The Solitary Teabag

I am an old fashioned girl, and I do prefer my tea poured from a pot. That’s fine when there are two or more of us – but when I am home alone [frequently now Bob works from his office at Church] I have been pushing a tea bag around in a mug of boiling water. It just isn’t the same! So I have treated myself to a little teapot [I did have a ‘Brown Betty’ but it has gone missing in the move]

It’s a gorgeous retro Portmeirion pot, in the Fifi design. It cost me £1.80 in a charity shop.

According to the Sanderson  website “An original 50s Sanderson wallpaper Fifi was recently discovered in a customers loft where it had been hidden away for the last 50 years. The design depicts the typical hourglass silhouette described as ‘The New Look’  a trend pioneered in 1947 by one of the most iconic fashion designers Christian Dior who was very influential throughout the post-war period.” It has been revived on fabric and wallpaper, and Portmeirion produced some china. My teapot really should have a cup underneath – on a cute triangular saucer

I don’t really mind, the teapot on its own is quite lovely . It pours beautifully – a prime requirement of any pot.  You will notice in the collage at the top there is also a photo of a small square of cake. This is my Cornish Hevva Cake, baked at the weekend.

Fat Dormouse alerted me to the Cornish Hewa/Hevva/Heavy Cake after I posted about my trip to St Ives. Here’s mine in the tin

It was a really easy recipe, useful if you are short of eggs.It is a surprisingly dry mix, and you do need to push it down into the tin. I sprinkled mine with demerara sugar.

It goes beautifully with a cuppa, but it is quite crumbly. Thanks FD for this one!

Prep: 15 minutes, Cook: 30 minutes

250g Self raising flour

125g Butter

175g Mixed dried fruit

90g Sugar

50ml Milk

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C fan 170°C

Line a 8” square cake tin.

2. Rub the butter into the flour until it's the texture of fine breadcrumbs. Add the sugar and fruit and mix well. Add the milk and mix to a soft, stiff dough.

3. Press into the cake tin, pushing down firmly in the corners. Score the top of the cake with a sharp knife, making crisscross diagonal lines.

4. Place in the middle of the preheated oven and bake for 30 minutes, or until golden brown and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.

5. Remove from the oven and while still warm, brush with milk and give a generous sprinkling of  sugar. Allow to cool and cut into squares [16 small, or 9 generous portions]

To be really retro, I should probably sing the song ‘Tea for Two’ from the 1950 musical of that name [film starring Doris Day] – I wonder if my Cornish Bake counts as a ‘sugar cake’?

Oh, honey, picture me upon your knee
With tea for two and two for tea
Just me for you and you for me alone
Nobody near us to see us or hear us
No friends or relations on weekend vacations
We won't have it known, dear
That we own a telephone, dear
Day will break and I'll awake
And start to bake a sugar cake
For you to take, for all the boys to see

Tea for two and two for tea
Me for you and you for me alone