Tag: sugar

Mary Berry’s mincemeat bread and butter pudding

Goodtoknow TV

Free & easy recipe video: Watch new how-to recipe videos with goodtoknow and Woman’s Weekly see all videos >

This comfort food pudding is wonderful at any time of the year – not just at Christmas!

That’s goodtoknow

It is essential to make this in a shallow dish so that you get maximum crunchy top. It rises like a souffle, so serve it at once straight from the oven.

Ingredients

50g (2 oz) ready-to-eat dried apricots
2 tbsp brandy or rum
12 thin slices white bread, buttered
1 x 450g (1lb) jar luxury mincemeat
50g (2 oz) caster sugar
3 large eggs
300ml (½ pint) double cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
150ml (¼ pint) milk
1 tbsp demerara sugar

Method

Well-butter a 28cm (11in) fairly shallow round china ovenproof dish. Preheat the oven to 180ºC/Fan 160ºC/Gas Mark 4.
Snip the apricots into smallish pieces and soak in the brandy or rum whilst making the pudding.
Make sandwiches of the bread using the mincemeat, but don’t fill right to the edges because these are trimmed off. Cut off the crusts and cut each sandwich diagonally into four. Arrange the sandwich triangles across the dish, slightly overlapping.
Beat together the caster sugar, eggs, cream and vanilla extract. Stir in the milk.
Scatter the apricots over the bread. Gradually pour over the cream mixture, making sure all the bread is coated. If you have time, leave the pudding to stand for 30-60 minutes (to allow the bread to absorb the liquid, so it becomes light and crisp during cooking). If you have no time, don’t worry – you can still bake it straightaway.
Sprinkle the demerara sugar over the top of the pudding, and bake in the preheated oven for about 40 minutes until well-risen, crisp and golden. Serve warm with creme fraiche or cream.

Top tip: It is essential to make this in a shallow dish so that you get maximum crunchy top. It rises like a souffle, so serve it at once straight from the oven.Mary Berry’s Christmas Collection is available from Amazon, RRP £16.99.Win Mary Berry cook books

Cooked this? Upload a picture to our Facebook page

Nutritional information

Guideline Daily Amount for 2,000 calories per day are: 70g fat, 20g saturated fat, 90g sugar, 6g salt.

Loved this recipe? Try these too!

Today’s poll

What’s your budget to spend on food and drink for Christmas this year?

£151+ 27%
£101-£150 16%
£71-£100 12%
£51-£70 10%
£31-£50 9%
Less than £30 10%
I don’t know yet 5%
I’m not setting a budget 11%

Thanks, your vote has been counted!

We’d like to let you know that this site uses cookies. Without them you may find this site does not work properly and many features may be unavailable. More information on what cookies are and the types of cookies we use can be found here

Victoria sandwich

Goodtoknow TV

Free & easy recipe video: Watch new how-to recipe videos with goodtoknow and Woman’s Weekly see all videos >

Isabella Beeton is one of the most famous cookery writers in British history and this is the ultimate Victoria sponge cake recipe.

Serves: 5-6
Prep time: 35 mins

(including decorating time)
Cooking time: 20 mins

(plus cooling time)
Total time: 55 mins
Skill level: Easy peasy
Costs: Cheap as chips

Child friendly
Editor’s pick
Make in advance

That’s goodtoknow

Top tip: ‘A properly cooked sponge cake should be firm in the middle and have slightly shrunk away from the sides of the tin. It should also spring back when you touch it.’

Cake expert, Eric Lanlard

Ingredients

4 eggs
Their weight in pounded sugar, butter and flour
¼ tsp salt
A layer of any kind of jam or marmalade

Method

Beat the butter to a cream and dredge in the flour and pounded sugar. Stir these ingredients well together, and add the eggs, which should be previously thoroughly whisked.
When the mixture has been well beaten for about 10 mins, butter a Yorkshire-pudding tin, pour in the batter, and bake it in a moderate oven for 20 mins.
Let it cool, spread one half of the cake with a layer of nice preserve, place over it the other half of the cake, press the pieces slightly together, and then cut it into long finger-pieces. Pile them in cross bars on a glass dish, and serve.

Recipe taken from Mrs. Beeton’s Cookery and Household Management, Isabella Beeton [1874] London.

Mrs Beeton’s Cookery and Household Management is now published by Weidenfeld and Nicolson, a division of the Orion Publishing Group.

Mrs Beeton is a registered trademark.

www.britegg.co.uk

By British Lion Eggs

Cooked this? Upload a picture to our Facebook page

Nutritional information

Guideline Daily Amount for 2,000 calories per day are: 70g fat, 20g saturated fat, 90g sugar, 6g salt.

Loved this recipe? Try these too!

Today’s poll

Are you planning on making food gifts for Christmas this year?

Thanks, your vote has been counted!

Rosemary Shrager’s Victoria sponge cake

Goodtoknow TV

Free & easy recipe video: Watch new how-to recipe videos with goodtoknow and Woman’s Weekly see all videos >

Rosemary Shrager makes this classic British cake recipe look effortless with an easy to follow step-by-step guide – so treat the family to this freshly baked cake next time you have an hour to spare.

Makes: 1
Prep time: 30 mins
Cooking time: 25 mins

Plus 10 minutes cooling time
Total time: 1 hr 5 mins
Skill level: Easy peasy
Costs: Mid-price

That’s goodtoknow

This Victoria sponge cake will keep up to a week in an airtight container or you can freeze the individual cake bases without the filling on them, to make the cake at a later date.

Ingredients

220g soft unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
220g caster sugar
4 large eggs
220g self-raising fl our
6 tbsp raspberry jam
1–2 tbsp icing sugar

Method

First prepare two 20cm sandwich tins by greasing them well with butter. Line the base of each tin with a circle of baking parchment cut to fit.
Put the soft butter and the sugar in a large mixing bowl. Beat the butter and sugar together until fluffy and almost white in colour. This is easiest with an electric beater but you can also use a wooden spoon.
Lightly whisk the eggs together in a small jug or bowl. Add to the butter mixture a little at a time, beating constantly.
Now sift in the flour in 3 or 4 additions. Fold in the flour each time with a large metal spoon. Be careful not to knock the air out or the cake will be heavy.
Divide the cake mixture equally between the 2 sandwich tins and level the surface. Place on the middle shelf of an oven preheated to 180°C/Gas Mark 4 and bake for 25–30 minutes, until well risen and golden brown.
To check if the cakes are done, press one gently in the middle with your finger – it should spring back up. If you’re still not sure, insert a skewer in the centre – if it comes out clean, the cake is cooked through.
Remove the cakes from the oven and leave in the tins for 10 minutes. Then run a knife around the edge of each one to loosen it if necessary. Turn out the cakes on to a wire rack. Leave to cool completely. Peel off the baking parchment and put one of the cakes on a serving plate.
Spread the raspberry jam over the top of the cake. Put the other cake on top of the jam. Then sift the icing sugar over the top through a fine sieve.

By Rosemary Shrager’s Absolutely Foolproof Classic Home Cooking, published by Hamlyn, £18.99.

Cooked this? Upload a picture to our Facebook page

Nutritional information

Guideline Daily Amount for 2,000 calories per day are: 70g fat, 20g saturated fat, 90g sugar, 6g salt.

Loved this recipe? Try these too!

Today’s poll

Are you planning on making food gifts for Christmas this year?

Thanks, your vote has been counted!