Trisha Ashley & Mothering Sunday

As you know I'm a huge fan of the lovely Trisha Ashley and am over the moon that she has a new book coming out! She has very kindly shared with us some quick and easy recipes to make for Mothering Sunday (I am tempted by the meringues for myself!) So here is a little guest post from her and little bit about her new book!

Trisha Ashley

I always think that homemade presents are by far the nicest and what better way to guarantee your mum a happy mother’s day than by baking her something delicious? I myself have no formal cookery training; I learnt all my recipes from my mother so I though sharing some of my recipes with you would be appropriate for Mother’s Day.  The recipes below are easy to follow and delicious (if I do say so myself!). 

Baking is very often a key theme in my novels.  Believe it or not, I didn’t actually set out to write stories full of food and recipes – those elements just crept in, reflecting my keen interest in the subject! I then added the recipes into the back of my books in response to requests from fans.

Happy Baking! And do remember to clean up the kitchen; it is Mother’s Day after all...

Fairy Cakes

Who needs a big heavy, greasy muffin when they can have a delicious little morsel like this? And don’t lather on an inch-thick layer of sugary ‘frosting’ until you have eaten one straight from the oven to remind yourself how good home-baked cake can taste.

Ingredients.

You will need paper cake cases – you can get small ones for fairy cakes and even tinier, bite-sized ones. If you haven’t got a cake or muffin tin, just stand them on a baking tray.

4oz/100g butter or margarine

4 oz/100g caster sugar

4oz/100g self-raising flour

2 medium eggs

Half level teaspoon baking powder.

Method

1. Preheat the oven to gas mark 6/200C/400 F

2. Soften the butter and place in a large mixing bowl.

3. Sieve the flour into it and then stir in all the other ingredients.

4. Mix well for a couple of minutes until you have a smooth mixture.

5. Divide between about eighteen paper cases for normal sized fairy cakes (the mixture will rise a lot so don’t overfill!). If using the tiny ones, then a level teaspoon of mixture should be more than enough.

6. Bake for about fifteen minutes, until a nice golden-brown colour, then leave to cool on a wire rack.

Variations

1.      To make chocolate fairy cakes, add a level tablespoon of cocoa powder while stirring the ingredients.  You could also decorate the top with a little melted chocolate.

2.      To make the butterfly cakes, slice off a disc from the top of the two cakes and cut them into two halves.

Put a blob of jam and another of butter cream or whipped cream on top of each cake.  Place two half circles of cake on top of each one to make butterfly wings.

3.      Fruit fairy cakes: add about 1oz/25g of currants to the mix while stirring.

4.      Decorate each cake with a little water icing (literally icing sugar mixed with water).

Microwave Meringues

There are lots of recipes for these but they are all more or less the same- just sugar and egg white.  Easy to whip up in minutes you can use them to base other desert recipes on.

Ingredients.

One large egg white

12 oz/300g icing sugar

Method.

1.      Cover a microwaveable plate with baking paper.

2.      Lightly beat the egg white in a large bowl and then sieve the sugar over it.

3.      Stir well until you have a thick mixture a little like soft fondant icing.  You may have to add a little more sugar or beaten egg whites to get this consistency, but if so, do it a tiny bit at a time.

4.      Roll into 8 balls and microwave them on the paper-covered plate two at a time for about a minute- watch them swell up like magic!

5.      Let them cool, then eat them as they are or sandwich together with whipped cream.

Good Husband Material

Trisha Ashley

Published 28^th March buy it here! 

‘One of the best writers around!’ Katie Fforde

Another warm, wise and witty offering from Sunday Times bestseller Trisha Ashley.

James is everything Tish has ever wanted in a husband – she’s married a man who even her mother approves of. He’s handsome, dependable, and will make an excellent father – unlike Tish’s first love, the disreputable Fergal. Her teenage sweetheart abandoned her for a music career and now lives a typical celebrity lifestyle. Fergal broke her heart – James helped mend it.

Now, they’ve bought a cottage in the country. The next step – kids and a lifetime of domestic bliss. Well, that’s the plan. And even if James has a slight tendency to view the village pub as a second home, their relationship is still in pretty good shape after seven years of marriage. So why is marriage to Mr Right making her long for Mr Wrong?