Birthday Sponge Cake

When there is no sign of a birthday cake, what is a girl to do but make her own?  So at 4pm on my birthday, I figure the quickest and most popular thing I could do was make a double layer sponge cake – something that I haven’t made for 20 years, but that my boys think is really special.

Out with the trusted old favourite, the Edmonds Cook Book and in half an hour (the beauty of a sponge!) two gorgeous cakes emerged from the oven.

Check out this recipe:

Edmonds Fielder’s Classic Sponge

3 eggs
pinch of salt
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup cornflour
1 tsp standard flour
1 tsp baking powder

Beat egg whites and salt until stiff.  Add sugar gradually and beat until stiff and sugar has dissolved.  Add egg yolks.  Beat until well-blended. Sift together other dry ingredients and fold into the mixture.  Pour into two 20cm greased and lined tins.  Bake at 190C for 15-20 minutes until cake springs back when lightly touched. Leave in tin for 10 minutes before turning out.

Tips in the book include being very swift once you add the flour – don’t waste any time getting it into the oven.  Spread whipped cream over bottom half, cover in strawberries and top with second cake. Sprinkle with icing sugar and serve with extra strawberries.

Chocolate Decadence with Only Goodness!

A pre-Christmas dinner with friends tonight and a last-minute call for a dessert – to be honest, didn’t feel like anything rich or sweet, so turned to Eleanor Ozich (of Monday’s Wholefoods fame) – her book has an amazing Chocolate and Raspberry Torte, which has also been published in the NZ Herald.

The torte has frozen raspberries, lots of cocoa, some maple syrup for sweetening and coconut flour for some interesting texture – check it out here.

Delicious, and very popular (especially with a dash of (less wholesome) cream on the side!

(Photo from NZ Herald article)

For the Love of a Plain Boiled Fruit Cake

My first Christmas gift from my not yet mother in law 30 years ago was an Alison Holst cookbook … Revered amongst Karori domestic goddesses, she was definitely the Annabel Langbein of her time!

There are still a couple of her books on my shelves (including one that belonged to Malcolm way before I knew him).  It’s that book that has the evidence of a plethora of boiled fruit cakes baked in my kitchen over the many years, in fact a recipe first introduced to me by Malcolm!  The book is so old it still has the old imperial measurements in it.

I trust that 30 years later Janet is happy that her son now has a domestic goddess looking after him (and thrilled that I still occasionally turn to Alison Holst in times of need!).

Boiled Fruit Cake

500 g sultanas
1-2 tsp lemon rind
250 g butter
1 cup water
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp orange essence ( I use orange blossom water)
2 – 2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder

Boil sultanas, butter, water and lemon rind for 10 minutes then cool to room temperature.

Beat eggs and sugar until thick.  Add remaining ingredients including fruit.  Do not add the last half cup of flour unless the mixture seems too thin.

Bake in lined 20 cm square tin at 150 C for 60 to 75 minutes.

Christmas is Coming!

Christmas brings so many traditions – I’m not sure there were that many “food” traditions in the Donnelly family Christmas, but one thing is for sure, there was always a Christmas cake!  An abiding memory is Dad having a cake mixer part made for his drill so that he could help mix the Christmas cake … I distinctly recall the mixing bowl on the floor of the kitchen and Dad doing the manly mixing while Mum held the bowl … a poor man’s Kenwood mixer!

And everybody had to stir the cake and make a wish.

There have been a number of Christmas cake recipes I have tried over time.  This year I’ve gone for the slightly untraditional chilli and chocolate fruit cake which was HUGE hit last year.  Thanks to the Dish baking book for this recipe.

Brandied Fruit, Chocolate & Spice Christmas Cake

Fruit Mixture

500 g dried fruit cake mix (I use sultanas, currants and raisins)
75 g mixed peel (not the supermarket version which is wet and horrid) (replaces glace cherries in the original recipe)
250 g prunes roughly chopped
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup grated apple, skin on
2 tbsp golden syrup
1 cup brandy

Cake

175 g Butter
3/4 cup raw sugar
1 3/4 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp each of ground nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves,ginger, mixed spice
1/4 tsp ground chilli (optional)
250 g dark chocolate finely chopped (Use 72% cocoa)
finely grated zest of one orange
3 tbsp orange juice
1/2 tsp baking soda

Fruit: Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, cover and put in fridge until ready to use. Stir daily

Cake: Preheat oven to 150 C and set rack one level below centre of oven. Grease and line a 20cm square (deep) cake tin with 3 layers of baking paper (or use wooden cake box).

Beat butter and sugar until pale and creamy.  The sugar will not be dissolved.  Beat in eggs one at a time adding a tablespoonful of the flour with each egg to stop it curdling. Combine remaining flour, baking powder, spices and chocolate ion a bowl.  Stir the orange zest, juice and baking soda together in another bowl.  Using a large metal spoon, fold both mixtures into the butter along with the soaked fruit.

Spoon into the tine and smooth the top.  Cover with a piece of baking paper, pressing it into the mixture. Wrap a thick piece of brown paper around the outside of the tin, securing with kitchen string.

Bake for about 2 hours (my oven actually need about 3 1/2 hours, which could be because of the wooden cake box) or until a skewer comes out clean.

I always bake mine at least 4 weeks before Christmas (thanks to my friend Liz who always bakes her cakes at Labour weekend, and my mother in law Janet who claims she used to make hers in September – domestic goddesses both of them!).

And remembering my friend Irma who baked this cake first and was my inspiration – merry Christmas in China, Irma!

The photo below is excellent testimony of the number of times this cake has been cooked!!

And because it shouldn’t be forgotten, before the chilli and chocolate became the popular family choice, my go to Christmas cake was from Cuisine magazine – check this one out.