Shirley Tulips, Plum Cake,

I've put that straight into my favourites ~ it looks wonderful.
i love your kitchen.
you got plums growing over an arch? very clever.

i agree sticki ............... my kind of kitchen !!! lovely cake , carnt belive its that time of year again lol ..........

Yum! I want some! lol..great to grow then make a cake ..love your kitchen too! :)

Im sure i should have this recipe somewhere...? If not please can you put it on shirley?

Looks lovely, Stroller! I love the way they're trained over the arch, you clever girl! We had a Plum crumble on Sunday ... mmm! . . . . . . .

Sticki, go to my blogs & you'll find the recipe from 13th August 2010, surprisingly it's titled "Fresh Plum Cake Recipe"! ... lol! ..... Or, click on Goypedia, bottom of the page, letter R for Recipes from the garden & scroll through the blogs, you could be there a while though! ... :o)))

ah i thought it must be somewhere ~ thanks shirley and thanks stroller.

I made it last week Stroller. my husbands favourite, its delicious, like you, no time for the custard.my husband came home with some plums from the shop and said could I have Shirleys plum cake please,

Glad Shirley pointed you in the right direction Sticki you`re gonna love it. Me and hubby had a piece at lunch time, then bro and sis in law popped in and yes they took the rest of it home - so it looks as if I shall be baking again tonight as we have friends coming tomorrow - good job we`ve got plenty of plums.
Yorkshire guess you like it as well then.lol.
Cristina like you its hard to believe its plum picking time and Pixi you`ll just have to imagine luv cause its all gone.
I must admit its a great way to grow them when you have limited space.

I was making the cake last year when Shirley put the recipe on, its so easy and so moist. delicious.

I;m going to try it too :) When I get some plums from a friend who has a plum tree lol.
I tried to make an apple sponge today using a different recipe to normal..its a disaster! bleh! tastes disgusting lol..birds will have a good breakfast though :)

Plums on the shopping list for tomorrow - and creme fraiche! Clotted cream would be better I'm sure but not better for fitting into clothes!

How's about ice cream on warm cake!!

plums are bought, got to start cooking now!!

we got to the warm bit and ate it, no time to get to the ice cream

hopefully it will just come out of the oven in time for pudding.

eat it warm, Oh my mouth is watering, going to buy more plums tomorrow,

it was sooooo good ~ thank you again ~ shirley and stroller.
its light and tangy and moist ~ ooooh really nice.

maybe put ice cream in freezer before making next cake and or carton of custard in da fridge!!

Well Shirley seems its going down a treat.

I've just found the recipe and printed it off - now for the plums...except I have to find a way of making it gluten free for me and more or less sugar free for OH - quite a challenge and I might give up on the sugar and eat it all myself...

Ha, ha, Sticki, told you it was 'moreish'! OH picked some more Plums this evening ... he's going to make jam with them ... I'm liking the sound of that! Perhaps we should take some round to the neighbour ... it's her Plum tree after all! ... :o)))

Stroller, it's just one of those cake and/or puds that everyone seems to like ... :o))

Lol, Steragram, you can't be that cruel, can you? lol! :o)

did you know you can now buy 'fruit sugar' steragram? im assuming its fructose?? can OH have that?

just bought some more plums from Aldi, another cake being made, mmmmmmmmm excellent

Now that's plain greedy ... lol!

I know it is, but its the bestest ever plum cake, Oh by the way, I bought a GIANT tin of golden syrup from Morrisons today also, Lol

i have to get one of those too! need it for flapjack and plum cake!!!

£1,29 for the large tin, how many cakes can I make from that.

lots!!
and the golden syrup lasts forever!!

not if I keep making shirley's plum cake, Lol

Just listen yo you lot, we shall all be joining slimming and keep fit classes at this rate.lol.

Lol Stroller. how many of shirley's cake have you made so far, I dare not tell you how many I have made, had the last slice for breakfast this morning, lovely, need to make the next one now,

Do you know I've read all your comments and my mouth is watering as I'm going down the page. Summer is the time I try not to eat cake to make up for the fruit loaf and cherry and almond cake that i always seem to make in the winter and of course gain pounds and pounds so try to be good in the summer.Mind you if i can scrounge some plums from my cousins tree i might be tempted to try it.

go on Rose, be a devil and spoil yourself, only thing is when you make one you have to make more and more

*Disaster in the kitchen!* Michael decided to make Plum jam this morning, while I was out with Mum, and I was expecting about four jars of it when I returned. What I came home to was a kitchen smelling of burnt jam, a very heavy based pan with a thick, black coating of caramelised sugary jam on the bottom and one dejected OH with one jar of very dodgy looking jam! I've boiled 50/50 vinegar & water to clean it off, no luck, then detergent boiled up, still no luck. So, you Goyers with your handy tips, how do I get the pan back to shiny clean please?

I recomend, you dump it dear, go buy a new one,poor Michael,

Oh no Shirley, when that happens I try a concoction of everything - washing powder, cillit bang, cif, warm it up and then leave it to soak then try Brillo pad on it?

Blimey Sticki, it's a wonder your kitchen hasn't blown up with that concoction bubbling away! ..... I've just been looking at the prices of preserving pans, as he did make some lovely Blackcurrant jam a few weeks ago! . . . . .

I once left a burned saucepan out in the garden for three weeks in the rain and other weather. When I went back to it all the burn had come off by itself!!!

Lol, Shirley, I don't suppose I would, but as OH can't have sugar what can I do?

That's worrying ... makes you wonder what exactly IS in the rain ... :o(( ....... You'll just have to halve the ingredients and make a smaller cake, less guilt then ... lol!

Sorry about Michaels mishap Shirley - unfortunately I don`t have a remedy mine would have been the same as yours 50/50 vinigar and water, or a good soak overnight with fairy liquid.
Yorkshire I only made one for us and one for our visitors, and dont intend to make any more this week as we are off to Llangollen Wharf on Saturday for a Horse drawn canal boat trip and a couple of days looking round that area, and we dont want to put too much strain on the poor horse that doing the towing.lol.

Stroller, he's just said he'll get me a preserving pan for my birthday ... and if I don't want it he'll have it! That's NOT going to happen ... lol! ....... I love the sound of the canal boat trip ... have a lovely time ... :o))

I can beat that Shirley only it was me that caused the trouble. Years ago living in a much smaller house and garden my cousin brought me some plums and i thought it would be a good idea to make jam.Had never made it before so i used my best very large pan , got all my kilner jars which i had been collecting (car boots etc.) and made a start.The pan was on and everything was going well, when a neigbour shouted me. As the cooker was near the back door ,i popped my head out for a minute.Went back to the jam which in that minute had burnt,(little swear word!) and in a panic lifted it off the cooker onto the worktop ,burnt large hole in it...panic...lifted the pan and put it onto the kitchen floor on the very large lovely rug, burnt a hole in it...took it off the mat with a cicle of rug attached to the bottom of pan which then went in yard.Previous to this i thought that i should steralise all jars by scalding them in boiling water,all the bottems dropped out! The outcome of this is ....a new rug ,pan in bin, a new worktop,one angry hubby and have beened banned from making jam ever again!

oh no rose, im sorry but i smiled! i believe the supermarkets and farmers markets sell very nice jam!

stroller please take your camera ~ i would love to see some photos.

made a spanish tortilla last summer whilst the boss was at cricket, a huge pan, got all my veg in lovely and eggs and put it under the grill to brown off, took it out of the grill and the handle dropped off, I had melted it, I have a black tiled kitchen floor which I had just washed that morning, could not see the floor for the didaster that hit it, I was fuming, phoned my daughter as I needed someone to scream at, my 24 year old grandaughter answered the phone, poor kid, I remember her saying but what have I done Gran, Gran I am sorry for what I have done but I don't know what, I am screaming at her you have done nothing the b----y handle has melted and the kitchen is a right mess, get your mother on the phone, she said Mum has gone out, I said just my luck and hung up, we have laughed so many times since, thinking poor grandaughter. so we all have disasters in the kitchen, sorry to hear about yours Rose but I could'nt help but laugh, sorry

That is a woeful tale, Rose, the things you do just to never make jam again ... lol!

It worked didn't it Shirley! Glad it made you smile .Your poor granddaughter Yorkshire,I.m pleased i'm not the only one who does daft things.

Oh Rose... laughed till I almost cried. But it wasn't funny at the time was it? Perhaps now you are a little older and wiser you could have another go? The horridest thing I ever did was to lick the spoon when I was boiling fudge - did it automatically and never gave a thought to the temperature of boiling sugar. I had a scarred mouth and fingers for ages. You can still see a white patch on one finger thirty years later - but it didn't stop the sweetie making.

Shirley I think the rain was OK where we lived - I put it down to it being nice soft water - never thought about pollution.

:o))))

oh,that made me wince Steragram. I bet you never did it again. I don't think hubby is prepared to give my jam making another go.Its a different house now with a new kitchen !

Hi,I am new to this and I have enjoyed reading the blogs enormously and, sorry Rose, but I haven't laughed so much since Mortcambe & Wise had us all rolling in the isles. But I am sorry for your costly mishap. I never make jam so I definitely won't start now.

Bredakelly, don't let one mishap put you off - jam making so so rewarding - nothing like standing back and looking at a little row of jars you've produced yourself. It isn't hard if you have a big pan and a sugar thermometer (thermometer not strictly necessary but easier until you are more experienced in what the boiling jam looks like at different temperatures) Go on, live dangerously!

Recipe for jam anyone??

I'll tell that to hubby shall i Steragram!

We aim to please.We used to love watching Morcambe and Wise.Welcome to Goy Bredakelly,I'm sure you will enjoy it on here , I know I do.

Well you could try - depends what his sense of adventure's like! (and his memory, come to that...)

Sticky, have you seen my recipe for blackcurrant jam a little while ago? Admittedly it only used one blackcurrant, but you couldn't make a big mess with it! (Slimdil's question 1st August)

well that sounds a tasty idea [for someone with a very small appetite??] i cant find it ~ but i will keep trying.

I think thats the perfect recipe for me. I couldn't go wrong with that , could I! Hubbies memory Steragram is like the elephants with things he only wants to remember.

How do I find it steraram please?

i just made 3 jars of plum jam ........... ermmmmmm yum

Sory Sticki, it was 6th Aug, not 1st. The question was asking for a recipe.
Well Rose, Good luck with that then. Send me a tiny jar if you can fine one small enough.
Plum jam Cristina - double yum!

Sorry stera I am being hopeless, still can't find it - bit distracted - youngest son gets married today!

happy wedding day hun, i,m of to do wedding hair trail to day !!!

Thanks Cristina

Hello Steragram, nice of you to try and encourage me so I might give it a go when I get enough fruit from my lovely neighbour who grows just about everything and I also have a very generous friend who also gives me lots of goodies in the summer season. I used to make blackberry jam years ago when my kids were young but have grown lazy. Best of luck. Breda

Sticki, I can't find it either now - I don't know how to search for questions as far back as that. It isn't worth the trouble anyway - it was only very silly. The question was how to make jam with one blackcurrant (the entire crop!) and I invented a detailed recipe. The whole thread was quite funny but I'm sorry I can't remember who asked the original question. I hope the wedding went well and you can now relax again!

Go on Breda, live dangerously. Blackberry is lovely isn't it? I was making some once when I had to go out and leave it - didn't think it had reached setting point and thought I'd just boil it up again when I got home but it had - when i got back I had a pan full of set jelly.

Type 'Blackcurrant jam' into the search box, top right, and you'll find the question, second one down ... it's a very amusing thread! . . . . . . .

i shall enjoy looking at that ~ thanks steragram and shirley

Hurray, at last I have found a local source of free plums, yum. Cake here I come.

hope you havent been scrumping stratgram!!!

Not yet - but the owner of the house is now in a home and really doesn't need them...

Oh sorry, just realised I wrote your name wrongly. Blame predictive text!

I wonder what it thought it was predicting?

who knows!!! it does sometimes do some very funny things. i think smirnoff used to come up as poisoned on one phone that i had; phoned came up as sinned and mum as nun ~ sometimes needed careful checking before the message was sent!!!

On the rare occasions I send a text I don't use it - it never has a clue about what I'm trying to say and it takes longer to correct it than to write it all out.

i love texting but no one texts me any more!!
i wore out two phones while i was in college!!

I always use predictive text ... but rarely make an actual call on my mobile! ....... There was a news report in the local rag of a lady being mugged for her mobile ... the robber looked at it and said it's rubbish ... gave it back to her! Sounds like it was as old as mine ... lol!

oh dear oh dear!!
i like those new iphones but they cost so much to run!! try writing smirnoff shirley!!

Ha ha, it said 'Poisoned' ... good job I don't use that word in my texts ... lol!

There are some funny ones!
The reason I found that out was that my son had a little Russian hamster at university which he called smirnoff!!

Watch out for 'phoned' as well, it can come out as sinned!!

Can anyone tell me of another site where you can get from blogging about Shirleys Plum Cake to texting on mobile phones?. What are we like.!!!!!

It gets worse stroller! I hope you weren't thinking of leaving for another web site!

She wouldn't dare, Sticki, too many laughs along the way ... :o))))

exactly my feelings!

Sent you a PM, Sticki . . . . .

there is another photo/blog that started out with a hot air balloon and has ended up [so far] at the dentist!!
another which started as a photo of someones house has so far reached a pub crawl in wellies!!??

off to find it now shirley!!

Leave the site - never. If I`m feeling down I only have to re-read some of Grannyb`s blogs to have a good belly laugh and if its a story I want then turn to Terratoine and her cast of wee folk.
Then theres all the friends you make along the way and all the gardening advise, I`m sure my garden has improved no end since joining goy - so yes you could say I`m a fan.

Pleased to hear that stroller! I loved Grannyb's little pot stories.

I made the cake Stroller.It was soooo nice I'm making 2 more, one for my cousin who brought me the plums and one more for us.

Got the plums eventually but there was no blog for 13th August, and nothing in the recipes. Ah well, booby prize as usual!

13 th August 2010 ... last year! Click on my blogs and you'll find it in there, Steragram ... quickly, before the plums ripen ... lol!

When do damsons become available?

Well, I can only say that the Plums are so ripe they're falling off the tree now, Sticki! ... Not sure about Damsons though ... possibly early next month? . . . . .

They are really lovely stewed with creme fraiche.

Got it now Shirley- thanks.

Well done for finding the recipe! . . . . .