Easiest Ever Fruitcake - Irish Tea Cake

This is probably the easiest ever fruitcake you will ever make!  Had some mixed fruit left over from Christmas and decided to make this - I've tweaked it (as usual) from an old traditional Irish recipe - it's delish!

Preheat oven to fairly low 175 degrees (165 degrees, fan-forced)

Ingredients:

500g mixed fruit (or you could use sultanas)
150g brown sugar
400ml boiling water
1 egg
About 4 teabags (I used Earl Grey)
250g self raising flour (sifted)2
2 tbspns melted butter
1 tspn cinnamon (optional)

Method:

Line a loaf tin with baking paper.

Brew tea using 400ml of boiling water and 4 teabags.

Place mixed fruit in a large bowl and pour over tea. Let steep for at least 2 hours or ideally, overnight.

Stir brown sugar and cinnamon into the mixture.  Add beaten egg, butter.  Mix in the flour.

Put the mixture in the loaf tin and bake for about an hour and a half (test with a skewer to see it's done)
Remove from tin and allow to cool.  Serve slathered with unsalted butter, if desired. Yum!

Strawberry Cloud Cake

This cake is delicious!

I made it from one of Annabel Langbein's recipes - just tweaked slightly

150g sweet biscuits (I used Marie)
100g melted butter
50g desiccated coconut
2 egg whites (room temperature)
250g washed sliced hulled strawberries
250g castor sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Crush biscuits to fine crumb with a rolling pin (or blitz in a food processor) put into a bowl, add coconut and melted butter.  Mix well and fill the base of a 26cm springform pan that has been lined with baking paper) - put the crust in the fridge for 30 mins to firm up while you make the cloud.

Place eggwhites,  castor sugar and strawberries and vanilla into clean dry bowl of electric mixer.  Beat on high speed for about 6 minutes or until the mixture is smooth and glossy. The mixture will fluff up quite a lot. Test the consistency and if it is gritty, it needs to be beaten a little more. Spoon the mixture over the biscuit base, cover with baking paper and freeze for 4 hours. Decorate with fresh raspberries. Yum!
It will keep for several weeks apparently, but mine didn't last that long!
                                                               

Podcasts - New and Noteworthy

With nothing on television but re-runs and hours of cricket,  I'm reduced to listening to podcasts - I particularly like the True Crime ones.

Cold cases are interesting - there's a podcast from Canadian Radio called "Someone Knows Something"
http://www.cbc.ca/radio/sks
Season 1 is about the case of a five year old boy, Adrien McNaughton, who went missing in British Columbia while fishing with his dad way back in 1972.  The author of the podcast, David Ridgen, interviews people involved in the case, which seems to be ongoing - it looks to be up to about 6 episodes so far.
Season 2 details the case of a beautiful young woman, Sheryl Sheppard, who disappeared back in the late nineties.  Her fiancé had just proposed to her on national television. The cold case gets more and more interesting as David delves into her past and the people who last saw her alive.


An absolutely riveting fictional podcast from GE is called Life After http://lif-e.af/ter
You become so invested in the main character, a low level data entry employee in the FBI who begins to talk to his dead wife (stay with me here!) on an audio channel - her podcast - the hero is torn between keeping his connection with his dead wife alive and dealing bravely with forces much larger than himself. The ten episodes are so addictive you want to listen to them all at once!

The other one which is completely fictional is called Homecoming https://gimletmedia.com/homecoming/
It's a psychological thriller - currently up to Episode 6 - a fascinating story about a social worker helping scarred war veterans deal with their PTSD.   I can't wait for the next episode!

The beautiful thing is, they're all available free on iTunes - on the telly or iPod...AND can be listened to when you're doing the ironing or walking or doing chores!