Next steps; grip-relaxing bimbling, and avoiding the temptations

Makingabobor2

Ooh ginger, lemon & honey cake sounds delicious. Where did you find the recipe?

Suffolk_lass

I've made it up, to be honest. I did find one online that I might adapt (at Pinch of Saffron). I will share mine after the show if it works. I want the honey flavour to be front and centre and that online one had just too much heavy hitting alternative flavour.

Suffolk_lass

First attempt - too little mix for the tray - too much lemon, too sweet. In the bin.

Trying a different recipe with half the sugar swapped for honey - in the oven but it might be a bit too wet by the looks of it raw.

Suffolk_lass

Hmm, it tastes lovely, took an additional 15 minutes but I need to rethink cutting it with nuts on top as they deflect the knife from the straight line cuts. The honey is also barely evident. I think I shall make it again with more honey, less sugar and sprinkle the top with Demerara sugar and possibly oats or seeds rather than nuts. I might try smaller eggs too as it was a bit wet and a bit too cakey for a tray bake. Maybe I should try coating the nuts with honey and baking them before adding to the mix, to fix the flavour. So many variants!

Suffolk_lass

Oh and fortunately, we are off out for breakfast at 10 so I have a cake outlet - or I could take it to the Church where I am recording the Historic Churches Ride, stride and walk participants from 12-1pm - something for their lunch boxes perhaps.

In non-cake news (sorry) I have the nematodes to water round my fruit trees to try and reduce the plum and codling moth infestations which took 40% of the plums and all the apples except maybe 10% this year - and that 10% had cork spot so none of them will store. Mr Sl has been raking up the drop fruit from under the trees. I need to use them by 17th so this afternoon is that time.

Makingabobor2

Sounds like so many options…lol

Watty1

I love this forum. Off to research nematodes. I have hardly any apples this year, the few that did appear have been eaten by my darling dog. I seem to have a lot of apple problems according to the internet.

Suffolk_lass

The nematodes came from the N-direct site and I bought two boxes, enough for 16 trees. I have several damsons, one or two hedgerow mirabelles, a Victoria plum, a greengage, four apples and a crab apple tree. All the apples were covered in the cobwebs of codling moth which then develop into "maggoty apples" with the little larvae often inside, causing the fruits to rot from the core. The cork spot is a calcium deficiency - either inconsistent watering (tick this year) or diversion into leaf-making (tick, we pruned it to encourage growth on one side that had previously been in a hedge that Mr Sl had planted without permission in the wrong place).

The N-people do a veg patch mix that covers both plum moth and codling moth. It doesn't help with cork spot (spongy brown speckles under the skin). My first time trying them. It would also see off a range of other pollinators so we are restricting where and how we water it (a pressurised pump spray, on the branches and around the trunks. I try to tolerate the cabbage whites that are in the same area.

foxgloves

Ohhh, thanks for the timely reminder about nematodes. Meant to order some last week but it went completely out of my head. I need to get ahead of the Evil Weevil in my heucherella pots.

Cake experimentation sounding interesting. I'm sure one of the Cranks books had a honey cake recipe.

in_need_of_direction

that cake sounds like it could be used as a cough remedy. Let us know how it works out for you