I've been thinking for a while about developing a cake in tribute to my Granny, Iris. She passed away 5 years ago and I have found myself missing her more recently than ever. I think it was triggered because I was driving to work one day and I just suddenly got the real strong smell of perfume and soap and it was exactly the same combination as she wore. For a few minutes, the smell lingered in my car and I had an overwhelming sense that she was letting me know that she was there. I don't use the same soap or wear the same perfume as her, it was only me in the car and the only other person who'd been in my car up to that point was Mr Ellie (who definitely doesn't use the same soap or perfume!) so i have no other explanation for where the smell came from. For the rest of the day, and whenever I think of that experience, I feel calm and content.
My Granny was fantastic, she was a perfect granny - gave us sweets and boasted about us to all her friends! She was very fond of 'Elevenses' and every time we went to stay, she would bring out the teapot and a plate of biscuits at about 10:30/11am. My sister always loved getting the Tunnocks caramel wafers, whilst i loved the M&S teacakes (always had to be M&S, nothing but the best for Granny!) and there would always be florentine biscuits that she had made herself. Sometimes, if she wanted to treat us, she'd make rice crispie cakes - only Granny didn't just use regular chocolate, oh no, she used Mars Bars which made the crispie cakes extra chewy and gooey. I remember helping her make them once, standing and stirring the pot at the cooker, watching the Mars Bars melt.
As well as the florentines and crispy cakes, Granny would always have cake of one sort or another - Victoria sandwich cakes, chocolate cakes - and she always kept them in the freezer and would defrost them when people were coming to visit, so she was always prepared for visitors! She was also fond of providing a nice pudding for us - my favourite being gooseberry pie...
She had loads of gooseberry bushes in the garden and every year they would be laden with fruit. She would stew them down with a little sugar, keeping them still slightly tart and then bake them in a traditional pie with a lard pastry. This was served with lashings of custard or sometimes ice cream (I always preferred the custard!).
I got my love of baking from my Granny for sure.
So, when I was thinking about making a cake to honour her memory, I knew that it had to include gooseberries and florentine biscuits in one form or the other. Last week I had made the amaretto cupcakes and so I used the same almond cake recipe for the base, which is a lovely all-in-one recipe that comes out beautifully light. So that ticks off the almonds from the florentines. Then the other component of the florentine - the chocolate base. I decided on white chocolate, as I felt it's subtle flavour would sit better and not overwhelm the other flavours. I made a ganache as this was better for a frosting and I didn't want a buttercream for this cake. The filling was the next decision and this is where the gooseberries had to come in - gooseberry fool seemed the best choice.
Unfortunately, its not the right time of year for gooseberries yet so I had to go with a shop bought gooseberry fool - and in honour of my Granny, I bought it from M&S! The flavour was a bit subtle for the cake so it got a bit lost - homemade would have definitely been better. I felt that the ganache was a bit messy on the top, a better application would have made a prettier finish and I think I'll probably drizzle with dark chocolate to emulate the lines on the base of a florentine. The cakes were baked in a mini sandwich tin from Lakeland (my favourite shop) and came out just the right size.
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| My Granny Iris Cakes |
I think Granny would approve of these, just right for elevenses or afternoon tea!
Miss Ellie xxx
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