The Jubilee Back of Beyond style

The spit roast

 The organisations for the village celebration of the Jubilee have been going on for some time. We are very lucky to have some wonderfully community minded villagers who come together to create memorable events for the village. Everything was sorted for the Jubilee, an evening party on Sunday night with music from every year of the Queen's reign and a whole lamb roast.  A mini Olympics with Maypole dancing and children's tea party on Monday afternoon.  The only element not arranged was the weather. Thankfully, a contingency plan involving one of the farm barns had been planned  A team of villagers including Mr Vander-Cave gave most of Sunday over to cleaning and decorating the barn whilst the bakers in the village created a range of nibbles and sweet treats to go along with the magnificent whole lamb that was cooked on a spit roast for the event.

After 5hrs cooking!

Chocolate dipped strawberries

My contribution to the evening event was chocolate dipped strawberries and a tangy lemon and lime cheesecake, both of which were very easy to make but tasted divine. Because chocolate dipped strawberries are basically 2 ingredients, chocolate and strawberries, it is important to have really tasty strawberries, none of those horrible El Santa variety that frequent the supermarket chain's shelves. Go for locally produced if possible and really fresh. We are lucky to have a local picking farm with some of the best strawberries I have ever tasted.

On Mr V-C's hand painted tray!

All you need is a large punnet of strawberries and 200g of dark finest chocolate. Wash the strawberries and pat them dry. Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of barely simmering water. Once melted dip the Strawberries into the chocolate covering the strawberry all over quickly place on a baking tray covered with cling film. Refrigerate immediately to stop the chocolate developing a bloom. Once set peel the strawberries off the tray and display on a serving plate.We used an old tray that Mr V-C painted with a union flag to give festive air.

The cheesecake I made is a very old recipe given to me by one of my bosses back when I was nannying.  I think it originated from a Sainsburys cookery book but don't quote me on that!

Tangy Cheesecake
50g butter, melted
200g ginger biscuits, finely crushed
1 can of condensed milk
225g full fat cream cheese
grated rind and juice of one lemon and one lime
150ml double cream

You will also need a 20cm loose based cake tin.

Combine the butter, ginger biscuits and 2 tablespoons of the condensed milk. Press this into the base of the cake tin, making an even, well compressed layer.

Beat the cream cheese in a bowl until softened and smooth.

Gradually beat in the remaining condensed milk, lime and lemon juices and rind. Beat until well combined and starting to thicken.

Beat the double cream until thick (do not over beat, the mixture should leave a whisk trail but not be grainy looking)

Fold the cream into the cheese mixture then pour over the biscuit base. Smooth out if necessary. Place in the fridge until set, usually around 4hrs.

Remove from the tin and serve.

By the time I got a photo it was almost half gone!

On Monday it was all about the children so it had to be cupcakes with Jubilee decorations. I used the Hummingbird bakery vanilla cupcake recipe (which is given on an earlier post) and got creative with the decorations. I bought on Ebay a selection of Jubilee decorations, edible jubilee butterflies and red, white and blue sprinkles. I then used some red food paste painted down one side of  the inside of a disposable icing bag to make the red swirled effect buttercream.

The Maypole

Jubilee cupcakes

After the Maypole dancing, kids versus adults football match, an array of sports day style races and a whole village photo to mark the occasion, the Jubilee tea and refreshments were just what was required by all.