recent charity shop finds

I thought it was about time I did another one of my charity shop purchase round ups as I've managed to score a few lovely pieces recently.

First up are these vintage Christmas bauble decorations. I'm generally not a christmas bauble person but I fell hard for these. I love the bright colours and that the glitter looks like it might have been added by a previous owner.

There were quite a few vintage christmas baubles for sale that day so it was tempting to buy more (there were some seriously kitsch, pastel coloured ones!) but these were definitely my favourites.

Next up is this gorgeous Royal Winton Grimwades pedestal bowl which was surprisingly difficult to photograph. I swear I'm turning into a sniffer dog for Royal Winton pieces. It's like I can sense their presence. I just *know* it's that brand before crossing the room or even picking up the item. (Yes, I need to get out more.)

I was extra delighted to find that it's an older piece, somewhere in the 1930s, judging by the circular backstamp.

Whilst I'm on the topic of awesome backstamps, I found a Meakin Glamour Jade dinner plate last week. I already have three Meakin Glamour Celeste dinner plates (the blue colourway) so I'm delighted to have a different colour to join the plate family. I love the gentle, frilly edge on an otherwise plain plate.

Moving away from my china backstamp obsession, I came across this 60s(?) pattern for a whole 40p after rummaging through a pile of dressmaking bits and bobs in a charity shop. Don't the ladies look super stylish? The pattern is in my size and the lady on the right even has my haircut so basically I'm destined to make that dress.

I also managed to find a vintage mirror (the ones which hang from a heavy chain and have angled corners) from the local second hand furniture shop a few weeks ago. I've been keeping my eye out for one for quite a few years but they've either been chipped, scratched, full of woodworm or overpriced but this one is in really good condition and didn't cost very much, somewhere between £5 or £10. Delighted! It's not hanging up at the moment, hence the lack of photographs, as I'm one of those losers in their mid/late twenties who's living at home. One day (hopefully, eventually..?) when I have my own place it'll hang in a hallway.

Has anybody else been having great charity shop luck recently or found something they've been lusting after for years? Do tell!

almond and banana bread

Sometimes I feel like the only thing I bake is banana bread. Perhaps I should start eating bananas before they get to that ugly stage so I can bake other things.

It was the usual situation of having stuff to use up: 3 small rotting bananas, a 100g lump of marzipan left over from my carrot and coconut battenberg cake and 2 nearly empty packets of ground and flaked almonds. My banana bread was destined to be heavily almond flavoured.

For whatever reason this cake seemed to take ages to bake. It looked cooked on top just after an hour but felt decidedly gloopy when I stuck a skewer in the middle. I think it ended up being in the oven for about 1hr 30 minutes. I'm wondering whether the grated marzipan affected the bake.

It all turned out pretty good in the end though. A lovely, crunchy crust with a soft crumb. Almond and banana are both strong flavours but I think they play together happily in this loaf. My only change would be to roll out the marzipan to bake in the middle instead of grating it. I think a squidgy layer of marzipan would have made a lovely texture contrast.

Almond and banana bread
Banana bread recipe adapted from Mary Berry's Baking Bible

100g (4oz) margarine or softened butter
175g (6oz) caster sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp almond essence
2 bananas (I used 3 small)
200g (7oz) self raising flour
25g  (1oz) ground almonds
1 level tsp baking powder
2 tbsp milk
100g block of marzipan, grated
a handful of flaked almonds to scatter on top

Preheat the oven to 180C/Fan 160C/Gas 4 and line a 2lb loaf tin with baking parchment. Put all the ingredients except the flaked almonds in a large bowls and mix together for about 2 minutes until smooth and well combined. Pour the mixture into the prepared loaf tin and scatter the flaked almonds on top. 

Bake in the middle of the oven for roughly 1 hour 30 minutes until well risen, firm to touch and skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. I would check on the cake after an hour in case it cooks quicker than it did in my oven. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.

liebster award

The other week I was surprised with a Liebster Award nomination from the stylish Shauni of The Magnificent Thread. Thanks, Shauni! It has been a couple of years since I've been a recipient so I'm more than delighted to take part.

I then received a second surprise last week as Dotcomgiftshop have listed me in their "25 brilliant baking blogs." You can check out their article here. I'm in some seriously great baking company so I feel enormously flattered to be listed.

Now back to the Liebster award. The idea behind the Liebster is to share some facts about yourself and pass on the blog love by nominating other blogs you enjoy reading with less than 200 followers. It's fun to take part as not only is it encouraging to know that people enjoy your blog, but you also get to learn a bit more about your favourite bloggers and quite often find new blogs to read through nominations.

Sadly I don't think I can compete with Shauni's facts. She's named after a Baywatch character, how bloody cool is that?! Anyway, here are my 11 facts:

Hello, my name is Jo. I eat more cake than is sensible for a human being.

1. I can't get my brain or taste buds around mint chocolate. It tastes like toothpaste in chocolate. How can that be enjoyable?!

2. I only got my first wisdom tooth a couple of years ago and it had to be removed. Just after the dentist pulled it out I heard him and the dental nurse both go "HUH?!" It turns out that the roots of the tooth had crushed together and curved to one side like a hook, which apparently is quite unusual!

3. A few years ago I released a CD playing the violin... as part of a local ceilidh group. Yes, I'm that cool, I know you're all jealous.

Bonus fact, I don't even like folk/ceilidh music all that much!

4. I have 4 desk drawers entirely dedicated to tights. Admittedly I wear dresses or skirts most days so tights get a lot of wear, but even I'm starting to wonder whether 4 drawers is excessive.

 Thinner ones top row, thicker winter ones bottom row. Gotta love tights.

5. I only discovered my phone had a calculator function about 3 years into owning it. Yeah, I'm quick with technology. The sad thing is that I had been looking for it as I missed using it on my old phone.

6. I rarely wear perfume as it makes me feel too aware that I "smell".

7. I have an inexplicable love for Gary Oldman, Nicolas Cage and Liam Neeson.

8. I didn't enjoy Game of Thrones. In theory I should have, but there was too much about it which seriously enraged me so I gave up after 3 series. 

9. I spent a large chunk of my childhood sewing weird and wonderful outfits for my Barbies and a good portion of my teenage years chopping into and embellishing my own clothes (I tie dyed EVERYTHING) so I think it's awesome that I'm now making my own clothing in my adult years.

10. A drunk lady at a wedding once told me that the silhouette of my side profile reminded her of the shape of a wine goblet... definitely the most unconventional compliment I've received.

11. I genuinely can't remember the last time I read a book, not including factual/informative/photography based books. It's not that I dislike fiction, I just can't be bothered with it. (I sense a lot of people will want to smack me over the head for that, sorry.)

I'd like to pass the award on to a mixture of bakers, dressmakers, knitters and charity shop enthusiasts:

elise and life - fellow Scottish girl who loves knitting and charity shopping. So basically, she's awesome.

hello zoeb - sassy seamstress who makes dresses I want to steal, especially her latest dungaree dress. Gorgeous!

i'd much rather bake than - Laura is always baking things I want to make! Expect lots of yummy chocolate recipes.

lick and spoon - Another baker I'm constantly bookmarking recipes from! Ella's writing always gives me a bit of a giggle too.

procrastibake - Hazel bakes seriously awesome stuff. Her zoomed in photography practically has me licking my laptop screen (a flattering mental image, I know.)

tales of pigling bland -  Gill has been baking her way through the latest Hummingbird Bakery book and I've been loving her results and entertaining commentary.

Please go and check out all these blogs!

If my nominees would like to accept the award then they just need to share 11 facts about themselves and continue the fun by nominating their favourite blogs with under 200 followers. It can be difficult to find out follower numbers as not everybody discloses that information on their blog anymore (I mostly went by follower numbers on Bloglovin', the blog reading platform I use) but the main idea is to just pass on the blog love and have fun.

So... does anyone else have a wine goblet face or an aversion to mint chocolate? Do tell!

carrot and coconut battenberg cake

I've had this recipe bookmarked for ages as I've been itching to make a battenberg cake for a while and I was really intrigued by the flavours of this version.

I'm really pleased with how it turned out; it's a classic with a twist. In hindsight I could have decorated the cake with one of those fancy crimped edges that Paul and Mary would have done on the Great British Bake Off, but ultimately I just want to tidy up the kitchen and eat the cake. It's a wonder I can restrain myself long enough to take a few photographs for the blog.

I'm not sure how to describe the flavour of this cake. The dominant flavour is almond, obviously due to the marzipan (mmmm, marzipan) followed by apricot as it is in both the sponge and the jam, then the warming spices of cinnamon and ginger. Despite carrot and coconut being in the title of the recipe I'd say they provide texture and  moisture rather than big flavour. They're there, but more subtle.

The carrot cake half didn't rise as well as the coconut half so I had a bit of levelling to do once the cakes were cool. I'm assuming that's due to extra moisture from the carrots, apricot chunks and orange food colouring. Other than that the cake came together very smoothly. Although I'm generally not keen to add food colouring to cakes, I love the extra punch the orange colouring adds to the carrot cake half. It really enhances the classic battenberg chequerboard pattern.

If you love battenberg cake and fancy something a little bit different then I'd definitely recommend giving this recipe a go :)

Carrot and coconut battenberg cake

Recipe (marginally adapted) from "Peek-a-boo cakes" by Joanna Farrow. Pub. 2014

carrot sponge:

100g margarine

100g light soft brown sugar

2 eggs, large

100g self-raising flour

1/2tsp baking powder

1/2tsp ground ginger

1/2tsp ground cinnamon

75g carrot, finely grated

40g dried apricots, finely chopped

25g ground almonds

orange food colouring

coconut sponge:

100g margarine

100g caster sugar

2 eggs, large

100g self-raising flour

25g dessicated coconut

1/2 tsp baking powder

decoration:

200g apricot jam

375g marzipan

icing sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 350F/180C/160 Fan/Gas 4. Cut a strip of cardboard the same length and depth as a 8" / 20cm square cake tin (I used a cereal box). Cover the strip with baking foil and fit it down the centre of the tin. Grease and line the bases and sides of the two sections with greaseproof paper.

In a large bowl, beat together all the carrot cake ingredients, excluding the food colouring, for about a minute until smooth. Add some food colouring to enhance the "carrot" colour, mix well, then pour the mixture into one side of the tin. Level the surface.

In another large bowl, beat together all the coconut cake ingredients for a minute until smooth. Pour the mixture into the other side of the tin and level the top so it rises evenly. Bake the cakes in the centre of the oven for about 40 minutes until well risen and just firm to touch. Cool on a wire rack before peeling off the greaseproof paper.

Once the cakes are completely cool, set them side by side on a work surface and level their height using a sharp knife. It's important they're the same height for stacking. Trim the sides of the cakes if necessary as well. Cut each sponge in half lengthwise so you have 4 strips of sponge. Warm the jam in a saucepan on the hob to slacken it and remove any lumps with a sieve if necessary. Use half the jam to stick the sponges together, stacking them in a chequered pattern.

Sprinkle a layer of icing sugar on a work surface and roll out 375g of the marzipan in a rectangular shape until it is big enough to wrap around the cake. Brush the marzipan with the remaining warm jam, put the cake in the centre and wrap the marzipan up over the sides. Trim until neat and turn the cake over so the overlap is at the bottom. Brush the ends of the cake with any remaining jelly and any left over/spare marzipan can be used be roll out into squares to cover the ends.