Nostalgic Baking

Last week a friend posted a blog about some flapjack she had made using honey rather than the usual treacle. It got me thinking longingly about things I used to bake as a child, flapjack being one of them. I duly turned to my shelf of recipe books and came across the very first one I owned, given to me by my Mum on my 5th birthday. I know that because she wrote a lovely inscription inside.

My first cook book

If you were a fan of Winnie the Pooh as a child, you may recall that he was a lover of honey, getting himself into quite a few tight spots as a result of his obsession with the sweet stuff. I was therefore surprised to see that he (or rather, author Katie Stewart) used treacle not honey in his/her recipe for flapjacks. For reference, my friend says honey works as a brilliant substitute!

Anyway, flicking through the book whilst enjoying a cup of tea, I got quite nostalgic for the cakes and bakes I was reminded of. A particular favourite was Honey Spice Cake and, with the wind and rain showing no signs of let up outside and finding I had all the ingredients to give the recipe a go I set to, albeit with some gluten-free tweaks.

A well-used page!

Having not eaten a cake made with wheat flour for nearly 16 years and probably not eaten this particular cake for many more years than that, I didn't have much to compare it with but was very pleasantly surprised by the results.

For the sake of my own waistline and risking turning into Pooh or even a great big Piglet, I'd better quickly invite some friends round for tea!