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Victoria Sponge Cake
Victoria Sponge Cake, or Victoria Sandwich Cake, is a deceptively simple recipe. Only 4 ingredients. But as you know, the simpler a recipe, the more any flaws show, so the secret to a good Victoria Sponge is to practice, practice, and practice again, which gives you a good excuse to use up all the jam…
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Christmas Cake
Christmas cake is best made early in the year. This allows the maximum amount of time for the flavours to mature, as well as allowing the regular sousing with brandy, whisky, whiskey, or bourbon to deepen the flavours. Preheat oven to 325f / 160c 10oz butter 10oz brown sugar 1 tablespoon black treacle or molasses…
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Christmas Pudding
This is a 1968 recipe, based off many older recipes. I retrieved it from “Marguerite Pattens Every Day Cookbook“, which you can buy from Amazon.com second hand. See * substitutions below. 1lb raisins* 12oz sultanas* 12oz currants* 4oz chopped candied peel* 2oz blanched almonds* 2oz flour 3.5 tsp spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, etc) 8oz sugar…
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Substitutions
A note on some basic substitutions you can make to accommodate differences in what is available in stores. SUET Some stores in the US are now selling “beef tallow”. Beef tallow is rendered out suet. It also tends to be painfully expensive. Amazon.com is now selling Atora suet, which is cheaper than the tallow, but…
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Microwave Lemon Curd
Lemon curd is delicious, and you need to make some now! 1 cup granulated sugar 3 eggs (yolks and whites) 1 cup fresh lemon juice (about 4-5 lemons) zest of 3 lemons 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted In a large microwave-safe bowl, whisk together the sugar and eggs until smooth and thoroughly combined. Whisk in…
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Fresh custard recipe
It’s funny how you can get a mental block about something. In my case, it was custard. I always saw custard being made from Bird’s powder, and even when I moved to the USA I carried on buying it, albeit at a stupid price. Then, recently, I decided to check out how to make custard…
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Instant hot chocolate
Hot chocolate comes in two varieties: the ones worth drinking, and the ones that you can afford. With 4 simple ingredients you most likely already have in your pantry, you can make your own! 3 cups dried non-fat milk powder 2/3 cup sugar 2/3 cup baking cocoa 1/2 tsp salt Shake ingredients thoroughly to completely…
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Clotted Cream
Scones without clotted cream just aren’t the full shilling. That’s a fact. Unless you are in the British Commonwealth, however, getting your hands on clotted cream is somewhat of a challenge. Finding clotted cream at a reasonable price is even more so. HOW TO MAKE CLOTTED CREAM Just before you go to bed one night,…
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Treacle Scones
Now that you have made some delicious treacle – you have made some treacle, right? – it’s time to make something delicious with it. Scones. British scones are different from American scones. They are dryer than American scones, due to the way they are presented: British scones make up for the lack of fat in…
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Treacle
In British cooking, “treacle” is a general reference to sugar syrups. In theory, molasses and corn syrup could be considered “treacle”, but in realistic terms it refers to Lyle’s Golden Syrup or their Dark Treacle. One problem is that Lyle’s Golden Syrup is achingly expensive in the USA, and dark treacle is basically unheard of.…