Your ViewsKeep your e-mails pouring in, it's good to know that there are lots of you out there with views and opinions. To help you work out what is what, are now little icons to help you see biscuit related themes. And now you can see at a glance which are the most contested subjects via this graph (requires Flash 6.0 plugin). Please keep your mails coming in to nicey@nicecupofteaandasitdown.com | If you like, you can use this search thingy to find stuff that matches with any of the icons you pick, or use the fantastic free text search, Yay! | Your e-Mails |
John Dolan
Tunnocks Tea Cake Review |
Dear Nicey,
Your lovely website has caused quite a stir here at the University of Cambridge.
We were wondering if you could settle a long-standing argument and help us find out which chocolate tea cakes were the ones which had a bit of jam in them?
One of our Scottish staff proudly announced that it was Tunnock's, but the evidence on your site disproves this. Another colleague reckons it was Burton's but they no longer have the bit of jam, another swears that is was Marks & Spencer's own brand but they also no longer contain the jam for some reason, possibly the egg white / gelatine makeup of the mallow.
We would dearly love to source a supply of any tea cakes which still contain the jam, irrespective of manufacturer, egg white/gelatine mallow or real/imitation chocolate casing.
It's the jam that's important to us historians.
Best wishes,
John |
Nicey replies: Well I had a lovely bike ride through the collages the other day so if you had spotted me you could have asked me then. Burton's definitely have red goo inside them I wouldn't exactly call it jam I've always thought of it as part of an alliance which includes the red stuff that goes on top proper ice creams. Having said that you don't see that as often as you used to. I haven't had a Burton's for a little while now but did look at a pack the other day and it still depicted jam in them.
Lee's a Scottish brand also definitely has jam in them too.
I have never encountered a Tunnocks tea cake with jam in it and personally as I said in the review I don't see that it is possible, but would happily be proved wrong. |
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Keith O'Kane |
Dear Nicey and the Wife,
Further to my recent e-mail on the subject of Tifin, I have made further enquiries and found the definition on Wikipedia to be much more helpful than my own dictionary,giving a full account of all of the various uses of the word.
Regarding Tiffin the cake (and I use the classification loosely), my colleagues and I decided to embark on a quest to find the finest example of the breed. Samples from Waitrose, Tesco, Bon Viveur and a home made version were offered for comment and the general consensus seemed to be that the Waitrose version was slightly superior to the others.
The best comment came form Vicki who said, on the subject of classification, "It's trying to be a brownie, but someone's shoved a cherry up it". This sums up the whole Tiffin experience very nicely and has led me to conclude that cheries are an essential ingredient in distinguishing between Tiffin and "Chocolate Refrigerator Cake", the latter being the closest thing to Tiffin I could find at M&S.
Interest in the subject is running high in the office, so it was decided that we should have a Tiffin "bake-off" next week to find the best Tiffin recipe.
There wil be 6 entrants and a judging pannel consisting of the more noteable cake / biscuit eaters in the department.
The contest has been scheduled for 11:00 in an attempt to revive the fine old tradition of "elevenses".
I will endeavour to send you some pictures of the winning entry after the event.
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Nicey replies: Your cause is a noble and just one. |
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Tim Roser |
Hi Nicey & Wifey
It's fantastic to at last see a focus on one of the roots of our great culture, custard.
I for one suffer at the hands of a wife who is neither interested in:
1) Biscuits
2) Custard
3) Cake
4) Chocolate
and who has sought to indoctrinate the children in the ways of 'salad' and 'organic vegetables' and eschews the cornerstones of what I consider to be the point of eating, biscuits and custard.
I have however been stealthily making proper powder custard when the wife is away and feeding it to the children. With cake, and biscuits, and pie.
Personally I am currently veering heavily into chocolate cake made with Green & Blacks, liberally covered in warm custard, and mixed up a bit so it goes super gooey. This is a triumph, as I personally have to make the cake myself and the children help me by licking the bowl, spoons etc and then stuffing as much down their faces as possible. Any 'slops' that fall on the floor are immediately handled by our Border Collie, who becomes stealthy and ninja-like when the cake process is underway, darting from under the table as soon as a 'splat' is heard.
My wife has many other fantastic qualities, and one should not condemn for a lack of interest in tea, biscuits, custard and chocolate and cake.
However, as she has a degree in Philosophy, I am attempting to convince her that her position is Absurdist, but she simply implies that she doesn't like it and that fact leads to Existentialist Tension running through the household, which is to be welcomed.
Personally, I am not convinced. I just want biscuits, cake and custard.
Thanks
Tim Roser
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Nicey replies: Hoorah for you, the kids and the dog!
We also eat lots of salad and organic vegetables (we get a big box delivered every Thursday morning). Wifey too is not fussed on custard which we see as a positive advantage as it means more for the younger members of staff and me. She very sensibly slopes off at pudding time leaving us to it, whilst she marauds around the internet sorting it out.
Mind you Wifey has taught herself how to make cakes now which she is extremely proud of.
Cooking proper puddings with your kids is something you should be proud of too, and your too Wife even if she's not keen on them. |
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Chris
Malted Milk Review |
Nicey,
I would like to add my voice to the growing mass of dedicated Malted Milk followers, chocolate or otherwise. I echo the comments of James Coghlan that Sainsbury's have to stock these biscuits on the most remote, highest and out-of-the-way selves. This does give the impression that by finding, buying and then eating the biscuits, one has been initiated into a secret and ancient club. Which of course, one has.
I have tried to convert my girlfriend to the quality of the Malked Milk, but she remains a firm cake lover.
Chris |
Nicey replies: Yes the Malted Milk is utterly fabulous isn't it, and before anybody else asks which firm cakes does she like? |
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Tricia Dearborn |
The item Karl 'Two Lunches' Hughes describes is clearly what is known in Australia as a 'slice'. I'd wondered about the lack of representation of slice on this site before, and come to the conclusion that it must exist only in Australia - though the Kiwi 'tray bake' sounds like the same thing.
Slice was very popular when I was growing up (the 70s). It can be made from a selection of diverse ingredients mixed and pressed into a tray (and often iced), or from a biscuit recipe cooked in a tray (and often subsequently iced). Sometimed slices are fancy three-layer creations, eg caramel slice (shortbread base, a thick layer of caramel, layer of actual chocolate on top) or peppermint slice (shortbread or chocolate biscuit base, peppermint filling, chocolate layer), or raspberry coconut slice (very crumbly delicious base, raspberry jam, sticky coconut topping). And there are very delicious plainer versions like chocolate slice (chocolate biscuit base, chocolate icing, coconut sprinkled on top) and ginger slice (ginger shortbready biscuit base, plus ginger icing that you cook in a saucepan and which has the unusual quality of making your mouth feel cool when you eat it).
Slice is always made in a shallow, often rectangular tray (a slice tray). You don't see it as often as you used to, though you can often still buy it in cafes and old-fashioned cake shops.
Needless to say, a good accompaniment to tea, though not ideal for dunking.
Tricia
Sydney, Australia
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Nicey replies: I was going to say 'slice' too but then I didn't. I feel this information is probably of immense importance in helping finally working out phylogeny of such items as flapjack. I'm actually quite excited. |
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