Looking for a lost recipe. I have the ingredients I think but need quantities

Hi I’m a school cook and we used to make a pudding using flour lard sugar made into a dough, pushed into a tin to cook then poured syrup over after cooking. I’d love to find the recipe again. Can anyone help with quantities please? I think the ingredients are correct but it’s the quantity’s I need.

Cooksuey
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10 Comments

Gammy January 25, 2020
Try looking up the term "Poke Cake" instead of syrup cake. May not find exactly what you remember, but the idea is the same.
 
Cooksuey January 25, 2020
Thank you I will
 
Cooksuey January 25, 2020
No luck with web search using syrup cake, they are showing recipes with egg making it a sponge cake which it is not.
 
Lori T. January 25, 2020
I'm going to make a guess here that you were cooking in a school in Canada, the UK, or Australia, because you refer to this as a pudding. I think what you are describing would best be known in the US as a syrup cake. Most versions now are made with butter, rather than lard- but as a child I can remember my grandmother making it with lard when butter got scarce during the winter. The syrup could be made with sugar, golden syrup, molasses, cane syrup, or whatever sweet syrup she had to hand, and was poured over the hot cake shortly after it came out of the oven. It could supposedly last for days- though in our house I doubt it made it 24 hours. Anyway, if you do a web search for syrup cake recipes, you will probably find a version using the same or very similar ingredients which fits your request.
 
Cooksuey January 25, 2020
I think you could be spot on here Lori and yes I’m in the Uk. We did also use butter at times although I prefer the taste with the lard. It could be eaten as a cold cake too and was/is just as tasty. Thank you so much and I will see what I can find under syrup cake.
 
Cooksuey January 25, 2020
No luck with search for syrup cake. They keep showing me sponge cakes with eggs which it is not.
 
Lori T. January 25, 2020
I dug into my recipe stash to find my "recipe" for you and I've tried to convert the measurements to make it easier. This cake does contain one egg, but it's definitely not in the sponge category. I think it is there for some leavening, because self-rising flour didn't used to be so dependable as it is now. I put in Golden syrup where my recipe simply designates syrup - but you could use whatever you had, even a simple syrup made of sugar and water works. I've made it with maple syrup, golden syrup, cane syrup, and sorghum syrup - and though the taste is different depending on which you chose, it's always yummy. I imagine if you wanted you could leave out the egg and see how it went. Grandma's hens laid an assortment of sizes, as you can imagine- so I know size isn't critical. Anyway, maybe this will help. Instead of the butter, as I wrote first- she also did use lard in it's place. Milk came from the family cow, with the cream skimmed for butter and coffee use. I've used whole, and half fat (2% in the US). I hope this helps, or at least gives you a place to start.
Oh- tin size. She did it in a small loaf pan, and I generally use an 8 x 8 inch square. She lined the bottom with a piece of brown paper, where I use parchment.

Golden Syrup Cake Recipe
110g Butter
110g Sugar (half brown and half caster works nicely)
225g Golden Syrup
225g Self Raising Flour
1 egg
150 ml milk
4 tbsp Golden Syrup

Melt butter, syrup and sugar gently until the ingredients are just melted together, stirring occasionally. Leave to cool for ten minutes. Beat the eggs and milk. Add flour, and syrup mixture. Whisk or stir till combined and there are no lumps. Pour into a greased and lined cake tin. Bake for about 50 minutes, or till golden brown and pulling away at the sides. While still warm, poke lots of holes with a skewer and pour warmed golden syrup over the top (warm it because it makes it easier to pour).

 
Lori T. January 25, 2020
Forgot the oven temperature. I do 350F - about 175F.
 
Cooksuey January 25, 2020
Thank you for all of this Lori I do appreciate it and will give it a go here in the uk. I hope my school children enjoy it. I’m also going to look up Poke Cake as advised. Best wishes
 
Cooksuey January 27, 2020
Thank you again for your help but just to let you know I’ve solved it myself and got the result I wanted.
I used a basic shortbread recipe and trebled the quantities. I also used half butter and half lard as well as self raising flour and a couple of teaspoons of baking powder to help it rise. I pressed it into a deep tin and cooked until firm and light brown. Whilst warm I poked it and gave it a good feed of syrup. It was just what I remember it being like so I’m pretty happy 😃
 
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