FAMILY CAKES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 28 December 1940, Page 8

FAMILY CAKES

t ARE ALWAYS WELCOME. Family cakes are always welcome additions to the weekend cake tin, and these recipes are well worth trying. APRICOT LOAF. Soak Jib dried apricots overnight; next day drain well and reserve J cup liquid. Cut fruit into neat pieces, not too small. Add 2 level tablespoons butter to liquid and 1 cup sugar. Allow butter to melt and sugar dissolve. If too hot, allow to cool, then add 1 wellbeaten egg and chopped apricots. Dissolve 1 level teaspoon soda in 1 tablespoon boiling water, place in a cup and fill with sour milk. Sift 2 cups plain flour with 1 cup fine wheatmeal, J level teaspoon baking powder, J teaspoon salt, and 2 cups chopped nuts. Add liquid ingredients and beat thoroughly. Bake in 2 loaf pans in a moderate oven for 1 hour. ORANGE LOAF. Remove rind from 2 oranges and put through a mincer with Jib raisins and 1 cup mixed nuts. Mix the juice of the oranges with a cup sugar. Cream twothirds of a cup of butter, gradually add 1-J cups sugar and beat until quite light and fluffy. Beat 3 eggs until very frothy, add 1 teaspoon vanilla, add gradually to butter mixture; now add fruit mixture and beat well. Sift 3 level cups plain flour, 1J level teaspoons bicarbonate of soda, 1 level teaspoon salt, level teaspoon ground cinnamon. Add dry ingredients alternately with 1 cup sour milk and beat well together. Bake in two loaf pans for about one and a half hours in a slow oven. Pour over the orange juice mixture, sprinkle with finely-chopped toasted almonds and allow to cool in pans in which they were baked. SULTANA CAKE. Take Boz self-raising flour, 3oz dripping, 4oz sultanas, 2 eggs, pinch of salt, 1 tablespoon marmalade or golden syrup, 3oz sugar, little milk, vanilla essence. Sift flour and salt into basin. Chop the dripping into the flour and salt, then rub it in with the fingertips until the mixture is of the consistency of fine breadcrumbs. Add the sugar gradually, mixing it in as you go. Break the eggs into a separate basin and whip thoroughly before stirring into the flour, dripping, and sugar. Add the marmalade or syrup, and a few drops of vanilla essence to taste. You will probably have to add a little milk to make the mixture of the right stiffish consistency. Last of all, add _the sultanas, which you have washed and dried in a floury cloth. Mix thoroughly all together. Bake in a moderate oven for 1-J hours. It is as well to leave this cake for several hours before cutting to ensure that it has become nicely firm. The dripping in it will keep it moist if you store it in an airtight tin. The best dripping for the purpose is beef.

CARAMEL CAKE. Cook J cup sugar and -1- cup water until a dark brown, but not burned. Add 1 cup boiling water, dissolve and allow to become cold. Cream one-third of a cup of butter with J cup castor sugar until light and fluffy. Beat 2 eggs well and gradually add -J cup sugar and beat until thick. Gradually add the egg mixture to butter mixture and beat thoroughly. Sift lij level cups plain flour with 2 level teaspoons baking powder and a good pinch salt. Add dry ingredients alternately with caramel syrup and a few drops vanilla essence. Mix well together and bake in a loaf pan for about 30 minutes. Mix 1 tablespoon brown sugar, J teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1 dessertspoon melted butter, 1 tablespoon grated chocolate, and 2 tablespoons chopped walnuts. Sprinkle over cake when it has been in the oven for about 25 minutes. This forms an excellent topping. BUTTERSCOTCH FINGERS. Melt J cup butter, add 1 cup brown sugar, and cook over gas until sugar is melted, stirring all the time. Allow to cool, then beat in 2 eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla to taste or a little brandy. Sift together 1J level cups plain flour, 2 level teaspoons baking powder, a good pinch salt; add >} cup chopped nuts. Add to butter mixture and beat well. Spread into a shallow pan, previously well greased and lightly floured. Sprinkle with another J cup chopped nuts, mixed with 1 dessertspoon brown sugar. Bake in a moderate oven for about 25 minutes. Cut into fingers and serve.