A piece of cake and/or comfort pudding

On Saturday, Head Chef organised afternoon tea to replace an outing with friends that had been planned pre-lockdown and then, of course, cancelled. Crustless sandwiches were made: oblong ones with cheese and triangular ones with mackerel pate. A tiered stand was filled: the said sandwiches at the bottom, scones (shop-bought) in the middle and little cakes at the top. Delicate teacups, saucers and plates appeared that I had not known that we possessed. Pink fizz (non-alcoholic) was poured into glasses.

Now all we need is a nice cup of tea

My contribution was to bake a batch of brownies. I followed Ruth's reliable recipe, with the trendy variant of added frozen raspberries. I also included 100g of dark chocolate chips, which had been languishing in a cupboard for some time (#ArchivedIngredients). The mixture seemed slightly stiff, so I felt obliged to loosen it with a tablespoon of whisky before scraping it into the tin.

One of the things I am very bad at is lining a tin neatly

Content warning: the next paragraph contains mild peril.

There was nearly a baking disaster. When sliding the tin out of the oven to check whether the square of brownie was done yet, I half-dropped it. I caught it straightaway, but the jerking motion disturbed the partly-baked surface. Large cracks revealed chocolately lava beneath. Clearly it was not done. More promisingly, though, it smelled delicious.

Not very pretty but very delicious

Ten minutes later, it was done, and - apart from a visibly-scarred surface - not much the worse for its adventure. Little squares of raspberry brownie were a tasty addition to the cake stand. They would have been even better with a bigger quantity of raspberries.

The next day: brownie framboise à la mode

As there was plenty of brownie left, some larger squares - or, rather, rectangles - made an appearance as pudding after Sunday lunch, served with ice cream. I am not ashamed to confess that I scraped up some crumbs with a spoon and added them to my bowl. Waste not, want not.