Difficulty 
(1)
Quick and easy make for anyone
These buns are quick and easy to make and I often bake a batch when I am cooking the evening meal when the oven is hot anyway. Do not make the buns smaller as they will be dry and hard instead of a crisp shell with a deliciously soft spicy centre.
Why not double the mixture and freeze half the cooked buns. They keep very well for about 4 weeks.
200g (8oz) self-raising flour
75g (3oz) soft margarine (see here for experiments with coconut oil)
75g (3oz) golden caster sugar
75g (3oz) Sultanas
1 medium egg beaten
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon ground mixed spice
Demerara sugar for sprinkling
Set oven to 200 deg C, 400 deg F, Gas mark 6
Lightly flour a baking tray
Rub margarine into sieved flour and spice until it looks like fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar and sultanas. Mix milk and egg together and add to the dry ingredients mixing with a fork until mixture is stiff. It should not be smooth but look rough and lumpy.
Take tablespoons of the mixture and make 8 ‘heaps’ on the baking tray. Do not smooth or flatten out. Sprinkle the buns with the demerara sugar and bake in the centre of the oven for 10-15 minutes, until brown and firm to the touch.
When cooked, remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack until cold.
Store in an airtight container for 3-4 days.
This recipe can be varied to suit personal tastes. Try using half teaspoon mixed spice and the grated rind of a fresh lemon for a wonderfully fresh citrus flavour. Alternatively use half teaspoon mixed spice and half tespoon cinnamon. Once you have mastered the basic recipe, you can experiment with the flavours. The following go well:
Cherry and vanilla
Instead of the sultanas, use chopped glace cherries and add a few drops of vanilla extract in place of the mixed spice. Sprinke with vanilla sugar instead of demerara before baking.
Also if you do not like the ‘rocky’ texture you can add extra milk to give a softer mixture. This then smooths out on baking giving a softer ‘bun’ both in appearance and texture.
Chocolate Orange
Use grated chocolate or Supercook chocolate drops insted of fruit and mix in the grated peel of one orange before adding the liquid.
Difficulty 
(4)
A recipe for the more experienced cook as it can be difficult to tell when it is cooked
This recipe is a must for all chocolate lovers. It is a rich fruit cake with a delicious chocolate flavour.
Makes an 8″ round or 7″ square cake
Ingredients
175g (6oz) Butter – softened
175g (6oz) soft dark brown sugar
175g (6oz) plain flour
4 level tablespoons cocoa powder
3 medium sized eggs, beaten
500g (1lb) mixed fruit
125g (4oz) glace cherrie
100g (3.5 oz) flaked almonds
200g dark chocolate (chocolate cooking drops are the best although a bar grated can be used)
Half teaspoon vanilla extract
Milk to mix
Grease and line the cake tin and set the oven to 160 deg C, 325 deg F, Gas Mark 3
Sift the flour and cocoa powder together and mix with the dried fruit, cherries, nuts and chocolate.
Cream the butter and sugar until it is light and creamy.
Gradually beat the eggs into the creamed butter and sugar. then fold in the floured fruit and nut mix.
Finally add the vanilla extract and enough milk to give a dropping consistency.
Spoon mixture into prepared tin and smooth the surface making a slight hollow in the centre.
Bake cake in the centre of the oven for one hour then reduce the temperature to 150 deg C, 300 deg F, Gas Mark 2 and contine baking until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean (approx further one and a half hours)
(Note) care must be taken not to overcook this cake as melted chocolate on the skewer can give the impression that the cake is not cooked.
When cooked, remove from the oven and leave in the tin until completely cold. Remove the lining paper and “feed” the cake (See No 9 in Basic Rules). A mixture of 2 tablespoons Dark Rum and 1 Tablespoon of Sherry works best with this cake.
Wrap in greaseproof paper and place in a sealed container. This cake is best left for at least four weeks before decorating/eating, but the wait is definately worthwhile.
To ensure that your cakes look professional and do not get damaged during storage/trasportation, it is important to use the right size cake board and boxes and remember if you are going to be giving the cake as a present or even selling them, it is important to use commercially made cake boards and boxes. Nothing spoils the effect of a beautifully made and decorated cake than a piece of card covered in tinfoil and a second hand cardboard box.
Cake Boxes
This is easy, always choose the same size box as the cake board you are using. If the cake is shaped, i.e. petal or heart, then measure the widest part of the board and use this size e.g. a stretched petal cake on a board measuring 10″ x 12″ would require a 12″ square box. Small pieces of expanded polystyrene can be used to prevent the cake from moving within the box on the shorter sides.
At Christmas, most specialist cake decorating suppliers sell lovely christmas display boxes. These are brightly coloured and have a celephane insert to show off the cake within the box. See below.
Cake Boards
Fruit Cakes – As these cakes are heavy it is best to use a ‘Drum’ board. These boards are thick and must always be used for tiered wedding cakes. Choose a board 2″ bigger than cake tin the cake was baked in. This allows for the tickness of marzipan, icing and also for any decoration around the edge of the board.
If you are using delicate decorations or sugar frills around the sides of the cake, that may extend past the board, then choose a bigger board, say 3″ bigger. It is always possible to disquise the fact that the board is much larger than the base of the cake by ’scribbling’ icing onto the board to make a feature. This is done using a soft royal icing and a small hole icing nozzle and literally scribbling patterns onto the cake board – Do not overlap any of the scribbles as this spoils the effect.
Sponge Cakes - As these are much lighter, it is best to use a thinner board which does not overwhelm the cake. Once again choose a board 2″ bigger all round than the cake, larger if you are making a novelty cake with large items on the sides i.e. teddy bears fixed to the sides of the cake. As with the fruit cake you can cover the board, but be much more adventurous with novelty cakes i.e. using green fondant icing to cover the board and sprinkling on green coloured dessicated coconut to resemble grass.
Having a family member who has a dairy free diet, has prompted me to try many recipies over the year, some with disasterous results.
I have discovered that it is best not to try and use soya or sunflower products when making fruit cakes as the soft fats give at best a very crumbly texture or at worst a very dry cake. I would recomment always using a hard fat and the one that seems to work best is ‘Trex’. It is virtually tasteless and gives a moist, non crumbly texture. To overcome the fact that you will not be able to achieve that lovely buttery taste, I use double the spices and also a teaspoon of vanilla extract. Where the recipie calls for milk to give a soft dropping consistency, I use orange juice (freshly squeezed is best and you can use the grated peal in the cake.
I am confident that not only will be person who has a dairy free diet will love the cake, but that everyone else will be completely unaware of the fact that it is dairy free.