Scotproof

A lot of stuff:

Here’s the recipe for the Christmas fairy cakes:

Ingredients:
4 oz butter or margarine
4 oz caster sugar
2 eggs, beaten
4 oz self-raising flour
1/4 tsp cinnamon
a little freshly ground nutmeg
zest of 1 clementine (optional)*

For the icing:
4 oz icing sugar
juice of 1 clementine

To make:
1. Cream together the fat and sugar in a large bowl until pale and fluffy.
2. Gradually add the eggs, beating well after each addition.
3. Sieve the flour, cinnamon and nutmeg into the bowl and gently fold in.
4. Place 12-16 paper cases on a baking sheet and fill each two-thirds full with the mixture. (The cases in the picture are slightly larger than usual.)
5. Put in oven at 190C (170C fan) for 15-20 minutes, until risen and golden.
6. After a few minutes, transfer to wire rack to cool.
7. Once completely cool, sieve the icing sugar into a bowl and gradually add the clementine juice until icing has a thick, spreadable consistency. You might not need all the juice.
8. Ice the cakes.

*Adding zest makes the cakes much more clementiney – nice but maybe verging on sickly.

Wet ingredients
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 cup golden syrup (or 1/4 cup maple, 1/4 cup golden)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Dry ingredients
3 cups porridge oats
1/4 cup sesame seeds
2 tbsp granulated sugar (or demerara, or a mix)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup raisins or sultanas
1/2 cup chopped dark chocolate

1. Warm wet ingredients in a pan until runny.
2. Mix the oats, sesame seeds, sugar and cinnamon in a bowl.
3. Add wet ingredients to dry and mix.
4. Spread mixture across 2 baking trays and put in oven at 150C (130C fan) for around half an hour, until golden brown. Give the trays a shoogle mid-way.
5. Remove from oven and allow to cool, stirring regularly to avoid sticking.
6. Add the raisins and chocolate, then put mixture in an airtight container to store.

Serve with milk and fresh fruit.

Eight weeks to Christmas and the perfect time to bake the cake. Here it is just before going in the oven:

And here it is three and a half hours later:

Special mention should go to Jura for assistance with the cake tin liner:

And here’s the two of them getting their extra hour of sleep: