I plan to read this again – today I'm too sad to really appreciate it.

plus Giselle is my favourite ballet. And I make awesome, awesome cake.

Seems like we might have some things in common. If you ever need a cake tester, it's one of my specialities :)

Very much liked the ending

what, because it was over? :)

Danielle:

yesterday I read this for the first time, which is also about the crucial importance of cake.

.
I thought it was just me! No wonder I could never find any cake when I wanted it. Of course?

Very much liked the ending, thank you!

Hear, hear! I liked it, too — some subtle poignancy happening there.

sally jones wrote:

In the case of cake, less is always less.

This is a major philosophical finding — easily up there with Descartes...

Very much liked the ending

what, because it was over? :)

Heh.
Um, because I have a short attention span and it was the bit I remembered best?

Truly, a most enjoyable tale with a nice kick of authenticity in the tail.

Truly, a most enjoyable tale with a nice kick of authenticity in the tail.

Joe, I wasn't fishing for this, but I do like fish.

In the case of cake, less is always less.

This is a major philosophical finding ? easily up there with Descartes?

Well yes, David. I'd?

Seems like we might have some things in common. If you ever need a cake tester, it?s one of my specialities :)

Where are you based? If we cross paths at a PAS soiree and you give me a couple days' notice, I can guinea pig you. Though I have?

Say, weren't we going to have a PAS bake-off? I am guessing it wouldn't be hard to find guinea pigs/judges.

Gross! None for me, thanks.

If I may say so (in all modesty) I am the best damn baker in the whole universe

You may say so, but it would be disputed. I make a mean carrot. My lemon's not bad either. We'll have to have a cake-off.

Sally, would you email me please?

Right?

Gross! None for me, thanks.

Good heavens 3410, what's wrong with you?

a PAS bake-off?

You heard it here first. Count me in for carrot.

You may say so, but it would be disputed. I make a mean carrot. My lemon?s not bad either. We?ll have to have a cake-off.

Oh, carrot cake, child's play. GAME ON.

I have the world's best Devil's food – with a chocolate cream cheese icing. Though it can be?

I know it sounds bizzaire, but it's a bit like carrot cake (only better).

I make ice cream. Ice cream sandwiches. Cinnamon buns. Coconut buns. Bars, brownies and slices. Choux pastry? Been making it since I was born

Dyan, you are my new best friend. You had me at the ganache and raspberries. I bow to your –

Cookies? I make thousands of different?

this is practically the only way I ever eat pumpkin. In cake.

And your point Tamsin6? Well, apart from roasts and soups.

Good heavens 3410, what's wrong with you?

I just don't dig eating baked guinea pig, okay?
:)

I just don?t dig eating baked guinea pig, okay?
:)

Yes, too prickly.

Are you sure that?s not hedgehogs you?re thinking of?

.

Okay, that's funny. I think I must have pricks on the brain, What can I say?

I?ve probably eaten thousands of different kinds, but baking takes so much longer. Do you do anything else? (if it?s not a rude question)

Not at all – I run a physiotherapy practice (Paul's) but have been known to make many forays into public health – was on the executive?

Float like a fairy cake, sting like a....?

Float like a fairy cake, sting like a?.?

Fairycakes? I am on a baking, ranting tangent!

Ohmygod, my Mother In Law used to make the most exquisite fairy cakes, with delicate little icing sugar dusted golden wings and a half strawberry poking out of the cream, which was hiding her?

I have written many articles on health ? NZ Doctor, Fitness Life etc ? and I?d just like to say here high GI foods are the enemy of health,

Dyan, my, my, how long your post is. Thank you for sharing. Looks like you're the winner of any bakeoff then,?

Look, there really is nothing for it but a bakeoff. How fortuitous for both Danielle, and I, that we live in your vicinities. I can think of an occasion in the very near future where cake tasting and judging could be arranged. Don?t you think?

Yes. Sooner rather than later,?

The prune brownies (?) are a winner. Love the idea of the kids downing prune and thinking it?s chocolate. Cool :)

I like doing up a table for kids – they will devour raw vegetables by the truckload, served with a mild curry/strained yoghurt dip. It always amazes their parents?

And your point Tamsin6? Well, apart from roasts and soups.

My point Sally? I didn't really have a point. I guess I was too hungry from the cake porn to have a point. Just that I really used to like the pumpkin and chocolate muffins at the Boulevard Bakehouse. Even?

Ditto bowls of raspberries and blueberries (served in silver bowls) and strawberries & cherries (served in crystal)..

Dyan, you have class and a little Wonderland perversity about you, I like it!

My point Sally? I didn?t really have a point.

Tasmin6: Hey dude, it wasn't a criticism. I just think everything?

If the almonds were slithered instead of chopped I might have bought it.

Those slippery little varmints!

Actually, I worried (on re-reading, as promised earlier) that your poor little 16 year-old body was expected to expend so much energy with too few calories. It's no wonder you craved cake! You?

I just think everything tastes better in cake ? duh!

Andy Warhol was reputedly that way too, though his ideas on cake-making were pretty primitive. Somewhere among his more twee musings he described taking two slices of bread and a piece of chocolate. You placed the "candy" on the bread,?

In the case of cake, less is always less.

Yes it is. Especially when the knife slips when you get to cut and your sister gets to choose!

goodeye at xtra

Wot? You have a bad eye? You're not from Canterbury!

1: my mother Mary's trifle (which incorporates her excellent sponge:)
2:my sister Kate's simnel cake (which she makes about once a decade, and
3:a truly great Black Forest gateau – which my mother & self trolled round the world for, a couple?

One year she didn't and made something else instead. Fortunately she was gently shown the error of her ways, and never made that mistake again.

But loved the one-legged Aborignal boy & his laughter!

Islander: So did I :) Thank you
I should have read and responded to this yesterday or earlier today, very sorry for being a lazy so and so. My limp excuse is that we have a fourth teen coming to stay (from?

Yes it is. Especially when the knife slips when you get to cut and your sister gets to choose!

Ross: It is a cruel blow indeed for a girl to have a cake addiction and an older brother

I have a pair of antique glass jelly moulds ? rabbits ?

Real glass ones!
How those rabbit moulds brightened my golden childhood, even if they were only cheap aluminium knock-offs. Even blancmange* was a treat when it was rabbit-shaped. Our guinea pigs were taught to cease their clamor and?

I don't know, I am beginning to think that men really don't get cake. Exception of you Joe, naturally.

Best you be extending that exception before I'm forced to whip out my Blueberry Sour Cream Cake (once blueberry season is in full swing of course – frozen doesn't compare to?

Best you be extending that exception before I?m forced to whip out my Blueberry Sour Cream Cake

I think in a population of three or four billion we can allow two exceptions.
But whip away anyhay. Nothing like berry and cream; fresh, of course.

I was brought up in Rangitira Ave in Takkers. At the back of us was Smales quarry land

Jackie: Is that quarry the site of the Smales Farm development next to Westlake Girls? When I first moved into the area there used to be cows grazing the grass there and?

While I?m sure that making the stuff can be raised to a high art, to me it will always be eel food.

Joe, it's funny you should mention the eel because you look a bit like an eel. If an eel and a giraffe mated they might produce you. It?

If an eel and a giraffe mated they might produce you.

It?s the Groke. There?s even a mug now, but still no blancmange mould as far as I?m aware.

It?s the Groke.

So it is Joe. Nothing at all like a giraffe/eel cross. More penguin and toad. But she is a she. Et tu?

But she is a she. Et tu?

Externally, definitely not.

Jackie:

we even had a pet Muscovy duck

Mine was only half Muscovy, half regular duck. He gave voice with a sort of hissy quack. Like a mule he was sadly sterile, which was why we got him for free.?

Although now that I think of it there is that famous literary blancmange in KM?s Daughters of the Late Colonel. It gets a terrible state of the jitters in the presence of the two daughters arguing with the maid

Yes, I remember that blancmange, quivering. But the sisters weren't arguing?

Real glass ones!
How those rabbit moulds brightened my golden childhood, even if they were only cheap aluminium knock-offs. Even blancmange* was a treat when it was rabbit-shaped. Our guinea pigs were taught to cease their clamor and ?assume the position?, crouching expectantly in the pose inspired by the rabbit?

I MAKE MY OWN VANILLA.

I should share the recipe here – and I was driven to this because good vanilla is sooo expensive – you take a bottle of vodka (or bourbon or other spirits if you wish) and put split vanilla pods in it. That's it – (I?

How did you train your guinea pigs to do anything?

As the family doctor noted one day while paying his respects to the g. pigs on his way out, "When you're that little, you just have to eat." Especially when you're the world's smallest grazing animal and you're about 40%?

With haricot beans I prefer a Greek recipe, Fasolatha, which is vegetarian

Would so love to have that recipe. We're mostly vego here, so pork is out. Care to share?

My mother was hopeless at making pav. She'd give it a go every Christmas, and present us with a piece?

Would so love to have that recipe. We?re mostly vego here, so pork is out. Care to share?

This is exactly what I make exceopt I would never put a whole cup of olive oil in this amount – I use 1/4 cup. Other than that, it's the same -?

This is exactly what I make

Quoi? Have I missed a link? Wha?

Ah, I get it! Invisible writing!

Externally, definitely not.

Intriguing, Joe, especially the 'definitely'. They do say it's not what's on the outside that counts, but surely they can't be talking about men, in that case?

Yes, I remember that blancmange, quivering. But the sisters weren?t arguing with Kate, they were old tabbies terrified of Kate?

All was sanctified by cake

What a delightful piece by PW. Love "the pinker hymns". Very evocative. My mother tends to "see pink", a good colour to see.

My mother was hopeless at making pav

Mine was pretty good but largely because she had been given a pav plate with the recipe on it that you followed then cooked the pav on. Every pav we ever ate was cooked on that plate. Various toppings, of course, but somehow?

Quoi? Have I missed a link? Wha?

Ah, I get it! Invisible writing!

Eeeek, well the failed link was fortunate, because on close inspection it's not quite exactly what I make – the linked recipe didn't use fresh tomatoes. Here goes the real one:

Fasolatha (ancient Greek recipe)

4 cups?

Dyan, all that cake-baking (and eating) must have sharpened your faculties. Alas I fear in my case the reverse is true. I only remember the terrified blancmange, classic tunnel vision.

There are some stories I have read so many times I can recite passages – and The Daughters of the?

) you can add the salt ? at least 1/2 tsp. ? more can be added later to taste.

Arrgh, I left it too late to edit... you probably want to start at only ** 1/4 tsp and start tasting from there – 1/2 tsp is looking like a lot?

Has this been reported in our media? Haven't seen it as yet.

We won the Pav! Hooray for us!

Blanc-mange?

ETA: I know it's unseemly to laugh at one's own jokes, but this seemed apposite.

Reminds me of when I was 18 and was talked into going red. My friend the (amateur) hairdresser had this theory that she should bleach it first, and then put a red rinse through. Came out about the colour of?

Yes indeed. But I fear that in our enthusiastic recollections of the blanc-mange last week we may have done a dreadful disservice to the meringue.

Having decided?

In the spirit of returning the thread to talk of cake, I today succumbed to a neenish tart. It was delicious and light, the icing not too thick, the filling not too fatty. But it had a lemony flavour that?

Maybe people are having their cake, and eating it?

Love a good fruit cake. Half seems generous. ;-)

Amy:
. . . cheese-n-onion sandwiches and other nearly-lost cultural?

[Like]

Tamsin: Thank you for bringing tan squares to the thread discussion. We don't have them in Aussie. When I first moved to NZ from OZ one of the hardest adjustments I had to make was to the inferior baked goods.?

Oh no! I like "tan square". It's uniquely frank. Tan?

If only I were a Christmas cake!

But seriously, that's some dedication to the cause. I've never heard of this 'feeding' process with the brandy. Might try it on the present batch for next year, if there's any left?

You just dribble the liquor evenly over the cake ? a teaspoonful or two ? but not so much that it?s soggy. It soaks in, and lodges rather nicely?

Bastes bottom with basic brandy. Brandishes beauty beaming.

"tan square" in deference to the existing conversation, it's always been "caramel cake"

No, no, "tan square" has a lovely ring to it... I made "Brown Walnut Cake from hundreds of recipes in my NZ Colonial Cookery because the name was so descriptive, so simple. It's brown, walnut and cake.?

dyan, that is such an invitation! And I think he'd like his friend (cousin Sookie?) just as much. (And, Haha Jones..)

I've only read the 'classic' Truman Capote, so this short story was a most delightful?

One of my occasionally-repulsive specimens is a post-war Aunt Daisy cookbook. In a world where all the butter is going to the UK, afghans apparently have to be made with cod fat.

There were?

From my retro box collection, containing original contents. Yes, I do have a collection of boxes containing ancient jelly crystals, among other things. So?

Oh, and thanks. ;-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krqpDIx6vSg

This. Nice finish: "As if I expected to see, rather like hearts, a lost pair of kites hurrying toward heaven." Almost too poignant.

dyan, that is such an invitation! And I think he'd like his friend (cousin Sookie?) just as much. (And, Haha Jones..)

I always thought they'd all have a thoroughly good time and get along like a house on fire...

I especially loved Capote's conceit of sending off brillant cakes to?

I've just picked the accessible green walnuts for pickling, but there's plenty brown ones in the sack still.

"The couple next door seem very devoted. He kisses her every time they meet? Why don't you do that?" "Well I don't know her well enough yet".

Lushus Jelly Dessert becomes?

Yum!

Dyan ? your recipe for colonial brown walnut cake ? something like this? I have the colonial brown walnut tree, and am seriously tempted, it sounds great.

ChrisW almost that exact recipe ? minus any condensed milk at all but with much more butter and sugar ? is in my?

Thanks – temptation will definitely be succumbed to! Will report back, within a week or so I reckon.

Yr welcome. You may already know all this, but in case you are not a very experienced cake-maker when I wrote this:

"Method: Mix butter & sugar together until fluffy, add treacle, milk?

Cashew nuts & the people who pick them are a whole other story...

Not a good day for a head-jingle.

Does anyone (dyan) know anything controversial about nuts? Anything that might challenge the standard view of nuts as a health food. There was something on RNZ recently, I believe. I didn't catch it.

Islander put her finger on it for you – the oils in nuts can go rancid fairly?

cashew seeds (yes, they actually are) have a seed case that contains an irritant resin: if you dont give your pickers and seed-shellers protection (aka known as gloves) this can be a problem. A?

Perhaps it's somehow fitting, the rain and tears intermingling to make a wet grief indeed. She died of a brain tumour, she was just fifty. She leaves behind three young adults, very much devoted. She was our neighbour.

I almost missed this – but just wanted to say how much?

First time I've used treacle rather than gol'slurp in anything. I toned down the ground ginger a bit, and used straight cinnamon rather than mixed spice as in the 1924?

It's been a lovely aromatic walnut-focused day. As well as the cake, the green walnuts are instead thoroughly black afer?

Still, Bill produced Debbie – please pass on my best wishes to her and Ian too. Their warm hospitality to me much appreciated, 12 years ago on?

Report-back on the brown walnut cake – 'twas great, verified by independent witnesses, so thanks for the inspiration and information.

(less flour than chopped walnuts?) meant a very sloppy mix, added another 3/4 cup

I'm glad you liked it – even with the extra flour – for me the very?

It's still pretty solid, but I'll try with a bit less milk next time.

It's not less milk you need, it's less flour. The mixture before baking is extremely liquid, but you just take bung it into a cake tin lined with baking paper, bake it low in the oven?