Recipe courtesy of ‘The Great British Bake Off: How to turn everyday bakes into showstoppers’

Our very popular knitted cushions have been featured in the January edition of Ideal Home magazine. The ‘All is Calm’ issue reminds us to make the most of the downtime this Christmas, along with great ideas to escape the seasonal madness to a peaceful retreat of neutrals, soft textiles and a hint of shimmer (well…you have to have some sparkle at Christmas!).

The lovely editors at Ideal Home couldn’t resist our charcoal grey 16” hand knitted cushion. Flick to page 9 to see it in all it’s glory or visit their website to find out where you can get a copy.

For our first design we chose a nautical inspired blue and cream stripe. But we’ve many more up our sleeves.

What do you think? We’d love to hear your thoughts and suggestions.

For more lovely products visit The Courtyard Boutique.

This classic English delight is named after Queen Victoria, who enjoyed a slice with her cup of afternoon tea. We’ve created our own version of this classic recipe by adding some fresh strawberries. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Ingredients to make a round 8″ Cake:

• • 200g caster sugar
• • 200g unsalted butter  (make sure it’s softened)
• • 1 Tsp of vanilla extract
• • 4 medium free range eggs
• • 200g self-raising flour (plus a little extra for dusting)
• • 250ml double cream (to be whipped)
• • Raspberry or strawberry jam
• • Icing sugar (to sprinkle on top)
• • 450g fresh British strawberries

Preparing the cake mixture:

1. 1. Preheat your oven to 190/170ºC fan/gas mark 5.
2. 2. Butter and flour your cake tins
3. 3. Place butter, sugar and vanilla extract into a bowl and beat until you have a creamy consistency.
4. 4. Slowly add the eggs one at a time then fold in the self-raising flour. Mix well.

Baking:

Divide your mixture evenly into your cake tins and bake for approximately 20 minutes. The sponges should be golden brown & springy. To check if the sponge is baked throughout – simply insert a knife into the centre of the sponge, and when pulled out the knife should come out clean.

Once baked, remove the sponges from the cases and allow to cool completely on a rack.

Assembling:

Whip the double cream until stiff and sticks to the whisk. We like to add a little icing sugar to make it that little bit sweeter. Spread your cream onto one sponge, and your raspberry jam onto the other and Sandwich together.

Finishing touches:

Dust with icing sugar,and decorate with fresh strawberries as shown.

How did you get on?

We’d love to see some pictures of you and your finished cake. Send them to info@thecourtyardboutique.co.uk

Our handmade knitted cushions are soon to be getting an exciting design tweak with our very own custom logo buttons, here’s some samples we’ve just received!

There are many colours available in our knitted cushion range. Visit our website for more info.

The Olympic torch began its 8,000 mile relay around the UK early on Saturday morning at Land’s End, Cornwall. Passing through Falmouth and the Eden Project on the first stages of it’s route and at approximately 1pm, the torch and it’s team arrived in Truro. Met by excited crowds along the route through Lemon Street and down passed Truro Cathedral, there was a real buzz with people of all ages soaking up the atmosphere and celebrating the special occasion.

Olympic Torch Truro 2012

The weather was lovely and sunny which heightened the great sense of spirit. Crowds were 4 or 5 deep with lots of flags, cheering and even neighbours having garden parties.

Eight thousand people will pass the torch from hand-to-hand, reaching the length and breadth of Britain. Ten weeks from now we will see the flame arrive at the Olympic Stadium, bringing with it the excitement for the GB team!