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My Mother's Recipes (Pt. 4)

Ratio cake and pudding (all-in-one sponge)

By J M HunterPublished 5 years ago 2 min read
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This recipe is part of a series of my late mother's amazing collection.

These recipes were never written down—rather passed down from my nanna to my mother, then consequently to my older sisters, and eventually, to me. I learned by standing in the kitchen and watching her work. When I was really little, I would be hoisted up onto the countertop by one of my big brothers and I would wait patiently for the bowls to lick. When I grew a bit, I'd stand on tiptoes and watch, wide-eyed, as my mother turned out cakes and pies and other culinary wonders. Sometimes she even let me "varnish" the pies.

My mother would make this as part of our tea on Sunday. She'd also make a minced beef and gravy and corned beef and potato pie, a steak and mushroom pie, a quiche, sausage rolls, home made bread and jam, fruit pie—either apple or apple and blackberry (if we'd been foraging for blackberries), several cakes—chocolate, Victoria sponge and fresh cream eclairs. If we were really lucky we would also be treated to her delicious melt-in-the-mouth Viennese tartlets—dotted with fresh raspberry jam and dusted in icing "snow."

Other favourites of my family included crisp, flaky, lightly spiced Eccles cakes—not a cake as such—but buttery puff pastry rounds, stuffed with spiced fruits and sprinkled with caramelised brown sugar. My brother's favourite was her squidgy custard tart—crisp short crust pastry baked with a rich egg custard and dusted with fragrant nutmeg.

We'd also have sandwiches—usually egg and tomato (or mayonnaise), canned red salmon with a little bit of vinegar and white pepper, boiled ham or cold cuts left over from the Sunday lunch. Oh yes! This was all served following a full Sunday roast at lunchtime!

And everything would be served in the formal dining room, with the table laid with the best linen, and nanna's best crockery taken down from the cabinet. The kettle would be ceremoniously boiled, and several cups of tea would accompany the feast.

Afterwards, everyone got a doggy bag of cakes and pies—to serve as suppers and afternoon tea throughout the week.

This recipe is nothing short of miraculous! It is an all-in-one sponge/pudding mix which relies on dry ingredient to egg ratios and allows you to adapt it to any amount or purpose.

I've used this recipe for sponge cakes and also for baked or steamed puddings, and I'll outline each version below.

It is easily memorised and can be remembered by the mnemonic 'four four two' like the famous football (soccer) line-up. So that's four ounces of fats, four ounces each of dry ingredients, and two eggs per cake mix. To make larger amounts, just remember that the fats, flours, and sugars should always be double that of the eggs (six, six, three or eight, eight, four, etc.)

Many recipes can be thrown together without measuring; however, baking cakes does not fall into this category. Always always measure your ingredients when baking for best results.

I use the six/six/three ratio for my eight inch sandwich tins, as I like a thicker sponge. The quantities below will make a six inch sponge cake or fill a dozen small cupcake cases.

This cake is suitable for vegetarians—although not for vegans due to the eggs, milk, and butter.

Ingredients

  • 4 ounces self-raising flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder (whatever size you bake)
  • 4 ounces caster sugar
  • 4 ounces soft butter or margerine
  • 2 medium eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
  • Jam and icing sugar to decorate

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 170 C (160 C fan) or equivalent.
  2. Add all the ingredients to a mixing bowl in the order above. Beat with an electric mixer for two minutes until thick and creamy.
  3. Divide between two sandwich cake tins (greased with butter and lined with baking paper).
  4. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until the sponge is springy and a cake skewer inserted comes out clean.
  5. Leave to cool for five minutes in the tin, then turn out onto a cooling rack to finish cooling. Sandwich with jam and dust with icing sugar for a classic Victoria sponge.

Variations

  • For a chocolate sponge, add one ounce sieved cocoa powder, two fluid ounces milk, and omit the vanilla. Sandwich with buttercream or chocolate hazelnut spread and top with melted chocolate.
  • For a steamed pudding, grease a one pint pudding basin. Squeeze in golden syrup or jam at the bottom—about two fluid ounces. Fill basin with the four/four/two mix, cover with a sheet of greased foil (fold a pleat in to allow for expansion), and tie a length of string around the lip of the basin. Steam for two hours. Serve with custard. You can also steam a chocolate version and serve with hot chocolate custard (add a medium bar of dark chocolate (grated or chopped) to hot custard and stir well.)
  • Chocolate sponge with a teaspoon of either orange or mint flavouring are delicious with orange or mint chocolate icings and decorations/sweets.

Cakes can be frozen while they are undecorated. Wrap in a double layer of baking paper, then foil and freeze until required.

recipe
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About the Creator

J M Hunter

Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B07QNBJZVZ

Twitter - https://twitter.com/JulieHunter15?lang=en-gb

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/lipstickandquills/

'The Adventures of Swampy the Slime Man' available to buy from Amazon now!

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