The nincompoop – aka the fool!

I thought this little missive might make you smile.

It may not have escaped your notice that the weather in the UK has been the absolute pits - the worst we've had for a decade at this time of year.

Horrible weather makes you want comforting food, sweet or savoury.

This weekend, snowed in, was not going to be good and to prove my point here's my back garden (yard) :

Never wanting to waste good cooking time I decided to make Grandad Jack's Tea Loaf and so weighed out the fruit, added the mug of strong tea, covered it and left it to do its magic overnight.

A spot check revealed I only had one egg – not a problem, the following morning I attach my snow grips to my boots and trudge to the village shop where they sell fresh eggs – dedicated or what.

How virtuous am I – not only fresh eggs but hard exercise in the snow too.

Back home on went the oven to pre-heat – it takes 5 minutes to mix the cakes and away we go … or so I thought.

You know how I'm always droning on about store cupboards and fully stocked freezers, not to mention planning blah, blah.

Having soaked the fruit and climbed Mount Everest – the equivalent in my world anyway – I only needed three more ingredients – optional cherries, check - one mug of soft light brown sugar, check - two mugs of self raising flour – you have got to be kidding. I keep my flour(s) in large glass pots for two reasons, one – I use both so frequently it makes sense and two I can see at a glance how much flour I've got left – OR NOT!

I had only one mug of flour. I'm struggling to decide which expletive would best suit my discovery – upset puts it mildly – stamping feet and throwing toys out of pram would be better. It just serves me right.

Just in case you think I'm making this up – here's a photo of the empty jar :

What's that expression “necessity is the mother of invention”? Having resisted the urge to retire to a darkened room with a bottle of gin and a straw (just joking) I went rooting in my pantry instead. The flour fairies had not been – no reserve bag of self raising flour had materialised. What I did find was a bag of organic self raising wholemeal flour. It's worth a shot – hey it could turn out well.

It did – here's the proof and a photo of the sliced cake.

The moral of the story – we all need a kick in the pants occasionally.

Some things are meant to be – another tweaked recipe.

P.s. If you'd like the recipe check out “Cake” label – Sweet week Grandad Jack's Tea Loaf.