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Sunday, October 24, 2010

Let’s eat blog hop

 

If you have come here from the fabulous and creative Rinda at Gallo Organico, welcome to the hop, if you don’t know cake 2what I’m talking about, we are having a food related blog hop, head over to Amy’s blog to see the details. Big thanks to Amy for organising this tasty trip around the globe.

cake 3 However you came here, Welcome, come in and have a slice of sponge cake. Can I tempt you with a cupcake, or a slice of the round iced cake? 

I think the first recipe that I knew from memory was for a basic ‘weight of an egg sponge’.  For each egg use 2oz (56g) each of self-rising flour, sugar and butter.  We put them all in a bowl and then mixed with the handheld beater until all mixed. 

When I was a kid, I remember helping to make cake at the weekend.  We made a big batch of the basic mixture and then divided into three bowls.   Some would be made in a round tin and some would become cupcakes. I was allowed to choose the flavour, topping and shape for one of the batches. Some of the favourites that I remember are:

* adding drinking chocolate or cocoa, sometimes with some coffee too with melted chocolate on top

* adding ginger in syrup to either the cake or the butter icing

* mixing in desiccated coconut then putting red jam and coconut on top

* mixing in raisins and some spice

* adding some lemon or orange juice and zest and then making icing with the same juice

The cakes were baked at 180C (350F/Gas 4).  Check at 20 minutes or earlier if you smell burning. It is ready when the cake has moved away from the side and when you gently press the top it bounces back instead of retaining a dimple.  Put the tin on a wire cooling rack and wait until it is cold before removing from the tin and icing.

cake 1 We used two basic toppings: glaze icing and butter icing.  For glaze icing put a cup of icing sugar in a bowl and slowly add some liquid – 2 teaspoons to start  and stir until it is the consistency you want to either spread or drizzle on the cake.  The liquid can be water or a flavour such as lemon juice. 

Butter icing uses 2oz (56g) soft butter, 4 oz (120g) icing sugar (approx) and 1 tablespoons of a liquid flavour such as coffee or orange juice. Add the icing sugar in batches, stirring well until it tastes nice and will hold its shape. Spread over the cake.

Hope you enjoyed my memories of baking as a child, I certainly did.  Now hop over to Elizabeth at emhowl.

[cake graphic from Scrapsisters – with some tweaking]

23 comments:

Jennifer Grace said...

Mmm, I love fairy cakes. I like making them with my little girl now. We'll have to try some of these, I've never put ginger pieces in or orange juice so I'll give them a go! Thanks for sharing! x

furrypig said...

mmmmmm my mouth is watering thinking of all those different cakes dripping with icing or butter icing!!! Thanks xxx

Amy said...

Helena, I learnt to make cakes in a similar way - thank you for sharing these memories today :-) Ok, now I am super hungry!

Diane said...

I have to confess I am a bit lazy at cake making...shhh dont tell Amy...(packet mixes) but I will try and be more creative for my kids to have similar memories :)

scrappyjacky said...

This took me right back to my childhood....it's just the way we used to bake with my mum....and I still love sponge cakes.

alexa said...

Mmm, one of my favourite things in cooking is a basic recipe to which there are lots of variations - and this is perfect@

Anne said...

I make cupcakes a lot but ginger in syrup is new to me. I will be trying this.

Miriam said...

This is the way my mum taught me and they way I taught my son. Thank you for the memory:)

JO SOWERBY said...

cake seems to have featured alot on this hop,........methinks we eat alot of it ;-))
Jo xxx

Anonymous said...

Love the collection of flavour variations. Hmm. I'm really starting to get hungry now! Thanks for all of the ideas :)

Sian said...

We call this a 4,4,2 cake here. I love your idea of adding lots of easy to do variations :)

debs14 said...

So pleased to hear that I'm not the only one who learnt cake making this way! It's simple to remember isn't it? Thanks for sharing all the variations too I like the sound of the coconut and jam ones - yum!

Ruth said...

Isn't it funny, the things we remember about cooking/baking as children? A lovely post.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the memories and the very adaptable recipe.

ComfyMom~Stacey said...

That sounds like the exact recipe my 1st grader brought home this week. They had a book about an otter that made this cake.

Tracy said...

I loved baking when I was a child too, such good memories!

Deb @ PaperTurtle said...

Oh these sound like fabulous little cakes, Helena. And I loved reading about your childhood memory of them. :o)

humel said...

Mmmm, cake..... And yes, that was the first recipe I ever learnt, too! I remember cooking it with my Mum, my aunt and my grandmother - Mum had a hand-held electric mixer, my aunt just beat it all with a wooden spoon, and Nan used a food processor!! Thanks for bringing back that particular memory :-)

Faith Hope and Cherrytea said...

never made any cakes like this so a great intro! and versatility :) THX!
see you at FHC for tea & maple pear pies...

Beverly said...

I love the idea of changing up a basic recipe and getting a glimpse of childhood memories.

emhowl said...

My husband is particularly partial to cupcakes but I've never thought of making three different flavours at the same time. You've tempted me to post photos of some my daughter made for her birthday to take to her English class.

Maria Ontiveros said...

What a wonderful childhood memory! Thanks for sharing it.
Rinda

Liberty :) said...

great memories thanks for sharing!