Did you know that over the festive season, 10,000 mince pies are consumed every minute!
If Mince pies or tarts aren’t your ‘thing’, you don’t fancy making your own pastry or you don’t have a packet of frozen puff or short pastry in the freezer, then you might wish to try these Mincemeat Cakes.
In a nutshell, or even a pastry case, they are little sponge cakes flavoured with dried mixed spice, cinnamon and with a spoonful of tasty mincemeat in the middle. The mincemeat is just one of many wonderful products I’ve bought from the lovely people at Otter Vale, who I visited recently. The mincemeat is really quite luxurious, partly due to some brandy in it! I tried these cakes out on my friends and family and the tins came home empty with the comment “you can make those again!”
Here’s the recipe if you wish to give them a go. They are fairly quick to make and would be great to make with your children too. There are not many dishes to wash up afterwards which is always a good thing.
The mincemeat has no suet in, so I believe it is suitable for vegetarians, and it’s gluten free too – so it could work if you change the flour to gluten free flour.
Put your oven on at 180 degrees C….
What you need:
12 pastry cases & bun tin
175g self raising flour 175g softened unsalted butter 100g soft light brown sugar 1 tsp mixed spice 1 tsp cinnamon 3 eggs Grated zest of an orange 150g mincemeat Icing sugar for dusting
What to do:
Put all the ingredients into a bowl, except the mincemeat, and whisk with an electric mixer for about 2-3 minutes until well blended.
Put the pastry cases into the bun tin and carefully put a tablespoon of mixture in the base of each case.
With a teaspoon, (although I found it easier to use two teaspoons and to save your fingers getting sticky) place a teaspoon of mincemeat in the centre of this. Repeat this for every pastry case. Top these with another tablespoon of cake mixture so that you can’t see any mincemeat. Bake in the middle of your oven for about 15-20 minutes, checking at 15 minutes to see they are OK. Once cooked, take out and carefully put onto a cooling rack. Once cool, if you can wait that long, dust with icing sugar for that snowy, festive look and enjoy with a cup of tea or glass of sherry. I reckon these cakes would be lovely served warm with cream or custard.
The mixture may make a few more than 12 cakes – I seemed to have a bit left in my bowl!
Have a go, and tag us on your photos on social media. Happy mincemeat munching!
Recipe: Mincemeat Cakes by Sue Stoneman Did you know that over the festive season, 10,000 mince pies are consumed every minute! If Mince pies or tarts aren’t your ‘thing’, you don’t fancy making your own pastry or you don’t have a packet of frozen puff or short pastry in the freezer, then you might wish to try these Mincemeat Cakes.
