Christmas Cake (Non Alcoholic - Living & Loving Christening Cake)

Ingredients

• 550ml sultanas (chopped)
• 550ml currants
• 550ml raisins (chopped)
• 250ml cherries (cut in thirds)
• 250ml mixed peel
• 300ml glacé pineapple (chopped)
• 75ml walnuts (chopped)
• 125ml strong black coffee
• 350g butter
• 350g castor sugar
• 6 eggs
• 5ml grated lemon rind
• 875ml flour
• 3ml salt
• 8ml baking powder
• 10ml mixed spice

Instructions

• Set oven at 160° C.
• Line a 22cm round tin, depth 7cm with a double-thickness of foil.
• Mix prepared fruit, nuts & lemon rind together and pour the coffee over.
• Allow this to stand while the cake is being mixed.
• Cream the butter well, add the sugar gradually and beat until creamy.
• Add eggs one at a time beating well after each addition.
• Add the fruit and coffee mixture, mixing well.
• Sift flour, salt, baking powder & spice into butter, sugar & fruit mixture.
• Mix thoroughly from bottom of bowl.
• Spoon into cake tin and bake at 160° C for 1 hr
• Then lower the oven heat to 150° C for the next 3¼ hrs. Total baking time about 4¼ hrs.
• Remove from oven and leave in tin until quite cold.
• Remove from tin, but do not remove foil; wrap around cake and place in a closed tin.

Note: This cake improves with keeping, so make it at least 2 months in advance. About 12.5ml brandy can be dribbled over from time to time.

"Living & Loving" is a parenting magazine in South Africa. When I was growing up, its main focus was on cooking, though. It was the one magazine we weren't allowed to cut pictures out of.

I never understood why people don't like fruit cake. Maybe this cake is why.

Apple Crumble

Ingredients

• 125g margarine
• 100g sugar
• a few drops vanilla
• 1 egg
• 220g flour
• 7ml baking powder

Filling

• Tin of apples
• 25g sugar
• Raisins or sultanas
• grated rind of 1 orange
  

Instructions

• Beat margarine, sugar & vanilla together & beat in egg
• Add dry ingredients & mix well
• Press half of mixture into a 23cm dish
• Arrange filling and crumble balance of pastry on top
• Bake at 160 degrees C for 30 minutes.

My mom would make the crumble by grating the raw pastry on top of the filling with a large-holed cheese grater.

This was a classic tea-party dish. I can't think of it without remembering the good crockery and silverwave and the fancy crocheted tablecloth. It's best served with a scoop of thick double cream.

I personally think the raisins are what make it great, but if you don't like them, you could always leave them out, or maybe even replace them with some other dried fruit. ;-)

Banana Loaf

Ingredients

• 125g margarine
• 210g sugar
• 5ml vanilla essense
• 2 eggs
• 260g flour
• 5ml baking powder
• 4 ripe bananas

Instructions

• Heat oven to 175 degrees C
• Grease a 24 x 11 cm loaf tin
• Beat margarine, sugar & essense together until light
• Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each
• Fold in sifted dry ingredients and mix in bananas
• Bake for approx 45 minutes

Works best with bananas that are a bit too ripe to eat, and is great when spread with butter (or margarine for that authentic 70s flavour).

 

Date Crispies

Ingredients

• 113g butter or margarine
• 1 large T syrup
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 225g dates (chopped)
• 113g rice crispies
• coconut

Instructions

• Melt butter, syrup and sugar
• Add dates & simmer (stirring) until fairly smooth
• Add rice crispies & mix well
• Butter an 8" x 10" pan
• Sprinkle with coconut
• Spread out mixture & sprinkle coconut on top
• Cut when cold.

T = tablespoon, i.e. 15ml. The coconut should be the dessicated type. You should sprinkle the buttered pan with coconut, and then spread the mixture into the pan. This way the bottoms of the squares get a coconut coating too.

This was one of the biscuits I used to take to university with me. They last a fair few weeks when kept in an airtight biscuit tin.

Chelsea Buns

Ingredients

• 454g flour
• 57g castor sugar
• 1 yeast cake
• 2oz (57g) butter
• 1/2t salt
• 1 egg
• approx 3/4 cup warm milk (boiled first & left to cool)
• Raisins
• Cinnamon mixture: 2T butter; 2T castor sugar; 2t cinnamon

Instructions

1st Stage:

• Crumble yeast into approx 1/2 cup warm water & sprinkle 1t sugar over.
• Leave to rise.

2nd Stage:

• Put flour, sugar & salt in bowl.
• Rub in butter.
• Make well and put in yeast mixture, beaten egg and gradually mix in warm milk (use a wooden spoon)
• Knead lightly (soft mixture)
• Cover and leave to double in size

3rd Stage:

• Divide dough in half.
• Roll each half out to 1/2 inch thickness.
• Spread cinnamon mixture on top, sprinkle with raisins.
• Then roll.
• Cut in 2 inch pieces.
• Press and place cut side up on tray to rise.
• Bake at 400 degree F (204 degree C) for 10 to 15 mins.
• While still hot, pour over icing. (Approx 3 cups icing sugar, 2T butter and a little warm milk).
  

Not a single other Chelsea Bun I have ever had has come even close to being as nice as these ones. They're like eating soft little pieces of heaven.

Crunchies

Ingredients

• 1 T syrup
  
• 113g margarine
• 2 T water
  
• 1 level t bi-carb
• 2 cups oats
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup coconut
• pinch salt
  

Instructions

• Mix dry ingredients except bi-carb.
• Melt syrup, margarine & water, but do not boil.
• Mix in bi-carb and add to dry ingredients.
• Mix well.
• Press into pan and bake at 150 degrees C for 10-15 mins.
  

T = tablespoon, i.e. 15ml. t = teaspoon, i.e. 5ml. A level teaspoon would be 2.5ml or so, I suppose. The syrup is golden syrup, like Tate & Lyles.

Crunchies are kind of like a baked flapjack. I used to get a biscuit tin of these to take with me to university each term. I'd try to save them for when I was running low on money, but they usually didn't last that long.

The baking time makes quite a difference. They'll always be soft and moist when they come out of the oven. This is your chance to cut them up into squares, while they're still in the pan and soft. Leave them to cool and harden before turning them out. Depending on how long you baked them for, they'll either firm up into soft ones, harder, chewy ones or even crisp, biscuity ones.

Chocolate Cake (Red devil's food cake)

Ingredients

• 260g flour (500ml)
• 60g cocoa (150ml)
• 5ml bi-carb
• 2ml salt
• 180g stork margarine
• 5 ml vanilla essence
• 320g sugar
• 2 eggs
• 125ml sour milk
• 125ml boiling water

Instructions

• Heat oven to 175 degrees C.
• Grease 2 x 20cm tins.
• Sift together dry ingredients.
• Cream marge, essence & sugar until light & fluffy.
• slowly add egg.
• Add dry ingredients alternately with sour milk.
• Pour in boiling water & mix till smooth.
• Divide between tins & bake for approx. 35 mins.
• Leave in tins for 5 mins before turning out to cool.

Whenever we had milk that had gone sour, we'd hope my mom would make this chocolate cake. It really is incredibly rich and delicious. She'd often make it in big batches for parties or church events, scaling the recipe up and baking it in an enormous roasting tray.

Stork is a South African brand of standard spreading margarine, i.e. yellow, salted margarine. I don't know why it in particular is necessary. It might be that that's just where she originally got the recipe from.

(8 September 2009) I made this the other day and it really turned out well. It's best iced all over with a chocolate butter icing, which keeps it really moist - sometimes the edges can get a little dry when baking, but the icing remoistens it all lovelily.