The recipe – wow, there are so many to choose from! I ended up going with one from my mum’s Good Housekeeping magazine – November 2007 – Christmas Cake with a Hint of Dark Chocolate

Ingredients

• 250g sultanas
• 250g raisins
• 125g Agen prunes, chopped
• 125g ready to eat Apricots, chopped
• 150ml Dark Rum + 1 tablespoon for feeding the cake (we used original Antiguan rum from our honeymoon)
• Zest and juice of 1 orange
• 175g dark muscavado sugar
• 175g softened butter
• 4 medium eggs
• 125g self-raising flour
• 1 teaspoon mixed spice
• 1/2 level teaspoon cinnamon
• 75g Green & Black’s Dark 85% chocolate, finely grated
• 100g lightly toasted flaked almonds

And also:

• Greaseproof paper
• Clingfilm
• Tinfoil
• Brown paper
• Cotton
• 8″ tin

Start the night before you will make the cake

1. Put the rum and orange juice & zest in a large pan
2. Add the dried fruit and bring to the boil, then turn off the heat, cover and leave to soak overnight

The next day

1. Preheat the oven to 150 °c (130 °c fan)
2. Grease and double line the baking tin with greaseproof paper, allow it to stand proud at the top
3. In a large mixing bowl cream together the butter and sugar until light & fluffy – I used an electric hand mixer for about 5 minutes
4. Add the eggs one at a time, making sure the mixture doesn’t curdle (if it does add a little of the flour)
5. Gently fold in the flour, mixed spice & cinnamon
6. Next, fold in the chocolate and almond flakes
7. Lastly add the fruit and carefully mix through

Pour the mixture into the tin, taking care not to catch & pull the greaseproof paper off the sides of the tin
Level the surface of the cake

Wrap 2 layers of brown paper around the outside of the tin leaving a good inch above the top of the tin. Use the cotton to secure this.

Pop in the oven for 3 to 31/2 hours. Use a skewer to make sure the centre is cooked through.

Once cooked leave in the tin for 10 minutes, then take the cake out (leaving it in the greaseproof) and let it cool on a cake rack.

Once cold, wrap in clingfilm and then tinfoil and pop it in an airtight container.

After 2 weeks add the tablespoon of rum & re-wrap the cake. It will last for up to 3 months.

I made the brownies yesterday & apart from them needing some chunky texture next time, they came out just as I had hoped.

I also bought a brand new silicone baking tin – its very flexible and I was slightly worried that when I picked it up full of runny mixture it would invert & land on the kitchen floor – but I was careful with my handling & it did the job very well indeed.

Recipe – Care of Trainee Domestic Goddess – link as above

Ingredients (for 16 brownies)

• 4 eggs
• 5oz caster sugar
• 12oz of various chocolate – dark & milk
• 2.5 oz unsalted butter
• 4 oz plain flour
• 2 tsp cocoa
• 290ml Guinness
• icing sugar

How to Do It

1. Preheat oven to 190oc and line 8 inch square baking pan with baking parchment
2. Combine eggs and sugar. On a medium heat melt chocolate and butter until smooth. Allow to cool for about 3 mins.
3. Beat chocolate mix into egg mix. Sift in flour and cocoa. Beat until well combined.
4. Whisk in Guinness, then pour into pan. Bake for 25 min until a skewer comes out just abour clean. It will continue to cook slightly after being taken out of oven.
5. Cool on rack, then dust in icing sugar and cut into 16 squares.

In the pan we have some colourful carrot, onion, celery & pepper…

Throw in some lentils, stock & a few more bits & bob and after 20 mins add an egg or two…

Served with pita bread (as we didn’t have naans) & some yoghurt with cucumber.

It turned out ok, I’d like to try it again but remember to wash & drain the lentils & maybe cook them until they are a bit softer…