Pirate Bread

We have called this Pirate Bread as it contains rum and raisins from the Caribbean

The Wet Ingredients
First of all take a good handful of raisins and put them in a measuring jug, pour over hot water to the 200ml mark and leave to soak for at least one hour.
After the time is up add to this 2 capfulls of rum (we had some Captain Morgan's Original Spiced Gold Rum which seemed appropriate) and a capfull of vanilla extract

Dry Ingredients:
225g Self Raising Flour
75g Sugar
1 teasp ground cinnamon
1/2 teasp ground nutmeg
1 pinch clove
1/4 teasp salt

Mix all the dry ingredients together

Add all the wet ingredients and stir well, you can add a splash of milk if it seems too dry and a sprinkle of flour if it seems too wet.
You should end up with a very soft mixture, the same consistency as a sort sponge cake mix.

Pour it into a tin or tray and put in the oven at 175 degrees for approx 35 mins

This is yummy warm or cold - must admit we couldn't wait for it to cool properly

Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake

Here is another recipe to try if you have run out of eggs and want CAKE - it is surprisingly delicious. And very easy to make - trust me I only do 'easy' cooking

Ingredients
285g Self Raising Flour
225g Sugar
200g Mayonnaise
4 tablespoons of Cocoa Powder
8 fluid oz or 220ml Boiling Water
1 teasp Vanilla Extract

Dissolve the cocoa in the boiling water.
Mix together the flour and sugar. Add the mayonnaise and mix it in, then add the cocoa liquid and the vanilla. Mix it well and then put in a loaf tin.
Bake at 180 degrees for 40-45 mins. Test it with a skewer or a pointy knife to check the middle is cooked
Leave it to cool in the tin

The original recipe for this called for extra baking powder, but I left it out and the cake still doubled in size while cooking. The mayonnaise doesn't have to be anything fancy either, we used the cheapest Sainsbury's Basic Mayonnaise, so use whatever you have to hand.

Incidentally I use a loaf tin for cake making because I don't have any proper cake tins. If you use a round cake tin you might find this cooks more quickly so I'd say about 30 mins for a round cake.

I thought the recipe could have done with a bit more sugar as it is an intensely chocolatey flavour - but if it isn't sweet enough for you just make some butter cream for icing, or try it with ice cream as a yummy dessert