~Chocolate Cake~

My (not so) Small Boy is 11 today.  What a year for change 2013 will be...High School for J, and hopefully off to University for L.
This is his birthday cake.  The loveliest chocolate fudge cake (recipe from Carnation found by my best friend Jo). It's now become the cake of choice in this house.  The chocolate fingers were an inspired addition to ramp up the chocolatey calories!

If you're looking for the perfect chocolate cake,  the recipe for the chocolate fudge cake can be found on Carnation's website here
P.S I substitute the corn oil with sunflower oil.
Also a thrifty tip to make it cheaper - Carnation Caramel is approx £1.75 for a 397g tin.
Morrisons sell a copycat version Farmlea Caramel for £1.15 for the same size tin.

~Getting ready for Macmillan Coffee Morning~

I'm hosting a Macmillan coffee morning on Saturday from 11 to 1pm, to raise as much money as possible for Macmillan Cancer Support and I'm hoping to top last year's total of £130.86 which I wrote about here..

The Macmillan coffee mornings have been going since 1991 and have raised over £60 million for Macmillan cancer Support since then.
Thankfully I've got today off work, so I'm organising my tombola...

Roll up, roll up for the Macmillan Tombola!! Green raffle tickets, of course!

As a Tea Drinker (of huge quantities) I have to say my event will be a Macmillan 'Yorkshire Tea' morning as I have been kindly and generously supported by the lovely people at Yorkshire Tea (Betty's & Taylor's of Harrogate).

Some of my Raffle Prizes for Macmillan

 So, lashings of Yorkshire Tea, Taylor's coffee and cakes await new friends, old friends, family and Bloggy friends on Saturday!
I will be back with photos and a write-up after Saturday, but for now I am back to baking after I've sampled the latest batch of Brownies out of the oven with a cup of Yorkshire Tea!

I hope you all enjoy supporting a coffee morning near you...Hello to my lovely colleagues who are having theirs today...SAVE ME SOME CAKE PLEASE!

~Seaside Trip~

We've just come back from 6 days in Chateau H (our caravan) and we have survived intact!
Our first 2 nights we were parked on our friends drive in Filey - a fantastic bungalow holiday home in which the fittings are the late 70s, early 80's intact, for example a brilliant formica kitchen with sliding doors and rose-patterned carpets...I love these glass doors and the display of pottery...

Filey beach - Lovely weather...a few showers but gloriously warm...

I love Swing Boats...

Beach chalets at Filey... I like the colours...available for hire right on
the beach - Baker's Beach Chalets on the Coble Landing. Another nostalgic
 moment, they remind me so much of East Coast holidays with my Nana and Grandad...

The fantastic view of the Vale of Pickering and the Wolds from Lebberston Touring Park...

Then we moved on to Lebberston Touring Park,
a couple of miles outside Filey on the way to
Scarborough - an immaculately run 5* site- highly recommended...

J enjoying a hot chocolate in a melamine mug whilst wearing Dad's essential caravanning hat...

Tired Small Dog gets cosy under blankets in Chateau H...

Imposing 12 foot tall iron Fisherman statue on Filey seafront by artist Ray Lonsdale read about it here

We thought Sterchi's had closed down, but- hurrah!- thay'd just moved round the corner!

Long live Sterchi's and their enormous chocolate drops and Rose and Violet creams!

Beautiful boats at the Coble landing, Filey...

Cocoa in Scarboro' - a retro sweet shop with a fab collection of vintage confectionery ephemera in the window...

My first Wonka Bar (It's my all-time favourite film...)

"I got a Golden Ticket!" (Don't tell me that they're in every bar...)

Love this Fudge Shop display with shelves groaning under the weight of goodies, and the pom-pom shelf trim


Sorry for the sweetie and chocolate emphasis in this post - we did do lots more, I promise...