Posts Tagged ‘sultanas’
Haloween Pumpkin Cake
Tuesday, October 18th, 2011
Ingredients
For the cake
300g self-raising flour
300g light muscovado sugar
3 tsp mixed spice
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
175g sultanas
½ tsp salt
4 eggs , beaten
200g butter , melted
zest 1 orange
1 tbsp orange juice
500g (peeled weight) pumpkin or butternut squash flesh, grated
FOR DRENCHING AND FROSTING
200g pack soft cheese
85g butter , softened
100g icing sugar , sifted
zest 1 orange and juice of half
Method
1. Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Butter and line a 30 x 20cm baking or small roasting tin with baking parchment. Put the flour, sugar, spice, bicarbonate of soda, sultanas and salt into a large bowl and stir to combine. Beat the eggs into the melted butter, stir in the orange zest and juice, then mix with the dry ingredients till combined. Stir in the pumpkin. Pour the batter into the tin and bake for 30 mins, or until golden and springy to the touch.
2. To make the frosting, beat together the cheese, butter, icing sugar, orange zest and 1 tsp of the juice till smooth and creamy, then set aside in the fridge. When the cake is done, cool for 5 mins then turn it onto a cooling rack. Prick it all over with a skewer and drizzle with the rest of the orange juice while still warm. Leave to cool completely.
3. If you like, trim the edges of the cake. Give the frosting a quick beat to loosen, then, using a palette knife, spread over the top of the cake in peaks and swirls. If you’re making the cake ahead, keep it in the fridge then take out as many pieces as you want 30 mins or so before serving. Will keep, covered, for up to 3 days in the fridge.
Tip:
Pumpkins can vary dramatically in water content, so keep an eye on the cake towards the end of cooking – yours may take less or more time to cook through. If you’re not carving out a pumpkin this year butternut squash works brilliantly, too.
Tags: butternut squash, eggs, orange, pumpkin, sultanas
Posted in Pudding and desserts, Snacks | No Comments »
Fruity mincemeat with almonds
Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010
Ingredients
* 4 Bramley apples , peeled, cored and grated
* 350g light muscovado sugar
* zest and juice 1 orange
* zest and juice 1 lemon
* 1 tsp ground cinnamon
* ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
* ¼ tsp ground cloves
* ¼ tsp allspice
* 100g dried cranberries
* 100g sultanas
* 100g raisins
* 100g currants
* 100ml brandy
* 85g flaked almonds
* 100g shredded suet or light shredded vegetable suet
Method
1. Put the grated apple and any juices, sugar, and orange and lemon zests and juices into a large saucepan. Bring gently to a simmer, stirring until the sugar has melted. Turn off the heat and stir in the spices, dried fruit and brandy. Set aside until cool.
2. Once cool, stir in the almonds and suet. Divide between sterilised jars or plastic containers for the freezer. Will keep unopened in the fridge for up to 3 months, or freeze for up to 6 months.
Tags: all spice, almonds, bramley apple, cinnamon, cloves, Cranberry, currants, lemon, nutmeg, orange, raisins, sultanas
Posted in Christmas | No Comments »
Figgy Christmas Pudding
Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010
Ingredients
* 250g pack butter , softened, plus extra for the bowls and paper
* 750g dried figs
* 150ml brandy
* 700g mixed sultanas and raisins
* 3 eating apples , peeled, cored and grated
* 175g light muscovado sugar
* 175g dark brown soft sugar
* 200g breadcrumbs
* 200g self-raising flour
* 1 tbsp allspice
Method
1. Butter a 500ml, a 1-litre and a 2-litre pudding bowl, then line the base of each with a circle of baking parchment. Butter 3 large sheets of greaseproof paper, lay each on a large sheet of foil butter side up, and fold a pleat in the middle of each.
2. Roughly chop 250g of the figs and set aside. Put the remaining figs, butter and brandy into a food processor and whizz until smooth-ish, then scrape into your largest mixing bowl. Tip in the chopped figs, mixed vine fruits, grated apple, sugars, breadcrumbs, flour and allspice. Stir everything together, allowing as many helpers to give a stir and adding as many wishes as you like. Divide between the pudding bowls and smooth the surfaces.
3. Cover the puds with the buttered paper-foil sheets, tie with string and trim. Lower the puds into separate saucepans with upturned saucers or scrunched up bits of foil in the bottom (so the puds don’t touch the bottom), then fill each pan with enough boiling water from the kettle to come halfway up the sides of the bowl. Cover with a lid and simmer the small pud for 1-1½ hrs, medium for 2-2½ hrs and large for 3 hrs, topping up the water as needed. Remove and leave to cool. If giving as a gift, put a new piece of parchment on top. Will keep in a cool, dry cupboard for up to a year.
On the big day…
Steam the puds as above to reheat – they’ll take half the time they took to cook, to heat through.
Tags: all spice, apple, figs, raisins, sultanas
Posted in Christmas, Pudding and desserts | No Comments »
Apple and Blackberry Tart
Sunday, December 6th, 2009
ingredients
serves 6
4 oz (100 g) shortcrust pastry
1 lb (450 g) cooking (tart) apples, peeled, cored and sliced
1/2 stick (4 Tbsp) 2 oz (50 g) butter
1 egg, separated
1/4 cup (50 g) 2 oz brown sugar
25 g (1 oz) sultanas (golden raisins)
8 oz (225 g) blackberries, or 200 g (7 oz) can blackberries, drained
1/2 level tsp (2.5 ml) ground cinnamon
method
1. Roll out the pastry and use to line a 20.5 cm (8 inch) flan ring. Arrange the apples in the flan case.
2. Melt the butter, remove from heat and cool. Beat in the egg yolk and add the sugar, sultanas, blackberries, cinnamon and butter. Mix well together and place in the flan case.
3. Bake in the oven at 200‚°C (400‚°F) mark 6 for 30-35 minutes. Allow to cool.
4. Whip the fresh cream until softly stiff. Whip the egg white until stiff and fold into the fresh cream. Pile on top of tart and serve.
Tags: apple, blackberries, eggs, sultanas
Posted in Pudding and desserts | No Comments »