A Cake, A Moth And Starlings

The Cake

On Friday two lovely friends joined me for a cream tea. I made sandwiches - cream cheese and smoked salmon, cheese and pickle, ham and tomato and ham and mustard. Scones with jam and cream, and cake. All morning the weather had been alternating between sunny and warm to cloudy and cool, but I decided to eat outside. It was lovely when they arrived but no sooner had we sat down in the garden than the sun disappeared and a dark cloud wasn't far away so we decamped to the dining room. I wanted to take photos of the table but forgot, but I did take photos earlier of the cake which I was very pleased with.

A "Fraisier" is a traditional classic French Dessert made with fresh strawberries. Its name comes from the French word "Fraises" which means "Strawberries". It's often described as "Tricky to achieve but certain to impress".

I first heard about Fraisier Cake from the Great British Bake Off, and thought ''I could make that''. That was quite a few years ago and finally I made one.

Well to be more accurate me and Betty Crocker. The make it yourself recipe is very involved and would probably take me a whole day to make! The cake mixes are so quick and easy and taste good, not as good as homemade but still good. For the filling I used Betty Crocker cream cheese style icing which is delicious. I plan to make one again when my Ozzie daughter visits in August, yes she's coming over 😍 I will attempt to make the recipe's crème pâtissière filling though, it's a thick custard and it's just a bit firmer than the Betty Crocker, for keeping the strawberries in place around the side. The cake has a top layer of marzipan, a dusting of icing sugar and strawberries.

I tried making chocolate decorations to go on the top with the strawberries but they were a disaster. I didn't realise at the time, but it was obvious when my daughter told me the chocolate was too hot and runny when I started piping - duh. 

My friends and I had a great time catching up and talked for hours.

The Moth

Putting the rubbish out I spotted this moth on the front fence. 

Not the prettiest thing in the garden

but when, the next day, I saw what I think are eggs I thought she

was the most special thing in the garden.

She's gone now but I will be looking in on the eggs regularly.

The Starlings

We have a cherry tree at the bottom of the garden, the cherries are delicious - when we get to them before the birds. Every year we manage to harvest a few but the birds get the majority of them, and as usual it's the starlings, the garden thugs, who are the chief perpetrators. I sat in the garden for ages trying to get a video of them, but they weren't having any of it. Then I had a brainwave.

I sat in the shed!

∼ Be safe and well∼

Polly x