Teaching your child about Remembrance Day

We have three yummy recipes from the book to share with you here - the "easy peasy" Poppy Yum Yum Pops and the "worth the effort" 11 o’clock Remembrance Day Victoria Sponge Cake and Extra-special Poppy Toffee Cupcakes. Aprons at the ready!

You can pick up a copy of Recipes for Remembrance online for £2.50 from the Legion's online Poppy Shop.

Poppy Yum Yum Pops

What you need:

• 12 marshmallows
• 100g popped rice cereal
• 150g (half a bottle) of fudge ice cream sauce (available from your supermarket.)
• 12 cocktail or lolly sticks

"I stuck sugar bees and bugs onto my pops and I put them into a pretty vase with some poppies," says Flossie Crums.

What you do:

• Put the popped rice cereal into a plastic bag.
• Using a rolling pin, carefully crush the popped rice (gently) until it looks like crushed powder.
• Pour the fudge sauce into a small breakfast bowl and one by one, roll the marshmallows in it.
• Finally, transfer the fudgey marshmallows into the popped rice cereal and roll them around until they are coated.
• Put the sticks into the centre of the marshmallows, and hey presto: YUM YUM POPS!

11 o’clock Remembrance Day Victoria Sponge Cake

What you need:

Cupcakes

• A little butter to grease the tins
• 225g of soft margarine/butter
• 225g of caster sugar
• 4 eggs
• 225g of self-raising flour
• 2 tsps of baking powder

Icing and decoration

• 3 tbsp strawberry jam
• Small pot double cream, whipped
• Sifted icing sugar to sprinkle
• 11 edible poppy flowers* (or you could use red coloured sweets)
• 125g packet of chocolate ready-to-roll icing (or black ready-to-roll if the supermarket only has this)
• A number cutter*
• Pastry brush
• Small dish of water

* Both are available from www.flossiecrums.com

What you do:

• Ask a grown-up to preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas mark 6. Use the butter to grease two 20.5cm/8 inch sandwich tins.
• Put all the ingredients into a large bowl and mix with a wooden spoon.
• Divide the mixture between the tins, then get a grown-up to help you put them in the oven. Bake for 25 minutes. Get a grown-up to help you take the tins out of the oven, then leave to cool for a few minutes before turning out and leaving to cool on a wire rack.
• Spread one cake with jam and whipped cream, then pop the other cake on top. Cover the top cake with spinkled icing sugar.
• Roll out the ready to roll icing to about 50mm. Using a ruler and a knife, cut out one long strip and one shorter strip of icing and place on the cake like clock hands at 11 o’clock. Flossie Crums says, "I made little tiny triangles too to stick on the end of the clock arms."
• Use the same icing to cut out the number 11.
• Use a little bit of water to stick the sugar poppies and number 11 round the edge of the cake.

Extra-Special Poppy Toffee Cupcakes

What you need:

Cupcakes

• 115g softened butter
• 115g cup caster sugar
• 115g self-raising flour
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbsp milk
• 1 tablespoon of toffee ice cream sauce (or Dulce de Leche)
• 12 soft toffees cut into little pieces (you might need a grown-up to help you)

Icing and decoration

• 250g icing sugar
• 125g softened butter
• 2 tbsp cold water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• Piping bag (if you have one)
• 1 packet of red ready-to-roll icing and one packet of black
• 1 pot of red edible glitter*

*Available from www.flossiecrums.com

What you do:

• Ask a grown-up to preheat the oven to 190°C/375°C/gas mark 5. Put 12 paper cup-cake cases into a 12-hole fairy cake tin.
• Put all the cupcake ingredients into a mixing bowl and mix everything together so there are no lumpy bits of butter. Spoon the mixture evenly between the paper cases.
• Ask a grown-up to put the cake tin in the oven, then bake for 18 minutes.
• Ask a grown-up to take the cupcakes out of the oven and leave them to cool completely.
• While the cakes are cooling you can make the icing. Put the icing sugar into a bowl then add the butter, vanilla essence and water. Beat with a wooden spoon for 2 minutes.
• If you can use a piping bag, put the icing into the bag and pipe some on top of each cake in a big swirl, or just spread the icing on with a spoon if it’s too complicated!
• To finish, cut out a poppy-shaped template (this is provided in the book if you want to get it spot on), and follow these Edible Poppy Flowers instructions.
• Put a poppy on each toffee cake, then stand back and admire your creation!

Edible Poppy Flowers - for decorating Extra-Special Poppy Toffee Cupcakes

What you need:

• 1 packet of red ready-to-roll icing
• 1 packet of fruit pastilles or other black round sweets
• Small pot of red edible fairy glitter*
• 1 rolling pin
• A little bit of icing sugar so the icing doesn’t stick to the table!

*Available from www.flossiecrums.com

What you do:

• First roll the red icing to a thickness of approx 50mm.
• When you roll you’ll need to wiggle the icing every time so it doesn’t stick to the table. Cut your poppy template out and put it onto the red icing. Using a sharp knife (you will need to ask a grown-up to help) cut round the template.
• Paint a bit of water on the poppy with a pastry brush and sprinkle with glitter, then stick a black fruit pastille into the centre.
• To transfer your poppy onto a cake, use a blunt knife or a palette knife. Don’t try to lift it with your hands!