Victoria Sponge

  

Sunday morning after spending some time picking berries I was inspired to bake a cake.

I have enjoyed A Table in the Orchard by Michelle Crawford very much. Hugo and Elsa is Michelle's blog.  So lovely to enjoy her beautiful home and garden.

I had a beautiful bottle of lemon butter in the fridge made by my Mum. Always delicious!

I hardly every make a cake.  But cake it just had to be. 

The recipe for Vicotria Sponge was lovely. Easy to follow and worked out perfectly. 

As I prepared the ingredients and the tins, I caught myself thinking about my Nana and her beautiful sponge cakes she would make. I'm not even brave enough to try her recipe! But as I buttered the tins and dusted them with flour I thought about her and wondered how many sponge tins she had prepared during her many years of baking. 

Now this cake is not a light and airy sponge like my Nana used to make but it is so very delicious.  I filled mine with a layer of lemon butter and freshly whipped cream, topped it with more cream and some beautiful berries.

Mum, Dad and I sat outside under the tree on Sunday afternoon, cups of tea in hand and enjoyed the Victoria Sponge together.

What a lovely end to the weekend.

Berries....

My new garden at Lorea House has provided a few lovely little surprises.  Berries being an especially delicious one!

One of the first jobs I completed when I started tidying the garden was to remove an awful weed mat type product from around the strawberry patch. Underneath I found hundreds of snails. Oh yuk!!

A big tidy up and a big dose of sugar cane mulch and a drink of liquid thrive and my strawberries took off. Big lush healthy plants.  Flowers followed and then of course the best part. Strawberries!  So many strawberries. At the moment there's a big bag full waiting in the freezer that I will make jam with soon.

The other berries have been a little bit of a mystery to me. I really haven't had a clue!  But I'm told they are Boysonberries. Whatever they are, they are certainly delicious. 

How delicious they have been.  On pancakes with the strawberries with maple syrup. With yoghurt and a little granola sprinkled on top but my favourite, on a little pavlova nest with some beautiful fresh cream!  Heaven!

Berries are something I've never experimented with before in the garden but I must say it's been worth dealing the the spiky canes to enjoy the delicious fruit. 

What a lovely thing it is to enjoy fresh berries right from my own sweet garden.