19. Florentines

With some recipes still outstanding from my first list, I nevertheless decided to skip ahead and have a go at these. I'd intended to make them for my parents when they visited a few weeks ago (one of my Mum's favourites) and had the ingredients knocking around, although I was annoyed to find that the mixed peel I'd bought a month or two ago was BBE July 2011! I'm fairly reasonable about best before dates, but a year out is a bit much, I feel! This was one of a few adjustments made to Mary's recipe: I do want to do everything 'by the book', but I think it's a good thing that I've developed a bit of confidence and my own know-how so that if I need to be flexible with a few ingredients here and there, I can be. I'm also discovering some useful prep methods, like using the mezzaluna to chop nuts with: much more efficient than fiddling about with a knife.

 
Instead of the mixed peel, I just increased the quantity of glace cherries, to match the intended total quantity of fruit. I'm not a big fan of citrus peel anyway, so this was a modification I think I'd stick with in future. I'd always thought Florentines would be difficult to make; Mary makes the point that an accurate set of scales is a must, and I didn't have any technical problems at all.

At first I thought three baking trays seemed a bit excessive for the quantity of mixture, but as you can see from the before/after pictures on the left, they really did spread out in the oven. The recipe did make 20 biscuits as suggested - again, something I was a bit sceptical about.
The smell of melted butter and sugar (and golden syrup) is always divine, but the smell emanating from the oven as the biscuits baked was something else. It was fascinating to see them spread out and bubble away, and I couldn't wait to eat them. They were very easy to remove from the trays; I let them cool for about 3 minutes before sliding them off with a palette knife and placing them on the rack.

After about 30 minutes of cooling, I melted the chocolate. I used milk instead of plain, because Mum's not a fan of dark chocolate and so I hadn't bought any for making them a few weeks ago. I'd try them with dark in the future as it probably cuts through the sweetness a bit and makes more of a contrast, but they're certainly very tasty coated in milk chocolate! One thing that did confuse me is why there's a need to make a zig-zag on the chocolate after coating the underside of the biscuits. I did it a few times and couldn't see the point! I put the biscuits in the fridge to allow the chocolate to set in a fly-free environment, and we ate the first ones cold, which were very nice. The end result is a toffee-like, chewy, slightly crunchy biscuit.

Baker's verdict: easy and fun to make. I'll definitely make these again, even though there are quite a few processes. Very tasty and pretty moreish!
Husband rating: 7.5/10. Really tasty but just a bit too sweet for me.

18. Madeira Cake

It's been ages since I've baked, although I do keep turning out Victoria Sponges as and when the mood takes me! Life has been hectic and consequently tiring lately, and there have been a shortage of occasions to bake for since I last tackled a new recipe. However, I decided to skip the Bath Buns which I'd put on the back-burner for a few weeks, and make a good old-fashioned cake again. I did actually make this cake months ago, when I first bought Mary's book, but that was pre-blog, and I wanted to make it again. It's a very easy cake to make; much like the classic Victoria Sponge, but with the addition of ground almonds and grated lemon rind. It takes longer to bake too - about 1 hour. I deviated from Mary's recipe only to substitute a round baking tin for a loaf tin - my experiences of eating shop-bought Madeira Cake have always involved the loaf shape and it's much easier to slice. The best bit about this cake is the lovely firm crust it develops; the centre of the cake is quite dense, but not claggy.

Baker's verdict: easy to make; tastes really good; great for sharing with colleagues, and would be good used in a trifle. The blueberries went really well with it.

Husband rating: 8/10 - great flavour; loved the crust. Not as moist as some of the sponges, but easy to eat and tasty.