Too Many Recipes! 4. Apricot Bran Loaf

This is the fourth in a series in which I will endeavour to cook every recipe (one each week) from a recipe book I started compiling 27 years ago when I was 15 years old.  You will find all the background for this courageous and calorie laden endeavour right here

After our rather sugar laden past few weeks, this cake came as a bit of dietary relief.  It is the sort of recipe that I generally look for - something with a bit of fruit in it so that I can pretend that it is healthy and not feel so bad if I eat a little too much.  And this one has bran too so it has to be kind of a healthy option. Yes?  It has a nice bit of sweetness to it without being loaded with sugar, thanks to the apricots. This is not the recipe though, to cook up if you're looking for indulgence - unless you are on a really, really strict diet and this cake actually looks like an indulgence.  If that's the case, then go for it and enjoy.  

It kind of made me think of ploughman's lunches and mugs of ale taken by the fire whilst watching a bit of Morris Dancing.  Can't say exactly why but there you have it.  Perhaps that should be a clue for this week's music link.  Well, it wasn't going to be but here you go anyway - a bit of Morris Dancing from Oxford and I have to say that it does kind of capture the mood of this cake.  I can well imagine being in the street and watching this, then popping in to a local tea shop for a cup of tea and a slab of Apricot Bran Loaf.  The music link I intended to put up was the song I was singing to myself while I was baking and that, dear reader, is this one from They Might Be Giants.  I love this song.  I love They Might Be Giants.  I love that my children also like their music and so we all get to enjoy it together.

But I digress.  Choose your link wisely, in a different tab of course, so you can read and listen at the same time and we shall proceed.

Apricot Bran Loaf

Ingredients:

120 g dried apricots

1tsp bi-carb soda

1 cup boiling water

60 g butter

1/2 cup caster sugar

1 egg

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1 1/2 cups self-raising flour

1 1/2 cups bran  (I used oat bran as I couldn't find wheat bran when I went shopping)

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celcius (375 degrees Fahrenheit) and grease an 8" x 4" (20 x 10cm) loaf tin, lining the base with grease proof paper.  A little aside here, if you read last week's recipe, you may recall that I had a bit of a flashback about my mum re-using brown paper bags to line her cake tins so this week I tried it and have to report that, not only was it  extremely satisfying but it worked a treat as you will see in the above photo.  

Chop the apricots up into small-ish pieces, depending on how chunky you want your cake to be and put to soak in a small bowl with the bi-carb soda and boiling water for half an hour.  

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy then beat in the egg.  Add walnuts, stir in apricots and the remaining liquid, the sifted flour and bran.  Mix well to produce a fairly stiff cake mixture.  Tip it all into your loaf tin and bake for around 40-45 minutes.  

Leave in the tin for 5 minutes or so before putting it on to a rack to cool.  Slice off chunks and spread with butter. (We didn't bother with the butter.  It was good enough without but you could if you wanted to.)

What's to like about this cake:  

• It's a really easy, fuss-free recipe.  Just remember to soak the apricots beforehand.
• A good cake to have on hand for a fairly healthy bit of morning or afternoon tea.

What's not to like:

• It was a bit on the crumbly side once it cooled down completely.  Perhaps it just needs to be eaten while it's still a bit warm.

This moment - fresh as a daisy

(this moment) - a beautiful idea from Amanda Blake-Soule at soulemama.  A Friday ritual.  A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week.  A simple, special, extraordinary moment.  A moment I want to pause, savour and remember.

Too Many Recipes! 3. Raspberry Chocolate Cake

This is the third in a series in which I will endeavour to cook every recipe (one each week) from a recipe book I started compiling 27 years ago when I was 15 years old.  You will find all the background for this courageous and calorie laden endeavour right here

The original name of this cake in my recipe book is a Basic Chocolate Cake.  I feel it deserves so much more so I have taken the liberty of re-naming it.  Heck!  It's my book.  I get to do what I want!  Henceforth and forever more, let this cake be known as The Raspberry Chocolate Cake.  It is, indeed, basic to put together, which is a blessing for when we don't have much time and/or an almost walking 13 month old is hanging on to our leg, but this cake was so very good it disappeared very quickly indeed.  I actually had to make a second one because the first one was eaten before I had time to ice it, let alone photograph it.  And that was also a blessing because.....well, it was a double blessing actually because it meant that we got to enjoy it all over again and also because it gave me a sense of what the cake was like so I had an idea of how to embellish it as the recipe gave no instructions for icing or decoration.
And now to the music to go with this fine cake.  I have to confess I actually wasn't thinking of, or listening to music this time around.  I thought about linking to My Friend The Chocolate Cake (is that not a wonderful name for a band?) but that is just way too obvious....although I did just link to it didn't I?  Instead, I thought that today I would lead you to this song by an American folk singer, Elizabeth Mitchell.  We listen to a fair bit of her music here but this song in particular is one of my favourites and always lifts my mood.  So now you have a choice.  As always, I will give you a moment to choose your link and settle in with your music, remembering of course, to open the link in a different tab so you can read and listen at the same time......................................................   and, away we go.

Raspberry Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:
125 g butter
3/4 cup caster sugar
2 eggs
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tbsp raspberry jam
1tbsp boiling water
1 1/2 cups self-raising flour (or substitute with plain flour and 3 tsp baking powder)
1/2 cup milk


Method:
Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius / 375 degrees Fahrenheit, adjusting accordingly if you have a fan-forced oven which, I may have mentioned before, I do not.
Grease a lamington tin or 2 x 8" (20cm) sandwich tins and line the base with baking paper if you feel so inclined, which I usually do because even though I grease cake tins well, cakes always seem to stick to the base if I don't line them with paper.  I have just, in this very moment, had a flashback of Mum cutting cake tin linings from brown paper bags which was a good way of recycling them and saved buying baking paper.  That is what I was brought up with but had forgotten all about it until now.  Gosh, it's a long time since I've done that.  Anyway, I digress.  Sorry about that. So back to the making of this cake.....


In a small bowl, mix the cocoa powder, raspberry jam and boiling water to a smooth paste and leave to cool.
Meanwhile, cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl.  Add eggs one at a time, beating well as you add each one.  Add the chocolate mixture and stir that in. 
Now sift the flour at least three times - yes, three.  And yes it does seem to make a difference so is worth doing.  Add this to the cake mixture alternately with the milk and you will have a lovely light cake mix that tastes just delicious.  However, resist the temptation to eat it all raw and pour it into your prepared cake tin/s.  Bake for around 30-40 minutes, keeping an eye on it for the last bit.  Allow to cool, then either eat or decorate it.
I cut the cake into two layers and spread some raspberry jam and whipped cream, then topped it off with some basic chocolate icing and chopped up strawberries, lightly dusted with sifted icing sugar.  I had planned to pile it with fresh raspberries since they are coming into season now but at $11.50 a punnet I was a little (!!!) put off and opted for strawberries instead which did a very decent job.

What's to like about this cake?  Everything.  Easy to make and even easier to eat.
What's not to like?  Honestly cannot think of a thing unless one is on a diet.