The plan was to make a cardamom, pistachio and marmalade drizzle loaf from Sarah Randell’s book “Marmalade: A bittersweet cookbook.” I had my very precious pot of homemade Seville orange marmalade next to me, ready to be used. I immediately fell in love with the picture of the cake which looked so appetising. Besides, anything that has pistachios or Seville orange marmalade written on it already has my undivided attention. And then I ended up making quite a different cake!
If I were to name just one food that stands out from my childhood it would be all sorts of sweet buns and rolls that my mum was making for us. Years and years later, I have to say I still have a bit of a soft spot for these pillowy buns. I associate them so much with my childhood and the way they smelled every time I walked into the kitchen. I have very vivid memories of my sister and I glued to the oven and impatiently watching the dough rise and turn golden. We thought it was taking forever! There would hardly be any leftovers left, all gone within minutes distributed within family members and friends.
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Going through the freezer late last night, I realized I hardly used the berries that I’d meticulously frozen at the end of summer. Too good and precious to be wasted, I decided to put them to good use!
With the abundance of fruit and all sorts of berries and currants, pie makes for a perfect summer treat but I have to say it’s even better on a cold winter day. Nothing pleases more than digging into a juicy berry pie to reveal its hidden purple treasure and the deep scent of summer. It will immediately make you long for a hot summer day.
A new recent addition at Gail’s, my local artisanal bakery, has recently caught my attention. A sea salt caramel banana and pecan cake. I know! It tastes like a delicious piece of spiced banana bread but with a salty caramel difference and topped with sticky and crunchy pecans. I had to try my own version, of course, but with apples. I used my sister’s recipe for a spiced apple loaf and made an upgraded version thanks to the addition of pecans and salted caramel. All I can say is these flavours are just meant to be together. When you’re in need of an easy but delicious piece of cake with a cup of tea this will do the trick.
Of course, you can buy caramel sauce from the shop but homemade version tastes so much better and trust me when I say this – it is easy to make. Don’t be intimidated by frightening warnings to absolutely not stir and to use the thermometer. You just simply have to trust your judgement and the sugar will melt.
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This fluffy, tender, cardamon and cinnamon-scented cake is a great way of using abundance of fresh and juicy plums when in season. Plus, it tastes fantastic. What more do you want?
I love the warm, bold and floral aroma of freshly ground cardamon but if you’re not a big cardamon fan, just leave it out – the cake will still be delicious. Also, other juicy stone fruits (peaches, apricots, nectarines or cherries) work well in this versatile recipe.
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When a cake combines beauty, simplicity and taste, all with only a few ingredients, it is the best you could want from home baking. This cake is incredibly delicious and is one of my best-loved desserts. Not only because it’s very tasty, but because it’s easy to make and versatile – you can use whichever fruit is in season.
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“I am beginning to learn that it is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all.”
– Laura Ingalls Wilder
This cake will make you smile and will bring a ray of sunshine to your kitchen. It’s a lovely and moist cake and its beauty lies in its simplicity and flavour combination. Blood oranges with their complex sweetness and a slight bitter after taste and olive oil for a wondefully tender crumb and depth of flavour. Delicious! The best part is that it is super easy to make, and will take you less than 90 minutes from start to finish!
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The recipe for these famous salted chocolate chip tahini cookies is adapted from Modern Israeli Cooking by Danielle Oron. These cookies are chewy, soft in the middle, perfectly flavored, with that slightly nutty and beautiful taste of tahini. My advice is don’t put it in the queue; don’t save it on that to-cook-one-day list, just make it, you’ll not regret. My kids devour these in seconds…
To make things a little more exotic, I used black sesame paste that I brought from the States many months ago but it turned out to be one of those ingredients that you don’t really know what to do with. It was only when I saw Danielle’s recipe and then David Lebovitz’s version that I squealed with excitement. …
In the depths of cold and windy autumn, when rain is beating against the windows, there’s nothing more comforting than a slice of still warm apple cake. Every bite you take will evoke feelings of love and comfort. This classic Polish recipe has got just the right amount of sweetness to let the tartness of the apples come through. The “crust” is like a cross between a shortbread cookie and pie crust. The dough is made with sour cream and a little sugar, rolled indulgently thick, and layered with a cinnamon studded apple center.
Ingredients:
Preheat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Combine the flour, 50g of sugar, and salt. Add cubed butter, egg yolks and sour cream. Use a pastry cutter or a knife to cut in the butter until small, pea-sized pieces if mixing by hand. Bring all the ingredients together with your hands and roll it into a ball. Try to do it as quickly as possible, without overdoing the dough. Divide the dough into two pieces, roughly 2/3 and 1/3 of the dough and wrap them in cling film. Place the smaller one in the freezer and the bigger one in the fridge for ideally an hour. Meanwhile, peel, core and grate your apples. Place them in a large pan, add the remaining 50g of sugar, cinnamon and a splash of water if necessary and sauté for a couple of minutes until the apples soften and become fragrant.
Take the bigger piece of the dough from the fridge and with the palm of your hand, push it about 1/3 up the sides of the baking tray until the whole base is covered. I used a 20cm (8”) square cake tin. Prick the dough with a fork and bake in the oven for about 15 mins until it is golden and lightly springy to the touch.
Spread the apples over the crust (if the filling seems too watery, get rid of the excess water) and using the side with larger holes, grate the remaining dough over the apple filling. Put it back in the oven for approximately 40 minutes. Serve dusted with powdered sugar… either warm or chilled.
This decadent black velvet cake is very chocolatey and makes for a delicious birthday or celebration cake. If you’re a chocolate lover as I am, this is a cake for you. The colour of the cake is naturally quite dark thanks to good quality cocoa so there’s no need to add black food colouring. I also reduced the amount of sugar. This produced a well-balanced cake, without the sickly sweetness that often comes with birthday cakes….