alternative christmas cake

Mincemeat Cake

~ cozebakes ~ 3 Comments

My love for mincemeat tends to go on as long as I can possibly stretch it …. and as I make my own mincemeat, it means I can use it any time of the year … oh along with the fact that I buy fresh cranberries in December and I freeze them for use throughout the year 🙂 – up here for thinking, down there for dancing!

So back to this recipe which is from The Cycling Cook; I adapted it a little and of course, reduced the sugar content. It’s such a delicious and flavour packed cake that it needs very little other than a sprinkling of icing sugar on top.

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Date & Apple Cake / Traybake

~ cozebakes ~ 1 Comment

I first sampled this delicious cake at a Neff Cooking Demonstration to help me understand my new cooker better and not use just 3 settings! After tasting it I asked for the recipe and the ladies very kindly gave it to me.

I made it in an 8″ / 20cm round tin but ideally if you want it to do the same, you need to use a 9″ / 23cm tin or as a traybake, use a 30cm x 20cm rectangular tin. You can serve up to 16 people so it’s a great crowd pleaser.

Don’t worry at all if you don’t like dates; one of my friends is not a fan so I blitzed the dates in a blender before adding them but you can of course just mush them with a fork or potato masher.  Continue reading →