Consolation cake

Last night was Expat's Quiz - we play once a month in a local bar and much fun is had by all.  Of course, we don't take it very seriously at all.....

Well, I have to admit that last night broke my duck.....

I didn't win.  I always win.

Not only that, but I was beaten on a Jubilee themed quiz by a team of natives.  Not my finest hour. In fact, none of the truly British teams performed very well....perhaps we'd all been Jubileed out and were suffering from over exposure.

So I had to settle for joint second place (with about four other teams) and quite frankly it's just not good enough.

KM and I scored 19. How would you have fared?  Here is the quiz....

1 Who barged into her own party last Sunday?
2 Which club holds a grass court tennis championship in West Kensington used by many players as a warm up for Wimbledon?
3 Which borough of New York City did the character, Fran Fine in the TV show the Nanny grow up in?
4 What is the most powerful piece in the game of chess?
5 Today is the official birthday of which Australian State?
 

Royal scandal
6 Who was involved in public toe sucking?
7 Who was photographed in Nazi uniform?
8 Who wanted to be a tampon?
9 Who drives without having ever done a driving test and prefers not to wear a seatbelt?
10 Who said of his daughter “If it doesn't fart or eat hay then she isn't interested"? 

11-15 were the Music questions - all Queen hits!

Royal general knowledge
16 What animal makes Royal jelly?
17 Who received an Academy award for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth the second?
18 Which state of the USA was named after a ruling queen of England?
19 Who is the richest, Elizabeth II or Hans Adam II of Liechtenstein?
20 True or false? When the RSPCA decided not to charge Prince Philip over the death of a fox, a protester demonstrated against it by eating a corgi.

Royal Multiple Choice
21 Every royal palace has a brushing room. What is it used for? A polishing tableware. B cleaning military uniforms. C headquarters for domestic organisation of the palace D extramarital royal rendezvous
22 Where was Phillip Duke of Edinburgh born? A In Zurich, Switzerland in a private hospital B In Corfu, Greece on a kitchen table. C In Hessen, Germany on the family estate. D In Denmark in a hunting lodge during a shoot.
23 What gift did the princess Elizabeth receive on her 18th birthday? A koala B a coronet C a corgi D Cornwall
24 Where does Queen Elizabeth keep her mace? A In her handbag, just in case B In the Royal Kitchen, for curries C In Parliament, to show who is boss D In the lodge at Balmoral to make kindling at family barbecues
25 Who is the current “Keeper of the Queen's Conscience”? A Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall B Kenneth Clarke MP C Rupert Murdoch D Lord Voldemort

Thanks must go to our friendly antipodean quiz master - another great event!!  

So today I consoled myself with cake.  I've been getting back into home baking as I'm trying to stop buying so much rubbish for the kindling and provide them with more wholesome treats!  Cue homemade cakes and biscuits, fresh popcorn instead of crisps and that sort of thing.  So I've been using up my precious supply of self-raising flour.

Today's cake followed my usual kitchen practises of not wanting to waste anything left in the fridge and being a bit adventurous on flavour combinations....  So we had coconut and lemon loaf cake with buttercream icing.

 

A simple sponge

125g Butter
175g Sugar
2 Eggs
175g SR Flour
pinch salt
3-4 tbsps Milk (I used leftover coconut milk from a curry earlier in the week!)

I added some lemon zest too.

Beat the whole lot with an electric whisk, put in a well greased loaf tin and bake at 180c for 45mins.

Buttercream

2:1 ratio of icing sugar to butter.  Then a few drops of flavouring (lemon juice today but usually vanilla extract) and a couple of tablespoons of milk (coconut milk today!)

The secret of a good butter cream is to really really beat the butter first on its own until it is really pale and fluffy, then pop the icing sugar in and beat, beat, beat some more!

Yummy!  I can report that coconut and lemon is a winning combination - more than can be said for KM and I last night!