Sunday, October 03, 2010

 LADIES A PLATE NEWSLETTER
Cheerful Chocolate
Earthquakes, snow, relentless rain and wind have left a lot of New Zealanders in need of cheering as winter drags on, so I decided to include three chocolate recipes in this newsletter in the hope that they may provide a small lift to the spirits. Yet as I write this we have just had two sunny days in Auckland and spring blossom is everywhere; the Christchurch aftershocks are lessening and it has stopped snowing down south – so the national climate is becoming a little less gloomy. Two of this month’s recipes have odd and amusing names which may also raise a smile. I found A Dark Secret – a slightly chewy date, nut and chocolate square veiled in icing sugar – in a 1935 Christchurch recipe book; and Skite Cake – a chocolate caramel slice – in a small typewritten booklet compiled in the 1950s by the Awamangu-Pukeawa Association of Presbyterian Women. The third recipe is from my old favourite the 2009 Tokoroa District Lions Community Cook Book – a Fijian Chocolate Cake made with coconut cream. Frances Campbell contributed the recipe for this quickly-mixed, dense, dark and tender cake. Spread it with a creamy coconut icing to bring a breath of summer to the tea table.

News
Make sure you click on this link to see a flyer with the cover and a sample page of the 2011 Ladies, a Plate Calendar, which has a recipe for each month of next year and one for January 2012. The calendar is a fundraiser for the Community of Saint Luke, so you will need to place your order with Pamela Day – her contact details are on the flyer – and please send them to all your friends!

New Recipes

A Dark Secret
Chocolate Brownies seem to have arrived in New Zealand after the Second World War, so this unusual 1935 recipe is unlikely to have American antecedents; yet friends who have tried the slightly chewy, spicy, nutty squares have commented that they are reminiscent both of brownies and of Italian panforte.


Fijian Chocolate Cake
This is a tender, dark and flavoursome cake which is extremely fast and easy to make. It includes a tin of coconut cream – hence the Fijian name – and the method of making involves adding the wet ingredients to the dry ones and mixing vigorously for a couple of minutes.

When I was at school a ‘skite’ was a show-off and it was deeply embarrassing to be accused of skiting. And yet despite its name, Skite Cake, which I found in a 1950s recipe book from the Awamangu-Pukeawa Association of Presbyterian Women, seems to hide its light under a bushel.

The next newsletter will be at the end of October. Until then,
Happy Baking!   
Alexa
Footnote:
Alexa kindly agreed to The Bookman running her September newsletter as a one-off but if you would like to receive it each month by e-nmail then contact her at : 

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