Tis the Season

For stuffing things behind closed doors

If you are reading this on Sunday when it is scheduled to go out, I’m probably knee deep in four year olds whilst attempting to construct a ‘Christmas Charcuter-Tree’. Marks and Spencer has a lot to answer for! Madness, but I figure it’s probably easier than a gingerbread house. If you are reading later in the week you’ll find me hiding in a darkened room wondering if it is January yet.

Despite all good intentions and forward planning, once again Christmas has crept up and caught me by surprise. We have the entire family - children, partners and grandchildren all here for lunch today (Sunday) which means the house has been decorated, presents wrapped and food bought and prepared all ten days before the actual day itself. After that things quieten down a bit and it will mostly just be the two of us.

The letters from Santa went out a week ago and have now been delivered to much excitement. We thought we’d got away with it for another year with the eight year old until he asked why does Santa use Tesco envelopes. Ah… Tesco Express North Pole branch I believe, after all they are pretty much everywhere else. Luckily he still wants to believe in the magic.

I have also been frantically putting the finishing touches to the grandchildren’s presents. A while ago I spotted some cute little dolls on social media, complete with cloth book style houses, which open up to reveal a wardrobe for the dolls clothes and a little bed with a patchwork cover. They were too gorgeous to resist but of course I couldn’t make for just one of the children and so there have been six, complete with two changes of clothes each.

And then I decided that each little doll needed a teddy to tuck into bed too, so as you can imagine I have been burning the midnight oil trying to get them done. Sometimes I don’t know when to stop!

And if that wasn’t enough, amidst all this frantic activity someone from the village school asked if would I be able to paint the window in reception to make it look more festive. I couldn’t say no, so with absolutely zero experience of painting on glass I rocked up on a Monday morning looking like I knew what I was doing. There were lessons such as: it takes much longer than you think, and the windows have to be clean. I mean really clean. But the results were pretty effective and the feedback enthusiastic. Enough that I returned to do a second window and then came home and did some of ours too. For the grandchildren you understand, although I’m totally owning it. It’s the only painting I have done in months.

But for now (it is still Saturday), it’s back to the kitchen as I have a chocolate torte to make aa well as a sausage casserole to rustle up that will feed twelve adults and six children. But as this is a shorter than usual missive I thought I would share a recipe for a very easy but totally scrumptious cake that is perfect for feeding lots of people at this time of year.

About ten years ago I belonged to an online group called the Cake Slice Bakers. Each year we chose a different baking book and then each month we all baked one of four possible recipes from the book and shared the results on a blog post. It was largely an American based group and consequently many of the books we baked from were also American and if I’m honest not entirely to my taste. Most of the cakes were way too heavy on the frosting and too fancy for everyday baking. But the first book we baked from was an absolute gem. Maida Heater Cakes is a very plain book with no photographs or illustrations, yet it is brilliant at taking you step by step through absolutely fail proof baking. This cranberry upside down cake is a perfect example of the cakes in this book; fairly plain, easy to make, yet utterly delicious. As fresh cranberries only ever seem available in December in the UK it is also a perfect seasonal bake because it does not work with frozen berries, trust me I have tried. Because the book is American the measurements are all imperial or in cups but I have given approximate conversions if you would rather work in metric

Cranberry Upside Down Cake

Ingredients (all at room temperature) :

• 3-4 cups fresh cranberries (12 oz or 340g)

• 5 oz (140g) unsalted butter (soft)

• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons golden caster sugar (225g)

• 1 1/4 cups sifted plain flour (190g)

• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1 large egg, beaten

• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence

• grated rind of a large orange

• 2/3 cup whole milk (160 ml)

• 1/3 cup redcurrant jelly (80 ml)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 deg C (160 fan), 350 deg F, Gas no. 4

2. Wash the cranberries, discarding any stalks and lay to dry on a tea towel

3. Use 2 oz (56g) of the butter to lightly grease the sides of a 9" round cake tin, and spreading in an even layer over the base of the tin. If using a loose bottomed tin be sure to stand it on a baking tray so it doesn’t drip butter over the bottom of your oven)

4. Sprinkle half a cup plus the 2 tablespoons of sugar (about 125g) over the butter and then add the cranberries on top of the sugar.

5. Sift together the flour, remaining sugar, baking powder and salt.

6. Using a hand mixer, beat the remaining butter until soft and gradually beat in the egg and vanilla. Then on a low speed add the flour in three batches alternating with the milk. Stir in the orange rind.

7. Pour the cake batter over the cranberries, smoothing the top. It will barely cover them but this is exactly how it should be

8. Bake for 1 hour (although mine was cooked after about 50 mins)

9. Cool on a rack for 20 minutes, although after 10 minutes run a small sharp knife around the cake to release the sides.

10. Meanwhile heat the jelly in a small pan until it melts and comes to the boil.

11. After 20 minutes cover the cake tin with a large flat plate then holding them firmly together turn them over releasing the cake.

12. Pour the melted jelly over the top of the cake, spreading it to the edge and leave it to cool completely.

13. Serve at room temperature with either cold whipped cream (with a little sugar and vanilla added) or vanilla ice cream.

Okay, I’m really going now and I’m off to stuff more boxes in cupboards whilst I stand back to admire my tidy house. Just don’t open any doors! Hopefully I’ll see you next week with something worth writing about!