My childhood seemed to be full of wet Sunday afternoons, back in the days of the dinosaurs before the Internet or Cable TV, when few working class people had phones or cars so there wasn’t much to do except loll around the house. I used to help our Mam with her baking, she’d often bake enough to last a few days. Tasty but cheap fare – jam tarts, Teisen Lap (Welsh Plate Cake), fruit tarts, boiled fruit cake, Welsh Cakes. Pastry was made with lard, or hard margarine, or both, never butter (way too expensive). Cakes too were made with hard margarine; tarts and crumbles filled with seasonal or foraged fruits. These cheap but tasty treats helped to bulk out our meagre diet.
Today it poured down. Our glorious summer is well and truly over. So I baked. I made a Tarte Tatin for Husb and a gluten-free, dairy-free spiced apple cake for me. My digestive system has become more sensitive as I get older, so I’m learning a lot of new recipes.
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