Appleby Farm (49 page)

Many of you will have heard of Helen; she writes for Novelicious and has her own blog HelenRedfern.co.uk. I spent a week on a writing retreat with her recently and when I told her that I was including recipes in my book, she kindly offered to donate this one, which is perfect because something very similar appears in the Appleby Farm Vintage Tea Rooms.

• Pre-heat the oven to 180°C (350°F/gas mark 4). Mix the egg whites on a fast speed until stiff and able to form peaks. Slow the mixer down but keep going and slowly pour in the caster sugar. Mix on a fast speed until the mixture again can form stiff peaks.
  
• Gently mix in the bashed up pistachios.
  
• Lay out the baking parchment onto the baking tray – use a small blob of the meringue mixture to stick the parchment down in each corner. Draw four large circles with a pencil – I draw round a bowl measuring 12cm in diameter.
  
• Scoop the meringue evenly onto the four circles. Use your spoon to smooth or create a swirl effect up to the pencil edges.
  
• Place in the pre-heated oven and immediately turn it down to 150°C (300°F/gas mark 2). Bake for one hour. When the timer goes off leave to cool in the oven for at least one more hour. Remove from the oven and enjoy!
  

Cesca Major is not only an amazing writer and organizer of Bookcamp writing retreats, she makes delicious cakes too. I’m honoured to be able to share her rather fun recipe for Biscuit Cake in her own words . . .

You will need . . .

• Melt the chocolate, syrup and butter together.
  
• Whack in a load of crunched-up digestive biscuits. Press into a pan.
  
• When set, melt the white chocolate and spread it over the surface of the biscuit cake.
  
• Chop up the Maltesers into halves and press them into the surface.
  
• YUM.
  

These miniature Victoria sponge cakes are actually rather like
Appleby Farm
: bite-sized, sweet and irresistibly more-ish! I find it best to cook the cakes in plain cases and then once you’ve halved and filled them, place them into new, clean paper cases. They are also incredibly easy to make, and I always use Bonne Maman jam – I just think it has the best flavour and you only get a dollop with these . . .

You will need . . .

• Pre-heat your oven to 160°C (325°F/gas mark 3). Line a fairy-cake tin with twelve cases.
  
• Measure out all of the ingredients into a food processor or a large mixing bowl, and either blitz for 5–6 seconds or mix until everything is combined.
  
• Spoon the mixture into the tins, then bake without opening the oven door for 16–20 minutes (depending on fierceness of your oven).
  
• Cool on a wire rack, and then slice evenly in half, covering one half with a teaspoon of the sweetened whipped cream and one half with a teaspoon of jam. (Spreading is easiest with a palette knife, I find.) Place together as a sandwich, and once all are done sprinkle the tops with sieved icing sugar.
  
• Place into clean new cases and serve with a giant pot of tea!
  

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Cathy Bramley
is the author of the bestselling romantic comedies
Ivy Lane
,
Appleby Farm
,
Wickham Hall
and
Conditional Love.
She lives in a Nottinghamshire village with her husband, two daughters and a dog.

Her recent career as a full-time writer of light-hearted, romantic fiction has come as somewhat of a lovely surprise after spending the last eighteen years running her own marketing agency. However, she has always been an avid reader, hiding her book under the duvet and reading by torchlight. Luckily her husband has now bought her a Kindle with a light, so that’s the end of that palaver.

Cathy loves to hear from her readers. You can get in touch via her website
www.CathyBramley.co.uk
, Facebook page
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or on Twitter
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First published in Great Britain as four separate ebooks in 2015 by Transworld Digital
an imprint of Transworld Publishers
First published as one edition in 2015 by Corgi Books
an imprint of Transworld Publishers
Copyright © Cathy Bramley 2015

Cathy Bramley has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

This book is a work of fiction and, except in the case of historical fact, any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, is purely coincidental.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Version 1.0 Epub ISBN 9781473525207
ISBN 9780552171595

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