It rained yesterday, and the day before. All day. Self-indulgence was in order. An afternoon of cosiness and cooking. I took myself off to the kitchen. I made rich flavoursome stock from the weekend’s chicken carcass. I got ahead and made a meal for later. And then I indulged us both by making a cake – one I’d spotted and book-marked in last weekend’s Guardian.
Although not especially pretty, it really is rather good. Unless you’re working hard on keeping your waistline in trim, in which case it’s not. But it has a high Feel-Good Factor, which is a prerequisite of being kind to oneself.
From Pyrenees to Pennines 
Looks delicious, I could almost taste it.
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That’s much the best way. Fewer calories.
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Looks yum!
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It was rather good.
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Hmm… I don’t really like walnuts, but I appreciate the sentiment, Margaret 🙂 🙂
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I only decorated it with walnuts as I’d run out of sesame seeds. There are none in the cake, so you’re fine.
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🙂 🙂
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Given up on the waistline, so you can send the whole cake my way 😉
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Willingly … but it might not survive the journey.
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Betty’s manages it!
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They’re more of a class act than me.
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Impossible xx
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Nothing nicer than a day spent cooking
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Exactly. When the rain’s beating down outside, it’s the best antidote.
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😎
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Made me laugh out loud. Is this my birthday cake???? It looks more like a work of your lovely grandies but I totally agree with you. It’s kinda supercute and more importantly, I’m sure, it was kinda What One Needs in These Times!!!
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Yes, it’s not pretty, not a party cake. But a comforting cake.
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the main thing. I much prefer those to shop bought ones, perfection outside, not much joy inside…..
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Exactly.
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Wasn’t it foul? Sounds like an excellent cooking session! x
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I thought you meant the cake for a minute! No, we rarely have cake. But one can make exceptions.
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Groan… we try not to eat sweet things these days (except chocolate in very small doses) but it’s definitely the weather for cake!
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And today it’s nice enough to walk it all off. Result.
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Lovely day here too, but the windy is freezing!
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Come north then!
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Not at the moment thank you!
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Ooooh, indulgent!
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Well, why not?
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Why not at all! How was Fountains?
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Rained off. I didn’t have to go.
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Oh, well you stayed dry then!
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Yup. Cake was the way forward.
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Incorrigible….
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Aha, a Guardian reader! I would have guessed actually, from the posts
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You mean other newspapers are available?? 😉
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Isn’t the Guardian the only newspaper left?
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🙂
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It doesn’t have to look pretty, to me it looks absolutely delicious!!
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Yup. The taste is what counts. It looks all the same in your stomach.
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that looks delicious! 🙂
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That recipe sounds delicious!
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It’s good – if possibly not calorie-free.
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You are exceptionally kind to yourself, and why not, life is far too short not to have treats. I by the way love walnuts, especially fresh ones, yummy!
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And foraging for them is fun too.
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Nicely done Margaret! I’ll pass on a slice though, due to trying to keep my waistline on track!!
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Aw go on… just a small slice …
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Oh that looks good. I’m trying to eat less cake. One of my friends is a baker. She was shielding at the start of lockdown and couldn’t run her business, so ran a mini bake off on Instagram where she shared recipes for us to attempt. We were eating cake daily for about 2 months. It’s a hard habit to kick, I’ve discovered!
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Or it could have the opposite effect of turning you off cake-eating completely.. But … obviously not.
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Now that looks like a great result from an interesting recipe. I have more than once been left with a jar of tahini by my daughter and run out of uses. Thank you for the link and for the photo of what we are aiming for!!
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Erm, no. Look at the photo in the Guardian. I love tahini, and would happily sit down to a slice of bread slathered with it.
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I know what you mean about the comfort of being kind to oneself in these times, and we also use homemade sweetish treats as part of the cheering-oneself-up package – usually in the form of whole wheat and fruity muffins. These treats were becoming so regular in recent weeks that they were ceasing to feel like treats, so now we are taking a little break until next time! The cake you made looks delicious.
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Yes, but little-and-not-often is the way forward, as you have discovered!
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