Yelvertoft mum's latest column from The Countryside Kitchen

Yelvertoft farmer's wife Milly Fyfe has two boys and lives on a livestock and arable farm.

I’ve a real passion for growing food and cooking delicious meals the whole family can enjoy. That’s why I created a food blog and Facebook page called No Fuss Meals for Busy Parents, to share recipe ideas, local ingredient suggestions as well as focus on food producers, providing a connection between the food produced in the UK and how to make quick and easy meals.

In a few short weeks we’ll be lambing over 300 ewes on the farm. It becomes a very busy but rewarding time for us as we bring new life into the world, with round the clock surveillance and animal husbandry to assist the sheep where necessary. So, for now we are preparing the maternity suite (our lambing shed) with pens, straw, and hay ready to bring the girls in.

The children are very excited because we have a newborn calf to bottle feed. She was one of a twin and her mother didn’t have enough milk to sustain two hungry mouths, so we take it in turns to bottle feed the calf twice a day. I asked the children what they’d like to call her and they quickly thought about it and said ‘Daisy’. Daisy is very friendly and enjoys having cuddles. She is growing very quickly too!

As I look out of my window, I can start to see many daffodils appearing in the garden and feel that Spring is on its way. I’m also itching to get out into the greenhouse and start planting seeds for the 2022 growing season. However, as I don’t have any protection from the frost out there, I’m going to bide my time for a little longer before I get all green fingered again!

In the meantime, I've been baking in the kitchen again. This time I’ve been making some mini Victoria sponge cakes. A while ago I purchased a tray which had 12 individual rounds with a loose bottom in each, perfect for making any type of mini sponge cake.

So, over the last few weeks, I’ve been perfecting the recipe and thought I would share it with you. It is a very simple recipe and can be used in either a 12” loose base tin or split between 12 individual cupcakes.

Ingredients:

200g caster sugar (I always use British Sugar)

200g Butter or margarine

200g Self Raising Flour (Heygates flour is very good)

4 eggs (I used eggs from my own hens, fresh is best)

For the decoration

300g icing sugar

100g butter

12 tsps. of raspberry jam

1tsp vanilla essence

Method:

Cream the caster sugar and butter together

Mix in the 4 eggs

Add the self-raising flour

Whisk until all ingredients are combined into a smooth cake mixture

Spoon into your prepared greased tin

Cook for 20-25 minutes at 200c

Use a skewer to test and make sure the cake is cooked, then allow to cool

Once cooled make your butter icing

Mix the icing sugar, vanilla essence, and butter together until it forms a smooth creaming filling. Sometime the mixture can become a little dry so if you need to, add a teaspoon of milk to make the icing easier to spread on your cake.

Pop your cake(s) out of the tin and slice in half. Spread one side with the icing and one side with jam. Put the cake back together and sift with some icing sugar.

I tell you what, these cakes do not hang around for long!

You can follow me on Facebook and Instagram @NoFussMealsForBusyParents or the website is: www.nofussmealsforbusyparents.food.blogI’ve also recently launched a podcast called ‘The Countryside Kitchen meets’ which can be listened to on all the major music streaming sites.