Now I cannot remember for the life of me who gave me the recipe for THAT chocolate cake and frosting BUT
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
I have now made and iced it for 3 birthdays (one while renovating a house so had no time, but it is soooo quick and cheap) and today I made it for the scouts and thier Danish Scout friends that were over for 3 days.
Well, each time the cake has gone!!!!!
Tonight someone actually said it looked really nice but she didnt get a chance to taste it as it was the first thing polished off!!!!! (there were about 50 kids and adults there) And the views from my youngest says that everyone loved it that ate it :) :) :)
So who ever it was THANKYOU I and my mates love you for it :) :) :)
Lea :) :)

It sounds rather nice - care to share? :)

Will let the guilty party give you the recipe, but if she doesnt then will post it again as it was put on here before my step daughters birthday in May (the first time I made it :) )
Lea :) :)

Is that the same one you brought to mine Lea? If so then I can vouch for utterly scrumptious it was too :-) :-) :-)

>Is that the same one you brought to mine Lea? If so then I can vouch for utterly scrumptious it was too   

Afraid not, that was a moist chocolate cake. I debated making this one, but couldnt work out how to freeze it when covered in icing!!! So made the next best thing :) :) :)
Lea :) :)

Ah go on, go on go on and share :)
Just the recipe of course.

karen :0

Yes share,you can't start a topic off like that and not finish it..........Pleaseeeeeee

Yup.. gotta share... please!!  Going to a party at the weekend, and I always like to take something with - this choccy cake sounds perfect! :)

Hello Lea...just noticed this thread, and I think I might have passed on the recipe to you :)

For anyone who is interested the recipe for One Bowl Chocolate Cake came from the New York Times Cookbook about 50 years ago (and a cup =8 fl oz.):

2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons sunflower oil
1/2 cup warm water
2/3 cup milk
2 eggs

Grease and flour baking tin, bake at 350 degrees
Lea, feel free to pass on the frosting recipe (I have several for this one but can't be sure which one I gave you).

Happy baking everyone!

Jay15, yes :) :) :) It was you, and that is the cake :-d :-d :-d
The frosting recipe you gave me was
Pinch Salt
1/2 cup Shortening(I use marg)
1 large egg
1/2 cup cocoa
4 cups icing sugar
1/3 cup milk (I use a bit less)
1 tsp Vanilla essence
Blend Shortening, egg, cocoa, and salt.
Add icing sugar and vanilla and add milk to make a thick frosting.
I cover the cake then spread from base to middle of the top all round, and everyone says it looks good :)
Lea :)

Glad the recipe is doing the rounds :)!

Brilliant, thanks to you and Lea :)

> Grease and flour baking tin, bake at 350 degrees

OK numpty question coming up.... how long for?
I guess til skewer comes out clean etc. etc, but a rough idea would help :)

The recipe says around 50 minutes, but that isn't according to my oven, it's more like an hour or more depending on what kind of tin I bake it in. I'd say after 50 minutes keep an eye on it and test with a skewer :)

um um, I dont know as my oven is useless!!!!!! so I leave in for about an hour, but victioria Sandwich cake that should take 25 mins at the most, takes 45+minutes in my oven!!!! So I would say about 35 minutes,
I do check after 20-30 minutes!!!!!
Lea :) :)

Ah, not just my oven then!!!!!
I do tend to do about 4 cakes at the same time and check each one at different times LOL
Lea :) :)

I've been waiting for this recipe to be posted, thanks... should have known it'd be yours Judy (after sampling your Banana cake!).  Looks like I'll be baking tomorrow :-)

> The recipe says around 50 minutes, but that isn't according to my oven, it's more like an hour or more depending on what kind of tin I bake it in.

Right... nother numpty question, what sort of tin do you use?
What size?
Is it the kind you could pour into two Vicky Sarny tins to make a two-layered one?
How thick does it turn out if you do that?
(If you have ever made a Betty Crocker chocolate devils food cake from a mix, that's what I'd like to replicate).

We have one or two others that are regular standbys :), happy to pass on the banana cake recipe if you like (greatly improved with walnuts). However it's officially open season on Christmas cakes now so will be experimenting for the next several days with various fruit and nut mixes. I had some good results last year but never wrote anything down so will have to have another bash at it.

I made a Christmassy ginger fruit cake (LOTS of ginger wine and fresh ginger) one year that was well received... and almost entirely selfless as I can't stand ginger or fruit cake, so couldn't have judged taste myself!

And yes please to the banana cake recipe :-D  I can do a good banana loaf with maple syrup and jack daniels, but as you can imagine that works out quite pricey, so an alternative for my blackened bananas would be good.

Hi Ms Temeraire, use an 8 or 9 inch round tin, let the cake cool in the tin for about 20 minutes before you try turning it out onto a wire rack and then once it's completely cooled use a long serrated knife to cut into layers--the knife should reach the middle of the cake and then turn it round to slice it through (as opposed to trying to slice it across from the edge, if this makes any sense).

I always do this as a layer cake and the mix is firm enough to cut into three layers if you have a steady hand and a long sharp knife. use a flat baking tray to slide under each layer to lift each one off and reassemble without breakages.

> I made a Christmassy ginger fruit cake (LOTS of ginger wine and fresh ginger) one year that was well received... and almost entirely selfless as I can't stand ginger or fruit cake, so couldn't have judged taste myself!

That sounds lovely as I am a total ginger fanatic.... wouldn't go down well with the rest of the family but if you want to share I would be more than happy to have a go at making it for myself!

Did anyone see Kirsty's Homemade Britain last week? I saw the repeat of it yesterday when my mother wanted to see it, apparently Kirsty's never baked much before, but made a Caribbean Fruit Cake which took the top prize at the Devon County Show. Lots of ginger (and rum) in that.

Thanks Jay for the info about the tins :)

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/4825/gingery-christmas-cake

I think I topped up the ginger wine on the fruit after 12 hours and left another 8 or so hours.  I didn't 'feed' it as some of the comments recommended, but I made it quite late on so it really didn't need it.  To make it look more attractive I iced with slightly lemony icing and decorated with cystalised ginger :-)

I really want some cake now!

> I really want some cake now!

Thank you - and so do I!!!! If it weren't for the fact my ole mum would moan, I might be up for a midnight baking session. There is something very special and satisfying about cooking at night.

Today I have made my Christmas cake, messed about with the recipe I followed that ended up making one round and one square from the same mix!
Kitchen and house smell so good :)

I have never recovered from the loss of the recipe that I'd used for years. Hence the messing...

Karen

Excellent!  Thanks Jay15 :)

Ok Clare--cakeheads unite :-D!

This cheap and cheerful banana cake recipe is from an ancient and tattered volume printed in the 1960s (America's Favorite Recipes from Better Homes and Gardens):

1/2 cup shortening (I use margarine)
2 cups sifted plain flour
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar (I use caster sugar for baking and this amount can be reduced)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 cup mashed ripe banana, the blacker the better
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract2 eggs
1/2 cup walnuts (optional)

Thank you :)
I will now print this out, certainly with optional walnuts, I love them :)

KAren

Aw some brilliant ideas and recipes have a21st coming up next week so may do the chocy one. mmmginger and fruit and something good to make with bananas
Ginger wine is so much easier to find than individual cans of guiness

thank you people

Hi Karen, happy baking! Agree about walnuts (missed them while the kids were growing up--all that "eeewwww, nuts!" stuff) I substituted pecans for walnuts once, but although I far prefer them to walnuts they made the cake too sweet.

Now if anyone has a much cherished recipe they'd like to share, this could be a very long thread indeed...I can offer a couple of good brownie recipes, one very simple and one a bit more pricey/complicated (but my cordon bleu sister in law won a $30,000 kitchen makeover with it :)) and absolutely recommend Marco Pierre White's lemon tart to stun friends into awed silence, just fantastic.

right I think we need a recipe thread well started Jay15 :)

Now my dogs adore ginger cake but this sounds far too good for them, Clare. I feel an experiment coming on :-D :-D :-D!

<<Now my dogs adore ginger cake>>

Just seen this recipes has the usual currants etc--and just to reassure anyone who may be thinking I am about to poison my dogs that their ginger cake only has ginger in it :)

http://www.caterersearch.com/Articles/03/10/2008/315947/harveys-lemon-tart-by-marco-pierre-white.htm

The best I've ever had--scores 25 out of 12!

My favourite Rich Fruit/Christmas cake is:

575g mixed dried fruit
225g sultanas
175g stoned chopped dates
2 lemons, grated rind and juice
150ml ruby port
225g butter softened
250g plain flour
4 eggs
1 tbsp black treacle
1 tsp each of ground cinnamon & mixed spice
100g packet pecan nuts
100g packet blanched hazelnuts
175 natural glacé cherries

Put all fruit, lemon juice and rind with port into saucepan and bring to the boil, stir all the time, then cool in a bowl of cold water.

Place butter, flour, eggs, treacle and spice in a large bowl and beat together.

Fold in all the soaked fruits and the nuts until well combined, finally stir in the cherries and turn into a lined tin, flatten the top.

Tin size round 9" cook at 150c or gas 2 for about 3 hours - leave in tin overnight.

Expensive but very scrummy

We don't like icing but I use marzipan and decorate with lines or what ever and then toast the top

That sounds like a very fine cake Nova :)! I hate royal icing and fondant but use them on cakes for everyone else (the home made Christmas present thing). My own has a marzipan cover and then on top of that dried fruits and nuts under an apricot and brandy glaze, with royal icing piped in lattice work to make the sides more 'dressy.'

I made Delia S carribean cake one year and it was lovely.
I have made the same Christmas cake since I was 14 and made it for my Mum.So a few Christmas cakes made in my time.Lovely moist recipe,I am making a couple on Thursday with my eldest daughter (youngest hates Christmas cake and puddings)The recipe was in the Daily Mirror about 31 years ago.I also have a lovely Christmas pudding recipe made with cider - however I always have loads of cider left over.Now I could buy a smaller bottle but I won'tbe having a mug of cocoa tonight  :)

Good grief!!

Chocolate cake!! Chocolate frosting! Ginger fruit cake!! Yum!! Ginger wine!! Yummier!! Then ya start talking cake with jack daniels in it!!! OOOOOOOOOOHHHHH yeah!!!! Gotta make that sucka!! how much JD goes in the cake and how much in me will have to remain my secret! In fact will it make it to the cake!

And feeding a cake?? Surely that's just wrong? Aren't they meant to feed me?? Only kidding, just struck me as odd!

A plain cake I make every christmas for the non fruity people is Sherry Cake,the recipe handed down by MIL
4oz butter     4oz castor sugar   2eggs   5oz SR flour   2oz ground almonds   2tbls coffee  3tbls sherry
1/2oz chopped almonds

Cream butter and sugar, add beaten eggs, flour, ground almonds,coffee and 1tbls sherry.Place in 6ins tin,top with chopped almonds and bake in moderate oven 325f for 60 to 90 mins.When cool prick base with scewer and dribble remaining sherry into the holes.Store (well wrapped) for several weeks.This makes a lovely moist cake that improves with keeping,so can be made well in advance of Christmas,and is a change from all the other rich cakes and mince pies.

Ha ha feeding cakes is part of the ritual, I usually end up with the top shelf of the wardrobe full of christmas cakes in brown paper parcels that are fed each week with enough brandy to make them fall over ;)

made That Chocolate Cake today and well, the batter was like melted Galaxy when I dipped my finger in it, so I'm converted. Not so keen on the frosting, it seemed a bit over sweet to me and somehow didn't end up very thick, maybe I'll have another go or try something else, but mum's taken the cake up to her neighbours this evening and we will be lucky to get two slices left over!

Try adding more cocoa to the frosting mix, and reducing the icing sugar, that will help to thicken it and reduce the sugar hit. I prefer a cream based filling, double cream, a bit of icing sugar, a generous slug of brandy and 2-3 heaped tbsp of cocoa is more me :)

happyhoundgirl if you want to give he JD banana loaf a go (not too much JD but have tried without and it certainly makes a difference somehow)

MAPLE BANANA BREAD (+JD!)

INGREDIENTS:

115g butter                                        250g plain flour

120 ml maple syrup                          5g bicarbonate of soda

1 egg                                                  2g baking powder

2 ripe bananas                                  30g chopped walnuts

3ml Jack Daniels                              40g white sugar

45 ml milk

DIRECTIONS:

Pre-heat oven to 350' F (175' C) Gas Mark 4.  Grease a 5" x 9" loaf tin.

In a large bowl, mix the melted butter and maple syrup.  Beat in the egg and bananas (mashed but with a few small chunks).  Stir in the Jack Daniels and milk.

In a separate bowl, mix the flour, bicarbonate of soda, and baking powder.  Stir into the banana mixture just until moistened.  Transfer to the prepared loaf tin.  Mix the nuts and sugar and sprinkle evenly over the top.

Bake 45-50 minutes in the pre-heated oven, or until a knife inserted into the centre of the loaf comes out clean.

Got another cake craving now....

> Try adding more cocoa to the frosting mix, and reducing the icing sugar, that will help to thicken it and reduce the sugar hit.

Ahh, thanks :)
I might make traditional buttercream for the filling and do something icing-y or melted-chocolate-y for the top next time instead. I don't really want to tot up how much cocoa was used in total, or mother might hit me. But she seemed more interested in the result than the depletion of her cupboard so here's hoping :) [Well until we get to the checkout at Tesco's after next shop....lol]

This is going in my recipe book, Clare!!!! I very rarely if ever drink spirits but they are welcome ingredients in cooking :). Anybody would think I am a closet alcoholic judging by the bottles of brandy and cassis we get through over the year, but it is all down to baking (hic).

Just been looking at the price of Invicta cake tins--I had no idea I was sitting on a king's ransom! I thought I'd nip out and buy four small 4" rounds for some mini Christmas cakes...£40!!!!

While we are on the subject of recipes my kids ( 19 and 21 !) last night bought home pumkins for halloween. This has left me with god knows how much pulp and seeds, they were big pumpkins , has anyone got any failsafe soup recipes.Sorry I dont like pie 
Also is the only way to separate the seeds is to pick them all out individually ? I am going to roast them

we used to love pumpkin seeds as kids, brings back memories! As for pulp I'm afraid I can't help--if it was me  it would be going to my hens or on the compost heap :(

I make pumpkin soup but unfortunately don't measure things, so it does vary from batch to batch according to what I have available. The spices can be altered to suit your personal preferences.

Basic recipe - into a pan add chopped up pumpkin flesh, large diced onion, 2-3 diced carrots, salt, black pepper, garam masala, ground cumin, ground coriander, ground turmeric. Add enough vegetable stock to stop it sticking and burning.
Once vegetables are cooked and soft. I wizz it with a stick blender. The mixture can now be thinned to required consistency by using more stock, cream or Philli cheese.
Hope this helps to give you some ideas. Sorry it's a bit vague - most of my cooking is like that !!

Sassinak, I will SO be using that recipe.  I never know what to do with the leftover pumpkin insides!!  Apart from toasting the seeds of course!!

OK, Anyone got a good Lemon recipe??  Thinking Lemon merigue pie or lemon cheesecake??  Also, cookies?  Oat and raisin or milk choc chip? 

This topic is Fab!!!  And who knew their was such talent on this forum?!lol.

Not a lemon recipe, but your post triggered the thought.
Gooseberry meringue pie is wonderful. It is such a change from lemon ones.
Cook gooseberries in as little water as possible - I use elderflower cordial rather than water, this means using less sugar, vague again because everyone likes a different level of sweetness, I like most cooked fruits a bit tart rather than sweet. If it is a bit runny add a spoonful of arrowroot - easier than cornflower.
Put into a partly baked shortcrust base and pile meringue on top - whisk egg whites  until stiff, add 2 spoonfuls of caster sugar and beat again. Cook until outside of meringue is golden brown on top.

cracar have alook at jay15 link further up the post for lemon tart.
Thanks for recipe for pumpkin will be picking out seeds all afternoon ! yes I would normally be throwing the pulp away but they wanted soup