I do some of my own baking, I used to do loads untill some of the children left home.
I have been racking my brains to remember how to keep a fruit cake moist.
My Mother, and Auntie, were fantastic old school cooks.
I knew it had somethink to do with tea!! But! just couldn't remember.
HAVE! Put the dryed fruit in a basin with tea and a little sugar, leave it to soak.
more than 4 hours till the fruit swells, then the fruit cake stays moist.
If you are a little naughty it could be brandy or rum!
Regards
Denese

Wow! somebody else that home bakes, I was beginning to think i was part of some dying breed LOL :D
The only problem i have with baking is that as soon as i have finished the kids and OH start scoffing like theres no tomorrow, I'm lucky if it lasts longer than 2 days. :D

I know it doesn't get time to go stale. It is a lot nicer than brought!
Isn't it!!

I found it cheaper, I taught Hubby to cook as well, he does a beauitful,
Steak and Ale pie. He cooks his steak in a tin of guiness.

mmm lovely.
You have to remember to boil the alcohol off thou, thats the bit my OH forgets :rolleyes:
A particular favourite here is OP Pie, beef in Old Peculiar Ale. have to make that early on a morning otherwise im drinking the ale lol

does hubby add mustard to his steak n guinness denese?

janeandkai,

Yes he does. I love it with gravy and warm crusty bread.
Its also nice for visitors with potatoes and veg or chips and peas.

I could just eat some, a little ale has to go in the gravy.
Regards
Denese

I love homebaking!! :D :D And mine doesnt last long either.......gone the day i make it!! :D :D

I make my own (and several other) Christmas cakes - using a receipe I've used for yonks - bit like Delia's, but not quite.   I also make my own mincepies AND mincemeat - don't do Christmas pud, though!

I love baking and cooking altogether - I'm just getting "in" to it again - years and years of cooing for a small army (well, it seemed like it at the time) made me lose my enthusiasm a bit, but I just love cookery books, reading them, deciding what to cook, etc etc etc. 

I haven't yet got round to having a "baking day" again - used to - but making bread - properly -- not in a breadmaker-thingy - is soo soothing - all that thumping and kneading.

Margot

I've got two bags of flour in the cupboard and some yeast - well, it's a start, eh?

We do make our own pizza, though, generally at least once a week. Knocks the socks off anything you can buy, and you get as much of it as you want.

I also got some flour from a windmill near here and have decided that when the current loaf is finished, I'll make some 'proper' bread.

I love cooking, both my parents we good cooks.

I make a mean roast dinner, with all the trimings, and i good chicken pie, chicken and veg broth, but my favourite has to be pea and ham soup. so warming in these winter months.

Dam it people!!! Why do you lot have to talk about cakes and pies and home baking?? hmmm?? Now look what you have done!! Im going to have to go downstairs now and polish off the rest of the mince pies!! Hahahaha

Here's something you won't want to eat, Blue's mum.

I used to make Liver Cake for Toby - I did have a recipe but can't find it, so here's what I remember. Sorry, I can't recall the quantities needed, but it should be easy enough to figure out if you can bake other things okay.

Get some lamb's liver and liquidise it, mix in self-raising flour, some milk, a bit of olive oil and a beaten egg. Spread it out in a pie dish and bake till nice. Cut it up into cubes when it's cool and store in the fridge.

Once the dogs know about it, it doesn't last long. Very useful for training, treats or if you need a bribe.

lol your right about that!

I've got my Christmas Cake in the oven right now. I do loads of baking the favourite with the family at the moment is Carrot Cake and Coffee Cake. I make bread sometimes and have done lots of pickles and jams this year. I used to make Delias Christmas Puds but have found that the bought ones are just as good and the time that they take I didn't think it was worth it.

mmmmmmmmmmmmmm Carot cake!!!!! Bet thats well nice home cooked! Ive never had a home cooked one before!!

My OH loves carrot cake but i've never made it before. Do you have a good recipie you could pass on to me?? I would love to make it for him. :-)

I think il cook myself a batch! lol

Well i made myself a rich chocolate cake the other day and i have just 1 bit left :( i love to bake tis just finding the time

next year i am entering the jam and chutney section of our local agricultural show, this is the first time i have entered a show with stuff but looking forward to it, i love baking just wish i did not live with the locusts that come through the kitchen and eat it all in one day. does anyone make sweets, my lot love home made fudge.
carol

This is the BEST Carrot Cake recipe ever!  I've used this at least once a month for the past six years and the family still finish it the same day (well, better than have it go stale!):

3 oz      butter
9 oz      castor sugar
3          eggs
10 oz    plain flour
2tspns  Bicarb of Soda
Half     tspn of salt
Half    tspn of ground cinnamon
5oz       pot of natural yoghurt
12oz     finely grated carrots
4oz       finely chopped walnuts (or mixed nuts)

1.  Cream butter and sugar.  Add eggs one at a time.
2.  Sift flour, soda, salt and cinnamon
3.  Add to the mixture, alternating with the yoghurt
4.  Fold in carrots and nuts, mixing thoroughly but gently
5.  Turn into greased and floured 8" cake tim
6.  Bake at Gas mk 5 for 45/50 mins

Cream cheese frosting:
1oz       butter
3oz       icing sugar
8oz       cream cheese (but not the LITE kind)

1.  mix all the above till smooth
2.  refrigerate until needed
3.  spread on top of cold cake (or cut the cake in half and fill in the middle)
4.  decorate with more chopped nuts

Optional Flavourings (for the cream cheese)

            1 tspn   vanilla extract
            1 tBspn fresh orange juice and grated orange rind
            Half tspn cinnamon
            1oz melted bitter chocolate
            2 tspn very strong coffee

Thanks for the that Kate B. :-) That recipe looks really easy to follow. :D I will definately give it a try. :D :D

It's well worth it - believe me!  Let me know how you get on - or if you want my opinion, send me a slice and I'll 'mark' it for you!

Do you stick a knitting needle all over the Christmas cake
and soak it in brandy or rum or even sherry???
I do for a month before Iceing it mmmmm

I soak my Christmas cake in Brandy fortnightly, from when I make at start of October through to middle of December.

i bake-i have been done since i was 9 or 10 (i'm 26 in a few weeks) -maybe even younger. I make a wicked choccy cake. I only really bake cakes, scones....biscuits occasionally. I do all my own pastry though, on the rare occasion we have it.

nicola

Lets share a few recipes, what could be nicer, these awfull
cold dark nights than some think nice from the oven with
a glass of wine, cup of coffee, or mug of tea!!!!

With my lot there's nothing nicer on a weekend then home baked bread (usually soda bread..mmmmmmm...) , home baked meat pie (allowed to go cold then served with lots of hot chips), oat and raisin cookies, oaty flapjacks and finished off with my speciality of lovely warm cinnamon swirls (the bread type) and a huge mug of hot chocolate or coffee.

I love baking, unfortunately I don't get to do as much as I'd like (only weekends) as hubby is a body builder so all week is healthy eating - but christmas is just round the corner so not long before my kitchen becomes a beehive of industry with LOADS of baking going on (it's what my three kids look forward too the most LOL)

Hi Boxer mom,

"the kids look forwards to" who wouldn't!!!

Regards
Denese

:) Denese - my personal favourite on a cold winter night has to be hot tomato soup with large chunks of freshly baked soda bread, although christmas eve will be hot mince pies and a glass of mulled wine.

Christmas cake this year will be a small cunchy fruit cake as it's mainly for my OH, the kids are looking forward to the cinnamon swirl crown with cinnamon spiced icing on the top served with whipped cream.

My kids have found a new favourite to go with spaghetti bolognese - toast some bread, melt some butter with freshly ground garlic and chopped mixed herbs then spread lashingly over the toast then finish off for about 10 minutes in the oven, the garlic butter soaks through the bread and the oven makes it nice and crispy you can then scoop up all the remaining spaghetti sauce off your plate perfectly (this was a pure accident as I forgot to make some garlic ciabatta one day and seeing three dissapointed faces I cooked up this concoction)

Damn I'm hungry and I've still got 8lbs of weight to loose before christmas (if I'm ever going to get into that new skirt I bought for last christmas !!) :D

Hi Boxer Mum,
I'm going to try that sounds Hmmmm!!!
Regards
Denese

This is an American recipe that I use quite a lot - dead easy and it makes about 20 Apple Crumb Squares. Takes about 10mins to prepare:

2 cups Scotts porridge Oats / oatmeal (uncooked)
1and a half cups flour
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt (necessary)
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 cup apple sauce
1/2 cup chopped nuts

Preheat oven to temperature 375°F. Combine all ingredients, except apple sauce and nuts, in a bowl. Mix until crumbly and then reserve 1 cup of the mixture. Press remaining mixture onto bottom of greased 13x9 inch (Swiss Roll) tin. Bake for 15mins and then let it cool for about 10mins. Spread apple sauce over partially baked base and sprinkle with nuts. Sprinkle the reserved 1 cup mixture over filling. Bake for another 15mins or until golden brown. Cool and cut into 2 inch squares.

Best with a huge mug of coffee or tea!

The apple cake went down nicely hot with ice cream! Will try the other recipe next!

Well I don't cook but I most definitely DO bake. :D All Swedish recipes, several of them I've just made up myself as well. One memorable Christmas I was baking so many cakes I used a basic mix to which I then added different things to to make different flavours; i.e. fruit, ginger, coconut, chocolate, you name it. I figured I needed a lot of mix so I mixed a whole bucket full!! :) My husband always says I bake way too much for Christmas as it lasts for weeks afterwards, but that's the way I like it -seems so pointless to make one cake or whatever as it tends to be gone in 5 seconds flat, especially if the kids are around!

OOh Denese, you dont want to use tea - brandy is much better! I make my living baking, when its not dog biscuits its human stuff. I have about 20 christmas cakes and puddings maturing on top of the wardrobe in the spare room as I type.

My main problem is that Im having the kitchen refitted after Christmas and so wont be able to bake for a few weeks - frankly I dont know how I will cope. I have already started lining up friends that I can cook for! Although it may be a better idea to use the time to diet, before I get asked to audition for the new series of 2 fat ladies ;)

I mainly do traditional stuff as OH dosent like anything too exotic, although he will now eat chilli and chinese.

BTW wrap the finished cake in 2 layers of greeseproof and 2 of tin foil and feed every 2 to 4 weeks with brandy and it will literally keep for years. Main problem is hiding it from friends and family. :D 

Hi Bluebell,
Brandy it will now be, I've just taken some bread pudding out
of the oven, thanks for the tip on the Christmas cakes.
AND puddings oh!! how wonderfull.
Regards
Denese

Try substituting half the milk in the bred pud for sherry and add grated rind of half an orange. it will keep the kids quite ;)

Bluebell,
That's what I'm going to do from now!
Regards
Denese

MMM Cooking and Baking MMM

I made Beef Soup yesterday (to eat today) and last week Steak and Kidney pie and Steak Cobbler MMMMMMM  Haven't eaten steak and Kidney Pie since giving up wheat 2 years ago.  I also bake cakes, Chocolate, Coffee and Walnut, Sultana Loaf, Christmas Cakes, brandy soaked (have to make several as OH likes then hot from the oven )  and Bread, Scones (sultana scones and cheese scones) and......WELSHCAKES, my personal favourite (all Wheat and Gluten and Dairy free)  as a kid I once made hundreds of Welsh Cakes on holiday in Ireland when the locals discovered they liked them, we had a Welsh Cake and Trout Sandwich party in the Pub opposite :D :D (Dad caught loads of Trout which the locals never eat)

Little One loves my cooking and baking and OH always tucks in :)

I could audition for the two fat ladies on my own :D :D :(

If you use Fruit bread in the Bread and Butter pudding it will be really light and tasty :D :D   OOO I miss Bread and Butter pudding :)

German Apple Cake is wonderful and there's little washing up to do!

4oz butter
4oz castor sugar
8oz Self Raising flour
Pinch salt
I large beaten egg
12oz apples, peeled and chopped
2oz cleaned sultanas
1oz chopped walnuts
Half tspn ground cinnamon
2oz Demerara sugar

Brush 8" round cake tin with melted butter and line base with circle of greaseproof paper, cut to fit.  Grease the paper too.
Melt butter in a pan over a low heat.  Remove from heat and mix in castor sugar, egg, flour, and salt to make a fairly stiff mixture (and pot sides are clean)
Turn two thirds of the mixture into the tin and spread to sides and make surface level.
Mix apples, sultanas, walnuts and cinnamon together and scatter over the cake base.
Sprinkle the Demerara sugar over mixture
Dot the remaining mixture over the filling (it won't cover all of it, but it does give a nice rustic look to the finished cake)
Bake cake in centre of oven (gas mk 5 for 50 mins) or until cake is cooked a light golden colour. Leave cake in tin for 10 mins (to cool) then carefully turn cake out.  
Serve warm with custard or cold with a cuppa (Instead of apples, try sliced pears, or pineapples)

Now can someone send me a recipe for Bread Pudding (not bread and butter pudding), PLEASE???

Bread Pudding...lovely, not bread & butter pudding yyeeeucchhhh!

I used to make a very moist & moreish Banana cake sometimes I substituited some of the brown sugar for honey and my sister still goes on about my Butterfly cakes & I haven't made them in over 10 years!

I bake a Nigella Lawson chocolate cloud cake - mmmmmm

Key lime pie- when I say bake this cake is just about mixing and is sooo easy and gorgous

Cheesecake - my all time favourite

AHHHH! but my bread and butter pudding is very light - not at all like the grey soggy slabs fit only for paving water gardens :( eeeewww

i like baking cages, cookies etc altho admittedly im lazy with bread and have a bread maker! Made a christmas cake last year but ive got someone else making me one this year

Hi Kate, just to let you know that my daughter, who is mad about baking,has just made a german apple cake from your recipe and its gorgeous! Thanks!

Can she send me a slice, please - just for comparison purposes?:-)

Not sure there will be any left once husband and sons get home!

Hmmph!!  I guess I'll just need to go and get my carrot cake out of the oven now....  Are you having the apple cake with custard  and/or ice cream, or just with a lovely hot cuppa?  (she says, drooling at the thought!).

I'm not into baking as such but I LOVE cooking!  I'm more then happy to cook the family meal most nights, sometimes an old fav or sometimes something new!!!!  I love experimenting aswell and just throwing stuff in so it never comes out the same twice!

The only desert I make is Crumble and will make the custard aswell on special occasions!  Used to do cheesecakes but I love Tesco fresh cheesecake more then my own!!! :D

Hi ice queen
I'm the same.I love cooking and hate washing the dishes so me and grant do a deal that whoever cooks the other does the washing up so it works brilliant cos grant hates cooking.I think my specialities are lasagne,spag bol, cheese+potato pie.The only pudding i have ever done is pineapple upside down in school and it was lovely!
julie :-)