Tweaked

The lovely blipper Mrs HCB kindly published her recipe for mincemeat cake a few days ago.
Reminded me of a recipe l once copied from a TV programme starring a young woman called Mary Berry, so l am talking about forty years ago at least.
It was a last minute recipe if you had forgotten (or couldn’t afford the ingredients) to make a traditional Christmas cake.
Think the programme was aimed at cooking on a budget, l learned to make frangipani with ground rice and almond essence instead of the more expensive ground almonds. I still make her cheap version of chocolate fudge cake to this day, usually for birthdays.
Back to Mrs HCB, when she showed us her cake it brought back memories of that lovely moist cake which was a family favourite, not just a Christmas.
I had lost the recipe down the years but could remember most of it, seeing that blip really revived some memories of when my kids were young.

I made my own version yesterday with a few tweaks, adding ground almonds and amaretto then smothering the top with flaked almonds.
Then when Rebecca and granddaughters called after school for a cuppa they said the house smelled wonderful and how they missed my baking which used to be a weekly custom for me.
Cake now ensconced in a tin but Elaine is coming for the weekend so it will be cut into.
Can you remember that phrase of ‘cut and come again cake’?
That’s just what this is, Thanks Mrs HCB.