Just when I had given up finding a similar recipe, I came across this recipe in an old recipe book my grandmother used.  Its long since lost its cover so I have no idea of the origin of the book or the recipe.  Grandma had no notes beside it and I don’t remember her making it.  So at this stage its going up untried on askmumnow.com

If you make this do let me know how it turns out because I really want these recipes to be ‘tried and true’

Ingredients

1 kg packet mixed fruit
250 gms butter
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup water
1 can sweetened condensed milk (400gms)
1 tablespoon vinegar
2 tablespoons sherry or brandy
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
2 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground cloves

Method

1. Prepare a 22cm square or round cake tin. Grease the base and sides and line with the whole tin with cake baking or greaseproof paper
2. Cut the paper to fit the base and then cut strips to line the sides of the tin. Brush the paper with a greased pastry brush or a knife that has been dipped in cooking oil.  Put prepared tin to one side until you are ready to mix the cake
3. Heat the oven to 170° C
4. Put mixed fruit, butter soda and water into a saucepan and bring to the boil.  Allow to cool
5. Add condensed milk, vinegar, sherry/brandy and vanilla essence
6. Sift flour, baking powder, salt and ground cloves and gradually add to the fruit mixture
7. Put into the greased paper lined tin and bake at 150º for 2 hours.
8. Check after 90 minutes that the top isn’t burning.  If the fruit is starting to look dark brown or even black, cover the top of the cake with a double sheet of greaseproof or baking paper
9. Check with a skewer or very thin bladed knife. If the blade/skewer comes out clean the cake is cooked
10. When cooked, leave the cake to cool in the tin before turning it out

Traditional Christmas cake icing consists of an almond paste covered with a smooth white icing mixture.  Check out how to do it here.

If you like almonds, you can decorate your cake by placing almonds over the top of your cake before you cook it.  Then you have an attractive cake that doesn’t need to be iced.

This will make the icing easier to spread.

Ingredients

One cake of your choice
2 cups icing sugar
Red food colouring
Hot water
Heart shaped chocolates

Method

1. Bake your cake in a square or round tin that is large enough for you to be able to cut a heart shape out of it.
2. While the cake is cooking, cut a heart shaped template out of baking paper or clean cardboard
3. Let the cake cool then cut it to a heart shape using your template
4. Make the icing with icing sugar and water, and when it is of a consistency that will let you spread it over the top of the cake and down the sides, add enough food colouring, drop by drop, until it is red (or dark pink)
5. Add more water or icing sugar if necessary for a spreadable mixture.
6. Spread the icing all over the cake
7. Decorate with heart shaped cholcolates.

If you are using a bought unfilled sponge cake:

1. Separate the two pieces of cake and fill with whipped cream.  You can colour this pink or red with food colouring if you choose
2. Sandwich the two pieces of cake together and cover with red icing as above

Serve with love

To mash a banana so you can use it in baking ( banana muffins, banana loaf or banana cake, put the peeled banana in a shallow bowl and squash it with a fork until it is mushy. 

It might not look very appertising but it is very tastyas it is or when cooked.

Mashed banana is one of the first solid foods recommended for babies as it is easily digested.

Mashed banana is also good for people recovering from stomach illnesses. 

You can mix in some powdered chocolate drink or cinnamon while you are mashing the banana to add a dash of extra flavour.

These amounts will cover the top and sides of a cake up to about 25 cm across.

Ingredients

50o gms almond paste
500 gms soft white icing
apricot jam or sugar syrup

Method

1. Make your sugar syrup with 2 tablespoons white sugar and 2 tablespoons boling water. If you are using jam, add a little boiling water and stir until its smooth and can be brushed on to the cake. Put to one side to cool
2. Roll out the almond paste until it’s big enough to cover the cake.  If you want to cover the sides as well as the top, it will look better if the icing is rolled out in one piece
3. Brush the area of the cake to be iced with jam or sugar syrup
4. Lift the sheet of almond paste carefully over the cake and lay it in place.  You might find it helpful to fold the sheet over the rolling pin so it doesn’t break as you lift it (See the technique used in http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyry2qx2wko)
5. Spread the sheet over the cake using your fingers to smooth out any crinkles.  Use a sharp knife to cut any excess from the base
6. Roll out the white icing and repeat the process with the sugar or jam syrup, spreading the sheet of icing over the cake and smoothing it out.
7. Decorate using pre-made decorations to suit the occasion.

Ingredients

1 kg dried fruit mix
2 cups orange juice
2 cups self-raising flour
2 teaspoons mixed spice

Method

1. Empty the packet of fruit mix into a large mixing bowl
2. Pour over the orange juice and leave to soak overnight or for at least 3 hours. This allows the juice to soak into and soften the fruit
3. Prepare a 22cm square or round cake tin. Grease the base and sides and line with the whole tin with cake baking or greaseproof paper
4. Cut the paper to fit the base and then cut strips to line the sides of the tin. Brush the paper with a greased pastry brush or a knife that has been dipped in cooking oil.  Put prepared tin to one side until you are ready to mix the cake
5. Heat the oven to 170° C
6. Measure the flour and sift it into the bowl with the fruit and juice
7. Stir gently with a wooden spoon until the flour is mixed evenly through the fruit.
8. Spoon into the prepared baking tin and spread the mixture evenly. Make a slight hollow in the centre so that when the cake rises, it doesn’t peak and crack in the middle
9. Bake at 170° C for 2 hours. Check after 90 minutes that the top isn’t burning.  If the fruit is starting to look dark brown or even black, cover the top of the cake with a double sheet of greaseproof or baking paper
10. When cooked, leave the cake to cool in the tin before turning it out.

This makes a smallish cake that is about 5 cm high. 

You can eat it as is or ice it.  Traditional Christmas cake icing consists of an almond paste covered with a smooth white icing mixture.  Check out how to do it here.

If you like almonds, you can decorate your cake by placing almonds over the top of your cake before you cook it.  Then you have an attractive cake that doesn’t need to be iced.

Wedding cake

If you are planning to make your own wedding cake, you could use this recipe.  I suggest you double all the ingredients for a bigger cake in a 24 cm round tin.  You would need to bake the cake for 3 hours and check in the last hour of cooking so it doesn’t burn on the top.

You can get it professionally decorated or simply buy some ready-made decorations to place on top.

Ingredients

1 packet of gingernut biscuits
½ litre whipping cream
1 tablespoon icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
½ cup orange juice
1 cake of dark chocolate, grated

Method

1. Pour the cream, icing sugar and vanilla essence into a bowl and beat until it is thick.
2. Divide the cream into two bowls – about 1/3 in one bowl and 2/3 in the other
3. Pour the orange juice into a small shallow dish
4. Take your packet of gingernuts and the smaller amount of cream
5. Dip both sides of one biscuit into the orange juice then spread the biscuit with cream
6. Dip another biscuit in the juice on both sides and then place it on top of the first biscuit as if you were making a sandwich
7. Repeat until you have a three biscuit stack
8. Place a small blob of cream on your platter and place the biscuit stack on it so the stack is on its side
9. Repeat steps 5-8 until you have used up all the biscuits and the bowl of cream
10. At this point you will have a row of biscuit-cream sandwiches laid on their side on the platter
11. Now take the large bowl of cream and completely cover the biscuit sandwich so you have a cream covered log shape
12. Sprinkle the grated chocloate all over the log
13. Put the log in the fridge for at least 2 hours before serving so the gingernuts soften
14. To serve and slice diagonally with a sharp knife to get the full effect of the layered biscuit and cream

Allow about 4 biscuits per serving

Notes

You will need a large flat plate or platter to prepare your cake.

An electric whisk is useful to beat the cream but a hand beater works, it just takes a bit longer.

This cake needs to be refrigerated for at least 2 hours before serving.

If by any chance you have some left over, cover with cling film or foil and store in the fridge for no more than 2 days.

Ingredients

400 gms plain sponge slab
¼ cup cocoa
½ cup cold water
¾ cup hot water
2 cups icing sugar
1 ½ cups dessicated coconut

Method

1. Mix cocoa and cold water in a small saucepan or microwave jug and heat till bubbly
2. Stir tin the hot water and bring to the boil
3. Add icing sugar and stir to mix to a thin smooth mixture
4. Cut the sponge slab into 5 cm squares
5. Pour the chocolate icing into a shallow bowl
6. Put the coconut into a separate shallow bowl
7. Dip each square of sponge into the chocolate mixture and turn till all sides are coated
8. Then dip into coconut to coat all over.
9. Leave to set on a wire rack.

Lamingtons will keep in the fridge for 2 days and can be frozen if there are any left overs.

Serve with coffee or as a dessert.  To make them look really special and taste even better, cut part way through and fill the split with whipped cream.

 Ingredients

100 gms butter or margarine
1 tablespoon coarsely grated orange rind
½ cup brown sugar
3 eggs
1 cup coarsely grated carrot
1 cup flour
2 teaspoons  baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon mixed spice
¼ cup milk

Method

1. Heat the oven to 180°C
2. Grease a ring tin or a 20cm round cake pan and line the tin with greaseproof or baking paper
3. Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy
4. Beat in the eggs, one at a time
5. Stir in the carrot
6. Sift the dry ingredients into the bowl and stir gently until the ingredients are combined
7. Stir in the milk until combined into the mixture
8. Spoon the mixture into the prepared cake tin
9. Bake to 35 minutes in a ring tin or 45 minutes in a 20 cm round tin
10. Test with a skewer or thin knife- cake is cooked when the skewer comes out clean with no mixture sticking to it
11. Leave in the pan for 10 minutes then turn out on to a wire cooling rack. You may need to slip a knife around the sides of the pan so the cake comes out of the pan cleanly
12. When cold ice the top with cream cheese icing or lemon icing
13. Serve plain or with a spoonful of whipped cream or plain yoghurt with tea or coffee or as a dessert

 Ingredients

2 cups flour
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 egg
½ cup sugar
50 gms butter or margarine
2 tablespoons golden syrup
1 ½ teaspoon baking soda
½ cup milk
½ cup chopped crystallised ginger pieces

Method

1. Heat the oven to 180°C
2. Grease and flour an 18cm square cake pan or a 20cm long loaf pan
3. Beat the eggs and sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy
4. Melt the butter and golden syrup in a saucepan on the stove top or in a small bowl in the microwave oven
5. Allow to cool slightly then add to the egg and sugar mixture
6. Ad the crystallized ginger
7. Sift flour ginger and cinnamon together into the bowl and gently stir into the mixture
8. Dissolve the baking soda in the milk and gently stir until all the ingredients are well combined
9. Turn the mixture into the prepared baking pan
10. Bake for 55-60 minutes until a skewer of knife inserted into the cake comes out clean
11. Leave for 5 -10 minutes then turn out on to a wire rack to cool

If serving the gingerbread warm as a dessert, cut into squares and serve with whipped cream or a spoonful of yoghurt and sprinkle with some finely chopped crystallized ginger