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.

Plum Jam & Cream Sponge Cake Recipe

This is actually a fatless sponge, made with just eggs, sugar and flour. Obviously I made up for the lack of butter in the sponge with a huge dollop of whipped cream in the centre along with some delicious homemade plum jam. It is also four tiers, just to make it especially indulgent.

Equipment

2 - 4 20cm/8 inch cake tins.(If you have only two the same it just means baking in two batches in the oven.) Electric whisk. Sieve. Spatula. Baking parchment.

Ingredients

For the sponge

• 8 eggs
• 200g caster sugar
• 200g self-raising flour
• Extra caster sugar for turning the sponge cakes out

For the filling

• 200ml double cream
• jam of your choice

Method

1. You can choose to make the entire cake mixture at once if you have four tins the same size, or divide the recipe in half if you only have two tins the same size and doing it in two batches.
2. Make sure your cake tins are well greased and the bottom is lined with baking parchment.
3. Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees fan.
4. Mix the eggs and sugar with an electric whisk until light and fluffy. When it's ready the mixture, when dribbled, should leave a trail on the surface of the mixture.
5. Add the flour through the sieve (which removes the lumps).
6. Fold the flour into the mixture using a spatula. You want to retain as much air in the mixture as possible. Make sure all the flour is incorporated (there is often some hiding at the bottom!)
7. Divide the mixture between the tins and place in the oven for 15 minutes - or until the sponge is shrinking away from the sides of the tin.
8. While it is baking prepare a sheet of baking parchment with caster sugar sprinkled on.
9. Remove the tins from the oven and turn out the cakes onto a sheet of baking parchment sprinkled with caster sugar.
10. Allow to cool.
11. If you're doing in two batches wipe the tins out, re-grease and re-line and start again.
12. Beat the cream until thick and smooth.
13. Once all the layers are cool spread the jam over the bottom layer and sandwich with another layer of cream. Repeat this process as you go up the tiers.
14. Sprinkle the top with icing or caster sugar.
15. Serve. This cake is at its best eaten the same day.

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.

Lardy Cake from Riders

Lardy Cake and Rupert Campbell-Black. A strange combination – yet they have something in common. Both you want oh so very much, but you absolutely know that neither will do your health – or your heart – any good whatsoever. Yes, I'm talking Riders by Jilly Cooper, which is where Rupert Campbell-Black first makes an appearance. I'm ashamed to say I've only just read Riders. I was, however, slightly daunted at the whopping 915 pages. NINE hundred! But on an enforced time out I devoured it and thought it was fabulous. I thoroughly enjoyed it, despite the fact – or maybe even because of it – it is set in the 70s. I completely immersed myself in the world and found myself dreaming about horses despite not being a very horsey person.

I know many a woman love to love the love-rat that is Rupert Campbell-Black. So many of them are charmed by his good looks, his charisma, and his arrogance. My ace Novelicious colleague Cesca, described him in this post about heroes as "arrogant, witty, dangerous, loyal and HOT." He's a brute, a womanizer and a cad. Women know this, yet they still find him completely attractive. As Helen felt (not me, Helen, but the one in the novel): "Rupert was simply the most wrong but entirely romantic person she'd ever met. She was appalled how violently she felt attracted to him."

Personally I preferred some of the other males in the story. But I do understand that none has the sheer magnetism that RCB has. Me? Well, give me a lardy cake, any day.

The lardy cake actually appears in the novel during the story of Jake, who utterly and completely loathes RCB. He's with his future wife, Tory. They've both gone to see Tory's Granny, to get her approval (and money) for their marriage and the cook, who still thinks Tory is a small child, serves them with lardy cake and gingerbread men.

Lardy cake is not actually a cake but a sweet bread, made with yeast. It's simple to make so please do not be horrified by the lard in it. It is delicious. And yes you shouldn't have too much of it. But sometimes, like the women who are charmed by Rupert, you just have to try a bit.

This is the first time I've made lardy cake. And the first time I've tasted it. It is so good. I could, quite frankly, eat a whole one (but I won't), which I'm sure is what Cesca would say if she saw Rupert Campbell-Black in the flesh.

I used the recipe from The River Cottage but baked it in a loaf tin.

Rice Pudding from The Secret Island

Oh rice pudding! How I do adore this simple nursery food. Not just any old nursery food, but the ultimate in nursery food.

It is a pudding that reminds me of my childhood; of safety and security. A dish that scents the house in a wonderful homely smell with just a hint of nutmeg. It is a pudding that comforts and brings warmth to the body and to the mind. The Secret Island by Enid Blyton, funnily enough, does the same as this pudding. I cherished it as a child and have re-read it many times. Even as an adult a re-read of this book comforts when I need it most.

When Jack, along with siblings: Mike, Peggy and Nora, ran away to the secret island in the middle of the lake, they took as much food as they could lay their hands on. Unfortunately this wasn't much as their horrible aunt and uncle ran a tight ship. Even so:

"Nora crept indoors and went to the larder. What could she take that Aunt Harriet would not notice that morning? Some tea? Yes! A tin of cocoa from the top shelf. A packet of currants and a tin of rice from the store shelf, too."

And thank goodness Nora managed to grab that rice. With the copious amounts of milk they had, thanks to Daisy the cow, and this tin of rice, Peggy was able to make a rice pudding on their campfire. Its magical comfort was much needed one evening when Nora slipped up on her responsibilities which affected all of them. Nora felt ashamed of her behaviour and upset because the other three were cross with her. But once it turned out right in the end, a steaming bowl of rice pudding was set in front of her.

Now, I'm not sure if they still had sugar at this point to sweeten the rice pudding. But these children were amazing at foraging. They found wild raspberries, wild strawberries and blackberries. I'm sure one of these fruits was used to add sweetness to the pudding.

And then, as Nora ate, her belly becoming full from the rich creamy milk, the rice pudding would cloak her with warmth, comfort and make everything seem better.

Surely, as a child runaway on a secret island who has escaped a horrible aunt and uncle, living outdoors with no modern comforts, it is the perfect pudding.

Equipment

A deep baking dish greased with butter.

Ingredients

• 115g short grain rice
• 50g sugar
• 2 pints full cream milk
• Nutmeg OR vanilla

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 140 fan.
2. Place the rice, sugar, milk and nutmeg into the baking dish and stir.
3. Place in the oven for a couple of hours. (Check after an hour or so.)
4. Serve with jam or fresh foraged fruit like blackberries.

Apple & Cheese Pie from The Children of Cherry Tree Farm

As a child I adored Enid Blyton books. By that I mean I was absolutely infatuated with them. They would captivate me, fire my imagination and would be responsible for much tiredness in the morning as I lay, at night under the duvet, utterly absorbed.

Whether it was because of the exciting adventures the children had; be it on a farm, in the dungeons of a ruined castle or up a magical tree, or the (unrecognisable now) amount of freedom the children had, I devoured many. And whole.

But the element that stood out for me, above the adventures, above the freedom and the magic, was the food. Picnics, high tea, amazing cooked breakfasts. Everything an Enid Blyton character ate sounded utterly divine. Her food has bewitched me for years. It has seeped into my adult life; has inspired me to create my blog, to write my Feasting on Romantic Comedy column for Novelicious, and has given me a love for cooking, baking and eating food and cake. Who knows, she may have also, indirectly, inspired me to keep chickens.

My daughter is now at the age where she too is becoming entranced by Enid Blyton. On our recent holiday she, like me many years ago, devoured The Children of Cherry Tree Farm, The Children of Willow Farm and More Adventures on the Farm. So, of course, I had to re-read them.

Enid Blyton is particularly excellent at firing up the tastebuds with her descriptions of food on farms. New laid eggs, milk straight from the cow, a ham gleaming and glistening on the table, tomatoes and fresh lettuce from the kitchen garden and fruit picked with small fingers straight from the bushes served with cream skimmed from the milk.

The Children of Cherry Tree Farm introduces us to four children: Rory, Sheila, Benjy and Penny. Due to illness they are sent from the family home in London to their aunt and uncle's farm in the countryside. There they would reap the benefits of fresh air, exercise and good, wholesome and homemade food.

Any guesses to what the children first thought about when they were told the news that they would be staying at the farm? Why yes, of course. The food!

"Golly! Cream every day! And those apple-pies with cheese that Auntie Bess makes! And strawberries straight out of the garden."

Hold on. Hold ON. Rewind...

Apple-pies with cheese?!

Yes, I hadn't mis-read. There wasn't an editing error. A few pages later Auntie Bess tells them about the high tea she has waiting for them:

"Cold ham, and apple-pie and cheese, and buttery scones, and my own strawberry jam, and those ginger buns you loved last time you came..."

I have never heard of an apple pie with cheese.I googled it, and came across some, quite frankly, disgusting combinations of pie and cheese. Mainly with the cheese melted over the top of the pie.

But on further investigation I found an old Yorkshire saying which was "apple pie without the cheese is like a kiss without a squeeze". Cheese is either added to the pastry or crumbled in with the apples. I love sliced fresh apple with chunks of english cheese. Cheese and apple are a wonderful combination. And I love pie.

So, with thanks to Enid Blyton, Aunt Bessie and the children of Cherry Tree Farm, here is my recipe for Apple Pie and Cheese.

Equipment:

One deep baking tin aprox 20cm x 20cm

Ingredients:

• 2 x 320g Ready Rolled Shortcrust Pastry
• 500g Bramley apples
• 500g eating apples
• 100g caster sugar
• 100g Wensleydale cheese
• A splash of milk and sugar to finish

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees regular or 180 fan.
2. Grease your baking tin including up the sides.
3. Un-roll one of the pastry sheets and lay it into the tin.
4. Peel and core the apples. Slice onto the pastry.
5. Sprinkle with the sugar, toss the apples through it and crumble in the cheese.
6. Un-roll the second pastry and lay it over the top.
7. Pinch the edges together than trim ff the excess. I used the excess to create shapes for the top.
8. Make two holes in the centre of the pie then place into the pre-heated oven for about 30 minutes.
9. Serve cold or hot.

Pain au Chocolat from The Silent Hours

I can thoroughly identify with a novel when an author uses food to convey emotions, a moment or a sense of atmosphere. Debut author, Cesca Major, oh, I adore Cesca, she is one of my Novelicious colleagues, uses food perceptively in her brilliantly written and heartbreaking novel based in France during the Second World War.

The Silent Hours is told from various perspectives. There is Adeline, mother to both Isabelle and Paul. Along with Tristan, a young boy and Sebastien, a young Jewish man from a banking family. Their lives, their threads, come together powerfully, in a conclusion based on real-life events.

It is 1952 and the war has been over for a number of years. In a nunnery in south-west France a woman, Adeline, is being cared for by the nuns. Adeline is mute. She cannot speak. She doesn't know her second name, or why she's ended up there.

Rewind to when it all began. The outbreak of war, the men going off to fight, including her son, Paul. The changes that occur in France. The fear. The disappearance of the Jews. Families fleeing Paris. One family, Tristan's, heading towards the quiet village, to safety, where Adeline and her family live, and which is largely untouched by the war.

Armistice Day, near the beginning of the war, was more poignant than before. The people were celebrating. Proud to be French. Proud of their country. The streets are filled with the smell and taste of food. Hot chocolate, candy floss on wooden sticks, croissants and nougat. The sight of a young boy, with the insides of a pain au chocolat smeared around his face, capturing perfectly the innocence of the time, the innocence of the children. Children who will have lost all innocence by the time the war is over.

I asked Cesca about the food and how she used it to create a sense of atmosphere.  Was this deliberate?

Cesca says, "the food was vital for placing people in France. It was such a challenge to write a book set in a different country (it is no coincidence my next is 1950s Devon...!) and food was an important part of getting the setting right."

I also asked Cesca whether she had to research the food aspect at all?

"Yes I really felt the food had to be right and I sought a lot of advice on the matter replacing a lot of "English" food with better French alternatives. I adore good food and certainly the feast scenes in the book had heaps of food - so much so that we were very concerned no one would believe it because of rationing..! I loved the stories of people storing up their coupons at the time for big celebrations and I was amazed by the difference between getting food in a rural village in unoccupied France compared to Paris where queues were interminable, fines were introduced for stewed cat and people kept rabbits on balconies to eat..."

The Silent Hours is beautifully written, thoroughly researched and is creating a wonderful buzz. Congratulations, Cesca. And thank you for answering my questions.

Chocolate Brownies from Good in Bed

Dear Cannie

I don't know how I'd react if an ex-boyfriend of mine wrote in a magazine read by thousands of women that her being a ‘larger woman’ needed an ‘act of courage in our world’ to love her.

Maybe I'd do what you did - and plunge myself into misery. But seeing you claw your way out of that misery, even when one bad thing after another is thrown at you; with humour, with your ambitions, by being yourself, was quite simply captivating. Your book, Good In Bed by Jennifer Weiner, had a huge impact on me.

And you know what the best thing about your story was? That you saved yourself. You didn't need a man, you didn't need love, money or a fairy godmother. You just needed to be strong, be resilient. You grabbed your life with both hands and turned it around into one, big advantage.

One of my favourite things about you is your love of food. Chocolate chip scones, chocolate tarts and crème brullee, fried chicken, brownies, chocolate bread pudding, chocolate cake with raspberry sauce. The mouth salivates as we read through your story.

So thank you. Thank you for the inspiration. And for giving me what I want in a novel; a strong heroine, a great story. And food.

Love, Helen

Recipe for Triple Chocolate Brownies

Equipment

Bowl to melt chocolate. Electric mixer. 20cm/8inch square tin (or a rectangular or round one, as long as the squared centimetres add up to the same - or very close), baking parchment to line the tin, spatula.

Ingredients

• 185g butter
• 185g dark chocolate
• 3 eggs
• 275g caster sugar
• 30g cocoa powder
• 85g plain flour
• 100g white chocolate, chopped into small chunks*
• 100g milk chocolate, chopped into small chunks*

*You could replace either of these with dark chocolate chunks or chopped nuts if you like.

Method

• Heat oven to 160c regular or 140c fan.
• Melt the dark chocolate with the butter. Either in the microwave or on the hob. Allow to cool.
• Whisk the eggs with the sugar. Whisk for a few minutes until it is pale and doubled in volume.
• When the chocolate/butter mixture has cooled, fold into the egg/sugar mixture. Don't be vigorous as you don't want to lose the air.
• Sift in the cocoa and flour. Don't overmix.
• Scatter over the chocolate chunks then pour into your lined baking tray.
• Bake for 35 minutes. It should come out wobbly, so you don't think it is done. But it will harden as it cools.
• Enjoy.

Homemade Hot Chocolate - A Recipe

RECIPE FOR HOMEMADE HOT CHOCOLATE

Makes two large, comforting, mugs

Equipment

Non-stick saucepan, whisk, mug

Ingredients

• 300ml milk
• 100ml double cream
• 50g chocolate. Dark, milk or a mixture. Broken into pieces.

To serve

• Double cream, whisked until thick (or aerosol cream)
• Marshmallows
• Chocolate flake

Method

1. Pour the milk and the cream into the saucepan and add the broken chocolate.
2. Heat gently and whisk. Bring to a gentle boil.
3. Once the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth pour into mugs.
4. Add a blob of thick cream, scatter over the marshmallows and flake some chocolate over the top.