My dear friends birthday cake, chutney and rolls

Huzzah, I return. Back to attempting to update my cooking blog on a semi-regular basis. So firstly, I made a cake for my bestest lady friends birthday. I am very proud of it. It is a Vegan, chocolate prune cake with chocolate buttercream and toasted flaked almonds. It is decorated with freshly cut carnations. Check-it:

 

I carried it all the way to the pub. Btw it was her 30th birthday.

 

Today my friend Gemma came over and we made chutney together. Marrow chutney to be exact. The Random Camels didnt know how to deal with the glut of marrows so we came up with an elegant solution. Here is the recipe I used:

 

4lb peeled marrow pieces; 1/2lb onions;mustard seed;ground ginger; turmeric; cayenne pepper;3 pints vinegar; 1lb sugar

 

Peel and chop the marrow into 1cm chunks, chop the onion finely and put both of these in a pan with generous helpings of ginger and mustard seed. Add a bit of turmeric and cayenne (a half tsp of turmeric and a pinch of cayenne). Add the sugar and stir into the dry ingredients. Add the vinegar and heat the mixture until rapidly boiling, then turn the heat down and simmer for 1-2 hours. Sterilise your jars and fill 'em up! Leave the mixture for about a month before eating.

 

Here is a piccy of the jars of chutney and the little wholemeal rolls I made this morning:

 

9 jars of chutney! We will see how it turns out. We are going to make some more to a different recipe soon, coz there are yet more marrows to use!

 

Thankyou Gem for an awesome chutney afternoon.xx