Thursday 17 January 2013

Random Recipes - Lemon Layer Sponge

I can't tell you how much my mum means to me. And I am not always grateful to her - I'm sure I don't always show it. But if I can be half the mother she is to me - or half the granny she is to my children, I will be doing OK, because she is truly fabulous.

On leaving an impromptu gathering at my Godmother's on Boxing Day, I heard my father mentioning my blog and saying that there would often be some 'horrid remark' about 'her mother' (that is, my mother). Now, I don't think this is true. Have I said bad things about my mum on these here virtual pages? I may have made a joke at her expense, but horrid? Really? If I have, please strike me down, and Mum, if I have, I am sorry, because you are wonderful and I love you.

Anyway, that over, it's time to move on to the point which is that Dom's Random Recipe Challenge this month on Belleau Kitchen is inspired by his visit to California (I am soooo jealous) for his father's 70th, and looking around his stepmother's recipe collection he came up with the following challenge:



" i've asked my step-mum Jette if I could choose my random recipes from her cookbook collection this month and i'd like you all to do the same... no, not from her collection but from someone else's kitchen... you all must have a good friend or a neighbour, or even your parents or grandparents who must have the most interesting collection of books... and you can be as random about it as you like... perhaps ask them what their favourite book is, or get them to do the selection for you over the phone and read out the recipe... however you do it it should throw up some interesting recipes..."

Well, it was obvious that I would ask my mum. She has a massive collection of recipe books - we cross over a lot at the Nigella/Jamie/Hugh FW end of the scale, but she has some real great ones by people like Claire Macdonald, that I am always diving in to when we are staying there. She has more Nigel Slater than me, too, and a much bigger selection of back issues of Good Food magazine, so I thought she'd be the perfect person to ask.  I might have misread the rules - or miscommunicated them - as she has sent me her favourite recipe, but this is just as likely to have turned up from an entirely random selection from her hugely random cookery book collection. And as I had absolutely no hand in choosing the recipe, it's probably more random than it might otherwise have been, so I'm hoping it will qualify.

Within a couple of days, she'd written me down her selection and sent it to me in the post, and I can do no better than repeat her letter:

"From Good Housekeeping Recipe Book 1972 ! 

Lemon Layer Sponge (for 4)

This is my favourite because it is the ultimate comfort food - very light sponge with thick lemon sauce underneath. First had it when staying with favourite Aunt (Atholl Crescent trained and an examiner for Eastbourne School of Cookery). She used to produce breakfast, lunch (she used to go home to cook lunch) and supper for her husband and 4 children and any one staying, every day of the year and both lunch and supper were two or three courses. I look back with amazement at how she did it especially as I work on the basis that I married my husband for better or worse but certainly not for lunch!

This is a totally delicious recipe!

Juice and grated rind of 1 lemon (make sure 3tblsps juice)
2 oz butter (softened)
4 oz sugar
2 eggs, separated
1/2 pint milk
2 oz self raising flour

oven temp 400F/mark 6/180C

Add lemon rind to softened butter & sugar & cream the mixture until pale & fluffy. Add the egg yolks and beat well. Stir in the milk, lemon juice and flour. Whisk the egg whites stiffly and fold in and pour the mixture into a failry large ovenproof dish - about 2 1/4 pints. Stand the dish in a shallow tin of water and cook for about 45 mins or until the top is set and firm to the touch!"





Yum. Sweet, warming, lemony. Just about the perfect thing for a miserable January day.

22 comments:

  1. I like your mum's style. And the Aunt sounds like superwoman - going home to cook a 2 or 3 course lunch?! The sponge sounds both retro and delicious - great combo!

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    1. She was - I vaguely remember her, although she died when I was a teenager, but she was wonderful. The pudding is delicious - you can add more lemon if you like it back of the throat sharp

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  2. This recipe is amazing! Simple but delicious!

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    1. It is indeed - takes no time to make but delicious

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  3. Lovely sentiments to your mum :) the lemon sponge looks gorgeous - it's simple so I'll have to try it! fabulous recipe
    Mary x

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    1. Do you know, it's delicious and really easy - that's what I love about a lot of the more old fashioned books - much less fiddling around than some of the more modern stuff.

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  4. well, and ADORABLE recipe and an even more adorable blog post... your mum is so similar to my mum too... so typical of her to have picked the recipe, hand-writen it and posted it to me rather than just reading it out over the phone or emailing it to me... what a lovely tribute to your mum!... thanks so much for entering the challenge this month x

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    1. Why thank you - it was a great challenge this month. Mums are wonderful aren't they (well, I'm luck y to have wonderful one)

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  5. Lovely to read your comments about your mum - I feel exactly the same about mine too! And I think she may even have this cookery book lurking around somewhere in her kitchen cupboards! Great recipe - a true classic!

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    1. It is definitely a classic - and delicious

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  6. Mum's rock don't they? My Mum makes a very similar pudd, which is one of my favourites. So much so that she thought I might like some when I was in labour with my daughter. The thought of her turning up to hospital with a huge bowl (pretty much like the one above), still makes me laugh now! :D And no, I wasn't up to eating any!

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    1. LOL! Made me laugh too - that's so typical of that brand of mum - I can imagine mine doing something similar if she'd been close enough at the appropriate moment!

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  7. Ah RJ loving your mother lovin' here! I don't recall any negative mum stuff ever, so you can tell your dad that a woman called Table said so. She has damn good taste in pudding too your mum x

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    1. :) thanks Table - I will confront him the next time I see him and tell him he has you to answer to! My mum's puddings are the best.

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  8. That does look perfect for a miserable January day!

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    1. It was - I feel like making it again as the snow's coming down...

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  9. This is a great classic pudding and it looks lovely. It's made me very nostalgic. I remember back in the late 70s and early 80s that everyone seemed to be making a version of this sort of pudding. (Maybe that's partly to do with the new-fangled microwaves that were becoming available - you can make a version of this pudding in the microwave). I've got one or two old Good Housekeeping books - I've definitely got to dig them out.

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    1. I often think the old recipes are the best ones. I've recently acquired a whole load of old 'fundraising' cookery books fom the 60s and 70s and they are full of things like 'great granny's sticky cake' and other delights.

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  10. I'm not sure how I missed this when you first posted it but I'm glad to have found it now. I think I have that book but have never made this pudding. It looks absolutely wonderful and I feel compelled to make it as soon as possible......weekends are when we do puddings at our house.

    Cherish your mum. I know you do anyway, but mine passed away ten years ago and I miss her every day. She was a great cook of ordinary food and would have regarded this as way too posh - she would probably never have cooked it herself but would have loved it if I had made it for her. She loved a good tuck-in !!

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    1. Yes it's a great pud - we tend to do pudding at the weekend too, and this is a great one at the moment when it's so cold and wet. The sauce can look a little curdled but go with it, it tastes divine. I can't bear thinking about how I'll feel when my mum dies - I know I will miss her deeply.

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  11. As bloggers we all tell stories on our families and friends. I doubt seriously that you told hurtful stories about your mum. Certainly not intentionally. Sometimes our families can be quite sensitive. But I am sure your mother knows how much she means to you. Her lemon layer sponge looks wonderful! Great thing about your mum, she raised a lovely daughter. Well done! And you may tell her I said so.

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  12. A lovely post and a delicious recipe! You're right - just what you need for miserable winter weather!

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