I am looking for a very moist but delicious chocolate cake recipe. Does anyone know any great ones?

Almonds have been eaten as food, (but not in an almond cake recipe!) for a long time with cultivated almonds appearing as early as 2500 BC – the Early Bronze Age, or even a little earlier.

Some of the most famous archaeological samples of almonds are the fruits found in Tutankhamun’s tomb in Egypt but these days we are more likely to find them on the top of a cake, as in this recipe, rather than buried alongside our kings and queens.

This almond cake recipe uses a very easy sponge cake topped with almonds, and glazed with honey. The delicious homemade cake is nice and nutty with a hint of honey from the glaze. It is a very easy and quick cake recipe to follow. Try different honeys for a slight variation in flavour.

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Ingredients

3oz…85g soft butter, or margarine
3oz…85g light brown sugar
2 medium eggs, beaten
6oz…175g self-raising flour
(or plain flour with baking powder added)
1 tsp baking powder
4 tbsp milk
2 tbsp clear honey
2oz..60g flaked almonds

For the glaze:
8oz…225g clear honey
2 tbsp lemon juice

One greased and lined 7in/18cm round cake tin

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Preheat the oven to 180 deg C, 350 deg F, Gas Mark 4.

Sift the flour and baking powder into a large mixing bowl. Add the beaten eggs, margarine, brown sugar, milk and honey. Beat with a wooden spoon for about one minute to produce a well blended cake mixture with a soft dropping consistency – that is, the mix should just drop from the wooden spoon when tapped on the side of the mixing bowl.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared cake tin and level the surface with a knife or the back of a spoon. Scatter the sliced almonds in a single layer on the top of the cake, or arrange them in a neat and tidy pattern if you wish!

Transfer the cake to the oven and bake for about 45-50 minutes until springy to the touch, or until a skewer, or similar, comes out clean from the centre of the cake.

While the cake is baking make the glaze by mixing the lemon juice and honey in a small pan and heating gently for a few minutes. Test the glaze by pouring it over the back of a spoon to see if it leaves a sticky coating.

Remove the cake from the oven when cooked and while still hot, pour the glaze over the cake. Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes before removing from the tin and leave to cool completely before serving this delicious homemade cake.

There are so many fruit cake recipes it’s difficult to know where to start!

Everybody has their favourite recipe – either handed down through the family or discovered hiding on the page of a cookery book or magazine. I love fruit cake recipes, in fact, I probably enjoy making fruit cakes more than anything else, even more than luxurious chocolate cakes. There’s something so wholesome about all that dried fruit, and so many of the good fruit cakes include a splash of alcohol!

Here’s a slightly different fruit cake recipe with a splash of rum and full of raisins, dates, whole glace cherries and nuts.

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Fruit Cake With Mixed Nuts

Ingredients

8 oz glace cherries
2 oz (1/3 cup) chopped candied peel
3 fl oz (3/8 cup) rum
1 tsp butter
The grated rind of 1 lemon
3 oz (1/2 cup) seedless raisins
7 oz (1 1/4 cups) stoned and chopped dates
5 oz (1 cup) chopped walnuts
5 oz (1 cup) chopped almonds
4 oz (1 cup) flour
6 oz (3/4 cup) sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
4 eggs

Grease a deep, round 8 inch cake tin and line with greaseproof or waxed paper.

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Preheat the oven to 300 deg F, 150 deg C, Gas Mark 2.

Mix the candied peel and cherries in a bowl with the rum and leave to soak, giving the mixture an occasional stir. After 30-45 minutes drain the fruit from the rum, keeping the rum for later. Soak the fruit in the rum for longer to make a really succulent fruit cake.

Using a wooden spoon, gently mix all the fruit in a bowl with the nuts, before sifting in the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Mix gently but thoroughly until all the fruit is lightly coated with the flour mixture.

Beat the eggs and add to the dry ingredients, stirring gently until thoroughly mixed. Spoon the mixture from the bowl into the prepared cake tin and bake for 1 1/2 to 2 hours until cooked. As usual, test with a skewer or cocktail stick – when inserted into the centre it should come out clean. The top of the cake can be protected with some foil if it starts to burn during baking.

When cooked, remove the cake from the oven and carefully pour or spoon the rum over the hot cake. It will provide a slight glaze when cool. After about 30 minutes cooling in the tin, carefully remove the cake from the tin but wait until completely cool before removing the greaseproof or waxed paper.

Make a nice cup of tea or coffee and enjoy a slice of homemade cake while browsing for more fruit cake recipes!