A Cake for St Valentines Day
This cake contains apples to remind us of Adam and Eve, the first couple mentioned in the Creation Story in the Bible.
It contains Olive Oil, which is grown in Italy where St Valentine lived. It also contains sugar to remind us that we need to be sweet not sour with our friends and the people we love.
Ingredients: (enough for about 50 people/children)
3 cups of Golden Raisins
2 and a half cups of Olive Oil (Extra Virgin is the best)
4 cups of Golden Sugar
7 cups of Plain flour (or Italian 00 flour)
8 extra large eggs
4 teaspoons of ground cinnamon
6 teaspoons of baking soda
2 teaspoons of cream of tartar
2 teaspoons of salt
4 pounds of eating apples peeled and cut into small pieces
Grated peel of 4 lemons
A little butter to cover the inside of the cake tin
You will also need:
A large mixing bowl
A slightly smaller bowl or one the same size
A large sieve
A cup
A large metal spoon
2 very large shallow cake tins (or five smaller 8 inch cake tins)
How to make the cake:
1 Soak the raisins in warm water for 20 minutes.
2 Heat the oven to 350 F.
3 Pour the Olive Oil into a large bowl.
4 Add the sugar and beat it together with the oil.
5 Crack each egg into a cup and add them one at a time into the mixture. (It will look like thin mayonnaise!)
6 Using the sieve, sift together into the other smaller bowl.
The flour (Save a spoonful to cover the cake tin)
The cinnamon
The baking powder
The cream of tartar
The salt
7 Now slowly mix the dry ingredients (Flour, cinnamon etc.) into the olive oil mixture folding them in with the large
metal spoon.
8 When it is thoroughly mixed add the diced apples and the grated lemon peel.
9 Using the sieve, drain the raisins over the small bowl and then add them to the mixture. (It will probably be quite stiff!)
10 Cover the inside of the cake tin with a thin layer of butter and then add the spoon of flour and shake it around the tin until all the sides are covered.
11 Spoon the mixture into the cake tin and bake for at least an hour.
(You will know when it is ready because if you put a tooth pick into the cake it will come out dry.)
12 Remove the cake form the tin and turn it onto a wire rack to cool.
We hope that you enjoy your Valentines Day cake!
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