come dine with me wartime eggless christmas cake

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Come Dine With Me- Wartime Eggless Christmas Cake

wartimechristmas

So with trepidation I am waiting to see the “Wartime Christmas Dinner Party” on this afternoons TV show “Come Dine With Me”…

The trepidation is that John Stevens, the history buff, who studied the history of the secret services, at Cambridge University, used my recipe for “Eggless Wartime Christmas Cake”  (an authentic wartime Ministry of Food recipe I slightly modified) off my blog for his dinner party.

The brief clips I saw yesterday show the wartime food NOT being well received by the other guests. Hardly surprising as it looks like Christmas Dinner was MURKEY (mock turkey- what we are having on Christmas Day this year) served with what appeared to be shredded boiled cabbage..

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE CHRISTMAS WARTIME DINNER PARTY (Episode 213)

 

Even if the guests are not impressed by the cake, it really is pretty good! (as long as you feed it with sherry or other alcohol) and this morning I have pretty much finished decorating mine for the big day with plain icing and mock marzipan.. Click here for mock marzipan recipe

I am putting the recipe below for anyone who wants to make it- there is still time!

1940segglesschristmascake

Wartime Eggless Christmas Cake (I doubled the below quantities to make a larger cake)

  • 1 large carrot finely grated
  • 2-3 tablespoons of golden syrup
  • 3 oz sugar
  • 4 oz margarine or butter
  • 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla essence
  • ½ teaspoon of almond essence (or 1 teaspoon of rum extract)
  • 6 oz dried fruit (I used mixed)
  • 12 oz self raising flour
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 small teacup of slightly warm tea or coffee (with milk in)
  1. Cook the grated carrot and syrup over a low heat for a few minutes
  2. Cream the sugar and margarine until light and fluffy
  3. Stir the bicarbonate of soda into the syrup mixture and then beat it into the sugar and margarine as if adding an egg, bit by bit
  4. Add the vanilla and almond essence (or vanilla and rum extract)
  5. Add the dried mixed fruit
  6. Fold in the sieved flour and cinnamon
  7. Add some of the tea or coffee if needs be as the batter needs to be thick but moist
  8. Put the mixture into a greased meatloaf tin
  9. Smooth the top leaving a slight depression in the centre to stop the cake from rising too much during cooking
  10. Place into the pre-heated oven at 200C for 15 minutes
  11. Reduce temperature to 160C and cook for 45 minutes (cover with foil if cake is getting too dark)
  12. Cool and decorate with your choice of edible toppings

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