The 90th Bake: The Tropical Manchester Tart
This one took a while, Luis’ Signature Bake. I had to make the pastry first, then blind bake it, make the custard, double boil that, then pour it into the pastry case and bake!!!! That sounded quick, it wasn’t. It was a delicious bake though filled with yummy things like rum and grated lime zest, grated orange zest and pureed mango! Mmmmmm delicious and fresh. It would make a great Christmas dessert. And here’s the recipe https://www.bbc.com/food/recipes/tropical_manchester_tart_55667
I was feeling bright and fresh as I got up to go to the last market of the year to sell my wares yesterday morning, until I smashed the car into the house backing out! And I hadn’t even had any custard! That put me in a very upset and grumpy mood. Then I heard on the radio about a woman coping with her 7 year old daughter diagnosed with leukemia and a woman slipped outside the market in front of me and had to be taken to hospital, and I thought, you know what, we’re lucky, it’s just a car. There are people coping with a lot this Christmas.
By chance on the way home, I listened to the good old Band Aid track from 1984 organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure which was raising money for anti-famine efforts in Ethiopia. Great idea that was. Love that song. Have a listen 🙂 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjQzJAKxTrE.
So for this bake, I made the pastry which involved adding butter to
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I had an excuse to bake a big flash layered cake as family are visiting from Australia. This took most of the afternoon, although I have to say, having been through these steps before it does make it easier somehow. I needed two baking tins, so moulded one out of tinfoil to save having to bake the second sponge after the first. It was Maori language week and I went for coffee with my family to Crave, a local cafe. 
They were getting right into the spirit of things. If you ordered your coffee in Te Reo, you got it free. So I ordered “He rate pĩni nui koa” Large soy latté please. It’s great to see the Maori language encouraged as although my Te Reo is wanting, it’s good to give it a go. Funnily enough “Kei te pēhea koe?” was in my head from childhood, don’t know how, but it’s there. So much better and more effective to learn a language as a kid, when we can soak up information like a sponge without having to think about it. Now for the baking, I first made