Tom and Hairy! What a couple of adorable kitties! They, along with their mummies, invited me to dinner, and so I baked them a cake to welcome them.
The Porter Cake was from my never-fail BBC cake book. Like every other cake I have made from this book, it was très yummy, and très time consuming to make. I can’t believe the time estimates they give for preparing these cakes. This one said twenty minutes to prep time, and it took me an hour and a half. Rebecca says that it is because I am so inefficient. Maybe so, but I can’t imagine anyone doing it in 20 minutes. She says I waste time fiddling around, and my pantry is so poorly arranged that I can’t find anything. I informed her that this is not the problem, as I recently, in my post-mouse cleanup frenzy, rearranged it. I know right where everything is. Sometimes. Perhaps if I had a servant to prepare the cake pan (lined with parchment paper and buttered,) assemble and measure all the ingredients, chop the fruit, and then clean up afterwards, so that all I had to do was toss it into a bowl and stir …….. Well then, maybe. I think it took me the full twenty minutes to find the right cake pan. Take a look at the ingredients spread out on the table.
This is not even all of them, because I usually put things away as I go. You will notice that there are no eggs, no flour, no butter – the cake essentials. And then have a look at the ensuant mess! But it doesn’t matter – as long as one doesn’t really expect the prep time estimation to be remotely accurate - because a twenty minute cake would not be much fun. I had a lovely morning among my dried fruits and spices, chopping, measuring, mixing, sipping the other half of the Guinness – which I used instead of Porter - and looking forward to meeting Tomasina and Hairy.
