Spiced Date & Sesame Crunchies

This was a recipe I had been looking forward to for ages, and it turns out I was wise to do so. These are something like date biscuit sandwiches - what's not to like? The recipe can be found on page 111 of Delia's Cakes, and really consists of two parts - the date bit in the middle (the sandwich filling) and the lovely biscuitty top and bottom (the bread of the sandwich).

The date mix is easy - particularly if you read the recipe properly before popping to the shops and realise the dates need to be finely chopped and so purchase chopped dates rather than whole ones (smug face). They go into a pan with some water, lemon juice and cinnamon and heat gently until it looks spreadable - this took about 5-10 minutes.

In the meantime, the biscuit-esque part can be put together. It's just a case of melting some butter and sugar then pouring onto some flour, semolina and sesame seeds. Then it gets a bit weird. Half of this mixture becomes the bottom of the 'crunchies' and as it's warm, it can be easily pressed into the bottom of the greased tin. The semolina does make it a bit of a strange texture, and it's very buttery so prepare for greasy fingers. Next the spreadable date mix gets spread on top, by which time the other half of the biscuit mixture has changed totally in consistency and is now crumbly! However, not a problem as it can be crumbled on top and then pressed down to cover the dates.

I would say it is quite important to get the right size tin for this - too small and the slices would be like bricks, but too big and you'd never get the mixture to cover over the date sandwich filling in the middle. Luckily I seemed to have just the right size tin and they worked out great. The recipe said it makes 18, but I went for more generous sized slices and got 15 instead. They sliced beautifully and came out really neat and as the name would suggest... crunchy.  They are perfect to take to work with a cup of tea, pack as part of a picnic or a car snack. The sweetness of the dates means they aren't as heavy on sugar as some other snacks, and surely they count as one of your five-a-day! The cinnamon in the date mix is delicious, and gives just a hint of the spiced joys of all the baking to come next month - Christmas is on its way!

Classic Sponge Cake

Time to tackle the very first recipe in Delia's Cakes - the 'Classic Sponge Cake'. Slightly strange that she doesn't call it a 'Victoria Sponge' but that's exactly what it is. Laura made this one, fresh from learning all sorts of fantastic tips at a class run at our (Chitty's Cakes) studio but by the wonderful Melanie from Devenish Girl - another local cake business here in Birmingham. Laura's past experiences of Victoria Sponge cakes had been compared to pancakes given their vertically challenged nature, but with the help of Melanie and Delia, this one was a success.

Delia's method seems to be the same for most of her sponge cakes - sift the flour into a bowl, then add all the other ingredients and combine with an electric whisk. It's exactly the opposite to what I would do, and what Melanie taught Laura and the rest of the class in this week's 'Perfect Victoria Sponge' class. The results from the class speak for themselves in this picture of a very happy Laura - the cake rose up massively and was as light as air, which was a direct result of lots of whisking and beating of the butter and sugar, then yet more beating as the eggs are added gradually and finally folding in the flour gently.

A few days later, when Laura made Delia's sponge cake, she was a bit disappointed with the rise in comparison to the one she made in Melanie's class, but we concluded it was more a result of the tin size rather than anything that hadn't gone right. At our team meeting tasting session, Julie was a bit disappointed at the lack of buttercream in the middle (although traditionally a Victoria sponge does just have jam) but I thought it was delicious. Really traditional and very tasty. In summer, it would work fantastically with some fresh cream in the middle as well as jam.

I hate to contradict Delia's instructions, but I have to say that personally, I think better results always come from the traditional creaming method (butter and sugar thoroughly beaten together first, gradually adding eggs then carefully folding in flour) so that is what we shall be sticking to here. Either way, it's a beautifully simply cake that never fails to hit the spot.

Oatmeal Parkin for dark nights

The clocks have gone back, the evenings are fast becoming long and dark, and it's a perfect time to enjoy some Traditional Oatmeal Parkin. Delia's recipe (on page 78) promises that this one keeps really well, and just goes on getting stickier. She's absolutely right - I've had this in the tin for a week and the last slice last night was by far the stickiest.

It's not a difficult recipe, although the long baking time (an hour and a half in the oven!) might put people off a bit, especially if baking is something you do when you get home from work to relax, as you might be wanting to head to bed before it's out of the oven! It's worth it though, if only for the small the permeates the house as it bakes.

Golden syrup, treacle, butter and dark brown sugar are what makes this wintery cake so deliciously sticky, but there is nothing complex about mixing all the ingredients together. It's a relief to read that it often sinks slightly in the middle, as mine certainly did (this can be quite disconcerting if you're not warned!). The result was a spicy, dense and just a bit sticky cake that suits this time of year perfectly - Halloween, bonfire night and the darker nights need a cake like this, so next time November comes around, give this a go!