Mary Berry (or Saint Mary as we now call her) has a delicious and really simple recipe for a crunchy top lemon cake.

100g Margarine

175g Caster Sugar

175g Self Raising Flour

1tsp baking powder

2 eggs

4 tablespoons milk

Grated rind of 1 lemon

Beat everything together for 2 minutes until smooth.

Level into a base lined 18cm tin

Bake at 180C for 35-40 minutes

When just out of the oven pour over juice of 1 lemon mixed with 100g caster sugar.

Leave to cool in tin.

Eat with a cup of tea.

The chickens usually love to eat any overripe bananas. But as they ate all my runner bean seedlings I wasn’t in the mood to give them a nice treat and used the bananas for this nice Mary Berry recipe instead!

225g Self raising Flour

1/4 tsp nutmeg

100g Margarine

225g ripe bananas mashed

100g caster sugar

grated rind of 1 lemon

2 large eggs

6 tablespoons of honey

Preheat oven to 180c 350f Gas 4, line a 2lb loaf tin

Rub margarine into flour and nutmeg.

Beat in bananas, sugar lemon rind, honey and eggs.

Put in tin and bake for 1 1/4 hours

Cool and turn out.

For a special finish brush with 2 spoons of warmed honey and sprinkle a little sugar on top.

So easy to make and really delicious.  Thanks to Mandy for the recipie.

These biscuits are so very easy to eat, store well and were very popular when my nephews came to stay at the weekend.

125g soft butter

70g peanut butter

150g soft brown sugar

1 egg

225g plain flour

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

100g chocolate drops.

Beat together the butter, peanut butter, sugar and egg.  Stir in flour, bicarb and chocolate drops.

Roll out teaspoons of dough into balls and flatten slightly on tray covered with greaseproof paper. Make sure there is room for them to spead.

Bake in 180 degree oven for 12 minutes – Cool on wire rack, enjoy!

Today I invited Mandy for coffee, and she bought this delicious and moist cake with her.  I wish I could tell you it keeps well – but it has all been eaten already!

Cream 6 oz caster sugar with 6oz softened butter.  Add 3 beaten eggs one at a time.

Melt 100g good dark chocolate with 2 tbs milk and 2tsp espresso coffee.  Stir into the egg, butter mix.

Fold in 6oz self raising flour and 1 1/2 tsp baking powder.

Bake in 180 C Oven for 35 minutes until springy to touch.

When cool Mandy split the cake in half and sandwich with an icing made from butter, icing sugar, cocoa powder and coffee.

Dust with icing sugar and enjoy!

Thank you for the recipie Mandy  – I am going to try making it myself this weekend.

These muffins are so very easy, only take 5 minutes to make.  They are best eaten warm, but as they are made with vegetable oil they last for a day or two in an airtight tin.  They also freeze well.

For 9 muffins.

Mix together dry ingredients – 255g plain flour, 3 teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt and 150g caster sugar in a bowl.

In another bowl mix wet ingredients – 1 egg, 240ml milk and 90ml vegetable oil.

Mix the wet and dry ingredients, and pour into around 9 lined muffin tins.

Bake for 20 minutes at 190 degrees C.

Variations:

Chocolate chip muffins – add 75g chocolate chips to the dry ingredients. Sprinkle some more chocolate chips on top just before baking.

Lemon and Poppy seed - Add the grated rind of 1 lemon and 1tbs of poppy seeds to the dry ingredients.

Janice Gordon lived opposite us when my sister and I were growing up. This gingerbread recipe is hers, and was given to me by my sister Emma last week. It is lovely sticky and is good with a cup of tea in the afternoon, or with a slice of cheddar cheese.

8oz margarine

8oz brown sugar

8oz black treacle

12 oz plain flour

3 teaspoons cinnamon

2 desertspoons ginger

1/2 pnt hot milk

2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda

2 eggs

Melt marg, sugar and treacle

Sift flour and spices, add melted ingredients and beat

Mix bicarb and milk, add to above mixture

Beat eggs and add to mixture

Pour into a 8inch lined, greased tin

Bake for 1hr 20 mins at 130 degrees C

Keeps for ages – if you dont eat it!

I have tried many many chocolate cakes, but I like this Mary Berry recipe the best.  It is very simple, quick and above all moist.  It lasts for quite a few days in an airtight tin.  This seems ideal for a group of children. I have  been making these cakes for guests with children over easter and decorating them with the little sugar coated chocolate eggs.

50g cocoa powder

200ml boiling water

175g Self Raising Flour

1 tsp baking powder

100g Butter

275g Caster sugar

2 eggs

Grease and line 2 x 20cm sandwich tins. Preheat oven to 180 C

Mix cocoa powder with the boiling water until smooth

Add the rest of the ingredients and use an electric whisk to mix together until blended.

Divide between the tins and cook for 30 – 35 minutes

When cool these can be sandwiched together with cream or a simple icing of 100g butter, 225g sifted icing sugar with 2 desert spoons of cocoa and 2 tablespoons of boiling water.

This is a recipe, originally from Darina Allen which my mother cooked over Easter and is a wonderful use of seasonal rhubarb. It was truly delicious and can be served with cream or custard.  5 or 6 apples peeled and chopped can be substituted for the rhubarb.
Pastry
170g plain white flour
85g butter
1 dessertspoon castor sugar
1 beaten egg, approx.
Filling
5-6 stalks of red rhubarb

Crumble
85g unsalted butter
85g plain white flour
170g granulated sugar from the vanilla pod jar
85g chopped almonds (unpeeled)
3 teasp. cinnamon

9 – 10 inch (23-25.5cm) tart tin

First make the pastry.
Sieve the flour and sugar into a bowl, cut the butter into cubes and rub into the flour with the fingertips. When the mixture looks like coarse breadcrumbs, stop.
Whisk the egg. Take a fork or knife (whichever you feel most comfortable with) and add just enough liquid to bring the pastry together, then discard the fork and collect the pastry into a ball with your hands. The drier and more difficult-to-handle pastry will give a crisper, ’shorter’ crust. Cover and rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Line the tart tin with pastry.

Fill with chopped rhubarb.

Next make the crumble.  Rub the butter into the flour and sugar to make a coarse crumble. Add the ground cinnamon and chopped almonds. Spread the crumble over the top of the fruit.

Bake in a preheated oven 190C/375F/regulo 5 until fully cooked – 35-40 minutes.
Serve warm or cold with a bowl of softly whipped cream.

We have long been thinking of keeping chickens for meat as well as for eggs and have finally taken the plunge.  We currently have 8 eggs in the incubator due to hatch this weekend.

We have found the easiest way to roast a bird keeping it moist and delicious is to put a chicken in a casserole dish with a lid.  Pour over a pint of chicken stock or white wine, 6 cloves of garlic (dont bother to peel), a couple of generous tablespoons of red current jelly (or similar).

Pop it in the oven for an hour with the lid on and 1/2 hour to an hour with the lid off at around 180 degrees C.  The meat will be very tender and almost fall off the bone, and for a lovely gravy just strain the juices and serve.