Sunday, November 14, 2021

I need a bucket

For reasons that will become clear at some point I made my Christmas cakes a bit earlier than usual. 

It turned out I didn't have enough raisins so I used chocolate instead. That's fine, right?

Can you see the problem here? 

That was why I needed a bucket. It just about all fitted in one bowl with a bit of careful transferring and mixing. 

I wanted to make two cakes, one large and one small. The recipe I had was for one 20cm cake. I had a 22cm tin and a 15 cm tin, so I worked out the area of each tin and decided doubling the quantity in the recipe would be a bit less than needed for my two tins but that I'd manage with that.

So how did it end up like this?

Two full tins and enough for another tin as well. I blame the computer. Normally I work out the area myself using pie r squared - I don't know how I type pie - but this time I just asked the computer to do it. 

I don't even like Christmas cake.

And I don't know how anyone could accuse me of being a messy cook! Just because I use every bowl and implement in the place.


And it's a good end to the weekend with Wales just beating Fiji in the rugby Autumn International Series. The final score was flattering to Wales as Fiji played most of the game with only fourteen men and a quarter of the game with thirteen, so Wales should have done better but then again the team is quite inexperienced and new. The 'first' team has been hit by Covid and injuries - including one in the warm-up just before the game, for goodness sake!

7 comments:

Debra She Who Seeks said...

Christmas cake outwits us all. It's a game of survival.

Janie Junebug said...

Chocolate takes up more space? I don't know! You probably should have eaten most of the chocolate and not bothered with the cakes.

Love,
Janie

Liz Hinds said...

It is, Debra!

That's an interesting thought, Janie.

PipeTobacco said...

Do you have an easy to show recipe for Christmas cake? It looks similar….. but appreciably different from what we make and call fruitcake. I would like to know the differences to potentially make your type!

PipeTobacco

Liz Hinds said...

These are the ingredients:
Butter - 250g
light muscovado sugar - 125g
dark muscovado sugar - 125g
dried fruits - prunes, apricots, figs, candied peel, glacé cherries, 650g in total
large free-range eggs - 3
ground almonds - 65g
shelled hazelnuts - 100g
raisins, sultanas, currants, cranberries - 350g in total
brandy - 3 tablespoons, plus extra to 'feed' the cake
zest and juice of an orange
zest of a lemon
baking powder - half a teaspoon
plain flour - 250g

And the full recipe is here:
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2005/dec/11/foodanddrink

Liz Hinds said...

There are all sorts of variations, Pipetobacco, more ale, different fruits, extra spices and so on. Basically a very rich fruit cake.

PipeTobacco said...

Liz:

Thank you!!!! From the recipe I see it IS quite similar to the fruitcake we make, but with the delicious addition of raisins and green raisins, apricots, prunes, and figs!

I also love learning the British terms for foods we call differently here in the US….. muscavado sugars are simply called brown sugars here (light or dark), and sultanas are referred to here as “green raisins” … as opposed to “regular” raisins which are made from purple grapes. I love knowing these new (to me) words.

PipeTobacco