Tea Party Tuesday

Tea Party Tuesday was not strictly on a Tuesday this week. We were all invited to my friends 40th birthday picnic on Sunday. It was in the park playing rounders and I had to make cake for 40 people (I volunteered!) I used to play in a rounders league with Angela and we also played hockey together when we were young, fit and free to do what we wanted at a weekend! We had a wonderful time but I was very competitive and I could hardly moved my legs the next day...

So here is our contribution - Blackberry Tray Bake.

It is massive. It serves 24 people and used 5 eggs. The children helped out...

You know, as helpful as dropping a cracked egg into the mixture whole really is!

Blackberry Tray bake

5oz margarine

5oz caster sugar

5 eggs

14oz SR flour

9oz blackberries

1tbsp vanilla extract

zest of one orange

4-5 tbsp of milk

Cream marg and sugar until light and fluffy, add eggs and flour and beat to make a stiff cake batter. Add vanilla extract and milk (enough to loosen the mixture) add orange zest. Beat again to keep it fluffy. Lastly fold in the blackberries carefully (save some)

Spoon into a tin and dot the top with the last blackberries, pushing them in a bit and sprinkle the top with almonds.

Bake for 45 mins on Gas 5

The icing for the top is 50z icing sugar and the juice from the orange mixed together to drizzle on the top.

So to do the maths - a cake for 24 is not 40 is it? So we made, what is affectionately known is our house as, Sam's flapjack. It has a tin of condensed milk in so it sticks together and does not go either rock hard or crumbly. When it is completely cool it is easy to cut into squares. It uses a pound of oats so that turned out pretty massive too.