I’ve promised some book recommendations to a couple of my friends who have absolutely loved The Salt Path which I mentioned in this post. So here you are ladies – firstly, All Among the Barley by Melissa Harrison is an amazing read. Set in East Anglia in 1933, it is incredibly atmospheric and very, very apt in our current political times. I love Melissa Harrison’s language and the characters she creates – the only problem with this book is that I really, really wanted to know what happened and so read it far too fast. I do need to go back and spend much more time with it (am adding it to my already lengthy reading list for 2020…). I also loved her novel ‘At Hawthorn Time‘. Secondly, in the autumn we visited our friends in Lancashire, who live quite close to Pendle Hill, which became famous for perhaps the most famous witch trials of the 17th century. I wanted to read something relevant while we were there and was delighted to find ‘The Familiars‘, a debut novel by Stacey Halls. It’s not a difficult read and doesn’t take long – I certainly enjoyed it and learnt a little about the history of the time.
This is a quick and easy cake which is ideal for polishing off the stem ginger I had sitting in the fridge….
Apple, ginger and cranberry cake
125g self raising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
85g golden syrup
85g butter
45g (or more if you want) stem ginger, chopped
75g dried cranberries
1 apple, peeled, cored and chopped
1 egg
Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180/160 fan. Line a 20cm shallow square baking tin with baking parchment
2. Sift the dry ingredients together into a mixing bowl
3. Melt the butter and syrup together over a gentle heat and then stir in the chopped ginger. Pour into the dry ingredients and mix. Mix in the egg until well combined and then finally mix in the dried fruit and apple.
4.Spoon into the baking tin and bake for ~40minutes, covering with foil after about 20 minutes to prevent the top cooking too quickly. Leave to cool in the baking tray
sweet enough bakes 