Shropshire Honey Cake

www.shropshirebreakfast.co.uk

This is probably one of the simplest cakes in the world and one of the most delicious. I make mine with Shropshire honey & eggs from my own hens. Their yolks are such a vibrant yellow that the cake is beautiful and golden.
I would strongly recommend you make your cake with your own local honey & local free range eggs, you may then rename it to your local area - so far, since I first posted the recipe on Twitter, it has transmuted successfully into both Perthshire Honey Cake &; Somerset Honey Cake and Texas Honey Cake is imminent!
It really does need to be eaten on the day it is made, preferably still warm from the oven.

Cake Ingredients

180g Shropshire Honey
140g butter
80g soft brown sugar
2 beaten eggs
200g self raising flour
1tsp cinnamon
water

Icing Ingredients

60g icing sugar
1 tbsp honey


1. Preheat oven to 180C and butter and line the bottom of a 18cm cake tin with bake-o-glide
2.Heat the honey, butter and sugar with a tablespoon of water in a large pan until melted.
3. Remove from the heat and mix in the eggs, flour & cinnamon, then put into the cake tin
4. Bake for 40-45 minutes until the cake is springy to the touch and shrinking slightly from the sides of the tin.
5. Cool in the tin for 20 minutes before turning onto a wire rack.
6. While the cake is still warm, make the icing. Mix icing sugar & honey with 2-3 teaspoons of hot water and then drizzle over the cake.

Ginger Breakfast Scones

www.shropshirebreakfast.co.uk

If you mention a scone to someone from the UK they will probably envisage a traditional round scone, topped with clotted cream and home made strawberry jam.

However in the States scones are different beasts. Usually triangular in shape and served up for breakfast.

If you fancy offering your B&B guests a bit more variety they are a great option as you can make them the night before, keep them in the fridge and then guests can come down to the smell of fresh baked scones in the morning. You can even freeze them and cook them straight from the freezer.

When we stayed in Maine in October we had ginger scones. I prefer them hot from the oven as they can get a bit brick like if they hang around too long!

Ingredients

2.25 cups of plain flour
1 tablespoon of baking powder
2 teaspoons of ground ginger
1/3 cup sugar
170g cold butter from the fridge
0.75 cup of double cream plus 1 tablespoon extra
0.5 cup of crysallized stem ginger chopped up very small

Heat a fan oven to 180 degrees
Put the flour, baking powder, sugar and ginger in a food processor and whiz till mixed.
Chop the butter into cubes, add to the dry ingredients in teh food processor and process until you have a breadcrumb consistency.
Pour in the cream and pulse until it is all combined.
Being careful not to overwork the dough, roll it out onto a floured surface. Put the stem ginger on top and then fold the dough in half, rolling it out. Do this about 6 times until you have a soft dough and all the ginger is mixed in.
You'll probably need to add more flour as it can get sticky.
Cut the dough in half. Roll out each half into a circle and cut each one into 6 triangular pieces. Or use a large pastry cutter to create round scones.
Put on a baking tray, brush with cream, then cook for 15-20 minutes until puffed up and brown.