COOKBOOKS GALORE

This is my offering to the GBBO, as it's more complicated than I usually make! I'd offered to make a cake for a birthday we'd been invited to, and as my daughter was here to help me, decided to try something a bit more ambitious. It's not the official birthday cake, but just another contribution to the tea. The recipe comes from a leaflet I picked up many years ago in a supermarket, but it doesn't say much about the origins of the cake, just that it's from Denmark. It's unusual in that it has chopped pears in it, and uses gelatine to stiffen the cream mixture for the filling. It's a 'bit of an effort' cake to make too, so one for an occasion. Preheat oven 180C/gas4 Grease and line a 20cm springform tin. Whisk 4 egg yolks with the grated zest and juice of 1 lemon and 125g of icing sugar till pale and creamy. Whisk the 4 egg whites till stiff peaks.  Sieve 75g plain flour, 25g cornflour and 1/2 tspn baking powder together then fold i...

Looking through my French cookery books for something different to bake, I came across a recipe for 'Mirlitons'. When I googled them to find out more, they seemed to be a strange looking green vegetable from the USA, also called chayote. What happened to the cakes? I continued googling and found out that the little Mirliton Tartlets come from around Rouen in Normandy. There were quite a few recipes for them, but they all seemed to agree that they must have an almond and egg filling with vanilla extract and orange flower water; some had cream added, so I decided to add some to give them extra flavour. Apparently it's quite an old recipe, being found in a 18th century cookery book. They sound very similar to the Welsh cheese cakes my Mum used to make - a pastry shell, a layer of jam then a sponge topping, but there's no almonds in Mum's recipe. They're very easy to make, as you use a ready made sheet of puff pastry. This recipe makes about 12 tartlet...

I wanted to make something quick and easy for my grandsons' visit this afternoon. This slice must come under the 'easy to make and good for you' banner, as it has oats, muesli, honey, apricots, nuts ...  and surprisingly, all three boys will eat it!. I guess it's a posh flapjack! It's one of my friend Ann's family recipes, and we love it. 30g oats 80g dried apricots 60g muesli 40g dessicated coconut 30g almonds chopped into pieces 70g plain flour 70g demerara sugar 2 tbspn honey 2 medium eggs 140g butter Grease a deep 20cm square cake tin. Preheat oven 180C/gas4 Cut the apricots into smallish pieces. In a bowl beat 140g of the softened butter with the sugar and honey. Add the eggs one at a time. Fold in the flour, oats, muesli, almonds, apricot pieces and the coconut. Mix it all together and spoon into the tin; smooth the surface and cook for 30 mins. Leave it to go cold in the tin then cut into squares. It's very filling, so I cut it int...

I wanted to make some kind of chocolate cake, and having looked through cookery books and folders I found this recipe which came from one of my neighbours in France. Four of us, all neighbours, took it in turn to host afternoon tea - the French ladies thought it was a great idea. This was one of Reneé's offerings. I love anything made with nuts, especially hazelnuts, and it's another easy cake to make. I decided to make it in a bundt tin. Grease a bundt mould or cake tin and preheat oven 180C/gas4 In a bowl over simmering water, melt 150g butter and 150g dark chocolate. Take bowl off and add 4 egg yolks, 175g caster sugar, 80g ground hazelnuts, 100g plain flour, 50g dark chocolate chopped up and a pinch of salt. Beat the 4 egg whites till stiff and fold into the mixture. Spoon into the tin and bake for 50mins. Remove from tin and cool on a wire rack. For the icing: Chop 100g dark chocolate and melt it over water with 50g of butter. Pour it over the warm cake and leave...

My friend gave me some courgettes and I wanted to make a cake with some of them. I had a look on the internet, but nothing really appealed, so I hunted through a couple of old baking cookery books and found a carrot cake with raisins, so adapted this. I fancied making a ring cake, but it can be made in a normal round cake tin. Preheat oven 180C./gas4 Grease a 20cm ring mould well with butter or oil. Beat together 125g butter and 150g caster sugar till nice and fluffy. Then add 2 beaten eggs and 2 tspn vanilla extract. Add 220g grated courgettes [about 11/2 medium courgettes] and 60g sultanas [or other dried fruit]. Mix together then fold in 225g sr flour. Spoon into tin and smooth top. Bake for 35-40 mins till golden. Leave cake in tin for about 10 mins then turn onto a wire rack. I wanted a creamy topping, so made some vanilla buttercream. I wanted to try a method I'd found in a magazine; it's more complicated than the simple buttercream of icing sugar and butter, bu...