Thursday, April 24, 2008

Emergency cake

I woke full of the joys of spring this morning. My husband will be arriving soon with his precious cargo of beloved daughter and granddaughter. I have had hardly any time at home recently but I was quite pleased to see that I had everything under control when it hit me - no cake! The children always like to be greeted with the aroma of freshly-baked cake, and I hadn't made one.

My mother's recipe for what she used to call her 'boiled cake for emergencies' came to mind. When I was a student, my mother used to send me regular food parcels. There was always a fruit cake and jars of Gentlemen's Relish and other savoury spreads because afternoon tea in the college refectory was always bread with jam or sticky chocolate spread and very sweet cakes which I disliked. Unfortunately, the arrival of parcels for students was always announced at lunchtime, so when the wonderful words, 'There is a parcel for Maureen Graham to be collected from the Porter's Lodge' were heard, I knew that mine would be the most popular room in college and that I would be lucky to save a single crumb of cake for myself.

This is the recipe for the cake she would make at short notice, when I rang to say I couldn't wait for the regular parcel:


Put 4oz butter, 4oz sugar, 1lb pack mixed dried fruit, 1 heaped teaspoon mixed spice, 1 scant teaspoon bicarbonate of soda and 8fl oz water into a saucepan. Bring to the boil then simmer for a minute.


Allow the mixture to cool. Meanwhile beat two eggs. Sift together 4oz self-raising flour and 4 oz plain flour and a pinch of salt. Stir these into the cooled mixture.

Put the cake mixture into a prepared 8inch cake tin. Cook for about 1 hour 15 mins in a moderate oven. (Mine goes into the Aga cakebaker)



And here is the finished product, ready to greet the travellers, who have just rung to say they will be here in less than an hour. Whew! Thanks, Mum.

11 comments:

  1. Wow, what a brilliant recipe! Thanks for sharing - that could be a real lifesaver on day!!

    Have a wonderful time with the girls.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Excellent recipe! Hope you have a wonderful time.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Drop my slice off the next time you pass the Tiverton roundabout. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'll bring some to that picnic for Devon bloggers in the summer, Cath!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Righty ho, Maureen! In the meantime I plan to try the cake myself... possibly this weekend. I might even use the mother-in-law's Aga cake-bake to cook it in. (Even though I don't have an Aga...)

    Hope you're enjoying that lovely grandaughter?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hope you're all enjoying yourselves. Shame Amelia is too young for cake. Can I have her share, please?

    ReplyDelete
  7. I pushed the pram around Barnstaple this morning, D. I discovered that I am very rusty!

    Come over and we'll give you some cake.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I make a similar cake but bake it in a loaf tin. It's lovely sliced and buttered!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I like a slice of strong cheddar with mine, Galant.

    ReplyDelete
  10. "Give me 30 cc's of vanilla, STAT!"

    ReplyDelete

I love to read your comments and promise that I will reply as soon as I can leave my garden, sewing room or kitchen!