There is something very appealing about the recipe title “Honey Buns”, so it was destined that I make them at some point, and make them I did, for the Muswell Hill and District Horticultural Society Spring Show.  Now then, the Spring Show was a LONG time ago, and in fact the SUMMER Show is tomorrow.  So this is a test for the old grey matter.  To see if I can remember way back when, to the spring.

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The Spring Show has the biggest amount of cookery classes, mainly due to the weather in North London not yet running at full blast.  Therefore, the horticulture classes (flowers, plants and good old veggies) are smaller. Leaving room for us cooks (mostly me and Battenberg Belle) to go bonkers on the baking.  The Spring Show was no different, with me taking a traditional day off work to go mental in the kitchen.  So here’s the roll call of what I made:

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I got a first prize for my coffee cake.  Probably my favourite non-film-star cake ever, and something I remember making with my mum when I was a nipper…

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and a first prize for my fruit cake, made with the family brew.  I’ve written about this over on my other blog – The Hammerton Beer Blog – this is a FANTASTIC recipe, by the lovely Paul Mercurio of Strictly Ballroom fame.  As I made it with Life on Mars beer, I christened it Ziggy Stardust Cake.  I’m going to make this again, now that I know how my oven works…

“Show me, your pasodoble!”

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My marmalades got first and second Prizes:

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for the one that contained Aperol, I adapted a Kylee Newton recipe from The Modern Preserver.

and my chutneys (both made with Hammerton beer) got first and second prize too…

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I haven’t written either of these recipes up on the beerblog yet, but I will…

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A first and a third for my jams…

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and a second prize for my quiche, made to Anne Baxter’s recipe.  I cannot recommend this quiche highly enough – utterly delicious!

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a first for my coconut cake (made to an Ottolenghi recipe from “Jerusalem”.  As regular readers may know, Ottolenghi is my second favourite celebrity chef, after Vincent Price.  I told him this once too!).

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and a second prize for my Vincent Price Pineapple Nut Bread, my favourite movie star related cake at the moment…

IMG_7110 My Vincent Price Scotch Shortbread never fails me, and got a first.

So to the the Honey Buns, which I’d never made before.  What strange things they are…  Before baking:

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and after baking:

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so for these, I got a third prize in the legendary “Category 51” which is for anything else you fancy cooking that doesn’t fit into any of the other categories.  I LOVE CATEGORY 51.

 I only really made these, as I had some of Vincent’s Rich Biscuits mixture left over from when I made a gazillion Cheese Knots for the Vincent Price Legacy Tour event…  There was a bit in the freezer so I used it for Honey Buns.  I do like the adaptability of Vincent and Mary’s recipe…

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So after all that, I won the Guy Chester cup for most points in cookery categories at the show, which is lovely.

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But Battenburg Belle and I have come to a decision.  It is PURE MADNESS to enter so many things, and to be so competitive with each other.  So we are each only going to enter five things each for the Summer Show.  So, I’m entering two jams, one fruit tart, and two things into the legendary Category 51.  Haven’t quite decided what yet…

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