The Baking Book

Unfortunately this book is out of print. Amazon had one used one available. It is a great book.
Here is the Marbled Chocolate and Orange Loaf recipe.
You can also download the PDF.

Serves 6

Ingredients:

50g/2oz plain dark chocolate

125g/4oz butter, softened

125g/4oz caster sugar

zest of one orange

2 medium eggs, beaten

125g/4oz self raising flour

2 tsp orange juice

1 tbsp cocoa powder

To Finish:

1 tbsp icing sugar

1 tsp cocoa powder

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 C or 350 F or Gas Mark 4. Lightly oil a 450g loaf tin and line the base with non-stick baking paper.
   
2. Put the chocolate in a bowl over a saucepan of hot water. Stir occasionally until melted. Remove from heat and leave to cool a bit. I microwaved the chocolate squares 1 min on medium and one min on medium high. Stirring the last lumps until they melt.
   
3. Meanwhile, cream together the butter, sugar and orange zest until pale and fluffy. Gradually add the beaten eggs, beating well after each addition.
   
4. Sift in the flour, add the orange juice and fold with a metal spoon or rubber spatula. Divide the mixture into two bowls. Gently fold the cocoa powder and chocolate into one of the bowls.

5.     Drop tablespoonfuls of each cake mixture into the prepared tin, alternating between the orange and chocolate mixtures. Briefly swirl the colours together with a knife to give a marbled affect.

6.     Bake in a preheated oven for 40 mins, or until firm and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave in the tin for 5 mins, then turn out and cool on a wire rack. Carefully remove the lining paper.

7.     Dust the cake with icing sugar and then with cocoa powder. Cut into thick slices and serve. I made some icing using the left over orange juice.

My husband says this is the best cake I have ever made :)

I have to show you my Botanic Garden cups and spoons. They are my souvenir from Iron Bridge in England. The gift shop had all sorts of nice things. I would so love the whole dinner set.

Cheers,

Val

Quilted Mystery series

by Barbara Graham

Nice murder mystery involving the sheriff of a small town and his wife Theo who owns a quilt shop.
I quite enjoyed Murder by Music. A bit of humorous banter between characters. I liked the way the several deaths were woven together and the murderer was not revealed until the last few pages. As with most of the cosy mysteries there is no use trying to guess the killer from clues.
I will be looking for others in the series in my library.

Quilted Mystery
1. Murder By Serpents: The Mystery Quilt (2008)
2. Murder By Artifact: The Murder Quilt (2009)
3. Murder By Music: The Wedding Quilt (2011)
4. Murder By Vegetable: The Baby Quilt (2012)
5. Murder By Sunlight : The Charity Quilt (2013)

I have read:
Murder by Music - Nov 2013

Agatha Raisin

by M C Beaton

Agatha Raisin
1. Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death (1992)
2. Agatha Raisin and the Vicious Vet (1993)
3. Agatha Raisin and the Potted Gardener (1994)
4. Agatha Raisin and the Walkers of Dembley (1995)
5. Agatha Raisin and the Murderous Marriage (1996)
6. Agatha Raisin and the Terrible Tourist (1997)
7. Agatha Raisin and the Wellspring of Death (1998)
8. Agatha Raisin and the Wizard of Evesham (1999)
9. Agatha Raisin and the Witch of Wyckhadden (1999)
10. Agatha Raisin and the Fairies of Fryfam (2000)
11. Agatha Raisin and the Love from Hell (2001)
12. Agatha Raisin and the Day the Floods Came (2002)
13. Agatha Raisin and the Case of the Curious Curate (2003)
14. Agatha Raisin and the Haunted House (2003)
15. The Deadly Dance (2004)
16. Agatha Raisin and the Perfect Paragon (2005)
17. Love, Lies and Liquor (2006)
18. Kissing Christmas Goodbye (2007)
19. Agatha Raisin and a Spoonful of Poison (2008)
20. There Goes The Bride (2009)
21. Busy Body (2010)
22. As the Pig Turns (2011)
23. Hiss and Hers (2012)
24. Something Borrowed, Someone Dead (2013)

I just love these books.
Agatha is such an odd character. A bit crotchety but smart and tough. She is 50 something and runs a private detective agency. The plot is always funny and interesting. She gets into so much trouble.
Can't remember all the ones I have read :(

If you like Agatha you will also like Hamish MacBeth

Something Borrowed Something Dead  - Finished Oct 2013

Carolyn Hart - a new book

I have really enjoyed the light reading style of the Death on Demand series with Annie Darling book store owner so I thought I would try her latest novel about a lady who can look into the eyes of cats and get snippets of what they are thinking. As a cat lover I think she could have played up that side of things a lot more. It is really just an aside to the story somehow. It was also as though she hadn't thought the story through and just kept putting in updates of the clues and suspects so far. I am sure there were at least 10 two page suspect updates which got rather tedious because they seemed all the same to me.
I think this one is maybe a 2 out 5. get it from your library if you can rather than buy it.

Annie Darling, Death on Demand mysteries

by Carolyn Hart

Death On Demand
1. Death on Demand (1987)
2. Design for Murder (1988)
3. Something Wicked (1988)
4. Honeymoon With Murder (1988)
5. A Little Class on Murder (1989)
6. Deadly Valentine (1990)
7. The Christie Caper (1991)
8. Southern Ghost (1992)
9. Mint Julep Murder (1995)
10. Yankee Doodle Dead (1998)
11. White Elephant Dead (1999)
12. Sugarplum Dead (2000)
13. April Fool Dead (2002)
14. Engaged to Die (2003)
15. Murder Walks the Plank (2004)
16. Death of the Party (2005)
17. Dead Days of Summer (2006)
18. Death Walked in (2008)
19. Dare to Die (2009)
20. Laughed 'til He Died (2010)
21. Dead by Midnight (2011)
22. Death Comes Silently (2012)
23. Dead, White, and Blue (2013)

Definitely plenty to choose from. I have read a many of them and find them all a bit the same but they are good if you don't read them all at once. The characters are a bit fanciful and perfect for me.

Completed reading.
Death by Midnight October 2013
Laughed til He Died October 2013

Sloan and Crosby murder mysteries

by Catherine Aird

Fantastic Fiction Link

Sloan and Crosby Mystery
1. The Religious Body (1966)
2. Henrietta Who? (1968)
3. The Complete Steel (1969)
     aka The Stately Home Murder
4. A Late Phoenix (1970)
5. His Burial Too (1973)
6. Slight Mourning (1975)
7. Parting Breath (1977)
8. Some Die Eloquent (1979)
9. Passing Strange (1980)
10. Last Respects (1982)
11. Harm's Way (1984)
12. A Dead Liberty (1986)
13. The Body Politic (1990)
14. A Going Concern (1993)
15. Injury Time (1994)
16. After Effects (1996)
17. Stiff News (1998)
18. Little Knell (2000)
19. Amendment Of Life (2002)
20. A Hole in One (2005)
21. Losing Ground (2007)
22. Past Tense (2011)

I have enjoyed the latest two. Past Tense and Dead Heading (no. 23 got choppped off)

Her style is dry humour I suppose. The humdrum life of a village DI and his side kick. Similar to Midsomer Murders.

Now I have to try to find the older ones.

I have

Quilting cosies on Kindle

TIE DIED: A Quilting Cozy (Quilting Cozy Series) [Kindle Edition]

Carol Dean Jones (Author)

4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)

RUNNING STITCHES: A Quilting Cozy [Kindle Edition]

Carol Dean Jones (Author)

4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)

I loved both these books. The heroine is 68, a widow and just moved into a retirement village. Quilts pop up through the story. I liked the style and they were satisfyingly long for a $2.99 eBook.

I read them on my iPad with the Kindle app.