where on earth they had got to!  After 10 minutes and thinking that surely both of them couldn’t be late/lost we wandered round to the café to find them already in situ with high chair installed ready for us …. we did chuckle about it …. after, I confess, an initial grumble on my part …. think the cake withdrawal panic had set in!  There is some sort of green space or nature reserve next to the Village Hall which looked like a lovely place to walk and fairly buggyable from brief inspection but it was too cold and a bit drizzly to walk for pleasure this time.

Owl’s Hill is a really lovely, ‘bijou’ tea room – I think only 6 tables or so – with easy access for the buggy and, obviously, a parking area outside so no real need to take the buggy in anyway.  A very posh, very clean, portable high chair (the kind that strap on to an existing chair) was available and a lovely selection of cakes.  Myself and Sister Y both had a Chocolate Coconut Tart which was sooo delicious and rich I think we probably should have gone for a walk to shake off some calories.  Sister X indulged in a little cream tea (she opted for Camomile which she says paired very nicely with her scone) – all served on very beautiful china which was kept well out of the reach of the teeny tot!  £4.75 for my tart and a pot of ‘proper’ tea – with leaves and a strainer and everything – we can’t wait to return and sample more of their wares.

Discussion turned to mine and Sister Y’s Easter holiday meet up which Sister X couldn’t make as she was tending her children who had been afflicted by the pox!  We went to one of our old haunts – a big duck pond which the children all love.  There is a little wooded area with a fallen tree to climb which is always shady and damp but which they like to play in.  We have concurred that they are of an age where they can be trusted in there alone, mainly so that we can sit in the sunshine and not get chilled (we are getting on a bit!).  Anyway, when they emerged, there was much talk of a dead duckling.  Apparently my eldest had desperately wanted to perform some kind of burial service but the others had outvoted her, preferring to poke at it with sticks – as you do.  It also transpired that my revolting second daughter had purposely trodden on the poor, deceased creature.  I was actually quite mortified that she had done so and she was duly advised of the necessity to treat all animals, dead or alive, with the same respect and compassion.  We assumed that was the end of it.  However, the following day, when Sister Y’s husband was performing childcare duties, he noticed a big white streak of something covering their eldest’s coat.  When asked about it, Husband Y was informed that it had sprayed onto his coat when the offspring belonging to me had ‘stamped on the dead duck’.  Delightful.  Husband Y responded, quite rightly, that it was disgusting.  He replied,  ‘That’s nothing, it went all up her leggings!’                                        I hang my head in shame …

Until next time, cake lovers xx

No. 11 – The Barn at Stanway

Well, we all made it this week – yay – so off to a good start. The Barn is a garden centre and cafe located on Turkey Cock Lane in Stanway (and yes, we all had a predictably juvenile reaction to the name).  How could we not pay a visit?  Sister X was particularly keen – always had my suspicions about that one!  It’s actually a really nice garden centre with loads of lovely ‘things’ for sale.  You know the type of ‘things’ – all that beautiful vintage-look stuff that you know would never look quite right unless you owned a stunning Georgian house or Victorian cottage with a quaint country garden.  The rustic crates and shabby chic milk churns certainly wouldn’t have the same wow factor in a 60’s semi!

Anyway, the tea room is big with lots of tables but still feels quite cosy.  I had no trouble locating a high chair and there was space for the buggy, although I did have to tuck it out of the way by the door or there wouldn’t have been room for people to walk past.  The toilets are also very nice and clean with decent baby-change facilities.

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The cakes looked amazing on the counter under big glass kloshes – I went for chocolate, Sister Y had lemon and Sister X had ginger again (she’s not pregnant, really, she just likes ginger cake!).  Sister Y and I both agreed that there was way too much butter icing on ours – nice cake but too sickly.  Sister X said hers was more gingery than The Woodlands offering last week but not as sticky so she couldn’t quite decide between the two.  £5.75 for tea and cake so on the expensive side but I did get 3 (small) cups out of the pot.  I think we will be heading back there at some point.  In fact, Sister Y already has been – she took Husband Y in an attempt to convince him that they did actually need lots of lovely vintage-looking tat for their garden (don’t think he came up for it though … ).

 

 

 

No. 10 – Tiptree Heath, Woodlands Tea Rooms and World Book Day!

Poor old Sister Y was stymied yet again this week by another child shaped vomiting bug – what are they putting in the water in North Essex?!  So it was just Sister X and myself who met on a bit of a dubious weather day for a stomp around Tiptree Heath.  We practically had the place to ourselves and, luckily, did not encounter the evil pony that tried to ‘kill’ myself, Sister Y and our offspring last time we were there (slight exaggeration but it did charge at us and the children do like to dramatize things!).  I think the ponies are possibly only in residence from April so a bit early in the year to see them roaming free which is actually a lovely sight to behold.  If you do take a buggy on the heath, especially in inclement weather, make sure it’s of the sturdy variety – I took my old, beaten up Baby Jogger which I was very thankful for over the bumpy, uneven, muddy paths.

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The heath ponies on a previous visit

We had lovely walk, discussing the merits of World Book Day and airing our grievances at the parents who basically can’t be bothered to make any effort and just order an outfit from Amazon and then moan about the cost!  Jeez, people, it’s not hard or expensive if you put a little time and effort in – and it really can be minimal effort, let’s face it.  Send them in pyjamas as one of the kids from The Midnight Gang; put your daughter in a dress and give her a book to carry – Matilda.  It really does not require the buying of some mass produced nylon costume for £20 on Prime.  Rant over, let’s move on to the cake . . .

The Woodlands Tea Room (or it may possibly be Forget Me Not Tea Rooms now – the sign says the former, the menu says the latter and I forgot to confirm with the ladies behind the counter) is attached to Tom’s Farm Shop on the B1022 between Great Totham and Tiptree Heath.  It is a lovely, homey, bright space and the staff are quite friendly and accommodating.  I didn’t need the buggy as we had to drive from the heath – it’s just short of a mile along the main road – but there would be plenty of room for one if needed.  They had highchairs and even provide a little paper bib which was a nice touch.

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Another ‘half way through’ photo!

I had lemon drizzle and Sister X went for the ginger cake.  Mine was really yummy and my discerning companion also enjoyed hers – not enormous slices but plenty considering I’m supposed to be watching the old waistline.  We also rather liked that the milk was served in mini churns – cute!  £3 for the cake and £1.50 for a pot of tea so pretty reasonable.  We will definitely return with our third member – she’s much better at photographing the goods!

Lemon drizzle and a sister MIA

Poor old Sister Y got stuck in a traffic jam this week and ended up having to turn around and go home (I’m sure there’s a song in there somewhere – ‘oh dear, what can the matter be, Sister Y is stuck ….’).  So Sister X came to mine for a cake lunch alone.  She brought the cake with her having been in a baking mood the previous day – bonus!!

Unfortunately, as usual, I forgot to take any photos but it was scrumptious.  She’s also forgotten to give me the recipe so I’m just going to assume it’s the same as mine, with the addition of a lime (why not?), and post that instead.

  • 150g self raising flour
  • 150g caster sugar
  • 100g butter (or flora buttery when you don’t have any!)
  • 4 tbs milk
  • 2 eggs
  • zest and juice of 1 lemon and 1 lime
  • 4 tbs extra sugar

Mix everything, bar the juices and extra sugar, together well.

Turn into a 1lb loaf tin and bake at 180 for about 40 minutes or until springy.

Meanwhile, mix the juices together with the extra sugar.

When it comes out of the oven, poke some holes (about half a dozen) in the cake with a skewer and spoon/drizzle the juice and sugar mixture over the top.

Allow to cool in the tin and then enjoy!

I decided to make one for the purposes of the photos but my children stepped in and insisted that we make it green and yellow for Spring and, as I have recently acquired some super duper gel colours that I hadn’t had much chance to play with, I wasn’t going to refuse!  So Sister X’s offering looked nothing like this peculiar creation (which was actually supposed to be striped but the oven obviously had other ideas) but tasted pretty similar so it’ll do!

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Litter Picking, a picnic and triple choc muffins!

Half Term was upon us yet again and so, given the success of our environmentally friendly Christmas expedition, Sister X made the suggestion of litter picking following a Facebook invitation she had received for an organised event in Chelmsford (I do recall Husband X saying that he didn’t actually need to converse with Sister X but simply had to check Facebook in order to know the family’s exact schedule for any given school holiday by the events she had ‘liked’!!).  So, fresh air, doing good deeds again and also the opportunity for the older children to acquire a green Blue Peter Badge by writing about their experience.  Unfortunately, Husband Y didn’t get the memo about Sisterhood meet ups and only went and took the day off to ‘do something as a family’ – tut, tut – so we were a few short on this Half Term jolly.

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The day was warm (ish) and sunny (ish) and we arrived, after a slightly random sat nav diversion, to a packed out car park at West Park in Chelmsford.  There were so many volunteers marching around purposefully in their hi-viz tabards my children were very concerned that they wouldn’t get their own litter picker!  They need not have worried as the council employees had more than enough to go around.   Off we went with our enormous green recycling bag, four very excited children and one not so excited baby.  To our dismay there wasn’t actually much litter to pick up – obviously a good thing environmentally speaking – well done Chelmsfordians, pat on the back to you – but a bit disappointing from a litter picking perspective!  However, there were plenty of cigarette butts scattered around benches to collect which evoked much disgust from our little people and rightly so, ‘Mum!  Look at all these ‘smokers‘ – ugh!!’ and they had great fun litter picking leaves and, of course, each other!

Hard to believe that, being only February, it was actually warm enough for a proper picnic – how we of the Sisterhood love a picnic.  Shame Sister Y wasn’t with us to enjoy the first one of the season!  We had made some triple chocolate muffins to share, what with it being ‘Cake Thursday’ we wouldn’t want to let the side down!

  • 150g plain chocolate, melted
  • 125g milk chocolate chips
  • 125g white chocolate chips
  • 65g cocoa powder
  • 325g self-raising flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 125g brown sugar
  • 365ml milk
  • 100ml vegetable oil
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract

Sieve cocoa, flour and baking powder together.  Stir in the sugar.

Beat the milk, oil, eggs and vanilla together and stir into the dry ingredients.

Stir in the melted dark chocolate and fold in the chocolate chips.

Spoon into a prepared muffin tin and bake in a preheated oven at 180 c for 20 minutes.  Yum!!

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best warm from the oven!

No. 9 – Wyvale

My 20 year old self would have firmly believed that tell-tale sign of middle age is acquiring a Wyvale Garden Centre loyalty card.  We of the Sisterhood all have such a thing in our possession.  However, I would protest that the only reason I got one was because it entitles the children to use the soft play for 50p less than the non-member price – and Sister Y suggested it!!  (we used to frequent the Wyvale at Stanway regularly when our little ones were of pre-school age).  Anyway, it did come in very handy this week when we all got our weekly/monthly? email containing all the current offers.  Obviously, the ones about actual gardening are of no interest (pah!) but the one that declares ‘FREE hot beverage with any slice of cake’ is a sure fire winner.  How could we possibly resist such enticement?  So off to Stanway Wyvale we went.  I did not require the buggy but it is a big, open café and there would have been room for it if necessary.  They have lots of high chairs but never enough staff at this place.  There is always a long queue of retired folk and frazzled looking mums waiting patiently for one woman to take orders, make all the hot drinks and take payment single handed – despite the fact that there are two tills.

I went for a Victoria Sponge and the sisters both opted for a Chocolate Orange Drizzle Cake.  Mine was a little on the dry side (I think it must have been a few days old) but very tasty nonetheless.  The orange cake was apparently very scrummy – not a crumb remained on either plate!

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So, I reckon, discounted ‘member’ price taken into account, about a 7/10 for Wyvale.  The soft play is great for little ones and, whilst being in the café, it is shut off so not a disturbance for other customers but mums can enjoy a drink in semi peace knowing that the children are safe and visible through the windows.  And they have an outlet of The Works (love it!) which we always end up spending loads of money in.  But they need to rethink the staff ratios and till operating system.  Shame there’s nowhere to walk nearby as all our trousers are getting a little tight now – we really must put more effort to finding some new places with exercise opportunities!

Until next time x

Mugged Off!

It was cold last week – snowflakes actually fell for about 5 minutes – so we decided it was too chilly to go for walkies and that we should just go straight to tea and cake.  That and the fact that Sister X has recently had her kitchen renovated (by the Diet Coke Break men-children of previous blog post fame).  Myself and Sister Y thought it was high time we got to have a gander at it.  So we trotted round to where the posh people live and weren’t disappointed.  Very swanky indeed!  Sister Y and I, upon returning to our respective kitchens later that day, immediately began googling replacement kitchen doors and worktops.  Sister Y did mention something about tile paint – steady on girl – but it turns out that her eldest has a peculiar and very strong attachment to their current tiles, which are circa 1978!

As Sister X does not have an in-house bakery and we were desperate for cake, having not frequented any tea rooms for an outrageous number of weeks, I had the spiffing idea that we should make use of one of my Christmas presents – a Mug Cake cookbook.  What better way to experiment with messy microwave mug cooking than in someone else’s brand new kitchen?  Having flicked through, I was quite surprised by the amount of ingredients one is actually supposed to fit into the mug in order to make the cake, so I opted for a simple chocolate recipe which had the fewest.  Although few, the amounts of each still seemed rather excessive for one mug:

  • 5 tbs plain flour
  • 3 tbs caster sugar
  • 2 tbs cocoa powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 egg
  • 4 tbs chocolate spread (we only used 2)

I bagged up little ready-made mixes for us all and we duly made a horrendous mess on Sister X’s new island attempting to beat them all together in the mugs!  Then came the best part … Sister X let me play with her new microwave which is like something out of Star Trek – I’m easily pleased.

 

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A bit of a mess but it tasted good!

The recipe said to heat for 50 seconds on high but they took more like 90 seconds each to cook through.  They weren’t pretty but they were tasty – very dense (probably should have put the extra chocolate spread in) and very rich.  None of us could actually finish a mug full which is saying something – you know how we love our cake!  Sister X did admit to having had another go at hers later that afternoon but figured she’d subsequently burned enough calories attempting to clean the mugs, upon which the fruits of our labour were well and truly caked – pun very much intended!!

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Cooking didn’t improve its appearance!

 

 

No. 8 – Perrywoods and Christmas Cheer!

Twas just myself and Sister X this week as Sister Y’s youngest had received a visit from ‘The Chunder Monster’ so she was housebound, clearing up vomit and watching daytime tv – ah, the joys of motherhood!  Another chilly, damp day so we decided to go to Perrywoods Garden Centre, just outside Tiptree, for a squiz at their Christmas decorations (they have some beautiful things) and to try their cakes as I have recently been told that they are pretty delicious.

We were slightly perturbed by the enormous queue heading into the tea room but quickly realised that they were all after ‘proper’ food and that there is a separate counter for cakes, which was a bonus as there was nobody waiting at it.  We were practically drooling at the sight of the delicious looking cakes that awaited us but looked at each other in horror when we saw the price – £5.29!!  For a slice of cake.  Seriously?!  We decided there must have been gold leaf in it to warrant that price tag.  Luckily, there were lots of other yummy offerings at far more sensible prices.  I had a Christmas Tree Brownie and Sister X went for a Gingerbread Scone, which she said was incredibly nice.  Mine was also scrumptious and very pretty to boot.  £4.75 with a cup of tea ….  think they might possibly be a threat to the Wilkin & Sons ‘best cake’ crown!

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The tea room is huge, plenty of space for the buggy and loads of tables.  It is set out in several sections though, so it still feels quite cosy.  The staff were lovely – a very nice lady carried my tray for me and, when I went to sit at a table for two, she kindly suggested that I choose a bigger table so that we would have more room and then scooted off to get a high chair for us.

We were building up to our Christmas plays at school this week and so had been frantically making or throwing together shepherd/donkey/sheep/camel costumes for our little ones to look super cute in.  It’s such a shame that so many parents just go online and order some generic costume these days.  I know people are busy and pressed for time but the homemade outfits are so much more special and full of character.  One of our school mums got a white chenille bath mat and cut a hole in the middle for her son’s head – voila! sheep outfit – how clever!  And I do love to see a child wearing their dad’s old shirt with a tea towel on their head, it just kicks the festive season off for me!  Merry Christmas, cake lovers xx