Thursday 12 April 2012

Making my Vintage tea and Easter Simnel Cake

Well first you have to prepare yourself - this is done by the selection of the correct apron  and here you need to take into account a) the season b) weather for that day c) amount of food stuffs that might be dropped down apron d) size of own waist...



This apron is particularly jolly and went well with my vintage dress for the jour

Then trot out into the garden and scrounge round looking desperately for flowers.....I should add here that we have a very small garden and very few flowers at the moment - I made do with violets and polys

The eagle-eyed amongst you will notice that this is the cake plate that matches my china from a post the other day.  Arrange flowers - tra la la - paint with egg white and dust with caster sugar - tra la la again!

Bake simple fruit cake as per BBC recipe...then realise that you cannot find THE cake tin that you need.  Think very hard - Easter Sunday - not the best time to purchase a cake tin - use an old saucepan instead...


Turn out your cake onto a nice very old cake rack.....thus diverting gaze from cake that looks a bit saucepan shaped!!!

Whilst your cake cools down spend a little toooo long sorting out the right tablecloth - a few changes later you feel that you might have found the right ones..change your mind once again and then for crying out loud let it go!!!


Do some frou frou'ing and add extra embellishments...pick a few final flowers from the garden (what's not to love about a hellebore). Simple and cost free - put in a pretty cup

Then decorate your cake - not with giant marzipan balls but delicate little ones....oh dear...place your frosted flowers in the middle - tra la la


Begin to wonder why you decided to crimp the edges of your marzipan - realise that worst things happen at sea and for crying out loud move on again!!

Sort out some suitable china for time of year...




Resist the temptation to fish out other spring china that you know is hiding under the bed.....

Final tra la la....


Oh...not quite...decide that the other tablecloth looks better....



No I didn't change the china around again - what do you think I am !!!!!

Best wishes
Jenny
PS If these appear on pinterest I will explode!  Thank you for all tips and advice about this - I notice that dear Mary from The Vintage Cottage has had her photographs used on Pinterest with her writing on them carefully removed - nothing stops some people I guess.  I am working on how to add the 'no pin' segment into the blog - it is a bit complicated in this format.  No thanks to Michelle Cresswell who managed to pin my most recent photo of my lovely cup from the previous post and some others already onto Pinterest  - I am now getting cross and will name and shame those who seem to think that I spend my time here purely to fill the pages of others...so there and I do not care what your reason is so do not bother replying - so there again! Now see what you have done - you have reduced me to being like one of my children!
Update: Despite the risk of explosion these photos have indeed appeared on Pinterest and addressed accordingly. Strange as it may seem to some I am not a repository of photographs just waiting for you to use them elsewhere.....

9 comments:

  1. Lovely pictures and think the crimped edging adds a little je ne sais quoi, or however the saying goes if you'll pardon my French! xx

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  2. Hello dear Jenny! Your photos are gorgeous and I love reading your lovely writings! You always make me smile! I love your vintage apron and vintage dress!!! I don't have any vintage dresses, but I do have a lovely little collection of vintage aprons and enjoy wearing them so much! Your flowers are so sweet! I am glad you could find some. As you know, here in Louisiana, we have everything blooming! I so wish I could share my David Austen roses and flowers with you! Concerning the cake tin, we had the same problem one Thanksgiving years ago. We did not have a baking pan large enough for the turkey and my husband had to go to Wal-mart (we don't like Wal-mart) and purchase one! In the past I was always shocked that Wal-mart was open on Thanksgiving and would say, "Who on earth would shop on Thanksgiving Day!" Now I know! :) I am glad you found something that would work! Your fruit cake looks so yummy and I love how you decorated it! The marzipan and flowers are gorgeous!!! Love all of your pretty dishes and tablecloth too! I think the one you decided on looks best as well! I am glad I am not the only one that changes things out several times! Your Easter table is so beautiful and cheerful! Very well done! Much love, Paula xoxo

    PS~ Oh dear! I am terribly sorry to hear this! Poor Mary, she is my sweet flickr friend too! I don't think any photos are safe anymore! I do hope people will read your request and be kind and not pin your photos! Don't' give up!

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  3. I do not understand why people feel the need to post someone else's pictures. When I see something I like on the interwebby thingy. I bookmark it and save it to a nice little folder that I have created - just for that purpose. When I want to reference that recipe/creative idea/potential purchase, I go back and look. I don't need to share this with the world - or convince others of my (self-perceived) impeccable taste!

    Just my thoughts!!!!

    Your cake is gorgeous and the table is lovely......as always, you DO have impeccable taste.

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  4. Quite right about the turquoise tablecloth Jenny, it looks fabulous with the gorgeous yellow of the cake, which looks so delicious!

    I'm so sorry people are still nicking your photos, I love Pinterest and I do pin from elsewhere but would never from you, because if you have asked people not to it's downright rude to ignore your wishes! By the way I finally made it to the Post Office the other day, so I'm hoping you will received a little parcel from me today or Monday. I hope you like the contents as much as I like the treats you sent me! Take care and have a lovely weekend. Rachel x

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  5. You always make teatime look gorgeous! Absolute perfection, as always.

    Sorry to hear about the latest pinterest-picture-pinching. It looks like the 'no pin' code is the way to go (but can't be used on Flickr?).

    I found a site recently - http://www.tineye.com/ that will find if a picture has been used anywhere on the web. Unfortunately, it doesn't find pinterest, I think because pinterest links back to the original image. I found a blog had used one of my photos without credit. I haven't chased it up, as they seemed to have moved their blog to a new site, which is all in German, and I decided it wasn't worth the effort!

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  6. Thank you each and every one of you for kind words - I need to get a grip about Pinterest I know but I will have a little fester now and again! Thank you for your tips Elaine, thank you for your kindness thriftwood, thank you Rachel for the delicious fabrics, Jane - I also have lots and lots of favourites but sadly not organised but that is my fault, Paula your kindness makes me smile and feel warm too (if that makes sense).

    I should add a little balance to say that I have received an email of apology from someone who had pinned my photographs - I have to say I appreciated that enormously.

    Take care
    Jenny

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  7. Dear Jenny! You are so kind! Thank you! Yes, that makes perfect sense! :) I am so glad someone wrote and apologized to you! There is hope sweet friend! xo~Paula

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  8. Jenny, I've searched Pinterest to find the pic-pincher Michelle Cresswell, but to no avail. I was intending to leave an appropriate comment! Maybe she has been embarrassed by others' comments, and is now hiding behind an alias?
    Nearly forgot to say what a wonderful cake you made, set off to perfection! Mary x

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    1. Dear Mary - I do not wish to seem so mean about you know where but I did notice that this particular person has carefully copyrighted her photographs. Mmmm

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