Beaupre Castle

A great day for a bike ride, a beautiful sunny Autumn day with temps in the high teens the club rode into the Vale of Glamorgan  towards Cowbridge and called into Beaupre Castle on the way.

The castle is set back from the road and across some fields, but well worth a visit.  It's really a fortified manor house built in the 1500's  by the Bassett family but is now a ruin.  

After visiting the castle we rode into Cowbridge for tea etc  at the Quarter Penny Cafe before making our way home. 

 

Autumn fruits

Out on a wander the other day I spotted these, but I only had my phone camera on me.  What was also noticable was the number of birds all feeding up after their summer moult for either the winter here or the long flight to warmer climes.

Let me know if I have identified them wrongly.

Alder 

Elderberry

Guelder Rose Berries

 

Blackberries

Rosehips

Hawthorn

 Sloes

 Ivy

 Whitebeam

Garden rose

Not only cake but...........

Ice Cream

On Porthcawl seafront....

and as we were passing  this little place we called in for a cuppa and a sandwich.

 This is Margam Park

I suppose we have Henry V111 to thank for this, as it was once a monastery and once he dissolved them, it was acquired by the Talbot family.  They have nice tea rooms
which on a warm sunny day is all a bunch of cyclists need.

What do most cyclist love....

CAKE !

You can't beat a nice slice when out cycling or back from a ride, so as I had some old bananas hanging around I made this.  I left the topping off, as whilst I like cake sometimes it can be too sweet.

Chocolate and banana cake

• 100ml sunflower oil, plus extra to grease
• 175g caster sugar
• 175g self-raising flour
• half tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 4 tbsp cocoa powder
• 100g chocolate chips or chunks
• 175g very ripe bananas
• 3 medium eggs, 2 separated
• 50ml milk

For the topping if required

• 100g milk chocolate
• 100ml soured cream
• handful dried banana chips, roughly chopped

1. Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3. Grease and line a 2lb loaf tin with baking parchment (allow it to come 2cm above top of tin). Mix the sugar, flour, bicarb, cocoa and chocolate in a large bowl.
2. Mash the bananas in a bowl and stir in the whole egg plus 2 yolks, followed by the oil and milk. Beat the egg whites until stiff. Quickly stir the wet banana mixture into the dry ingredients, stir in a quarter of the egg whites to loosen the mixture, then gently fold in the rest. Gently scrape into the tin and bake for 1 hr 10-15 mins, or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
3. Cool in the tin on a wire rack. To make the icing, melt the chocolate and soured cream together in a heatproof bowl over a pan of barely simmering water. Chill in the fridge until spreadable. Remove cake from tin, roughly swirl icing over and scatter with the banana chips.