Fig and almond cake

 Ingredients

6oz salted butter

6 oz sugar

2 large eggs

4 oz ground almonds

3 oz flour (plain/gluten-free)

⅓ tsp salt

a smattering of ground vanilla beans

a pinch or two of ground star anise

3 oz Greek yogurt

6-9 figs

Method 

1.  Soften the butter. 
2. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Weigh up the almonds, flour, salt, vanilla, spice together.
4. Crack the eggs into a cup and beat them a bit (or just add them one at a time to the mixture if you can't be bothered with this).
5. Alternately add a bit of egg and some of the flour/almonds dry mix to the bowl, until it's all well mixed in. 
6. Mix in the yogurt.
7. Put on the oven, at gas mark 6, 200C
8. Find an 8 inch sandwich tin or flan tin, grease it and line it with greaseproof baking paper
9. Spoon the cake mixture into the lined tin.
10. Slice the figs down the middle to make halves or wedges
11. Arrange the fig pieces on top of the cake
12. Bake in the hot oven for 15 minutes and then reduce the temperature to Mark 3, 170C, and continue baking for 30-35 minutes. Test it with a skewer to see if it comes out clean. 
13. Serve hot or cold with yogurt or cream for pudding, or cold for tea.

Lemon mascarpone cake (with wheat free option)

 Ingredients:

For the cake

• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 cup plain flour OR 2/3 cup rye flour
• 1/2 cup cornflour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 4 ounces (1/2 cup) mascarpone cheese
• 3 eggs
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest
• 1 1/2 tbsp. lemon juice (make sure you keep 1 teaspoon of juice for the frosting!)

 For the frosting

• 4 ounces (1/2 cup) mascarpone cheese
• 1 tablespoon icing sugar
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice

Preheat oven to 180ºC. Grease an 8 inch round tin. Line if you can be bothered and lightly dust with flour (wheat-free if you're doing that version!)

Beat together oil, sugar, mascarpone cheese, eggs, lemon zest, and lemon juice until completely smooth. Next, beat in the flour, cornflour, baking powder, bicarb and salt and stir until no lumps remain.

Pour mixture into tin and bake in preheated oven for about 30 minutes until golden, risen, and just starting to pull away from the edge of the tin. Check if it's done with cake tester - should come out clean! Cool in the tin at first, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

For the frosting, whip together mascarpone, icing sugar and lemon juice until smooth and thick. Spread over the cold cake.

Medovnik (Honey Cake)

• 450 grams Flour
• 180 grams Icing Sugar
• 180 grams Unsalted Butter
• 1 Egg
• 1 ½ teaspoons Baking Soda
• 6 tablespoons Honey
• 4 tablespoons Cream
• 1 teaspoon Cocoa Powder

Beat the butter, sugar, egg, honey and cream over a low heat (or bain marie) for about 5 minutes.  In a separate bowl mix the flour, baking soda and cocoa powder.  Then mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and let the mixture sit for about 10 minutes covered in cling film. It should be a nice soft dough consistency and you should be able to roll it out without it sticking.  If it’s too sticky then let it sit another 5-10 minutes or use a little bit of flour.
On greaseproof paper draw an 8 inch circle (or square) and roll out approximately 160 grams (one eighth) of the dough to fit the circle. It should be about 2-3 mm thick (i.e. thin!)  Roll out 8 of the circles and bake each one for 4-7 minutes at 180C.
Once they are baked, cool them on wire rack, leaving the paper on (until you come to put the cake together).  The cake layers can be baked beforehand and kept in the fridge for up to a week, or frozen for up to a month.
(If you have any dough left, bake the extra too and later grind it up with the nuts to coat the outside of the cake)

Filling and topping

• 1 Can Sweetened Condensed Milk
• 200 grams of Unsalted Butter
• 70 grams roughly chopped walnuts
• 50 ml of Rum or coffee or both
• 1 ½ Tablespoons of Sugar
• 150 ml of Water

You can first boil the can of sweetened condensed milk for 3 hours, unopened, in a pan of water. This makes it tastier, but is not essential. If you do, do this the day before, and do not open the can until several hours later when it has cooled sufficiently. 

To make the filling, blend the sweetened condensed milk with the butter until creamy.

Separately, mix the rum/coffee, sugar and water in a bowl and set aside.

Putting the cake together
Cut the edges off the 8 cake layers, so that they have a nice cleanly round shape (or square, if you used a square shape...) and don't have hard edges. The bits you've cut off can be ground into crumbs and used to spread over the cake at the end.
Put the first cake layer on a plate, and brush the rum/coffee mixture all over the top of it, then cover with the buttercream and sprinkle with a few chopped nuts.  Proceed like this, brushing both sides of the second and subsequent cake layers with the rum/coffee mixture, placing the layer on top of the last one, and spreading buttercream and nuts over it.
When you've put the last layer of cake on, cover the whole cake with the remaining buttercream and then with the cake crumbs and nuts.  Chill the whole cake in the fridge for at least 4 hours, but overnight is better - the longer you leave it, the more the cream soaks in and it becomes better. The cake can be kept in the fridge for up to a week.

Baked chocolatey ricotta cheesecake

For the base:

175g crunchy cocoa biscuits, anything with a classic biscuit consistency will do.
80g butter

Crush the biscuits (in a bag, with a rolling pin, or in a food processor) until fairly fine crumbs with some larger bits.  Cut the butter up and melt it in a bain-marie or microwave. Add the butter to the biscuits (in a bowl!) and use a spoon to combine thoroughly.

Butter your cheesecake tin (20 cm springform tin) thoroughly and line with greaseproof paper (on the bottom will do). Put the butter-biscuit mixture in the bottom of the tin and press down until it forms an even and compact covering over the whole base of the tin, about 1cm deep. Use the back of a spoon or your knuckles to press it down.

Put it in the fridge for 30 mins while you prepare the filling.

For the filling: 

120g dark chocolate, 50% cocoa
250g ricotta
250g greek yoghurt
3 eggs (if very big, use 2)
100g granulated sugar
35g cocoa powder
optional: grated rind of one lemon
cocoa for dusting the top of the cake

Break the chocolate into pieces and melt in a bain-marie or microwave. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites, and whisk the yolks with the sugar. Separately, whisk the whites with a pinch of salt until they form firm peaks.
Turn out the ricotta into a large bowl and cream it for a moment or two using a wooden spoon (add the grated rind of one lemon at this stage if you like!), then add the yoghurt gradually, followed by the egg yolks/sugar mixture, the melted chocolate and finally the whipped egg whites.

Pour the mixture into the tin, in which you have already prepared the biscuit base. Smooth the top, and bake in the centre of the oven at 160°C for about 50 minutes.

When done, remove and leave to cool in the tin. When it is lukewarm, place it in the fridge to chill for at least 2 hours.

When chilled, remove from the tin, dust with cocoa powder and serve, or if you like first decorate it with petals made of white chocolate and lemon slices, as below...



On a piece of greaseproof paper, sketch out petal shapes with a pencil.
Break up 75g white chocolate and melt in bain-marie or microwave. Using a spoon, fill in the petal shapes you've drawn on the paper with white chocolate. Leave to cool for a few minutes, then transfer to the fridge to harden up (at least 30 minutes).

Meanwhile cut the lemon into slim slices and simmer for 10 minutes in a pan with 100 ml water and 100g granulated sugar. Remove the lemon slices and cool them on a piece of greaseproof paper.

Place one of the lemon slices on top of the cake. Around it, arrange the white chocolate petals.If you like, outline them with a little dark chocolate sauce or melted dark chocolate.


Serve the remaining lemon slices together with the cake, if you like.



Keep the cake in the fridge :-)

Maková Bábovka - Poppy seed cake

• 250 g butter or margarine
• 190 g granulated sugar (vanilla if poss)
• 1 sachet of vanilla sugar / few drops vanilla essence (or just use vanilla sugar above)
• 6 eggs, separated
• 150 g ground poppy seeds (this requires a special grinder to squash the seeds - do not attempt in liquidiser!!)
• 180 g plain flour (wholemeal or coarser flour to be encouraged)
• 1 sachet baking powder
• 200–250 ml milk
• icing sugar to dust

1. Preheat oven to 180, fan oven 160 ˚C. Thoroughly grease medium size cake tin (ideally a ring mould, with a hole in the middle) and dust with flour. 

2. Cream butter/marg and sugar, add vanilla and egg yolks and beat until light and fluffy. Add the poppy seed mush and the baking powder. Mix, and add enough milk to obtain a dropping consistency. Whisk the egg whites until standing in firm peaks and fold into the mixture. Pour into the prepared tin, smooth the top, and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

3. Check that the cake is completely done: stick a cake tester in in a few places! It has a tendency to be a bit sticky in the middle. When convinced, take it out of the oven and cool for 3 minutes in the tin, then carefully turn the cake out of the tin and cool on a wire rack.

Variation: At the egg white stage, add two handfuls of fresh or frozen cherries (hlaved, stones removed). 

Devil's food cake(s)

These are scrumptious! Annie's most successful cupcakes to date.

• 50g cocoa powder
• 175g unsalted butter, softened
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (or just use vanilla sugar)
• 175g plain flour
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 175g caster sugar
• 1 heavily heaped tablespoon of golden syrup
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature

First, place the cocoa powder in a bowl, pour over 175 ml boiling water and whisk until smooth. Then add the butter to the hot cocoa mixture, and let it sit there while you do the rest (the butter should melt and the whole mixture cool down a bit).
Next, in a big mixing bowl, mix together flour, sugar (and vanilla), salt and bicarbonate of soda.
Add the cocoa-butter-water mixture gradually, and beat together.
Next, add the golden syrup, and finally add the eggs, continuing to beat. You should have a fairly soft (dropping) cake mixture by the end.

Put this mixture into several (at least 12, more like 24) individual cupcake cases, filled 3/4 full, or alternatively into one large greased/lined cake tin. Bake at 180 ºC (160 for a fan oven) for 20 mins (longer for a large cake).

Ice with your favourite frosting and decorate.

Rebarbova buchta - Rhubarb cake

Very easy, rather good.



c. 500g rhubarb (I used less and it was fine)
500 g polohrubé mouky / plain flour (if you have self raising, use this and omit baking powder!)
250 g sugar, or 200g does nicely for not such a sweet cake.
half a pat of butter or similar, around 100g but it can be approximate
250 ml milk
1 egg
1 sachet = 2 to 3 tsp baking powder
2 sachets = 5 to 6 tsp vanilla sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Chop the rhubarb into smallish chunks and sprinkle them with the vanilla sugar. Set aside while you make the rest.

Cream butter and sugar, then add egg, flour, baking powder, and as much of the milk as you need to form a fairly soft mixture. Spread this into a greased lined tin, and on top scatter the rhubarb. Sprinkle the cinnamon gently over the top. Bake in a moderate oven, around about 180C, for about half an hour or whatever it takes for the cake to be nicely golden and the cake tester to come out clean.

For those who prefer their rhubarb sweeter, sprinkle with icing sugar after it comes out of the oven.

Orange and cranberry ricotta cake

2 oz / 50g of dried cranberries (can use sultanas)
8 oz / 200g caster sugar (use vanilla sugar if poss)6 oz / 150g softened butterthe finely grated zest and juice of one orange (or lemon)3 large free range eggs, separated10oz / 250g ricotta cheese8 oz / 200g self raising flour1 tsp baking powdericing sugar for dusting


Place the cranberries in a small saucepan and cover with water.  Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes.  Drain and allow to cool. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4.  Grease and line the bottom of an 8 inch spring form cake tin.

Rub the orange zest into the sugar, then add the butter and cream until light and fluffy.  Beat in the egg yolks and then the ricotta, to obtain a smooth mixture.  Add the cranberries. Fold in the flour and baking powder.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff.  Stir 1/4 into the cake mixture and gently fold in the rest until thoroughly mixed, then spoon into the tin.  

Bake for just over an hour or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.  The crust will be cracked on the top and nicely golden. Cool in the tin for a few minutes before removing to a rack.  Dust with icing sugar before serving. 

Gluten free parsnip apple and orange pecan cake

Recipe from the Open University.


For the cake:
175g butter
200g light soft brown sugar
100g golden syrup
3 eggs
250g gluten free self raising flour
2 tsp gluten free baking powder
2 tsp mixed spice
250g parsnips
125g eating apples
50g pecan nuts (or walnuts)
1 orange, zest and juice



For the Maple mascarpone frosting
250g mascarpone cheese
2 tbsp maple syrup
3-4 tbsp milk

Heat the oven to 180ºC/gas mark 4.

Grease and line two 20cm sandwich tins.


Melt the butter, sugar and golden syrup together in a large pan over low heat, stirring occasionally until the sugar has dissolved. Set aside to cool for 10 minutes.
Place the mascarpone in a bowl and leave for 15 minutes to warm to room temperature. Add the maple syrup and beat together until well incorporated. Add enough milk so that you achieve a thick, yet spreadable consistency. Place one cake layer on a serving plate and place spoonfuls of the frosting over the surface. Use a knife to spread the frosting out into an even layer, right to the edges of the cake. Top with the second cake layer and dust the top lightly with icing sugar.
Serve in generous slices. Even better the next day...


Meanwhile, peel the parsnips and coarsely grate them along with the apple (you can leave the skin on but remove the core). Roughly chop the pecans and finely grate the zest from the orange. Using a large spatula, whisk the eggs into the melted sugar mixture, then stir in the flour, baking powder and mixed spice. Add the parsnip, apple, pecans and orange zest. Squeeze in the juice from the zested orange and mix well. Divide the batter between the tins (they will be quite full) and bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown and the tops spring back when pressed lightly. Allow to cool in the tins for 10 minutes before turning out onto wire racks to cool completely.

Red Velvet cupcakes

This recipe is rather American and the result is very sweet but also rather yummy. This came to me third hand, based on Hummingbird bakery's recipe.

For the cakes

• 60g butter, at room temperature
• 150g caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 10g cocoa powder
• Red food colouring (enough to make the mixture really red!)
• ½tsp vanilla extract
• 120ml buttermilk
• 150g plain flour
• ½tsp salt
• ½tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1½tsp white wine vinegar

For the icing (reduce by 1/2 if only making 6 muffins instead of 12 cupcakes):

• 300g icing sugar

• 50g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 125g cream cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C/325°F/gas mark 3. Grease and line a deep-holed muffin tin (6 holes) or shallow bun tin (12 holes). You can line with paper cake cases or squares of greased greaseproof paper (5in x 5in works for muffin tins) which form "tulip" cases.
   
2. Cream the butter and the sugar until very light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat until thoroughly mixed.
3. In a separate bowl, mix the cocoa powder, red food colouring and vanilla extract together into a paste. Add that to the cake mixture and beat until thoroughly combined. The mixture should be red, not brown, by the end. If it isn't red, add a bit more red colouring.
   
4. Pour in half the buttermilk and beat (or whisk with an electric whisk). Add half the flour, and continue to beat, then add the rest of the buttermilk, followed by the rest of the flour, beating continuously until the mixture is lovely and smooth. Lastly, add the salt, bicarbonate of soda and vinegar (yes, really). Continue to beat for one or two minutes.
5. Pour the mixture into the paper cases until two-thirds full and bake in the preheated oven for 20–25 mins, or until springy. A skewer/cake tester should come out clean. Lift the cupcakes out of the tin and cool on a rack.
   
6. Now make the icing: Soften the butter - it wants to be lovely and soft but not quite liquid. Cream in the icing sugar - start with a wooden spoon and once the sugar is mostly in, blend together with a whisk if possible. Add the cream cheese and beat the mixture until it is completely incorporated and has turned fluffy, at least 5 mins. Beware not to overbeat it though, it might get too runny.
   
7. When the cupcakes are completely cold, spread the icing over them with a spoon.
   

Mint Choc Chip Cake

Perfect for summer!

6 oz butter/marg
6 oz sugar
3 eggs
8 oz self-raising flour
8 oz chocolate chips (or chipped chocolate)
a little milk
two teaspoons of peppermint extract
green food colouring

butter
cocoa powder
icing sugar

Line and grease a fairly deep 7 or 8 inch tin. Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, fold in flour and add chocolate chips. Add a little milk to make it slightly less stiff (but it needs to be fairly stiff or the choc chips will sink). Add 2 teaspoons of peppermint extract, and some green colouring if you like your cake to be the right colour.

Bake at 160-180 depending on your oven, for about 1hour 15.

When the cake is cool, mix up some chocolate butter icing (butter, cocoa and icing sugar) and spread it over the cake. Or use whatever your favourite choc icing is. Yummy.

Orange Choc Chip Cake

6oz butter or marg
6oz caster sugar
3 eggs
8 oz self-raising flour
8oz chocolate chips (milk or dark)
1 orange
orange oil (optional)

icing sugar
cocoa powder


Line and grease a reasonably deep 7 or 8 inch cake tin. Cream the butter and sugar, add the eggs, fold in the flour and choc chips. Zest the orange (quickest way to do this is with a potato peeler) and add the zest to the cake mixture. Then halve the orange and squeeze one half of the orange juice into the cake mixture. For added orangeyness (recommended), add a few drops of orange oil.

Spoon into the tin and bake for 1 hour 15 mins on about 180C (a bit less in a fan oven).

When the cake is cool, mix a few spoonfuls of cocoa powder, several spoons of icing sugar, and the remaining juice from the orange, to make choc-orange icing. Spread over the cake, and leave to set.

Victoria Sponge

Quantity for 8" sandwich tins or approx 18 fairy cakes.

Ingredients:
6oz butter
6oz (vanilla) sugar
6oz self-raising flour
3 eggs
vanilla essence (optional)

1. Line base of sandwich tins with greaseproof paper and grease tins.
2. Cream butter and sugar until 'soft and fluffy' - if butter is hard, give it 20 second in microwave on full power.
3. Weigh up flour ready but do not add to mixture.
4. Beat in eggs one at a time. Beat enthusiastically and add a spoonful of flour between eggs to prevent curdling.
5. Beat in remaining flour (and a few drops of vanilla essence if desired).
6. Divide evenly into two tins and spread out (or dollop into cake cases for fairy cakes using a teaspoon).
7. Bake in oven gas mark 4, 180C (160C in fan oven) for 20-25 mins until golden on top and starting to come away from the tin at the edges. Fairy cakes take 15-20 mins.

Allow to cool, then fill with butter icing - or jam, or lemon curd, etc.

Lemon option - add grated rind of 1 lemon to cake mixture, use juice from the lemon in butter icing for filling.
Chocolate option - replace 1oz of the flour with 1oz cocoa powder.

Parkin

Ingredients:

6 oz black treacle
4 oz brown sugar
5 oz butter
3/4 pint of milk

6 oz plain flour
10 oz medium oatmeal
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt

1 egg

1. Put a pan on the stove and add the treacle, sugar, butter and milk. Heat until the mixture is melted.
2. Remove from the heat and allow to cool a bit.
3. Weigh up the dry ingredients together.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the pan and stir briskly.
5. Add the beaten egg to the pan and beat well until smooth.
6. Grease a large loaf tin or deep square tin (7" square), and line it with greaseproof paper.
7. Pour the mixture into the tin.
8. Bake for one hour at 350º F, 180ºC, Gas 4, Fan oven 160.
   

The parkin is supposed to be stored for two weeks before you eat it, but this seems rather unlikely to happen and really it doesn't matter that much.

Lemon squares

Ingredients:
8oz plain flour
2oz icing sugar
1/4tsp salt
6oz cold butter or margarine
1tsp cold water

For the lemon layer:
4 eggs
1lb caster sugar
1oz plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1tsp grated lemon rind
2 floz fresh lemon juice
icing sugar, for sprinkling

1. Rub butter into flour, icing sugar and salt until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the water and toss until starting to sort-of form a ball.
2. Tip mixture into a lined and greased 13"x9" baking tin and press down evenly.
3. Bake at 180C/350F/Gas 4 for 15-20 mins until lightly golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly.
4. Meanwhile, beat together the eggs, caster sugar, flour, baking powder, lemon rind and juice. Use of electric mixer advised.
5. Pour the lemon mixture over the baked base. Return to the oven and bake for 25 mins.
6. Remove from oven, allow to cool, sprinkle with icing sugar and cut into squares with a sharp knife before serving.

Makes 12 large squares, or more smaller ones. Quite convincing as a pudding as well as at tea time.

Fondant au Chocolat (version with chocolate)

200g (8oz) Dark Chocolate
3 tbsp water
150g (6oz) Butter
150g (6oz) Sugar
50g (2oz) Plain Flour
3 eggs

Icing sugar to dust

Break up chocolate, place in bowl with 3 tbsp water. Melt using bain marie or microwave. While melting, cream together butter and sugar, then carefully add eggs and flour. Fold in melted chocolate.

Line & grease bottom of large springform tin or equivalent. Pour mixture into tin and bake in preheated oven at 150ºC for 25-30 mins.

When done, the cake should be slightly crispy on top, soft in middle. Cake tester doesn't need to be clean.

Turn upside down and dust with icing sugar. Serve cold or warm with creme anglaise.

Queen Mother's Favourite Cake

I found a tattered copy of this recipe in Grandma's handwriting on the floor of the study.

8 oz chopped dates

Add one breakfast cup of boiling water and 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
Allow to stand

8 ozs sugar
3 ozs butter
10 ozs plain flour
1 egg beaten
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 ozs chopped walnuts

Mix all the above.
Add this mixture to the date mixture.

Put in a greased tin, 9" x 12"

Bake at 350º F for 35 minutes

Topping

5 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp cream from top of milk

Mix the above and boil for 3 minutes
Spread on cooked cake.
Sprinkle with chopped walnuts.

No flour chocolate cake

250 g bitter/plain chocolate
2 tbsp milk
6 tbsp sugar
6 eggs separated
240 g ground almonds

(For some reason the hand written version of this recipe also has [butter & flour) written on the bottom of the left column of ingredients... possibly it means butter and flour the tin before you pour the stuff in)

Preheat oven, 180ºC.

1. Melt the chocolate with the milk in a bain marie vel sim.
2. Mix melted chocolate with almonds, sugar and egg yolks and beat well.
3. Fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites and pour into cake tin, preferably with removable base. [no size given...]
4. Bake in preheated oven for 3/4 to one hour.
5. When cool, turn out and sprinkle with caster sugar/icing sugar to decorate.

Icing:

125 g plain chocolate
50g unsalted butter
1 egg, beaten
175 g sifted icing sugar

1. Melt chocolate and butter in bain marie
2. Mix with wooden spoon
3. Add egg and beat until smooth
4. Remove mixture from heat.
5. Stir in icing sugar and beat until smooth and glossy.
6. Pour straight on for smooth thin icing or leave to cool for thicker icing (recommended)
   

Choc Orange Bars

Ingredients:
For the bottom:

4 ozs butter
2 ozs granulated sugar
4 ozs Self Raising Flour
3 ozs rolled oats
2 rounded teaspoons of cocoa powder
pinch of salt

For the icing:

4 ozs icing sugar
2 rounded teaspoons of cocoa powder
About 2 dessertspoons of undiluted orange squash or orange juice

Method
Melt the butter in a saucepan. Weigh up the dry ingredients together and add them to the hot butter. Mix well.
Grease a 7 inch square sandwich tin.
Press the mixture into the tin.

Bake for about 25 minutes in a moderate oven, 368º F, 185ºC, Fan oven 175-80.

Now make the icing. Sieve the icing sugar and cocoa into a small basin. Mix to a coating consistency with not much orange squash/juice. Orange squash gives a better flavour. If using orange juice, add about four drops of orange oil if available.

Spread the icing over the hot cake.

When almost cold, cut into fingers.

Chocolate squidgey cake

6oz SR flour
6oz sugar
6oz margarine or butter
4 tsp cocoa
2 eggs
2 tbsp golden syrup

Melt syrup, butter and sugar in a saucepan. Add flour and cocoa and stir well, removing from heat. Add egg (ensure mixture has cooled a little) and mix well. Pour into 2 greased and lined 8" sandwich tins and cook for 20 mins at Gas 5.

When cooled, sandwich together with butter icing. Good with coffee-flavoured butter icing too.