There is a Cratfield Concert on Sunday and I am baking! The Mucky Duck beer was not on tap in the pub and so this chocolate cake is made with Guinness and additionally flavoured with dried ginger, cinnamon, and dark brown sugar. I wanted the glaze to glide over the cake, in an even, shiny coating – this isn’t smooth enough (i.e. too thick), although it tastes good. I don’t think Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood would be impressed!

The Lemon Poppy Seed Cake is a recipe from Delia Smith’s Cakes. I folded in whipped egg whites, instead of beating the whole eggs into the creamed butter and sugar, and used 4 medium eggs instead of 3 large eggs. I poured over the lemon syrup when the cake came out of the oven, and then used the lemon/icing sugar/cream/butter glaze while the cake was still warm. The cake is rather small and I think the creamed mixture was too thick to take the whipped egg whites.

And I made a Cape Brandy Pudding, an old Cape Dutch recipe from South Africa where it is also known as ‘Tipsy Tart’ or ‘Dadelpoeding’. I don’t want to think about the calories in this pudding! It is a date and nut cake, soaked in a sugar/butter/brandy/spice syrup and eaten with cream, or mixed yoghurt and cream to cut through the sweetness. The smell in the kitchen was absolutely amazing! (As you can see, the syrup takes a while to soak in because the cake is so dense with dates. This site gives an indication of other South African dishes, and a recipe.)