Recipes in the time of Corona

As I have said before, I never baked much until I retired and now find it quite therapeutic.  I felt so stressed yesterday that I ransacked the store cupboard and baked most of the day.  We have a neighbourhood WhatsApp group so left boxes of biscuits at the front doors this morning – rang the bell and ran away…….

The challenge of collecting family recipes is documenting things which are created from memory and when the instructions are vague to say the least. The only cake I ever baked for years was a fruitcake. Susan was my mother’s cook and I never saw her look at a recipe.  She never measured anything either – just put ingredients in until it looked correct. She was an excellent cook. 

The fruitcake was wonderful. I asked her if I could have the recipe and then stood with her in the kitchen trying to weigh every handful before it went in the bowl. My addition was piercing the baked cake with a tester and basting it with brandy. I have used brandy, rum and whisky at different times – not all together!

If you don’t have fruitcake mix you can make your own with chopped candied orange and lemon peel as well as a few raisins.

Susan’s Dark Fruit Cake

Place in a saucepan on the stove:

250 ml water                       250 g butter

500 fruit cake mix               140 g sugar

100 g cherries                      3 teas cocoa

75 g broken pecans             1 teas ginger

1 teas cinnamon                  100 ml brandy

Boil for about 15 minutes or until dark and syrupy, stirring frequently.  Cool.

Add 3 eggs one by one beating well

Sift together:

350 g plain flour with 2 level teaspoons bicarbonate of soda and mix in a third at a time.

Place in a 2lb loaf tin lined with baking paper (can be a round or square tin) and put in a 230°C oven then immediately reducing it to 130°C and bake for 2.5 hours.  Cool in pan for a few minutes.  Remove and prick with a cake tester and baste with ½ cup brandy.  Turn and repeat. It can be eaten when cool or wrapped up in foil and stored for a while - don't know how long - usually eaten in a week!