COOKBOOKS GALORE

 The usual few bananas left going brown, but wanted a different loaf to make. This recipe comes from ´The Baker’s Daughter’ by Louise Johncox, a recipe book which also tells stories about the family bakery. Preheat oven 180C/gas4. Grease and line a 900g loaf tin. You need: 100g dark chocolate, 110g margarine, 125g caster sugar, 2 beaten eggs, 125g sr flour, 11/2tbspn cocoa, 1 level tspn baking powder and 2 medium bananas mashed, chocolate to melt for the top (opt) Melt chocolate in microwave or in a bowl over a pan of simmering water, Cream margarine and sugar. Add beaten eggs gradually. Sift flour, cocoa and baking powder together and add to the mixture. Beat together with a wooden spoon. Pour into the tin and bake for 40-50mins. Let cake cool in the tin for 10 mins then turn onto a wire rack. I’ve melted milk chocolate and swirled it over the top.  It’s a very moist cake and really delicious. 

There's nothing like chocolate for cheering a day up. I was given a large bar for Easter, so wanted to stretch it out by using it in a cake. I love loaf cakes, and this is one of my favourites. It uses courgettes as well as chocolate, and I just happened to have one medium sized one that needed using up. It also uses soft brown sugar, a bonus as I've no more caster sugar! You need: 2 eggs, 80ml honey, 120ml sunflower oil, 100g soft light brown sugar, 2 tspn vanilla exctract, 1/2 tspn baking powder and 1/2 tspn bicarb, 1 heaped tspn coffee granules, 45g cocoa powder, 210g plain flour, 2 small courgettes or 1 medium grated, and 200g dark chocolate cut into chunks and divided into  2 x100g portions Preheat oven 170C/gas4           Grease and line a 200g loaf tin Whisk together the eggs, honey, oil, sugar and vanilla. Sift together in another bowl the flour, bicarb, baking powder, coffee and cocoa: mix together then gently add to the egg mixture. Fold in the courgettes and ha

There are lots of blueberries around at the moment and I love them. I've been eating some every morning with my cereal, but decided I wanted to make a cake. This is one of our favourite loaf cakes, but with a streusel topping. The original recipe was from an American website so has been converted from cups - hence the odd amounts. I've tweaked the recipe because it had way too much sugar in the cake. I like making cakes with oil - makes me think they're healthier! So, preheat oven 190C/gas5 Grease a 900g loaf tin. Put 80g granulated sugar in a bowl with 60ml sunflower oil. Mix together with an electric mixer, then add 1 egg, 250ml milk and 1 tspn vanilla extract and beat till smooth and creamy. Fold in 280g plain flour which has been sieved with 3 tspns baking powder. Mix to a batter without lumps.  Put 220g blueberries in a bowl and add 1 tbspn flour and coat the berries with it. Then gently fold the blueberries into the batter. Pour into the tin and smo

This cake is another result of a baking cupboard sort out. I had some brazils, apricots and dates to use up, but not enough of each to use on their own. I love loaf cakes, and just took out the mixed dried fruit from the recipe I usually use in this cake, and added my store cupboard finds. 140g soft margarine 2 large eggs 250g self raising flour 60ml milk 140g caster sugar – reserve 1-2tbspn for cake topping 125g each of dried apricots and pitted dates - each piece cut into 3 65g chopped brazil nuts 1 level tspn mixed spice    Preheat oven 150C/Gas 2  Grease and line a 900g loaf tin.   Cream margarine and sugar together until soft and fluffy. Gradually add the eggs to the mixture a little at a time and one by one, mixing well .  Put the fruit and nuts into a bowl and add 2 or 3 tbspn of the flour to coat the fruit and nuts. Sieve the rest of the flour and the mixed spice into the cake mixture.  Fold the fruit and nuts into the mixture as well. Add the milk and gently mi

I found hazelnuts on offer in my local deli, so decided to use them in a loaf cake. I love loaf cakes as they seem to keep longer than other cakes, and are so easy to cut. For this one you need: 120g hazelnuts, 60g soft butter, 70g light brown sugar, 1 tspn vanilla extract, 1 egg, 225g flour and 2 tspn baking powder, 1/2 tspn cinnamon, pinch of salt, 80g of dark chocolate, chopped, 80ml Nutella or similar spread and 250ml of buttermilk Preheat oven 180C                    Grease and base line a 900g loaf tin Spread hazelnuts over a baking tray and put in oven for 8-10 mins till golden. Put into a clean tea towel to rub off skins. Chop roughly. Beat the butter, sugar and vanilla together with an electric mixer till light and creamy. Add the egg and buttermilk and beat again. Sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt together then add to the batter. Fold in, then add the chocolate and 80g of the chopped hazelnuts. Mix well. Put half of the mixture into the loaf tin t

Another recipe for a loaf cake, my favourite type of cake. This time it has maple syrup, pecans and lemon zest in it. Easy to make using the rubbing in method. Preheat oven 170C/gas3   Grease and line the bottom of a 900g loaf tin. Sift 350g plain flour and 1 tspn baking powder together, then rub in 175g butter or margarine. Stir in 75g caster sugar and 125g chopped pecan nuts. In another bowl, beat 3 eggs with 1 tbspn milk and add zest of a lemon. Stir in 5 tbspn maple syrup and mix well. Add the flour mixture to the egg one and mix well, but don't over mix. Should be a nice dropping consistency. Spoon into the tin and bake for about 50 mins. till golden and risen. Leave to cool in tin for about 10 mins then turn onto a wire rack. Make some lemon icing by beating 1 tbspn lemon juice into 75g icing sugar. Drizzle the icing over the cooled cake. The texture was quite dense, but I suppose the rubbing in method doesn't make for a fine crumb. The maple taste w

I try and buy seasonally, but I have to admit to having a passion for blueberries. They were on offer last week in my usual supermarket, so had to buy some. I know they don't taste anything like the ones I grow in my pot in the garden, and that they'd been shipped half way round the world, but I still love them.  I've been eating some every morning with my porridge, but decided I wanted to make a cake. This is one of our favourite loaf cakes, but with a streusel topping. The original recipe was from an American website so has been converted from cups - hence the odd amounts. I've tweaked the recipe because it had way too much sugar in the cake. I like making cakes with oil - makes me think they're healthier! So, preheat oven 190C/gas5 Grease a 900g loaf tin. Put 80g granulated sugar in a bowl with 60ml sunflower oil. Mix together with an electric mixer, then add 1 egg, 250ml milk and 1 tspn vanilla extract and beat till smooth and creamy. Fold in 280

Another one of my favourite loaf cake recipes. This one uses stem ginger to give a better flavour than ground ginger. I've found a similar shop to the much missed [by me anyway] Julian Graves stores, so I stocked up on walnuts and dried fruit, including apricots. This such a quick loaf to make, and you can chose whether to ice it or not. I think the recipe is a WI one, as my mil gave it to me, and she usually used their recipes. Preheat oven 180C/gas4 and grease and line a 900g loaf tin. In a large bowl put 115g wholemeal flour, 115g plain flour, 11/2tspns baking powder, 150g soft brown sugar, 115g soft butter, pinch salt, 2 beaten eggs, zest of a lemon and 2 tbspns of milk - beat it all together with an electric hand mixer. Stir in 175g chopped dried apricots [the no soak ones] and add 3 pieces of stem ginger chopped finely together with 4 tbspns of the ginger syrup. Finely slice a 4th piece of ginger and keep for the top. Spoon mixture into the tin, level, then arrange the 4

This is my kind of cake - a nice simple apple loaf cake - just right for using up some apple windfalls which a friend gave me. Have been busy making chutney and trying apple butter [delicious]. I made some apple muffins and scones for my children to take, and this loaf for us. It's also nice as a dessert. You preheat oven 170C/gas3 and line a 900g loaf tin with some baking parchment. Using an electric mixer, beat 175g caster sugar and  175g butter together till nice and fluffy then add 3 eggs, one at a time. Add a tspn of vanilla extract and mix in. In another bowl mix 225g of plain flour together with a tspn of baking powder, a tspn of ginger and a tspn of cinnamon. Add this to the batter and fold in. Then add about 25ml milk to make a soft batter. Peel and core about 3 small apples - chop most of it into small pieces, but leave a few pieces to slice for the top of the loaf. Mix the apple pieces into the batter. Spoon the batter into the tin and arrange the slices along

I still have some pecans to use up from the bag I bought a while ago from the sadly- no- longer Julian Graves shop. I love making loaf cakes, so this is my variation on a recipe that had walnuts in it. Had a pot of local honey in the cupboard which needed using up, so added 1 tbspn to the cake mixture and also put 1 tbspn in the icing. 190g butter 190g caster sugar 190g plain flour 1 tspn baking powder 3 eggs 1 tspn vanilla essence 1 tbspn runny honey 60g chopped nuts - pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts Icing - icing sugar, lemon juice and 1 tbspn of honey - depends how thick you want your icing to be  as to how much icing sugar and lemon juice you use! Preheat oven 170C/gas 3 Grease a 900g loaf tin. Beat the butter and sugar together with an electric mixer till white and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, and beat well after each one. Fold in the flour gently, a bit at a time. Add the vanilla and 1 tbspn of honey, then mix in the chopped nuts by hand. Spoon into the tin

Yet another version of my favourite bakes -  loaf cakes. I like these cakes because they're quick and easy to make and keep well. 175g dried apricots 150ml orange juice 400g plain flour 175g caster sugar 100g raisins 1/1/2 tspns baking powder 1/2 tspn bicarb 1/2 tspn salt grated rind of 1 orange 1 egg, beaten 25g melted butter of margarine sugar of choice to sprinkle on top Preheat oven 180C/350F/gas4 Grease a 900g loaf tin Soak the apricots in the orange juice. Then put the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix together. Add the apricots and orange juice, butter, orange rind and the egg and mix it all together. The mixture is very stiff. Put it into the tin and bake for about an hour till it's golden and firm. I used golden caster sugar, and only 100g, as 175g seemed a lot. I sprinkled some golden granulated suagr over the mixture in the tin. Ready to eat with our afternoon cuppa! The recipe is adapted from a book I've had for ages but not used mu

We love teabreads and loafcakes, so I made this one to use up a couple of very ripe bananas. This recipe was given to me by my aunt many years ago, and it's delicious. I've changed it to metric. 225g sr flour 1/2 tspn grated nutmeg 100g margarine or butter[softened] 225g bananas [weighed without skins] 100g caster sugar 2 eggs 6 tbspn thick honey topping 2tbspn honey [warmed] crushed sugar lumps or nibbed sugar Preheat oven 180C/gas4/350F Grease a 900g [2lb] loaf tin and line base with greaseproof paper. Put flour and nutmeg in a bowl and rub in the marg. or butter till it looks like breadcrumbs. Mash the peeled bananas and stir into the flour with the sugar, eggs and honey. Beat it well until it's evenly mixed. Put into the loaf tin and bake for about 45 mins. Check that the top's not browning too much, or if it is, put foil on the top. Allow the loaf to cool then put onto a wire rack. When it's completely cool, brush the honey [which has be

If you read this blog, you'll know that we love teabreads. Wanted to try a new recipe, so found this one on the BBC Good Food site. You'll find it   here . I tweaked the spices and used some 'quatre epices' which is much like mixed spice in the UK. I found it rather sweet so maybe less sugar next time. I like the sliced apple on top; it gave the cooked teabread  an interesting look. We had a slice of it with a cuppa.