Morrisons Tunis Cake, 200g

Product Information

Stone and cut up the dates. Wash and drain the figs and prunes, and cut both into small pieces, rejecting the stalks and stones. Chop the walnuts, whisk up the eggs, add the warmed golden syrup, and whisk together. Beat the butter and sugar to a cream, then gradually stir in the flour with the spice and soda, adding the prepared fruit, nuts, eggs and golden syrup. Mix and beat well, adding milk as required. Turn into a greased cake tin, and hake in a moderate oven. Cool cake for a minimum of 10 minutes before removing it from the tin and cool completely for a minimum of 10 hours. Chocolate Topping Make the cake: cream butter and sugar together until light and pale, then add the eggs one by one, adding a little flour with each addition. Finally add the rest of the flour, ground almonds and cinnamon along with the orange zest and juice. Beat together until entirely light and smooth. Tip into the tin, smooth the surface and bake in the centre of the oven for about 40 minutes, until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin until totally cold. According to The Internet, Tunis cake is Christmas cake from the Edwardian period – however some claim it was invented by McVities, so who knows. The basic premise is that you make a madeira sponge flavoured with lemon zest, then top it with chocolate before decorating with marzipan fruits.

Tunis cakes also originally had a small apple, orange and banana made of marizpan in the center of the decoration instead of the circle of buttercream. Christmas Fun and Activities A quarter-pound of dates, figs, and prunes, half-a-pound of flour, three ounces Demerara sugar, three ounces of butter, one ounce of shelled walnuts, one level teaspoonful of mixed spice, two eggs, half-a-teaspoonful of bi-carbonate of soda, three ounces golden syrup, milk. Melt the chocolate, which should be broken into small pieces, with the Butter and water by placing it all in a bowl over a pan of very hot water (make sure the bowl doesn't touch the hot/boiling water in the pan below or it will go lumpy!) Leave for about 10 minutes, beat and stir until smooth. If you are in Norfolk or Suffolk and able to get hold of a Tunis Cake from Wendy’s House Bakery then I can highly recommend it. The cake itself was light and moist and the chocolate topping was lovely and rich without being too sweet. I’m not sure my photo’s do it justice but it looked really lovely and my family and visitors really enjoyed it this afternoon.

Cookbooks● Diary● Index● Magic Menu● Random● Really English?● Timeline● Donate● English Service● Food Map of England● Lost Foods● Accompaniments● Biscuits● Breads● Cakes and Scones● Cheeses● Classic Meals● Curry Dishes● Dairy● Drinks● Egg Dishes● Fish● Fruit● Fruits & Vegetables● Game & Offal● Meat & Meat Dishes● Pastries and Pies● Pot Meals● Poultry● Preserves & Jams● Puddings & Sweets● Sauces and Spicery● Sausages● Scones● Soups● Sweets and Toffee● About ...● Bookshop● The origins of the cake are Edwardian. Scottish bakery Macfarlane Langs produced commercial Tunis Cakes in the 1930s, and when they merged with McVitie & Price in 1948 to form a company called United Biscuits (which still owns the McVitie’s brand) the recipe passed to the new company. McVitie’s produced a Tunis cake until the mid 1980s. Members of my family can remember when they stopped producing these at the start of the second wold war and how pleased they were to see one again after the war.

I fancied a little more aroma to my cake so subbed the lemon for orange zest, and also added ground cinnamon to the mix. I have no interest in marzipan flowers so kept the citrus theme going by decorating with crystallised peel. Using a piping bag with a small star nozzle, pipe a small circle of buttercream in the middle of the cake, then two more circles equally spaced around it. Minimum life based on 'use-by' date of product. Average life based on last week's deliveries. Life guarantee shown based on delivery tomorrow with the Life guarantee starting the following day. However, the earliest known (1907) cake by the 'Tunis' name is simply a soda-raised bun, distinguished only by an egg-wash on top...To make the buttercream, mix together the icing/powdered sugar, butter, orange juice and yellow food Coloring until smooth.