Chocolate Cake with an Apricot Swist

This is a moist, indulgent cake with a light and tangy fruity kick that is bound to leave you wanting another generous slice. It is a little more time-consuming than your basic sandwich cake, but it’s definitely worth it. Nice to share with family and friends. Snuggle up and keep out of the wind and rain. Make a large pot of tea and spoil yourself.

Ingredients

For the cake:

• 200g plain flour
• 4 Tbsp. cocoa powder
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. bicarbonate of soda
• 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 200 ml soya milk
• 100g soya butter
• 175g caster sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp. good quality vanilla extract

For the syrup:

• 4 Tbsp. apricot jam
• 2 Tbsp. lemon juice

For the icing:

• 70g dark chocolate
• 6 Tbsp. soya milk
• 3 Tbsp. soya butter
• 450g icing sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 1 tsp vanilla

Baking steps

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C and prepare 2 round cake tins



2. Sift together the dry ingredients: flour, cocoa, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda. As you want the ingredients to be well combined, it is a good idea to sift together several times until you get a nice even, light colour



3. Measure out the soya milk in a jug and mix in the lemon juice. It should curdle nicely. If not, add a little more lemon juice

4. Beat the two eggs together in a cup


5. In another bowl, cream the soy butter and sugar together until light and fluffy



6. Now is the time to put it all together. Think of the butter-sugar mix as your base. Mix well after each addition. First add a little of the egg, then some of the flour mix, then a little of the milk mix. Continue adding each of these in turn until you have one smooth batter.


7. Finally add the vanilla extract and stir well


8. Divide the mixture between the two cake pans
9. Bake for about twenty minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean


10. Leave to cool for five minutes in the cake tins and then turn out onto cooling racks
11. Use your cake tester to prick the cakes all over (in a nice gentle, methodical manner)
12. Leave to cool


Now it’s time to make the syrup



1. Simmer the jam and lemon juice together over a low heat until nicely thickened
2. Whilst still warm pour half over each cake base and spread to cover each surface

And finally: the icing

1. Gently melt the chocolate and soya butter in a steam bath (place a bowl on top of a pan of boiling water)
2. Remove from heat


3. In a bowl carefully mixed together the icing sugar, soya milk, salt and vanilla
4. Now slowly add the chocolate mix to the icing and beat together until nice and smooth


5. Sandwich the layers together with a layer of icing and then spread to the remaining icing to cover the surface of the cake


Eat up!

Stuffed Roasted Tomatoes

One cold autumn afternoon and I was craving something warm, hearty and not too heavy. This immediately caught my eye, the rich tomato flavour, mixed with the herbs and breadcrumbs made the perfect dish and definitely hit the spot!

So simple to do, but so tasty these little treats will work wonders for a starter if you are cooking for friends as they take 30 minutes in the oven so you can literally pop them in as your guests arrive.


Ingredients:

Large round tomatoes (2 per person - I made six)
12 Semi-dried black olives (the wrinkly kind)
2 Anchovy filets (preferably in olive oil)
2 large cloves of garlic, minced
1 small onion finely chopped
a small handful of parsley, basil and mint
Olive oil
Fresh breadcrumbs made by tearing a large chunk of crusty bread into shreds (you could use packet ones but its better to keep the rough texture)
a small handful of parsley, basil and mint (roughly chopped)

Method:

Pre heat oven to 160ºC. Start by chopping the tops off the tomatoes about 1cm down, then using a spoon scoop the inner flesh and seeds out, leaving a nice shell to stuff. Sprinkle in a little salt and then place tomatoes upside down in a colander to drain any excess water. Next (de-stone) and chop up the olives into small chunks and cut the anchovies (or use capers if you want a veggie/vegan version) and mix this along with the garlic, onion, herbs and breadcrumbs. Next using about 1tbsp of the breadcrumb mix stuff each of the tomatoes leaving a nice dome of crumbs. Then place on a greased or lined baking sheet, drizzle with the oil and bake for 30 minutes. Serve with a little rocket salad (I added a little goats cheese and balsamic) and enjoy!

Celeriac and Pear Soup

Whip up this warming, fragrant soup in next to no time. After my adventures with stuffed squash I thought I would try out another new vegetable. Celeriac. Looks like a turnip, tastes quite a lot like celery but more subtle and definitely more versatile: boil, mash, bake, fry or turn into a tasty, healthy soup. Pear is a surprisingly delicious fruity accompaniment. This is a slightly modified BBC food recipe, and is suitable for most allergy –afflicted peeps to eat.

Ingredients

• A little oil
• 1 celeriac
• 4 medium pear
• I large onion
• 2 garlic cloves
• 3cm piece of ginger
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1litre vegetable stock
• A few fresh chives

A few little cooking steps




1) Heat the oil in a large saucepan, chop the onion, garlic and ginger and lightly sauté

2) Peel and chop the celeriac and add to the pan and fry briefly












3) Peel and chop the pears ...
















...and add to the pan with the stock and simmer until the celeriac is nice and soft (around 15-20 minutes, depending on how shall you chop the pieces in the first place)










4) Leave to cool for a few minutes then liquidise the soup in a blender
















5) Return briefly to pan, heating gently through










6) Serve garnished with the chopped chives

Mini Scones with Cherry Compote

After a Saturday walking around in the "vague countryside" (the kind that borders a large city so promptly includes a stop at a 5 star hotel for a quick drink) I was feeling virtuous so decided to whip up something sweet but not too sickly. I remembered making scones with my grandmother and figured what better way to feel nostalgic and truly indulgent after a long day's walking!

To balance out the savoury side to the scones I decided to add a sugary-sweet cherry compote. That way you can add as much or as little sweetness as desired.

Ingredients:

225g self-raising flour
40g caster sugar
a pinch of salt
75g butter (at room temperature)
30g dried sultanas
30g dried cranberries
1 egg, beaten
3-4 tbsp milk (+ a few drops of lemon juice)

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 220ºC and lightly grease or line a baking tray. Start by sieving the flour and salt into a large bowl, then sprinkle in the sugar. Next add the butter and mix to a crumb using your hands. At this point you will be left with a mix of fine crumbs and a floury mix, i.e not all the flour will crumb with the butter. Next add the dried fruit, beaten egg and 3tbsp of milk, mix with a knife until it starts to come together in big lumps and then get your hands in and mix into a dough. Be careful not to overmix it as it will become sticky, but if you find the mix is still too dry add a little more of the milk. Roll the dough into a ball.

Lightly flour a work surface and place the ball of dough in the centre, using a rolling pin, roll the dough to about 1 inch thick. Now take the smallest cutter you have and cut circles from the dough, being careful not to twist the cutter as you cut the dough (mine yielded about 25 circles). Next place the circles on the baking sheet and dust with a sprinkle of ground cinnamon and ground mixed spice. Bake in the oven for around 8-12 mins (depending on the size of your scones, mine took about 10 minutes).


Serve warm with plenty of butter and a drizzle of cherry compote!

To make the compote you just need some tinned or jarred cherries and sugar. Mix equal parts of cherry juice and caster sugar (I used 1 cup of each) and place in a heavy bottomed pan and place over a medium high heat. Next chop a few spoonfuls of cherries and add to the simmering liquid, keep over a high heat until reduced by half and then remove from the heat, sieve in 1 tbsp icing sugar and whisk until disolved, let cool slightly and serve warm, or cool completely and store in the fridge until needed.

Sweet Dumpling Squash with Lemon-Herb Rice

Following on from stuffed peppers and continuing in the stuffing mode... Stuffed Sweet Dumplings. I’d never eaten these little beauties before. A friend pointed them out and recommended that I give them a go. A definite thumbs up. They are visually pleasing and the taste is equally sweet. Likely to be swiftly devoured! This is a nice and easy vegan recipe that will serve two hungry bellies in a heart manner.
Ingredients

• 2 Sweet Dumpling Squash
• 1 medium onion
• 1-2 garlic cloves
• 300g rice (I used basmati but any rice will do)
• 1 lemon
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce
• A few generous sprigs of fresh herbs ( I used parsley, thyme and rosemary)
• 50g pine nuts (or a few more if you prefer)
• Salt and pepper (to taste)

A few simple cooking steps

• Preheat the oven to 200ºC






• Cook the rice















• Cut the two squash in half and remove the seeds and strings












• Sprinkle the squash with salt and pepper













• Place squash face-down on baking sheet and drizzle with oil














• Bake until tender (around half an hour)










• While the squash are baking: chop the onions and garlic and sauté

• Add the rice, 3Tbsp water, the juice and zest of the lemon, the soy sauce, pine nuts the herbs (chopped) and salt and pepper (to taste)











• Stir the stuffing until well mixed (add a little more water if necessary)







• When the squash are cooked through, place them upright and fill with the stuffing. Cover with foil and return to oven until heated through (around 15 minutes)


• Enjoy!

Red Wine Chocolate Cake

Let me start with an apology, followed by some shallow excuses! (haha) A big sorry to all those who have been waiting forever for the next post, Anna very kindly has been keeping the blog updated while I have been moving (I can officially say I am a homeowner!) and the new flat is wonderful, even if the kitchen is less that a third of the old one! So after tackling with the gas company for quite some time we got connected and I got the pleasure (if it can be called that) of meeting my new best friend - the dreaded gas oven! It features all mod-cons such as a temperature gauge that relies on guess work (yes it ranges from gas mark hot to gas mark cremation) as well as a hob that can only do a fierce boil. So its back to the drawing board for recipe with the list of temperature sensitive cakes being thrown out of the window.

So back to the bit you are here for - the cake! This really is so simple, one bowl, easy to cook, no mess but lots of flavour. The red wine gives it a really rich and deep flavour (so choose wisely) and the chocolate adds that touch of decadence to the end of a light meal. I served mine with a mascarpone cream and let me say it is well worth having these ingredients to hand as they go so well together.

Ingredients:

85g of unsalted butter (room temperature)
180g of dark brown sugar
50g of white sugar
1 egg + 1 yolk
Just under 1 large glass of red wine (about 180-200ml)
1 vanilla pod (vanilla essence will do)
135g of plain flour (make sure it isn't self raising!)
40g cocoa powder
1/8 tsp of bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp of baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

Mascarpone Cream:
150g Mascarpone cheese
150g whipping cream
2tbsp of sugar
1tsp vanilla essence

Method:

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees celsius and line a cake tin with parchment and grease the sides well with butter. Start beating the butter until light and fluffy and the sugar and beat well (until smooth and combined). Next beat in the egg & yolk.

Next add the red wine and vanilla. At this point the mix will look a little strange (see picture above) but dont worry, once you start to add the dry ingredients it'll look a little better. Mix all the dry ingredients together and sift into the wet mix, until almost combined, then use a rubber spatula to fold the mixture together until well combined. Pour into the prepared cake tin and bake in the oven for 25-30 mins (or until a skewer comes out clean), I found mine needed longer, but I had to play around with my oven temperature! The top of the cake should look shiny and smooth and yet again mine didn't, but it still tasted pretty damn tasty. Let the cake cool for 10 minutes in the tin then remove and let it cool completely. 

                                                

For the Mascarpone cream: Whip together the cream, mascarpone, vanilla essence and sugar until soft peaks form (being careful not to overwhip). Dollop a spoonful on top of each cake slice and serve with some liquer of your choice!