So it's been a while that I've cooked something from this book. My original goal to cook my way through the recipes (there is only 27 for crying out loud!) is still under way....er....a work in progress!
Early this year I did the 'Complicated Christmas Cake' which I really enjoyed. It might be worth mentioning I don't really like Christmas cake so it was no mean feat to enjoy it!
This one is still cooking, so watch this space for the taste test but my goodness it was easy peasy lemon squeezey to make!
Here it is cooking....smells pretty good......
The Uncomplicated
Christmas Cake from the book: The Kindness of Strangers – Kitchen Memoirs
by Shonagh
Koea
Five eggs
250 grams of flour
One kilo of mixed fruit, or just sultanas will do (I usually use just sultanas)
A teaspoon of baking powder
One teaspoon of nutmeg
A wine glass of brandy or sherry*
Cream butter and sugar, add eggs
one at a time and beat thoroughly after each addition, floured fruit, baking
powder and nutmeg, and lastly brandy or sherry.
Bake in a 20 centimetre (eight inch)
square tin at 140 degrees Celsius for two hours.
*The business of the wine glass
of brandy in the recipe is an interesting one because exactly what is meant by
a wine glass? This is a very old recipe
so I think – and I could be wrong – that it might date from the time when, if
there was a festive function of some kind, there would be beer for the men and
what was called wine for the ladies but this was actually sherry. So perhaps the wine glass stipulated would
actually be a sherry glass. A real wine
glass like people use now for Chardonnay or sauvignon blanc would be too big, I
have decided, so I hedge my bets and use an old port glass I have got. It is quite a bit bigger than the usual small
sherry glass, but not as big as a modern wine glass.
No comments:
Post a Comment