Recipes

Ingredients

Cake:

* 1/2 cup dried currants, raisins or cranberries
* 2 Tbsp dark rum or water
* 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
* 2 cups sugar
* 3 large eggs, room temperature
* 3 cups all-purpose flour
* 2 tsp baking powder
* 1/4 tsp salt
* 1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
* 1 cup eggnog mixed with 1 tsp vanilla extract
* 1 Tbsp grated orange zest

Glaze:

* 3 Tbsp orange juice
* 1 Tbsp dark rum
* 3/4 cup granulated sugar

Method

1 Soak currants in rum in a small bowl for 15 minutes.

2 Adjust rack to lower third of oven. Preheat the oven to 325°F (350°F if the pan doesn't have a dark finish). Butter a 9 to 10 inch bundt pan (original recipe calls for a Festive Cake Pan).

3 Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter until creamy, 30-45 seconds. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Scrape bowl with a rubber spatula occasionally as needed. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

4 In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg.

5 At very low speed, add dry ingredients in 4 additions, alternating with eggnog (begin and end with dry ingredients). Scrape bowl occasionally. Gently fold in orange zest, currants and any remaining rum.

6 Spoon batter into pan; spread evenly. Bake 55-65 minutes, or until cake springs back when touched lightly in the center and pulls away from the sides of the pan. You can also use a long toothpick or thin bamboo skewer and insert into the thickest part of the cake. If it comes out clean, it's done.

7 Remove from oven and cool upright in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes.

8 Prepare glaze by blending together sugar, orange juice, and rum.

9 Invert cake onto a rack, over a sheet of waxed paper. Use a pastry brush to brush the surface of the cake with the glaze. Cool completely before serving.

Banana Foster was originally created by Brennan’s, and it is hard to make this recipe any better. Butter, caramlized bananas, cinnamon, nutmeg, and different types of liquer make this a true delight.

¼ cup (½ stick) butter

1 cup brown sugar

½ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ cup banana liqueur

4 bananas, cut in half
lengthwise, then halved

¼ cup dark rum

4 scoops vanilla ice cream

Combine the butter, sugar, and cinnamon in a flambé pan or skillet. Place the pan over low heat either on an alcohol burner or on top of the stove, and cook, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Stir in the banana liqueur, then place the bananas in the pan. When the banana sections soften and begin to brown, carefully add the rum. Continue to cook the sauce until the rum is hot, then tip the pan slightly to ignite the rum. When the flames subside, lift the bananas out of the pan and place four pieces over each portion of ice cream. Generously spoon warm sauce over the top of the ice cream and serve immediately.

Ingredients

for the sauce for the sponge you will also need a 75oml basin
2 tbsp evaparated milk 100g self raising flour
75g brown sugar 50g butter
50g butter or margaraine 50g caster sugar
1 egg
2 tbsp of water

Method

1.lightly grease the basin
2.place all the sauce ingredients in a saucepan.
3.stir over low heat, till the sugar has dissolved
4.boil the mixture till the mixture thickens a bit
5.empty the contains of the saucepan into the bottom of the basin.
6.to make sponge sieve the flour into a mixing bowl, add butter,sugar,egg and water.
7.beat togther till soft and fluffy.
8.spoon the sponge mix over the toffee sauce.
9.cover with plate and cook in microwave oven on high for 4 mins.
10.leave to stand for 2 mins, then turn out on to serving plate and eat!