Chocolate Cake

 

Our son cooked this at Christmas and it works well.

300 gm Green & Blacks Plain Chocolate
50 gm Ground Almonds
165 gm unsalted butter
275 gm caster sugar
6 large organic eggs
pinch of sea salt

Place chocolate, butter, sugar and salt into an ovenproof bowl and melt slowly over a pan of simmering water.

While the chocolate is melting, beat the eggs and ground almonds together.

Once melted, remove the chocolate mixture from the heat and fold in the eggs and grounds almonds.

Place the mixture into a lined 23 cm. spring loaded cake tin, and cook at 180C for 35 to 40 minutes, take care to cover the top and sides of the cake tin to prevent the cake burning.

When cooked leave the cake to cool in the tin, then leave overnight in the fridge to set.

The following day remove the cake from the tin and lightly dust with icing sugar.

Elveden Estate

 

Yesterday we were on the A11 at Elveden, which if you know the area, is the only piece of single carriageway road between Newmarket and Norwich.

We went into the Deli/Cafe at the Elveden Estate, which is probably the most luxurious farm shop, we've ever seen. There were lots of very interesting products, many of which were gluten free and probably unheard off outside of Suffolk or Norfolk. It was definitely worth a browse. We bought some Suffolk salami and a Suffolk dressing for salad.

We also had a coffee in the cafe and they said to mention if you had any allergies. Obviously, this didn't apply to the coffee, but I asked and they said they were very much aware of all the problems and would be happy to provide an appropriate meal.

They also have all sorts of other things to do.

Anita Roddick Comes Out

 

Anita Roddick has just announced that she is suffering from hepatitus C.

That was a brave decision to take, but one that is to be welcomed by all.

I just wish that someone would do the same for coeliacs.

Boots and Medicines

 

I've been trying to get rid of a cough/cold for the last week or so.

Yesterday, I went into Boots in Newmarket and asked if they had a list of GF cough mixtures. They didn't. I also asked a pharmacist friend and she didn't know of a list.

So a nasty letter is going off to Boots today.

Castle Farm Estates

 

For lunch today I had a beef lasagne from Castle Farm Estates.

It wasn't bad at all and didn't have the usual nasty pasta.

The company seems to have a very professional history and these ready meals without allergies are a reasonably new venture. They are available in some Waitrose.

The beef lasagne is gluten, wheat, egg, peanut and sesame free.

Halls Mentholyptus

 

I just checked these on the Cadburys nutrition site and the normal ones are neither gluten nor wheat free. The blackcurrant ones are labelled as gluten free (suitable for coeliacs), but not wheat-free. The sugar-free ones though don't have any wheat or gluten.

All very confusing.

Strepsils

 

I've got a monumental sore throat and Celia has bought me some Strepsils.

I phoned them up to see if they were gluten-free as they contain a lot of glucose, which might have been derived from wheat. Their phone help line is only Monday to Thursday and then it stops at 4:30. Fat lot of good that is.

The web site never mentions gluten or coeliac.