Store cupboard standbys.

As I am currently a citizen of Narnia my early morning forage consisted of a trip to the local Co-op. Wading calf deep through fresh snow is a fantastic if somewhat bracing way to wake yourself up. To be honest I didn't need much, I'd done a big shop before the snow hit and the fridge was full. We did need bread though so off I slid to get some flour. I knew the panic buyers would be up at 6am to get the Mothers Pride but that didn't bother me. Putting on the oven and kneading dough was bound to cut down the heating especially in the kitchen.

If this weather continues I will have to find a way to refill the cupboards. If I still can't get the car out I may resort to some unusual food combinations if the situation gets really dire. Whether I ever get this desperate is a matter for conjecture. Somehow I doubt it!

Vicar of Dibley

Orange cake with Branston pickle icing

Mrs Cropley: Care to try one, Mr. Chairman?
David Horton: No thank you. I'd sooner eat my own scrotum, Mrs. Cropley.

Villages are so often just a microcosm of the world around them. Everyone has their place and woe betide anyone who upsets this status quo. When Dawn French’s Geraldine Grainger arrives in Dibley to undertake her new post as Vicar of the local parish church little does she realise the willpower and fortitude needed for the task ahead.

In addition to hatching, matching and dispatching as and when required Geraldine has to lead the services, chair the parish council and organise the fetes. It is here that church organist Letitia Cropley comes into her own. She transformed herself from the local good time girl into Dibley’s domestic goddess. Sadly her creations are such that she earns herself the title the “queen of cordon bleugh”. Many of her concoctions have gone down in history and several have come straight back up again. Parsnip brownies, bread and butter pudding surprise and chocolate spread sandwiches with a hint of taramasalata any one?

No, thought not, here is a recipe you can recreate, one Letitia made for the cake stall at the village fair. I’d suggest you forgot about the branston pickle icing but that choice is entirely down to you.

Mise en scene

175g butter or margarine
175g caster sugar
2 large eggs
225g self-raising flour
2 tablespoons milk

1 orange - zest and juice

2 tablespoons of caster sugar

125g icing sugar

Water

Branston pickle

Its all in the edit….

• Place butter and sugar in a large bowl and beat together well. Continue creaming until the butter and sugar mixture becomes paler in colour.
• Beat the eggs in a separate bowl and add half of this beaten egg into the mixture, and stir it in well. Add in a couple of tablespoons of the flour, then the rest of the egg, and beat again. Now is the time to add in the vanilla extract.
• Taking a metal spoon very gently fold in the rest of the flour. Be gentle and use a cutting and folding movement to combine the flour without losing any air from the mix. When all the flour is combined add in a tablespoon of milk and a tablespoon of orange juice.
• Check the consistency of your cake mix. Gather up a little on a spoon and hold over the bowl. If it drops off then the mixture is ready, if it remains on the spoon you need to add another tablespoon of milk and check again.
• Put this mix into a 11” by 7” rectangular cake tin and bake for 30 minutes at 180 C until firm and golden brown.
• When cooked cool for a short while in the tin and then place on a wire rack. Combine the remaining orange juice with the two spoons of sugar and pour over the warm cake. Allow to cool. If you really have to combine the Branston pickle with the icing sugar than do so. If this too much then use water and scatter the top of the cake with the orange zest.
• There is nothing to stop you from telling your guests you have used Branston pickle to ice the cake, especially if you don’t want to share it.

Voiceover

This cake can be made like a far more conventional drizzle cake. Combine the juice, additional sugar and orange zest and pour over the warm cake. If however you like the unconventional then the pickle may do it for you.