Tag: cake

Happy New Year 2021
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Happy New Year 2021

Caroline James AuthorLeave a comment

As we say good bye to 2020 I wish you all a very happy New Year and hope and pray that 2021 will bring an end to the current pandemic and that whatever our ‘new normal’ is, will bring health and happiness to you all in the year ahead.

Giveaway

As a thank you to my wonderful readers there’s a chance to win…

Fancy an online treat from Amazon? I’m giving away a £25.00 Amazon voucher this month and you can stock up with books or whatever takes your fancy. To be in with a chance to win simply head over to my Facebook page and tell me why you’d like to win the voucher, OR you can email me here: caroline@carolinejamesauthor.co.uk

To enter click here: Win an Amazon Voucher

Good luck!

Reading

For my friends in America Boomerville at Ballymegille is currently only 99c (ends 4th January) so if you fancy a feel-good relaxing read in the days ahead download a copy here:

Boomerville at Ballymegille

Also on Promo:

If you would like to read the Coffee Tea series, the books are also on promo for the next few days:

Click here to download: Coffee Tea Series 

Recipe

One of my favourite cake recipes is A Taste of the Caribbean Cake

This delicious cake is full of lemon, coconut and ginger and melts in your mouth. Easy to make too.

If you fancy a taste of tropical sunshine download the recipe here:

A Taste of the Caribbean Cake

Wishing each and every one of you a very safe passage through these difficult days and all good wishes for a happy and healthy 2021.

With love

Caroline

xx

BOOKS BY CAROLINE JAMES

New Book and a Valentine Recipe
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New Book and a Valentine Recipe

Caroline James AuthorLeave a comment

NEW BOOK

HATTIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD

IS OUT TODAY!

HGTH-availablenow-2

Its publication day for Hattie Goes To Hollywood! Huge thanks to everyone who has pre-ordered their copy and is now has the novel winging its way to their e-reader or popping through the letterbox.

The launch of a new book is always very stressful for me. I know that I am supposed to feel elated that the work is done, the book is out in the public domain and publication day has arrived. But until the book has favourable reviews from valued readers who are kind enough to leave a review, I am always very nervous. I do hope that you enjoy the Hattie in her new role as a private investigator and watch this space because this is the first in the stand-alone book series and there is plenty more to come!

Hattie Goes To Hollywood is available online and in book shops and will be available as an audiobook very soon too.

GET YOUR COPY HERE:

HATTIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD

“A big fat 5 stars!” Nikki Ashton, Best-selling author

A Cumbrian Village…
Three suicides…
A red-hot summer…

Join super-sleuth Hattie as tempers and temperatures rise in the Cumbrian village of Hollywood. With mischief and shenanigans aplenty, will Hattie discover the truth?

When recently bereaved Hattie Mulberry inherits her aunt’s dilapidated cottage in the village of Hollywood in Cumbria, she envisages a quiet life. But retired hotelier Hattie is bored and when her neighbour asks her to investigate a suspicious suicide, Hattie’s career takes a new direction and H&H Investigations is born. During the hottest summer for years, Hattie discovers there have been three recent suicides in Hollywood and she determines to find out why. Temperatures rise as she throws herself into village life and, with mischief and shenanigans aplenty, Hattie has her work cut out. But will she establish the truth?

review rachels random reads

PUBLISHING

WRITER

I’m excited to whisper that I am working with a new company. The Publish Hub is run by authors to enable aspiring and established authors to get published. If writing a book is your dream, have a look at The Publish Hub.

RECIPE

Today is also Valentine’s Day and here’s a recipe for pineapple cake that is full of passion and very easy to make. Pineapple, I’m assured is an aphrodisiac. Enjoy!

Pineapple cake 2

CAROLINE’S PINEAPPLE CAKE

This cake oozes with love and passion and is sexy and sweet – perfect to nibble when snuggling down with a good book or someone…

Ingredients:

250g unsalted butter  250g caster sugar 250g ground almonds

50g self-raising flour 5 eggs  200g fresh pineapple, chopped

50g soft brown sugar

Method:

Heat the pineapple and brown sugar and stew gently till the sugar dissolved, allow to cool. Cream the butter and sugar together until white and fluffy. Beat the eggs well then slowly add to the butter mix. Carefully fold in the almonds and flour. Grease a non-stick baking tray and add half of the sponge mix. Spoon cooked pineapple over. Add the remainder of the sponge mix. Bake in an oven at 325F /160 C /gas mark 3 – until firm to touch and light brown in colour. Cut into squares and keep in an airtight container.

Have a perfect Valentine’s Day, I hope that you enjoy a special treat with your loved ones.

Wishing you very happy reading,

with love

Caroline xx

BOOKS BY CAROLINE JAMES

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A Welsh Delicacy – Barabrith
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A Welsh Delicacy – Barabrith

Caroline James AuthorLeave a comment

 

Barabrith is a traditional Welsh fruit loaf and on a recent trip to Wales, the first thing I did was head to a bakery to buy one.

There are many versions of Barabrith. Recipes are handed down from one generation to the next with a few tweaks along the way. Every family has their own method. Traditionally eaten on St David’s Day or Christmas Day, it is delicious sliced thickly and spread with creamy butter. My mother would eat it warm with custard or even toasted for breakfast. Filled with spices and dried fruit, the cake-like mixture has a lovely texture and smells delicious as it bakes in the oven.

village-oven-2In days gone by when villagers did their weekly cook in the collective village oven, any leftover dough would be baked with dried fruit to produce delicious sweet bread. Originally lard was used as a shortening, whey as a liquid and yeast as a rising agent giving a dough-like texture. With rising agents becoming popular and added to flour, Barabrith today is made with self-raising flour making the final offering more like a cake. I like to soak the fruit in Earl Gray tea as the acid in the tea reacts with the fruit and gives a lovely flavour.

Bara brith can be found in many forms all over the world. Wherever Welsh settlers went they took the recipe with them. In Argentina, Welsh teahouses in the Chubut province still serve Torta Negra or Black Cake, as Barabrith is known. In the Welsh language, ‘Bara’ means bread and ‘brith’ translates as speckled.  If one says, ‘I’ve over spiced the bara brith,’ it means you’ve done something to excess. Every cafe in Wales serves the Welsh favourite and it is an easy recipe to adapt to your own taste. I like to add a spoonful of dark marmalade to the raw ingredients for extra flavour.

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The Barabrith I bought on my recent trip was disappointing. It was dry and crumbly. Here’s my recipe which I hope is moist and tasty. The Barabrith keeps well in an airtight container and improves after a day or two – if you can keep it that long!

Bara-brith-1-400x344

RECIPE

 

Ingredients

  • 450g mixed dried fruit
  • 1 large egg beaten
  • 250g brown sugar
  • 300ml black tea
  • 2 tsp cinnamon and mixed spice
  • 450g self-raising flour

Method

Preheat the oven to 170C/325F/Gas 3

Soak the fruit and sugar in strained tea and leave overnight. Next day, line a 900g loaf tin with baking parchment. Mix all the other ingredients into the fruit mixture and beat well. Pour into the loaf tin and bake for approximately one and a half hours.

Store in a tin or airtight container.

BOOKS BY CAROLINE JAMES

Novels by Caroline James
Novels by Caroline James

 

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