Category Archives: Cakes

Quick Mix Cake

Quick Mix Cake

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This cake breaks all the rules when it comes to the mixing, but it’s never failed to turn out great. Use it as a base for all sorts of cakes, add a fruity sugar glaze, dried fruit and some spice, cocoa for a chocolate cake or  use it to make pineapple upside down cake!

Ingredients

1/2 cup plus 3 teaspoons of butter/margarine or vegetable shortening for a vegan version

2 cups of self raising flour with a pinch of salt added (or plain/all purpose flour with 3 teaspoons of baking powder)

1 cup of caster sugar

1/2 cup milk (use soy milk for a vegan cake)

2 eggs (or equivalent amount of vegan egg replacer)

vanilla essence

Method

Preheat your oven to 190 degrees C or 375 degrees F

Grease and flour a 22cm or 9″ tin if you want to double the mix and make two layers. If you only want one layer, use a 20cm or 8″ tin.

Sift your flour into a bowl.

Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until it’s light and creamy.

Pour into your tin and bake for 30 – 45 minutes or until it springs back when poked lightly in the centre.

Sugar Syrup

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A quick sugar syrup used to sweeten cold drinks or replace agave syrup. Different concentrations of sugar and water can be used for all sorts of recipes, some of which I’ve described below.

Ingredients

3 cups of liquid and one cup of sugar. Use this as a cake glaze. You can use fruit juice to replace some of the water. Leave your cake in the tin after cooking, poke some holes in the top and pour the glaze over. Leave to cool before removing the cake.

2 cups of water and 1 cup of sugar for sweetening cold drinks. No more sugar crystals in the bottom of your glass!

1 cup of water to 1 cup of sugar. This is used as the basis for cold fruit drinks and cocktails. You can also use it as the first concentration of syrup to make candied fruits.

Method

Heat the sugar and water in a saucepan until the sugar has dissolved.

Let it cool and store in the fridge.