A Taste of Easter
Once again Easter is creeping up behind us! I know, where does the time go! This got me thinking about Easter as I was growing up. It was a big event, a very important holiday, which was rivalled only by Christmas. The Easter story is central to the Christian faith and I would attend Sunday school and hear the story of Christ's death and ressurrection. Although Easter is an important time I thought I would share a lighter side of what it was to me growing up.
This important occassion meant a new spring outfit which I would wear every Sunday and best occassions until it was time to wear the new autumn/winter ensemble. I always remember my little blue suit, white straw hat, white gloves and white bobby socks (these were knee high socks) and black patent shoes. My socks would never stay up and I only
succeeded in twisting them each time I pulled them to my knees. My grandmother had a thing about slouchy bobby socks. She would visit us on Easter Sunday for lunch and she would say to me over and over " straighten your socks, this is Sunday you know!" I guess she thought it was irreverent in some way, who knows.
Easter Sunday lunch was always celebrated with a turkey. This was preceded with a bowl of vegetable broth. The whole lunch was a mirror image of our Christmas dinner except for dessert when we got to eat our chocolate eggs. We would get lots of chocolate eggs from the family and my brothers and sister would turn it into a competition of who got the most , including the ones we has already eaten before mum knew we had them. We would count them several times over as if by some miracle that would make them multiply!
I would try to open the egg into two perfect halves to reveal the little packet of sweets inside. This didn't always work and it would end up in pieces like a broken glass hitting the floor. Sometimes I managed to open the egg, steal the sweets and put it back together, carefully wrapping the tin foil back the way I found it. Needless to say my mother always knew the egg had been disturbed....I don't know how, I was really careful!
My brother thought it was funny when he would smash my egg with his fist and run off laughing.....funny the little things you remember. Sometimes we would get the egg that didn't have anything inside...the cheapie egg. The best egg was the Cadburys cream egg. How did you eat yours? Did you know this is the most popular chocolate egg worldwide and first went on sale in 1971and today the Bourneville factory can make 1.5 million Creme Eggs daily, 500 million are made each year with one third being exported overseas!
Rolling your egg. Who remembers doing this? Actually, this is something I never did until I had children (the rolling egg represented the stone being rolled away from Jesus' tomb after he rose from death on the 3rd day). I remember decorating boiled eggs at primary school and at home but that was it. It was my sister-in-law who introduced me to this annual event of rolling our egg on 'the brae' at the farm. On Easter Monday all the children in the family would boil and decorate the eggs and then we would make the short ascent up the slope of 'the brae field'. Sometimes it rained but that didn't dampen our spirits, we would plod on. We rolled the eggs down the small brae to see whose would go the furthest. Sometimes the dogs would retrieve them and of course boys being boys, would throw theirs just to see it smash and splatter everywhere. They thought this was hilarious of course. I should tell you that when the eggs reached the bottom we were to eat them along with our small picnic! I'm sure you can imagine the state some of them......ahh good times!
I also remember making birds nests at school and at home and then years later with my own children. These were little nests made from melted chocolate mixed with crushed shredded wheat. Blobs of the mixture were put on to greaseproof paper and then topped with a few cadburys mini eggs to make them look like nests with eggs about to hatch....I'm sure they were good for us; they had fibre in them!
I love lots of things about Easter; the daffodils and spring blossoms that fill the gardens and lanes, daylight extending longer into the evenings; the birds singing and building their nests; spring lambs running round the fields in their little gangs and the new warmth of the spring sunshine. A truly lovely time of year!
As it's Easter and we are surrounded by chocolate, I was wondering what recipe I could share with you and I thought, why not have more chocolate! I have a few chocolate cakes to do for orders this week so I thought I would share the recipe with my fellow bakers. This is a simple recipe. It's a bit different from the normal Chocolate Cake as is more like the method you would use to make muffins. I have also been asked if some of my recipes can be altered to suit anyone with gluten and dairy intolerances. This recipe can, especially as gluten free flour is so good nowadays. I have substituted cakes with gluten free flour and people haven't been able to tell the difference. This cake is made using measuring cups ( 1 cup equals 8 fluid ounces)
Moist Chocolate Cake
2 cups self-raising flour (or gluten free flour)
2 cups caster sugar
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 teasp salt
1 cup milk (soya or almond milk)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
2 teasp vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water
Buttercream
100g soft butter
200g icing sugar
75g melted dark chocolate
1-2 tbs milk
1 bag Cadburys Mini Eggs
Heat oven to 350 F / 170 C. Grease and line with greaseproof paper 2 x 9 inch / 22cm cake tins
Put all the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl : flour, sugar, salt and cocoa powder
Mix until well combined.
In a jug mix the milk, eggs, vanilla and oil until well combined. Add this to the flour mixture and mix well. Now add the cup of boiling water at a slow speed. The mixture will look very runny and sloppy but this is normal and gives the cake its moistness. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl to make sure all the ingredients are well mixed.
Divide the mixture between the 2 tins and put into the oven for about 30-40 mins. You will know they are done when tested with a skewer or cocktail stick and it comes out clean. When ready, leave the cakes to cool in the tins for 5-10 mins and then turn them onto a cooling tray.
When cool split each cake in two. Make up the butter icing by creaming together room temperature butter with the icing sugar until nice and light. Then add the chocolate which has been melted in a bowl over a pan of hot simmering water. Cover the cake top and sides. You don't need to be too exact, and then decorate with the chocolate eggs.
Perfect with a dollop or fresh cream and a wee cup of tea!
I have also given you a recipe for dairy/gluten free icing below.
113g / 4 oz cocoa powder
330g / 12 oz icing sugar
55g / 2 oz dairy free margarine
1/2 teasp vanilla
2 tbs soya milk
1 teasp maple syrup
Sift all the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl. Add the rest of the wet ingredients and beat gently until mixed and then on high speed to make it light and fluffy. (add an extra half ounce of margarine if you think the mixture is going to be too dry)
Use the icing to decorate as above.
