Cake app is child’s play
She pressed several buttons in that maddeningly confident way that all kids do and opened an app called Cake Doodle. Up popped lots of pictures of cakes, of every shape and size — “which one shall we make grandma?” pipes up the aspiring cook. I chose a three-tier chocolate confection. Ping, up comes the recipe, then the bowl. Amelia touches each ingredient on the list and, whoosh, they leap into the bowl. Up come the eggs, and Amelia taps the screen with the side of her hand to crack each one into the bowl.
Then she stirs all the ingredients around until well-mixed and turns the phone on its side to pour the mixture into the tin. Next it’s popped into the virtual oven.
Now there are more decisions to be made, such as what colour icing to use. Everything in Amelia’s life has to be pink at present so she presses the shocking pink icon and then spreads the lurid icing over the three-tier cake with the tip of her finger.
Next we have a choice of decorations — heart shapes, stars, flowers, princesses... Amelia chooses princesses, dots about 15 over her cake and then at last it’s ready to eat. By now Amelia is beside herself with excitement, again she taps the virtual cake on the screen with her tiny index finger, each time putting it into her mouth as though she is eating the cake.
The iPhone emits realistic sound effects throughout — pouring, swishing, eggshells cracking, mixing and finally appreciative noises. I wondered if she would have a virtual tummy-ache having eaten it all in one go! Amelia and all the children love this app and fusty old grandma doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry!
But the good news is Amelia also loves to help her mum and grandma to bake real cakes. She particularly loves to make crumpets on the cool plate of the Aga, using a flexible egg slice to flip them over. Here are several simple recipes that children will love to make and bake and share.
A lovely recipe, which we have adapted from a super little book, called Grow It Cook It, written by Amanda Grant, published by Rhyland Peters and Small.
Makes 12
225 g (8 oz) carrots.
3 eggs, preferably free-range.
140 g (4½ oz) pale soft brown sugar.
6 tablespoons sunflower oil.
150 g (5 oz) self-raising flour.
1 tsp mixed spice.
70 g (3 oz) desiccated coconut.
75 g (3 oz) mixed dried fruit eg. sultanas.
A muffin tray lined with 12 paper cases.
Pre-heat oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas mark 4.
Wash, peel. and grate the carrots finely. Crack the eggs into a large bowl, whisk with a whisk until lightly beaten. Add in the sugar and continue to whisk until light and creamy. Gradually add in the oil, whisking all the time.
Mix the flour, mixed spice, coconut, sultanas and carrots. Then stir gradually into the base mixture until it is well-incorporated. Use a tablespoon to divide the mixture as evenly as you can between the muffin cases.
Bake in the pre-heated oven for 15-20 minutes or until firm and golden. Remove from the oven with oven gloves. Cool the muffins on a wire rack. They are delicious as they are but even yummier with some cream cheese icing on top.
3 ozs (75g) cream cheese.
1 1/2 ozs (45g) icing sugar.
1 1/2 ozs (45g) butter.
grated rind on 1/2 orange.
MY grandchildren love to make these; they can use a palette knife to spread the icing and then get creative making patterns, on top, with the candied peel.
Makes 24
6 ozs (175g) soft butter.
6 ozs (175g) castor sugar.
2 eggs, preferably free-range.
6 ozs (175g) self-raising flour.
rind of 2 oranges — finely-grated
3oz (75g) butter.
3 1/2 oz (100g) icing sugar.
Candied Orange Peel
10 x 7 inch (25.5 x 18 cm) Swiss roll tin, well-greased.
Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/regulo 4.
Put the butter, castor sugar, eggs and self-raising flour into a food processor. Whizz for a few seconds to amalgamate. Spread evenly in the well-buttered tin.
Bake in the pre-heated oven for 20-25 minutes, approximately, or until golden brown and well-risen.
Meanwhile, make the orange butter. Cream the butter with finely-grated orange rind, add the sieved icing sugar, beat until light and fluffy.
When the cake is cooked, leave to cool. Spread the orange icing over the cake. Cut into squares.
Decorate each one with little diamonds of candied peel.
THESE are so simple to make and can easily keep for 4-5 days in an airtight container. Pop a peeled almond into the centre of each one, before baking for extra crunch.
Makes 12-16
110g (4ozs) ground almonds.
75g (3ozs) caster sugar.
1 egg white, lightly beaten.
Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4.
Put the ground almonds, caster sugar, and the egg white into a bowl and stir to combine.
It should be firm, but slightly sticky.
Roll small dessert spoonfuls of the mixture into balls and place on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.
Flatten slightly with a wet fork.
Cook for about 10 minutes, or until pale golden.
Cool on a wire rack.
Note: These are also good with the grated zest of one lemon, or orange mixed in with the coconut/almonds and sugar.
Desiccated coconut can also be used, instead of ground almonds, in the above recipe.
As far as I can remember, these buns were the very first thing I helped my Auntie Florence to bake. My grandchildren love filling the holes with jam, just as I did.
Makes about 10
200g (7oz) self-raising flour and 25g (1oz) ground rice or
225g (8oz) self-raising flour;
75g (3oz) caster sugar
75g (3oz) butter, diced
1 organic egg
1 tablespoon full-cream milk
homemade raspberry jam
egg wash
caster sugar
Preheat the oven to 220°C/425°F/gas mark 7.
Put the flour and ground rice, if using, into a bowl and add the caster sugar. Add in the diced butter and toss it in the flour.
Then rub it into the dry ingredients with the tips of your fingers until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
Whisk the egg with the milk and then use a fork to mix it with the dry ingredients until you have a softish dough.
Divide the mixture in two, roll each half into a thick rope and then divide each into five pieces.
Form each piece into a round, dip your thumb in flour and make an indentation in the centre of each bun.
Drop a little spoonful of raspberry jam into the hole, then pinch the edges of dough together to cover the jam.
Transfer to a baking tray, brush the top of each raspberry bun with egg wash and bake for 10 – 12 minutes.
Transfer to a wire rack, sprinkle with caster sugar and eat while nice and fresh.
Amelia’s Auntie Rachel showed her how to make these delicious crumpets.
Makes 12
110g (4ozs) self-raising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
25g (1oz) caster sugar
pinch of salt
1 egg
110ml (4fl ozs) milk
drop of sunflower oil, for greasing
Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl, add the sugar and salt and stir to mix. Make a well in the centre, crack in the egg and whisk, gradually drawing in the flour from the edge. Add the milk gradually, whisking all the time, to form a smooth batter.
Lightly grease a frying pan and warm it over a moderate heat. Drop 3 tablespoons of the batter into the pan, keeping well apart so they don’t stick together. Cook for about 2 minutes or until bubbles appear on the surface and begin to burst and the crumpets scones are golden underneath, then flip them over and cook on the other side for a minute or until golden on this side as well.
Remove from the pan and serve warm with butter and jam, apple jelly, lemon curd or if you are like my grandchildren, chocolate spread. (If you wish, wrap the crumpets in a clean tea towel to keep warm while you make the rest.)
My granddaughter Willow likes to use Kara coconut milk in this recipe, she gets this from Well and Good health food shop in Midleton but you could try your local health food store.
2 slices of melon
1 ripe banana
1 mini pineapple or ¼ of a full-sized pineapple
1 big orange juiced
450 ml (16fl oz) Kara coconut milk
Honey
Peel and chop all the fruit and put it into the blender, add the coconut milk and whizz. Add honey to taste.
THE proliferation of food festivals around the country demonstrates the demand for real local food but leaves us with a dilemma as many tempting events are on the same dates:
The Midleton Food Fair is on Saturday, September 11. The main street in Midleton will be buzzing with interesting stalls, tempting you to have a taste of the best of East Cork. Midleton Farmers Market will be celebrating its 10th anniversary. Visit www.midletonfoodfestival.ie for the full programme.
Slow Food Harvest Festival Waterford is on from Friday, September 10 to Sunday, September 17. Waterford City Council and Slow Food Ireland are joining forces to create a city-wide festival celebrating food heritage and culture in Waterford. Celebrity chef Clodagh McKenna will launch the festival. Sue Braithwaite of Slow Food UK will be conducting an Ark of Taste workshop at the festival on Thursday, September 16. Rhonda Smith, the interim programme director who heads up the developing educational programme which covers Slow Food Baby, The Taste Adventure, Slow Food Wisdom and the Slow Food on Campus project will be attending Friday to Sunday.
Visit www.waterfordharvestfestival.com for the many food events and dinners. Ludlow Food Festival in Shropshire, September 10-12, is the mother of all British food festivals. Sadly clashing with the above events, nonetheless, I know several serious Irish foodies who make a pilgrimage there every year. Ludlow was Britain’s first successful food and drink festival when it started back in 1995. It is still the most famous and they maintained the original philosophy of highlighting only the great food and drink that’s available in the Marches. Check www.foodfestival.co.uk
Glenilen Farm does it again – innovative west Cork artisans, Alan and Valerie Kingston have added yet another delicious product to their range. They already have a nationwide following for their thick rich cream, yogurts, cheese cakes and farmhouse butter. Their new homemade lemonade cordial is unrelated to their dairy range but is equally irresistible. It’s wonderfully concentrated so add lots of water and ice cubes or sparkling water to dilute to your taste. Contact 028-31179 — www.glenilenfarm.com
Irish blueberries are in full season at present as are autumn raspberries and strawberries. The shops are full of imported berries, so please think before you choose. We can all do our bit to contribute to economic recovery by how we choose to spend our food euro. Buying Irish and local saves Irish livelihoods and jobs.
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