Minty had a lovely time at the Old Folks Home. And the Old Folks had a lovely time with Minty.
Taking photos was difficult today as TonTon was being distracted and a bit bossy.
As Minty wandered about getting her share of love. 
Naughty Meadow hoofed it around the hall baa-ing in everyones ear. Especially annoying Ton who had been told to take a break. 
Here Minty fell completely asleep in this woman’s arms and she almost missed her lunch. She was quite happy for Minty to sleep there as long as she wanted, even though that lamb is getting heavy. The chickens did the rounds but I got overly involved trying to stop Meadow from wreaking havoc in every corner. So the camera was not out often. I am not taking Meadow again. She was just loud and naughty.
Minty was, of course, perfect. We came home to pigs in the pool and all the farm work. So it was off with the good boots and on with the gumboots. I swapped out the handbag and camera for the shovel and fork, tied my hair back and got to work. 
Later I was feeling tired and needy. I needed a cup of tea, a sit down on the step and a catch-up Think. I had been sent a wonderful surprise gift of GOLDEN SYRUP the other day and we were having THIS for dinner. One of ChgJohns Bartolini Kitchens Staples which is simple to make and deeply satisfying. All I had to do was pick greens from the garden to go with it. So I thought I would make a cake to go with my cup of tea. I told you I was feeling tired and needy!!
Here it is. The easiest and moistest chocolate cake in my Battered Book.
Mama’s Moist One Pot Chocolate Cake
In a pot (saucepan).
MELT:
- 75 grams of butter (3 oz)
- 2 big spoons of GOLDEN SYRUP,
- 3/4 cup of milk,
- 3/4 cup of sugar,
- a slug of bourbon (this was the needy bit)
ADD
- 100grams of melted cocoa chocolate or 2 big spoons of cocoa,
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
THEN
- 1 teaspoon baking soda in 1/4 cup of milk
Stir. It will be a very wet mixture. Pour into cake tin. Cook at 350 for 35 minutes.
Good morning. This is a very fast unfussy cake to make, it is moist but light. Because it is made in one pot with a wooden spoon, it has the absolute minimum of washing up, which is why it is a good cake for those tired, needy moments when you just want a slice of cake and a cup of tea.
We have a lovely day dawning here. Minty has already slipped under the fence and is waiting with the cats on the verandah for her milk. She is forgiven because she was so good yesterday. You can’t train a lamb to be a therapy animal and then wonder why it wants to get into your kitchen.
You all have a wonderful day too.
celi
Glad to hear everyone had a lovely time. Including the little pigs that didn’t sulk on being left home but made their own fun in the pool!
One day i will take a pig! they are so funny in their pool! c
Your adventures with the animals are precious. You really could expand on the day at the retirement home and make a charming book. That’s in your spare time, of course!
Oh dear, clearly Meadow was not happy abut visiting the old folk – may she just missed her Mama.
Mandy
I LOVE your cake recipe – scrumptious. I may have to succumb and make one this weekend too – purely for research purposes…
Have a beautiful weekend C.
Poor TonTon. Doing as he’s told and there’s Meadow, standing over and taunting him. Minty looks so peaceful in the resident’s arms. Good for the both of them.
Thank you for the shout out. I had a similar pasta for dinner last night myself. A one pot cake and it’s chocolate? This I must try! It’s supposed to be a great day today, Celi. Good morning!
Since you taught me this pasta it is a regular in the house, last night we had it with chinese cabbage and thinly sliced sausage! YUM! c
Good gracious, it’s lucky for you I didn’t read your menu until it was too late to hop a plane and barge right in!
For a second I was confused. When you said “golden syrup,” I pictured the liquid you made from worm castings.
eeeooo! Only you would think of that!! morning! c
It was on my mind this morning because “worm castings” is Squish’s version of potty-mouth.
That must be a typo. TonTon bossy? I’m not buying it. Great photos and great cake.
Funny, animals are just like children, they all have their own quirks and personalities. Minty was born to love be loved.
Poor Ton in time out…awe, whadjado?
I am tempted to run to the kitchen, whip out the wooden spoon and cast iron to whip up this luscious looking cake…yet, I am trying to shed a few (huh) pounds, so I shall just gaze and drool! (and wipe my chin periodically)
Enjoy your day!
Jess
Yes Minty is the one for sure! Morning Jess. c
I love that cake already. Moist and dense is my thing in that department. Can’t wait to try it. I’m not feeling needy so much as greedy. Minty in the third photo looks content to the point of bliss. What a lovely shot. I have seen human babies with this unfocussed glaze in their grandmother’s arms.
Minty does tend to go into that drifty zone! So sweet.. c
OOOOH looks like a delicious chocolate cake! I’ll have to make that – and it looks SO easy! Yes, I’m sure it will fit into my schedule. Cute little animals…..just darling!
I am so happy you and your darling animals had such a wonderful time
As for this cake my friend, you excel yourself – an easy moist chocolate cake? Dangerous and delicious!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
So love the joy you are bringing to the old folks with your animals Celi! It’s wonderful!
One quick question….where did you get your piggy pool??? The only pools we have around here are from Walmart….sadly the only store around here as well….and it’s a cheap plastic kiddie pool. We sure need something like your pigs have both for our pigs and for our ducks and geese. xo
It is an old toddlers paddling pool that Johns kids have long since grown out of and i found in the back of the barn loft. It is just rigid plastic. I will look in it and find the logo, that may help you.c
That would be great Celi! I haven’t seen anything that durable anywhere around here!
Meadow is a rebel, plain and simple… I bet you could bake that cake right in the pot, as long as the handle was either metal or heat resistant. I’m gonna try it.
Let us all know how it goes please!
excellent idea! even less washing up! c
It looks like Meadow’s talents lie elsewhere! I think I might start calling my wellies gumboots – you can get your mouth around the word gumboots. Cx
Oops, we clearly all have very different personalites and different aptitudes even at such a young age! But I’m sure it was fun. That cake looks very yummy, like a fudgy one? Mm. I will remember your recipe for moments of need (moist cakes are particularly great for trips away because they don’t get dry so quickly in a tin, I find) but this week I am overbaked. If anyone deserves cake, you do. Can’t you get syrup at all? Just that wretched corn stuff?! Ugh.
when i can’t find golden syrup i use maple syrup, not the same but good enough really! c
Maple syrup is very yummy.
The blue hue of those flowers (irises?) is stunning.
I can only imagine how difficult it was to shoot photos AND juggle all those animals, especially that naughty Meadow and moody TonTon. I doubt the old folks even noticed. Or, if they did, you all are now the talk of the home.
yes that is an iris, this is its first year flowering, it is quite beautiful isn’t it and an unusual shape too.. morning audrey! c
My grandmother used to make a one-bowl chocolate cake that she mixed in the bowl and put directly into the oven in the bowl. She called it “Easy Moist Cocoa Cake.” It had no milk or butter (used oil) and it used vinegar and baking soda to rise. Quite tasty, too. No bourbon — she was a teetotaler.
Hmm, that sounds interesting, do you or you mum have her recipe? less dishes the better i say! c
I do. I’ll bring it upstairs and post it in the comments next time I go visiting your blog.
Excellent! thank you.. c
I guess the farm animals are kind of like children…there’s always that ONE that misbehaves!
Your cake looks divine!! Wish I had a piece for my breakfast… Have a lovely day ~ April
Minty wants to be a lap sheep! That’ll be entertaining when she grows up
Oh mercy!! i will have to being a little step ladder! c
Despite the added confusion – Meadow was probably a hot topic of conversation after you left – so success! (but once is enough?) Minty will probably be in great demand – so sweet.
Somehow there’s probably a broad universal lesson for life in this quote ” You can’t train a lamb to be a therapy animal and then wonder why it wants to get into your kitchen.” ( Maybe you should start a list somewhere of “Lessons for life from the Farmy” – a chapter in a book – or a short clever gift book on it’s own…don’t laugh…people love down to earth sayings and scenes,,,it’s comforting in a complex world)
Anyway the cake looks yummy.
Enjoy the day!
I am not laughing, in fact that is an excellent framework to hang the farmy book on. I just need to find the lines. Point them out as you see them Mouse. Sometimes I don’t even notice myself! Love the cars on your pages today by the way!! c
Looking at those sweet pictures of Minty in that woman’s lap actually makes me quite jealous…I want to reach out to pet and hold her!
TonTon is such a good and obedient boy, I’m sure he wanted to teach Meadow a thing or two about that. Oh, boy, another great cake of yours to try!
No chance of giving The Murphy a try then ….. might surprise everybody? What a beautiful blue Iris! I’m sure the Old Codgers enjoyed the visit despite it leaving you frazzled – those treats were your due
Laura
The Murphy is a Mama’s boy!! (laughter) I cannot even catch him! It was a nice quiet drive though having two lambs as company for each other. but did not really work out in the long run! morning laura! c
Naughty Meadow! I cna just picture you trying to keep order yesterday. The cake looks delicious and the pasta is one of my absolute favorites. But I am on the Beach Beautification Diet in preparation for next weeks sabbatical to the British Virgin Islands, and am not allowing myself ANY carbs. Now I have a longing. What is the Golden Syrup?
The cake looks amazing! I always love looking at the pictures of the animals on your visits – so nice that you take time to do that!
Scrumptious post – words and cake. I wonder of TonTon’s nose is slightly out of joint because of all the attention the others are getting?
Poor little lamb gallovanting all over the place!
i bet those people look forward to your visits all week long!
Loving your photos – Have a Great Weekend!
Love those dark blue flowers!
But you shouldn’t have shown me the Chocolate Cake. I get all hungry now!
Scrumptions post – words, pics and cake recipe. I wonder if TonTon was finding his nose a little out of joint, with all the attention going to the other animals?
An incredibly heart warming post, Celi. I have just returned Spice the welsh collie back to my mum and dad after a months absence and seen the healing, therapeutic effect she had on them both. Animals are such a blessing. your lambs, and Ton Ton – what a joy. ANd as usual, the pictures are just beautiful.
Thanks kate, there is a very good reason for having animals around, imagine if we had no pets!! awful.. c
This looks a great cake! If it’s OK I think I’m going to print the recipe. I always love to make cakes that don’t have eggs in.
I think you deserved pasta and chocolate cake after your day – poor little Meadow, but maybe she´ll be happier being naughty at home!
The cake looks lovely.
As a collector of chocolate recipes I will have to make this one immediately, and a comment on the aforementioned outing with the animals, I went to a curated exhibition last night of artists who have a passion for other animals and discovered via the guest speaker academic that there is a whole field of study in universities of the relationship between them.You are putting the real thing into practice.
send them the photos! they don’t need to study it bless them. The pics will prove it! I would love to have heard that talk too! Good morning and Welcome c
Hi Celi, one of the (many) bloggers I follow had the good sense to tag your blog, and I followed. Now I’m addicted, & look forward to thekitchensgarden email notifcations and greedily devour your posts & photos. If you can accomplish all this via a blog, who knows what power that chocolate cake could hold over me
EllaDee
Morning EllaDee and thank you so much for commenting and making my day, it is great to hear from you.. welcome to The Kitchens Garden.. c
I love how Minty is in the arms of that lovely lady and is so happy and peaceful that she can fall asleep. It’s a wonderful thing that you do for the residents in the retirement village but I can imagine, exhausting! Great looking cake xx
Such precious pictures, Celi. I just can hardly imagine traveling with such a menagerie, but looking at the faces of the older folk, the effort must surely be rewarding. You earned a catch-up think…as well as bourbon and chocolate, I’d say! Sounds. Like a wonderful recipe. Debra
As any director will point out, trying to put on a production with children is chaotic and unpredictable. Then with animal babies…well, poor Celi and Ton Ton! No wonder you needed a chocolate pick-me-up!
It would be delightful live at your house. Terry and I are exhausted and it is just the first of May, I wonder what we will be feeling the first of October.
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
http://deltacountyhistoricalsociety.wordpress.com
And we have the heat coming too! Pace yourself.. i wish i could pop over to lend you a hand, they say its a small world but really it is still BIG! c
Yummy!
It is so wonderful what you are doing. I felt touched at seeing the old woman holding the sleeping Minty. It sounds a huge juggle for you, like having a tribe of naughty children, as well as the old ones, the camera, the logistics of it all. No wonder you felt needy. I’m wishing you a homecoming that has a cake and cup of tea ready and waiting.
My 12 year old daughter and I are making your cake today! I don’t normally have bourbon but we recently bought some which is in the process of becoming vanilla (it’s been working about a month) so we used a slug of that. I also happened to have the sorghom molasses. It’s going into the oven now. As always I enjoyed your post and love hearing about your farmy.
The molasses will be a wonderful substitute, i hope it turns out, how lovely to cook together with your daughter, such precious time, even now that my daughter is grown when we cook together we fall into that delicious mother daughter rhythm.. take care, c
It was delicious and my husband wants me to make them to sell at our little local convenience store where he works. He REALLY loved it!
having a local store to sell stuff must be great!!! I am glad he liked it! c
Lovely post – I too think Ton Ton is annoyed with all the attention the lambs get which he used to have all to himself. Just like kids – do anything to get attention. Wonderful job you are doing taking your pets to visit every week – it would be the highlight of the week for them I am sure. What fun (afterwards?). Joy
I’ve heard about golden syrup but have never baked with it. This cake looks yummy.
I’ve been wanting to make that meal of ChgoJohn’s. I actually had all the ingredients and planned on it a few weeks ago and then things got nuts and I of course forgot. So now, I’m going to put it on this week’s menu. Minty is such a doll. I imagine she brought so much happiness to the woman she took a little nap with. So precious!
Anything made with a slug of bourbon is the right sort of cake.. maybe a shot to go with would be a great idea, I think I need one now… xoxo Hope you had a great Mother’s Day!!
That naughty Meadow! Glad everyone else was behaving well.
I looked up Golden Syrup because I had never heard of it before. It sounds delicious but is not to be found locally. Hmm. It was called Treacle on one site, I know that Treacle = Molasses, and I use an unsulphered brand. So, would the unsulphered molasses work? Or would it be too strong? (The substitutes involved corn syrup, GACK!) Thanks! ~ Lynda
absolutely GACK! You could use sorghum, or maple syrup. Now that i think about it molasses may actually add an interesting flavour and deepen the colour.. but any of those would work as far as the recipe goes .. c
Thanks. Celi!
Cake looks scrumptious! I do enjoy the visits to the home. The lamb looks so content.
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