Ginger and Lemon Cake

Ginger Cake filled with Lemon Curd

Ingredients 

Ginger cake

• 250g Light Brown Sugar (can use dark brown sugar if you prefer)
• 250g Butter
• 320g Plain Flour
• 250ml Milk
• 4 Eggs
• 50g Root Ginger *
• 4 tsp Ground Ginger
• 2 tsp Cinnamon
• 4 tsp Baking powder
• 1 tsp Vanilla extract
• A pinch of Salt

* if you'd like a heavier/hotter ginger taste, you could add an additonal 25g of stem ginger or crystalised ginger for an additional kick.

Lemon Curd

• 50g Caster Sugar
• 50g Butter
• 1 unwaxed lemon (zest & juice)
• 2 eggs

Grease a loaf tin and place a sheet greaseproof paper (baking parchment) on the base.

Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC (Gas Mark 4).

Mix together the flour, spices (Ginger & Cinnamon), Baking powder and Salt.

Cream the butter and sugar together, add the vanilla extract, beat in the 4 eggs, grate in the fresh root ginger. Then gradually add the flour mixture and milk a little at a time whilst continuing to mix. Once you get a smooth batter, pour into the loaf/cake tin. Tap the tin on the work surface a few times to bring any air bubbles up to the surface.

Depending on the heat efficiency of your oven, it can take between 45mins and 60mins. Use a skewer or a sharp knife to pierce through the cake to check if any mix stays on the blade, if it’s still wet then bake for longer. If you find the top of the cake is getting too brown, you can turn the heat down and leave to bake for longer.

Once baked, remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin for 30mins or more. Turn out the cake onto a cooling rack and allow to cool for a further 30mins. Cut across the cake horizontally and separate the two layers.

Lemon Curd

Place a heat proof bowl over a saucepan of water (careful the water doesn’t touch the bottom of the bowl). Bring the water up to the boil and then turn down to a simmer.

Add the butter, sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest and whisk together until smooth and sugar begins to melt.
Lightly beat 1 whole egg and an additional egg yolk together in a cup. Add to the bowl over the pan and continue to stir until the curd thickens (should take approx 10mins).

Spread a layer of lemon curd onto the base layer of the cake, place on the top layer.

Dust with icing sugar and it’s ready to serve.

I'd imagine it would be tasty served with some warm vanilla custard. But it’s also fine just on its own with a cuppa!

Chocolate Macaroons with Orange Cream

Makes 24 (12 when sandwiched)  -  Preparation time - 1 hour  -  Cooking time - 20 min 
 

Ingredients

Macaroon (a.k.a.Pâté à macaron)

• 200g Ground Almonds
• 200g Icing Sugar
• 60g Egg whites (approx 2 eggs)

Meringue

• 60g Egg whites (approx 2 eggs)
• 150g Caster Sugar
• 3 tbsp water

• 100g Dark 70% + cocoa Chocolate (You could also use 100% cocoa solid)

Cream filling

• 200ml  of Whipping Cream
• 50g White Chocolate
• Zest of 1 Orange
• 150g Icing sugar
• Orange food colouring (optional)

Preparation

Cut two sheets of greaseproof paper (baking parchment) to cover the surface of two baking trays. Leave to one side until needed later.

Pre-heat your oven to 180ºC (Gas Mark 4), place the 2 baking trays in the oven and pre-heat those too.

Pâté  à macaron mixture

In a large bowl, blend together the ground almonds, icing sugar and 60g of your egg whites. Once combined leave to cool in the fridge while you prepare the meringue mixture.

Meringue mixture

Heat the water and sugar in a saucepan until the sugar is melted. Bring up to the boil (You can use a thermometer if you want to get it completely accurate – aiming for 115ºC).

In a separate bowl, whisk the remaining egg whites until frothy. Slowly add the sugar syrup (Warning! Be careful pouring hot sugar syrup, do not whisk while pouring, it may splash and burn). Once the syrup is all added, continue to whisk until it reaches a smooth white texture, keep whisking until stiff, it should form peaks as you remove the whisk from the mixture.

Chocolate Flavouring

In a small saucepan add a small amount of water, place a heatproof (pyrex) bowl over the top and melt the chocolate.

Macaroon mixture (3 previous stages combined)

Fold in the meringue mixture to the pate de almond, pour in the melted chocolate, stir until the mixture becomes smooth and combined.

Pour the mixture into a piping bag.

Baking

Remove the trays from the oven (remember to use an oven glove!). Place the greaseproof sheets on top. You may need to dab a small amount of mixture onto the baking tray to prevent the paper from sliding around.

Pipe out the mixture in small 4cm circles onto the paper, holding the bag upright and piping vertically from the centre of each circle. Try to leave a sufficient gap between each circle as they will expand as they settle on the tray. You should fit 12 per sheet. Leave to one side for 10mins, the mixture should settle and form a skin.

(* Apologies… I didn’t take a photo during piping, my hands were rather full at the time!)

Bake in the hot oven 180ºC (Gas Mark 4) for 8-12minutes.

Remove and allow to cool for at least 20mins before removing from the paper. Allow to cool for longer before piping the cream inside.

Cream filling

Melt the white chocolate in a bowl over a pan of water (as before). Whisk the cream, while adding the icing sugar until it becomes stiff, add the zest of the orange, and a few drops of orange food colouring (optional).

Add the cream to a piping bag and pipe onto the base of each macaroon, then sandwich together another macaroon.

Finally dust with icing sugar and serve.

They are perfect served after dinner with coffee, or an afternoon teatime treat.

(* As you'll notice from the photos, for some added texture and flavour, I also crumbled some honeycomb over the cream filling before sandwiching together)

 

Cinder Toffee a.k.a. Honeycomb

Cinder Toffee a.k.a. Honeycomb

This is a great autumnal sweet treat, great eaten just on its own, or is fantastic crumbled into some vanilla ice cream. With its golden autumn colour, a brittle crunch and sticky toffee after taste. It’s a very quick and easy recipe requiring few ingredients. Bring on the bonfire season!

Ingredients

80g Butter

160g Caster Sugar

80g Golden Syrup

2 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

1 tblsp Vegetable Oil (to grease a baking tray)

Grease a baking tray with some oil, or you can add a sheet of greaseproof paper as I have done.

Choose a medium sized saucepan, preferably one with a thick base that can hold the heat.

On a low heat, add the butter and sugar to the pan, when combined and both starting to melt, add the golden syrup and mix together.

 Once combined and the sugar has melted, turn up the heat from a simmer to boil and until the contents begin to bubble. When it has reached the desired colour of golden brown you want, turn off the heat. 

Quickly add the Bicarbonate of Soda and stir vigorously, it will go light and fluffy in a matter of seconds. Warning! It will expand very quickly.

Empty the contents of the pan onto your greased baking tray. Allow to cool for at least 15mins before tipping out of the tray, it may require cooling a bit more before you can start to cut up into pieces.

Enjoy with a cup of coffee, or serve as a sweet and crunchy addition to ice cream.

Spinach, Feta and Pistachio Tartlets

(makes 6 small or 4 medium size tartlets)

Preparation time – 30mins

Cooking time – 20mins

Well, it seems the weather forecasters got it right. And Saturday was seeminlgy the last day of summer. While the sun was still shining, I thought I'd make some late summer tartlets to take to friends as a starter for dinner in the evening. 

So here are my little tasty tartlets that are the ideal size for a starter, or a light lunch. They're best served warm from the oven (but can be eaten cold) with some onion marmalade/chutney and a lightly dressed rocket salad on the side.

Ingredients

Short Crust Parmesan Pastry

250g Plain Flour

125g Butter

1 egg

5-10g grated Parmesan

pinch of salt (optional as parmesan is quite salty)

Tartlet Filling

100g Feta cheese

1 red onion

30g Spinach

20g Pistachios

5 eggs

Salt and Pepper

pinch of mixed herbs or sprig of fresh mint

Pastry

Crumble together the butter and flour until a breadcrumb texture forms. Add grated parmesan, pinch of salt and 1 egg. Work with hands until it combines into a dough/pastry. Lightly flour a clean surface. Roll out until 5mm thick and cut into circles a little larger than the tartlet tin, or mini pie tins work just as well. (I use Kuhn Rikon mini round pie dishes)

Line tins with the pastry, pressing firmly into the base and corners. Prick the bases with a fork to prevent bubbles from forming. Leave to cool in the fridge for 20mins before placing in a pre-heated oven.

Bake for 12mins @ 180ºC (Gas Mark 4)

Remove from the oven and allow to cool to one side while preparing the filling.

Tartlet filling

Finely slice the red onion, crumble the feta, crush the pistachios and finely chop the spinach and sprinkle a little of each ingredient into each pastry case.

Crack 5 eggs into a jug, and beat lightly. Season with some salt and pepper, add some dried mixed herbs or finely chopped mint, and pour over the contents of the tartlets.

Bake for 15-20mins @ 180ºC (Gas Mark 4) until golden and bubbling.

Remove from the oven and serve while still warm. Best served with onion chutney/marmalade and rocket salad.

You could even adapt the recipe, and use a 12 x muffin/cupcake tin, and make miniature versions to serve as canapés.

Spicy Jerk and Ginger Chicken with Mango Salsa

Spicy Jerk & Ginger Chicken with Mango Salsa

Summer time usually means one thing… barbeques (weather permitting of course)! After a while we all get a little sick and tired of the usual burgers and bangers, this is an alternative that is sure to tickle the taste buds. Taking a bit of inspiration from the flavours of the Caribbean, here is a spicy jerk and ginger chicken recipe, with mango and sweetcorn salsa served with sweet potato wedges. It’s a great mix of flavours, the hint of spice of the sticky marinated jerk and ginger chicken and the fresh zingy mango salsa is surprisingly complimentary, not to mention the contrast between hot and cold.

Preparation time approx 1 hr  
Cooking time approx 30 mins

Ingredients: 

• 400g Chicken (any cut you prefer, breast/thighs/legs).
• 1 inch piece of Root Ginger
• 1 x Lime
• 1 tin of Sweetcorn
• 1 Mango
• 2 Red Chillies
• 2 x Sweet Potatoes (or approx 1 per person)
• 1 clove of Garlic
• 2 tbl spn Jerk seasoning
• 2 tbl spn Honey
• 1 pinch of Cayenne
• Olive oil
• handful of fresh Coriander

Method:

If cooking on skewers slice chicken into bite size pieces, or if cooking whole breast fillets, butterfly cut them so they cook evenly throughout, place into an oven dish, dry rub the meat with the jerk seasoning. For the marinade, finely chop the garlic and one of the chillies, grate the ginger and zest and juice half of the lime, add the honey, spread over the chicken, then add 4 tbl spns of olive oil or until the meat is lightly coated. Leave in the fridge for minimum 30mins, or ideally for around 2+ hours.

While waiting for the marinade to infuse you can start on the salsa. Start by peeling and deseeding the mango then finely chop and tip into a bowl, drain the sweetcorn and add to the mango. Deseed and finely chop the other red chilli, zest and juice the other half of the lime, chop a large handful of fresh coriander then mix everything together in a bowl and place in the fridge until ready to serve.

Peel and slice the sweet potatoes into wedges, coat in olive oil and season with the cayenne pepper, bake in the oven for 15-20 mins @ 200°C (Gas Mark 5), or if barbequing, parboil for 2-3 mins and finish on the barbeque.

Remove the chicken from the fridge and cook on the barbeque, or alternatively, you can always grill or even fry in a pan if the weather doesn’t play ball.

Once the chicken is cooked through and the marinade starts to caramelise, you’re ready to plate up with the sweet potato and mango salsa.

Carrot Cake

Carrot Cake

Here's my version of the all time classic carrot cake. 

Popularised during the second world war due to food rationing, as carrots were a cheaper and more plentiful alternative to flour and sugar and could therefore both help sweeten and bulk out the mix. It has seen a resurgence during the economic downturn, but you can't really say for the same reasons, more just the fact that it never ceases to put a smile on the face of anyone who scoffs a mouthful.

Preparation time approx 25mins

Cooking time 40mins

Ingredients:

• 175g light brown sugar
• 175ml Sunflower oil
• 3 large Eggs, lightly beaten
• 3 Carrots grated
• 100g Raisins
• 50g Pecans
• grated zest of 1 Orange
• 175g Self-raising Flour
• 1 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
• 1 tsp ground Cinnamon
• ½ tsp grated Nutmeg (ground is also fine) 
• ½ tsp ground Ginger

Cream Cheese Icing/Frosting

• 175g icing sugar
• 150g soft cheese (Philadelphia, other brands are available :)
• zest of lemon or orange

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas 4. Grease and line the base and sides of a cake tin with greaseproof paper. For mine I used a 20cm (8in) round cake tin and an already fluted greaseproof cake tin liner, can pick them up in most cookery shops and large supermarkets.

Tip the all the wet ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Sugar, oil and the eggs. Lightly mix together with a wooden spoon (you can use a mixer on a low speed if you prefer). Stir in the grated carrots, raisins, orange rind and crushed pecan nuts.

Separately mix the flour, bicarbonate of soda and spices together; then sift into the bowl containing the wet mix. Lightly beat all the ingredients together until well mixed. The mixture should still be quite wet.

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for approx. 40 minutes @ 180°C (Gas mark 4) or until it feels firm and springy when you press it in the centre (best way to test is to insert a skewer into the deepest part of the cake and it shouldn’t have any trace of wet mixture when removed). Remove from the oven and allow it to cool in the tin for a few minutes, then turn it out, peel off the paper and leave to cool on a wire rack.

Beat together the soft cheese and sifted icing sugar in a mixing bowl, add the zest of a lemon or orange to add flavour and help cut through the sweetness. The icing should be of a double cream consistency, if you find it is too thick add a teaspoon at a time of warm water to help liquify a little. Pour the icing over the top and spread liberally.

Store in the fridge to keep moist… and enjoy with a cup of tea or coffee!

Pear and Blue Cheese Tart

-->Pear & Blue Cheese Tart

A classic salad combination of Pears and Blue Cheese, normally served on a bed of dressed salad leaves with some walnuts for added crunch. This recipe is using the same core ingredients but cooking them all in a tart.

Short crust pastry

Ingredients :

200g Plain Flour

100g Butter

2 tbl sp water

Pinch of salt

1 egg

Method:

Crumble (cold) butter and flour together until bread crumb consistency. Once it binds together into a dough, wrap in cling film and place in the fridge for 20mins.

Flour a work surface and rolling pin, roll out until large enough to line a flan tin and aim for approx 5mm thick.

Lightly grease tin, and place dough over the top, gently press down into the corners/edges of the tin.

Beat one egg and brush the base and sides of the pastry, prick the base with a fork and bake in the oven for 15-20mins @ 180°C (Gask Mark 4), or until lightly golden.

Tart filling

Ingredients :

2 Pears

1 Red Onion

150g Blue Cheese

2 Eggs

50g Walnuts or Pecans

Method:

Slice Red Onion and fry in a pan in a small amount of butter or oil. Peel and slice pears and remove any seeds, add to onions once they’ve softened, fry for a 3-5 mins, season with salt and pepper and remove from heat.

Beat two eggs and season with salt and pepper.

Place sliced pears and onion onto base, crumble blue cheese and crushed nuts over the tart contents, pour the beaten eggs over the top. Bake in oven for 25mins @ 180°C (Gask Mark 4).

Serve hot or cold.