Eating Cake

It hasn't been a stellar few weeks of eating, hence the scanty posts, but I am ready to get back in the groove. I did do some yummy, albeit rich, cooking this weekend. I made macaroni and cheese, with grass fed cheddar - the cheddar was delicious, but using it in the mac and cheese was kindof a waste. I am saving the rest of it to eat as it is, or with apples from the farmers market. I also made Queen Elizabeth Cake.

Queen Elizabeth Cake is one of my favourite cakes of all time - my mom makes it, and used to have it ready when I would come home to visit. It's become associated with the first night home, from university, and later from wherever I was visiting from. It's a rich, old fashioned, British tasting cake. I wonder if the name is because the cake comes from that era. I'm not sure when coconut became available, though I imagine it would have been by Elizabethan times, given that there was trade with southern regions underway by then. The cake is a rich, dark date one, with a topping of coconut, butter and brown sugar poured over the top to make a crunchy, caramel, lace topping. Mine didn't come out quite as lacey as my mom's, but it was still good!

Queen Elizabeth Cake

1 cup dates
1 tsp soda
1 cup boiling water
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder

Combine dates and soda in processor and chop. Add to boiling water. Set aside.
Process butter and sugar, add egg, add dry ingredients. Add date mixture. Pour into greased 9” square pan. Bake 350 – 30 min.

Topping -

1/4cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup coconut
2 Tbl. Milk

Combine ingredients and cook 3 minutes. Pour over warm cake and broil a few minutes to brown.