MsFish and I have had to say some final goodbyes to two much loved women, this month. They leave behind many folk, whose hearts are heavy with a sadness that cannot really be healed, but also with unique, precious memories. I hold dear to this concept. It is a comfort, when confronted with the stark, staring, numbness of loss. No one is truly gone, while they are remembered, while stories are told and memories of them are shared. They simply find a new place...within us. A robin bobbing past, the smell of Chanel, a passed on string of pearls...and there they are! 
As always the lovely Nigella has something to turn, something for every occasion. This is a cake to be made for someone, who needs some care, love and a friend...Or in remembrance of someone, who was a friend.
It is also the most soothing of cakes to make. The chopping of an apple (reminds me of my nana who, despite my mothers insistence, would peel an apple with a knife, in one long curl, because I suddenly couldn't bear the skin. I think of this every time I peel one!), the aromas of rosemary and lemons (one soothing, the other uplifting) and the simplest sponge recipe (hands busy, mind unchallenged, wandering)
For an extra few grams of comfort, I sprinkled the top of mine with homemade vanilla sugar.
It looks beautiful and as you lay your rosemary along the cake top, you feel good...a ritual followed, a companion remembered.
...and of course there is a spoon to lick, a little childlike nurture for you!
To live in hearts we leave behindIs not to die.
~Thomas Campbell, "Hallowed Ground"
Rosemary Remembrance Cake (click for link to recipe)
