WHO TO MAKE CAKE RECIPES

Steps:

• Additional items needed: Mixing bowl, electric beater, cooking spray/butter, 9x13 inch cake pan, toothpicks.
• Select identical flavors of cake mix and instant-pudding mix, such as chocolate cake mix and chocolate pudding. If you want a more complex cake flavor, select complementing cake and pudding mix flavors, such as yellow cake mix and lemon instant-pudding mix.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Grease the cake pan with nonstick cooking spray or butter. (I flour my cake pans as well, but it's not required.)
• Combine the cake and pudding mixes with a spoon in a large mixing bowl.
• Add four eggs, 1 cup water and 1/3 cup vegetable oil. If you wish to make a denser cake (similar to a pound cake) add 1 cup sour cream.
• Beat all the ingredients until combined with an electric mixer on medium speed. The batter will be much thicker than regular cake batter.
• Pour the batter into the greased cake pan and bake it for approximately 50 minutes.
• Insert a toothpick in the middle of the cake and remove it. If the toothpick comes out clean with no raw batter, the cake is done.

Steps:

• Put 1kg mixed dried fruit, the zest and juice of 1 orange and 1 lemon, 150ml brandy or other alcohol, 250g softened butter and 200g light, soft brown sugar in a large pan set over a medium heat.
• Bring to the boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 5 mins. Tip the fruit mixture into a large bowl and leave to cool for 30 mins.
• Heat oven to 150C/130C fan/gas 2. Line a deep 20cm cake tin with a double layer of baking parchment, then wrap a double layer of newspaper around the outside – tie with string to secure.
• Add 175g plain flour, 100g ground almonds, ½ tsp baking powder, 2 tsp mixed spice, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, ¼ tsp ground cloves, 100g flaked almonds, 4 large eggs and 1 tsp vanilla extract to the fruit mixture and stir well, making sure there are no pockets of flour.
• Tip into your prepared tin, level the top with a spatula and bake in the centre of the oven for 2 hrs.
• Remove the cake from the oven, poke holes in it with a skewer and spoon over 2 tbsp of your chosen alcohol. Leave the cake to cool completely in the tin.
• To store, peel off the baking parchment, then wrap well in cling film. Feed the cake with 1-2 tbsp alcohol every fortnight, until you ice it.
• Don’t feed the cake for the final week to give the surface a chance to dry before icing.