Fruit and nut Yule slice (2 colours)

The first Christmassy cake I made this year was the yule slice from the BBC Good Food website. I added a couple of ingredients and changed the quantities a bit and it was lovely. It's also dairy free.

There's a reason that it's sliced thinly in the photo on their website - this cake is deceptively filling because of all the nuts.

Ingredients
Nuts - 310 g (I used 150g walnuts, 100g hazelnuts, 60g blanched almonds)
Dried fruit - 680g (I used 200g dried apricots, 200g raisins, 100g stoned dates, 40g dried cranberries, 140g glace cherries, halved)
Plain flour - 100 g
Mixed spice - 2 tsp
Baking powder - 0.5 tsp
Dark muscovado sugar - 175 g
Eggs - 3
Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
Icing sugar for dusting

Methods
1) Mix together the fruit and nuts in a large bowl.

2) Sieve the flour, baking powder, sugar and mixed spice into the bowl and stir well.
3) Mix the eggs together with the vanilla essence in a bowl and add to the fruit and nut mixture. Stir until well combined and no dry ingredients are visible.
4) Line a loaf tin with grease-proof paper and pour in the mixture. Cover loosely with foil and bake at 150°C for 1.5 hours. Remove the foil and cook for a further 15 minutes. Leave to cool for 15 minutes before removing from the tin.
5) When cool, dust with icing sugar. Serves 16.

Blueberry cake with cheesecake frosting (1 colour)

This easy-to-make cake looks beautiful and tastes absolutely delicious.


Ingredients
Self-raising flour - 225 g
Baking powder - 1 tsp
Golden caster sugar - 175 g
Butter - 175 g, warmed to room temperature
Vanilla essence - 2 tsp
Eggs - 3 large
Soured Cream - 4 tbsp
Fresh or frozen (defrosted) blueberries - 190 g

For the frosting:
Cream cheese (philadelphia) - 200 g
Soured cream - 1 dessert spoon
Icing sugar - 100g
Fresh blueberries - 150 g

Methods
1) Sieve the dry ingredients into a large bowl. Add the butter and beat for a couple of minutes. Add the vanilla essence and eggs and mix well.
2) Beat in the soured cream and then gently stir in the blueberries.
3) Pour the mixture into a round 22cm loose-bottomed cake tin, spread it level and bake at 180°C for 50 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Cool the cake for a few minutes and then turn out onto a wire rack.
4) When the cake has cooled completely, mix together the cream cheese, soured cream and icing sugar in a bowl. Spread on top of the cake and scatter the blueberries on top. Keep the cake in the fridge, but remove an hour before serving. Serves 8.

Ginger cake (1 colour)

This is an old family favourite and I can't remember ever having a Christmas without it.

Ingredients
Golden syrup - 55 g
Black treacle - 170 g
Margarine - 115 g
Brown sugar - 55 g
Milk - 140 ml
Eggs - 2, beaten
Plain flour - 225 g
Bicarbonate of soda - 1 level tsp
Ground ginger - 2 level tsp
Mixed spice - 1 rounded tsp
Sultanas - 115 g

Methods
1) Heat the treacle, syrup, margarine and sugar in a small pan until the sugar and margarine have dissolved. Add the milk and leave to cool for a few minutes.
2) Meanwhile, sift the flour, ginger, mixed spice and bicarbonate of soda into a large bowl.
3) Add the eggs to the cooled treacle mixture and stir well. Pour into the bowl containing the dry ingredients and fold in the sultanas, mixing until everything is well combined. Bake in a greased tin for 1.25 - 1.5 hours at 150°C until a skewer comes out clean. Serves 12.

Orange and cranberry muffins (2 colours)

I've finally got round to buying a muffin tin - something I've been meaning to do for several weeks. There are so many muffins I'm looking forward to making - blueberry and lime, blueberry, lemon and raspberry, raspberry and nectarine...

Thanks to Mark at cookbook for this recipe. I used frozen cranberries (defrosted) for this as we can't buy fresh ones at any time of year other than Christmas. The recipe actually makes about 15 muffins (the holes in my tin are 7cm wide by 4cm deep), so I poured the excess mixture into a small pyrex dish to make one large muffin:

Ingredients
Cranberries - 140 g
Orange juice - 175 ml
Unsalted butter - 170 g, warmed to room temperature
Granulated sugar - 170 g
finely grated rind of 1.5 oranges
Eggs - 3 large
Plain flour - 300 g
Salt - pinch
Baking powder - 3 tsp
Milk - 175 ml

Methods
1) Place the cranberries in a small pan with the orange juice and heat gently until the juice just starts to simmer. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
2) Cream the butter with the sugar and grated orange rind. Beat the eggs into the butter. Sieve the plain flour, salt and baking powder and fold in to the mixture along with the milk. Fold in the cooled cranberries and orange juice to form a batter.
3) Grease a 12 cup muffin pan. Divide the batter into 12 cups and bake in the oven at 190°C for about 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Serves 12.

Pear and walnut cake (1 colour)

I made this with freshly bought pears, but next time I shall leave them to ripen for a day or two.

Ingredients
Plain flour - 250 g
Caster sugar - 180 g
Baking powder - 2 tsp
Pears - 3 ripened, peeled and coarsely chopped
Walnut pieces - 80 g
Eggs - 2, beaten
Milk - 100 ml
Butter - 125 g

Methods
1) Melt the butter in a pan and leave to cool. Preheat the oven to 180 °C and grease a 9 inch round baking tin.
2) Sift the flour, sugar and baking powder into a large mixing bowl. Add the pear and walnut pieces and mix well.
3) Place the milk and eggs together in a small bowl and whisk for a couple of minutes.
4) Add the milk and egg mixture together with the butter to the mixing bowl. Mix thoroughly.
5) Pour into the baking tin and cook for 45 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Serves 6-8.

Chocolate orange and almond cake (1 colour)

I've made this cake twice now. The first time we had no electric mixer so I stirred it as much as I could by hand. It came our rather flat and we ended up cutting it into brownie shaped pieces. Last night I mixed it in our new food processor and it came out much more 'cake-like'. Both were delicious.

I haven't got the hang of juicing and grating the rind of the same orange yet. Last time I juiced it first and then found it difficult to hold it to grate the rind. Last night I grated it first, but when I came to juice it the orange just fell apart. All suggestions welcome!

Ingredients
Orange - 1, juiced and rind finely grated
Raisins - 100g
Blanched almonds - 55g
Dark/plain chocolate (at least 50% cocoa solids) - 100g, broken up
Butter - 175g, chopped into pieces
Eggs - 4 large, beaten
Caster sugar - 100g
Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
Ground almonds - 55g
Plain flour - 55g
Baking powder - 1/2 tsp

Methods
1) Soak the raisins in the orange juice in a small bowl for 20 minutes.
2) Melt the butter and chocolate together in a small saucepan over a medium heat. Leave to cool.
3) Meanwhile, chop and lightly toast the blanched almonds in a frying pan, taking care not to burn.
4) Preheat the oven to 180°C. Beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla essence together in an electric mixer for 3 minutes until light and fluffy.
5) Stir in the cooled chocolate mixture.
6) Sift the flour, ground almonds and baking powder into a large bowl. Fold in the egg, sugar and chocolate mixture. Drain the raisins of any remaining orange juice and add to the mixture with the orange rind and chopped almonds. Stir well.
7) Spoon into a greased 8 inch round cake tin (the recipe says 10 inch, but I found it turned out a bit too thin) and bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack.
8) Dust with icing sugar and serve with a couple of strawberries on the side. Serves 6-8.