Chatback number 20

[greenishfing]

^^Thanks! When I was a child my mother cooked it in a coke fired aga. She just used to get the oven as low as possible and open both the rings to try and keep it low. The original recipe actually said put in a SLOW oven. I have had a Spanish cooker without a thermostat that ran on bottled gas and it was a pain, but made amazing Yorkshire puddings.

[Nicos]

Oh wow gf.....I'm drooling! That looks wonderful- thank you!

Frustratingly I don't have cherries but I could add chopped prunes instead do you think?

[Florence Fennel]

Good afternoon All Wet and windy here. Housework getting done. I'm making sausage rolls and cheese flan later. Have a good day

[greenishfing]

Oh wow gf.....I'm drooling! That looks wonderful- thank you!

Frustratingly I don't have cherries but I could add chopped prunes instead do you think?

Or apricots? Or just extra raisins and/or sultanas. It is a very forgiving recipe. I add extra cherries just because I love cherries. The brandy in mine gets swapped for any spirit to hand as well. When I didn't have ground almonds once I just blanched, skinned and zapped some whole ones. Let me know if it comes out okay.

[rary]

Has anyone made an Xmas cake this year? It"�s getting a bit late I know, and I don"�t have all the ingredients, but I sort of fancy making a small one this year. Anyone got a good/ fail safe recipe I could try???
otherwise it"�ll need to be a traditional French chocolate log. Not the same is it?

First off I have to tell you no I haven't made a Christmas cake this year, but my fail safe recipe for a Christmas cake is,
Put shoes on
If wet use waterproof jacket, otherwise wrap up well
Walk to local bakery, approximate time ten minutes
Select cake of choice, (if not available place order for choice)
Let cake stand till Christmas
Enjoy"�"�"�"�"�

[rary]

That looks like a great cake greenishfing, need to get OH to try that, only problem is the family don't eat fruit cake, so would finish up having to walk a lot to work it off

[greenishfing]

That looks like a great cake greenishfing, need to get OH to try that, only problem is the family don't eat fruit cake, so would finish up having to walk a lot to work it off

Thanks. The good thing about fruit cake is it keeps for months. I usually cut it in half and hide half away. This however doesn't work as my husband has inbuilt cake detecting radar. The bit in the photo is all that is left from this years first one. We usually are on the third by Xmas.

[Nicos]

Just popped back in for a quick sniff of that cake!!!

[Nicos]

I have dried apricots and prunes...and the brandy here is Calvados aka apple brandy cos this is a major apple growing aready yum.....hopefully tomorrow I can have a bash

[Nicos]

Forgot to ask!
What size of tin do you use?

just reread...6"

[greenishfing]

Forgot to ask!
What size of tin do you use?

just reread...6"

It just fits in a 6 inch tin, my sister uses a bigger one (7 or 8 inch). The only reason I 'm against prunes is I once made a Nigella Lawson fruit cake with lots of prunes in and it tasted horrible.....the birds ate it however.

[Nicos]

Oh-ok!
No prunes then!

[Snoop Puss]

^^Thanks! When I was a child my mother cooked it in a coke fired aga. She just used to get the oven as low as possible and open both the rings to try and keep it low. The original recipe actually said put in a SLOW oven. I have had a Spanish cooker without a thermostat that ran on bottled gas and it was a pain, but made amazing Yorkshire puddings.

Yes, Spanish gas ovens are terrible. When they're hot, they're very hot, and when they're not hot, they're not far off cold. My oven is a woodburning oven that's about a hundred years old. No rack and no point putting one in as the oven is very shallow, so everything gets cooked on the floor of the oven. The firebox is off to one side of the oven box, so that side is extremely hot. The flame then goes over the top of the oven box and then down the side, by which time there's no flame, just hot air, I imagine, and then underneath and out the flue, which starts below the oven. So very hot spots and cooler spots. But bread comes out OK, so long as I keep turning it round. Pizza comes out brilliantly, again so long as I turn it round at least once. And I do make small cakes like buns now. So nothing ventured, nothing gained. I even have cherries! I'll give this a go in a couple of weekends' time. It really looks lovely, GF.

[Bren In Pots]

Evening mostly fog or rain today so not a nice day at all,

I was bought up to using a coal aga then in my teens we moved into a modern house that had a gas cooker first Christmas me and Dad spent the morning sawing a Turkey in half to fit it in the gas oven not a pretty sight.

[Nicos]

Oh Lordy Bren...I can just imagine that!...enough to put you off your meat eh?

I have a 10 year old Ironheart Esse ... turns out it"�s what Hugh FW uses.... and we"�ve even had people seeing our gite photos who have asked about suppliers and fitting and running of it!
Always happy to help tbh

Sounds like ours is actually more controllable than the others mentioned here,