I came upon this recipe in an old cookery book and did not think that it could possibly work, so I gave it a try. Incredibly, it works, give it a go if you like a light coconut sponge, it is delicious.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup self-raising flour (5oz )
1/4 cup margarine (2oz )
1 cup white sugar (8oz )
2 cups milk (1 pint )
1 cup desiccated coconut (3oz )
4 eggs
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 tsp baking powder
Method:
Put all the ingredients into a blender and mix well. Pour it all into a 10 inch pie dish and bake it for an hour at 180c.
When it is cooked, there will be pastry on the bottom, custard in the middle and a light coconut sponge on the top, Impossible.
Queen of puddings
Now a recipe for a delicious pudding, cooked the traditional way. This is a recession friendly dessert, cheap and easy to make, a beautiful baked custard topped with jam and soft chewy meringue.
Ingredients:
600ml/1pt milk
25g/1oz butter
50g/2oz sugar
Rind of 1 lemon
2 large eggs (separated )
125g/4oz breadcrumbs
Topping
2 tablespoons raspberry jam
Meringue
Three egg whites
Pinch of salt
125g/4oz caster sugar
Method:
Preheat oven to 150°C. Grease a casserole or Pyrex dish.
Put the milk, butter, sugar, and lemon rind into a saucepan and gently heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar is dissolved. Allow to cool.
Beat the egg yolks and pour the heated milk on to them. Put the breadcrumbs into the prepared dish and pour over the liquid.
Bake for about 30 to 40 minutes until mixture is ‘set’ and golden in colour. Remove from oven.
Meanwhile, beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until dry looking in appearance. Add the caster sugar and beat until shiny.
Spread the jam over the base then pile on the meringue, return to the oven until ‘set’ and golden brown.
Serve while hot.
Diabetic Christmas cake
I got an email from Kathleen Killeen requesting a recipe for a diabetic Christmas cake, so here you are Kathleen, hope that it works well for you and thanks for your kind words.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups sultanas
1/2 cup raisins
2 tablespoons brandy
1 tablespoon water
1 cup sieved pumpkin puree (no lumps )
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup apple juice concentrate
1/2 cup skim milk or 1/2 cup low-fat milk
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon mixed spice
1 cup self-raising flour
1 cup wholemeal self-raising flour
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
Method:
Mix the sultanas, raisins, brandy and water, and then soak overnight.
Mix sieved pumpkin, eggs, apple concentrate and milk.
Add the soaked fruit, nuts and spices, then sifted flour and bicarbonate of soda. Return bran left in sieve to flour mixture. Mix well with wooden spoon.
Spoon into a lightly greased 20cm cake tin.
Bake for 10 minutes at 200C, then turn down the heat and bake at 180C until cooked through and browned. (Approx 1-1/4 hours ).
Using the apple concentrate gives the sweetness to this cake.
If you have any cooking queries, drop me a line at [email protected] and I will do my best to answer them
