The Oxford Freshman of Yesteryear

An invaluable guide to life at Oxford for any new student beginning their studies at the oldest university in the world - taken from Mainly For Children, published by The Sunday Times in 1960. Wish I'd had this to hand when I was a Fresher...

Easy chocolate sandwich cake

This one bowl quick-to-mix chocolate cake is deliciously moist. It takes an hour to bake, but is well worth the wait. The sandwich of the title is the layer of chopped up chocolate hidden in the middle of the cake.

Ingredients:

165g self raising flour
60g cocoa powder
225g caster sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons natural yoghurt
150g flavourless oil eg. sunflower
Terrys chocolate orange

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees (fan assisted) and line a deep 8" sandwich tin.

Put all the ingredients - except the chocolate orange - into a mixing bowl.

Mix with electric beaters for 2 minutes until the ingredients are well-incorporated and creamy.

Spoon two thirds of the mix into the lined sandwich tin and spread evenly with a spatula. Don't worry if the cake mix is a little stiff - that is normal. Separate the segments of the chocolate orange and place enough of them to cover the mix in the tin.

Blob the rest of the mix on top of the chocolate orange and spread with a spatula so that it covers the chocolate layer entirely.

Arrange the remainder of the chocolate segments on top of the cake. Bake in the oven for an initial 40 minutes. After this time, cover the top of the cake with foil to stop it scorching and return to the oven for up to another 20 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean.

The only difficult decision is how long to let the cake cool - to eat while it is still warm with a layer of molten chocolate in the centre, or to play sensible and let it cool completely. Enjoy!

Puff pastry pizza

Is it a pizza or a pie? Nobody will have time to care, they'll be so busy eating it and asking for seconds. Quick to make, cheap, tasty and a good use of store cupboard ingredients plus whatever is languishing in the bottom of the fridge.

Ingredients:

500g readymade puff pastry

Ball of mozzarella

225g cheddar cheese - or whatever cheese you have in the fridge

Preferred pizza topping - I used passata mixed with dried oregano, basil, sea salt and olive oil

Preferred toppings - I used thinly-sliced courgette, a small red onion and a handful of mushrooms

Preheat oven to 200 degrees fan assisted.

On a floured surface cut the block of pastry into quarters.

Roll out each quarter very thinly into a rough square.

Spread a couple of tablespoons of tomato topping up to the edge of the pastry.

Cover with a scattering of cheese and dot with any other topping of your choice.

Bake in a hot oven 200 fan assisted on a baking sheet for 10 to 15 minutes. Do not worry if the pizza puffs up alarmingly in the centre - it will settle back down once removed from the oven.

Slice, eat and enjoy.

Eve's Pudding with Brigette's apples

An afternoon's visit to a friend's house this weekend ended with a foray into her garden to forage for cooking apples in the orchard. I came home with two filled bags and immediately knew what I wanted to make with them.

Eve's pudding is a classic, a simple baked sponge cushioning a bed of chopped and sugared apples. My mother baked something very similar when I was child, but having mislaid the recipe over the years, I found and slightly adapted this one courtesy of Pinterest, and reproduce it below in easy-to-follow steps.

This makes a large pudding that will serve 8-12. Modify according to the number of apples you have to hand.

Ingredients:
12 small cooking apples (or other variety)
juice of one lemon
4 tbsp of demerara sugar
2 tsp of ground cinnamon
200g self-raising flour
200g caster sugar
200g stork margerine (or softened butter)
4 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 180 degrees (fan assisted).

Peel, core and chop the apples.

Butter an ovenproof dish - don't do what I did and forget to do this until after the addition of the lemon juice - and add the prepared apples.

Scatter the demerara sugar, lemon juice and cinnamon over the apples and toss thoroughly.

Place the flour, margerine (or butter), caster sugar, eggs and vanilla extract into a mixing bowl.

Mix with an electric whisk until pale and creamy.

Dollop the sponge mix over the apples and level out with a spatula so that all the apples are covered.

Bake for 40 minutes to an hour. (Check after 40 that it is baked under the crust in the middle). This monster pudding needed an hour, but I covered it with foil after 40 minutes to stop the sponge from scorching. If you like, then scatter with a couple of spoons of caster sugar.

Serve while hot with liberal helpings of custard.

I still have a bowl of Bridget's apples left, so more apple recipes to follow.

Charity begins at home

I love a bargain. Even better when that bargain is something individual, attractive and functional - in a house where so many people and items are competing for space, everything has to earn its keep. These favourite items from my kitchen have all been picked up at knock-down prices.

My mother has a Portmeirion Black Phoenix coffee set. I can't recall it ever being used - indeed, I cannot recall my mother ever making a cup of coffee not of the instant variety. Still, the elegant lines of the coffee pot are sufficient to justify its existence in any kitchen and my mother's has been on permanent display in her glass-fronted cupboard for decades. The Black Phoenix pattern was very popular in its day back in the 1970s and is still sought after by collectors.

So when I saw this coffee pot in a second hand shop in North Wales last summer, knew I had to have it. It cost me under £10. I admit to being a little intrigued by it: it is unmarked Portmeirion and not a pattern of theirs that I'm familiar with. I would love to know more about it. It sits on the window sill in my kitchen and brightens my day every time I look at it. One of these days I'll even use it for serving coffee.

This little side plate cost me £4 in my local Oxfam shop three or four years ago. I bought it because I loved the delightful, quirky, retro American farmyard pattern. It has a small chip out of the rim on the underside, but is otherwise in very good condition. It is marked Mcdonalds Farm by Johnson Bros. and a quick bit of online research revealed that it dates from the 1950s and is very collectable. I'm not surprised. We use it as an occasional side plate. For a while it was known as Joseph's snack plate, my son's preferred plate for a portion of cake or a biscuit, but I think it's worth taking good long-term care of - sorry Joseph - so now it only comes out on special occasions.

Beautiful Burleigh. This big serving platter in Burleigh's Blue Calico was a bargain £4.50 from a local charity shop. It is definitely a second, the quality of transfer at one edge looks worn away, but the defect is actually under the glaze. Do I care? No! I use this quite a bit when we have guests over as it is a useful dish for feeding a crowd. I love Burleigh and will add to it if my budget ever allows. In the meantime, I continue to keep my eyes open in charity shops.

I was intrigued by this enormous platter when I saw it a few weeks ago in the window of a charity shop. It caught my eye because it reminds me of a recent Emma Bridgewater pattern, pink lustre.




This plate is not lustre ware, but I thought it very attractive nonetheless. I will use this on the table at Christmas and can see it piled high with dessert, a large, fluffy pavlova surrounded by berries and chocolate brownies - perfect for easy serving. It cost me all of £6. That's a lot of plate for the money! It is Italian by design, marked Ceramica Dipintiamano Stoviglierie.

I have photographed it with the 7" side plate to give a relative idea of its size.

From the same charity shop on a different occasion, I purchased this jug and large serving bowl. I paid £14 for them both. I saw them in the window of the shop walking my girls to Guides one evening and dashed back next morning to get them. Decorated using a traditional spongeware technique, they look like something from Emma Bridgewater, but are actually Royal Winton. The jug is in excellent condition. The bowl is slightly less pristine - it has a hairline crack and small chip on the outside of the rim. Still perfectly usable.

       

I serve couscous and salad in the bowl, and use the jug as a vase or for pouring custard or cream.

Fifty Shades of Guy with Lorna Hill

Perhaps best known for her enormously popular Sadler's Wells series, author Lorna Hill was also a successful writer of pony book stories in the late forties and fifties. Featuring the adventures of teens on horseback, she wrote two series: the Marjorie books and the Patience books. My mother rode in her youth and her childhood bookshelves reflected her passion for all things equine. She owned just the one Lorna Hill, Border Peel, the third book in the Marjorie series, but I loved it.

My beloved 1956 Thomas Nelson edition of Border Peel

 What elevated the story from the average was the dynamic between the characters. There was Pan, the plain but endearing narrator; Peter, her twin brother, prone to the sulks; pretty, headstrong Esme, the baby of the group, fierce protector of cripple boys and ensnared rabbits; and of course, there was Marjorie, the eponymous titular heroine, poor little rich girl, trouble-maker, beautiful, wilful, and the one I wanted to be. There was also Toby, a bit of a weakling, easily-forgettable and whom Hill seemed to lose interest in. But the real star of the show was Guy.

Guy was the linch-pin of the group, the oldest and therefore the one to whom they all deferred - excluding Marjorie of course, who was only ever in it for Marjorie. Unencumbered by parents - his mother long dead and his wealthy father conveniently indulgent - Guy was a prototype Mr Darcy for the adolescent female. Having spent his youth on a ranch in his father's native Canada, he excelled in all things outdoors. In Lorna Hill's own words, "Guy was marvellous - he could do everything: ride like a centaur, swim like a fish, never used swear words, never smoked. In fact, let's face it, Guy was a bit of a prig."

And therein lay his appeal. Guy was a certain type of boy, a masterful, romantic ideal for Hill's young readers. He had firm ideas concerning the feminine and brooked no nonsense in enforcing them. He didn't pretend to understand women and admitted to being dictatorial, yet the girls adored him. If he did have a predilection for spanking those who disagreed with him - perhaps a reflection of an era where corporal punishment was the norm - his steely skill at wielding a riding crop - or slipper - only served to confirm his undisputed masculine authority. And it wasn't just the females in the books who fell under his spell: Lorna Hill's daughter, Vicki, and her friends for whom the early books were written clamoured for more Guy, and Lorna was happy to oblige.

1959 Thomas Nelson edition of Stolen Holiday

Guy's nemesis was Marjorie and much of the series appeal lay in their constant sparring. Whereas the others were, by and large, happy to fall in with Guy's plans, Marjorie stood out in her refusal to play ball. In the ensuing clash of wills Marjorie was rarely allowed to get off scot-free: Marjorie wore lipstick, Guy scrubbed it off; Marjorie curled her hair, Guy washed the curl out; Marjorie swore, Guy ducked her in a pond. Still, I'm pleased to report that it was not all a one-way street. In the very first book, Marjorie and Co., Guy's refusal to let Marjorie muscle in on his newly-formed clan resulted in Marjorie making a bonfire of his hand-crafted show jumps.

My favourite Marjorie escapade however, occurs in Northern Lights, the fourth book in the reading series, set during the Second World War and published posthumously in 1999. Faking a fainting fit in church in order to escape the Sunday service to which Guy has ordered compulsory attendance, Marjorie is subsequently tracked down to the nearby village and discovered holding forth in a tank, smoking a cigarette, drinking beer and flirting simultaneously with three soldiers. Inevitably Guy gets the last word, perhaps justifiably given that Marjorie is a tender fourteen years of age, frogmarching her home and locking her into her room on a diet of bread and milk for the remainder of the day. Yet one cannot help admiring Marjorie for trying. Indeed, no matter how trying Marjorie could be, and she could be truly awful, she usually had me rooting for her.

A typical Marjorie-Guy spat from Stolen Holiday.

A couple of years ago, a chance discovery in a charity shop led to my tracking down the Marjorie series in its entirety courtesy of Amazon Marketplace and eBay, and they now occupy a permanent space on my bookshelf and a place in my affections. Something about the characters still holds sway even to the sensibilities of the modern teenage girl: my oldest daughter, now 15, happily set aside Cassandra Clare, Suzanne Collins and Stephanie Meyer in order to enjoy the adventures of Marjorie, Guy et al., and loved them every bit as much I did.

To the uninitiated, and if you are able to track down a copy, I would highly recommend starting with Border Peel, a jolly good yarn and not just a series of loosely-connected episodes in which Guy gets to shine - although worry not, it is primarily that too. For die-hard Guy fans, he also appears in two of the spin-off Patience books: And Guy Came Too and Five Shilling Holiday. And readers of the Sadler's Wells books may recognise him in his adult guise as the man who marries Jane, the heroine of the series. Incidentally, this act of treachery to all fans of the Marjorie books, where it was evident that he was destined for Esme, was equally regretted by Lorna's daughter, Vicki. Regarding this subject I'll leave the final word to the author herself, quoted in the introduction to Northern Lights: "I must tell you that my daughter, Vicki...is most disgusted at Guy marrying Jane - Vicki 'was' Esme! But sadly the Marjorie books were out of print, and Guy seemed too good a character to let drop. However, I think, now, that it was a mistake - sorry!"

No Medals for Guy, Nelson 1962; and Castle In Northumbria, Burke 1961.

The Marjorie books in reading order:

1. Marjorie and Co. (1948)
2. Stolen Holiday (1948)
3. Border Peel (1950)
4. Northern Lights (published posthumously in 1999)
5. Castle in Northumbria (1953)
6. No Medals for Guy (1962)

Quick and easy traybake

Who doesn't like cake? This one is so quick you don't even need to get your electric whisk out and it adapts to whatever toppings you have to hand.

Ingredients:

350g plain flour
200g caster sugar
2 tsp baking powder
200g yoghurt - plain or flavoured
100g milk
120g oil eg. sunflower, but any flavourless oil will do
120g white chocolate roughly chopped into chunks
150g raspberries, fresh or frozen

Preheat oven to 180 (fan assisted).
Grease and line a 13"x 9" (32cm x 24cm) baking tray.


You will need two mixing bowls and a hand-held balloon whisk.

Put all of the dry ingredients - flour, sugar and baking powder - into one bowl.

Put the wet ingredients - yoghurt, milk, eggs and oil - into the other bowl.

Using the balloon whisk quickly mix the wet ingredients, just bringing them together.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and using the balloon whisk roughly mix them together. There is no need to over-mix, the idea is to ensure that all the flour is incorporated.

Chop the white chocolate into rough chunks and wash and dry the raspberries (if fresh).

 Decorate with the chocolate and raspberries.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the oven. Leave to cool in the tray.

Once fully cooled, turn out, slice and enjoy! Cuts into 18 slices.

The recipe easily adapts to different quantities and flavours. I have used both lemon yoghurt and vanilla yoghurt with a dash of vanilla essence with the white chocolate and raspberries.

It is equally delicious with rhubarb or gooseberry yoghurt and topped with chopped plums and demerara sugar.

Halve the quantities for an 8" sandwich tin, or for 12 individual muffins.

This recipe is an adaptation of a yoghurt muffin recipe by Abel and Cole. Find the original here.