Rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb

I do love rhubarb, beautiful and delicious - a perfect food.  I remember the first time I ate it, in a rhubarb crumble cooked by some family friends in Devon; I had seconds.  In fact I think it might have started my change from being a ridiculously fussy eater to someone who will now try almost anything.

Anyway, I'm back home and mum picked a whole pile of the stuff from the garden, pink and screaming to be put into a cake.

A suitably rustic cake using (appropriately) a recipe from 'Country Living'.  

Beaucoup de fromage

I have spent the last few days in France, it has been delightful.  As usual I came with the intention to do lots of work and lots of exercise, and as usual I have failed on both fronts, choosing instead to indulge myself in good books, fine wine and fine food (I have no regrets).  Naturally, being in France, this has involved beaucoup de fromage.

Though I have done little baking during my time here, a previous creation did make its way into conversation, via mother's i-pad (i think soon we shall need no paper at all - probably a good thing for the trees), during an evening spent with our neighbour and his extended family celebrating his 80th birthday.  Mum passed the photo round of my "Cheese"- cakes, the french seemed impressed (though possibly slightly bewildered as to the motivation, why not just eat the real thing?!) and even picked out the French cheeses they could recognise.  My lack of french means that I have little to say at these events, tending instead to stay safe with smiling and nodding, so it was nice to contribute something to the conversation - though now I think I will be forever remembered as la fille qui fait les fromages de gateaux...

I made the cakes for a friend's birthday, and the best part was that people even ate the cake like it was cheese.

The best thing about the approach of Easter is...

...MINI EGGS!
There is something unbeatably delicious about them, has anyone else noticed that the shells of the yellow ones taste slightly different? I like to hoard them and save them till last (I used to do a similar thing with orange smarties).  So, to celebrate the arrival of these most classic and loved Easter treats I decided a cake was in order, I snaffled a couple of bags on offer in the supermarket and set to work.

The cake was destined to brighten up the usual dullness of a Thursday afternoon spent in a dingy underground lecture theatre with my fellow medical students for our "Taught Course" lectures, so I used the mini eggs to make it as colourful and cheerful as possible!  It seemed to go down well, chocolate cake never does fail to please :)

My "Taught Course Cake":