lime and ginger cake

Simple, delicious and very moist - this cake is a lovely treat to put together whenever you've got a little spare time and a sweet craving. It's inspired by the classic 'one-pot yogurt cake' and ciambella recipesand utilises the flavours I had in my kitchen.  There are endless variations for this recipe, it would make a great base cake for a citrus drizzle, or you could top it with a coconut frosting, a simple lemon and cream cheese topping or do as I did and add a layer of homemade lime curd.

Ingredients
1 cup milk soured with the juice of two limes
finely grated zest of two limes
1 cup vegetable oil (any other flavourless oil would work here too)
2 cups caster sugar
3 cups self-raising flour
OR
3 cups plain/all-purpose flour and 3 1/2 tsps baking powder
pinch of salt
1/2 cup finely chopped, crystalised ginger
3 eggs

1. Preheat your oven to 180C and grease and line your cake tin.
2. Put all of the ingredients apart from the ginger into a large bowl and beat together with an electric or hand whisk until everything is smooth and thoroughly combined. 
3. Stir through the crystalised ginger then pour the whole mixture into your prepared cake tin.
4. Place in the oven and bake for around 1 hour or until it is golden brown on top and a skwere comes out clean when inserted. This may take up to 90 mins depending on your oven and tin size.
5. Leave to cool before topping or eat it just as it is.  

'grown-up' chocolate cakes

I'm still in the process of going through my pantry and using up as much of the stuff I've got in the house as I can before I move. I had lots of chocolate around, the usual cakey ingredients as well as a bottle of whiskey I was never going to get around to drinking. Using my Dr Pepper cupcakes recipe as the starting point I came up with this rather grown up recipe. The whiskey flavour isn't particularly strong but it does add some complexity to the end product. You could replace the chocolate spread with the equivalent amount of melted chocolate or a dark jam such as cherry or blackcurrant, why not try out whatever you've got to hand.

Ingredients
100g unsalted butter
300ml whiskey
100g plain flour
50g cocoa powder
2 tbsp chocolate spread such as nutella
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
150g demerara sugar

12 dark chocolate lindor truffle balls or similar.
2 eggs

Ganache Topping
100g dark chocolate
100g butter
pinch of salt

Makes 12 cupcakes.

1. Start by add the sugar to the whiskey then heating the mixture of a medium heat until the sugar is dissolved, the alcohol has evaporated off and the mixture has reduced by about two thirds (around 200mls or so).
2. Preheat the oven to 180C fan oven. Put the paper cases in the muffin tray and fill a large oven proof dish with water and place in the bottom of the oven. The steam that is produced will help the cakes to rise and be lovely and light.
3. Put the butter and chocolate spread in the saucepan and allow it to melt in the residual heat. Stir through and add the vanilla extract.
4. Sieve together the dry ingredients to get rid of any lumps, then beat in the whiskey mixture followed by the eggs until thoroughly combined. 
5. Put a dollop of the mixture into each of the paper cases (about 1/4 cup if you have a measure). Place a chocolate ball in the centre of each case then put in the oven. Bake for around 20 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
6. Allow to cool completely before decorating with frosting or ganache.

Making the ganache

1. Melt the butter and chocolate together in a heatproof bowl over gently simmering water. You can use it now as it is to give a thin covering to the cupcakes but I prefer to allow it to set in the fridge, returning to beat it every 10 minutes or so until it is a spreadable consistency. Once you've achieved this consistency you're ready to go.

almond layer cake

I've been on the look out for a suitable almond cake recipe to be part of my wedding cake in a few weeks time. After a few wrong turns I discovered this beauty. It's ridiculously easy to make, has the firmness you need to stand up to fondant icing but isn't too heavy at all. Also with the alcohol syrup you have an added richness which is exactly want you want from a celebration cake. This version is based on Dan Lepard's yummy cake which you can find here. I have boosted the almond flavours by substituting the vanilla extract with almond and using amaretto instead of brandy for the syrup. I've also done a version using Krupnik, a Polish vodka and honey based liquer. That was pretty awesome too. My version here is also much lighter because I haven't slathered it with double cream as in the original. I'm sure it would be glorious with the cream but I didn't have any in the house and I wanted to make it just a little lighter. If you want to be more decadent go for it and layer the cake together with fresh raspberries or strawberries and some lightly whipped and sweetened double cream. 

Ingredients
225g caster sugar (+25g for syrup)
125g unsalted butter, softened
250g mascarpone

170g greek yogurt
4 medium eggs
2 tsp almond extract
75g ground almonds
325g plain flour
3 tsp baking powder
Brandy/amaretto/krupnik
Good quality Strawberry jam or conserve

1. Grease and base line two 18cm round sponge tins with baking parchment and heat the oven to 180C.  Beat together the caster sugar, butter and 125g mascarpone with an electric mixer until it is light and fluffy - this will take around 3-5 minutes.
2. Next add the eggs one at a time beating to ensure they are thoroughly combined.
3. Beat in the almond extract and ground almonds, sift in the flour and baking powder, and combine thoroughly.
4. Divide the mixture between the two tins then bake for about 30 minutes, or until completely cooked (a skewer will come out cleanly when it is).
5. While the cakes are cooling heat 25ml of your chosen spirit with 25g caster sugar until the sugar dissolves then remove from the heat. Prick the tops of the cakes with a fork or skewer then carefully pour over the syrup. Cover the cakes with paper and leave to cool completely. This will help to keep them soft.
6. Put one layer of the cake on a serving plate. Cover with a generous couple of dollops of good quality strawberry conserve/jam then beat together the greek yogurt and remaining mascarpone, adding a little sugar if you wish. Put half the mascarpone mixture on top of the jam then cover with the second cake layer before finally putting the remaining mascarpone mix on top. Yum.

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. 

apple and marzipan crumble cake

This recipe is inspired by one of my Christmas presents, The Kitchen Diaries II by Nigel Slater. I’ve always had a soft spot for crumble topped cakes, I love the combination of textures. The inclusion of apples in a cake also reminds me of the kinds of cakes my gran used to make that would have large pieces of tart plums or apples nestling in the soft, sweet sponge.

Ingredients

250g apple, peeled, cored and cut in to small pieces

175g softened butter

175g caster sugar

2 eggs

255g plain flour

2 ¼ tsp baking powder

pinch ground cinnamon

few drops vanilla extract

Finely grated zest of one lemon (optional)

100g marzipan broken into small pieces

Crumble topping

110g Plain flour

75g butter

2 tbsp demerara sugar

1.  Preheat oven to 160C. Grease and line the base of a 22cm round cake tin.

2. Beat the butter and sugar for 3-5 minutes until light and fluffy.

3. Break the eggs into a separate bowl, beat them gently then add to the butter and egg mixture.

4. Fold in the flour, cinnamon, vanilla extract and half of the apples and marzipan pieces then transfer the mixture to the prepared tin. Spread it out evenly with the back of a spoon or spatula.

5. Scatter the remaining marzipan and apple pieces on top of the cake mixture.

6. Quickly blitz together the crumble ingredients in the food processor or bring together by hand in a large bowl. You want the consistency of coarse breadcrumbs. Add a couple of drops of water to the mixture so that the crumbs look more like gravel then scatter over the cake with a little extra cinnamon and demerara sugar if you like.

7. Bake for about an hour in the oven or until a skewer comes out clean.

8. Remove the cake from the oven and leave it to cool before cutting into slices and enjoying with your cuppa.

banana & rum cake

This is another wonderful cake to have with your mid-morning tea or coffee. It is very easy to make and I put it together one Saturday morning in between the various weekend chores I had to do. The cake isn't egg-free for any reason other than the fact I had no eggs in the house and I wanted to make a banana cake to use up the over ripe ones sat in my kitchen. You don't have to add the rum syrup, it's delicious and moist without but the rum helps to elevate this cake to something a little more grown-up and special.



Ingredients

Cake:
1 cup soured milk (sour regular milk by adding the juice of a lemon) or regular yogurt
1 cup oil
3 bananas mashed

3/4 tsp baking powder
2 cups of caster sugar
3 cups of self raising flour
2 tsp vanilla extract 

a little milk if too thick
Pinch salt

Syrup:
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup dark rum
Squeeze of lemon juice

1. Grease and flour a bundt tin, and preheat the oven to 180°C, 350°F. 
2. Place all the cake ingredients in a bowl and beat together using a wooden spoon or electric hand whisk until everything is well combined, if it’s a bit thick add a little extra milk. 
3. Pour the mixture into the tin then bake in the oven for about 50 minutes until well risen and a skewer comes out clean.
4. Turn off the oven, and remove cake. Leave it to cool in the tin while you prepare the syrup by heating the ingredients together until the sugar has completely dissolved into the rum syrup.
5. With a skewer poke holes all over the cake and while the cake and syrup are still warm pour the syrup over the cake. Leave the cake to cool completely in the tin then turn out and serve.

lemon and plum cake

Inspired by my sisters recipe for lemon and poppyseed ciambella and my memories of Babcia's awesome plum cakes, here is my version of a plum and lemon cake. The sweet plum centre goes beautifully with the tartness of the lemon drizzle icing. You could easily substitute the plums for blueberries, cherries or any other seasonal soft fruit. I love the simplicity and versatility of this cake recipe and the fact that it is all measured in cups and you don't need any sort of specialist equipment. The syrup and glaze stages are entirely optional. The cake is lovely and moist without them but it adds another layer of flavour, additional moistness and makes it look pretty.


NOTE: If you don't have a bundt tin use what tin you do have, I just really like the ring shape from a bundt tin, it's kind of nostalgic for me. If you use a different shaped tin or make smaller cakes please take care with the cooking time as it may be effected, the aim is slow gentle cooking to avoid burning.

Ingredients
Plum filling:

400g fresh or frozen plums, stoned and halved

1/2 cup caster sugar
NB: If you're feeling lazy you could substitute this stage with a good quality shop bought plum jam,

Cake:

1 cup soured milk (sour regular milk by adding the juice of a lemon)

1 cup oil
3 eggs
2 cups of caster sugar
3 cups of self raising flour
grated zest of 1 lemon
1 tsp lemon extract (optional)
a little milk if too thick
Pinch salt

Syrup:
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup lemon juice

Glaze:
1/2 cup icing sugar
approx 2 tbsp lemon juice

1. Heat the plums and sugar in a saucepan until they start to break down then continue to cook over a medium heat until the mixture reduces to about 1 1/4 cups this will take about 15 minutes. If you want strain the plums trough a sieve to get a finer puree without the skins in. Leave to one side to cool.
2. Meanwhile grease a bundt tin, and dust it lightly with flour if you are concerned about the cake sticking. Preheat the oven to 180°C, 350°F. 
3. Place all the cake ingredients in a bowl and beat together using a wooden spoon or electric hand whisk until everything is well combined, if it’s a bit thick add a little extra milk. 
4. Pour 2/3 of the mixture into the tin, spoon the plum mixture in a ring around the tin taking care to not let it touch the edges, the cover with the remaining cake mix.
5. Bake in the oven for about 50 minutes until well risen and a skewer comes out clean.
6. Turn off the oven, and remove cake. Leave it to cool in the tin while you prepare the syrup by heating the ingredients together until the sugar has completely dissolved into the lemon juice.
7. With a skewer poke holes all over the cake and while the cake and syrup are still warm pour the syrup over the cake. Leave the cake to cool completely in the tin.
8. Once the cake has cooled mix together the glaze ingredients until smooth. Turn the cake out on to a plate and drizzle with the lemon icing. If you're feeling fancy decorate with a little lemon zest or seasonal berries. 

rum balls / romkugler / rum truffles

Ever end up with just too much cake in the house? No, it doesn't happen to me often either! However, I've recently been on a bit of a cupcake making spree and had far too many around and the freezer was full. It seems wrong to me to throw anything away that still has use so I looked around to find something different to do with all this left over cake. This recipe is my version of a rum ball. Many countries have their own versions, mine is more influenced by the scandinavian approach and in particular the Danish romkugler. I know I ate these somewhere when I was younger but they just don't seem to be around anywhere at the moment. I do urge you to try this recipe. It's a proper blast from the past and delicious.

This recipe is intended to use up any regular chocolate cake, however I used my left over salted caramel chocolate cupcakes and some of the cherry filled version. As a consequence I didn't need any additional jam, just from blitzing the left over cupcakes I ended up with a fairly gloopy paste, especially after I added the rum. To thicken it up a little I added in a couple of handfuls of rolled oats and blitzed them up a bit too. This was inspired by the Swedish chokladboll. You may beed to adjust the quantities depending on the moistness of the cake you're using. The most important thing is that you achieve the right consistency.

 Ingredients 
around 800g left over cake bits
70g cocoa
3 - 4 tbsp jam (apricot or dark cherry work particularly well)
1/2 cup dark rum (or more to taste)

rolled oats if needed
150-180g dark chocolate vermicelli/desicated coconut/roasted, flaked almonds/chopped hazlenuts for coating

1. Put the cake and cocoa in the food processor and blitz until all the cake is pulzerised to fine crumbs.
2. Add the jam then pulse until thoroughly combined.
3. Pour in the rum and mix for 20 seconds or so.
4. At this stage, if the mix is too runny add in the oats and blitz. Don't get carried away by adding too much in one go. Add a little at a time and mix thoroughly after each addition until achieve a thick paste.
5. Remove the mix from the bowl and place in another container to firm up in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
6. Once the mixture has chilled and firmed up remove a spoonful at a time and roll in your chosen coating. Place in paper cases and serve.

banana, coconut & peanut butter breakfast loaf

A nice breakfast idea from the sister...

"This was created out of needing to use up some very ripe bananas and wanting to make something that would travel well on my long train commute to work. It's not too sweet and holds together well - great for a breakfast on the go. It's quite a heavy texture before being baked but don't worry as the peanut butter and bananas keep it moist. This would also be great with a handful of seeds added to the mix. This literally takes a few minutes to prepare and is fresher and tastier than mass produced breakfast biscuits and muffins."

Ingredients:

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

1 cup mashed ripe banana

1/2 cup buttermilk/soured milk (just add squeeze of lemon to normal milk)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 1/4 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup grated/desiccated coconut

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ginger

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg 

1. Grease and flour a 2lb loaf tin.
2. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together.
3. Add all other ingredients and beat with an electric mixture on high for 3-4 minutes. 
4. Pour mixture into the tin. 
5. Bake at 175.c for approx 40-50 minutes - until skewer comes out clean. 
6. Leave to cool before serving a large slice with an nice cup of earl grey or strong black coffee. 

Lemon, poppy seed and orange flower Ciambella

Another tasty recipe from my big sister...

"A traditional Italian cake which I have tweaked a bit so it is now crossed with a lemon drizzle style glaze and added a bit of orange flower water for good measure - just because I love it's soft floral flavour with the sharp lemon.

You could also make this flavoured with caraway seeds, orange zest, liqueur soaked fruit, chocolate chips, almonds..... It's up to you. Happy baking :)"

Ingredients
1 cup soured milk (squeeze of lemon until milk curdles - don't worry it'll look horrible but will be ok - it helps the rise!)
3 eggs
2 cups of caster sugar
3 cups of plain flour
grated zest of 2 lemons
1/2 cup poppy seeds
2 tsp vanilla essence/vanilla pod seeds
half cup vegetable oil
2 heaped teaspoons of baking powder
a little milk if too thick
Pinch salt

Glaze:
1/2 cup sugar
Juice of 2 lemons
2 tbs of orange flower water

1. Grease a ciambella/bundt tin, and dust it lightly with flour. Preheat the oven to 180°C, 350°F. 
2. Sift flour and baking powder into a bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil, sugar and lemon zest and salt. Beat using an electric whisk for about 3-4 mins 
3. Stir in poppy seeds, if it’s a bit thick add a little extra milk. 
4. Pour the mixture into the tin, and bake in the oven for about 50 minutes until well risen and a skewer comes out clean.
5. Turn off the oven, and remove cake 
6. Mix the glaze ingredients together. Poke a few holes with skewer then pour over glaze 
7. Leave it to cool in the tin 
8. The glaze should leave a nice crunchy topping. This cake can be eaten straight away but is even better the day after all the flavours have mingled. Great with a strong coffee at breakfast time but you don't need me to tell you when you can eat cake!