Earl Grey tea loaf - gluten free

Frankly I don't think you can beat a tea loaf, especially one which is Earl Grey scented. This very British bake is great for taking on picnics or in school lunch boxes and the like, it is also better after a couple of days wrapped and stored in an airtight tin.

To ensure a moist tasty cake please soak the dried fruit for at least a couple of hours in the tea so it doesn't rob the cake of its moisture whilst baking, this is particularly important if you are baking gluten free. I have been experimenting recently with mixing my own gluten free flour rather than relying on ready mixed and must say that I am impressed with the results being achieved.

Earl Grey tea dates from the 1830's and is reputed to be named after the Prime Minister of that time, a black tea with the addition of the oil of the bergamot orange.

What you need

• 275g Dried mixed fruit (raisins, sultanas, cranberries, apricots are all lovely)
• 125ml strongly brewed Earl Grey tea
• 90g softened butter or quality vegetable margarine
• 125g golden caster sugar
• 180g plain gluten free flour
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp xanthum gum
• 125ml warmed skimmed milk ( I use the microwave)
• 2 eggs - free range

1 x 2lb loaf tin base lined or use a liner (I pick them up from the local £1 shop)

What you do

• Soak the fruit in the strongly brewed Earl Grey tea for at least 2 hours
• Once the fruit is soaked and swelled then you are ready to bake
• Pre heat the oven to 160c 
• Beat the softened butter and sugar together in a large bowl or use a mixer.
• Once soft light and fluffy add the rest of the ingredients except the dried fruit 
• Mix until well combined, then fold in the dried fruit
• Pour into the prepared tin and place in the oven
• Bake for 50 -60 minutes, the cake is ready when a skewer inserted comes out clean
• Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes in the tin, then cool fully on a wire rack
• Once fully cool wrap in foil to store
• Fabulous serve buttered or on its own.

As this cake is perfect picnic food I am linking up to Tea Time Treats whose theme this month is PICNIC FOOD, a blog challenge hosted by Lavender and Lovage and Hedgecombers.

                                         

CCC No 13 - At Coppers Tea room, Leyland

Hello,ello , ello what have we got here, South Lancashire  clandestine cake club being held in the former victorian police station now tea room Coppers in Leyland !

                                         

Complete with cells this former local police station has been converted in a delightfully quirky tearoom and coffee lounge, handily situated near the towns railway station. Its a great spot for afternoon tea and that's exactly what the theme of our March meeting was "Lancashire Afternoon Tea", the friendly staff serve a wide range of drinks, snacks and cakes , many featuring local produce.

My bake was a twist on the local classic Goosnargh cake but you can find out more about this cake here.

Once again our bakers rose to the occasion and brought along some beautiful cakes which where great interpretations of the theme. We also had our first male baker who brought along a fabulous Zingy lemon curd cake along with his gorgeous 9 month old son and his partner to help eat all the cakes. We also had two young foodie visitors who had make a great cake label for their mums bake and who also assisted in helping us eat our way through 10 cakes.

1. Zingy Lemon curd Cake
2. Imogens Sultana and apple farmhouse cake
3. Coconut and raspberry cake
4. Bakewell Cake
5. Coffee cake
6. Chocolate Roulade
7. Passionfruit victoria sponge
8. Raspberry Cakewell
9. Goosnargh cake with Orange buttercream
10. Battenberg Cake

Let the feast commence !

Wonderful cake label 

Raspberry Cakewell

Just some of the teapots in Coppers Tearoom 

Zingy lemon curd layer cake

Thanks to everyone who attended this cake club meeting and made it such a great sucess and thanks to the staff at Coppers who so warmly welcomed us. 

Our visit was also featured in the local newspaper

Pikelets - a traditional tea time treat

Pikelets are the easier to make sibling of the crumpet family, that great afternoon teatime treat or in our household breakfast treat too. For many years I have fancied giving making crumpets or pikelets a try and not got around to it but finally I have had a go and was pleasantly surprised by how very easy they are to make, so much so that I will be having another griddle baking session very soon. Yeast raised but griddled baked these little fluffy holey delights turned out great and are best devoured toasted and slathered (good word that !) with butter and home made jam or better still apple butter.

If like us you have either an open fire or log burner, pikelets are great toasted on a cold wet wintery afternoon for a carpet picnic. You will need a toasting fork, but its way more fun than an electric toaster !

Ingredients

• 500g strong white bread flour
• 350ml warm milk
• 350ml warm water
• 5g dried yeast
• 10g salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• Vegetable oil for frying - a little

You will also need a heavy based frying pan or flat griddle hotplate to cook your pikelets in or on.

This makes about 16 pikelets

Method

• Mix all your ingredients except the oil in a large bowl, whisking together until your batter is the consistency of a thick pancake batter
• Cover the bowl with cling film and leave to ferment in a warm place until the mixture is all bubbly. This will take at least an hour and may be as much as 3 hours. Don't rush this step as time is what creates the flavour in the dough.
• You are now ready to cook your pikelets
• Preheat your pan / griddle , oil and then wipe (I use kitchen roll) so there is just a trace of oil remaining.
• Ladle large spoonfuls of the mixture into the pan, whatever size you wish to make your pikelets
• Cook on one side without moving until the top side is covered with lots of air bubbles that have popped, this takes a couple of minutes.
• Flip your pikelets over and briefly cook on the other side
• You are aiming for lightly golden on both sides, as bear in mind that you will be toasting to serve.
• Delicious toasted served with butter and preserves
• They freeze really well also.

Vintage Tea Party Year

Don't you just love a book that along side recipes has craft and hair styling tips, what ! you never had one that has both ? well you never read one of Angel Adoree's seminal works. I just love this book , as soon as you seen the front cover you know you are handling something special, reminiscent of a fairy story book of your childhood, its enchanting.

This is Angel Adoree's second work and is just wonderful, vintage style and with great ideas on how to make seasonal and family celebrations special. The Vintage Tea Party year covers

• New Years Eve Tea Party
• Children Tea Party
• Coming of Age Tea Party
• Tea for Two
• Hen Tea Party
• Wedding Tea Party
• Mum To be Tea party
• Gentleman's Tea party
• Street Tea Party
• Picnic Tea Party
• Guy Fawkes Tea Party
• Christmas Tea Party

Each section has recipes, invites, thank you notes, decoration tips and funky craft ideas to get the party started. As well as penning cookery book , Angel runs a successful vintage event hosting company, this book is so much more than cook book and would make a great gift for a girl friend who loves all things vintage.

I received my copy of this book from Octopus Publishing free of charge, you can purchase a copy direct from them or alternatively Amazon or any independent bookseller.

Chai Tea bread

I don't know about any body else but when its cold and blustery outside , I like nothing better than hankering down with a cup of tea and a great piece of cake (always homemade), baking that contains warming spices always seems so comforting to me. Chai tea is also very comforting so I decided to merge the two in this cake , I was very pleased with the resultant warmingly spiced tea loaf, deliciously moist and very moreish.

Ingredients

• 2 cups plain flour - sieved
• 2 tsp baking powder (level)
• 1/2 cup of sunflower margarine
• 3/4 cup of granulated sugar
• 2 eggs free range
• 1 tsp vanilla paste
• 1/2 cup of chai tea, cooled (I used vanilla chai tea bags by Pukka)
• 1/3 cup of skimmed milk
• 1/4 tsp ground cardamon
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• Pinch of ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• Pinch of sea salt

Method

• Pre heat your oven to 180c
• Oil spray your 2lb loaf tin and line lengthwise with a piece of grease proof paper or baking parchment
• In your mixer, mix all you ingredients until smooth and well incorporated, be careful not to over mix
• Pour into your prepared tin
• Bake for approximately 45 -50 minutes, until well risen, golden and tests cooked with a skewer
• Cool for at least 10 minutes before removing from tin and leaving to cool fully on a wire rack .
• Stores well when wrapped in foil.

Callooh! Callay! - Funky tea shop Clitheroe

Callooh Callay is funky little tea shop in the lovely Lancashire market town of Clitheroe, for those in the know its smack bang in the centre of all things foodie, the area is well blessed with fabulous growers, farmers, producers and talented chefs and cooks who make use of all this great grub to produce some of the best food in the country.

Callooh Callay sits on the charming traditional high street, so is very handy to bob into for a drink or a light meal whilst you are enjoying the delights of Clitheroe. Based on the theme of the mad hatters tea party, this quirky little tea shop draws you in. the decor is great, all chintzy retro, with lots of recycled and reused crockery, fabrics and furniture. The flooring however is amazing and its worth paying a visit for this alone, its an old map blown up of  Clitheroe and then made in vinyl, amazing !

The menu is relatively short, but thats not necessarily a bad thing in my opinion and is a range of soup, sandwiches, toasties and  homemade cakes. The tea menu however is longer after all this is an ode to all things "Jabberwocky" after all, lots of custom blends specially made for the tea shop. They also serve "Hot Vimto", a classic winter warmer. 

Service was attentive and our food arrived in a reasonably time, so it was freshly prepared, both the sandwich and toastie that we ordered were well flavoured and accompanied by vegetable crips and homemade coleslaw and some dressed salad. So all in all a great little tea room.

Family Teatime

Need an idea for a great Christmas gift for a friend or family ? Then look no further, Family Teatime is a lovely book which has some great cake, biscuit and tea time treat recipes. The book is beautifully illustrated with Vintage images and postcards and filled with tips and anecdotes on the origins of afternoon tea.

This delightful book has a practical wipe clean cover and has an illustration for each recipe featured. The recipes are for all the traditional teatime favourites and one or two surprises, each recipe is detailed and easy to follow. The book would be ideal for all the family to bake together and having fun experiencing a traditional afternoon tea.

I have enjoyed making a number of the recipes from the book, scotch pancakes, almond and cherry cupcakes and lemon bars  which all turned out well.

I have kindly been sent the book to review by Flame Tree Publishing, the book is available to purchase on Amazon.

Cup of Tea cake

One of my most faithful and reliable recipes is a straight forward matter of fact, tea loaf. It can be made with store cupboard ingredients and has minimal washing up so its a favourite I make very regularly. Its also very comforting in a like "Granny used to make" way. You can serve it as it is or buttered and of course with a cup of tea, if you want to ring the changes then use different types of tea, earl grey or Rooibus are nice alternatives.

Ingredients

• 4oz butter
• 1 cup of strong tea
• 8oz Dried mixed fruit
• 1 tsp bicarb of soda
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• 8oz self raising flour
• 4oz sugar
• 1 egg - free range

Method

Preheat your oven to 160c and grease and line a 2lb loaf tin. Melt your butter in a large pan, then add your tea and mixed fruit, bring to a gentle simmer for 2 minutes, so as to swell the fruit. Now allow to cool for about 5 minutes so as not to curdle your egg. Once cool add the flour, sugar, bicarb and spice, mix well and then add the egg, mix well. Pour into you tin and bake for approx 1 hour until well risen and golden brown, test with a skewer to ensure its cooked through.

Cool in the tin and then on a wire rack, freezes beautifully when double wrapped with foil.

Coppers Tea Room Leyland

A group of ladies that lunch, i.e myself and number of colleagues from work visited this newly opened tea room in Leyland on a busy Friday lunchtime. We were all intrigued to visit the old Police station and view the cells. Coppers is a family concern and the focus is on a traditional tea room experience. The old Police station has been refurbished in a traditional Victorian style complete with chandeliers, traditional farmhouse kitchen paraphernalia abounds and lots of eclectic china welcomes you in. The other room is more lounge style with comfy chairs and low tables.

The menu is very much focused on a traditional experience, sandwiches, soup, jacket potates and lots of cake. You can even order a full afternoon tea served on a cake stand. Taylors teas and coffee are the order of the day and old school soft drinks such as Iron Brew, saspirilla and dandelion and burdock are available.

The menu is reasonably priced and only one of the party had a slight criticism, the soup despite being very tasty was a little cool, otherwise we were all very satisfied. A couple of us even had room for cake which was very nice. You also get a proper pot of tea, a china cup and a jug of real milk.

Call in soon, it was very busy on the day we visited we didn't see the ghost but the cells were very interesting.

Banana Tea Loaf

Every wondered what to do with slightly manky banana's, the very spotty soft ones. Not one to waste food I have a number of recipes that I use to make the best use of these sweet fragrant goodies. This one is called a tea loaf even though it doesn't contain any tea. Its also pretty healthy too !

Ingredients

• 200g self raising wholemeal flour
• Salt / baking powder pinch
• 1tsp cinnamon
• 75g soft brown sugar
• 3 mashed bananas
• 75g polyunsaturated margarine melted ( use microwave)
• 100g raisins or chopped dates or other dried fruit 2 Eggs- lightly beaten

Method

Place all ingredients except dried fruit in mixer or food processor, mix well until smooth and then add dried fruit. Pour into a lined and oiled 2lb loaf tin. Bake in a pre heated oven @ 160C for 1-1 1/4 hours, until cooked through when tested with a skewer. Cool on a wire rack

Delicious if left for a couple of days to mature in foil, could serve buttered or with cream cheese but that would not be as healthy !

Enjoy !