Sarah Venning’s recipes

Use Delia’s recipe for Rich Fruit Cake http://www.deliaonline.com/cookery-school/how-to/how-to-make-a-christmas-cake,17,AR.html but add 1 dessertspoon of grated fresh ginger: makes it more moist

1.5 cups white sugar
1.5 cups oil (sunflower)
4 eggs
2 cups plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
0.5tsp salt
0.5tsp nutmeg
0.5tsp cloves
4tsp cinnamon
3.5 cups grated carrot

Whizz all in blender. 1 hour at 180°C/350°F/Gas 4 or less. NB this rose far too much for me so I will halve the raising agents next time

Carrot cake icing
4oz cream cheese
1tsp vanilla
Icing sugar

3.5 large grated carrots
0.25lb (just over 100g) margarine or butter
4 tbspn honey
2oz/60g brown sugar
1tbsp molasses
2oz sesame seeds (or finely chopped pecans)
2oz carob flour
4oz wholewheat flour
2oz white flour
3tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp each mixed ground spice, nutmeg, ginger, cloves
2tsp cinnamon

 Sift all dry ingredients together. Heat the sugar, honey, margarine and molasses and add the melted mixture to the flour bit by bit. Mix the carrot and the eggs in a smaller bowl and add last with the vanilla. Cook at 180°C/350°F/Gas 4 for an hour. NB best substituting plain white flour for all the fancy stuff

Feeds 6. Takes 1 hour 20 minutes. This cake-like banana bread will stay moist for days. Serve thickly sliced with a dusting of icing sugar, or wrap in foil and warm gently in the oven before slicing and serving with fresh banana for breakfast.

125g butter
175g unrefined soft brown sugar
2 eggs
280g plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
Pinch of salt
125 ml milk
3 medium ripe bananas, mashed
1 tsp vanilla extract
75g walnuts, chopped I don’t like walnuts so have replaced these with both choc chips and chopped dates, both fab.

 Heat oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas 4. Lightly oil a 25cm x 11 cm loaf tin. Cream butter and sugar together in a processor until smooth. Add one egg and beat well, add the second and continue to beat well. Sift in half the flour with the bicarbonate of soda and salt and mix well. Mix in the milk then the remaining flour. Mash the bananas and then fold them into the mixture with the vanilla extract and walnuts. Then tip the mixture into the loaf tin and level the top with a spatula. Bake for around 1 hour [took 1h25 in our oven] until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean and not sticky. Cover the top with foil if it starts to brown too quickly.

Allow to cool in the tin for at least 20 mins before turning out.

250g butter
250g caster sugar
4 eggs
1tbsp orange zest
250g self-raising flour
90ml fresh orange juice

Icing
25ml orange juice
125g icing sugar

Cream butter and sugar until v. pale. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add zest. Add flour all at once and beat well. Slowly add the orange juice. Pour into 22cm cake tin and bake for 45 minutes or until skewer comes out clean. Cool in tin on wire rack then gently remove sides of tin. Let icing drip down sides of cake.

Preheat oven to 160°C/Gas 3. Grease and line 20cm tin.

170g soft butter
170g caster sugar
3 large eggs
170g self-raising flour
1tsp vanilla essence

Cream sugar, butter and vanilla essence. Beat in eggs one at a time. Fold in flour and any extras below. If mixture very stiff, add 1tbsp milk to slacken.

Bake for an hour until well risen and golden brown.

Good things to add:

• couple of peeled, finely sliced apples and 1tsp cinnamon
• a peeled, chopped pear and 2tsp ginger
• couple of sticks of forced rhubarb, chopped, and a handful of chopped dates
• substitute half the sugar with an equal weight of good quality jam or marmalade

Crumble: before cake goes into the oven, sprinkle over crumble topping made by rubbing together 55g each of sugar, flour, butter and 0.5tsp cinnamon

Honey and demerara: mix 2tbsp honey with 2 tbsp demerara. Spread over cake while still warm

Lemon or orange drizzle: mix juice of 2 lemons or 4 Seville oranges (use zest in cake mixture) with 110g caster sugar. Pierce top of cake while still warm and drizzle over.

500g mixed fruit
100g glace cherries, halved
Grated rind of one lemon
3tbsp brandy
175g butter
175g caster sugar
3 eggs, beaten
225g plain flour, sieved
1tsp mixed spice
750g marzipan
1 egg white, beaten

Preheat oven to 170°C/Gas 3. Combine mixed fruit, cherries, lemon rind and brandy and leave to stand. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs gradually, beating well after each addition. Add the flour, spice and fruits and stir until thoroughly mixed, adding a little milk if necessary to give dropping consistency. Spoon half the mixture into a greased and lined cake tin (18cm). Roll out third of marzipan to size of tin and place on top of cake mixture. Top with rest of mixture and smooth. Cook for 1 hour then reduce temperature to 150°C/Gas 2 for further 1-1.5 hours, covering cake with greaseproof paper if browns too quickly. Once out, cool in tin. Rest of marzipan: a third as disk then rest into 11 balls. Brush with egg white and grill until browned.

675g margarine
500g brown sugar
10 eggs
675g self-raising flour
450g currants
225g sultanas
170g mixed peel
3tsp nutmeg
2tbsp white wine
4tsp orange flower water

Preheat oven to 150°C/Gas 2. Cream the margarine, add sugar and beat thoroughly. Add eggs, then flour, and beat until mixture is pale. Lightly fold in other ingredients. Turn into paper lined tin (25cm) and bake for two hours.

170g self-raising flour
7g baking powder
110g wholemeal flour
110g unsalted butter
140g currants
255g sultanas
225g light brown sugar
2 large eggs
100ml milk
55g chopped almonds
Golden syrup to glaze

Preheat oven to 180°C/Gas 4. Grease and line a 20cm cake tin. Into a large mixing bowl, sift flour and baking powder; add wholemeal flour and mix, Rub in butter until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Add currants, sultanas, sugar and mix. Beat eggs and milk, and mix in well to the mixture. Pour into the cake tin. Sprinkle with chopped almonds and bake in centre of the oven for 45 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool slightly before turning it out. While still warm, brush with golden syrup.