Cake 25, The Cake I Only Kinda Made (Fruit)

Cake Team Effort, meaning somebody else made most of it.

Easy-mix Fruit and Rum Cake

another Alison Holst classic from my mother's collection

1 kg small dark raisins (I used a combination of raisins, currants, cranberries, prunes and glace cherries)

1/2 cup liquid (cranberry juice for me, no brandy at hand)

200g butter

2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup golden syrup

1/2 cup milk

2 large eggs

Soak the fruit in the liquid for 24-48 hours, until all the liquid has been soaked up. Alison recommends putting the liquid and fruit into a snaplock bag so none of the alcoholic goodness can evaporate. 

Rub the butter into the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt using a food processor or your digits. 

Warm syrup and milk just enough to combine them, beat in the eggs, then mix this liquid into the fruit and dry mixture. Pour into a lined 20cm square tin.

Decorate the top with almonds and cherries etc. 

Bake at 150C for 2 1/4 - 2 1/2 hours, until a skewer comes out clean. 

My camera batteries died right after taking the first photo. Bonus: evidence of how the cockroach was eventually killed.

Cake 21, Mini Chrimbus Cakes

It's a Chrimbus miracle!

I made mini cakes, and pressed glace cherries and almonds into the tops.

Chrimbus Cake

400g sultanas (I replaced these with a combination of dates and prunes)

400g raisins

200g currants

grated lemon rind

2 tsp vanilla

1 cup orange juice or brandy (I used up my stout)

250g butter

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

4 eggs

1 cup mashed banana

2 1/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp mixed spice

Combine the fruit, lemon rind, vanilla and juice/booze in a bowl and leave to soak overnight.

The next day, (preheat oven to 150C) cream the butter and sugar, and then beat in eggs one by one. Add the banana, flour, baking powder and spice and mix thoroughly. Finally stir in the fruit and liquid until the bits and pieces are evenly coated. Line a large cake tin (or many many muffin tins) and spoon in the mix. Bake at 150 for 1hour, and then reduce the heat to 140 for another 1 1/2 hours (or even another 2 if you have a slow oven). Allow to cool in the tin. 

This is the best plate I've ever found on the side of the road.

Cake 18, Christmas Cupcakes

It's been too hot to bake lately, but Lauren did make these amazing cupcakes the other day. The lurid icing ended up pooling in the middle of each cupcake...

Christmas Cupcakes

Preheat oven to 190C and line a muffin tin with patty cases.
Cream 125g butter with 1tsp vanilla and 1/2 cup caster sugar.
Add 2 eggs, one at a time.
Fold in 1 cup of flour and 2tsp baking powder, then stir in 1/4 cup milk.
Spoon mixture into lined muffin tin, and bake for 15minutes.
Allow to cool, then ice with wildly-coloured icing.

Cake 15, Brandy-Sozzled Xmas Pudding

So I've made my Christmas pudding :) It's currently resting in the fridge, waiting for the next brandy dousing. I think I found this recipe in a foodie magazine, it makes quite a nice pud (I used this one last year). I decided to let the fruit soak in stout and brandy overnight, which will definitely enhance the flavour.

Christmas Pudding

Combine in a large bowl:
210g chopped nuts
2 cups fresh white breadcrumbs
1 1/2 cups mixed dried cherries/fruit (I used a mix of currants, sultanas and raisins)
3/4 cup grated carrot
3/4 cup muscovado sugar
1/2 cup chopped prunes
1/2 cup chopped figs (figs were too expensive, so I used dates)
1/2 cup flour
125g chilled, grated butter

Beat together the following in a separate bowl:
1/2 cup guinness (I used a mix of Cooper's Stout and brandy, and actually soaked the fruit in it overnight. It's not really necessary, but I want a boozy pudding)
4 eggs
1 Tb golden syrup
grated rind of a lemon and an orange

Combine the two mixtures, and add:
1 tsp mixed spice
1/2 tsp ginger

Grease and line the base of a pudding basin, and fill with the mix. Cover with two layers of baking paper and one of tinfoil, and tie a piece of string around the rim. If you can, tie another piece across the top so you have a handle for lifting it out of the pot.
Place a large pot on the stove, and fold up an old tea towel and place it in the bottom. Place the basin so it sits on top of the tea towel (this stops the bottom of the pudding from overcooking - you could use an upturned saucer instead). Fill the pot with boiling water until it is filled just below the rim of the basin. Cover, turn the heat to low, and boil for 3 hours.

To store, remove from the water and allow to cool. Keep it in the fridge, or in a cool dry cupboard. If you like, you can open the covering and pour brandy on the pudding every now and then :)
To reheat, do the same boiling thing for another three hours. Turn onto a plate, and serve hot with brandy butter and/or cream  and/or custard.

And now I leave it in the fridge for a week, and pour brandy over it every day.... I wish someone would do that to me :(

Cake 11, Vegan Orange and Chocolate (explicit content)

So I finally found that cake cookbook, and I'm making the only vegan one in it. It's quite similar to the other vegan one I made, but I'm following one of their variations (there are enough of these for the book to be called "500 Cakes"). 

Chocolate Fudge Cake (vegan) Orange variation

100g flour (about 3/5 cup)

3/4 tsp baking soda

4 Tb cocoa powder

130g sugar (just under 2/3 C)

160 ml water (about 2/3 cup, replace with orange juice)

4 Tb vegetable oil 

1 Tb white wine vinegar

(grated rind of one orange)

Preheat oven to 180 C, and line a 20cm tin. 

Sift flour, baking soda and cocoa into a bowl, then stir in the sugar. Pour in the oil, vinegar, juice and rind, and stir. Pour into the tin and bake for about 25mins. 

This could be interesting with a bit of Cointreau in the cake or icing. 

This is a pretty awesome vegan cake, it's very soft and fudgy. Mmmmmm.

And... this was our cheerleader......