The World Pooh Sticks Championship

The World Pooh Sticks Championship Birthday Cake.

Hello everyone

Well I have been given the challenge to make the after party cake for The World Pooh Sticks Championship which is on the 24th of  March at  Days Lock, Little Wittenham. its a brilliant family day out.  Also @bizzibeeds1 is raising money with their jewellery stall on behalf of The Florence Nightingale Hospice.  If you come go and have a look they make some lovely pieces.

Anyway back to the cake. How am I going to make it. Well surprise surprise its a Eliza Acton sponge cake which is ideal as her recipes tend to make rather big cakes.   The design will be a round cake based on the badge which has been produced for the event it will be surrounded by mini cakes moulded in the shape of Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Piglet and Eeyore though not sure if its best to making them with honey instead of sugar will work.

So thats why I have been rather quiet of late as i am involved with the planning of the event itself.    I also have something else up my sleeve! More of that later.

pooh_sticks.co.uk

Best Wishes

Deborah x

Appel Krapfen (The Result)

Hi everyone hope your having a Happy Valentines Day.

Well I can honestly say this is the most flavourful recipe I have done yet and quite a surprise. The filling is like a firework of taste going of in your mouth.

Its also easy to cook ahead and freeze for a party.

Thank you to @ActonScottMuse for helping me choose this recipe. Photos to be added soon.

Ingredients

Apples 375g peeled and cored
Granulated Sugar 125g
Sherry Glass of White Wine
Almonds ground 125g
Chopped Candied peel 60g
Raisins 185g
Nutmeg ground (half a teaspoon)
Beaten egg
Butter Crust Pastry (I used shortcrust)
Oven: Slow 125c for 60 Mins

Method:

Boil down the cooking apples with the granulated sugar and a sherry glass of white wine. When they are stewed quite to a pulp, keep them stirred until they are thick and dry; then gradually mix the ground almonds and the candied peel finely chopped. Add the raisins and nutmeg and stir well. Put to one side.

Then make and prepare the pastry. Roll it out to the thickness of the back of a knife and cut into 4 inch squares. Brush the edges with beaten egg, fill with the mixture and lay a square on top to make a lid and seal tightly. Cut to small holes in the top of each Krapfen and then glaze.

Cook for 60 mins in a slow oven at 125c fan.

Note: The slow bake improves the raisins and give the filling a burst of flavour. If unable to cope with citrus fruit Eliza suggests Apricot Jam (two heaped tablespoonfuls) in its place and in the place of the raisins.

My Observations:

I made them for pudding and they were a big hit, though I could have made the pastry thinner and glazed them better. I also think they would be nicer with puff pastry. The filling tastes like strudel and is nice to eat on its own.

Please try this all my taste testers loved it and I can highly recommend it. This recipe is all about the flavour.

Best Wishes

Deborah Xx

Appel Krapfen (German Receipt) The Method

Hello everyone

Here is the method for Appel Krapfen. This recipe has got me really interested and is going to need a lot of thinking on my part. Anyway here is what Eliza recommends in the method.

“Boil down three-quarters of a pound of good apples with four ounces of pounded sugar, and a small glass of white wine, or the strained juice of a lemon; when they are stewed quite to a pulp, keep them stirred until they are thick and dry; then mix them gradually with four ounces of almonds, beaten to a paste, or very finely chopped, two ounces of candied orange or lemon rind shred extremely small, and six ounces of jar raisins stoned and quartered: to these the Germans add a rather high favouring of cinnamon, which is a very favourite spice with them, but a grating of nutmeg, and some fresh lemon peel are, we think, preferable for this composition. Mix all the ingredients well together; roll out some butter-crust a full back of knife thickness, cut it into four-inch squares, brush the edges to the depth of an inch round with beaten egg, fill them with the mixture, lay another square of paste on each, press them very securely together, make with the point of a knife, a small incision in the top of each, glaze them or not at pleasure, and bake them rather slowly, that the raisins will have time to become tender. They are very good. The proportion of sugar must be regulated by the nature of the fruit; and that of the almonds can be diminished when it is thought too much. A delicious tart of the kind is made by substituting for the raisins and orange rind two heaped tablespoonful of very fine apricot jam.”

So there we go that’s the way Eliza made it. I have to say that it will be interesting how it turns out when I do this in the week. Interpretation can be a tricky thing. I will be making it according to Eliza’s preference even though the cinnamon is very tempting!

Best wishes and wish me luck

Deborah X

Quick Blog: Interesting Nuggets

Hello everyone hope your day is going well.

I have been looking at odd bits of information in the 1855 copy of the cookery book and found interesting nuggets of information. In the back of the book is the advertising from the publishers and are all manor of books among them one entitled ” Alcorn. – A Compendium of (Chronology. Edited by the Rev. John Alcorn .M.A (Nearly Ready)”.

It makes me wonder what it was about!

However at the first entry on New Works and Editions we have the following ” Miss Acton’s Modern Cookery- Book. Modern Cookery in all its branches, reduced to a system of easy practice. For the use of Private Families. In a series of Recipes all of which have been strictly tested and given with the most exactness. By Eliza Acton. New Edition; with various additions, plates and wood-cuts. Fep. Svo. Price 7s. 6d”

So it seems in today’s money this huge book cost 37 and a half pence! I found that really interesting. Though I suspect that may have been a lot of money in 1855 for some families.

Also some of the recipe headings make me smile and even cringe at the idea of it, the recipe for Saunders which made me laugh as one of my. Friends has that surname. It turns out to be the precursor to a cottage pie! Can’t wait to cook that. The one that made me cringe was….. Drum Roll Please…… Brain Cakes under the forcemeat section oh dear that made my stomach churn and I am hoping they don’t sell brains these days!

It does show how people have changed these days, I doubt back in Eliza’s day they would have blinked twice at brain cakes as she has two in the book. What it does show is that then hardly anything was wasted unlike in this age of a disposable society. This Cookery book is going to be an eye opener as I go through it and so interesting.

Best Wishes

Deborah x

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