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.

Old Fashioned Rhubarb Pudding

Ingredients:

1 oz butter
Soft brown sugar
8 oz self raising flour
1 tsp salt
3 oz suet
1/4 pint water
1 1/2 lbs of young rhubarb
1 oz chopped candied peel
2 oz currants
rind and juice of half a lemon
4 oz sugar
pinch of ground cinnamon
3 fl oz water

Method:

1. Choose a very large glass or china pudding basin (2 pint basin is not really big enough for this quantity of stuff).
2. Butter the basin thickly with the butter and shake plenty of brown sugar about in it so that it sticks to the butter (or spread them both together).
3. In a mixing bowl, make suet pastry with the flour, salt, suet and the 1/4 pint of water.
   
4. Form the dough into a ball and cut off one third of the ball to reserve for the lid.
5. Take the larger piece and put it into the pudding basin. Pummel it out thin so that it lines the bottom and sides of the basin up to a bit short of the brim. Make sure there are no holes.
6. Wash and trim the sticks of rhubarb and slice them into 1 inch pieces.
   
7. Put half the pieces of rhubarb into the pudding shell.
   
8. Sprinkle over the peel, currants, lemon rind and juice, half the sugar, and the cinnamon.
9. Add the rest of the rhubarb and the rest of the sugar.
10. Pour in the water.
11. Take the remaining piece of suet pastry and knead it out to make a round lid. Put the lid on the pudding and stick the edges of the pastry together.
12. Cover the pudding with a circle of greaseproof paper as if for steaming, tied on with string.
13. Bake at 350º F, 180ºC, Fan oven 160º, gas mark 4, for 75 minutes.
14. Remove from the oven, take off the paper top, turn out into a dish with sides.
15. Serve piping hot with cream or custard.
    

Mini-Spanikopita (Flaky spinach and fennel pastries)

This is my cross between Rose Elliot's Flaky Spinach and Fennel pastries and Spanikopita.

Ingredients:
8 sheets filo pastry
3oz butter, melted

Filling:
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped (spring onions can also be used)
1 tbsp olive oil
1lb fresh spinach, cooked, well-drained and chopped, or 8oz frozen spinach thawed and squeezed as dry as possible
2 tbsp chopped parsley
2-4oz feta cheese, crumbled small
1tsp fennel seed (optional)

1. Make the filling by frying the onion in olive oil in a large saucepan until soft but not browned, then remove from heat and add the cooked spinach, chopped parsley and fennel seed.
2. Preheat oven to 190C/Gas mark 5.
3. Unroll the filo pastry and spread out in a pile with a damp cloth over.
4. Take one sheet of filo pastry, place on a large board and brush all over with melted butter. Lay another sheet on top and brush that too. Cut into five equal-width strips.
5. Place a teaspoon of filing 2.5 cm from the end of one strip. Fold the top corner over, making a triangular shape. Then fold the whole triangle over itself again and again until you get to the end of the strip. Brush with melted butter and place on greased baking sheet.
6. Continue with the rest of the filo and filling in the same way until it is all used up and you have lots of little triangles on baking trays.
7. Bake for 15 min until the pastry is golden-brown and crisp.

NB can be frozen after step 6, then cooked from frozen.

Lemon Curd

For this recipe you will need a microwave oven (conventionally it is done in a double boiler saucepan).

Makes about three jars.

Ingredients:

1 lb sugar
4 eggs
4 lemons
8 oz butter

Method:

1. Find a large mixing bowl, made of glass, plastic or china (not metal).
2. Put the pat of butter in the mixing bowl and warm it in the microwave for 30 seconds to soften it.
3. Add the grated rind and juice of the lemons to the bowl.
4. Add the sugar.
   
5. Put the bowl in the microwave again and heat it for a minute or two till it's all runny. Stir it.
   
6. Add the eggs and beat the mixture with a hand whisk (or a fork would probably do okay) until it's all smooth and a consistent colour and consistency all through.
7. Microwave for 30 seconds on full power. Remove and whisk the mixture again.
8. Repeat step 7 for as many times as required (about 7-8 times) until the mixture becomes thick and creamy. It must not boil. Use medium power for the last one or two sessions if you are anxious about going too far.
9. Pot into warm glass jam jars, and screw on the lids while it is still hot (or use the traditional wax paper and cellophane jam covers).
10. Use within about 4 weeks. May need to be refrigerated after opening depending on how fast you eat it.
    

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.

Red Cabbage

For four helpings.

Ingredients:

1 oz dripping or oil
1 lb red cabbage, shredded
1 large onion peeled and sliced
1 cooking apple peeled and sliced
2 tbsp stock, or water, or apple or orange juice
2 tbsp vinegar
1 tsp salt
a little pepper
1 tbsp brown sugar
(raisins, sultanas or a little spice can be added if desired)

Method

1. Choose a large pan (not uncoated aluminium).
2. Melt the dripping in the pan and add the chopped onions.
3. Add all the other ingredients.
4. Put on the lid and cook gently for 30 to 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Serve hot, with pork, sausages, steak and kidney pudding or other traditional fare.