I was asked to make a cake for a friend’s birthday breakfast and made this as it can be eaten with yoghurt and fruit but is not too sweet. It also has the benefit of being gluten free and having no refined sugar added. It uses unsulphured apricots (the dark ones) and ground almonds together with a boiled orange. The cake is topped with orange slices. This also makes a great pudding.
This year, I decided to make good use of the pumpkin I bought for Halloween. First, I made a pumpkin and corn bread with semolina and chilli flakes – it has a slightly gritty texture and heat from the chilli and goes well with soups. Next I made a sweet pumpkin cake, similar to carrot cake, with grated pumpkin and sultanas and flavoured with orange. I decided not to add the sweet cream cheese topping, although i can see that would make it a delicious pudding. Then I washed the seeds and dried them out in the oven before tossing them with salt, smoked paprika and olive oil. They made a lovely crunchy snack. For supper, I prepared a spicy pumpkin soup with harissa and chickpeas as I had seen an interesting recipe in the weekend newspaper. Finally, I made a pumpkin and raisin chutney with spices and pepper which goes excellently with cheese.
My family love carrot cake so when I read about this cake, I had to try it and it has quickly become another family favourite. It contains grated beetroot, sunflower and pumpkin seeds and uses oil rather than butter. This makes a deliciously different cake which you can almost fool youself is good for you!
This traditional rich fruit cake has been my favourite for many years. It is packed with a mixture of dried fruits which have been soaked in brandy. This helps the fruit stay moist and the cake will last for ages. I made three of these cakes for my wedding 25 years ago. One layer was eaten at the time, one was kept for the christening of our first child and the top layer is still safely stored away. Every Christmas, I make this cake for our family. It will last until Easter if stored carefully. I normally cover it in marzipan and a lemon butter icing which help stop the cake from drying out.
This tea loaf is a very different texture to other cakes – it contains no fat and the fruit is heated in tea before having the other ingredients added. The fruits used can vary accoring to whatever you have available, as can the tea. I made this loaf with Darjeeling but could have used Earl Grey, Lapsang Souchong or Russian Caravan. It can be eaten as it is, but also tastes delicious with butter spread on it.
I first used this recipe when I was about 8 or 9 years old and it was in a book that I was given for my birthday called ‘How to do baking’. It has been a favourite ever since – the fat is rubbed in to the flour making the cake a more crumbly texture. Over the years I have altered the ingredients slightly – this one is made with light soft brown sugar, sultanas, dried apricots and dried pears as that was what I happened to have in the larder. It keeps well, although with hungry mouths to feed after school it is usually eaten quickly!
This loaf cake needs a little extra time to prepare as the fruit is soaked overnight in tea and orange juice. This makes the finished cake deliciously moist. It contains dried pears, figs and sultanas giving it an interesting texture as well as being full of flavour. It is another family favourite especially as an after school treat.
This is a family favourite – a light lemon flavoured sponge with a lemon crust. It has been requested as a birthday cake several times – quite an accolade for a loaf cake.
too busy to make 