May 11 |
||
|
||
"There is Nothing Like a Dame" is one of the hit songs from the musical South Pacific. Although the song was written for sailors to sing who hadn't had sex for several months, it could as easily been written for the British character actress Dame Margaret Taylor Rutherford. Her life began with a tragedy. Just before her birth, Margaret's father murdered her grandfather. Her mother died when she was three years old and she was brought up by her aunt. When her aunt died a small inheritance allowed her to join the Old Vic in repertory.
Margaret first received critical acclaim for her
role as Madam Arcadi in the he film adaptation of Noel Coward's Blithe
Spirit (1945),. Noel had envisioned her in the role when he wrote it and
tweaked the film script to even better suit her,
She also won rave reviews for
Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest (1952) and
The VIPs (1963) for which she won the best supporting actress Oscar as
The Duchess of Brighton. So to celebrate Margaret's birthday, we suggest renting a another Miss Marple film, Murder Most Foul (1964), and baking a Miss Marple Seed Cake.
Miss Marple
Seed Cake |
Ingredients | Special Equipment | |||
|
||||
Instructions |
||||
1. Preheat to 325º F. Line the bottom of a 9"
cake pan with baking parchment and grease side with vegetable oil. 2. Mix the eggs, sugar and salt until doubled in volume and looks like the color of custard. 3. Add the grated potato and whisk to combine, add the flour, ground almonds baking powder, caraway seeds, grated nutmeg, and brandy before briefly whisking. 4. Pour mixture into tin and place in middle of the oven for 40 minutes. 5. Remove cake from the oven, unmold and cool on a wire rack, dust the top with powdered sugar and serve. |
© 2011 Gordon Nary