Welcome to Bake Club, Sarah! Sarah bought this round for our cuppa catch up. It was very moreish. The brown sugar really adds that caramel taste. Sarah says this recipe is from an Australian friend of her mother's, Barbara Fisher. Thanks Barbara!

125g butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 cup chopped dried fruit (I used raisins, but sultanas, dates also fine)
chopped walnuts (no amount given in orig recipe, I used about 1/2 cup)
1 cup SR flour (don't have, so used std, with tsp bp)

Melt butter in...
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I felt inspired to make these soda bread biscuits with caraway, 
lemon zest and raisins for a friend who recently had a baby.
I never understand how Americans use the term 'biscuit' but this 
is more akin to a scone in process - ie you rub in the butter... 

3 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of sugar (depending on how sweet you want them)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 teaspoons caraway seeds*
1/2 to 1 cup of raisins*
1 1/4 cu...

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Aaaah…freelancing. In my world, it means more time to bake! I hadn’t made bread with gluten for a while so I thought I’d use up some spelt that I have at the back of the pantry. And if you’re going to make one batch you might as well double it and do two – one sweet and one savoury.

2 c warm water
4 tsp active dry yeast
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp butter or vegetable spread
2 tsp salt
6 c flour (I used 2 plain white and 4 wholemeal spelt)

savoury filling:
2 Tbs butter,...

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Don’t get me wrong – I’ve got nothing against Annabel Langbein’s recipes as featured on her TV programme The Free Range Cook. I just wish this obviously bright and successful woman could add a few more adjectives to her vocabulary! Her superfluous gushing of ‘so good’, ‘so delicious’, ‘so easy’ and ‘so yum’ send me into a groaning fit. On the other side of the culinary coin, Nigella finds ways to promote food porn unlike any other TV chef: everythin...

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On a trip to Windsor, England, in August we were treated to homemade treats by Penny. We'd never seen marzipan inside a fruit cake before so I had to take a pic. Was very tasty.

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This recipe is for two square tin cakes, with lined sides and bottom.

Soak in 1 1/2 c of brandy overnight:
2 kg fruit mince
red and green cherries
zest of 4 lemons

3 T golden syrup
3 T marmalade
3 tsp vanilla
500g butter
1 1/2 c brown sugar
4 1/2 c flour
9 eggs
3 tsp baking powder
3 tsp mixed spice

Pre-heat oven to 150 C. Mix fruit with rest of ingredients. Pour into tins.
Tie double layer of brown paper on the outside of the tines. Place 8 layers of newspaper on shelf underneath the tins.
Bake for half hour...
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