Chitchat thread #24

[Bren In Pots]

I can almost smell it from here GF.

[lottie dolly]

Hahahahahaha cake,it has livened up our nostrils and palet,i have given the one i started on away to a deserving person ,i am very tempted to start on the other one and make a fresh start,as i comment was made,yes,about cherries,only one bit was found ,i have a another lovely afternoon,bang went sorting out the washing,at least i got my prioroties right,i know,cannot spell either,choir in the morning,and pedicure later on,the other day i had a go at getting a pic from my phone to the lappy,with the intentions of having another go at posting on here,but no,now my pics have gone from where they were,they are in another area,i need my son the help with this one ,

[Nicos]

Mornin n’alln’all

Very misty here!…I can hardly see the fence just a few yards away.
A few domestics for me and then get on with the sewing. Well, that’s the plan at least
I may accidentally get distracted and plant out a few bulbs of course

Enjoy your day peeps.

[Bren In Pots]

Morning

Another dull and damp day here.
I'm making a couple of birthday cards today while i still have everything out in my craft room, might even start on Christmas cards I don't send many these days just to family and close friends.

enjoy your day

[Snoop Puss]

Morning all.

Your recipe looks good, GF. Amazing how expensive brandy was in comparison with dried fruit back then. 5 tbsp of admittedly cheap brandy from a well-known German supermarket would cost me about 65 cents here, 40 oz of decent mixed dried fruit about 25 euros. Bet it's delicious with all that fruit. Can you explain the temperature and timings for me? I've never made a proper Christmas cake before, but a tried and well tested recipe is tempting. Thanks.

Yet more rain in the night. And again a lot of it. Drizzle was forecast, and barely any of it. More storms later this week according to AEMET (our version of the Met Office), nothing at all according to two others.

Mr Snoop has gone into the village today. I think he's going stir crazy, doing nothing but manage rainwater. Anyway, sunny at the moment. Phew!

Work for me today and grateful I should be for it...

Have a great day, everyone.

[greenishfing]

Good morning.

Not a very nice morning weatherwise. Just grey. ..... a miserable colour. I was just thinking that life must have been so depressing in the days before electricity, as well as uncomfortable.



I shall be going out to buy mild crumbly cheese later and cutting my cake. I 'm just deciding how generous I might be with it. Maybe a quarter for my brother in law and a quarter for my husband's old friend. I'll be making another cake later this week for our hairdresser for a Christmas present. I need it for the 13th of this month when she'll be coming to cut our hair for the last time before Christmas. I'm so happy that I can buy tin liners these days as I absolutely hate having to cut greaseproof and line them myself, maybe because it was one of the jobs I always had to do for my mother as a child when she was baking. That and the continuous washing up.

I haven't really thought about Christmas cards yet. I don't send many these days and most get hand delivered. I think Royal Mail's prices for cards and letters are outrageous.

Off to make more coffee....

[greenishfing]

Snoop, here is the rewritten recipe for one cake. The timings are very inaccurate. 2 to three hours at gas mark 1 to 2 (100°C) and then lower the oven right down (70°C) for another 2 to 3 hours. The one I made last night I cooked for 2 hours at gas 1½ish and then another 2 hours as low as the oven would go I tested it with a skewer and it seemed fine. The proof will be in the eating. My sister, who has an Aga and uses the same recipe, just puts it in the slow oven overnight.


I don't know how long ago I did the pricing on the original recipe but butter was much cheaper then. When it says 3½ eggs, I just put 4 in and I like glacé cherries so I reduce the dried fruit and increase the cherries. It is a very forgiving recipe. The only thing to be careful of is if you are rubbing in the butter and flour with a machine, don't let it do it for too long as because of the high butter content you will end up with dough. (Voice of experience).

[Florence Fennel]

Good Morning All That cake looks delicious! Dull here. Have a good day

[Snoop Puss]

Thanks, greenishfing. I'll give it a go. What size tin do you reckon?

Thanks for the advice on the butter and flour. Sure as three and a half eggs are four, I would have done that.

[greenishfing]

Snoop, it will work in a 6, 7 or 8 inch round tin fine. Obviously much deeper in a 6inch which I used this time.

[Snoop Puss]

^Thanks. I have rather a selection of tins... I'm sure I'll have one of those. Your deep cake looks lovely.

[Nicos]

^^^ it does doesn’t it!…mmmmm…..

[lottie dolly]

Afternoon all,i agree what miserable daybut better than what others have had,have cut into the other larger cake,am glad i have,it is realy half cooked,i will cut it up into bits and freeze it,it will make some nice deserts in the future,hoping it will cook off in the microwave,will do another when i got the ingredients in,LD passes the napkin to Nicos to wipe here chin ,a good morning at choir,we were tolled only 5 more rehersals,there were a few gasps,me included,happy baking girls

[greenishfing]

LD, just wondering, could your oven thermostat have gone faulty?

I've just cut our cake. It did live up to expectations.

[greenishfing]

Out of interest I've just roughly priced the fruit cake ingredients for one cake (aldi prices, where I bought most of the ingredients). It came to approximately £6. Considering it weighs over 1300grams it must be a bargain. ...... presuming I can add up today.🤯 (I have a feeling that I worked out the brandy wrong on the original recipe).