Inspired by our recent pie win I took the time during a quiet spell on Saturday to do some baking. It was a bit slow in the cafe during the AFL Grand Final so I got out the mixing bowls and baked a chocolate cake to enter into the Lockhart Show the following day. I am always nervous entering local show cookery competitions because I know that I am taking on longstanding country cooks, champion sponge and scone makers. The standard of their entries is often high. These cooks have after all been making and entering cakes for many years. Their recipes have been handed down from generations of cooks and they know their kitchens and oven temperatures like the back of their hands.
Roger's grandmother could put her hand in her gas oven and tell by feel that it was the right, even temperature to cook the perfect sponge. She made her own butter straight from the house cow and fed it in curls to her grandson. Our friend Joy's mother Connie was inspirational. She was taught to cook by her mother and passed her knowledge on to her own daughter. Connie made champion sponges and fruit cakes and her cooking supported charities like the CWA and Red Cross at The Rock throughout her life. Today Joy tirelessly makes trays of slices for the same charities. Jelly slice, peanut caramel, hedgehog slice, she has made so many over the years that she is hard to beat.
So when I entered my high school recipe chocolate cake into the local Lockhart Show, I was summoning up all my experience and skill to compete. After all, this cake was the first recipe that I learned in cookery class at school and my mother and I have made it many times sine then so I've had a bit of practice at it. Mum adapted the recipe successfully to a coffee cake so that she could enjoy it too (she can't eat chocolate). She used to bake every Saturday afternoon to fill the tins for Sunday lunch and weekday afternoon teas. She is a good baker and passed her skill on to me.
We were too busy in the cafe on the Sunday to be able to join in the fun out at the Lockhart Showgrounds so I had to wait till the end of the day to hear whether my egg-free, low-fat chocolate cake had made the grade. It won 1st Prize in the chocolate cake section and I have proudly displayed my certificate in our front window alongside the others. The local win in the Lockhart Show is as important to us as our tourism and pie awards because a win at the local show offers us the support of our community.
Egg-free and low-fat chocolate cake - I wouldn't have thought such a thing was possible, and
ReplyDeletethat it could look that amazing. Looks wonderful.
How was the 'Spirit of the Land' festival?
I can imagine you would have been kept pretty busy..!
It might tick boxes on being egg-free and low-fat but I doubt that there is a chocolate cake that can claim to be completely healthy. This one contains golden syrup so it is not one for the diabetics.
DeleteWe worked hard to get the booths in for Spirit of the Land this year so we had many people coming in just for a look. Not everyone could fit in at the same time and preference needed to be given to paying customers. Saturday was very hot and lots of people wanted somewhere free to sit in the shade. It is always a challenge for the local businesses unused to managing large crowds and it took us a while this time to get into a workable flow. We don't like to disappoint customers but there will always be those who expect us to be operating as usual and therefore displeased that in managing the extra numbers safely and calmly, we have to alter our approach. We advocate for a different way of presenting the sculptural festival. It is an important part of Lockhart's identity but maybe a longer exhibition trail with businesses and public buildings hosting individual works for a period of time would be easier to manage and would spread the visitors out across a month. After all, anyone who can't make it to Lockhart for the 'Spirit' weekend (and there are many other events happening at the same time) misses out. And our observation is that business is quiet for the next three or four weeks afterwards, possibly because people have made their annual trip to Lockhart for Spirit of the Land. The festival is amazing but it is a tricky balancing act to manage successfully and it takes an enormous amount of energy to organise. It would be lovely to spread it out and be able to enjoy the event ourselves. We don't get the opportunity ourselves to see the sculptures because we are working so hard during the time they are open.
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ReplyDeleteNow you should know, that there are plenty of coffee shop drinks out there that aren't loaded with calories. Here are just a few of the most popular coffee shops and some low calorie coffee drinks that you can enjoy guilt-free!
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