It’s my Birthday and I am playing Russian roulette with a new cake recipe and I am far too excited by the whole day to really get into a baking zone. The kitchen is in chaos; and my happiness endorphins after an early power walk see me as high as a kite.
I look up and Vanessa from http://www.theflowermillcornwall.co.uk is standing at my door with a huge bunch of her beautiful flowers from her cutting garden! In she comes with her partner Phil and suddenly the cluttered kitchen is full of love and laughter and fun, just at the moment that the cake mix hits the tin.
The scent of baking cake, with lemon and honey, fills the air as the coffee machine gurgles and I serve toasted Swedish Limpa with melted butter. And the Birthday cake, fresh from the oven and made in a special mould embellished with honeycomb and bees pops out of the tin with ease and we raise a toast to friendship.
It’s cosy by the Rayburn and there is plenty of cake and Devonshire clotted cream which I would love to share with my friends from the blogosphere- go on, pull up a chair and lets celebrate the ingredient which put heart and soul into my Birthday cake; Friendship!
Dartmoor Flower Shed 
So, so happy to spend such a precious couple of hours with you on your Special Day – a great big slice of Friendship is just priceless – thankyou xx
Bee-autiful cake!
The combination of you both arriving and the fabulous flowers just really made my day. The cake has all gone, but the flowers keep getting better and better. x x
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE limpa! It is a close cousin in flavor to cardemom bread. You have taken me back to my childhood! My mother raised me on cardemom bread cooked in a coffee tin with the raised crown wiped with milk and sprinked with sugar before cooking. The smell filled the kitchen with love!!! When it was ready mom would slice us generous to wedges, butter ine side til toasty and crunchy on pne side and then yum!
I love your story Jan. I can feel the love which your Mother put into the baking of her special cake/bread for you. I so wish I could go back there with you to when you were little to try some. It would make me so happy to try to recreate it for you. I know we are too far away for this to happen, but I would love to try it here and write about it. Can you remember the recipe?
I will will try to find it. I can see we are true kindred spirits! And a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Thank you so much Jan. Wouldn’t it make a lovely post? Something that had come about through our friendship across the miles. Did your Mother slice the cake/ bread from side to side and was it a tall tin? So many questions…sorry x
By the way, I reblogged your post today (your friend’s bouquet that keeps blossoming) and e-mailed it to a couple dozen of my girlfriends. How can they help but love you?!
I feel so blessed to wake up and read this comment .And Thank you so much for the reblog.
You are welcome!
Oh Karen the cake looks so yummy. Hope you enjoyed your special dayxx
Thank you so much Pauline. I had a lovely day full of baking and sharing. I wish every Saturday could be like that. x x
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! The cake sounds devine with Devonshire clotted cream hmmm. I hope you had a wonderful day.
Honey
Thank you so much Honey. Baking makes me feel so content and comforted. I used to teach bread making and it was great to be able to introduce the magic of baking with yeast to others.
I had such a lovely day, thank you.
Karen.
I wish I lived closer to you. My husband and I would both love to takd a bread baking class.He is the bread baker in this family. I would like to learn and use my mixer to knead it for me. I have not found books or sites using the mixer to save my back and hands. I agree with you I enjoy baking.I am so glad that you had a great day.
Honey
A very Happy Birthday to you, Karen! Your beautiful words and description of your cosy kitchen made me feel as though I was right there celebrating along with you. The cake sounds magical – and when shared with good friends – even better! I hope you had a wonderful day. xoxox
Thank you so much. I loved the day because it was home-based which meant I was there when friends popped round. Wish you could have come too, but thanks for being there in spirit.
Karen x x
Your cakes look devine, hope you had a wonderful day, and who better to share it with than Vanessa xx
How lucky was I ? Her flowers are still fabulous, 6 days on. Local, cutting garden flowers are the best! x x
Happy Belated Birthday-you are blessed to have a friend that brings such warmth to your ktichen…I agree with above, your writing is so inviting! I wished I was in your kitchen on this day-If I closed my eyes I could imagine it just as you said…..your photos are “collages” that tell a story—what a gift you have:-) I wish you lived down the street from me:-)
Lets be virtual neighbours !
Thanks so much for the Birthday wishes and for saying such nice things. Kind words really lift a misty day on Dartmoor.
Oh, what a lovely scene you paint! It draws me right into your kitchen and I can smell the cake and see the flowers. Happy belated birthday, Karen.
Your posts are always wonderful, Karen, regards Mitza
I think, like you, that we both have lots of ideas. You are so creative Mitza and I feel very happy that you like what I do. x
You are probably as creative as me but do other things. Don’t hide your light under a bushel, Karen.