Favourite Recipe

One of the things I enjoy doing when I`ve got a couple of hours to spare is to have a baking session - Cakes, biscuits, scones, sausage-rolls, apple pies etc. I wonder where the origin of baking came from? Who made the first cake, the first biscuit, the first apple pie? Who discovered that you could combine ingredients and then put them in an oven to get results? Interesting thought isn`t it.

I`ll share with you, one of my favourite cake recipies, its one that I traditionally now make for birthdays or when we want a special cake and not a fruit cake.

ORANGE & CHOCOLATE CHIP CAKE

6½ oz. margarine
7½ oz. caster sugar
9 oz. self-raising flour
rind of 1 orange
juice of ½ orange
3 eggs
4 oz. plain chocolate, roughly chopped

Grease and flour an 8inch round or 7inch square cake tin
Preheat oven to 300°F/150°C/Gas mark 2

Place the margarine, sugar, flour, rind and juice of the orange, in a bowl add the eggs (unbeaten), mix together and beat well. Add the chocolate and beat again.

Turn mixture into tin, place in centre of oven and bake for 1¼ - 1½ hours. Turn out of tin and cool on a wire rack.


TIP: For a crunchy top, sprinkle top with granulated or caster sugar before putting in the oven.

Or, when cool, melt some chocolate in a basin over hot water (or in the microwave) and pour over the cake, decorate with cake decorations as desired. Leave to set before serving.