Mum's Chocolate Cake

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Cake is gonna get you!

Here's Cake-ie!

My mum has been making this cake ever since I can remember - I think she got the recipe from Martha down the road - but I'm claiming it for my mum. Any occasion of note which involved kids saw this cake getting whipped up. It's a moist and delicious and appears a lot more complex than the simple recipe that makes it. The secret ingredient is black treacle - I won't hide it from you! 

Ingredients

9oz Caster Sugar

9oz Self Raising Flour

9oz Butter

3 eggs

2 tablespoons of Cocoa Powder

1/2 teaspoon of Baking Powder

1 tablespoon of Black Treacle

A dash of milk

For the icing

5oz of Icing Sugar

1.5oz Cocoa Powder

2oz Caster Sugar

3 tablespoons Water

3 oz Butter

Preheat the oven to Gas mark 4/180oc, and grease 2 circular cake tins, and line the bottoms. I used cake tins that had a diameter of 10 inches.

Sift the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder together in a large bowl. Add in the softened butter, eggs, treacle and the milk. Blend them all together until very well mixed, add more milk if the mixture appears too chick. Spoon into the tins and bake at the centre of the oven for 40 mins. 

Meanwhile you can prepare the icing. Sift the icing sugar and the cocoa powder into a bowl. Place the caster sugar, water and butter in a small pan.

When the cake is cooked it should spring up from a gentle press down, or a skewer should come out clean when poked into the centre. Remove gently form tins and allow to cool.

To make the icing - melt together the contents of the pan and then mix into the icing sugar mixture. If the mixture is a little thick for spreading - just add the smallest dash of boiling water and that should loosen it out a small bit. Similarly if it's to runny you could sieve in some more icing sugar. Spread over and between the two cooled sponges and you're done.

Decorate with chocolates and marshmallows for kids - or give it a dusting of icing sugar or cocoa powder for the adults. You can also make this in a tray and slice out little squares. It looks a bit like a scary ominous monster in this photo I think! It's the cake for every chocolate cake moment

Boston baked beans

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Boo to Hugh

I would regard this recipe as a semi-fail, as I wasn't too keen on it but Lu and Sarah both really liked it and ate it all up.

I think if I was making it again I would not use belly pork as its just too fatty for me. Yuck, whole bits of fat floating around in your beans = Not nice. I might use sausages instead (a la cake cafe) and add them halfway through the cooking time rather than at the beginning. Also, I don't think I would add so much sugar. It was just too sweet with sugar and treacle. I would probably just use some tomatoes instead of sugar and see how that worked out.

Another reason these beans were not as good as they could have been was because I forgot to buy the proper type - haricots- and had to make do with white kidney beans. I think these are a more robust variety, so they didn't go as mushy as would be required by me of a bean.

Oh the complaints! I guess I was just a little disappointed as my bean standards are so high, I had been wanting to try making this ever since I had a eureka moment at the cake cafe as to how amazing home made vs batchelors!

Anyway, here is the recipe, by Hugh Fernley Wittingstall. Sorry Hugh. must try harder. Also, this recipe says to cook for 4 hours but mine took at least 5, maybe 5 1/2. Again this could be down to using the wrong type of bean. Bah.

I might try this again some time but it takes a whole day so maybe a tin is the way to go after all.

Ginger cake

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Post cake

Lu and I have a friend who is poorly at the moment and I really wanted to send him a care package. I thought cake sent by post would be a novel idea and might be just what the doctor ordered for a pick me up.

So I made this, as I needed something that would keep. Not only does this keep for a week but it actually gets better with age. The first day it was good, the 5th day it was spectacular! Gingery, sticky and delicious. All you have to do is wrap it up in greaseproof paper, put it in a good strong box and post it to who ever you know would appreciate cake delivered straight you their door in an unorthodox fashion.

This is a Nigel Slater recipe from one of the THREE Nigel Slater cookery books I got over the last month.... and it is pretty much as good as a cake can be. Next time Im making one I will keep it all for myself!

I've just copied the recipe here as I didn't make any changes whatsoever. Its simple and perfect!

Ingredients
250g self-raising flour 
2 level tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 level tsp bicarbonate of soda
a pinch of salt
200g golden syrup
2 tbsp syrup from the ginger jar
125g butter
3 lumps of stem ginger in syrup (about 55g)
2 heaped tbsp sultanas
125g dark muscavado sugar
2 large eggs
240ml milk

You will need a square cake tin measuring approximately 20-22cm, lined on the bottom with baking or greaseproof paper.

Set the oven at 180°C/gas mark 3. Sieve the flour with the ginger, cinnamon, bicarbonate of soda and the salt. Put the golden and ginger syrups and the butter into a small saucepan, and warm over a low heat. Dice the ginger finely then add it to the pan with the sultanas and sugar. Let the mixture bubble gently for a minute, giving it the occasional stir to stop the fruit sticking to the bottom.

Break the eggs into a bowl, pour in the milk and beat gently to break up the egg and mix it into the milk. Remove the butter and sugar mixture from the heat and pour into the flour, stirring smoothly and firmly with a large metal spoon. Mix in the milk and eggs. The mixture should be sloppy, with no trace of flour.

Scoop the mixture into the non-stick or lined cake tin and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a skewer, inserted into the centre of the cake, comes out clean. Unless you are serving it warm, leave the cake in its tin to cool, then tip out on to a sheet of greaseproof paper. Wrap it up again in foil and leave to mature for a day or two before eating.

Steamed Treacle Pudding

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Quicker than your normal Christmas pudding

Lola and Me and our housemate Sarah decided to have an Christmas dinner before we all go our separate ways for the break. We took a course each and I got pudding - I'd been wanting to make this for a while now - so any excuse and a pudding is a pudding at Christmas time

Serves 10

6oz unsalted butter - room temperature
4 tablespoons of golden syrup
1 orange - zest and juice
6 oz soft brown sugar
3 eggs - beaten together
1 tsp black black treacle
6 oz self raising flour

Butter your pudding basin - I got a 3 litre one - but it would fit into a two litre one. Combine the golden syrup and orange juice and zest - add it to the greased basin.

In a bowl beat together sugar and butter. Then slowly add the beaten eggs and combine well together. Next add in the black treacle - and combine well. Sieve in your flour , mixing all the time. Spoon the mixture gently into the basin.

Cover the basin with the fitted lid - or cover with greaseproof paper and then cover with tin foil - with a crease down the centre - secure with some string. Place in a large saucepan - with boiling water halfway up the sides of the basin. Cover and simmer for two hours. Check regularly to make sure it doesn't boil dry.

When ready - remove lid - place a clean plate on top and then gently turnover - as there will be a nice amount of treacly orange syrup flying around - Lola's phone loved it - sorry honey! Serve with custard - or pouring/whipped cream - which ever you like. I quite like cold custard to contrast with the hot sweat steamy pudding. It looks pretty impressive on the plate too! Serve with custard or cream - enjoy!

This dessert really went down a treat.