Tunis cake anyone?

broke_mary

can i have your recipe for the orange and ginger cake please thriftlady is sounds gorgeous

thanks mary

George_Bray

Loobysaver wrote: »

I looked on the Tesco website when I was doing my shop and they didn't have it! My Mum said they used to have it every year and it had an inch thick layer of really nice dark chocolate on top. (mmmm) They had it once about 5 years ago and there was barely any chocolate and it was a really soft cheap chocolate flavour - not how she remembered it at all!

I agree! I think the original Tunis Cakes were made by McVities and were delicious. But they stopped production in the mid 80s. Two or three years ago I bought Tesco's 'own brand' version and it was simply awful - nothing like the original. I tried a Waitrose version, too, and that was even worse.

Seakay

This cake sounds delicious - but is it very difficult to cut? Thick solid chocolate on a sponge base sounds a bit tricky!

PasturesNew

I've been keeping an eye out for Tunis cake for a good 10-15 years.
I remember them from the 60s-70s.

THICK chocolate on the top.

I did think I saw one last year, on closer inspection it wasn't chocolate at all, but a chocolate soft icing.

If you're reading this and not tried one: try to find one... you'll get addicted.

Dill

Wow, this thread brings back fond childhood memories of tunis cake at Christmas! They are pretty hard to find now:( I have an inkling M&S do a small one but I haven't looked recently.

The recipe at the top of this thread suggests baking the cake at 150/gas 2, is that right? It just seems quite low for a sponge cake?

George_Bray

Dill wrote: »

Wow, this thread brings back fond childhood memories of tunis cake at Christmas! They are pretty hard to find now:( I have an inkling M&S do a small one but I haven't looked recently.

I don't know if anyone else did a 'Tunis Cake' before the McVities one which I clearly recall, taste wise, from the 70s and half the 80s. But it's that McVities version (quite a large cake) which is the reference version for me. God only knows why they deleted it. It's just about the only shop bought cake which I've ever liked. Perhaps we should start a petition to get it re-introduced. Anyway, in the mean time - shattered by how awful the Tesco and Waitrose versions were, I set about trying to make my own, based on a recipe something like the one above on this thread. It tasted a lot better than the Tesco and Waitrose ones and perhaps 75% as good as the McVities original - both my sponge cake and chocolate topping tasted quite close to the McVities version, for a first attempt. I must have another attempt for this Xmas. I think I have a photo of this, my first and only recent attempt, about 2 years ago. If I find the photo, I'll try and post it here in a few days time, if anyone is interested. To Tesco's credit, when I complained, they sent me a full refund!

Update: OK, and please don't laugh, here's a photo of my first attempt at trying to replicate the McVities Tunis cake. My main objective here was TASTE and I got quite close. Appearance and presentation was secondary and will be 'polished up' once I get the taste optimised. Anyhow, this looks something roughly like the McVities one but my test cake is smaller and the depth of chocolate may be a tad thinner, but it's relative to my less deep cake, overall. The McVities cake was quite deep.

ALSO: I know my DIY decoration (marzipan and icing based) is not quite right. I have some new ideas but - PLEASE say how you think the top of the McVities Tunis cake looked, decoration wise. Can you remember? Thanks in advance.

oldMcDonald

I had forgotten all about Tunis cakes! In the '70s we had them every Christmas and they were huge (or was it that I was small? Wagon Wheels were huge when I was a kid and they seem so small now!)

Think I'm going to have to have a go at making one this year. Thanks OP for bringing back some memories of Boxing Day teatimes from my childhood

CelticStar

I remember these too, my step-grandparents always bought one and we loved it as children - this was in the eighties though. Feel really hungry now lol.

George_Bray

I posted a photo above of my DIY Tunis Cake and hope you find it interesing. Any 'thanks' will be gratefully received for the image but please use the above message/post and not this one!

I also hope to post photos, later today, of the Tesco version, which looked quite good (but not like the McVities design) and tasted awful.

As I suggested to Tesco, they must commission a firm to make their cakes. Why not get McVities (United Biscuits) to find the 70s/80s recipe and, if they don't want to re-launch it, perhaps they could make it for Tesco.

Here are the photos:

Loobysaver

Ooooh I've just noticed my thread has come back to life from last year :j

Just to let you all know, I made the tunis cake from the recipe supplied in this thread and it was blimin gorgeous. My Nan and Mum were really impressed.

The picture of the Tesco one doesn't look very authentic at all - too soft.

PS and yes we managed to cut through the chocolate layer alright with a sharp knife!