This month's  CelebriTEA post comes from Fran of lovely blog Tweens n Twincesses.

As Mothers Day comes around again I instantly think of my grandma.

She has been more like my mother since I can remember; indeed it was under her wing that I developed my love of everything vintage. She taught me how to make a proper cup of tea; always loved a second cup before more water was added to the pot and had lovely tea cosies.

I have vivid memories of kneeling on a chair at the worktop, watching her prepare for Sunday teatime. A nice cloth, laid with tea cups and saucers, sandwiches and a freshly baked cake. So when I spotted this sweet little set in our local charity shop I just had to add it to my ever growing collection. It has Royal Vale stamped on the bottom and is English Bone China. I dont think I shall ever use it; for now it sits next to my ribbons on my craft shelf and holds my pincushion.

Another one of my favourite finds is a charming hand embroidered postcard.

The seller assured me it dated from before the first world war. The stitching is so perfect and the sentiment so lovely. Someone clearly has put a great deal of love into this little card.

I have it tucked safely away at the moment as I haven’t found a perfect spot for it and would hate it to be spoilt before I could frame it

My grandma is now almost 88, I see her several times a week. Having been her carer for almost five years we are still incredibly close. On Mothers Day I will be making her a sandwich cake and the great-grandchildren and I will pile over to see her with flowers and make a huge fuss of her until she gets too tired of us all. The cake will be her own special recipe, am sure she wouldn’t mind my sharing her recipe with you, in fact I think she’d be rather tickled at the thought of being mentioned at all. 

Eunice's Sandwich Cake 

For the cake

• Three large eggs (room temperature)
• Self raising flour 
• Stork margarine 
• Caster sugar 
• 1 tsp of baking powder 
• 25 grams/ 1oz cornflour 
• Vanilla essence 

For the buttercream

• Icing sugar 
• Butter 
• Vanilla essence 
• Dash of milk 

Method

• Grease two 7 inch sandwich tins, lining just the bottom with greaseproof paper. 
• Preheat oven to 170/180 c. 
• Weigh the eggs ( 3 large ones are usually about 8 oz) 
• Weigh the same amount of caster sugar and stork and cream together. Beat really well 
• to ensure fluffy cake! 
• Weigh the flour minus 1oz and substitute with the 1 oz of cornflour. Add the baking powder 
• to these. 
• Sieve one tablespoon of the flour mixture into the creamed ingredients then break one egg into it, beating quickly to prevent curdling. Repeat with remaining eggs. 
• Add a drop of vanilla essence. 
• Spoon into the cake tins, spreading with a spatula then shake the tins on the worktop to flatten the mixture really well ( makes a super flat top!) 
• Bake at 170-180 (Gas Mark 4/350 F) for about 20 -25 minutes. 
• Turn out while still warm onto a rack. Make up the buttercream, adding a small drop of milk to make it really smooth. Once the cake is cool add a thin layer of jam or lemon curd to one side, buttercream on the other and put together. 
• To be really authentic to grandma’s recipe, place a paper doily over the top and sieve a small amount of icing sugar over the top to make a lovely pattern ( A tea strainer is perfect for this!) 

My lovely grandma, Eunice Meredith

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