La Recette du Jour

Want to make a cake and don’t have any eggs? Here’s the answer! Very easy to make, and delicious. You can serve it spread with butter, but it’s just fine on its own.

A wartime recipe, hence lack of eggs. The original was made with lard, but these days we can use butter.

150 g soft brown sugar
125 g butter or lard
300 g dried fruit (I use a mixture of sultanas, dried apricots and prunes)
250 ml water
2 tsp mixed spice (I use cinnamon and nutmeg)
250 g self-raising flour

Cut up the larger fruit (and remove stones of prunes!). Put everything except the flour in a saucepan and heat enough to melt the butter. Leave to cool somewhat. Preheat the oven to 180C.

Stir the flour thoroughly into the cooled mixture and pour into a 1kg loaf tin lined with greaseproof paper. Bake for about an hour, testing with a skewer to see if it’s done. Leave to cool in the tin.