Baking

 I enjoy baking - especially biscuits and cakes.  Above is a chocolate cake which I made for my sister in law's birthday last month. It is my much used go-to recipe as the cake lasts well (if you can manage not to eat it) and it stays nice and moist.  I topped it with chocolate buttercream icing and some large chocolate buttons.

We had some lemons hanging about in the kitchen so I decided to make some lemon curd.  I have said this before, but it is a very 'Spring-y' thing to make. 

 I used Delia Smith's ingredients but Nigel Slater's method and it came out beautifully - lovely and tangy. The ingredients gave me one small jar (1 lemon, 2 eggs, 3 oz sugar, 2 oz butter.)  I added some to the butter icing in these butterfly cakes and an extra splodge (technical term!) on top.  They are yummy!  

Happy things in mid April

As I usually do, I have made some lemon curd - I associate the sunny yellow and slightly sharp taste with Spring.  I made a cake (the thought of lemon curd and buttercream was too much to resist) and to avoid the usual problem I have of the layers of buttercream and lemon curd fighting against each other and causing slippage of the top layer of cake, I mixed the lemon curd into the buttercream. Success!

 The cake stays intact, no slippage of the layers and the delicious lemon flavour comes through the buttercream.

 Other things making me happy are in the garden.  My Lathyrus vernus Alboroseus is flowering again...

 ...and the patio peony I bought last year - Madrid I think, or it could be Athens - has six buds.

It's the start of my tulip season and these Ballerina tulips (my favourite) were from last year or the year before as I planted them in the border after taking them out of their pots.  They are also earlier to flower than the ones I bought this year.

 Muscari latifolium which is my favourite grape hyacinth, due to the lovely shading.

New patio peonies, bought as bare roots last month.  This is 'Rome'.

 Another patio peony just nosing out of the ground.  Rome again (as I received two small and separate plants in the order, rather than one larger one.)

 An epimedium which I bought many years ago and thought was lost, has just made its presence known and is flowering beautifully.

 Erythronium Pagoda is also doing well.

 Clematis Alpina Rosy Pagoda has some buds...

...and one open flower.  I hope there will be lost more to enjoy for the next couple of weeks of April.

Wombat Friday, Jane Morris and extolling the virtues of lemon curd

Here is my offering for this week's Wombat Friday.  Accompanying my wombat today is the painting 'Proserpine' by Dante Gabriel Rossetti - the first painting of his that made an impression back in my teenage years.  He painted several versions of this image of Jane Morris and I was fascinated by the colour of her dress, ranging from teal green, through green/turquoise and purple/blue, depending on which version you see.  I was also fascinated by the model - feminine but with a masculine jaw.  Was she real and if she was, did she really look like that?  Yes and yes was the answer.

Jane Morris was the wife of William Morris (the Victorian version of a 'Renaissance Man') and she really did look like that.  I was particularly envious of her beautiful curls as my hair was (and still is) fine and straight as a poker.
I have also managed to include cake this Friday, which is homemade lemon curd and buttercream sponge.  The lemon curd came about as I had been seeing it on various blogs which I follow and decided I needed to make some.  Having bought lemons, I set to, following Nigel Slater's recipe ( link here):

Nigel Slater's LEMON CURD

Most lemon curd recipes instruct you to stir the mixture with a wooden spoon. I find that stirring lightly with a whisk introduces just a little more lightness into the curd, making it slightly less solid and more wobbly.

Makes 2 small jam jars
zest and juice of 4 unwaxed lemons
200g sugar
100g butter
3 eggs and 1 egg yolk

Put the lemon zest and juice, the sugar and the butter, cut into cubes, into a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, making sure that the bottom of the basin doesn't touch the water. Stir with a whisk from time to time until the butter has melted.

Mix the eggs and egg yolk lightly with a fork, then stir into the lemon mixture. Let the curd cook, stirring regularly, for about 10 minutes, until it is thick and custard-like. It should feel heavy on the whisk.

Remove from the heat and stir occasionally as it cools. Pour into spotlessly clean jars and seal. It will keep for a couple of weeks in the refrigerator.

 It made two and a half small jars of the most delicious, mouth watering lemon curd.  I didn't have unwaxed lemons, so just omitted the zest (I don't really like 'bits' in the lemon curd anyway).  I am going to make some sponge buns with lemon curd in their middle as I think that would be gorgeous too.  With the weather the way it is at the moment, and winter still very much in charge, we all need some sunshine, whether in the floral form of daffodils, or the edible form of lemon curd.