MARY BERRY'S FARMHOUSE FRUIT CAKE

 INGREDIENTS

225g self raising flour

100g softened butter

225g dried mixed fruit (I used 500g of dried fruit that had been soaked in brandy.)

100g caster sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon of dried cinnamon (I used one tablespoon of dried cinnamon.)

100 ml milk 

splash of brandy

METHOD

Pre-heat your oven to 160 (140 fan.)

Grease a 20cm baking tin and line it with parchment paper.

Cream the butter and sugar.

Add two eggs and keep beating the mixture.

Add the flour and cinnamon to the bowl. Beat until well mixed.

Pour in the milk, mix and finally add the dried fruit.

Put the batter in the prepared cake tin and smooth the top.

Bake in the preheated oven for one hour and fifteen minutes. (Check the cake after one hour.)

A skewer inserted into the centre should come out clean and the top should be golden brown.

BLACK FOREST GATEAU (DELIA SMITH'S ORIGINAL RECIPE)

 Ingredients List

6 large eggs
142g (5oz) caster sugar; 
50g (2oz) cocoa powder, sieved; 
285 ml (1/2 pint) double cream; 
1 level tbs. caster sugar; 
1 tin or jar of pitted morello cherries (700g) drained and juice reserved
50g (2 oz) plain chocolate 
3 tbs. kirsch or cherry brandy.

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degrees centigrade, 356 degrees Fahrenheit or gas mark 4. 
1) Grease and line two eight inch sandwich tins or three six inch sandwich tins if you would like to make a triple layer cake like mine. 
2) Separate the eggs and whisk the yolks with the sugar until pale and quite thick. 

3) Fold in the cocoa powder in two batches.

4) With a clean whisk beat the whites until stiff but not too dry. Stir a large spoonful of the whisked egg whites into the cocoa mixture to loosen it then carefully fold in the rest of the whipped whites in two batches.

5) Divide the mixture between the tins and bake on the centre shelf of your oven for 15- 20 minutes.

6) Check that the cakes are baked by inserting a skewer into the centre of the cakes. The skewer should come out clean and the cakes should be springy. Leave to cool in tins for 10 minutes and then release from the tins on to a cooling rack whilst still slightly warm. 

To decorate:

 
1) Add the the tablespoon of caster sugar to the cream and softly whip it - it should just about hold a soft peak when the whisk is lifted from the surface, but should it still be floppy and voluptuous. 

2) Remove the baking paper from the cooled cakes. Stir together the kirsch or cherry brandy and the reserved cherry juice. Drizzle the cherry/kirsch liquid over the cakes and leave for five minutes so that the cakes soak up the liquid.

3) Layer up the cakes with the softly whipped cream and most of the drained cherries.

4) Spoon some cherries on the top in the centre of the cake and pipe some swirls of cream round the edges. Grate the chocolate over the cream on top to decorate.

 

Alternative: Increase the amount of cream to 568 mls (1 pint) so that you have enough cream to around the edges of the cake and press chocolate sprinkles on to the sides.

CLAUDIA RODEN'S APPLE LETKES

Ingredients

sugar 2-3 tbsp
calvados, brandy or rum 4 tbsp
eggs 2 large, separated
light vegetable oil 2 tbsp
salt a good pinch
flour 150g
water 200ml
lemon grated zest of 1
vegetable or sunflower oil for frying
caster sugar for sprinkling on after serving

Method

Core and peel the apples and cut each into 4 thick slices. Put them in a shallow dish with the sugar and calvados, brandy or rum, and turn them so that they are well coated. Leave for at least 1 hour, turning the slices over occasionally so that they absorb the spirit.

For the batter, beat the egg yolks with the oil and salt, then stir in the flour and mix well. Now beat in the water gradually and vigorously, squashing any lumps. Leave for an hour, then fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites.

Heat at least 2cm of oil in a large frying pan. Dip the apple slices in the batter – about 5 at a time – making sure they are well covered with batter.

Lift each one out carefully and lower into the hot oil. The oil must be sizzling but not too hot, or the fritters will brown before the apple is soft inside.

Fry in batches, and turn the slices over to brown both sides. Lift out with a slotted palette and drain on kitchen paper before serving. Pass the caster sugar for everyone to sprinkle on.tart or sweet apples 4 large

DELIA SMITH'S RICE PUDDING

 INGREDIENTS

Pudding rice measured to the 175ml level in a glass measuring jug

410g evaporated milk 

850ml whole milk

40g golden granulated sugar

1 whole nutmeg

25g butter

 

 METHOD

 Pre-heat the oven to 150°C, gas mark 2

This is simplicity itself, place the rice and sugar in the ovenproof dish, pour in the milk and the evaporated milk and give it all a good stir.

Grate the whole nutmeg all over the surface (it may seem a lot but it needs it), then, finally, dot the butter on top in little flecks. Next just carefully pop the dish in the oven on the centre shelf for 2¼ hours. After the pudding has had 45 minutes slide the shelf out and give everything a good stir.

At the end of this time the rice grains will have become swollen, with pools of creamy liquid all around them, and, of course, all that lovely skin!
 

NIGELLA LAWSON'S FLOURLESS CHOCOLATE OLIVE OIL CAKE

INTRODUCTION

Although I first came up with this recipe because I had someone coming for supper who - genuinely - couldn't eat wheat or dairy, it is so meltingly good, I now make it all the time for those whose life and diet are not so unfairly constrained, myself included.
It is slightly heavier with the almonds - though not in a bad way - so if you want a lighter crumb, rather than a squidgy interior, and are not making the cake for the gluten-intolerant, then replace the 150g ground almonds / 1½ cups almond meal with 125g plain flour / ¾ cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour. This has the built-in bonus of making it perhaps more suitable for an everyday cake.
Made with the almonds, it has more of supper-party pudding feel about it and I love it still a bit warm, with some raspberries or some such on the side, as well as a dollop of mascarpone or ice cream.

INGREDIENTS

150 millilitres regular olive oil (plus more for greasing)
50 grams good-quality cocoa powder (sifted)
125 millilitres boiling water
2 teaspoons best vanilla extract
150 grams ground almonds (or 125g plain flour / 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour)
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 pinch of salt
200 grams caster sugar
3 large eggs

METHOD

 Preheat your oven to 170°C/150°C Fan/gas mark 3/325ºF. Grease a 22 or 23 cm/ 9inch springform tin with a little oil and line the base with baking parchment.

 Measure and sift the cocoa powder into a bowl or jug and whisk in the boiling water until you have a smooth, chocolatey, still runny (but only just) paste. Whisk in the vanilla extract, then set aside to cool a little.

 In another smallish bowl, combine the ground almonds (or flour) with the bicarbonate of soda and pinch of salt.

 Put the sugar, olive oil and eggs into the bowl of a freestanding mixer with the paddle attachment (or other bowl and whisk arrangement of your choice) and beat together vigorously for about 3 minutes until you have a pale-primrose, aerated and thickened cream.

 Turn the speed down a little and pour in the cocoa mixture, beating as you go, and when all is scraped in you can slowly tip in the ground almond (or flour) mixture.

 Scrape down, and stir a little with a spatula, then pour this dark, liquid batter into the prepared tin. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until the sides are set and the very centre, on top, still looks slightly damp. A cake tester should come up mainly clean but with a few sticky chocolate crumbs clinging to it.

 Let it cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack, still in its tin, and then ease the sides of the cake with a small metal spatula and spring it out of the tin. Leave to cool completely or eat while still warm with some ice cream, as a pudding.

NIGELLA LAWSON'S PINEAPPLE UPSIDE DOWN CAKE

 This is a bit before my time, but I have vague nursery memories of a friend of my grandmother's making a version of this, which she would serve with a warm sauce made of pineapple juice thickened with - I imagine - cornflour. That I can do without, but I am still of the mind that it is perfectly all right to make this with canned pineapple rings. I feel it is slightly bad sport to start peeling and slicing your own pineapple.
Anyway, canned pineapple is just fine, though I advise going for the one in its own juice rather than in syrup, and I add some of the juice to the sponge, too. This seems to make it light and fluffy.

INGREDIENTS

butter (for greasing)

2 tablespoons sugar

6 slices canned pineapple in juice (plus 3 tablespoons of the juice)

11 glace cherries (approx. 75g total weight)

100 grams plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

100 grams soft butter

100 grams caster sugar

2 large eggs

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C Fan/gas mark 6/400ºF. Butter a tarte Tatin tin (24cm/9 inches wide at the top and 20cm/8 inches diameter at the bottom) or use a 23cm / 8-9 inch cake tin (neither loose-bottomed nor springform).
2. Sprinkle the 2 tablespoons of sugar on top of the buttered base, and then arrange the pineapple slices to make a circular pattern as in the picture.
3. Fill each pineapple ring with a glace cherry, and then dot one in each of the spaces in between.
4. Put the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, butter, caster sugar and eggs into a food processor and run the motor until the batter is smooth. Then pour in the 3 tablespoons of pineapple juice to thin it a little.
5. Pour this mixture carefully over the cherry-studded pineapple rings; it will only just cover it, so spread it out gently.
6. Bake for 30 minutes, then ease a spatula around the edge of the tin, place a plate on top and, with one deft - ha! - move, turn it upside-down.

DELIA SMITH'S BAKED APPLE AND ALMOND PUDDING

• INGREDIENTS
•  
• 1 lb cooking apples, peeled and sliced
• 2 oz soft brown sugar
• 4 oz ground almonds
• 4 oz butter at room temperature
• 4 oz castor sugar
• 2 large eggs, beaten

METHOD

 Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 4, 350°F (180°C).

 You will need a round, ovenproof baking dish with a diameter of 8 inches (20 cm), 1¾ inches (4.5 cm) deep, buttered.

Place the apples in a saucepan with the brown sugar and approximately 2 tablespoons of water, simmer gently until soft, and then arrange them in the bottom of the prepared baking dish.

In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and caster sugar until pale and fluffy and then beat in the eggs a little at a time.

When all the egg is in, carefully and lightly fold in the ground almonds.

Now spread this mixture over the apples, and even out the surface with the back of a tablespoon.

Then bake on a highish shelf in the oven for exactly 1 hour.

This pudding is equally good served warm or cold – either way, it's nice with some chilled pouring cream.  Once cooled, it will keep in the fridge for 3 or 4 days.