Showing posts with label Desserts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Desserts. Show all posts
The recipe I am sharing with you today is for a delicious snacking cake that I have been baking for my family for many, many years. It boasts a simple plain cake bottom with a tender crumb and a baked on coconut streusel topping.
Its called Dandy Candy Cake and I suspect it gets its name from the fact that the topping is almost candy-like. Sweet and crunchy, it is the perfect topping for a simple cake such as this.
It is wonderful served just on its own, cut into squares as an afterschool snack, along with a glass of ice cold milk. It was also a great cake to cut into squares and pack into school lunches. Its also a great picnic cake!
I have served it as a delicious dessert in the past, topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream along with some fresh berries on the side. Its also really tasty when topped with a dollop of softly whipped cream.
Lets face it. It makes for a fabulous snack/treat/dessert anytime!
The recipe comes from the pages of my Big Blue Binder. This is an old, old vinyl binder that I have been lugging around with me since I was a young girl. It contains all of my tried and trues.
Recipes gifted to me from family and friends through the years. Recipe clippings from magazines and newspapers. It also contained recipes laboriously copied from a variety of library cooks throughout the many years.
It is almost 50 years old and has travelled with me across Canada and back again, and across the Atlantic ocean and back again. It is one of my great treasures.
I wish that I could tell you where I got the original recipe from. I know it was not from a friend or a family member. I strongly suspect it was from a magazine. In those days when I was copying these things out I never dreamed that there would be something some day such as the internet that I would be able to share these treasures on, and so unless it was from a friend or a family, I never made an annotation of the source.
I apologize for that, if it offends you. Hindsight is always 20/20. Were I to do it now, I would absolutely note the sources.
In any case it is an excellent cake that I hope you will enjoy. I had not made it in a very long time, and as I was drifting through my binder today, the recipe caught my eye and I thought to myself, I'm going to bake that cake today! I'm happy that I did.
WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE DANDY CANDY CAKE
Very simple every day store cupboard baking ingredients.
- 1 1/3 cup (163g) plain all purpose flour
- 3/4 up (150g) granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/3 cup (73g) white vegetable shortening
- 2/3 cup (160ml) whole milk
- 1 large free range egg
For the Dandy Topping:
- 1/3 cup (73g) soft light brown sugar, packed
- 1/4 cup (31g) plain all purpose flour
- 3 TBS butter
- 1/2 cup (38g) shredded sweetened coconut
Before you ask, I have never made this cake using butter in the batter instead of shortening. I suspect that you could use butter, but I cannot say for sure. I have always just used shortening. I know people are bothered by the use of shortening these days.
In the UK, you can use a white vegetable fat called TREX. It is to be found in the chiller cabinet of the grocery store, near the butter and chilled ready made pastries.
Other than that I think everything else is pretty self-explanatory.
HOW TO MAKE DANDY CANDY CAKE
This is a very simple cake to make and uses the one bowl method. This merely means that all of the cake ingredients are measured into a bowl and then whisked together to make the batter. The coconut streusel is made separately and sprinkled on top prior to baking.
Preheat the oven to 350*F/180*C/ gas mark 4. Butter a 9-inch square cake tin on the bottom only, generously.
Put all of the cake ingredients into a bowl. Beat on low with an electric hand mixer for a few minutes to combine, then increase the speed to medium and beat for two minutes longer, until smooth and fluffy. Spoon into the prepared cake tin and spread out evenly.
Whisk the flour and sugar together for the topping. Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles fine bread crumbs. Stir in the coconut.
Sprinkle the coconut mixture evenly over top of the cake.
Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes. Cut into squares to serve from the pan.
I have always really loved the simplicity of this cake. This is a great cake to make with the children or grandchildren as well.
Children love to help you bake and this is a great recipe for them to use as it is simple and uncomplicated.
If you are looking for something simple and uncomplicated to bake for the family this weekend, I could not recommend this cake more. Its moist and delicious with a tender crumb. The candy coconut topping is perfect.
There is another cake which is somewhat similar called Lazy Daisy Cake, but in that cake the coconut topping is popped on after baking, like a paste and it is popped under the broiler.
Lest you be confused. This is not that cake, but I can promise you that it is every bit as good as that cake!
Perhaps I have whetted your appetite for a snack cake, but this isn't exactly what you are looking for. Can I perhaps suggest the following instead?
SALTED CARAMEL PEANUT BUTTER SNACK CAKE - A moist and delicious buttermilk, peanut butter and brown sugar snack cake that is topped with a beautiful salted caramel fudge icing and flakes of sea salt. This is a gorgeous snack cake to say the least.
LEMON & GINGER SNACK CAKE - Lemon and ginger are a beautiful flavor combination which I absolutely love. They combine beautifully in this moist and delicious cake. Topped with a simple sweet lemon glaze and bits of candied ginger, this is beautiful with a hot cup of tea, herbal or otherwise.
Yield: 9 (9-inch square cake)
Dandy Candy Cake
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 35 MinTotal time: 45 Min
This old fashioned snack cake is one I have been baking for my family for many, many years. Its quite simply delicious. On its own, with a scoop of ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream, or with some berries on the side, it always goes down a real treat.
Ingredients
- 1 1/3 cup (163g) plain all purpose flour
- 3/4 up (150g) granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/3 cup (73g) white vegetable shortening
- 2/3 cup (160ml) whole milk
- 1 large free range egg
For the Dandy Topping:
- 1/3 cup (73g) soft light brown sugar, packed
- 1/4 cup (31g) plain all purpose flour
- 3 TBS butter
- 1/2 cup (38g) shredded sweetened coconut
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350*F/180*C/ gas mark 4. Butter a 9-inch square cake tin on the bottom only, generously.
- Put all of the cake ingredients into a bowl. Beat on low with an electric hand mixer for a few minutes to combine, then increase the speed to medium and beat for two minutes longer, until smooth and fluffy. Spoon into the prepared cake tin and spread out evenly.
- Whisk the flour and sugar together for the topping. Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles fine bread crumbs. Stir in the coconut.
- Sprinkle the coconut mixture evenly over top of the cake.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes. Cut into squares to serve from the pan.
Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again!
Lemon Butter Tarts. You don't get much more Canadian than Butter Tarts. Butter Tarts are a dessert that Canada is known for and are pretty near impossible to resist on a dessert tray!
I have loved Butter Tarts my whole life. When my sister and I were growing up we would pool our allowances together to buy a package of two butter tarts at the shops. I can remember sitting on a hill above the shops eating them together. They tasted so good!
Rich and buttery and delicious!
I found this recipe for Lemon Butter Tarts on a blog called Closet Cooking at the weekend. Kevin is a fellow Canadian. We started blogging about the same time, so have been acquainted with each other for about 15 years now.
I simply adore anything lemon. If I had to choose between chocolate and lemon, lemon would win every time. It is no contest.
The idea of Lemon Butter Tarts really intrigued me and so I printed out the recipe! I could not wait to bake these!
I had everything in the house to make them. I used frozen tart shells because I had some which needed using. In fact that is how I ended up looking for the recipe.
I had these shells and wanted to make a nice Easter type of tart, went searching and came up with these. The only thing I did different was to add some dried currants to half of the tarts. Lemon and currants go together very well.
WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE LEMON BUTTER TARTS
Simple ordinary ingredients. I know I say that all the time, but truth is, I don't really like doing complicated, and I am guessing you don't either!!!
- 12 partially baked tart shells
- 1/3 cup (80ml) fresh lemon juice (about 1 1/2 lemons)
- the finely grated zest of one lemon
- 2/3 cup (126g) granulated sugar
- 1 large free range egg
- 1 large free range egg yolk
- 1/4 cup (57g) butter, melted and cooled
- dried currants, optional
If you don't have ready made tart shells, might I be so bold as to recommend my butter/lard pastry to make your own? Its a beautiful pastry. So crisp and light and flaky.
I used fresh lemons that I had bought by the bag at my local shops. With everyone coming down with Covid this week, I am sure happy I have them! They will come in very handy. (I am still negative, fingers crossed.)
Did you know you can freeze egg whites? You can. Whenever I have a recipe that calls for a yolk on its own, I freeze the white in an ice cube tray and then pop it out into a zip lock baggie that I keep just to hold egg whites in the freezer. You can thaw them out and use them for meringues, macaroons, pavlova, etc. Its a good thing as Martha would say!
HOW TO MAKE LEMON BUTTER TARTS
If you have ready made tart shells, this will go very quickly!
Preheat the oven to 350*F/180*C/ gas mark 4.
If you are making your own pastry, roll it out and cut it into 12 circles large enough to fit your tart tins. Press the pastry into the tin. Ready made or homemade, pop the lined tart tins onto a baking tray and partially bake for about 8 - 10 minutes. Remove from the oven.
If desired sprinkle a few dried currants into the bottom of each shell.
Whisk together the lemon juice and sugar, until the sugar has dissolved. Whisk in the lemon zest, egg, egg yolk and butter. Pour the mixture into the partially baked tart shells, dividing the mixture equally.
Bake in the preheated oven until set, 18 to 20 minutes. Leave to cool completely before eating.
Do not skip the step of pre-baking your tart shells a little bit. This will ensure that you have nice crisp shells that hold up in your hand without overbaking the filling.
You want a filling that is slightly runny, but not too runny. It should be set, but not over set if that makes sense. They will still taste good if you over set them, but its better if you don't.
I dusted mine with a bit of icing sugar to pretty them up a bit. Not sure if it worked, lol
I loved both tarts, but as I love any kind of raisin or currant, I liked the ones with the currants most of all and thought they were the most like butter tarts, probably because butter tarts usually have raisins and/or currants in them!
I hope my poor photography doesn't put you off from wanting to make these. I can promise you that they are really, REALLY tasty! They are the perfect blend of savory (from the pastry) combined with sweet and tart.
If you love the flavors of lemon, then you are going to adore these delicious tarts! Mine are all gone now, but boy oh boy writing about them has made me want them all over again!!!
If you are fan of tarts, you might also enjoy the following:
CANADIAN BUTTER TARTS - This is what I'm talking about. You don't get much more Canadian than these fabulous tarts. With a flaky buttery pastry, and that rich sweet filling, they always go down a real treat. These are everyone's favorite. They are very similar to the Scottish Ecchlefecan tarts!
LEMON DRIZZLE TARTS - Beautifully delicious tarts with a lemon curd filling, topped with a lemon cake and a lemon drizzle glaze! Betcha can't eat just one! These are the perfect teatime treat!
Yield: 12
Lemon Butter Tarts
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 30 MinTotal time: 40 Min
Sweet, tangy and incredibly moreish. You can use your own pastry recipe for the shells or frozen tart shells.
Ingredients
- 12 partially baked tart shells
- 1/3 cup (80ml) fresh lemon juice (about 1 1/2 lemons)
- the finely grated zest of one lemon
- 2/3 cup (126g) granulated sugar
- 1 large free range egg
- 1 large free range egg yolk
- 1/4 cup (57g) butter, melted and cooled
- dried currants, optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350*F/180*C/ gas mark 4.
- If you are making your own pastry, roll it out and cut it into 12 circles large enough to fit your tart tins. Press the pastry into the tin. Ready made or homemade, pop the lined tart tins onto a baking tray and partially bake for about 8 - 10 minutes. Remove from the oven.
- If desired sprinkle a few dried currants into the bottom of each shell.
- Whisk together the lemon juice and sugar, until the sugar has dissolved. Whisk in the lemon zest, egg, egg yolk and butter. Pour the mixture into the partially baked tart shells, dividing the mixture equally.
- Bake in the preheated oven until set, 18 to 20 minutes.
- Leave to cool completely before eating.
Thanks so much for visiting! Do come again!
Dutch Boterkoek. I know this is not an English recipe but a traditional Dutch recipe. I also know that traditionally it is baked at Christmas, and this is Easter.
But I saw it on this page and it cried out to me. I had pinned it ages ago. I was invited over to my sister's this weekend and I wanted to make something to bring with me that I thought everyone would enjoy.
Hence, Dutch Boterkoek.
Every once in a while I get a batch of grief on my Facebook page about this being The English Kitchen and me posting non "English" recipes on there. If they ever took the time to actually visit the blog, they would see that I have hundreds of "English" recipes on here.
I don't necessarily want to eat traditional foods every day and I am sure they don't want to either. I like to eat a variety of dishes and cuisines. I like to think that this page is a tasty mélange of the traditional and the new and everything in between.
Now that I am back living in North America, its also a tiny bit more difficult to procure certain British ingredients as well, and that makes it harder.
Most of my audience is North American as well, in specific American. I know that they also will have difficulty procuring some British ingredients.
At the end of the day I cannot please everyone. I just post what I cook and what I eat and what I think you will also want to cook and eat, and hope that will be good enough. Now back to this cake.
Its not really a cake as such. Its very dense and buttery. Its also not a cookie or a pastry. It is something in the middle of all of that, and it is rich and delicious.
You wouldn't want to eat large slices of this, it is so rich. I am thinking that slices of this would also go very well with some fresh berries, such as raspberries or strawberries. Possibly even blueberries.
One thing which really appealed to me about this recipe was the simplicity of the ingredients and method of cooking. It really could not be any easier to make.
Its the ideal dessert/teatime bake to make when you are pressed for time and just want something simple and something sweet. As I said it is very rich and very sweet, so a little bit goes a very long way.
WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE DUTCH BOTERKOEK
Like I said, there is nothing out of the ordinary or complicated here! I like recipes such as this.
- 2/3 cup (150g) butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp pure almond extract
- 1 large free range egg
- 1 1/2 cups (210g) all purpose plain flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- flaked almonds to top (optional)
I just used regular salted butter. There is no requirement for salt in the recipe. The butter adds enough salty flavor.
It is quite sweet, almost half sugar, and very buttery. I used non bleached organic granulated sugar. It does use a lot of almond extract. If you are not fond of that much almond flavor, you could use half vanilla.
The flaked almonds on top were my idea, as the original recipe did not have any. I have seen other recipes for this cake that use flaked almonds on top and I have seen a few that glaze it with a beaten egg prior to baking as well. I did not glaze this and I am glad that I didn't.
HOW TO MAKE DUTCH BOTERKOEK
This really is very simple to make. The batter is very thick and spreadable. Don't worry it is supposed to be that way.
Preheat the oven to 350*F/180*C/ gas mark 4. Butter a 9 inch pie dish or round baking tin and set aside.
Cream the butter and sugar together until light. Beat in the egg and almond extract.
Sift together the flour and baking powder. Stir this into the creamed mixture, mixing it in well. The batter will be very stiff.
Spread the batter into the prepared baking dish, smoothing the top over.
Sprinkle flaked almonds on top if desired.
Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, until golden brown around the edges and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool in the pan on a wire rack and cut into thin wedges to serve.
NOTE: You can swap 70g or ½ cup of the flour amount for the same amount of ground almonds or desiccated (flaked coconut) This will also give a lovely flavor.
If you want to glaze it, I would suggest beating the egg for the batter and reserving a teaspoon or so of it and then using that to glaze the cake before you put it into the oven.
If you are glazing it keep an eye on it for the last 10 minutes or so just in case. You don't want it to get over brown.
I do think that some fresh berries would help to cut the sweetness of it somewhat, but I did think it was very delicious as is.
I don't drink coffee, but I think wedges of this would also go very well with hot cups of coffee. Can you imagine the smell, freshly baked almon butter cake and freshly brewed coffee. Now that's a candle scent I would love to buy!
Some other delicious teatime bakes on here that I think you might enjoy are:
GINGER CRUNCHIES - These are crisp and buttery, very short textured. They are also topped with a lush ginger glaze and some sweet chunks of preserved ginger. Don't worry if you haven't got any preserved ginger, you can substitute candied ginger for it, or leave it off altogether.
POLKADOT PETTICOAT TAILS - Traditional shortbread wedges baked in a round. They are dimpled with a variety of jams, hence the polka dots. You could also use lemon curd for a citrus slant. Delicious either way!
Yield: 12
Dutch Boterkoek
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 35 MinTotal time: 45 Min
This is a traditional Dutch dessert that is simple to make and sure to please whoever you serve it to. Rich, buttery, and flavored with almond. It you like butter and almonds, you will love this.
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup (150g) butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp pure almond extract
- 1 large free range egg
- 1 1/2 cups (210g) all purpose plain flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- flaked almonds to top (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350*F/180*C/ gas mark 4. Butter a 9 inch pie dish or round baking tin and set aside.
- Cream the butter and sugar together until light. Beat in the egg and almond extract.
- Sift together the flour and baking powder. Stir this into the creamed mixture, mixing it in well. The batter will be very stiff.
- Spread the batter into the prepared baking dish, smoothing the top over.
- Sprinkle flaked almonds on top if desired.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, until golden brown around the edges and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool in the pan on a wire rack and cut into thin wedges to serve.
Thanks so much for visiting! Do come again!
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