COOKBOOKS GALORE

The recipe was given to me by my friend Sian ages ago, and I've made it lots of times since. It's a lovely moist chocolate cake, which uses oil instead of butter or margarine. It keeps well . 190g plain flour 2 level tbspns cocoa 1 level tspn bicarb 1 level tspn baking powder 150g caster sugar 2 tbspn golden syrup 2  eggs [beaten] 150ml veg. oil 150ml milk Icing 50g butter or marg 4 level tbpns cocoa [sieved] 3 tbspns milk 150g icing sugar Preheat oven 160C/gas3/325F Grease and base-line 2 x20cm sandwich tins. Put all the dry ingredients into a bowl then make a well in the centre and add the oil, eggs, syrup and milk. Beat it well and pour into the sandwich tins. It's a very runny batter. Bake for 30-35 mins then turn onto a wire rack, remove paper and leave to cool. Icing - melt the butter or marg in a pan, add the cocoa, stir well, and cook gently for about 1 minute. Then stir in the milk and icing sugar, take off the heat, mix well and leave t...

Having a good sort out in the food cupboard this morning, I found a jar of mincemeat leftover from Christmas. I remembered having a recipe somewhere which uses it in a cake. It's an old recipe, originally cut out from a magazine, but I've tweaked it several times. 100g butter or margarine 75g dark brown sugar 150g wholemeal flour 1 tspn cinnamon 2 eggs 225g mincemeat 1 tbspn water Preheat oven 170C/gas 3 and grease and base-line a 20cm square cake tin. Beat the fat and sugar together till creamy, then beat in the eggs, one at a time. Fold in the flour and cinnamon then the mincemeat and water. Spoon into the tin and bake for about 30 mins till golden. It's got a nice light texture. I don't know why it's called 'Belgian cake'!

We love teabreads and loafcakes, so I made this one to use up a couple of very ripe bananas. This recipe was given to me by my aunt many years ago, and it's delicious. I've changed it to metric. 225g sr flour 1/2 tspn grated nutmeg 100g margarine or butter[softened] 225g bananas [weighed without skins] 100g caster sugar 2 eggs 6 tbspn thick honey topping 2tbspn honey [warmed] crushed sugar lumps or nibbed sugar Preheat oven 180C/gas4/350F Grease a 900g [2lb] loaf tin and line base with greaseproof paper. Put flour and nutmeg in a bowl and rub in the marg. or butter till it looks like breadcrumbs. Mash the peeled bananas and stir into the flour with the sugar, eggs and honey. Beat it well until it's evenly mixed. Put into the loaf tin and bake for about 45 mins. Check that the top's not browning too much, or if it is, put foil on the top. Allow the loaf to cool then put onto a wire rack. When it's completely cool, brush the honey [which has be...

I found some buttermilk hidden in the back of the fridge, so decided this was the time to try the buttermilk scones from Nigella's 'Kitchen'. They're quite generous, like the lady herself! You can find the recipe here . They taste really good; a keeper I think. Next time I'll add some dried fruit - cranberries, sour cherries, chopped dried apples or pears. Wonder what they'd taste like with chocolate pieces?!

Thought I'd make some cookies for a change and found this recipe in my folder. They're part of my new 'healthy eating' - well oats are healthy aren't they? Forget about the butter and syrup! It makes about 18 cookies. 115g butter 115g caster sugar 2 tbspn golden syrup 1egg 115g plain flour 1 tspn baking powder 1 tspn each of cinnamon and mixed spice 115g oats Preheat oven to 180C/350F/gas4 Cream the butter and sugar together till it's nice and fluffy. Add the syrup and the egg and beat together. Fold in the flour, baking powder and spices and then the oats. Grease a couple of baking sheets and put spoonfuls of the mixture on the sheets; make sure you leave a space between each one as they spread. Bake for about 15 mins till golden and just firm when you touch them. Leave them to cool on a wire tray.

A very Happy New Year. I wanted to make a different sort of cake, so searched through my books till I found this recipe in an old book of world cookery belonging to my Mum. It's of German origin. Preheat oven 160C/gas3 Grease and line a 20cm square tin. 115g butter 115g caster sugar 2 eggs 175g sr flour 4 tbspn milk 1 tbspn instant coffee dissolved in a tbspn boiling water Streusel: 85g walnut pieces 1 level tspn coffee granules 115g soft brown sugar 2 tbspn plain flour 30g butter [melted] Beat the butter and sugar together till nice and creamy. Add the eggs and beat again. Fold in the flour, milk and coffee. Spread half of this mixture into the tin. Put the streusel ingredients into a blender [ except butter] and make into a fine powder. Add the butter and give it all a quick whizz. Sprinkle half of this on top of the cake mixture and top with the rest of the cake mixture, Then sprinkle the remaining streusel on top. Bake for about an hour in the middl...

We don't like Christmas pudding, so I try a new Christmas dessert recipe every year. Last year it was sticky toffee pudd. and this year I wanted to do something lighter. The recipe said that this amount would serve 8, but it served 3 people who had seconds! I made it in advance and froze it. The recipe comes from this year's 'Woman's Weekly Christmas special'. 100g white chocolate broken up into pieces 250ml ready made vanilla custard 3 tbspns Baileys liqueur 142ml pot double cream 2 tbspns grated dark chocolate a few raspberries small loaf tin lined with cling film Melt the chocolate and stir in the custard. Leave to cool then stir in the Baileys. Whip the cream then add it to the mixture. Spoon it into the lined loaf tin and feeze overnight. When it's solid, cover and wrap and label it. Take it out and put it in the fridge 20 mins before you want to use it. Put onto a plate, sprinkle the top with grated dark chocolate and decorate with a few...