Marmalade Cake

Recently I decided to make a marmalade cake. I liked the look of the recipe in Nigel Slater's Kitchen Diaries, and had been meaning to have a go at it for some time. As we had several jars of homemade marmalade, a new packet of golden caster sugar in the cupboard and a huge navel orange lurking in the fruit bowl I had no more excuses. It all went together very easily and cooked just the way the recipe said it would. He did say to pour the icing over the cake so that it ran in dribbles down the side; as you can see from the photos - that's what I did. It tasted wonderful, soft and moist with a tangy orange flavour, the icing really adding to both the texture and flavour just as he said it would. As you can see from the photo below - it only lasted a few days.

February is.....

Daffodils in jugs around the house and making marmalade with Seville oranges



Making something heart shaped for Valentine's Day.



Finally being able to get out into the garden and starting to clear the winter debris.



Seeing the first stirrings of this year's rhubarb.



and deciding which seeds to use for the coming season.



Of course this year things are different as the house is being sold and we don't know if we will be here for spring and summer. So the tidying of the garden is not just for us but for prospective viewers and hopefully (fingers crossed!) buyers who, if we plant the seeds will benefit from the produce.

The weather has been so wonderful this week with days of bright, clear sunshine and evenings of sumptuous red and pink skies. We've been able to have a few ventures into the garden to start clearing up ready for Spring. On Tuesday we drove over to Nottingham to visit friends which was very pleasant and this morning we walked around Trentham Lake and sat at the lakeside cafe with warm cups of coffee - my fingers were freezing as today is considerably colder than the last few- and chatted to a lovely gentleman and his family mainly about photography and the difference between film and digital cameras. I think we all decided that digital was easier and more adaptable but that there was nothing to beat the mood and clarity of black and white photos.

I've been meaning for a while to write a post about one of my hobbies which I've suddenly realised has been affected by my possession and use of a digital camera so much that it is something that I don't do anymore. I'll expand on this in my next post.

Making Marmalade

Last Friday we decided to make some marmalade. We'd bought 3lbs of Seville Oranges the day before from The Country Larder at Trentham Gardens. It took all morning as the peel had to be chopped really finely:-

Then it had to cook for two hours before adding the sugar and lemon juice:-

Then it was returned to the heat to reach a 'rolling' boil before we could test to see if the setting point had been reached. Then the jars and lids had to be sterilised before we could add the marmalade. The finished product looked so colourful:-

Paul designed and printed out the labels on the computer and these were added once the jars were cool. We kept a little tester dish in the fridge to try with toast the next morning - it was delicious.