Let me tell you, if there’s one person with as many cookbooks as me, it’s my mum.
I went home one weekend to dog sit and the dog was a bit clingy as my mum and dad were away and she didn’t really want to do anything.
She did, however, insist on going for a walk on the Saturday just as some very dark clouds were moving over us. Lo and behold, halfway through our walk the heavens opened and I had one wet and grumpy dog on my hands.
Anyway, because it was a grey day I decided to do some baking. When looking through my mum’s recipe book cupboard, I found an old (sorry, vintage) Be-Ro book. I actually remember making things from this with her when I was younger and I remember being so impressed with their celebration cake. I’m not sure why; maybe it was the amount of candles it had on it.
Wikipedia says Be-Ro was founded in 1875, and if this book is the Centenary Edition I would hazard a guess that it was published in 1975. It has my nana’s handwriting in the back where she’s made notes about some coconut tarts. Maybe I’ll make them one day and try her recipe. She once got 100 marks for a cake she entered into a local competition you know. My other nanny worked in a tea shop so there’s a bit of a pattern here. Hopefully they would be proud of my baking.
There are some very interesting recipes in this book, including one for Tuna and Egg Turnovers, but we didn’t have any suet so alas I couldn’t make them. I’ll tackle them another day, along with the pineapple upside down cake, for maximum 70’s throwback.
We did have the ingredients for biscuits called Melting Moments though, so I made them. The recipe said I should have enough for 20, which I thought was a touch generous. By weighing out my dough so each piece was 9g, I got 15.
The recipe said to coat them in either desiccated coconut or oats, so I did half in each and whacked them in the oven for 15 minutes.
They look bigger in the picture that’s in the book but are frankly adorable. If you’re thinking of making them, definitely put coconut on them instead of oats as it just makes them that bit sweeter.
I didn’t really feel like taking on pastry so the next day when browsing the book I decided to make a Chocolate Spice Cake. There’s me wondering whether my mum would have mixed peel and ground cloves… foolish! Of course she had them, she has everything!
This recipe was one where you had to whisk the egg whites and then fold them in to the rest of the mixture, and then nervously wait for 45 minutes to see if your cake has risen.
Did it rise? Well… sort of. And it didn’t need 45 minutes in the oven to be honest, 40 was plenty. I topped it with chocolate buttercream and it tasted pretty good.
As it turns out I wouldn’t have minded if we hadn’t had any mixed peel in the house; if I make it again that’s staying well out of the way as I’m not really sure it added anything. The spices were nice though and gave it a warmth you don’t usually get with a chocolate cake (ooooh get me!).
Can I tell you a secret? I didn’t use Be-Ro flour in either of these and I don’t even know if Be-Ro is still around, whoops!