Saturday 6 February 2010

Passionfruit shortcake - words only

This is a family recipe, now at least 50 and more years old. It's simple but good.
It's best made the day before it is eaten.

8oz selfraising flour
2oz caster sugar
1/4 pound of butter
1 egg (not too small)

Cream butter and sugar.
Add egg and mix well.
Sift flour into mix. It will be a very stiff mixture.
Press (it's a stiff mixture!) into a well greased 8" cake pan. Roughen the top of the cake with a fork and sprinkle with caster sugar.
Bake for 30 minutes in a moderate oven
When cooked the cake is slightly golden. It should be cooked all the way through.
Cool cake in the tin. This is a dryish cake base when first cooked, but it moistens and mellows once it has its passionfruit butter filling.

Passionfruit butter filling.

Ease the cake out of it's cooking tin and split it in two. A breadknife will slice it through nicely.
Mix:
2/3 pound of pure icing sugar (no icing mixes with yucky cornflour and such please!)
2 teaspoons of butter
2-4  passionfruit (I go for 4 every time)

Spread this thickly over the bottom of the cake and put the top with its nicely rough, sugary crust on top.
Place in a cake tin and let the cake settle, as my mother used to say.
Leave for full day in the tin before eating.

What about the pre-metric measurements?
Well I 've made it for years, first with my mum, and sort of know 'how it should go'. I also have an old measuring cup, for when I suddenly think 'What is 8 ounces of flour?'
Conversion tables for all this stuff are easily found on the internet.

Why is there no picture?
I haven't got a picture because it's just been a bit too hot for cake baking around here.

5 comments:

Jeannie S said...

Thank you for the recipe- my mum had it and it was lost somehow now she has passed away. I will use it when next I do afternoon tea with the girlfriends.
Jeannie

Elizabeth said...

Lovely Jeannie! I think this is the sort of cake that calls for teacups. Hope you enjoy it

freefalling said...

This sounds wonderful!
My kind of cake (I'm not a fan of those over-blown types).
Do you grow passionfruit in Ballarat?
I've had a vine in for 2 years but the flowers won't set fruit.
I might have to try hand pollinating.
Will ask my MIL for her ricotta cake recipe, too.

Elizabeth said...

I want to plant a Nelly Kelly passionfruit as soon as I can because this rain's made me really hopeful for next year. I've killed 2 vines so far so I won't venture any advice on yours, but good luck!

Elizabeth said...

Don't feel you MUST get the ricotta recipe because I posted my mum's recipe. I just found several handwritten recipes of hers and got all nostalgic, so I posted this one. It's nice to see it sitting up there all neat and tidy!