Showing posts with label Traditional. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Traditional. Show all posts
Christmas fruit cake. It is a "love it" or "loathe it" kind of a thing. I am from the "love it" camp myself. All the Christmas's of my childhood contained at least two fruit cakes, a light one and a dark one.
My mom would also make a delicious War Cake! We had very fruity Christmas’s growing up!
The Christmas Catalogue used to have options where you could buy a ready-made fruit cake, the tops of them highly decorated with nuts and glace fruit, decoratively placed and beautifully glazed.
My, but they looked very pretty, and enticing. They always carried a hefty price tag.
My mom would often buy a slab of fruit cake and make us a delicious War Cake to enjoy as well. We loved both.
Mom's War Cake was lovely and moist and filled with large sticky raisins. You can find the recipe for that here.
Most of the department stores had their own versions of fruitcake as well, with the most popular one being the ones offered at S. S. Kresge. Kresge's was an American department store, at one time being the largest discount retail stores in America.
It was renamed Kmart in 1977 and later evolved into the Sears Holdings Corporation, after Kmart bought out Sears.
In any case they were famous at Christmas for both their light and their dark fruitcakes. My sister had a recipe that she got from her late MIL for their light fruitcake, which she had lost, but which she said was the best fruitcake ever.
I did a search for her and came up with two recipes, one for a light cake and one for a dark.
I have already baked my dark fruit cake, or Christmas Cake as it is known over here. That is a recipe I am very happy with and not likely to ever change. You can find that recipe here. It is excellent.
I was very keen however to try the light fruit cake recipe and so this week I did. It called for 2 pounds of Kresge Extra Fancy Mix, which I assumed was a mix of candied and dried fruits.
I used glace cherries (in three colours), glace pineapple, dried apricots and chopped glace citrus peels. I prefer to buy my citrus peels whole and chop them myself. I always buy all of my glace fruits from Buy Whole Foods Online.
They have the best assortment to choose from and their prices are quite reasonable. I have never had any problem with their delivery or packaging either.
I always rinse my glace cherries in hot water and then dry them before using them. That's what Delia Smith does and I just figure if she does, then it must be an important thing to do!
I also used dried apricots and I cut them into chunks. I didn't see any need to chop the pecans. I did toast them first.
I was very pleased with how the fruit cake came out. It is really jam packed full of fruit and nuts.
It cuts beautifully with a serrated knife, and keeps beautifully wrapped tightly and stored in an airtight container.
I am gifting one to a friend and Todd, believe it or not, has already made short work of half of the one I am keeping. I'm hiding the rest of it so that we have it for Christmas!!
Kresge's Light Holiday Fruit Cake
Yield: Makes 2 loaves
This light fruit cake is jam packed with plenty of fruit and nuts. Makes one loaf for keeping and one for giving away.
ingredients:
- 150g butter (2/3 cup)
- 125g granulated sugar (2/3 cup)
- 2 large free-range eggs beaten
- 240ml fruit juice or water (I used fresh orange juice)
- 60ml liquid honey (1/4 cup)
- 280g flour, sifted (2 cups)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 910g extra fancy mixed glace fruit (2 pounds) (I used a mix of glace cherries, glace citrus peels, glace pineapple and dried apricots)
- 150g raisins (1 cup)
- 60g whole pecans (1/2 cup)
- 140g additional flour (1 cup)
instructions:
How to cook Kresge's Light Holiday Fruit Cake
- Preheat the oven to 135*C/275*F. Butter two 3 1/2 " by 7 1/2" loaf tins and line with waxed or baking paper, leaving 1/2 inch of paper to extend beyond the edges of the tins all round. Set aside.
- Rinse and dry your glace cherries. Place into a bowl. Chop the citrus peels into small bits. I used combination of grapefruit, pomelo, orange and lemon peels. Cut the glace pineapple into chunks. Chop the dried apricots. Put the citrus, apricots and pineapple into the bowl with the cherries. Add the pecans and raisins. Mix together and then stir in the flour to coat it all well.
- Beat the butter and sugar together well. Beat in the eggs and then stir in the fruit juice and honey. It will look well curdled, but don't worry about it. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon. Stir into the creamed mixture to combine well and then fold in the floured fruit/nut mixture. Spoon the batter into the two prepared loaf tins, dividing it equally. Do not smooth down or press into place.
- Place a cake tin filled with 480ml/2 cups water on the bottom rack of the oven. Place the loaf tins onto a baking sheet and place into the oven on the rack above the water. Bake for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or until the cakes are firm on top and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean with no batter clinging. Store in an airtight container.
I don't think my photos really do this lovely cake justice. It looks very jewel-like when cut up. Colour me very happy with it! I will make again!
So what about you, are you a "love it" or a "loathe it" fruit cake person?
One thing which I have always loved about the UK is all of the food traditions and superstitions they have surrounding the holidays and holy-days of the year.
Halloween is also known as All Hallows' Eve, All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day.
Soul Cakes are old English traditional cakes that are usually baked on Halloween.
On this day of the year, in years gone past, Children would go 'souling', on this day, singing from house to house for some of these tasty cakes.
This was in all likelihood a precursor today's custom of children going Trick-or-Treating.
In Christian countries, and in the Roman Catholic church, prayers for the souls of the departed are reflected in the 3 day celebration of the commemoration of the departed which begins on the 31st of October, or All Hallow's Eve.
November 1st is known as All Saint's day, a day on which the souls of those who have departed are venerated . . .
And on the 2nd of November, we have All Souls' Day when the souls of those who have departed are prayed for . . . and in particular those family members who are still in purgatory and awaiting their entry into Heaven.
The souls of these people were believed to be spending a period of time suffering in Purgatory to pay for sins committed during their earthly lives.
Prayers and vigils were thought to ease their suffering, hasten their release from Purgatory and entry into Heaven.
In early times, when England was a Catholic country, poor people stood
at the wayside begging for food or money as ecclesiastical processions
passed by.
In exchange for food and alms, they prayed for the souls of the dead.
Traditionally, on All Souls Day, they were given soul cakes.
One cake
eaten was thought to release one soul from Purgatory, opening its way to
Heaven.
Whatever the background behind these traditions one thing remains . . . these are very delicious cakes.
So delicious that between my husband and myself, we have released a good half a dozen souls today alone . . .
And who knows how many we are going to release before we are finished. All for the greater good!
Seriously these are some very tasty cakes! I really hope you will try them!
Yield: Makes about 2 dozen
Soul Cakes
A buttery biscuit/cookie/cake, lightly spiced and studded with currants. A traditional recipe served on All Hallows 'Eve in the UK.
ingredients:
- 175g butter (3/4 cup +1 TBS)
- 175g caster sugar (1 cup less 1 1/2 TBS)
- 3 egg yolks
- 450g self raising flour (3 cups less 1 1/2 TBS)
- 2 tsp mixed spice (see my recipe)
- a few gratings nutmeg
- about 100ml milk (6 1/2 TBS)
- 100g dried currants plus handful to decorate (2/3 cup)
- demerera sugar to decorate (turbinado)
instructions:
How to cook Soul Cakes
- Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark 5. Line several baking sheets with baking paper. Set aside.
- Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks. Sift together the flour, mixed spice and nutmeg. Add to the creamed mixture along with the milk to give you a soft dough that you can easily roll out. Stir in the currants.
- Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin to 1/3 inch thickness. Cut into rounds with a 3 inch biscuit cutter. Using the dull side of a knife mark a light cross indentation into the tops of each biscuit. Push additional currants into the crosses. Sprinkle with a bit of demerara sugar and place about 2 inches apart on the baking trays.
- Bake for 10 to 15 minutes until puffed and golden brown. Scoop off onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- Store in an airtight container.
Did you make this recipe?
Tag @marierayner5530 on instagram and hashtag it #EnglishKitchen
In modern times I cannot imagine allowing your children to beg at the side of the road or even door to door things such as baked goods. You never know who you can trust or who you can't trust. Even candy wise, I think I would be a lot more circumspect in these modern times than I would have been in days gone by. They call it progress . . .
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at mariealicejoan at aol dot com.
I've been pretty laid out with my back this past couple of weeks and have not really been cooking anything new for the most part.
The pain has been pretty bad, but finally today I feel like I have begun to turn the corner somewhat and so I decided to do a new recipe to share on here. Lemon Splits!
It's okay if you don't know what they are. I had never heard of them either before I moved here to the UK. I have always loved Lemon flavoured anything.
Those lemon puff cookies were my favourite when I was growing up. Buttery lemon flavoured crackers put together with lemon icing. If you are a lemon aficionado you will know exactly the ones I mean!
I discovered these Lemon Splits in the grocery shop about a year or so ago. What they are is plain Welsh Cakes, without the spice and raisins, put together with a layer of lemon curd in the middle. My goodness but they are some tasty.
They don't always have them in the shops however so it is hit and miss as to if you can find them or not. I looked for a recipe online but couldn't find one anywhere.
I decided to take the bull by the horns and create my own. I have made Welsh Cakes in the past. You can find that recipe here.
Welsh cakes are really good. They are like a cross between a pastry and a scone in my opinion. Buttery with a short texture and oh so tasty, especially when served with a hot bevvie!
They are a very traditional Welsh teatime treat and you will find them all over Wales. They are extremely good I have to say.
All of the teatime treats in the British Isles are extremely good. They know how to bake good things!
So what I did was make Welsh Cakes, without the spice or the raisins . . .
Just plain . . . flour, butter, sugar and an egg. You might need to add a bit of milk to the dough, but my dough was perfect without it.
In fact I had to generously dust my board and pin with flour or it would have stuck too much.
I baked them on my Pampered Chef Griddle pan. You need to heat it so that its not scalding hot and not too cool.
You can use a heavy based non-stick skillet as well. The important thing to remember is to not have it too hot, or the outside will brown too quickly and they won't be done inside.
I heated mine over medium low and once it was heated I turned it down to low. This worked well for me, about 2 to 3 minute per side did the trick.
I knew it was time to flip them over when they started looking a bit puffy on top and were golden brown on the bottom.
When they were done they were golden brown on both sides and the edges looked dry. That's the best that I can explain it.
You can of course make your own lemon curd to fill these from scratch and I have a darn good recipe that you can find here.
But a really good quality store bought one works just fine also and sometimes that's all we have time for!
These are perfect! We both enjoyed them very much, even the "so-called lemon hater". Methinks he doth protest too much personally!
He scarfed two down right away no problemo! If you really don't like lemon, these would be awfully nice sandwiched together with your favourite jam as well.
Ohh, black currant jam or jelly would be lovely!
Yield: Makes 12 to 14
Lemon Splits
prep time: cook time: total time:
Traditional Welsh Cakes without the raisins, sandwiched together with lemon curd. Don't worry if you don't have a griddle or hot stone to cook them on, they will cook perfectly find in a skillet with a heavy base.
ingredients:
- 225g self rising flour (1 1/2 cups + 2TBS)
- 110g salted butter (1/2 cup minus 1 tsp)
- 85g caster sugar (7 TBS)
- 1 medium free range egg
- Milk (if needed)
- flour to dust the cutting board
- butter to grease the griddle (optional)
- good quality lemon curd to fill
instructions:
How to cook Lemon Splits
- Sift the flour into a bowl. Drop in the butter and rub it into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine dry bread crumbs. Stir in the sugar with a fork. Beat the egg and stir it into the mixture to form a ball of dough, adding a splash of milk if you need it. (I did not need it.)
- Generously flour a board and then tip the dough out onto it, also generously flouring the dough. Flour a rolling pin and roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into rounds using a 2 1/2 inch round fluted cutter. Re-roll any scraps and cut again, until all the dough has been used up.
- Heat a heavy grill stone or non-stick griddle pan over medium low heat until fairly hot. Brush lightly with butter if desired. (I didn't use any.) Add the welsh cakes and bake them for 2 to 3 minutes on one side. They should be golden brown on the bottom. Flip them over and bake for a further 2 to 3 minutes until golden brown on the other side. Try not to have the temperature of the griddle too high or they will brown too quickly on the outside and not be cooked in the centre. ( It was my observation that they were ready to flip over when the tops looked kind of puffy.)
- Remove from the pan with a spatula to a wire rack to cool.
- To make the lemon splits, sandwich two together with lemon curd in the centre. You can dust with some icing sugar to serve. Store any leftovers in an airtight container.
Did you make this recipe?
Tag @marierayner5530 on instagram and hashtag it #EnglishKitchen
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com
Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again!
I am enjoying a quiet Saturday as I sit and write this. Usually at the weekends, I like to bake a cake or some such.
Sometimes it will be a fancy cake, especially if we are celebrating something. More often than not it is a Victoria Sandwich Cake. This is quite simply, the best.
In all truth our favourite cake is the simple Victoria Sandwich Cake. That is the one we enjoy eating most of all, and the one I enjoy baking most of all.
I know I have shared it with you before, but can you ever share something that you love too many times? I think not . . .you can never have too much of a good thing!
My mother always filled our cakes with jam. With jam in the middle a cake needs no other adornment. Especially if you use really good jam. And I always do.
My father always loved cake with jam in the middle and it was something we all enjoyed. My jam of choice has always been Bonne Maman. It just has the nicest consistency and the right amount of fruitiness!
Jam is a very versatile ingredient. You can change the flavour of a plain cake such as this just by varying the type of jam you choose to use.
But it must always be a good jam. Homemade is good of course, but if you are buying your jam, make sure you get a quality one.
More often than not I will use strawberry jam. That is my favourite, along with raspberry which follows a close second.
These are what are the most traditional for this purpose. Any red jam looks great actually.
Here are some suggestions to shake it up a bit. Add a bit of lemon zest to the batter before baking and fill it with some wild blueberry jam.
You have yourself another tasty combination. The flavour of lemon and blueberries together is unmatchless.
If you add some freshly grated nutmeg and a bit of vanilla. Fill it with peach or apricot jam and your cake is lifted to an entirely different level.
Or you could fold raspberries into the cake and fill it with peach jam. Voila, a sort of a peach melba cake!
And don't get me started on lemon curd. Lemon curd in the middle is another favourite of mine. I completely adore Lemon Curd.
I could eat it with a spoon. Shhh . . . don't tell, but whenever I use it I always eat a cheeky spoonful. That's yours and my little secret now.
In the summer filling this cake with a layer of whipped or clotted cream and sliced strawberries turns this cake a beautiful indulgence . . .
You cannot get much better than a cake filled with softly whipped cream and berries. You do have to eat the whole thing on the day, but that is so not a problem!
This is a cake that can be as simple as you wish. It can also be as elaborate as you wish. It suits all occasions.
It is the Birthday cake of choice in this house and so quick and easy to whip up. You can seriously have one of these on the table in less than an hour, tops and that allows for cooling.
It is perfect for cold and dismal, rainy autumn afternoons near the end of September. A day when all you want to do is hunker in with a good book and a hot cuppa.
A day when you can pull a blanket over your knees and just hunker down. A day when you are wanting comfort of the utmost kind.
If ever there was a cake that you could consider to be a comfort cake, this is it. Comfort, pure and simple and most delicious.
Yield: Makes 1 7-inch cake
Victoria Sandwich Cake
Popular during the reign of Queen Victoria, this cake remains popular to this day, which is a huge testament to it's taste and ease of baking!
ingredients:
- 170g of butter (12 TBS,)
- 170g caster sugar (3/4 cup)
- 3 large free range eggs, beaten
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 170g self raising flour (a scant 1 1/4 cups)
To finish:
- strawberry or raspberry jam
- caster sugar or powdered sugar to dust on top
instructions:
How to cook Victoria Sandwich Cake
- Butter and base line two 7 inch sandwich tins. Set aside. Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4.
- Sift the flour together with the baking powder.
- Cream the butter and sugar together until light in colour and fluffy. Gradually beat in the eggs, a little at a time, beating well after each addition. If the mixture begins to curdle, add a spoonful of the flour.
- Fold in the flour with a metal spoon, taking care to use a cutting motion so as not to knock out too much of the air that you have beaten into the batter. Divide the batter evenly between the two cake tins, levelling off the surface. Make a slight dip in the centre of each.
- Bake on a centre rack of the oven for about 25 minutes, or until the sponges have risen well, are golden brown, and spring back when lightly touched. Allow to cool in the pan for five minutes before running a knife carefully around the edges and turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- Once cooled, place one layer on a cake plate. Spread with raspberry jam. Place the other cake on top, pressing down lightly. Dust with icing or caster sugar and cut into wedges to serve.
If I am lucky this will last us several days, but since it is a favourite of both of us, I don't expect that it will be around much longer that. Quick, easy and delicious. Qualities that are pretty hard to beat!
Up Tomorrow: Fried Egg Sandwiches (brought forward from the other day)
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