Fig cakes, Nazi rockets and something hot in Spalding

The Nazi rocket scientist of World War II, Werner Von Braun who developed the V2 rocket said something like "I am only responsible for how the rockets go up - not where they come down." After the war he was integrated into the United States space program despite having been an officer in the SS and despite the German rocket program using slave labour from concentration camps. How convenient.


In a way, I feel similarly about the content of this blog. I am only responsible for giving information, not what people decide to do with it. But there the similarity ends.

I'm merely getting the ball over the net, as it were. What the reader does on the far side of the court is a choice issue of their own.

I mention this to you because I've had a complaint. It seems that a reader from Spalding, the home of our UK garden bulb industry (with no name or address supplied, wisely) seems to have tried out the little piece on figging, served up to you at the end on the article on Lincolnshire plum loaf. I'm sure it did have a dramatic effect and I hope that he will get out of the spare bedroom as soon as is deemed reasonable. I believe that Anusol may have a role here.

So, there you have it. If in doubt, read the whole article before involving audience participation.

But, to celebrate this little first, I present you with a simple and I hope easy to follow recipe for fig cakes, from the 1930s. Yes, it contains figs - not ginger root, but it does have a little pinch of the stuff.


Fig Cakes

Ingredients

225 g Self raising flour
75 g Butter
50 g Caster sugar
100 g Figs - finely chopped
1 Egg
2 Tbsp Milk
3 Pinches Ground ginger
3 Pinches Ground Cinnamon
3 Pinches Ground nutmeg

Directions

Get the oven up to temperature. 220C, 425F, Gas mark 7.
Rub the flour and butter together.
Remove the fig stalks with a pair of scissors.



Chop the figs finely and add them to the mix.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg and mix in with the milk.
Stir into the flour and sugar mixture.
Add the ground Ginger, ground cinnamon and nutmeg to the mixture.
Beat the mixture to a soft batter.
Fill small cake tin or bun tin up to 3/4 full.
Bake for 20 minutes at 220C, Gas mark 7



Place the cake buns on a wire rack to cool off.

Just to be clear on this. These cakes are for eating. Nothing else.