Hello Friends!
Happy May Day!
Tis the Merry Merry Month of May!
Oh, yes, there must always be cake ~ and the cake I will share with you later.
Everything is waking up in the garden, and getting ready for a Springtime Garden Party. As I wander through the garden I wonder and ponder at the miracle of life surviving the winter months: the evergreen trees that never give up their colour, such as the yew tree and the camellias; the bare branches of deciduous trees, dormant since their autumn glory, and now bursting open wildly into a myriad shades of green; shrubs and plants of all kinds that dropped their leaves but kept their berries and seed heads to feed and nourish the birds all winter long; plants that disappeared only to reappear with sturdy new shoots above the soil, continue the cycle of life; and tiny green seedlings sprouting everywhere, evidence of last summer's flowers renewing their vow to return ~~~ and so it goes!
Here's what's blooming in the garden this week ~~~
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| Aquilegia Columbine |
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| Cowslip Primula Veris |
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| Osteospermum Cape Daisies |
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| Seed head of Pasque flower |
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| Seed head of Pasque flower |
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| A beautiful demon! |
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| Well hidden in amongst the leaves of the Arum lily |
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| Arum lily |
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| Spanish bluebells |
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| Aquilegia Columbine |
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| Apple Blossom |
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| Apple Blossom and plenty of it! |
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| My 'free' mint plant going from strength to strength each day now! How quickly it grows. |
The return of wintry weather has brought a halt to most gardening jobs for a few days at least, but we need this rain badly and there are always plenty of happy things to do inside the cottage while the winter has a final fling outside ~~~ such as baking cake, for there must always be cake ~~~
Last Monday evening, the programme "Paul Hollywood's City Bakes" came from Reykjavik, Iceland. Of course I was glued to watching it as I lived there for four years and it was a real trip down Memory Lane to see the beautiful Icelandic land that is so dear to my heart. Every weekend I visited the town of Hveragerði so I could buy island~grown tomatoes, cucumbers, bananas, lemons and more grown in their geothermal greenhouses! I watched with great interest as he visited a local baker who uses the free, geothermal energy to bake delicious barley and rye bread, and rich fruit cake ~ all baked, or steamed, in the steam rising from the volcanic vents! Later, he visited with the Mayor of Reykjavik and in his home made the traditional Laufabrauð which I wrote about
here in December 2016. Then, with lots of other explorations into Icelandic cuisine, he made his own version of a sponge cake using the unique Icelandic ingredient Skyr, which is a high protein, low fat dairy product similar to yogurt. So, I just had to make one, and the recipe can be found
here.
Well, this is my verdict. It has a good texture rather like a pound cake, so good with a cup of tea. According to the recipe, you bake it in two 8" pans, but I think it will bake well in a Bundt pan with and temperatures adjusted accordingly. It is not the most elegant looking of cakes, rises to quite a dome making it difficult to fill, so I might halve the recipe and bake one layer, then cut it in half horizontally to fill it. I think you could use a thick yogurt, such as Greek style in place of the Skyr. The recipe says to serve eight, but it is such a deep cake it would easily serve twelve, or more. I found it rather bland, so I maybe ground cardamon would be a good alternative to the ground ginger, especially if serving with coffee {cardamon and coffee go so well together} ~~~
Until next time ~~~
~~~ Deborah xo
