semolina, coconut and orange syrup cake

I am a huge fan of Yotam Ottolenghi's recipes. He isn't scared of strong flavours, the recipes often challenge my preconceived ideas of what ingredients 'should' work together and the methods are usually fairly straight forward. What's not to love? Below is my variation on the semolina, coconut and marmalade cake that can be found in the recent book Jerusalem. I didn't really fancy the loaf shape suggested in the book so I used one 22cm spring form tin. Also, I couldn't find orange blossom water in my local shops so instead created a delicious lemon and rosewater syrup instead. I found it really worked well but feel free to stick with the original if you prefer.

Ingredients

WET:
180ml sunflower or vegetable oil
240ml orange juice (roughly two large oranges)
160g orange marmalade (fine cut or peel-free)
4 medium eggs
grated zest of 1 orange

DRY:
70g caster sugar
70g dessicated coconut
90g plain flour
180g semolina
2tbsp ground almonds
2 tsp baking powder

SYRUP:
200g caster sugar
140ml water
1 tbsp orange blossom water (or 2 tsp rosewater (or to taste) and 2 tsp lemon juice)

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/160C FAN/gas mark 4. Grease and base line your tin.
2. Mix together the wet ingredients until fully combined.
3. In a separate bowl mix together the dry ingredients then add the dry to the wet and mix thoroughly. The mixture should be quite runny.
4. Bake in the oven for around 45-60 mins or until a skewer comes out cleanly.
5. Towards the end of the cooking time combine the syrup ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to the boil over a gentle heat then remove from the heat. 
6. When the cake is cooked remove it from the oven and use a skewer to make small holes all over. Carefully pour over the warm syrup making sure you use it all. In Jerusalem they recommend brushing the syrup over and waiting for the syrup to be soaked in before repeating then continuing the process until all the syrup is used. I am far to impatient to do this but by all means feel free to do it yourself. I found with my method all the syrup got used and nothing bad happened so all is good.
7. Leave the cake to cool down a little before removing from the tins to cool completely. 
8. Serve with greek yogurt or creme fraiche, flavoured with orange blossom water if you fancy. 

pistachio cookies three ways

Living where I do in London there are numerous small shops selling beautiful looking and delicious tasting baklava. This has undoubtedly been the influence behind my latest recipe offering. The flavours of pistachio, cardamon and honey are a perfect combination and come together in a fragrant, elegant and crisp biscuit. The dough is fairly forgiving and you can shape it however you like.You should also feel free to experiment with the fillings or leave them unfilled so that you can dunk them in your tea. It will be a great biscuit however you decide to make them. Below I've included recipes for both a honey and orange buttercream and a chocolate ganache filling.

Biscuit Ingredients
375g plain flour
250g caster sugar
125g unsalted butter at room temperature
100g shelled pistachio nuts (set a few to the side if you want to use them for decoration)
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1 medium egg
Generous pinch of salt

1. Put the pistachios and sugar in the food processor and pulse until finely ground and resembling fine breadcrumbs. 
2. In a bowl beat the butter with an electric whisk until soft then add the egg and beat for a further 30 seconds or so.
3. Add in the remaining ingredients and mix until you have a dough. You may find it easier to do this with your hands. 
4. Form the dough into a 40cm log and wrap in cling film. Leave to rest in the fridge for around an hour. 
5. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 170C and line a baking sheet with baking parchment. 
6. Unwrap the dough and cut off discs about 1/2cm thick. You can alternatively roll the dough out on to a lightly floured surface Place on the baking sheet, place a halved pistachio in the centre of biscuit if you wish and then bake for around 15 minutes or until just golden on the edges. 
7. Once cooked allow to firm up on the baking sheet before removing them to cool completely on a wire rack. When the biscuits are completely cool you can fill them with one of the options below or eat them as they are. Enjoy. 

Honey and Orange Buttercream

100g butter at room temperature

400g icing sugar

3-4 tbsp honey

finely grated zest of half an orange

couple of tablespoons of cream or milk

1.  Using an electric whisk, beat the butter until it is light and fluffy then bit by bit sift in the icing sugar. 
2. Once the sugar and butter are thoroughly combined add the honey and zest and beat for a few seconds. If the icing is a bit thick add a couple of tablespoons of milk and cream and beat in until you have a smooth consistency.

Chocolate Ganache

100g dark chocolate broken into small pieces

100ml double cream

pinch of salt (optional)

1. Heat the cream in a saucepan over a low heat. Remove from the heat just before it reaches boiling point then pour over the chocolate pieces in a heatproof bowl.
2. Stir the chocolate and cream together until the chocolate is completely melted. Add the salt is wanted then set the mixture to one side to cool. 
3. Once the mixture has cooled down, beat it with an electric whisk until it thickens up. 

homemade jaffa cupcakes

This classic starts out with a basic vanilla cupcake batter but is made special with the addition of the orange jelly and plain chocolate. I made this using smaller cake cases as I wanted a more even balance of cake, jelly and chocolate, this means you should get at least 12 from the basic mixture. Feel free however, to make the cakes in muffin cases, it will just change the balance of cake to jelly and chocolate.





Ingredients
1 quantity of vanilla cupcake batter
1 packet of orange jelly
2 tbsp marmalade
1 tsp lemon extract
squeeze lemon juice
250ml boiling water
100g good quality dark chocolate

1. Break up the packet of jelly into pieces and dissolve in the boiling water in a heat-proof jug. Once all the lumps have disappeared stir in the marmalade, lemon juice and extract. It's up to you whether you want the pieces of orange peel from the marmalade in your jelly, I chose to leave it out. Pour the jelly mixture into a shallow tray or plate so that it is around 0.5cm deep. Set to one side until set and you have completed the other stages.
2. Preheat the oven the 180C/160C Fan/350F/Gas 4 and place the paper cases in the tray. 
3. Make up the cupcake batter. Once cooked you want the cake to come just below the top of the case so that the jelly and chocolate will be contained within. When cooked set to one side until completely cool.
4. Next cut the jelly into discs just smaller than the top of the cupcakes. It's easiest to do this with a biscuit cutter or an upturned glass. 
5. Place each jelly disc on top of a cupcake.
6. In a heatproof bowl melt the chocolate over a pan of gently simmering water. Take care not to over heat otherwise the chocolate will go grainy.
7. Once the chocolate has melted remove from the heat and using a spoon carefully cover the top of each cupcake with a thin layer of chocolate. Take a piece of orange peel from the marmalade and place on top of the chocolate for decoration.
8. Chill the cakes until the chocolate is completely set and ready to eat.