Cakes & Quilts!

Hello everyone!
Goodness me it is August already. The year has raced by so quickly!
Well the big news today is.......I HAVE FINISHED THE "BOUNTIFUL HARVEST" QUILT!
This is the quilt I have making to enter in the handicrafts section at the village show later this month. I don't expect it will be in the top three, as there are usually some AMAZING entries.
It never ceases to amaze me what a lot of talented people there are out there.
I will post pics after the show.
I designed a leaf pattern for the quilting. In theory this should have been quite simple, but in practice it was difficult to do as the quilt was bigger than I had originally planned, so there was a lot of bulk to maneuver through the machine.
A great tip I have found to help guide the quilt through was to use a pair of cotton riding gloves!
(All quilters out there are probably groaning & saying, "yes we know"). They have "pimples" that grip the fabric and are cool as they are cotton. I use them all the time.
They only cost about £3.00, and are so useful.

CAKES!

I have always loved baking, and am never without a cake or two in the house. My daughter Bloss's friends all love my Victoria Sandwich, so I was asked to do a mini tutorial.(I make two of these a week, and they disappear very quickly)!
Apologies if you are a master baker, but this is such an easy cake to make & lovely for a summers day.

So, here we go:

You will need the following ingredients to make a good sized sandwich cake.
I use,
6 oz (170g)  Self Raising flour
6oz (170g)   Caster sugar
6oz (170g)   Soft baking margarine (Such as Stork)
3 Eggs. (I always like to use free range).

Gather everything together before you start........

 Sieve the flour and sugar into a mixing bowl, then add the margarine & eggs.
I use an electric hand mixer to wizz it all together.
When it is well mixed, and light & fluffy, it is ready to put into two well greased sandwich tins.

Then pop them into an oven at 180 degrees C, for about 20 mins.

The cakes should have shrunk very slightly from the edge of the tin, and when a skewer is inserted in the middle, it should come out clean. Leave in the tin for a few minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack.

When the cakes are almost cold, spread one with jam, and then put the other one on top.

Leave to cool fully.

You can either sprinkle sugar over the top, or ice it with glace icing.

Glace icing is simply icing sugar mixed with water.

I like to mix it with boiling water as it sets quicker.

I just put enough icing sugar in until I think I have enough.

I spread it over the top with a wet knife.

Then you can decorate it how you like!!

This is my finished one. Yummmmmmm.

Here is a selection of goodies you can use to decorate it with.

So there you have it. My baking blog. Hope it was useful.

Off to eat the cake now......................................!