Friday 21 September 2012

Cherry and Seed Madeira Cake for the menopausal.......


Regular readers might have noticed my enjoyment of baked goods in general, cake in particular. I find cooking quite relaxing too, all the chopping and  mixing and stuff. So, with winter looming and a particularly lovely picture of a Cherry and Seed Madeira Cake in one of the Sundays, it was on with the pinny.

This recipe comes from Lily VaniIli who has a bakery off Columbia Road flower market at 6 The Courtyard, Ezra  St. London E2 7RG. I think it was the word Madeira that caught my eye. That and cherry. I like cherries and believe there a few greater pleasures than a brown paper bag filled with fat, ripe cherries. I think I thought there might be Madeira wine in the cake. There isn’t. Or perhaps I planned to take a glass while making it, who knows. I don’t know enough about baking to know the difference between Madeira or Victoria or Pound cake. I just know I like eating cake. My son likes baked goods too and at times like this, when I have weight-gaining food lurking about, I can rely on him to eat most of it in one sitting, thus removing any temptation from me. So, I set to. However, I did not have poppy seeds as recommended in the recipe, along with pumpkin and sesame. 

But being a menopausal woman I do have bags and bags of omega 3 packed mixes of pumpkin, sesame, linseed, flax and sunflower seeds. So, I decided to combine cake with healthy eating and make a menopausal-mixed-seed-and-cherry-Maderia cake. It worked a treat and was utterly delicious. And I ate half the cake before the son even came home.

Top tip: there are few problems that are not better ruminated over with cake, get baking.

16 comments:

  1. Hello:
    Oh, the only saving grace of our waistlines is our inability to cook or, indeed, to live close enough to Lily Vanilli.

    Your cake looks truly divine. We even blew up the picture to get a really good look and see exactly what deliciousness we were missing!

    There can be few positive things about the menopause but if this cake is linked to it in any way, then that is reason enough to turn 50!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm soooo excited about making this. What a lovely winter cake. Served with port?

    ReplyDelete
  3. This looked so good didn't it? I resisted temptation when I saw it in the supplement (smug, smug, smuggedy smug..........)

    However, having seen how good it looks and now read your review I don't know how long I can exercise self control.

    ReplyDelete
  4. what a treat, will be giving this one a go, it's practically medicine!

    ReplyDelete
  5. This looks like just the treat I need at the moment!! X

    ReplyDelete
  6. Pumpkin and cherry--I would never have thought of that combination. It looks delicious. You showed restraint by eating just half. :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. scrumptious. I've just bought a huge bag of seeds. Husband thought they were for the birds !

    ReplyDelete
  8. I'm not really a fan of cake but that does look rather lovely! x

    ReplyDelete
  9. That certainly looks scrumptious and as it contains fruit it also counts as one of your 5-a-day. It's a win, win situation!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Ha Yeah!


    Aloha from Honolulu,
    Wishing you a sweet week ahead!
    Comfort Spiral
    =^..^=

    > < } } ( ° >

    > < } } (°>

    ReplyDelete
  11. Delicious! I could swap you a slice for the chocolate log we (me and the girls) made this afternoon if you like!

    ReplyDelete
  12. It looks scrummy.

    What are those things on the top?

    ReplyDelete
  13. That looks so delicious. Wish I lived around the corner! xxxx

    ReplyDelete
  14. That looks really gooey and lovely.

    I can't wait for my son to get to the stage where he hoover's up all that I make putting temptation out of my way too. I love the making and the eating - a little far too much!

    Nina x

    ReplyDelete
  15. Oh, baking takes too much precision for me, but this does look lip-smacking good. (Your photos of Lille are lip-smacking good, as well. Must visit.)

    ReplyDelete