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Writer's pictureMartin Castle

Butterfly cakes

Updated: Apr 10, 2020

Beautiful morning here in NN with warn sun and bright light.



Today's word of the day is comma - the butterfly kind, which we saw in our garden yesterday along with peacocks and a beautiful orange-tip. The world is coming alive with rapid growth on the the gunnera and a triffid-like plant that we can't remember the name of. Here's also a picture of the 'sticks' we planted and just waiting to be able to fix them permanently.

This poem by Kitty O’Meara's from Wisconsin appears on Facebook and is wrongly attributed to 1869 with a reissue during the Spanish 'Flu pandemic. It is a contemporary piece and hits a number of spots. It is untitled:


And people stayed at home And read books And listened And they rested And did exercises And made art and played And learned new ways of being And stopped and listened More deeply Someone meditated, someone prayed Someone met their shadow And people began to think differently And people healed. And in the absence of people who Lived in ignorant ways Dangerous, meaningless and heartless, The earth also began to heal And when the danger ended and People found themselves They grieved for the dead And made new choices And dreamed of new visions And created new ways of living And completely healed the earth Just as they were healed.


With butterflies in mind, the recipe is one from child-hood. Long before the cup-cake-mania of recent years mum and my sister used to make butterfly cakes. Ann  would lick the bowl - very pre-covid19!


Found the quote from St Francis that I like very much so added it to my signature.


Some very precise measuring here – I’d round it up!

Makes about 15 cakes

Ingredients

For the cakes

113g butter or margarine, softened

113g caster sugar

113g self-raising flour

2 medium free range eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Paper cases

For the butter icing

56g butter, softened

113g sieved icing sugar


Method


1. Preheat oven to 190° c/375° f/gas mark 4


2. Cream butter or margarine with sugar until light, fluffy and pale in colour.


3. Beat the eggs and add them bit by bit with spoons of sifted flour. Bit by bit ensures the mixture does not curdle. Gently fold in any flour left over when the egg is used up.


4. Add the vanilla or any other flavourings desired and half fill the paper cases with the mixture and bake for about 15 minutes until risen and firm but not too dark.


5. Leave the cakes to cool then cut a slice from the top of each cake and cut this in half.


6. Place some of the butter icing on top of the cake then arrange the 'wings' how you want them.


7. No need for washing up just find a small child to lick the bowl and utensils.


Quote

"Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible." - St. Francis of Assisi

Quote

“All shall be well and all shall be well and all manner of things shall be well”. - Julian of Norwich


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