Welsh cakes are gorgeous at any time of the day. They're quick, easy to make, cooked in a frying pan or on a griddle and then loaded with butter and eaten while they’re so hot that you’re practically juggling them from hand to hand. Ah… happy memories of the lady who taught Ruth in the Swansmere books that a man who’s eaten so much that he can hardly move is a man who won’t find trouble. I’m not sure if we’ve found how to get world peace, but wouldn’t it be wonderful if we co

Cold grey afternoons. Or evenings. Or mornings. A time when you need a treat that isn’t too bad for you and to lavish them with really good butter. Or to use them as a base to pile on scrambled egg and chopped ham. Or smoked salmon if you’re feeling posh. Simple enough to be literally Childsplay, and Lucy from my Lucy Williams series does make them in her kitchen, so you know that they have to be simple! So here, just for you, is my recipe. I can’t remember who it started as

As spoken of with awe by children and Royal Marine Commandos. Actually, it’s TV chef Phil Vickery’s sticky chocolate orange cake, but like all mums, Sally Shaw makes it her own. She also shares it as generously as it should be given that it’s a fundraising cake for the RPSCA, from whom she adopted her pair of furry killers, Dum and Dee. That pair of pampered felines share the same ‘take no prisoners’ attitude as their pet human, unless it’s raining when they’re cuddly indoors

This is the recipe that Mrs Evans at Windy Bay uses when she cooks for the farm shop but she puts more spice in it, just like I do. I add a teaspoon of ginger, a teaspoon of ginger and half a teaspoon of cloves, but the basic recipe is still gorgeous. It’s got so many different names that I know of. Fruit tea loaf, bara brith, Irish tea bread or Barm Brack are just a few, so here’s a proper Welsh recipe for you to play with. https://www.visitwales.com/things-do/food-and-drink

OVEN TEMPERATURE 200c/425f Gas 7 COOKING TIME 15 minutes Not the cakey sort (although they’re gorgeous too), but the old sort that feature in nursery rhymes. These are something of a cheat because you don’t fry them. You bake them instead, and they started life as a Women’s Institute recipe, so I would not dare to argue about that being the right way to do it, and I wouldn’t advise you to do it either. I can strongly recommend ‘The Women’s Institute Big Book Of Baking’, but i

Bread Dad Easy Cheese Bread You can find this here, https://breaddad.com/bread-machine-cheese-bread/ and it tastes amazing and makes the house smell gorgeous. I’d strongly recommend a bread machine, and it’s amazing how often you can find them in charity (thrift) shops. Find one with a timer, and you can come downstairs to a freshly made loaf and a very tempting smell. Peter Cunningham in my Amy Hammond series uses his all the time, and so do I, because I’d rather make a sm

My take on creme caramel… I love the smooth, creamy egg custard, but the caramel part is just too sweet and arthritic hands and boiling sugar are not a good combination, so I swap it for maple syrup. First, I preheat the oven to 150c/300F or Gas Mark 2 Then I put the kettle on and get out a 7” square cake tin, WITHOUT a loose bottom Next, I spray oil 4 ramekins, and put a teaspoon of maple syrup in the bottom of each of them. Then I break 3 eggs into a jug and make it up to a

This started when the nice people at Ocado swapped my bag of mixed nuts for a super posh hand-roasted limited-edition bag of nuts at Christmas. They were gorgeous, and there was none of that stuff at the bottom of the bag, so I thought ‘I’ll have a go at that’ because then I’d know what was (and wasn’t in it) and I could reduce the salt. They’re amazingly simple, and you can find some recipes here. These are made with butter - https://www.theenglishkitchen.co/2020/05/butter-r

Home made French bread rolls, ready to fill with sausages, mustard and fried onions This started out as a recipe from The Woman’s Institute Big Book of Baking, which is such an amazing book that the spine on my copy is starting to wear out! I adapted it for the bread machine, then use the ‘dough’ setting and shape it into rolls or baguettes. I cheat and use silicone bread formers but you may be more artitistic and able to do it free form. Bread machines differ, so you know w

Oven temperature 350F, 180c Gas Mark 4 Cook for 30-35 minutes INGREDIENTS 50g (2oz) unsweetened cocoa powder 75ml (5tbsp water) 85g butter 2 eggs 225g (8oz) granulated sugar 75g (3oz) plain flour 100g (4oz) chocolate chips. I use a mixture of milk, plain and white but ,use what you’ve got in the cupboard. Line a 20cm (8") square tin Turn oven on to preheat Melt the butter and add the water and cocoa powder Add the other ingredients and beat hard till fluffy Spread into the ti

I hope you’ll find this useful. If there’s anything missing then contact me using the page at the bottom of the home page Oven temperature conversions Celsius, Fahrenheit and Gas Mark - https://www.domesticandgeneral.com/blog/oven-tips/oven-temperature-conversions Weights and measures Grammes to ounces https://theordinarycook.co.uk/conversion-tables-2/ Grammes to cups https://www.dovesfarm.co.uk/hints-&-tips/cups-to-grams-conversion-table I always admire American cooks becau