Archive for the 'cakes' Category

sticky orange marmalade cake

Back to being naughty with the recipe of this gorgeous cake, which I made for my book group ladies last night. As mentioned before all the ladies belonging to this reading group are exceptional bakers. Hence it is always a source of stress to have to provide a cake for the evening for fear that what you produce is NOT QUITE UP TO STANDARD. It goes without saying that bringing a ready made cake would be very much frowned upon. If it’s your turn to bake it has to be home made. The one and only time when one of these ladies forgot to make the cake and we had to resort to bought biscuits (the horror of it!) has never been quite forgotten (never mind forgiven).:-) In truth I am not that worried when it’s my turn , as I don’t get worked up that easily, but I know some of the other ladies do. Same when it’s their turn to choose the book. BUT WHY? Why get your knickers in a twist, I ask. It’s not as if they have written the book they are proposing themselves. Even if the book was not to the others’ liking, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. Right? Wrong! These ladies start fretting weeks before they are due to choose (we take it in turn, see?). All except me…ha ha. I have had cancer: life is too short to fret about a book. But back to the cake. The reason why I went for this particular one was that a few weeks ago I made some delicious orange marmalade (see recipe here) courtesy  of my good friend, and book group member, Janet who donated a bag of Seville oranges to me. So here is the recipe for you all to enjoy. Definitely one to make again…and again. By the way the recipe comes from the Happy foodie blog. Continue reading ‘Sticky orange marmalade cake’

Dundee cake

First of all Merry Christmas and a Happy Boxing day to you all! It’s a welcome relief from cooking and eating to write on this blog, if truth be known. Although we didn’t really overdo it in the food department, like some people do, it feels as if I have been stuck in the kitchen for the last couple of days. And I can’t say I have received a lot of help from the men in my life. Both sons when they return home for Christmas revert to the time when they were ten. Incapable of even making a cup of tea for their own mother. The irony is they can cook very well. Ah well! I guess they come home to get spoilt and I must oblige, being an Italian mamma after all. 😉 But enough chit chat. The cake I am about to blog is another classic. It’s basically a fruit cake but much lighter than your traditional Christmas cake (which I find far too heavy and rich). There are many recipes out there but when it comes to classics there is only one master for me: good old Delia. I got the recipe straight out of her web page. I slightly adapted it as I added some cranberries to the dried fruit mixture. The good thing about it is that it keeps well and, in fact, its flavour improves if eaten after a few days. Of course you don’t have to wait for Christmas to make it. In fact I think I will repeat the experiment real soon because even I liked it. Continue reading ‘Dundee cake’