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.  

lemongrass infused syrup

After struggling to find flavouring syrups in Bangkok that aren't packed with unnecessary additives or at a massively inflated price I decided to have a go at making my own. This syrup would be great for flavouring cocktails - try it with rum or vodka, a generous squeeze of lime juice and some soda water, or  simply with some water, lemon or lime slices and ice cubes for a refreshing summer drink. The ingredients I'm using here are readily available in Bangkok but increasingly easy to find in UK supermarkets now too. When preparing the ingredients don't make any of them too small otherwise they'll be a pain to remove from the syrup afterwards

Ingredients
3 stems of lemongrass
1 Lime (I used a Kafir lime)
thumb sized piece of galangal
1 cup of sugar
1 1/2 cups of water

1. Lightly bash up the lemongrass with a rolling pin or other suitably heavy implement so that it is bruised.
2. With a sharp knife remove the lime zest in large pieces being carefully to not remove too much of the white pitch underneath. You don't want to use the pitch as it will make the syrup too bitter.
3. Slice the galangal into thickish slices lengthways. 
4. Place all the ingredients in a large saucepan and put over a low heat, uncovered, until all the sugar has dissolved and bubbles are gently rising to the surface. Turn off the heat and leave to cool before using allowing the flavours to infuse further.
5. If you're not going to use the full amount straight away transfer the syrup to a properly sterilised bottle or jar and should keep in the fridge for a couple of weeks or so.

chocolate malt cookies

It's been a long time since I made cookies, mostly because I don't have any will power and would eat the whole batch within a day. But it's my birthday coming up and I figure I'm allowed a treat every now and again. These cookies absolutely rock and I will definitely be making them again soon. The chocolate flavour here is not overwhelming and the little nuggets of malteasers/whoppers bring a great extra layer of loveliness. I know you will love this recipe if you give it a go.



Ingredients (based on a recipe from hummingbird on high.)
1 cup plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup Ovaltine or other malted milk powder with some cocoa
115g unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ½ cup malteasers/whoppers, very roughly chopped (I used a 135g sharing pouch of malteasers)

1. Preheat the oven to 190C and line a couple of baking sheets with parchment paper. 
2. Cream together the butter and sugars for a few minutes, until the colour has lightened and like a milky coffee. (about 3 minutes with an electric whisk should do it).
3. Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat for 30 seconds or so more so that everything is combined. 
4. Now add the flour, ovaltine, salt and baking powder. Beat everything together well for a few seconds. There's no need to beat it for very long.
5. Stir through your roughly chopped malteasers or whoppers with a spoon or spatula. then dollop tablespoons of the mixture on to the baking sheets. Make sure you leave plenty of space between each cookie as these spread out a lot. 
6. Bake for 8 minutes if you want them soft and gooey and more brownie like or for 10 minutes if you want them to have more crunch. I tried both ways and they're equally awesome.
7. Remove from the oven and allow the cookies to cool on the tray before moving them. They will be very soft and hot so give them at least 15 minutes or half an hour before you try to move them.

easy flapjacks

Ok, so all flapjacks are easy to make but I threw these together tonight because I had a few odds and ends in my cupboard that I wanted to use up and I love flapjacks. The beauty of a flapjack recipe is that it is quite forgiving. Once you understand the basics you can vary things according to your preferences. Essentially you need 2:1:1 of oats/nuts/muesli:butter:sugar with some additional syrup if you want the goo. The quantities below make a fairly thin flapjack

Ingredients
200g rolled oats or muesli of your choice (I used a mixture of muesli, crushed walnuts and rolled oats, just make sure you've got more oats than everything else)
100g butter
100g sugar (I used about 80g caster and 20g dark brown sugar because it was the end of a bag in my cupboard)
1 tbsp golden syrup

1. Preheat the oven to 160C fan. Grease a square brownie pan approx 20cm x 20cm.
2. In a saucepan over a low heat, melt the butter, sugar and syrup together until they are thoroughly combined. Don't panic if the sugar doesn't completely dissolve. 
3. Throw in the the oats/muesli/nuts/dried fruit that you're using and coat thoroughly in the buttery sugary goodness. 
4. Press the mixture into your prepared dish then put in the oven for around 30 minutes. The flapjack is ready once it is golden brown. Avoid over cooking as it will continue to cook once out of the oven because of the high sugar and fat content. 
5. Leave to cool for at least 5-10 minutes minutes before you mark into pieces.
6. Now leave it to cool completely before turning out of the pan otherwise you'll just get all burnt and the flapjack will fall apart. Enjoy with a nice cup of tea.

make your own praline

Don't be scared of making your own praline. It's actually incredibly easy, you don't need any specialist equipment and once you've mastered the technique you can make endless variations by adding different nuts to the sugar. You can use this praline in my praline and amaretto frosting recipe.

Ingredients
1 cup of caster sugar
4 tbsp water
100g toasted flaked almonds

1. Line a baking sheet with baking paper and set to one side.
2. In a thick bottomed pan gently heat the sugar and water until the sugar is completely dissolved.
3. Increase to a high heat and boil the sugar mixture for around 5-7 minutes, without stirring, until it has turned to a golden brown colour. Remove from the heat and allow the bubbles to stop. Add the almond and stir through, then pour the mixture out on to the baking tray. Do not touch the mixture - it will be very hot for quite a long time and will give you a nasty burn if you're not careful. Hot sugar hurts!
4. Once the praline has cooled and set hard break into shards and store in an air tight container until ready to use.

chocolate malt frosting

Ingredients

100g unsalted butter, at room temperature

200g icing sugar, sieved

1-2 tbsp milk

50g plain chocolate, melted

2 tbsp ovaltine or other malted drink powder

1. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter until soft.
2. Gradually add the sugar until thoroughly combined, smooth and creamy.
3. Add the chocolate and ovaltine and mix thoroughly.
4. Finally add the milk bit by bit until you have your desired consistency.
5. Chill for at least 30 minutes before using.