Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday ... not to this blog, although it is nearly two years old, but to my boyfriend, whose Birthday Tea has just been consumed.

We've been going out for quite a while now, and I know his favorite Birthday cake is Black Forest Gateaux. Shockingly, I've never made him one, at least until this year. I had a bit of trouble finding a recipe, as although I was given two new cake recipe books for Christmas (to add to my existing collection) I couldn't find a recipe in any of them. It would seem that Black Forest Gateaux has not been re-discovered in the recent love of tea parties and all things retro. However, my mother's copy of Delia Smith' Book of Cake (originally published in the 1970s, the hay-day of the BFG) stepped up to the mark. You can find a 're-invented' version of the recipe on Delia Smith online. 

The scones (just popping in from the left of the picture) are from Dan Lepard's Short and Sweet one of the books I got for Christmas. They are buttermilk scones and very tasty, although they didn't rise as much as I would have liked.