Monthly Archives: July 2015

Almond and plum slice

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Last year I made this yellow plum and vanilla jam and it has sat in the fridge ever since not being used! We are in the process of having a new kitchen and recently bought an integrated fridge/freezer which is smaller than our old one. In the process of trying to cram everything into the new fridge I decided I really had to use this jam. At the time of making it, I had seen this Jo Wheatley recipe which used plum jam. I decided it was time to give it a go. I love Jo’s recipes – there always simple and taste fantastic.
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Victoria sponge with crème patissière and gooseberry compote

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We have a couple of gooseberry bushes in our garden. They’re not looking too good at the moment as unfortunately they were obviously very tasty to some caterpillars. Luckily they still managed to produce some fruit. I was excited at this prospect as last year they produced absolutely nothing. They didn’t produce masses of fruit but I was still very excited!

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I had seen this recipe on the Delicious Magazine website ages ago and knew I wanted to give it a go. As it uses elderflower cordial, in the compote and in the creme patissiere I knew I should definitely try it to make use of the cordial I recently made.
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Pistachio and elderflower cordial cake

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Having made three litres of elderflower cordial which Mr Birdie refuses to drink (apparently it’s too flowery!) I was on the hunt for some cake recipes which use it. I have found a whole host of recipes, a couple of which I have already tried. I decided to start with this Anna Jones recipe as it used pistachios which I was already using in my strawberry and pistachio cake. This cake is gluten free as it uses polenta. I’ve never made a cake using polenta before so this was a first for me!
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Elderflower cordial

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Hooray it is the summer holidays! I originally typed this post up at the beginning of the month but due to end of term craziness at school I’ve only got round to finishing it off today. Yes, I know, it isn’t a baking recipe but I’ve decided to post it anyway (especially as I have used it in some cake recipes and plan on using it in some more). I’ve been wanting to try making elderflower cordial since last year when I saw Mary Berry making it on television in Mary Berry Cooks. I couldn’t find any elderflowers last year, but this year, whilst out running I spotted a couple of trees. After waiting for them to flower, off I went, armed with a carrier bag to collect the flowers.
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