My Stories ||Hens Yielding to Prayer

"Any eggs?" asked one of my regular customers, hope on her face. "No, sorry," was my reply. Every time. She gave up asking after a few weeks. It was frustrating. The chickens had never done this before. One or the other would continue to lay throughout the winter months. But now, with a larger proportion of pure breeds who stopped laying when broody, moulting or when the days had little sunlight, and, in turn (I'm sure) influenced the hybrids, we were lucky to get one a week.

Then, finally, a few weeks ago, we had our first dark brown egg. It was one of the new chickens. Then there was another. Then a white one, a blue/green one. More brown. All of a sudden we had a dozen.

Have you read I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith?

I don't recall reading it as a child, so read it for the first time a few years ago.

"Goodness, Topaz is putting the eggs on to boil! No one told me the hens had yielded to prayer. Oh, excellent hens!

And this is the line I thought of when the eggs finally appeared.

Lemon Drizzle Cake from The Finding of Martha Lost

I don't think I've ever read a novel that has so many references to cake. (Well, other than the one I'm writing.) Specifically lemon drizzle cake. Lemon drizzle is a popular choice. Just this weekend I read on a tweet that it was JK Rowling's favourite. It certainly is one of mine. And it is definitely very important to Martha and her friend, Elisabeth, in The Finding of Martha Lost by Caroline Wallace.

So, who is Martha Lost? Well, that's a very good question. And one Martha intends to find the answer to. See, Martha has been lost since she was a little baby. Abandoned on a train to Liverpool she has been waiting in Liverpool Lime Street lost property office for sixteen years. And still, no-one has claimed her.

With the help of her friends: William, the man who lives underneath the station, George Harris, a commuter who wears a Roman soldier uniform, and Elisabeth, who runs the coffee bar next door where she serves delicious cream scones, cherry pie and, of course, a lot of lemon drizzle cake, Martha sets about finding who she is and where she came from.

This is such a magical story. Set against a backdrop of Liverpool, Lime Street railway station and The Beatles it is a story of one young woman's quest to discover answers. Answers that will tell her how her story began.

The Finding of Martha Lost by Caroline Wallace is out today.

Recipe for Lemon Drizzle Cake inspired by The Finding of Martha Lost by Caroline Wallace

Equipment

20cm/8 inch round cake tin or a loaf tin: greased and lined with baking parchment, juicer, grater, cocktail stick or skewer, jug.

Ingredients

For the cake

• 225g butter, softened
• 225g caster sugar
• 275g self raising flour
• 4 eggs
• Splash or two of milk
• Zest of two lemons

For the drizzle

• 125g sugar (granulated is best for a really crunchy topping)
• juice of two lemons

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 140 degrees fan.
2. Put all the ingredients for the cake into a bowl and mix with an electric mixer until well combined.
3. Place into the prepared cake tin and bake for 1 hour - 1 hour 15.
4. When baked, leave in the tin, and make small holes all over the surface using a cocktail stick or a skewer.
5. For the drizzle: mix the sugar and lemon juice together in a jug.
6. Whilst the cake is still warm pour the drizzle over the top. Do it slowly to allow the drizzle to soak in.
7. Allow the cake to cool then remove from the tin.

Toffee from The O'Sullivan Twins at St. Clare's

There is something very special about creating a recipe from one of your favourite childhood books. When I made jammy buns from Malory Towers I was so excited as finally, something I'd read about and wondered about for years was coming to life in my kitchen. The very treat enjoyed by Darrell, Sally and Alicia – the characters I'd grown up with. Oh, that was such a great day.

Perhaps it is little surprise, therefore, that I've found another childhood favourite. Another Enid Blyton story with yet another boarding school.

The O'Sullivan Twins, Pat and Isabel, did not want to go to St Clare's. They were cross and acted rather badly about it all. So badly, they become known as the Stuck-Up Twins or the High-and-Mighties. But the school soon licked them into shape, rubbed off their sharp corners and, before you knew it, Pat and Isabel adore the school and are popular and liked.

The Easter term arrives and with it, second former Tessie's birthday. She decides to have a midnight feast with just a few friends including the twins. The girls are all very excited at the thought of meeting up at midnight in the music room and stuffing themselves silly with a big fruit cake, a ginger cake, biscuits and wonderful, sweet, homemade toffee. Plus, of course, ginger beer and sausages. That's right. Sausages for a midnight feast.

This recipe for toffee is great as you don't need a sugar thermometer – just a heavy based pan and a few basic ingredients.

My toffee is dark with a slightly smoky taste. I think I got inspired by the sizzling sausages. If you want it lighter than just boil it for less time.

Homemade toffee inspired by The O'Sullivan Twins at St. Clare's by Enid Blyton

Equipment

• baking tray lined with greased baking parchment
• medium sized, heavy-bottomed or non-stick pan
• wooden spoon
• jug with cold water.

Ingredients

• 200g butter
• 300g caster sugar
• 60ml water
• pinch of salt
• 1 tsp vanilla

Method

1. In the pan, weigh out the butter, sugar, water, salt and vanilla
2. Heat gently, stir, then once everything has melted turn it up and allow to boil. It will become frothy.
3. Do not stir it once it is boiling as it may crystalize.
4. Turn down the heat slightly and gently boil for between 5 - 10 minutes. The longer you cook it the darker it will be.
5. This toffee will be extremely hot. DO NOT attempt to lick the spoon or touch it in any way.
6. When you want to test if it is ready, put a teaspoon of it into the jug of cold water. If it stays together in a ball, it is done.
7. Pour into the prepared tin and allow to cool.
8. When cold, bash it up.
9. Eat.

Jammy Buns from Malory Towers

Oh how I wished I could play lacrosse as a child. I skipped over the fact that I didn't actually know what lacrosse was. But it sounded like serious fun. The achievement of being picked for the team. The support. The friendships. I longed to be a part of it.

Darrell, Sally, Alicia, Belinda, Irene, Mary-Lou from Enid Blyton's Malory Towers. I loved them all. Especially Darrell. Along with their sports matches I loved their plays, their tricks, even their homework; such is the spell Enid Blyton wove over me. I was desperate to go to this school.

In hindsight I think I was influenced by the food.

Two words. Midnight feasts. Down by the natural pool by the sea. Who wouldn't want to take part in all that excitement?

But one of the best feasts would be after the school lacrosse match was played. You would feel exhausted, like you'd just competed yourself. So what better way to recover than by mentally gorging on the delicious food the school provided afterwards for match tea. A smashing tea of sandwiches, jammy buns and fruit cake.

The jammy buns always made my mouth water. I imagined them to be sweetened bread buns, split in half and filled with jam. But obviously, cream has to be added too.  You can never have too much of a good thing.

These buns are the same bun as the Cherry Topped Iced Buns from Tales of Toyland. So you could do both if you so desired.

Recipe for Jammy Buns

Makes 14 buns 

Equipment

Mixing bowl, saucepan, hands for kneading or a mixer with a dough hook attachment, baking sheet.

Ingredients

• 350ml milk
• 25g unsalted butter
• 500g strong white flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 flat dessert spoon caster sugar
• 7g sachet yeast

To serve

• Strawberry jam
• 250 ml double cream, whipped

Method

1. Measure the milk and butter into a saucepan and heat until the butter has melted.
2. Allow to cool so it's lukewarm.
3. In a mixing bowl mix together the flour, salt, sugar and yeast.
4. Pour over the lukewarm milk.
5. Mix. It will be slightly sticky.
6. Turn out onto a floured work surface and knead for 5 - 10 minutes. Or use a mixer with a hook attachment.
7. Turn back into the bowl and cover the bowl in clingfilm. Place somewhere warm and leave for one hour. It should double in size.
8. Knock the dough back to deflate and cut into 14 pieces.
9. Roll into balls and place on a greased baking sheet, well apart from each other.
10. Cover again with clingfilm (only loosely) and allow to rise again for about 15 minutes.
11. Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees or 180 fan.
12. Scatter some flour over the buns then place in oven for 10-15 minutes.
13. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
14. Split open and fill with jam and cream.
15. Serve immediately.

Crumpets from Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

It's no secret that I wasn't looking forward to reading Rebecca. It was a classic that scared me. Daunted me. Until one day recently I picked it up and read it cover to cover. It's one of those novels that you can't help but continue to think about. It's probably a couple of months since I read it but scenes keep appearing before me. I could be wandering outside and disturb a flock of pigeons roosting in the trees above. In Rebecca du Maurier likens this startled pigeon noise to that of "old ladies caught at their ablutions". I think of this every time a pigeon flutters its wings in that wonderfully, noisy agitated fashion. (I thought of it again this evening on the school run when I saw an agitated pigeon clutching at some ivy and hanging upside down. Yes, just like a bat.)

Mr de Winter Breakfast from Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

Food makes me think of Rebecca, too. Take marmalade, for example. A simple breakfast preserve. But the preserve of choice for Maxim de Winter. When I see a jar (my husband is rather partial to marmalade) I remember the scene where Maxim is ordering his breakfast of marmalade, toast, coffee, a boiled egg and a tangerine, whilst proposing to our narrator, "I'm asking you to marry me, you little fool."

I like how Daphne du Maurier uses food to enhance their different situations. When the novel begins and they're no longer at Manderley the narrator describes the food as "indifferent". Their afternoon tea, because despite being in a foreign country they stick to their English routine, now consists of bread and butter.

Crumpets from Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

Compare this indifference to how they ate at Manderley:

"Dripping crumpets...Tiny crisp wedges of toast, and piping-hot, floury scones. Sandwiches of unknown nature, mysteriously flavoured and quite delectable, and that very special gingerbread. Angel cake, that melted in the mouth, and his rather stodgier companion, bursting with peel and raisins."

After reading that paragraph don't you get an urge for crumpets? I've forgotten everything else. I can only think of having crumpets dripping with butter, sitting by the fire. And I don't mean ones from the supermarket. After all, I can't imagine Mrs Danvers would have nipped down to her local supermarket to pick up a packet. No, homemade is the way to truly recreate what Maxim and his second wife would tuck into on an afternoon. And really, what could be nicer?

Recipe for Homemade Crumpets

Equipment

4 crumpet rings or egg rings. (I bought these Ring Moulds cheaply from amazon). Saucepan, frying pan, large bowl, wooden spoon, soup ladle.

Ingredients

• 275ml milk
• 50ml water
• 1 x 7g packet of fast action yeast
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• 225g strong white bread flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons sunflower oil

To serve

• Lots and lots of butter

Method

1. In the saucepan gently warm the milk and water until there are little bubbles around the edges. Remove from the heat and allow to cool so it is just warm.
2. Remove from the heat, add the yeast and sugar, mix well, then leave in a warm place, covered with a tea-towel, for about ten minutes. The milk will become nice and frothy.
3. In a large bowl mix together the flour and salt. Make a well in the centre and mix in the milk.
4. Beat well with a wooden spoon.
5. Leave in a warm place, covered with a tea-towel, for about one hour.
6. Prepare your saucepan by greasing lightly with the sunflower oil. Grease your crumpet rings, too.
7. When the mixture is ready (it will have risen to about twice the size and have air holes), heat the frying pan to a medium heat and pour in ladles of mixture into the rings.
8. Allow to cook on one side for about five minutes or so. The crumpet rings should slip off once cooked, so remove and flip each crumpet over for one to two minutes to allow to cook on the other side. Re-grease your pan and rings to do another batch.
9. Serve immediately or, allow to cool, then pop into the toaster when ready.

Cherry Topped Iced Buns from Tales of Toyland

I feel incredibly nostalgic when I see this lilac, hardback edition of Enid Blyton's Tales of Toyland. There's a lovely picture of Tiptoe, the fairy doll and Jolly, the sailor doll, welcoming the toys into their home, one they made themselves out of toy bricks, for their first ever party. I just adored the world that Enid Blyton had created. I mean, fancy being able to go to a toy warehouse, in Toyland, and choosing a house design, building it in two days, then adding furniture from yet more boxes. For a small child this sounded like serious fun. This 1970's reprint was quite possibly the first book I ever wanted to jump right into and join in the adventures.

But how did Tiptoe and Jolly end up in building their own house in Toyland? Well, they were rather ill-treated by the toys they shared a nursery with and decided to run away. Off they went, asking the way from a hedgehog, a mouse and a brownie. The latter directed them to a rabbit hole, down which they found an underground train station. Squeezing into the train with various elves, brownies, fairies, rabbits and moles they found themselves speeding along to Toyland. It was an absolute delight to read.

When they finally arrived at Toyland, and were allowed in (this wasn't as straightforward as they'd anticipated), they built their house and filled it with furniture. Then they needed to have a party to meet their neighbours. They invited the clock-work clown, the toy soldiers, Mr To-and-Fro (one of those wobbly toys that wouldn't lie flat - remember them?), the toy duck and the bunny with the pink ribbon.

Tiptoe and Jolly decided to serve egg sandwiches, creamy milk and buns with cherries on top. When disaster strikes and they don't have any milk or eggs, Mr To-and-Fro suggests inviting Mrs Buttercup, a cow with beautiful manners, and Mrs Cluck, Mrs Cackle and Mrs Squawk, who would lay them an egg each.

And a great party is had by all.

Seven-year-old-me would have loved to have gone to that party. Egg sandwiches? Buns with cherries on top? (I ignored the milk part, I wasn't a fan). Guests that laid the food?! So as a treat to my seven-year-old-self, I've recreated those buns.

Recipe for Cherry Topped Iced Buns Inspired by Tales of Toyland 

Makes 20 buns (approx – depends on your sizing)

Equipment

Mixing bowl, saucepan, hands for kneading or a mixer with a dough hook attachment, baking sheet.

Ingredient

• 350ml milk
• 25g unsalted butter
• 500g strong white flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 flat dessert spoon caster sugar
• 7g sachet yeast

To decorate

• 200g Icing sugar
• 20 cherries

Method

1. Measure the milk and butter into a saucepan and heat until the butter has melted.
2. Allow to cool so it is lukewarm.
3. In a mixing bowl add the flour, salt, sugar and yeast.
4. Pour over the lukewarm milk. You might not need all of it so take it slow.
5. Mix. It will be slightly sticky.
6. Turn out onto a floured work surface and knead for 5 - 10 minutes. It'll become smooth.
7. Turn back into the bowl and cover the bowl in clingfilm. Place somewhere warm and leave for one hour. It should double in size.
8. Knock the dough back to deflate and cut into 20 pieces.
9. Roll into balls and place on a greased baking sheet, well apart from each other.
10. Cover again with clingfilm (only loosely) and allow to rise again for about 15 minutes.
11. Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees or 180 fan.
12. Scatter some flour over the buns then place in oven for 10-15 minutes.
13. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
14. Prepare your icing sugar according to packet instructions, place a spoonful on the top of each bun and add a cherry.

Scones from The Drowning of Arthur Braxton

I first wrote about a cake featuring in The Drowning of Arthur Braxton by Caroline Smailes two years ago in my Novelicious column. In this highly anticipated novel, as ever, when reading a Caroline Smailes book, I was astounded by her unique writing and her ability to completely and utterly reel you in, despite the sometimes disturbing nature of the subject matter.

I've followed Caroline's writing career from almost the beginning and so was delighted to read that The Drowning of Arthur Braxton is being turned into a film. Funds have been raised via Kickstarter, the target of which they have surpassed, and it is just in the process of getting underway. You can read more about it on their Facebook page.

So, I'm celebrating for Caroline with scones.

The Drowning of Arthur Braxton focuses on adolescence and the pain that comes with it. It's also about love.

Love comes along in many guises. Even as a cake.

Laurel, a school girl, is working and earning money at The Oracle, an old Edwardian bathhouse. The Oracle is a place where people go to get healed by the three water healers: Madame Pythia, Martin Savage and Silver.

Because of Laurel's life at home, when someone shows her kindness, no matter how small, it is a Big Event. She would get smarties from Silver and, from Ada Harvey, one of the customers requesting healing, she would often get a fairy cake or a scone.

People who bake often like to foist their homemade goods on to other people. I know, because I'm one of them. It is their way of showing affection. A way of showing they care. Nourishment to feed the body and soul wrapped up in a piece of kitchen paper.

By baking a scone, a baked good that has all the comfort of bread, but with a dash of sugar to inject that delicious treat, Ada Harvey has touched Laurel. And Laurel devours that scone as though she hasn't eaten properly for a week. (And to be fair, she probably hasn't.)

I like my scones with jam and cream, or when cream is lacking, covered with a centimetre of butter. But there is no clotted cream or creamy butter for Laurel - I think Laurel might have her scone smeared with just a touch of margarine. Mind you, I don't think she cares if it's plain.

Recipe for Homemade Scones

• 325g self raising flour
• 40g caster sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• pinch salt
• 85g butter, diced into small pieces
• 160ml milk
• 1 beaten egg to glaze

Equipment

Baking tray lined with baking parchment, pastry cutter (or drinking glass), egg wash brush.

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees fan.
2. Mix the flour, salt, baking powder and sugar.
3. Rub in the butter with your finger tips to resemble breadcrumbs.
4. Add the milk to the dry ingredients and stir in.
5. Once the dough is formed turn out onto a floured surface and flatten gently with your hands to about 2cm thick.
6. Cut out the shapes and place onto baking tray.
7. Re-form left over dough and flatten (gently!) again. Continue until all dough has been used up.
8. Glaze with the beaten egg.
9. Place in oven for about 12-15 minutes.
10. Serve plain, with clotted cream and jam or butter.

Ginger Cake from The Island of Adventure

There is something terribly Enid Blyton-ish about ginger cake. It's not the most glamorous cake to look at, it is not terribly exciting but it is perfect for comfort, for filling hungry tummies and, best of all, for picnics. You can wrap one up easily, especially if baked like a loaf, and cut huge chunks off in the open air. And that's when the ginger cake comes into its own. When you are outside picnicking you do get so terribly hungry. A piece of sticky ginger cake, scented with ginger and other spices, is just the right cake to round off sandwiches with tea from a thermos. The Island of Adventure is the first in the adventure series for Philip and Dinah Mannering along with Jack and Lucy-Ann. Both sets of siblings live with an uncle. Jack and Lucy-Ann because they have no parents. And Philip and Dinah because their mum is working to support them.

When Jack and Lucy-Ann's uncle cannot take them back after a few weeks of being coached at a teacher's house, they decide, without permission of the adults, to travel with Philip to Craggy-Tops where his aunt and uncle live and Dinah was waiting for him to return.

And that's where the adventure begins. From Craggy-Tops they can see the Isle of Gloom. And for Jack, a keen bird-watcher, it offered a wonderland of bird watching opportunities. They see a man sailing around and go and investigate. It's Bill Smugs and he offers to take them out in the boat. Their aunt gives them sandwiches, ginger cake and tea in a thermos flask. Perfect.

The only trouble is, when they finally do land on the island, they find something other than birds...

Recipe for Ginger Cake

Equipment

Small saucepan, mixing spoon, whisk and bowl, 2lb loaf tin and liner.

Ingredients

• 125g butter
• 125g black treacle
• 75g golden syrup
• 50g soft brown sugar
• 3 heaped tsp ground ginger
• 2 heaped tsp mixed spice
• 150ml milk
• Squeeze of lemon
• 225g plain flour
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• pinch of salt
• 2 large eggs

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 140 fan.
2. Weigh the butter, treacle, syrup, sugar, ginger and mixed spice into a small saucepan. Heat gently until the butter and sugar have melted.
3. Add a squeeze of lemon to the milk. (It will make it lumpy - creating 'buttermilk'.)
4. Weigh out the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt. Give it a whisk to ensure its evenly distributed.
5. Add the syrupy mixture to the flour. Whisk to ensure all lumps of flour have gone.
6. Beat two eggs in with the milk mixture. Then add that to the cake mixture too. Make sure it is well combined.
7. Pour into your lined tin and place in the oven for one hour.
8. This cake will last ages as long as well wrapped or in an airtight container.