Gran’s Rock Cakes

Hey guys.

So on Saturday my beautiful and wonderful Gran passed away.

It’s all very raw still and it’s early days but I feel I need to keep busy and fill my time with small happy moments amongst all of the sadness.

I want to dedicate this post to one of her very favourite recipes The Rock Cake. My earliest memories are (I must have been about five years old) standing in her kitchen licking the spoon covered in rock cake mixture. I remember them being HUGE and can even imagine the smell now! She absolutely loved baking, and made the best cakes. So I feel like it is my job now to bake and preserve her memory.

Ingredients

8oz Self raising flour
pinch of salt
4oz margarine/butter
3oz raisins or dried fruit
2oz caster sugar
1 egg
A little milk to mix
Demerara sugar to sprinkle

Method

1. Heat the oven to 190°C, grease/line two baking trays.
2. Mix the flour and salt, rub in margarine,
3. Stir in raisins/dried fruit.
4. Stir in sugar.
5. Mix to a stiff dough with the egg and a little milk.
6. Roughly place on tray and sprinkle a little demerara sugar over the top of each cake.
7. Bake for 15-20 minutes

If you happen to make some rock cakes, I would love to see your links and photographs so feel free to paste them in the comments. Make some happy memories with your loved ones that you can always look back on.

Enjoy a cake with a lovely cup of tea, and think of all the great times you’ve had and have yet to come.

Love you Granny xx

Tea Day Tuesday!

Hello everyone ❤ Hope you’re all having a good week! I can’t believe it’s Tuesday again!

So this tea is one I discovered in Sydney. I had spent a day strolling around Bondi Junction doing some shopping and I managed to get myself lost. After wandering for a while I noticed a shop called ‘T2’, and call me strange but walking into that shop was like walking into my own home. I was surrounded by walls and walls of boxes of tea, all different flavours, smells, colours. It still comes into my mind in the clearest memory, and all feelings associated with it are my happiest ones. I tried so many samples and I spent a LOT of money in there, but this tea is by far my favourite.

It’s called ‘Sleep Tight’ and the ingredients are lemonbalm, jasmine blossoms, lavender and rose petals.

The tea itself is supposed to help promote restful sleep. And boy they got that right. All the elements of this tea are soothing and calming, and while it doesn’t make me fall to sleep any quicker, I find that I wake in the morning after a solid sleep feeling well rested. Sometimes if I’m feeling slightly under the weather I’ll add a drop of honey and it soothes my throat and helps me get that good night’s sleep I desparately need.

The tea is best brewed with water at 100 degrees, and I normally brew for 3-5 minutes. The smell of this tea is mainly lavender, and the sweet flavour is just enough without being sickly sweet. I would recommend this tea to those who like the earthy flowery tones in their tea.

Check out T2’s website and have a gander at all their lovely teas!

Let me know if you have any lovely teas this week and send me the links so I can have a read 😀

Love,

Sophie xxx