Perfect cakie - the power of YBW

dylanwinter

dylanwinter

Well-Known Member
Joined
28 Mar 2005
Messages
12,954
Location
Buckingham
www.keepturningleft.co.uk
Glad to see the "three second rule" applies on your boat, Dylan.

I have never seen anyone enthuse so much over a humble cake!
 
Excellent! Never underestimate the power of the WI neither...

This could become the next Rik-Stein-does-regional-cakes (KTL style) voyage..

Next you could be needing a gym membership or a pair of big big oars ..
 
I caught myself grinning stupidly at the monitor whilst watching this.

Dylan, you have to be the model 'uncle'. I would love to be a fly on the wall in Winters Towers on Christmas morning.
 
Caliban said:
I caught myself grinning stupidly at the monitor whilst watching this.

Dylan, you have to be the model 'uncle'. I would love to be a fly on the wall in Winters Towers on Christmas morning.
Click to expand...

I am ready to be a grandfather that is for sure

It is/was a very nice fruit cake

I have asked for the recipe

I ate two slices and had very little room for supper

and the five second rule applies to the cockpit floor

Dylan
 
This is begining to sound like Test Match Special (TMS). Radio at its best :)

Oh, and Dylan is really good as well. Still recall the Suffolk Punch.
 
and the recipe is.....

So, the recipe.

It's a little bit tricky as I don't exactly use one. I mean, it's broadly
based on a Dundee Cake, but Dundee cake purists would not recognise it as
such. And it largely depends what's in the cupboard at the time of making.
But, as far as I remember, here's what was in yours:

* 6oz butter
* 6oz sugar
* 3 eggs
* 8oz flour
* a couple of teaspoons of ground cinnamon
* a couple of teaspoons of ground nutmeg
* a teaspoon of ground ginger
* a couple of tablespoons of ground almonds
* a couple of tablespoons of flaked almonds
* a tablespoon(ish) of golden syrup (How does anyone actually measure
golden syrup? I just pour it out and hope...)
* about a pound and a half of dried fruit (sultanas and currants)
* about half a pound of glace cherries
* a slug of whisky/brandy/the strange liqueur you brought back from
holiday last year
* whole almonds for decorating the top

Use a round cake tin 8 inches in diameter, lined with greaseproof paper or
(even better) a pre-cut paper cake liner.

1. Mix the butter & sugar together. (I "soften" the butter in the
microwave, as our house is always cold, but am bad at timing so it usually
melts completely, which actually makes it much easier to mix with the sugar.
You can use any kind of sugar except icing sugar, but the darker the sugar
the darker the cake. I think you got "soft brown sugar".)

2. Mix in the eggs, flour and spices. (I add them all in together, as
that way I don't curdle the eggs.) Then add in the ground and flaked almonds
and the golden syrup.

3. Now add in about a pound and a half of dried fruit (I use sultanas
and currants because I prefer them but raisins work just as well) and at
least 8oz of glace cherries, cut in half. Then add a biggish slug of whisky
(or brandy if you prefer - anything alcoholic really), mix well and spoon
carefully into your lined cake tin.

4. Roughly level it off and the decorate with whole almonds. (I freely
admit that I go a bit overboard at this point as I find the squidging
sensation of pushing the almonds slightly into the cake mix therapeutic. And
it's fun making pretty patterns. But random almond scattering seems to be
equally acceptable.)

5. Bake in a pre-heated oven at gas mark 3/325f/160c for 30 minutes and
then turn the oven down to gas mark 2/300f/150c for a couple of hours, or
until the cake looks cooked - i.e. it's firm to the touch and the sides have
shrunk away from the sides of the tin. It's best to put some greaseproof
paper/tin foil on the top of the cake for the first 30 minutes, so that the
top doesn't get too brown.

Be warned: it can sometimes take much longer than this to
cook (especially in our unheated, very well ventilated kitchen in Yorkshire
in the winter). If you need to go out, you can always turn the oven off
after a couple of hours and leave the cake to carry on cooking with the
residual heat.

6. Once cooked, take it out of the oven, let it cool, wrap and keep for
at least two days before eating - this honestly DOES make it taste better.
If well wrapped up, it should keep for several weeks.

Having said that, I don't think ours has ever lasted more
than 10 days...

All the best,

Rachel

PS: I actually think that Christmas cake would be an even better cake for
sailing, but you'll have to wait six months before sampling that.
 
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