The British Larder Inspirational recipe diary

Yes, please! I love carrot cake and this carrot cake is sublime! The rapeseed oil keeps the cake moist for up to 3 days, though in this establishment it does not get past day two before it has all been devoured! I add a few pumpkin seeds for extra interest and nuttiness, and the apple and brown sugar are part of my secret for ensuring a moist carrot cake. I never used to like sultanas in carrot cake, but soaking them first in either warm cider or tea, makes them more palatable for me as they become soft and blend in with the taste and texture.

Here at the pub I serve the carrot cake with cream cheese sorbet as a pudding. The slightly warm cake drizzled with candied carrots and served with a scoop of cream cheese sorbet alongside makes a lovely, indulgent pudding.

I can already see the

I have made so much strawberry and redcurrant jam this year, to the point where I now have to find recipes to use the jam up with.

We sell jars of homemade jams, pickles and chutneys from the bar counter, along with a biscuit to nibble with a cup of tea or an indulging chocolate brownie.

These jam drops remind me of when I was a child during our summer school holidays, when Gran used to make jars of biscuits for us to nibble on and enjoy. They are good memories and when I make biscuits I always remember those joyful summer holidays.

Use any jam of your choice, and remember to make the hole large enough in the centre of each biscuit so that the jam does not run out of the hole – be generous with the jam and don’t be scared to add a bit extra,

This creates a little ray of sunshine on a plate. Whole baked plaice with Pernod makes a delicious lunch dish, ideal served on the patio (if the weather is warm enough!), with a glass of chilled single estate Pinot Grigio.

I oven-bake the plaice in a paper parcel (en papillote) with a splash of Pernod and some vegetables. The paper parcel keeps the fish moist and captures all the goodness and taste from all the ingredients.

I prefer to cook fish, such as plaice, on the bone, but ask your fishmonger to remove the skin on both sides and remove the heads if you cannot face the eyes looking at you. The reason I like this fish cooked on the bone is it’s such a small fish, if it is removed from the bone before cooking, there is not much fish left and it dries out too quickly. When cooked

I am definitely on a ice cream and sorbet mission. When we first opened the doors to the British Larder in Suffolk we bought all of our ice creams and sorbets. We do have and brought with us a very very old ice cream machine with two broken knobs and require hot wiring to work, not safe, hope you understand the reason for buying ready made. We also like to support the local produces and that is why we where not horrified by the idea of buying rather than making. As time passed and we celebrated our first years anniversary we settled into the business and the kitchen team are stable which means we can start focusing on the products we wanted to make and that is on our to do list.

Ice creams and sorbets was one of those, ‘to do’ items on the wishlist. Well Ross took the