Recipe for Kendal mint cake ??

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British Red

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Dec 30, 2005
26,709
1,947
Mercia
You will need

1lb of sugar (white or brown)
1/4 pint of milk
1/2 to 1 teaspoon peppermint essence or a few drops of real peppermint oil

Put the sgar and milk in a heavy pan over a low heat and stir until dissolved

Then bring to the boil until temperature reaches 114C on a sugar thermometer (if you haven't got one, drop a bit of the mixture into ice water - it should form a soft ball when rolled between thumb and forefinger)

Remove from the heat and beat vigorously for 2 mintes.

Return to the heat and raise temperature to 119C (or the mixture makes a hard ball when tested as above)

Remove from heat and add peppermint flavour.

Stir until thick.

Pour into an oiled shallow tin, mark into squares and leave to set.

Cut when fully cooled.

Red
 

Shewie

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Dec 15, 2005
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It reminds me of basically eating icing off a christams cake, but less mushy. I think it will be icing sugar, peppermint essence and possibly one other ingredient to stengthen it ??



Rich
 

British Red

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Dec 30, 2005
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Nope - good old granulated is fine. I do use icing sugar (or confectioners sugar) in some recipes but you don't need it in Kendal Mint Cake.

I have some sweet tutorials around somewhere if you like such things?

Red
 

Shewie

Mod
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Dec 15, 2005
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Cheers for that Red :You_Rock_ I`ve developed a bit of a taste for it at the moment so thought I`d give it a bash.

Where am I likely to find a sugar thermometer, will it be easiest to find one on the web somewhere ???



Rich
 

British Red

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Dec 30, 2005
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Rich,

They are often sold as "deep frying" thermometers. Sugar gets hot. Any good cook store should have one. The best type are a dial on a probe that clips to the side of the pan. To be honest the "soft ball / hard ball" test works fine when you get used to it.

I've just hunted through all the sweet making pictorials I have and sadly I can't do you one on Kendal Mint Cake unless you wait a week or two.

I have a nice one for Turkish Delight if you fancy it though :D

Red
 

British Red

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Dec 30, 2005
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Blimey BR, you amaze me everytime mate, nice one


Aww shucks :eek:

I like to make things and its all part of my drive to greater self sufficiency - making sweets is really quite rewarding (and very quick). Kids love to join in and I like to whip up the old favourites - coconut ice and the like. Dead simple. I don't post many of the pictorials on here cos its not really "Bushcraft". My interests are moving me more and more into things like vinegar making, pickling etc. "Homesteading Skills" skills if you like rather than "Mountain Man". Always happy to share what I know if theres an interest though ;)

Red
 

Shewie

Mod
Mod
Dec 15, 2005
24,259
24
48
Yorkshire
There`s a cookware shop at the retail outlet on my way to work, I`ll call in one afternoon this week and see if they`ve got any.

I`ll give the Turkish Delight a miss thanks Red, my big brother force fed me loads when I was about nine and I haven`t been able to touch it since.



Rich
 

British Red

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Dec 30, 2005
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No worries - acid drops work in a similar way BTW (got a tutorial for them too ;)). They use citric acid instead of peppermint.

Jam thermometer will work well too - anything that goes up to 150C

Red
 

British Red

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Dec 30, 2005
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I love that stuff, any chance of a copy please BR

Sure - sorry for the thread Hijack Shewie - you'd better look away now :)

Ingredients

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You will need:

½ pint of water
1oz of Gelatine
1lb of granulated Sugar
¼ teaspoon of citric acid
1 tablespoon of rosewater
Pink food colour
A little icing sugar and cornflour

Pour your water into a cold pan and then sprinkle the gelatine over the surface of the water stirring gently.

2038692702_cf4af0217e.jpg


Add the sugar and citric acid and put on a low heat until everything has dissolved.

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Boil hard for 20 minutes then add the rosewater

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Drip in colouring until you get a nice pink shade. I find my handy dandy cheap plastic eyedroppers come in handy here (as well as water purification, vinegar titration and all sorts of other stuff)

2037897485_08a1a42d92.jpg


Leave the mixture to cool for 15 minutes and then pour into an oiled mould. As keen as I am on traditional tools, these silicone loaf tins and moulds they make these days are fantastic for turning out neat loaves, soaps, sweets and all sorts. Heatproof and you can just turn them inside out. Silly colours they come in though

2037898167_5aef0e18a0.jpg


Let the mixture cool in the mould for 24 hours. Sieve together a couple of tablespoons of cornflour with a couple of tablespoons of icing sugar. Leave most in a bowl but use a bit to carefully coat a cutting board

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Using a sharp knife, cut into slices and then cubes. A good size is about ¾”.

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Roll each cube in the icing sugar and cornflour. You should end up with about a pound and a half

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Line some tins with greaseproof paper and fill with the cubes giving each layer a thick dusting of the sugar / cornflour mix.

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A firm favourite of children, old ladies (and middle aged Bushcrafters). If you want to be posh they are “Rahat Lokoum”. To me they will always remind me of my Gran.

Red
 

spamel

Banned
Feb 15, 2005
6,833
21
48
Silkstone, Blighty!
Now, that looks really tasty, but I had turkish delight made by a turk in London, and it was like white candy floss. Taste wise, though, it was out of this world.
 

Eric_Methven

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Apr 20, 2005
3,600
42
73
Durham City, County Durham
If you want the Kendal mint cake really hard so you have to suck it for hours, add a small amount of gum tragacanth just before pouring and give it a beat to mix in well.

Icing sugar, gum tragacanth, egg white and pepermint essence make great trebor mint clones. Mix to a stiff paste, roll in a sheet of greasproof until firm, then slice into rounds and allow to harden.

Eric
 

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
38,937
4,570
S. Lanarkshire
I made a lot of sweeties when the boys were young, Andrew was allergic to azo dyes and those blasted things were in everything back then.
Mint stars, rosehearts, edinburgh rock....tablet was HWMBLT's contribution :D Kind of surprising really that the boys have never had a tooth pulled or filled in their lives :cool:


This is the tablet recipe I posted on another thread a couple of years ago

Ingredients
1kg bag of sugar
½ can of sweetened condensed milk
125g of butter
1 cup of milk or water
Method
Butter a tray ready for the tablet.
Have a mug of cold water ready for testing
Put all the ingredients in a high sided pan.
Stir continuously on a medium heat until all the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved.
Turn the heat up a bit.
Boil stirring continuously until when some of the tablet is dropped into cold water and you push it with your finger it forms a soft ball.
The tablet should be light coloured not brown. It is better to take it off the heat too early rather than too late. You can always reheat it if its too soft.
Stir the tablet vigorously until it becomes thick . If you cool the pan in cold water this saves you getting a sore arm.
Pour the tablet into the buttered tray to set.
Enjoy scraping out the pot.
Bribe somebody else to do the washing up. :rolleyes: (usually the fee for being allowed to scrape out the pot)

This is the good home made stuff but it doesn't keep very long. The commercial stuff is boiled to rock hardness and though it keeps very well I think it loses a lot of the flavour.

atb,
Toddy
 

andy_e

Native
Aug 22, 2007
1,742
0
Scotland
This is the good home made stuff but it doesn't keep very long. The commercial stuff is boiled to rock hardness and though it keeps very well I think it loses a lot of the flavour.

I think you must mean it doesn't last very long ;)

After I've made up a batch I stick a few in strategic locations around my rucksacks, usually finding a bar secreted away a couple of months later - still tastes fine, though sometimes it's gone a bit soft from being squashed in my pack. I think it's a great "emergency" ration, because it's not just carbohydrates but fats as well.
 

match

Settler
Sep 29, 2004
707
8
Edinburgh
I've got a traditional recipe for Turkish delight which is actually suitable for vegans! There wasn't any gelatine used in the original stuff, and in my experience it actually makes for a better taste/texture without it. Made a lot of it over Christmas as presents, and it all went down very quickly!

Turkish Delight
-------------------

4 cups Sugar
4.5 cups Water
1 Lemon
1 cup Cornflour
1 tsp Cream of Tartar
2 tbsp Rose Water
Few Drops Colouring

For Dusting:
1 cup Icing Sugar
0.5 cup Cornflour

Dissolve the sugar in 1.5 cups of water, add the lemon juice and bring to the boil. Simmer until the syrup reaches soft ball (115 C ).

In a separate pan, mix the cornflour, cream of tartar and remaining water and simmer until it forms a thick glue-like paste.

Mix the syrup and paste together, and keep over a moderate heat, stirring regularly until the mixture turns a golden colour and reaches hard ball (120C ) - this may take up to an hour. Take off the heat, and add the flavouring and colour. (For lemon turkish delight, just omit the rose water and colour at this point, or divide the mix in 2 and make 2 different flavoured batches).

Line a dish with cling film, lightly oil it, then pour in the mixture. Cool and chill until set.

Mix the icing sugar and cornflour, sprinkle some over the surface of the set mixture,
and turn out onto another sheet of clingfilm. Peel off the piece on the bottom, dust and then cut into cubes, rolling the cubes into the dusting mix until well covered.

Store in the leftover dusting mix between sheets of greaseproof paper, mixing up occasionally to prevent sticking.
 

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