Caramel and more Caramel!

Woo Hoo! I finally get to have a bit of time to "Play" and check out some more recipes. I am making a family favourite - great for lunchboxes if your family likes fruit cake. This one is from my Auntie Mel, and was shared with Mum and Grandma. It is called Caramel Cake, and is a boiled fruit cake. I often wondered as a child why it was called 'Caramel Cake' as it didn't seem particularly 'Caramel' in flavour. It seems that it was supposed to have a caramel icing, but since mum never made it with the icing we never knew. I have made it with the icing, but still prefer it without.

Talking about caramel, my Nanna to my mind, made the best caramel tarts!. I remember when Nanna made a caramel tart, the filling would be very thick and sticky, almost like Russian Caramels. I loved it! At home when she was making the tart there was always about a 1/2 to 1/4 cup of filling left over and she would put it in a clear glass tea cup and put into the dresser cupboard to cool.

When I was a teenager and just starting to get serious about baking, I tried to reproduce Nanna's caramel tart filling. Mum had the recipe but it was called Butterscotch tart, and I made it but it didn't have that sticky,almost toffee/caramel texture. What did I do wrong, I wondered? It wasn't until I tried a caramel tart filled with the contents of a tin of condensed milk that had been boiled in the tin, that I realised why Nanna's tarts were special - she had simply substituted the tinned milk for the fresh in the caramel filling recipe! I tried it and yes, I had that extra sweet, sticky caramel filling that I had missed all those years. I rarely make Nanna's version as it is sooooo sweet, but occasionally I will make it to fill small tart shells. Yummm!!

I can smell the Caramel Cake so it must be nearly ready. Smell is nearly always a good guide!

 I remember moving out to western Queensland into Education Department housing and the stove in the house had the markings rubbed off all the dials, for the cooktop and oven. I would have to hold my hand over the cooktop elements to see which one was turned on, and the oven was sheer guesswork. I had requested a new stove (for safety reasons) but things move slowly in the public service...  It was Show time and I had entered into the Baking Competition at the local show. Time to do the baking and I had to guess the oven temperatures. I think I put in about half a dozen entries, jam tarts, jam drops, orange cake and a couple I can't remember. The only way I could tell that things were nearly cooked was by smell and so I knew it was relatively safe to open the oven to check. Not the best if I was hoping to "take the cake' so to speak!

 I was up against stiff competition I had been warned that Mrs.... always won the baking competition so not to expect to get anywhere. Imagine my surprise when on Show Day I had won several prizes for my efforts - needless to say, the naysayers from my town were even more surprised than I was!

Caramel Cake

Ingredients:

• 250 gms butter or margarine
• 1 cup sugar
• 350 gms sultanas
• 1 cup water
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 egg
• 1cup plain flour
• 1 heaped cup Self Raising Flour

1. Boil together for 10 minutes the butter, sugar, sultanas, water and baking soda.
2. Allow to cool
3. Beat egg and then add beaten egg to the cooled mixture mixing in well.
4. Add sifted flours beating in well.
5. Pour into a baking paper lined 8 inch tin and bake for 1 1/4 hours in a moderate oven.
6. Cake is cooked if a skewer comes out clean when inserted.
7. Cool on a rack. This keeps well or can be frozen or iced with the Caramel Icing.

Caramel Icing

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

1. Mix all ingredients together in a saucepan.
2. Bioil together for 3 minutes, stirring well.
3. Remove from heat.
4. Beat well until thick enough to spread.

(You will have to work fairly quickly with the icing as it is similar to a glace icing and it will set quite hard, quite quickly.)