From Grossmutter with Love

With winter comes baking and lots of it. I have made two gems recently out of Recipes from My Grossmutter: A Collection of Recipes from Hahndorf Women of Today and Yesterday. Hahndorf is a town in South Australia, just outside of its capital, Adelaide. A lot of German immigrants settled there in the nineteenth century and it still makes much of its German heritage (read more here: http://www.southaustralia.com/9003122.aspx) So first there is the basic cake recipe. Having tried and loved 'the basic', I have since added mixed peel to make it a orange cake, mixed fruit to make it a fruit cake, chocolate etc. It turns out beautifully every time:

Sift together 1 1/2 cups self-raising flour, pinch salt. Add 1 cup sugar, stir sugar & flour together. Add few drops vanilla essence & 2 unbeaten eggs, melt 4 ozs. butter. Add to above mixture plus 1/2 cup milk. Stir all together. I have been baking it at 180 degrees celsius.

And then there's the Bumblebees:

1 cup raisins

1 cup chopped nuts

1/2 cup sultanas

1 cup dates

1 cup coconut

1/2 tin condensed milk (I used the whole tin - it's a pretty dry recipe)

Mix all ingredients with condensed milk. Takes teaspoons of mixture, shape and roll in coconut. Bake in a moderate oven until light brown.

Enjoy!