A Spicy Lemon Cake

When my dear friend Pam handed me this recipe I was a little skeptical, not sure if the spices and lemon would mix together into a delicious cake! I should have trusted my old friend! The smell when you take it out of the oven is just wonderful!

You will need a 7 inch spring form cake tin, greased and lined and your fan oven pre heated to 150C

6 oz softened butter

6 oz caster sugar

2 large eggs

½ teaspoonful ground cinnamon

1 teaspoonful ground ginger

8 oz self raising flour

the grated zest and juice of a large lemon

1 tablespoonful buttermilk or whole milk

Lemon butter icing for filling:

In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, add the eggs, one at a time, with a little of the flour if needed. Add the spices, then fold in the flour and mix well. Finally add the zest, juice and milk. Tip into your prepared tin and bake for about an 1¼ hrs until lightly golden and firm to the touch. Cool in the tin for a short while then lift out. When cold, carefully split in half.

Make a lemon butter icing [or you could use lemon curd]

Softened butter and icing sugar in equal amounts, with lemon zest and a small amount of lemon extract. I love the Sicilian in Asda! 

Fill the cake and sandwich with the fab lemon butter icing. Then just enjoy! Dust the top with a little icing sugar.

Jam Doughnut Muffins

This super recipe was handed to my by a childhood friend Sheila, who is also my husband’s cousin. Well I never. Where did you get this Sheila? How delicious and although you might think it is too fiddly, they were actually a piece of cake to make.

You will need 12 muffin cases to line a muffin tin, and 12 more for the finished “doughnut”.

Pre heat your fan oven to 160C. I used seedless raspberry jam.

7 oz softened butter

7 oz golden caster sugar

3 large eggs

11 oz self raising flour

½ teaspoonful each of bicarbonate of soda and baking powder

scant 4 fl oz of soured cream

Place all the above ingredients in a medium mixing bowl and beat well. Place a large dessertspoonful in each muffin case, making a small indent in the top of the mixture.

Add a teaspoonful of your chosen jam.

Cover over a little more of the left over mixture, gently covering the jam as best you can.

Bake for about 25 mins until golden and and firm to the touch. Cool for 5  mins.

Meanwhile, get a sheet of parchment and place it on your work surface and sprinkle it liberally with caster sugar.

Remove the buns from the cases and roll them in the caster sugar then sit the “doughnuts” in new  cases.

Yummy!! Well I never. Try them just warm.  Oh my! But trust me, they are still great cold, and the next day.

 

Caribbean Lime Cake

You don’t find too many cakes with lime as the predominant flavour and I love this recipe, given to me by an old friend, who has no memory of where it came from. But it is delicious with some very different ingredients. Plus it is an easy peasy all in one mix!! The basic recipe is below, although I increased the amount by a third to make the pictured cake for a special birthday, using a bundt tin.

You will need a loaf tin, greased and lined with parchment, hanging over the long sides to help you lift it out. Pre heat your fan oven to 160C

6 oz self raising flour

6 oz softened butter

6 oz golden caster sugar

2 oz desiccated coconut

2 oz of dried banana chips, crushed

the grated zest and juice of a lime

3 eggs

In a medium bowl, place all your ingredients and mix well, for at least 2-3 mins. Well, that’s hard work isn’t it? Tip into your prepared tin and bake for about 55 mins. Cool in the tin for a while then lift out.

Meanwhile, make a topping:

4 tablespoonfuls of icing sugar, sifted

the juice of half a lime and the zest

more desiccated coconut for sprinkling, a couple of tablespoonfuls

[I infused the coconut with some more lime zest 24 hours beforehand, and stored it, covered, in the fridge to infuse]

                                                                                                                                                                            

In a small bowl, mix the coconut and zest together until well combined. Make the lime icing with enough of the juice then spread over the top of the cooled cake. Sprinkle over the lime infused coconut.

I also added some dried banana slices!

Oh Wow!!

Fig Cake

I love figs!!  And this cake is just amazing! My husband calls them tea bags and will sit and munch away the soft dried figs until they are all gone. Many is the time I have gone to my baking cupboard and found none there! This is a very yummy recipe, with a quite unusual method and I hope you all enjoy it!! It is very different! You can find the soft figs ready to eat anywhere now, but I do love them from Lidl.

You will need an 8 inch spring form cake tin, greased and lined, pre heat your fan oven to 160C

12 oz plain flour

6 oz butter

8 oz caster sugar

7½ oz whole milk

4 large egg whites, beaten to soft peaks

1 teaspoonful each of nutmeg and cinnamon

8 oz figs, chopped

1 tablespoonful golden syrup

In a medium bowl cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the flour along with the whole milk, then fold in the egg whites carefully. Add the spices, figs and golden syrup. Tip into your prepared tin and bake for about an hour.

Cool in the tin for a short while then turn out. Dust with icing sugar before serving, if you wish. I did not bother.

While this is technically a cake, it is fab eaten warm with clotted cream of course. Keeps well for about a week in a tin.

What to do with 4 egg yolks?? My husband fried them up and popped them on a slice of toast for lunch.