COOKBOOKS GALORE

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                            ...

I love caramel and found this recipe in my magazine cuttings. It's not a difficult caramel to make, as I've had many disasters with it in the past!  You need:  Pack of shortcrust pastry, 2 eggs, 100g caster sugar, 60g butter, 100g walnuts chopped finely and 100g walnut halves For the Caramel: 20g butter, 100ml crème fraîche, 150g caster sugar Preheat oven 180C/gas4                 22cm tart tin For the tart: Cut the butter into pieces and melt for 1 min in a microwave. Leave to cool. Beat the eggs and caster sugar using an electric mixer or hand mixer till white and fluffy.  Add the chopped walnuts and melted butter and gently mix together. Roll out pastry to fit a tart tin which is at least 2.5cm high. Grease the tin then line with the pastry. Add the nut mixture gently. Bake for about 30 mins till golden. Caramel: Put the sugar in a pan and melt till brown. Heat the cream till boiling and pour over the su...

On Wednesday mornings I help with a Toddlers group. We're having a little Christmas party next week so have been trying out some biscuits. My grandson was here testing the results! This recipe came originally from Woman's Weekly, I think. It's in a pull-out about baking with children at Christmas. How many stars you make depends on the size of your star cutter! For the biscuits you need: 370g plain flour, 200g soft butter, 120g caster sugar, 3 egg yolks and a pinch of salt A star biscuit cutter For the decoration: red Smarties, 150g icing sugar, 1 egg white, 6 squares of chocolate to melt , red and white sugar sprinkles In a bowl or mixer beat the butter, sugar and egg yolks till it's creamy. Add the salt and flour and mix together. Bring together into a ball, cover in clingfilm and put in the fridge for 30 mins. Preheat oven 160C/gas3                                  Cover a baking tray wit...

Since coming out of hospital, I seem to have been lucky enough to have had friends visiting. Now I'm feeling better, they haven't been eating 'shop bought' cake! I made a chocolate cake on Tuesday, but gave the leftovers to my friend to take home. Another friend came today and I decided to make her favourites - rock cakes. Don't think I've made these since schooldays. They were a great hit, and I'd forgotten how nice they are. I suppose the recipe is similar to Welsh cakes, which I often make. This recipe makes 12 and is from my Mum's notebook - I've changed the ounces into grams! 225g sr flour + 2 tspns baking powder, 100g soft margarine or butter, 50g granulated sugar, 1 egg, 150g mixed fruit and about 1 tbspn milk, brown sugar to sprinkle over. Preheat oven 200C/gas6              Grease 2 baking trays. Mis the flour and baking powder together then rub in the fat till it's like fine crumbs. Stir in the sugar and the fruit. Beat the eg...

I decided I wanted to make something a bit different when some friends came for tea. My Mum was an excellent baker, and one of the things I really loved were her chocolate eclairs. I thought I'd have a try at choux pastry as it's years since I've made any. [Many moons ago I went to cookery classes with a friend, and we made choux buns.] Recently I was given a large jar of home-made lemon curd, so decided to try and use this as the filling instead of cream. I'd make some fondant icing for the tops. Do I do a GBBO and say - 'Make some choux pastry' or give the recipe? Decided to do the latter. This amount makes about 10 buns. 150ml water, 50g butter, 65g plain flour, 2 eggs lightly beaten Put the water and butter in a pan and bring to the boil over a medium heat. Take off the heat and add the flour. Put back on the heat and beat with a wooden spoon for 2-3 mins till the mixture leaves the sides of the pan. Cool slightly. Gradually beat in the eggs till th...

One of my favourite fruits is a blueberry, and I love blueberry muffins. I thought I'd try to use one of my usual recipes, but instead of individual muffins, make a muffin cake. I've added a topping to give it more crunch. There used to be a prolific blueberry bush in the garden, but sadly this year it decided it had had enough! Preheat oven 190C/gas5                                    Grease a 900g loaf tin. In a bowl mix together 280g plain flour, 1/2 tpsn salt, 1/2 tspn bicarb and 1 tspn cinnamon. In another bowl beat together 2 eggs, 100g caster sugar and 85g light brown sugar,then mix in 125ml sunflower oil, 125ml sour cream and 1 tspn vanilla extract. Gently mix the dry ingredients into the wet one, but don't overmix Stir in 290g blueberries dusted in 1 tbspn flour to stop them sinking in the cake. Topping: 100g caster sugar, 50g plain flour, 50g butter cubed and 1/2 tspn cinn...

325g caster sugar 4 pears, peeled, quartered, cored and sliced 175g self-raising flour 1 tspn baking powder 125g butter, melted 2 eggs 50ml milk 1 tspn vanilla extract You need a 20cm  springform round cake tin Preheat  oven to 180C/gas4, .  Put 150g sugar in a pan and add 3 tablespoons of water. Dissolve the sugar over a gentle heat, then turn up the heat and boil until the sugar turns a rich amber colour. Swirl the pan  but don't stir. Pour the caramel into the base of the prepared tin which you've lined with baking paper which comes up the sides a little. Let it cool, then arrange the pear slices in a circle pattern on top. Sift the flour and baking powder together. Add the rest of the sugar, and stir till mixed.. Add the melted butter, eggs, milk and vanilla, then mix at high speed for 1 minute to make a smooth batter. Pour over the pears and bake for 40 minutes to 1 hour.  Cool for 10 minutes in the tin, then turn onto a wire rack and serve ...