It's time for tea

To catch up fully with the girls when I'm home, I've managed to sort of slip into this routine of baking them a cake and serving them some tea. Normally I would do simple fairy cakes with a lemon icing, but Sunday I fancied doing something that bit different.

As you could probably tell from my Christmas post - I've got a bit of an addiction to serving puddings with pecans in them. This recipe was a very simple one. It's a basic sponge cake recipe, instead I used half the measurement of white caster sugar and half with a dark brown sugar to give it more density and a richer flavour. I then poured all the mixture into a cake tin.

I then simply spread dulce de leche on the top of the baked cake and sprinkled pecans to the gooey caramel mixture. As I served it still warm, it had a comforting moist texture which mixed perfectly with the tea. Not bad for 11am on a Sunday morning!

I've also got to share with you this little gem of a coffee shop I found one afternoon scooting around in the car. I fancied one of those random road trips where you don't know where you'll end up, except this time I arrived in Ripley, which is a village about half an hour from my home.

The idyllic area had this lovely little shabby/vintage shop that also served the most amazing hot drinks. There is room to sit outside if you fancy watching the world go by, or space indoors to slurp your cappuccino and look around the trinkets they have to offer. Definitely a good find - and one I must find again. Remembering the name of it would probably help!

Have you discovered anywhere lately? Let me know!

X