Baked or Bought?

The original recipe

I know that most of the recipes I have posted so far are for baked goodies. I guess because that is mostly what the recipe books I have are comprised of, and I choose not to buy baked goods in the supermarket, preferring to make my own probably at a fraction of the cost and better quality than those in the shops. And as well, my son or partner, my nieces and nephews, sisters and their husbands, friends, colleagues and other relatives like to eat home baked.

Whenever we have a morning tea at work, the home baked goods nearly always are eaten first and the bakery and shop bought goods, lie drying out on the plates long after everyone has returned to work.

One of my colleagues frequently bakes wonderful cakes and slices and brings them in for us to try. There is always huge demand for a sliver of some delicious Donna Hay or Marie Claire recipe on those days. What is the attraction? Is it because many of us do not take time out of our busy lives to indulge in a little bit of gratuitous baking to soothe our lives and those of our near and dear?

My Mum and Grandmothers all had baking days, I think Mum's was Friday, Then we would have biscuits and cakes ready for who may come to visit on the weekends, and some for school lunches the next week.

The recipe I have chosen to bake this week is a Ginger Fruit Cake. Though the instructions are a little vague to say the least, I guess that this is just a confirmation of the skills of our mothers and grandmothers, they would only need the list of ingredients to be able to whip up something delicious. I have included a picture of the original from my mother's book, given to her by her Mum. Just the ingredients!! SO I am really flying by the seat of my pants here as far as method and baking times are concerned.

At the moment the cake is in the oven and smells delicious, spicy scents wafting about the house at 8.30am on a lazy Sunday. We are off out later and hope to take a slice or two of this Ginger Fruit Cake with us.

The Recipe

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon vinegar (i used cider vinegar)
• 1 dessertspoon ground ginnger
• 1 teaspoon mixed spice
• 1/2 cup golden syrup
• 1 cup milk
• teaspoon bicarb soda
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 3 cups plain flour
• a few sultanas if liked (I used 1/2 cup, but would probably use 1 cup next time)

The Ginger Fruit Cake - me thinks it needs more fruit!

Method:  (This seemed to work OK) Pure guess work from here on :)

1. Beat butter and sugar and together.
2. Add vinegar and beat till creamy
3. Sift all dry ingredients together.
4. Mix milk and Golden Syrup together
5. Add 1/3 dry ingredients to butter mixture and 1/3 liquids
6. Mix thoroughly.
7. Continue in this way till all dry and wet ingredients well mixed.
8. Add sultanas mix in well.
9. Pour mixture into a greased and lined 9" cake pan
10. Bake for approx 30-40 mins in a fan-forced oven at 200C
11. Test cake, when cooked remove from oven and allow to cool in tin for about 5 mins.
12. Turn onto a rack to cool.

Enjoy your baking adventures!

P.S. This cake kept really well, and still edible after more than a week.

The Recipe Books

Being retired farmers, my Nanna and Poppa still grew fruits and vegetables for their own consumption and a large patch in the backyard always had something growing. Pie melons, Choko, Pawpaws, Cape Gooseberries and even a few Macadamia trees are some of the things I remember.

Nanna's and Grandma's cookbooks both reflect the fact that they had produce to spare and there are a quite a few recipes using pumpkin, choko, mangoes, tomatoes and other vegetables that were grown either on the farm or in the home garden.

It is interesting to browse through these cookbooks and see that most of the recipes are for baked goods and desserts. Biscuits, pies, tarts, puddings and cakes are what they mostly wrote in their cookbooks, Mum's book too is mostly composed of these.

You can also see the sharing and networking that went on then too. Many of the recipes have the names of people who shared their favourites written beside them. One thing though, I have noticed my Grandmothers both referred to their "Friends and acquaintances" using their Title and Surname in many cases, and when it was a relative or very close friend then they would use the more familiar First Name and/or Surname.

To follow the tradition, I like to do a bit of cooking with my grand-daughter when she comes to stay and many of the things we make are not written down. Muesli, fruit kebabs, scrambled eggs (her other Grandma taught her to cook scrambled eggs) toasted sandwiches, fancy drinks, pancakes and all manner of biscuits are some of the things we have managed, and only two weeks ago she was making fried rice under instruction from her Grandfather. I could hear them in the kitchen, with him teaching her how to crack eggs so you don't get the shells in the bowl. (Most difficult to get out and who can't stand the crunch as you find a piece of missed shell in your food! )

Here are the instructions for Fruit kebabs. This recipe is for my GD's Cookbook (probably it will take the form of an interactive DVD - who knows?)

Fruit Kebabs

These are easy to make with children. I used the long bamboo skewers and cut off the sharp point and then cut them in half. These were for a Teddy Bears' picnic and were extremely popular.

Ingredients:

Seasonal fruit - make sure it is all sweet and ripe

• pineapple (half a large ripe one)
• kiwi fruit (Chinese gooseberry) 4-6
• strawberries 250 g punnet of fairly large fruit 12 - 15
• rockmelon (Cantaloupe) (half a large one)

Other firm fruits can be used if desired.

Method:

1. Wash and cut strawberries into halves lengthways
2. Peel kiwi fruit, cut into eight pieces
3. Peel pineapple and cut length ways into pieces about 2-3 cms thick. Then cut into chunks
4. Peel and de-seed the rockmelon and cut into chunks about the same as the pineapple.
5. Place all prepared fruit into separate bowls
6. Thread each skewer with one of each fruit. Or devise your own patterns.
7. Continue till all the fruits are used up.
8. Store in refrigerator until needed.

If desired you can roll them in coconut or chopped nuts and serve them with a vanilla yoghurt BUT they are just nice on their own!

Enjoy!