A Recipe for Christmas ....

Galloway Louche Cake - its so easy.

Following on from the success of this fridge cake at our recent Macmillan coffee morning I thought it would be nice to share it with you. Not the cheapest cake to make but a small piece with a coffee makes for special me time and don't even think about the calories! Keeps in the fridge for about five days but I guarantee it won't be around that long.

I have renamed this recipe to give it a local twist and tried to make it using mainly local ingredients as Dumfries and Galloway has such a rich larder. You can pick up all the ingredients in Castle Douglas which has been awarded status of a Food Town. Here you will find many individual retailers selling and producing quality local products.




Galloway Louche Cake

180 grams of raisins

180 grams of undead glacé cherries halved

225 grams of Irvings Shortbread or digestives in 1cm nibs

300 grams dark 70 percent chocolate from In House Chocolates in pieces

120 ml of fresh squeezed orange juice

180 grams diced Loch Arthur I salted butter

1 1/2 tablespoons golden syrup

Icing sugar to dust

23cm square tin lined with baking paper.

1. Simmer orange juice and raisins in a small pan until juice absorbed. Leave to cool.

2. Slowly melt butter, chocolate and syrup in a bowl over a saucepan with simmering water. Stir.

Add raisins biscuits and cherries and coat in the mixture.

3. Spoon the mixture over the base of the lined tin and smooth down/ flatten. Cover with cling film and pop in fridge for a few hours until hard.

4. Remove from tin and dust with icing sugar when serving.Use a sharp knife to cut in to squares or fingers.

Enjoy!

Our local suppliers.

Chocolate from In House Chocolates 128 King Street, Castle Douglas, Manufacturers of handmade chocolates. All truly made by hand in their workshop. A wide range of chocolates, truffles , bars and lot lots more.

Biscuits from Irvings producers of traditional homestyle baking based in Castle Douglas. Making a range of biscuits, tray bakes, loaves and sponges.

Butter from Loch Arthur Creamery in Beeswing a working Community which includes men and women with learning disabilities.

Credit: Original recipe from Country Living magazine some years ago.

Scoffing yummy cakes for charity - how brilliant is that?

The blog thanks two local ladies (girls?) for their enterprise and initiative in organising a Macmillan Coffee Morning last week.

Linda of Millbrae House, Rockcliffe and Lynn of Birchlea Lodge in Kippford got together and held a Macmillan "Worlds Biggest Coffee Morning" event last Thursday in Rockcliffe.

The cakes, scones, cup cakes, tray bakes and cookies all laid out... where do I start?

The Macmillan cancer charity is one close to all our hearts as there can not be many who are untouched by the distress of this indiscriminate disease. As it says on the Macmillan website 

"Cancer is the toughest fight most of us will ever face. Macmillan is here to make sure no one has to go through it alone. Whatever you raise, you will be helping to improve the lives of people affected by cancer across the UK."

A huge thank you also goes to the friends, neighbours and family who came along and donated, the people who donated items for the fabbie Raffle Prize and especially the two spouses in the kitchen who washed and dried with gusto! Well done chaps, nice one!

The cakes were made by Linda, Lynn and their Mums (aren't Mums brilliant!) and were absolutely delicious.

Around 23 people came despite the rain and enjoyed the scrummy home baking and fairtrade coffee. Our local ukulele group DUKES also supported the event by purchasing raffle tickets and Colvend Shop sold some of the cakes too. These, including the very generous donations and raffle ticket sales at the coffee morning, raised an amazing total of £300.49  for Macmillan. 

My favourite was the chocolate Louche (forground)
but I managed a slice the carrot cake on the stand too. Top marks!

The raffle, a beautifully arranged and decorated box stuffed full of locally made items and produce was drawn on Monday evening and won by Mrs. H. Congratulations!

Locally made and produced items for the Raffle were donated by friends and family. 

Lynn and Linda were like whirling dervishes, the perfect hostesses, greeting everyone personally and making sure everyone was topped up with coffee, cake and lots of chat. It was a lovely morning and all the better for being in aid of a good cause. 

If you would like to donate to Macmillan please click here www.macmillan.org.uk/. Thank you.