Armenian Nutmeg Cake

A few weeks ago (shows how behind I am in blogging recipes doesn't it lol), I was after something a little different.  Hubby and I are dieting so we shouldn't be eating cake but I just wanted a taste of something sweet (you know, just a slither of sweetness!) and I needed something for the kid's lunchboxes for school.

I saw this recipe in my folder and thought it sounded a little different so I would give it a go and it was really quite nice.  It doesn't have a really strong flavour so the kids liked it too.  It is just that little bit different to your standard cakes.  I love the little two tone effect it has!

ARMENIAN NUTMEG CAKE

1 cup Self Raising Flour

70 grams Butter, roughly chopped

1 cup Plain Flour

1 teaspoon Bicarb Soda

1 teaspoon Nutmeg

1 cup Milk

2 cups Brown Sugar, firmly packed

1 egg, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

Lightly grease shallow tin 15cm x 20cms (or round tin lol)

Sift flours and nutmeg into large mixing bowl

Stir through the sugar

Rub in the butter until mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs

Spread one third of crumb mixture over the base of the cake tin and press down lightly

Dissolve the bicarb soda in the milk and add to remaining crumb mixture

Add beaten egg and mix well

Pour into the tin

Bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean and top is brown

Allow to stand in tin for 10 minutes before turning out

 

Boiled Fruit Cake - My Mum's recipe

This recipe is very dear to me.  My Mum made this countless times and it is one of the only recipes I got her to actually write down for me.  I am so glad I did!

I'm not a huge fruit cake lover but I have always eaten my Mum's fruit cakes.  I used to call them the Fruit cake for people who don't like Fruit Cake lol.  Even my Hubby likes this cake and he doesn't usually eat Fruit Cake at all.  Stinky and Buddha don't usually like anything with sultanas in it but both quite like this cake.

This is the cake that I got my mum to make for my first wedding.  She was determined that wedding cake should be a fruit cake,,,,,back then I hated all fruit cakes except hers and used to hate wedding cakes.  I didn't even want fruit cake for the wedding but she insisted so I compromised and said that if she made the cake then I would have fruit cake.  Lol I won that battle!

I hope this recipe continues to get passed down from generation to generation in my family.

BOILED FRUIT CAKE

225 grams Butter or Margarine

1 cup Sugar

1 packet Mixed Fruit

1 packet Glace Cherries

2 teaspoons Mixed Spice

1 teaspoon Carb Soda

1 cup Water

2 Eggs

2 tablespoons Treacle

1 cup Plain Flour

1 cup Self Raising Flour

Place all ingredients from Butter/Margarine through to Water into a saucepan and bring to the boil.

Allow to cool

Fold beaten eggs into the above mix.

Add Flours and Treacle and mix well so it is thoroughly combined (just use a wooden spoon to do this, no mixer required)

Pour mixture into a well greased/lined tin and cook at 160 degrees Celsius for approximately 1 1/2 hours.

This cake keeps well and is lovely and moist with a lovely light flavour.

Carrot Cake with Lemon Icing

This cake came about because I had 1 lonely lemon sitting in my fridge.  I made this cake with Hubby in mind as he loves carrot cake but I decided to get the kids to taste it before I told them what it was.  For some reason the thought of vegetables living in our cake still makes a couple of the younger kids frown and screw their noses up, they think its just not right lol.  So they get to taste it first from now on and then I will reveal what it is.  Shortstuff still didn't like it, (That fact still won't stop me from continuing to try different carrot cake recipes though!).

The rest of the Gang found the cake pretty good.  It cuts well and the lemon icing just gives it that little bit of zing.  I found it held together well for lunch boxes too which is always a bonus.   I had a request for plain icing next time I make it but Hubby and I thought the lemon icing suited it to a tee....maybe I will ice it in half lemon and half plain lol.

CARROT CAKE WITH LEMON ICING

125 grams unsalted butter, softened

1 cup white sugar

grated rind of 1 orange

pinch of nutmeg

pinch of allspice

pinch of cinnamon

2 eggs

3/4 cup grated carrot

60 grams chopped raw almonds

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

pinch of salt

1 1/4 cups plain flour, sifted

up to 1/4 cup warm water

cooking spray

1 cup icing sugar

2-3 tablespoons lemon juice

Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

Beat butter until mixed well.

Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy.

Add orange zest, nutmeg, allspice, cinnamon and mix well.

Add the eggs, one at a time, continually beating.

Add carrot, almonds, baking powder, salt and flour.

Mix well with wooden spoon and add water, little by little, until a smooth consistency is reached. 

DO NOT OVER BEAT!

Spoon mixture into a sprayed springform cake tin and cook in oven for about 35 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.

Place on cake rack to cool for about 10 minutes.

To make the icing, mix together the icing sugar and lemon juice.

Pour over the cake when ready to serve.

CARROT AND PINEAPPLE CAKE - THIS IS BEAUTIFUL!!!

Okay,,,,I think I have found a rival cake for my Anzac Cake.  I tried this cake on the weekend and it is simply yummo!!!  The best part about it is that even though I have a few kids that hate carrots and a couple that absolutely despise pineapple,,,,,,they ALL agreed tht this cake is beautiful!!!!

This mix made enough mixture for 2 log tins and 6 cupcake sized muffins.  The kids have been having a slice in their lunchboxes all week and they have already said that they want me to make another one for next week  (but now I am on a carrot cake roll and next week I want to try another recipe lol!!)

CARROT AND PINEAPPLE CAKE

CAKE

3 Cups Self Raising Flour

2 Cups Caster Sugar

1 teaspoon Salt

1 cup Crushed Pineapple (undrained)

1 cup chopped Walnuts (I used Almonds)

2 cups shredded Carrot

4 Eggs

1 cup Oil

1 cup Cold Water

1 teaspoon Vanilla Essence

ICING

90 grams softened Cream Cheese

1/2 cup softened Butter or Margarine

4 cups Icing Sugar

1 teaspoon Vanilla Essence

2-3 teaspoons grated orange rind (I left this out because I didnt' have an orange)

About 3 tablespoons Orange Juice

In a large bowl (this makes alot of mixture so make sure it is a very large bowl!), mix all the cake ingredients together.

Beat together well with a spoon until well mixed.

Grease and flour 2 loaf tins or one 10 inch square tin.

Bake in a moderate oven for 90 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.

Cool in tins before turning out.

ICING

Beat all ingredients until the mixture is fluffy and of spreading consistency.

If necessary, stir in a little additional orange juice, 1 teaspoon at a time.

Don't tell the kids what is in the cake until after they have tried it lol!!!  

(I know I am such a mean mother :-)    )

Chocolate Mud Cake - Our Gang's Style!

 I don't think there are too many people on earth that aren't tempted by Chocolate Mud Cake.  Just a small piece every now and then is just divine.  Now I hate buying ready made cakes, part of that is because we are trying to be more frugal in our lives or just the fact that cakes are generally speaking, so darn easy to make why would you bother.  I love homemade food, there is no denying it.  Home baked goodies always taste so much better I think and the other things is that I like to know what exactly I am feeding my family.  I like to have the final say as to what ingredients I use.  I'm not saying everything I make is healthy lol, far from it but at least I know what goes into my cooking.

Everyone in my family loves this cake, all that is except for Buddha,,,he hates chocolate!  Nothing on earth could persuade him to open his mouth and just have a tiny bit of this cake.  Lucky for him I froze some of the Anzac Cake from the other week.  He happily takes a piece of that for his recess at school while the rest of the Gang all have the Mud Cake.

Believe me, this recipe is one that you just have to try at least one, it is so easy to make and your family will love you for it, I promise!

CHOCOLATE MUD CAKE

2 cups Plain Flour

1 3/4 cups Sugar

1/4 teaspoon Salt 

4 tablespoons Cocoa

1 cup Cold Water

1/2 cup Vegetable Oil

1/2 cup Butter

1/2 cup Buttermilk

2 Eggs

1 teaspoon Bicarb Soda

Combine the flour, sugar, salt and cocoa in a large bowl.

In a saucepan mix the water, oil and butter.

 

Bring to a boil.

 Pour onto dry mix and beat until smooth (I just mix it up with a wooden spoon).

Mix the buttermilk, beaten eggs and bicarb soda together.

Add this mixture to the mix.

Beat until well combined (once again I just used a wooden spoon).

 This batter will be thin but don't worry.

Pour into a well greased and lined cake tin (I recommend using a deep cake tin as it is quite a large amount of mixture)

Bake at 170 degrees C until done (in my oven it took about 50 minutes).

Cool on a wire rack and while still slightly warm frost with your favourite icing.

 

Coconut Cake - A really simple cake to make and REALLY REALLY YUMMY!!

This cake is another that is a regular in our house.  It is just so easy to make and I have never had a failure with it yet.  It always comes out moist and it keeps well as I have found out just once lol.  Normally this cake disappears very fast and it doesn't get past the second day, but just once I had sickies in the house and it managed to stay around for 5 days, even on the 5th day it remained moist and fresh.

COCONUT CAKE

1 cup Self Raising Flour

1 cup Dessicated Coconut

1 cup Sugar

1/2 cup Milk

2 Eggs

3 tablespoons Butter or Margarine - melted

1 teaspoon Vanilla Essence

Mix the Flour, Coconut and Sugar together in a large bowl.

Beat the Eggs and Vanilla Essence into the Milk, add to the dry ingredients and mix.

Add the melted butter and beat well.  (I don't use an electric mixer usually, I just beat it in with a whisk or wooden spoon).

Pour into a greased and lined cake tin and bake in moderate oven for 30-35 minutes until golden and cooked in the centre.

 

Ice with any plain icing you like and top with shredded coconut.

See how long it lasts in your house!!

Boiled Chocolate Cake

 I have been wondering whether or not I should post this recipe for the last couple of days.  Its not a bad recipe but it isn't an absolute favourite.  But I figure since most of the kids enjoyed it, there would be other people who enjoy it also.  It certainly is an easy cake to whip up, so that counts for a lot as well, but I don't know, it isn't a "chocolate, chocolate cake" if you know what I mean.  I'm not sure whether more cocoa would make it better or not.  I think next time I make it (yes there will be a next time lol) I may add some chocolate cream in the middle just to give it that little bit more oomph.

This I think could be called "The Chocolate Cake for When You Don't Feel Like Chocolate Cake" lol.  It is such a subtle flavour that it barely rates on the chocolate scale, but having said that the cake itself is nice and moist.  I made this cake about 4 or 5 times now, so that proves that it isn't that bad.  Each time it has only lasted a couple of days so the kids definitely don't hate it.

Ok onto the recipe......

BOILED CHOCOLATE CAKE

1 cup Water

2 teaspoons Cocoa

1 1/2 cups Sugar

2 Eggs

125 grams Butter

1 1/2 cups Self Raising Flour

1/2 teaspoon Bicarb Soda

Place sugar, water, butter, cocoa and bicarb soda into a medium sized saucepan and stir over a low heat until the butter has melted. 

 Bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and leave to cool.

  When mixture has cooled stir in the beaten eggs and Self Raising Flour.  Beat well.

Pour into a greased and lined cake tin and bake in a moderate oven for 1 hour.

Cool in tin for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Ice as you like.

ANZAC CAKE - You just have to try this!

This recipe was one that I discovered a few years ago on the internet somewhere lol.  You know those days when you are just browsing different sites and think "oh that looks nice, I gotta try that".  I scrawled it down on a piece of paper (yes I know, why didn't I copy and paste???) and tried it the following week.  Since then it has been a regular in our house.  It is always lovely and moist and the icing just adds that little bit of zing to it.

Naturally my Mr14 loves it (remember the word ANZAC lol, its another mixture which I can't leave sitting on the bench for fear that he will attack it and I won't have any mixture left!!)

ANZAC CAKE

1/2 cup Golden Syrup

125 grams Butter

2 cups Self Raising Flour

1/2 cup Castor Sugar

1/2 cup Coconut (shredded or dessicated your choice)

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup Milk

Icing

60 grams Butter

1 teaspoon Honey

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1 1/2 cups Icing Sugar

1 tablespoon Hot Water

Cake

Combine Butter and Golden Syrup in a saucepan, stir over heat until smooth.

 

Combine sifted flour, sugar and coconut in a large bowl.

Add syrup mixture and mix well.

Using an electric beater gradually beat in the combined eggs and milk.

Pour mixture into a prepared 20x30cm cake tin (I prefer to grease and line mine) and bake at 180 degrees celcius for approximately 30 minutes.

When done the cake will look a lovely golden colour.

Now this cake is perfectly yummy just like this

But for extra oomph add the icing.  You could add whatever icing you like, but believe me, this icing is to die for when eaten with this cake!!!

Icing

Combine the butter, honey and vanilla in a bowl.

Cream it together until the butter and honey are well mixed (the vanilla will still be visible).  Gradually beat in the sifted icing sugar and hot water until smooth.  I do this by hand but you could use the electric mixer if you want to speed things up.

When smooth, ice the cake and then top off with a little shredded coconut.

This cake never lasts long in my house!!

4 MINUTE CUPCAKES

Who doesn't like fast recipes.  This one is super quick to make up, perfect for when unexpected guests turn up or as in my house, school holidays are fast approaching and you need food to fill lots of hungry tummies.

This recipe is very simple and straightforward for making either a cake as I prefer or cupcakes if you like.

4 MINUTE CUPCAKES

2 Cups Self Raising Flour

1 Cup Sugar

3/4 Cup Milk

125 grams Butter

2 Eggs

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Put all ingredients into large mixing bowl

 

Beat on high with electric mixer for 4 minutes

If too thick, add a little more milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating continuously

Put into patty pans or cake tin (be sure to line and grease the tin)

Bake in a moderately hot oven for approximately 40 minutes for a cake or 15-20 minutes for cupcakes

Ice as you would like

Enjoy