Sunday afternoon tea

It had taken 6 weeks to find a day that 3 of us Oxfam ladies were free to catch up for afternoon tea, so not even waking up with a migraine was going to deter me from an afternoon with my Gran's scones.

These scones needed a little adaptation being cooked in the UK, as the flour here is somewhat heavier than in Australia. But, with just the right amount of added baking powder, these were crunchy on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside. These scones have never failed me and never fail to take me back to afternoons with my Gran on the front porch at Byron Bay.

In addition to my trusty scones, I decided to be a little creative and adventurous and make a cake, which could be called a carrot cake, but that would imply that it is just another boring cake with carrots. And this was not! I also wanted an excuse to use my Queen Victoria fine English bone china cake server, that I bought in Windsor with HMS Bell.

The recipe needs to be fine-tuned a little, but the main ingredients were carrot, ginger, maple and cinnamon. As I am in a nut-free zone at the moment, the ginger added a nice texture and contrasting taste to the sweetness of the maple and cinnamon. I put a dash of cinnamon in a lot of things I cook, but this cake benefited from the 10 dash's or so that went in. The cake was exceptionally moist, without being too heavy. And with 6 large carrots in it, surely it counts one portion of my 5 vege a day!!