A cake from the Yorkshire past

Sharon´s Auntie Betty was one of the Bainbridge tribe of Sedbergh, in North Yorkshire, and all the women were great bakers. Here is the recipe for Cut and Come Again Cake, from Auntie Betty´s handwritten cookbook. She wrote that this was Mrs Pricket´s recipe.

Eight ounces of self raising flour
Quarter of a teaspoon of salt
One teaspoon of mixed spice
Four ounces of butter
Four ounces of sugar
Three ounces of currants
Three ounces of sultanas
Two ounces of glace cherries
Grated rind and juice of one orange
Two eggs
Milk

Sift the flour spice and salt into a bowl and then rub in the butter, sugar, fruit and rind. Beat the eggs with enough milk to make a quarter of a pint of liquid.
Bake for about one hour and 20 minutes.

As the name suggests – cut and come again.

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©Phillip Bruce 2009

Cake and sunshine are all you need

The simplest pleasures are best, such as sitting at a pavement café on a sunny spring morning.

We had traveled to Murcia City, the capital of Murcia Province, Spain, in order to deal with some bureaucratic paperwork and, once free of the crowded government offices it was time for a coffee. We headed with friends Liz and Graham for the Café Roses, which is on the south bank of the Segura River, just over the old bridge at the end of the wide Gran Via that cuts through the centre of Murcia. The bridge was started in 1718 and there is a neoclassical shrine to the Virgin on the south bank which opened in 1839. A short way past that, on the right hand side of the road, there are several cafes with pavement tables.

We sat at the Café Roses and ordered milky and black coffees and then went inside to study the treats on offer. Choosing is always a problem with so much to tempt and so many calories to worry about. Sharon chose a chocolate layer affair with shavings of dark chocolate on top and added a strawberry flavoured mousse and sponge cake for good measure. We decided to share everything and a big fluffy puff pastry thing with a round of meringue was added to the order, together with a pastry covered with sweet sugar gel onto which pine nuts dusted with icing sugar were densely packed. On the savoury side, a giant croissant filled with cheese and ham and a small, long, pizza topped with a rasher of bacon completed the spread.

We sat outside under the shade of a large umbrella and watched the world go by. Of course, we all complained about the calories to come but when the dishes were brought out the spoons and forks were soon hard at work. When the wreckage was being picked at more coffees were ordered and we sat back, gossiped and watched the world go by.

Across the street a large water sculpture featured two huge pots. The top one was filled with water which streamed from a pipe and when full it turned over and disgorged into the lower pot. Murcia City was founded by the Islamic invaders in when they swept through Spain. They brought with them sophisticated irrigation techniques, including water wheels, hydraulic mills and channel systems to bring precious water to the fields, often planted with the oranges and lemons which they also introduced from the Middle East. Next to the old bridge, on the river itself, is the city´s hydraulic museum – Museo Hidráulico Los Molinos del Rio, set in an ancient water mill.

But we had no time for museums today and, instead, just enjoyed the sunshine.
Diagonally across the road the edge of the Floridablanca garden could be seen, with its imposing stone arched entrance displaying the armorial bearings of the Count of Floridablanca who gave it to the city – the first public garden in all of Spain. There are large and stately trees and in the summer the park is filled with roses. We decided to visit another day.

There were just a few smidgeons of cake left and it would be a shame to waste them.

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©Phillip Bruce 2009.