Confessions of a baker

I've made much of my love of baking and how I would happily spend every spare moment whipping up a nice cake. Not a word of a lie, I promise you, but I do have a little confession to make. Sunday was World Baking Day and what did I do? I sat in the sunshine (SUN!! I know!), sipping a lovely cold G&T, with not a whisk or a spatula in sight. The lovely cake in the picture was, in fact, made by No. 1 Sister; a delicious gooseberry upside-down cake baked that morning. The berries were the last survivors of her dearly departed allotment, frozen after the final harvest last autumn. It's safe to say that their life's mission is now complete - the tart gooseberries were the perfect partner for the soft sponge with its caramelised topping.

After a really fabulous afternoon soaking up the sun in the back garden, we had a celebratory family dinner (I know I've a bit of mention-itis, with 'sun this' and 'sun that', so apologies to those of you who were stuck with cloudy skies). No.2 Sister had prepared a very tasty lamb tagine with couscous, which, given its Morrocan origins seemed fitting for such a sunny day (oops, there I go again, sorry!). Dessert was also provided by No.2 Sister (No.3 Sister was off-duty as she's studying hard for her exams) and came straight from the pages of the old Hamlyn All-Colour Cookbook. Scandanavian Apple Charlotte was very popular in our house as a special Sunday dessert and every now and again one of us gets a hankering for it. It's like the posh relative of an apple crumble, with layers of stewed apple and a crispy, crumble mixture. It is presented, in all its 1970s glory, in a glass bowl so you can see the layers, topped with whipped cream and then sprinkled with Cadbury's Flake. Oh, but it was good!

So in summary, I got to spend World Baking Day doing nothing more taxing than sitting in the sun and eating fabulous home-made cakes and desserts not made by me. Thank heavens for sisters!