Baking at breakfast time

 

Here's two I made earlier!  Someone asked for the recipe, so yer tis as they say down in Devon.

As you can tell from the grubby page, this has been made dunnamany times over the 45+ years that I have owned this book!   I always make two at a time, as the first disappears magically :)

And here's what I am making in a moment:

Moist Date and Almond Cake – Ultimate Recipe You’ll Love   The link will take you to the page I have copied the recipe from, and shows nice photos etc.

Ingredients

Scale

• 1 ½ cups pitted dates, chopped
• 1 cup boiling water
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon almond extract
• 1 cup almond flour
• ½ cup sliced almonds for topping

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease a 9-inch round cake pan and line with parchment paper.

2. Place chopped dates in a bowl, pour boiling water over them, stir in baking soda, and let sit for 10 minutes.

3. In another bowl, whisk together all-purpose flour, baking powder, almond flour, and salt.

4. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.

5. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in vanilla and almond extracts.

6. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet mixture gently, avoiding overmixing.

7. Add the softened date mixture and fold until combined.

8. Spoon batter into the prepared cake pan and smooth the top.

9. Sprinkle sliced almonds on top of the batter.

10. Bake for 40–45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

11. Let the cake cool in the pan for 20 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Notes

For extra flavor, use brown sugar instead of white sugar.

This cake tastes even better the next day as the flavors deepen.

Serve with a dusting of powdered sugar or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Anyway, it turned out pretty well, and I took it down, still warm, to Ed and Sam, whose eyes lit up!

Still not feeling 100% - groggy head, so wonder if it is a sort of bug I've got but not the streaming nose sort.  Back to the sofa methinks with a book I've just treated myself to.  UPDATE: Been asleep on sofa most of afternoon.  No appetite.  Legs like chewed string and throat feeling sore.  Tummy upset too and thought I was going to be sick earlier.  A week on from my flight back and I really thought I had escaped having caught something on the plane.  Perhaps I have picked something up since, despite scrubbing hands after touching trolley handles etc. last week and yesterday.