Gluten free cake!
Mar. 22nd, 2008 10:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
blackberry444Because we didn't go shopping yesterday, I had to get up at 7.30 this morning, wake John and nag him till he got up. In the end we got to Morrison's by 8.45, but really not a moment too soon. Fortunately there was a disabled parking space right by the door, because it was absolutely freezing
When we arrived there weren't all that many people there, but by the time we left it was beginning to get rather overcrowded. I bought John breakfast in the caff, He had two bacon baps and I had one with extra bacon and an almond croissant, with a mocha coffee. Lovely!
While we were there I looked for gluten free flour but there was none. I did manage to find some incredibly expensive white gluten free loaves, English muffins, fruit cake slices and Bakewell tarts (£1.80 for four). Oh! And a sizeable bag of pasta! I've told Charles he must keep the bread in the freezer and just get out a few slices at a time because at £1.99 for quite a small and rather depressing-looking loaf, I don't want any wasted. He's very pleased that he can have Marmite toast again!
He had one of the fruit slices this afternoon and a bakewell tart instead of pudding. He gave me a tiny taste. The fruit slice was lovely, but the bakewell tart was very odd indeed, with pastry resembling very hard cardboard. Presumably you can't really make pastry without gluten.
We'd only been back from Morrison's a short while when the lovely sunshine disappeared and it started to hail........ horizontally. A couple of the Asian lads from across the road came tumbling out of the house in their vests and bare feet to grab handfuls of the sleet.
Later on it hailed again, then it snowed for a bit, then it rained and melted all the snow, all interspersed with short periods of brilliant sunshine, but Boy! was it cold!
Unfortunately, when I came to make Penny's Impossible Orange cake, I found I'd misread the ingredients list, making the quantity of ground almonds 2½ ounces instead of 2½ cups, so when I realised my mistake, I had to send poor John out to find some more. He couldn't find ground almonds anywhere!! Eventually someone in Morrison's suggested that he get flaked almonds and I could grind them, so he bought all that were left which amounted to three miserable little packets, which when I ground them and added what I'd already got, just made up the necessary quantity.
It's a remarkably easy cake to make, if extremely weird, but I never thought it would actually become solid. It's sitting in the tin waiting to be released and decorated tomorrow. It looks and smells very nice. I think that rather than being cake, it's a kind of sweet, baked, almond and orange omelette or soufflé! We shall see tomorrow.
I had a lovely unexpected invitation a couple of days ago to attend the wedding of the elder daughter of Bulbul, one of my Bengali friends. We'll definitely go, but I have no idea of etiquette about presents or anything else. People have suggested that I ask the family, but I think I shall ask another Asian friend of mine, because I'm pretty sure that Bulbul will tell me not to buy anything and, of course, I want to get them something.
John bought us a lovely Indian takeaway this evening and I'm still absolutely stuffed. Fortunately I suddenly remembered to take the goose out of the freezer, so I hope it will be defrosted in time to be cooked tomorrow, otherwise we shall have to have a very late dinner instead of an early one as we wanted! Not that it really matters!
I have still not discovered how to listen to jazz on the MyClassicFM Player, but have found a couple of jazz stations I can listen to on the Internet with Windows Media Player, which I suppose is better than nothing. Of course, it means I can't listen in the kitchen or the sitting room, or on my personal BAB radio in the garden, or wherever, which is an awful bind, but Sailor Vee, I suppose!
When we arrived there weren't all that many people there, but by the time we left it was beginning to get rather overcrowded. I bought John breakfast in the caff, He had two bacon baps and I had one with extra bacon and an almond croissant, with a mocha coffee. Lovely!
While we were there I looked for gluten free flour but there was none. I did manage to find some incredibly expensive white gluten free loaves, English muffins, fruit cake slices and Bakewell tarts (£1.80 for four). Oh! And a sizeable bag of pasta! I've told Charles he must keep the bread in the freezer and just get out a few slices at a time because at £1.99 for quite a small and rather depressing-looking loaf, I don't want any wasted. He's very pleased that he can have Marmite toast again!
He had one of the fruit slices this afternoon and a bakewell tart instead of pudding. He gave me a tiny taste. The fruit slice was lovely, but the bakewell tart was very odd indeed, with pastry resembling very hard cardboard. Presumably you can't really make pastry without gluten.
We'd only been back from Morrison's a short while when the lovely sunshine disappeared and it started to hail........ horizontally. A couple of the Asian lads from across the road came tumbling out of the house in their vests and bare feet to grab handfuls of the sleet.
Later on it hailed again, then it snowed for a bit, then it rained and melted all the snow, all interspersed with short periods of brilliant sunshine, but Boy! was it cold!
Unfortunately, when I came to make Penny's Impossible Orange cake, I found I'd misread the ingredients list, making the quantity of ground almonds 2½ ounces instead of 2½ cups, so when I realised my mistake, I had to send poor John out to find some more. He couldn't find ground almonds anywhere!! Eventually someone in Morrison's suggested that he get flaked almonds and I could grind them, so he bought all that were left which amounted to three miserable little packets, which when I ground them and added what I'd already got, just made up the necessary quantity.
It's a remarkably easy cake to make, if extremely weird, but I never thought it would actually become solid. It's sitting in the tin waiting to be released and decorated tomorrow. It looks and smells very nice. I think that rather than being cake, it's a kind of sweet, baked, almond and orange omelette or soufflé! We shall see tomorrow.
I had a lovely unexpected invitation a couple of days ago to attend the wedding of the elder daughter of Bulbul, one of my Bengali friends. We'll definitely go, but I have no idea of etiquette about presents or anything else. People have suggested that I ask the family, but I think I shall ask another Asian friend of mine, because I'm pretty sure that Bulbul will tell me not to buy anything and, of course, I want to get them something.
John bought us a lovely Indian takeaway this evening and I'm still absolutely stuffed. Fortunately I suddenly remembered to take the goose out of the freezer, so I hope it will be defrosted in time to be cooked tomorrow, otherwise we shall have to have a very late dinner instead of an early one as we wanted! Not that it really matters!
I have still not discovered how to listen to jazz on the MyClassicFM Player, but have found a couple of jazz stations I can listen to on the Internet with Windows Media Player, which I suppose is better than nothing. Of course, it means I can't listen in the kitchen or the sitting room, or on my personal BAB radio in the garden, or wherever, which is an awful bind, but Sailor Vee, I suppose!