Condensed milk and nut cake

This is a recipe that caught my eye in one of those little “30 best recipe books”.  I liked that the recipe appeared so simple for an unusual looking end product.  It looks almost like a cheesecake but it isn’t – that creamy topping is made purely of baked condensed milk. This is a really quick, low effort bake, but I think the results suggest otherwise.  Please note the small squares I have cut it into – this is sweet and rich.  Think tasty little nibble to be enjoyed with a cup of tea/coffee rather than a big slice!  Don’t say I didn’t warn you!  

I don’t tend to keep condensed milk in my store cupboard and buy it only when I need it, which isn’t often.  This is probably just as well as I only have to taste a little bit off the lid of the can to fall head over heels in love with the stuff.  It’s sweet, creamy, thick and sticky texture is so sinfully good that I wonder why more baked goods don’t use it.  I really need to try it in an ice cream recipe – I bet it’s amazing.

I’ve stuck to the recipe as it used some of my favourite ingredients of chocolate, coconut and walnuts to add texture and flavour; I suspect however that the recipe is a bit of a blank canvas and any other nut, type of chocolate, or even dried fruit would work just as well; probably best though not to choose anything too sweet.

It’s also a good dish to use if you want to work out the age of people.  If, like me, you’re a child of the 1970s you won’t be able to hear the words ‘condensed milk’ without thinking of Lenny Henry and his condensed milk sandwiches on Tiswas.  I had a little chuckle the other day at work about how our popular culture references pinpoint us quite precisely age-wise.  A colleague was chatting to a younger colleague and made a passing reference to Percy Thrower (famous gardener and in charge of the Blue Peter garden; if you grew up in the 1970/80s apart from Zammo ODing in Grange Hill, the vandalism of the Blue Peter garden was about the most shocking thing that blighted your childhood).  She looked at him blankly and said, ‘who?’  She’ll be claiming she’s never heard of Morph and Chas next…..

Ingredients

For the base:
100g digestive biscuits
50g unsalted butter

For the topping:
150g chocolate, finely chopped – I used half milk, half dark chocolate
70g desiccated coconut
150g walnuts, finely chopped
379g sweetened condensed milk

Optional: icing sugar for dusting

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan oven 160°C/350°F/gas mark 4.

Line a 18cm square cake pan with baking paper or non stick foil.

Put the biscuits in a food processor and blitz until you have fine crumbs.

Add the butter and blitz again until the mixture resembles damp sand. (NB. If you prefer the manual method place the biscuits into a thick bag, tie the top, and hit with the rolling pin until you have crumbs.  Melt the butter and then stir the crumbs into it.)

Press the crumb mix into the base of the tin and press down firmly, ensuring the base is of even thickness.  Initially you will think there isn’t enough biscuit to cover the base, but be patient and keep pressing it down and out and there is.

Sprinkle over the chocolate, coconut and walnuts.

Slowly pour the condensed milk over the top taking care to disturb the chocolate, coconut and walnuts as little as possible (some movement is inevitable) – do not stir.

Bake for 35-40 minutes until the mixture is set but not rubbery (think baked cheesecake or baked custard texture – a bit of a wobble in the centre!)

Leave to cool completely in the tin, on a wire rack, before de-tinning and cutting into small squares.

Refrigerate until about 20 minutes before serving.

Bask in the glory of the wonderful think you have created.

Eat.

Norfolk vinegar cake

There cannot be many words less appealing to see included in the title of a cake than vinegar.  Corned beef perhaps?  Mustard?  Socks?  I think the vinegar is added to turn the milk into a buttermilk i.e. the acidity curdles the milk a little.  Rest assured; the cake does not taste of vinegar…now that would be a tough sell! (Although perhaps not so much to me as I adore vinegar and will put it on virtually any savoury item given the chance – try it on cabbage for a taste sensation; you’ll never look back.)

This is a light fruit cake – it’s not a full on ‘house brick in your stomach’ slab of Christmas cake.  It’s actually like a cross between light fruitcake and bread pudding.  Mr CC is always partial to a light fruit cake so I thought I would make it for him to enjoy over the Bank Holiday weekend.  He did admit he was repelled by the word ‘vinegar’ in the cake’s name but he got past it when a glorious sweet smelling fruit cake emerged from the oven.  My photos probably make it appear over-crumbly because I cut it when it was still slightly warm; normally I bake the day before I cut but couldn’t this time.

Fruit cake has its haters and I can understand that if dried fruit’s not your thing then this is probably not your dream cake, but for me it’s a perfect concoction of cake and fruit, both of which I love.  I also like its unfussy nature – no icings or buttercreams, no fancy preparation and no fancy equipment needed.  It’s the sort of recipe our ancestors would’ve enjoyed and I take comfort in that.  A fruit cake is like a big hug from the past.

It also keeps well.  The only thing better than cake is more cake.  There is nothing as pleasing as having a cake in the tin you can cut from every day until it’s gone and it keeps getting better!  Did I mention it’s a big cake? And egg free, so people with egg allergies can enjoy it too.  Hurray!

Ingredients

450g plain flour
225g unsalted butter
225g golden caster sugar
225g raisins
225g sultanas
275ml milk
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan oven 160°C/ 350°F/ gas mark 4.

Line a 23cm round springform tin with baking paper.

Place the flour in a bowl and rub in the butter until you have a mix that resembles breadcrumbs.  You can do this in the food processor if you have dexterity issues.

Stir in the sugar, raisins and sultanas.

Measure out the milk then remove one tablespoon of it into a small bowl.

Add the cider vinegar to the larger amount of milk.

Stir the bicarbonate of soda into the tablespoon of milk and ensure it is fully dissolved.

Add to the milk and vinegar mix.  Nothing much will happen initially but then a gentle frothing will occur and the liquid will puff up  - so make sure you’re using a jug that can accommodate some growth!

Add the milk mix to the dry ingredients and stir only enough to combine; don’t over mix.  At first you will think there isn’t enough liquid, but there is and you will end up with a lovely soft cake mix.

Spoon into the prepared tin and level the surface.

Bake for 30 minutes before reducing the oven temperature to 150°C/fan oven 130°C/ 300°F/ gas mark 2.

Bake for a further hour or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.  Check the cake after 40 minutes anyway, and if it’s browning too quickly cover loosely with foil for the rest of the cooking time.

Leave to cool in the tin on a wire rack for 30 minutes, or until it is cool enough to safely handle.

De-tin and leave to cool completely.

Bask in the glory of the wonderful thing you have made.

Eat.