COOKBOOKS GALORE

I needed a quick tart as a dessert to take to a get together. This is one of Mum's recipes so I've added metric in brackets. It's just a variation on a treacle tart. 8oz (225g) shortcrust pastry 4oz (100g) golden syrup 1oz (25g) unsalted butter grated rind of 1 lemon 3 tablespoons of double cream 1 egg Preheat oven 200C/gas6                      7" or 17.5cm flan tin Roll the pastry out and line the tin. Prick the base and bake blind for 15 mins. Reduce oven to 180C/gas4 Warm the syrup till it's runny, then take off the heat and add the butter and lemon rind and stir together. Beat the cream and egg together and mix into the syrup. Pour into the pastry case and bake for about 30 mins. Serve warm with some cream or vanilla ice cream. It hasn't got the breadcrumbs like the usual treacle tart. Supposed to have been a favourite of Charles Dickens! Nice crumbly pastry and a soft filling with a hint of lem...

Although my mother was a great baker, she occasionally brought home one of McVitie's Tunis cakes near Christmas time. Do you remember these cakes? Well I was feeling all nostalgic and thought I'd try and make one. Not as elaborate as the original, as that looks too tricky for my icing skills! Mary Berry has a recipe, but I found another one, which was apparently sent by McVitie to a fan of the cake, so I thought I'd give it a try. It's in ounces. 3oz ground almonds 6oz butter 6oz caster sugar 3 medium eggs rind of 1 lemon 8oz plain flour 11/2 tspn baking powder 2 tbspn milk For the topping: 10oz plain chocolate Marzipan fruits [banana, orange, pear, apple] Preheat oven 160C/gas3                                        8" cake tin brushed with melted fat and lined with                            ...