Recipe’s


Basic Meringues

Ingredients

  • Whites of 2 standard eggs
  • 1/4 lb. caster sugar
  • Pinch of cream of tartar (optional)
  • 1 oz. granulated sugar

Method

  1. Brush large baking tray with salad oil. Cover with double thickness of greaseproof paper. Brush paper lightly with more oil.
  2. Put egg whites into clean dry bowl. Add cream of tartar, if used. Beat until stiff and peaky.
  3. Add half the caster sugar.
  4. Continue beating until meringue is shiny and stands in firm peaks.
  5. Add rest of caster sugar. Beat until meringue is very stiff and silky-looking and texture is fairly close.
  6. Gently fold in granulated sugar.
  7. Pipe or spoon 16 rounds or ovals onto prepared tray.
  8. Bake in centre of very cool oven (225F or Gas mark 1/4) for 1 1/2
  9. Remove from oven. Carefully peel away from paper and gently press a small hole in base of each with thumb.
  10. Stand upside down on baking tray. Return to over and dry out for further 3/4 to 1 hour.
  11. Transfer to wire cooling rack.

Recipe makes 16 Meringues Halves

  • If flavoured meringues are preferred, add flavouring essence to taste.
  • If preferred, leave in oven for total cooking time of 2 1/2 hours (or until

meringues are crisp and firm.

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Chocolate Cream Truffles

Ingredients

  • 2 oz. plain chocolate
  • 3 dessertspoons fresh double cream
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
  • 1/2 lb. icing sugar, sifted
  • Chocolate vermicelli

Method

  1. Break up chocolate. Put into basin standing over saucepan of hot water.
  2. Leave until melted, stirring once or twice.
  3. Add Cream and essence. Gradually stir in icing sugar.
  4. Mix well. Transfer mixture to plate. Leave in cool until firm enough to handle (about 1 1/2 hours).
  5. Roll equal amounts of mixture into 18 balls. Toss in chocolate vermicelli.
  6. Transfer to fluted paper sweet cases.

Recipe makes 18 Truffles

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Chocolate Rum Truffles

Ingredients

  • 1/4 lb. plain chocolate
  • 2 oz. English or Welsh butter
  • 1 tablespoon rum
  • Yolks of 2 standard eggs
  • 1 oz. ground almonds
  • 1 oz. stale cake crumbs
  • 1/2 lb. icing sugar, sifted
  • Drinking Chocolate

Method

  1. Break up Chocolate and put, with butter, into basin standing over saucepan of hot water.
  2. Leave until both have melted, stirring occasionally.
  3. Add rum and egg yolks. Mix in well
  4. Work in remaining ingredients (except drinking chocolate). Transfer mixture to a plate. Leave in the cool until firm (about 1 1/2 hours).
  5. Roll equal amounts of mixture into 36 balls.
  6. Transfer to fluted paper sweet cases.

Recipe makes 36 Truffles

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Milk Fudge

Ingredients

  • 1/2 pint milk
  • 1 3/4 lb. granulated sugar
  • 1/4 lb. English or Welsh butter
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla essence

Method

  1. Pour milk into pan. Bring slowly to boil.
  2. Add sugar and butter.
  3. Heat slowly, stirring all the time, until sugar dissolves and butter melts.
  4. Bring to boil. cover pan with lid. Boil for 2 minutes.
  5. Uncover, continue to boil steadily, stirring occasionally, for further 10 to 15 minutes (or until a little of the mixture, dropped into a cup of cold water, forms a soft ball when rolled gently between finger and thumb). Temperature on the sugar thermometer, if used, should be between 238F and 240F.
  6. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla. Leave mixture to cool for 5 minutes.
  7. Beat fudge until it just begins to lose its gloss and is thick and creamy.
  8. Transfer to buttered 7-in. square tin.
  9. Mark into squares when cool. Cut up with sharp knife when firm and set.
  10. Store in airtight tin.

Recipe makes about 50 pieces

Other Types of Fudge:

  • [Chocolate Fudge](#choc fudge)
  • [Coconut Fudge](#coconut fudge)

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Chocolate Fudge

  1. Follow recipe and method for [Milk Fudge](#milk fudge)
  2. Melt 1/4 lb. grated plain chocolate in milk before adding sugar and butter.

Recipe makes about 50 pieces

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Coconut Fudge

  1. Follow recipe and method for [Milk Fudge](#milk fudge)
  2. Add 3 level tablespoons desiccated coconut with vanilla

Recipe makes about 50 pieces

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Chocolate Log (Yule Log)

Ingredients

  • 3 Standard Eggs
  • 3 oz. caster sugar
  • 2 1/2 oz. self-raising flour, sifted twice
  • 1/2 oz. cocoa powder, sifted together with flour

Method

  1. Prepare a paper a buttered and paper lined, 12-in. x 8-in. Swiss Roll Tin.
  2. Put eggs into large bowl standing over saucepan of hand-hot water
  3. Whisk for 2 minutes.
  4. Add sugar. Continue whisking further 8 to 10 minutes (or until mixture is very light in colour, thick in texture - consistency of softly whipped cream - and at least double its original volume.)
  5. Remove bowel from saucepan. Continue whisking further 5 minutes (or until egg mixture is cool.)
  6. Gently fold in flour with a large metal spoon.
  7. Transfer to prepared tin.
  8. Bake towards top of faily hot oven (400°F or Gas No.6) for 10 to 12 mins (or until well risen and firm)
  9. Turn out on to folded tea-towel. Carefully peel off paper.
  10. Cut away crisp edges with sharp knife. Spread quickly with 4 level tablespoons warm jam or with buttercream.
  11. Roll up tightly and hold in position for 1 minute. Cool on wire rack.
  12. Optionally cover entire roll with chocolate butter cream to create a yule log. Dust thinly with Icing sugar to give a ‘snowy’ look.

Recipe for enough [Butter Cream](#butter cream) for inside and out of Yule Log

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Never Fail Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

  • 5 oz. S.R. Flour
  • 6 oz. Caster Sugar
  • 6 oz. Soft Margarine
  • 3 oz. Drinking Chocolate
  • 3 Eggs
  • 3 Tablespoons Boiling Water
  • 8 - 9 inch Tin or 7 and cut through the middle and sandwich the two halves

Method

  1. Mix all Ingredients in together and beat for approx. 2 mins or until all are blended well.
  2. Cook for approx 1 hr 10 mins in a pre-heated oven at about 180 degrees C

A Very good frosting for the top and sides of this cake is [Chocolate Fudge Frosting](#choc fudge frost).

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Chocolate Fudge Frosting

10 oz of icing

Sufficient to coat top and sides of a 8 inch cake, or to use as filling and

top only. Chocolate Fudge Frosting gives an attractive finish to a cake

without the need for piped decoration

Ingredients

  • 4 oz. Plain chocolate, grated
  • 2 oz. Butter
  • 1 egg beaten
  • 6 oz. Icing Sugar, Sifted

Method

  1. Melt the chocolate with the butter in a bowel over a saucepan of hot water, or in a microwave oven. Stir in the eggs and remove the bowel from the heat.
  2. Gradually beat in the icing sugar until the mixture is smooth. Allow it to cool until the frosting is thick enough to stand in soft peaks. Spread or swirl it over the cake and leave to set.

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Chocolate Fudge Cake

Makes 2lb loaf cake or 10 inch round

Ingredients

  • 3 and a half tablespoons cocoa
  • 4oz flora
  • 4 fl.oz oil
  • 8 fl.oz of water
  • 8 oz. Sifted Self raising flour
  • 12 oz castor sugar
  • 2 eggs beaten
  • 4 fl.oz milk
  • half teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

Ingredients for Icing

  • 3 and half tablespoons cocoa
  • 4 oz flora
  • 3oz evaporated milk
  • 1 lb sifted icing sugar

Method for cake

  1. Grease and line tin
  2. Put cocoa margarine oil and water in a saucepan and bring to boil
  3. Remove from heat and stir in sugar and flour
  4. Beat eggs milk and bicarbonate together add to the rest of mixture
  5. Bake at 180 c for 1hr 15mins to 1hr 30mins

Method for Icing

  1. Bring all ingredients to boil in saucepan
  2. 2 beat until smooth and pour over cake while hot

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Chocolate Crunch

Base

Ingredients

  • 4 Cadbury’s Caramel Bars
  • 3 oz Butter
  • 3 oz Rice Crispies

Method

  1. Melt in Microwave on medium for 3 mins
  2. Pour in the rice crispies mix well
  3. Refrigerate

Topping

Ingredients

  • 2 oz Butter
  • 2 Tablespoon Cocoa
  • 4 oz Icing Sugar

Method

  1. Melt the butter and add the cocoa
  2. Mix in the icing sugar
  3. Spread over base and cool

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Butter Cream

Ingredients

  • 1/4 lb. English or Welsh butter
  • 1/2 lb. sifted icing sugar
  • 3 dessertspoons cold milk
  • Food colouring optional

Method

  1. Beat butter until soft.
  2. Gradually beat in sugar alternatively with milk.
  3. Continue beating until Frosting is light and fluffy.
  4. If liked, colour pale pink or green with food colouring or add some cocoa powder and beat in well.

Sufficient to fill and cover top of 2-layer, 7-in. sanwich cake.

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Chocolate Brownies

Ingredients

  • 400g plain chocolate, broken into chunks
  • 225g unsalted butter
  • 225g ligh muscovado sugar
  • 6 eggs
  • 75g self-raising flour
  • 175g pecan nuts, roughly chopped
  • 175g milk chocolate

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 190c. Meanwhile grease and line a shallow baking tin (25x18cm). Melt the plain chocolate with the butter in a heatproof bowel over a pan of simmering water.
  2. Beat together the eggs and suger, then beat in the melted chocolate. Sift in the flour and stir in. Add the pecan nuts and milk chocolate chunks, stir until just combined.
  3. Turn the mixture into the prepared baking tin and spread unto the corners. Bake for about 45 minutes, until slightliy risen and crusty. Leave to cool and then cut into squares

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Austrian Coffee and Walnut Cake with Coffee Cream

  • For the sponge:
  • 75g Walnut halves
  • 175g self-raising flour
  • 1 1/2 level teaspoons baking powder
  • 175g softened butter
  • 175g golder caster sugar
  • 3 large eggs at room temperature
  • For the syrup:
  • 50g demerara sugar
  • For the filling and topping:
  • 1 level tablespoon instant espresso coffee powder
  • 1 rounded tablespoon golden caster sugar
  • 10 walnut halves, reserved from the sponge cake
  • 9 oz (250 g) mascarpone
  • 7 fl oz (200 ml) 8 per cent fat fromage frais

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Oat Cookies

Ingredients

  • 250g self-raising flour
  • 75g whole rolled porridge oats
  • 175g soft light brown sugar
  • Ping or 1/4 x 5ml spoon of salt
  • 125g butter
  • 2 x 15ml spoons golden syrup
  • 2-3 15ml spoons milk

Method

  1. In a bowl, mix togther the flour, oats, sugar and salt.
  2. Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
  3. Stir in the syrup and sufficient milk to form a stuff dough. Knead well.
  4. Place small spoons of the mixture on a lightly greased baking sheet and flatten using the back of a fork.
  5. Bake in a preheated oven 190C, 375F or Gas Mark 5 for 15-20 minutes until lightly golden.
  6. Transfer to a wire rack to cool and crisp.

Sufficient to make approximately 18 cookies

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Baked Cheese cake

This baked cheesecake is best made a day in advance so that the flavour of the vanilla infuses into the cake. The vanilla can be replaced by either lemon or orange zest. However, with all the glorious English summer berries beginning to appear in the shops, I love to bake this just as it is and serve it scattered with fruit and generous lashings of cream.

Biscuit base Ingredients

  • 100g unsalted butter, plus a little to grease the tin
  • 200g digestive biscuits
  • 50g caster sugar

Filling Ingredients

  • 500g cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 200g caster sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 tbsp cornflour
  • 300g sour cream
  • 1 tsp vanilla essence

Method

  1. Lightly grease a 20cm spring-form cake tin.
  2. Melt the butter gently in a small pan on a low heat. Roughly break up the biscuits and place them in a food processor. Process the biscuits for 2-3 minutes until they resemble fine crumbs. Add the sugar, then pour in the melted butter and process for 30 seconds to combine.
  3. Put the biscuit mixture into the base of the tin, using the back of a tablespoon to smooth the surface evenly. Place in the fridge for 30 minutes.
  4. Rinse out the processor bowl. Place the cream cheese and sugar in the bowl and process for 2-3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the cornflour, cream and vanilla essence, and process for 30 seconds to combine.
  5. Pour the filling into the tin and bake in a low oven at 150C/Gas 2 for 1 hour. When cooked, the cheesecake should be well risen, with a golden-brown top. It should feel slightly firm to touch & if the mixture still appears wet, continue to bake a little longer. When cooked, turn off the oven and allow the cheesecake to cool in the oven, with the door open. When completely cool, place in the fridge. Serve with summer berries and pouring cream.

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Revision

  • 1995/07/17 type up the first batch
  • 2002/08/12 added coffee and walnut cake
  • 2005/03/28 added oat cookies
  • 2010/12/20 Fixed typo in Milk Fudge method
  • 2010/12/26 Added the Baked Cheesecake
  • 2019/02/06 Moved to Markdown formatting

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