Toblerone Cheesecake

Tomorrow is Miss KS's birthday - 21 again! We're having a barbie around at her house in the evening and she requested the S'mores she had in her Christmas Hamper last year for dessert. Of course I'm more than happy to oblige, will be making them tomorrow morning so they are nice and fresh, the cookies need to be crunchy on the outside but soft and deliciously gooey on the inside ... I digress! More about S'mores tomorrow!

KS has gone to so much effort getting food and drink in for everyone that when she mentioned buying a cheesecake to help feed the crowd I immediately offered a taste of my youth in this Toblerone Cheesecake. I've not met a person yet who doesn't like it, even SD who is a notorious Toblerone disliker (strange girl!) likes this. The Toblerone is a very subtle flavour, its definitely more cheesecakey in taste than chocolatey, which can sometimes be a good thing I guess.

As already mentioned, this is a taste of my more "formative" years growing up in Tasmania, so the recipe is in cup measurements - sorry! I had intended to translate it into grams and tbsp's but that just seemed like I was messing with the laws of Toblerone Cheesecake so I've left it as is. If memory serves me correctly the recipe came off the side of the Philly Cream Cheese box - those were the days, cream cheese in a box with a thick foil wrapping!

Toblerone Cheesecake

1 cup plain chocolate biscuit crumbs (back in the day that meant choc ripple biscuits but I can't seem to find a UK alternative so I either use chocolate coated Hob Nobs or Nice biscuits with some cocoa powder added)

1/3 cup butter, melted

2 x 250g cream cheese, softened at room temp

3 tsp gelatine dissolved in 1/2 cup boiling water

3/4 cup caster sugar

100g Toblerone Swiss milk or dark chocolate, melted

1/2 cup cream (double)

Mix biscuit crumbs and butter and press into the base of a 20cm springform tin. Chill.

Beat the cream cheese with an electric mixer until soft. Add gelatine mixture, caster sugar, melted toblerone and cream, blend until smooth.

Pour into crumb base and chill in refrigerator for 2-3 hours or overnight. Garnish with chocolate shavings and strawberries.

Not sure how many people this serves, or should I say how many slices you get from the cheesecake, as the number of servings and the number of people aren't necessarily the same thing! Generally speaking though, small slices would be recommended as it is quite rich. Strawberries are great served on the side, think I'll do the Pimm's Strawberries to take to the barbie, just for something a bit more grown up.

There was also some spare Lemon Tart filling still in the fridge from the Martin Wishart Cook School day earlier in the week. I decided to use up the mixture by making some mini tarts, finished with a creme brulee topping as the chef's did at the school. My blow torch seems to have given up the ghost though (a pity seeing as this was the first time I've been brave enough to try and use it!) so I gave the creme brulee topping a whirl under the grill. This technique is obviously not for the faint hearted! I'm afraid I chickened out before the sugar went fully creme brulee like, but it was a toss up between that and a burnt crust ...

These little beauties will be served with the Macerated Raspberries we learnt to make at the Cook School too.

Carrot Cake

Well in for a penny in for a pound - here goes my first blog entry. OMG! Feeling slightly intimidated I have to say!

Anyhoo, Hubby has been nagging [read:asking] for me to make him a Carrot Cake for quite sometime now. He has been very supportive with all the bits and pieces going on in my day to day life lately so he deserves a treat, and the more calories it contains the better - although in an attempt to fool myself into thinking of this cake as 'slightly' healthier I used extra light cream cheese for the frosting!

This is one I have made before and its always been a success and tends to get very receptive responses. It makes a whoopingly huge cake so don't be scared of the quantities listed, it took the entire bag of carrots to get enough grated weight! I made the cake yesterday after work and iced it tonight before dinner.

Carrot Cake
250ml veg oil
250g light brown sugar
3 eggs
720g coarsely grated carrot
120g coarsely chopped walnuts
375g SR flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tsp mixed spice
Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
30g butter
80g cream cheese, softened
1 tsp finely grated lemon rind
240g icing sugar

Preheat oven to 180C. Grease a deep 23cm round cake pan and line the base with baking paper.

Beat oil, sugar and eggs in a small bowl with electric mixer until thick and creamy. Transfer mixture to a large bowl, stir in carrot and nuts, then sifted dry ingredients.

Pour mixture into the prepared pan, bake in moderate oven for about 1 1/4 hours. Cover the cake loosely with foil halfway through cooking. stand cake for 5 mins; turn onto a wire rack to cool. Spread Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting over the cold cake.

To make the frosting; beat the butter, cream cheese and rind in a small bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy; gradually beat in icing sugar.

Serves 12
Taken from The Australian Women's Weekly Cafe Cakes Cookbook

May need to work on the old photography skills me thinks! Don't let this shocking photo put you off, the cake defies the picture - honest!

Stir Fried Chicken with Honey, Soy and Cashews

Tonight's final post also happens to be tonight's dinner and not a recipe I have made before, or one of my Cook Book Challenges either!  Instead this is one of the multitude of recipes I have saved from one of my food magazines, it was resting contently on my 'must make' list until it was unearthed yesterday!

Stir Fried Chicken with Honey, Soy and Cashews
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp hoisin sauce
1 tbsp clear honey
2 tsp cornflour
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
2.5cm piece root ginger, peeled and finely chopped
4 skinless chicken breasts
4 spring onions
2 tsp oil
200g sugar snaps
100g cashews

In a small bowl or jug, mix the soy, hoisin sauce, honey, cornflour, lemon zest and juice and ginger.

Cut the chicken into strips and trim and shred the spring onions.

Heat the oil in a wok or large frying pan, stir fry the chicken for 5-6 mins, until lightly coloured. Add the spring onions, the sugar snaps and the cashews and stir fry for a couple of mins. Add the sauce and toss everything together over the heat for a further 30 seconds or so.

Serves 4
Sainsbury’s Mag, Oct 09

The lemon was a little overpowering, I would maybe use only half a lemon next time.  I used a pack of fresh noodles that I added to the pan along with the sauce to heat through but it could also be served with some plain boiled rice.

This has now been moved from my 'must make' list onto our 'must have again' list!

Home Alone!

Maria from The Goddess's Kitchen could not have been more timely posting her pasta dish, Linguine with Garlic, Prawns and Spinach.  No sooner did I comment to her that I would need to tuck the recipe away for a rainy day (Hubby doesn't like Prawns) than he ends up being out and I end up home alone and fending for myself. 

Owing to the fact that I am eating for one tonight I altered the recipe slightly, not much mind, but just enough that I didn't end up eating 3 other peoples portions as well as my own.  The original can be found over at Maria's wonderful blog, my version can be found below!

Linguine with Garlic, Prawns and Spinach
75g linguine
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Fry lite
1 garlic clove, crushed
150g spinach leaves
140g cooked prawns (the original recipe calls for uncooked peeled prawns but I could only find those frozen!)
1 1/2 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley
Grated zest 1/2 lemon

Cook the pasta in a large saucepan in plenty of boiling salted water until al dente.

Meanwhile, in a large frying pan, heat the oil over a medium heat and fry the garlic for 1 minute until golden.  Add the spinach and cook for a further 2 minutes.  Add the prawns with the parsley and season with salt and pepper. Stir well and continue to cook for 2 minutes.

Once the pasta is cooked, drain and add to the frying pan, then lower the heat.  Add the lemon zest and cherry tomatoes and stir everything together for 30 seconds.  Serve immediately.

Serves 1 (very happily!)
Adapted from The Goddess's Kitchen

Miss SP's 50th Birthday Cake - Part 2 (and maybe part 3 as well!)

Things have been a bit quite on the baking front this week.  Work has been insane and the new health regime has picked up a notch with my gym membership - I can say with all honesty that whoever invented the concept of a spinning class has pure evil at their core!  As much as I would love to say that I pushed the pain aside to get the next stages of Miss SP's cake completed for her big day, the overriding justification is that I'm not going to be able to comfortably sit down for about a week!

Lemon Madeira Cake - For the 23cm round cake
450g unsalted butter
450g caster sugar
450g SR flour
225g plain flour
8 large eggs
zest of 3 lemons

Preheat the oven to 160C.  Grease and line the cake tin with baking parchment.

Cream the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl until light, fluffy and pale.  Sift the flours together in a separate bowl.

Beat the eggs into the creamed mixture, one at a time, following each with a spoonful of flour, to prevent the mixture curdling.

Sift the remaining flour into the creamed mixture and fold in carefully with a large metal spoon.  Add the lemon zest.

Transfer to the lined baking tin and bake for 1 1/2 - 1 3/4 hours.  When the cake is ready it will be well risen, firm to the touch and a skewer inserted into the centre will come out clean.

Leave the cake to cool in the tin then, leaving the lining paper on, wrap the cake in foil or place in an airtight container for at least 12 hours before cutting , to allow the cake to settle.

Cakes to Inspire and Desire

I've also made a 20cm round cake for the top tier;
Lemon Madeira Cake - For the 20cm round cake
350g unsalted butter
350g caster sugar
350g SR flour
175g plain flour
6 large eggs
Zest of 2 lemons

I followed the same method as listed above except for one small detail.  One of the girls in our group is unable to eat wheat.  So that she can still have a slice of cake I replaced ordinary flour with gluten and wheat free (Doves brand came highly recommended which was a good thing seeing I couldn't find any other brands available!  This has lead me to the conclusion that gluten free members of the population have got it tough).  I checked out the website for Doves flour range and while they do make an SR flour neither of my local supermarkets stocked it, just plain flour.  I opted to use this and added 2 1/4 tsp baking powder to the first sifting stage.  So far this seems to have worked pretty well but the cake is still 'settling'.  Also, the packet advised that gluten and wheat free flour could be used in place of regular flour but that more liquid should be added to the mixture - annoyingly it didn't give any guidelines in what amount of liquid should be added so I opted to add the juice of the two zested lemons.  Again, looks as though this has worked pretty well but I won't know until tomorrow when I cut the cake, fingers crossed.

Covering the cake board
The next step was to cover the cake board.  I rolled out some sugar paste until it was larger than the size of the board.  Using vodka (or any other clear spirit) brush the board so the sugar paste has something to stick to.  Lay the rolled out sugar paste over the board ensuring that there are no air bubbles.  As you can see mine has a few 'dinks' in it.  I'm hoping that the cake will cover these up, otherwise I'll make sure they go at the back of the cake!  This is a catch phrase in our Tuesday night class!

Covering the cake
I decided not to split the cake in half and then sandwich it with butter cream.  Icing a whole cake is still difficult enough for me!  So to add a little more lemon kick I used a skewer to pierce holes all over the cake and then poured some limoncello over it.  Next, the cake needs to be trimmed so as it is level.  The trimmings are the cooks perk ;0)

Traditionally speaking, marzipan is used as the first layer for covering the cake.  None of us are all that fond of marzipan though so I have opted to go for two coats of sugar paste.  To do this, follow the same method as for covering the cake board, use some string or cotton to measure the size of the cake, this is then used as a guide for rolling out the sugar paste.  The natural enemy of sugar paste is water, I have learnt through bitter experience of having a work station right buy the sink that water drops can leave great big craters in the surface.  For this reason I have used apricot jam as the glue for the sugar paste instead of vodka.

Use some sugar paste to cover any little holes at the base of the cake.  After trimming about half the cake off in an attempt to get an even top to my cake I ended up flipping it over.  This meant there were quite a few gaps to plug!!!  So pleased I hadn't gone for the butter cream sandwich!

Trim the excess sugar paste from around the base of the cake and smooth the top and sides.  The sugar paste needs to dry a little bit before I can add the second coat, otherwise the icing has a tendency to be lopsided if you accidentally apply a little too much pressure.

Tomorrow is the turn of cake number two!

Lemon White Chocolate Truffles

Ready for another truffle recipe? Promise this is the last one for the next couple of days, after that there's just two more to go ;0)

Lemon White Chocolate Truffles

80ml double cream

250g white chocolate, chopped

1 tsp finely grated lemon rind (I bumped the flavour up a bit by adding the rind from the whole lemon)

15g flaked coconut

300g white compound chocolate, chopped

Place the cream in a medium heatproof bowl. Place the bowl over a medium saucepan of barely simmering water (make sure the bowl doesn't touch the water). Use a metal spoon to stir for 1 min or until the cream thins.

Add the white chocolate and use the metal spoon to stir gently for 4 mins or until melted and smooth. Carefully remove the bowl from the pan and stir in the lemon rind. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 30 mins to chill.

Meanwhile, cut a 16.5 x 45cm sheet of non-stick baking paper and use to line the base and 2 opposite sides of a square 17cm (base measurement) cake pan, creasing into the corners of the base and folding it over the top edges of the pan to secure.

Line 2 baking trays with non stick baking paper.

Remove the truffle mixture from the fridge and use an electric beater to beat on low speed for 3 mins or until light and fluffy. Spoon the truffle mixture evenly over the base. Place in the fridge for 1 hour or until the mixture is firm enough to lift from the pan, using the paper. (If the weather is warm, place in the freezer for 20 mins instead).

Meanwhile, heat a small frying pan over medium heat. Add the coconut and toss for 1-2 mins or until toasted and golden. Transfer to a small plate and set aside.

Use the overhanging baking paper to lift the set truffle mixture out of the cake pan. Place on a chopping board, leaving the paper in place. Use a sharp knife to cut into four 3.5cm wide pieces, then repeat cross ways to form squares. Cut each square diagonally to form 2 triangles. Use a small spatula to transfer the triangles from the baking paper to a lined tray, gently reshaping if necessary. Place in the freezer for 20 mins or until firm.

Place the compound chocolate in a medium, clean dry bowl and place over a saucepan of barely simmering water (make sure the bowl doesn't touch the water). Use a dry metal spoon to stir gently for 4 mins or until melted and smooth. Carefully remove the bowl from the pan.

Place a truffle triangle in the chocolate and use a teaspoon to spoon chocolate over the triangle to coat. Use a wide pronged fork (or a wide pronged olive fork or wire truffle dipper) to lift the coated truffle from the chocolate, tapping the fork handle gently on the edge of the bowl to shake off any excess.

Use a small spatula to slide the coated truffle onto the second lined tray. Top immediately with a little toasted coconut before the chocolate sets. Repeat with remaining triangles, melted chocolate and toasted coconut.

Set aside at room temp for 5-10 mins or until set. If desired, place in paper confectionery cases to serve.

These lemon truffles will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 10 days.

Makes 32

Australian Good Taste Magazine - May 2001

Instead of coating these truffles as suggested in the recipe, I cut the truffle mixture into circles and dipped one side in melted white chocolate and then let them set on a sheet of chocolate transfers.

Maria's Cupcakes (Lemon and Elderflower)

Maria over at The Goddess's Kitchen posted these the other day and as I still have a fridge full of Total Greek Yogurt and Elderflower cordial is a store cupboard essential for me I knew I had to give the recipe a try ASAP. I made a couple of very minor tweaks (hope you don't mind Maria!) so if you want to try the original recipe please head over to the Goddess's most wonderful blog and check the recipe out.

Lemon and Elderflower Cupcakes

200g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

225g caster sugar

25g ground almonds

Finely grated zest of 1 unwaxed lemon

2 large eggs

90ml corn oil

250ml low-fat Greek Yogurt (I used the 0% variety from the Total range)

Juice from 1/2 lemon

Icing

225g icing sugar

3 tsp elderflower cordial

2 tsp water

Jelly sweeties, lemon rind to decorate

Preheat the oven to 180C/fan 160C. Line a 12-hole non-stick muffin tin with paper muffin cases.

Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl. Sprinkle over the sugar and ground almonds, followed by the grated lemon zest, and mix everything together.In a separate bowl, lightly beat the eggs with the oil and Greek yogurt. Add the lemon juice. Slowly pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir with a wooden spoon. Mix until everything is combined and there are no clumps of dry ingredients.

Spoon the mixture into the paper cases so that they are three-quarters full. Bake the cakes in the centre of the preheated oven for about 20 minutes until they are firm and springy to the touch.

Remove from the oven and place the cakes on a wire rack to cool.

To make the icing, sift the icing sugar into a medium-sized bowl. Add the elderflower cordial and water a little at a time to achieve a thick, creamy consistency. When the cakes are cool, spoon a tablespoon of icing onto each one and decorate with jelly sweeties.

Makes 12

Stolen from The Goddess's Kitchen

These did not disappoint! It's the first time I've ever made cupcakes without all the butter and missing out the whole 'beat the butter with the sugar until light and creamy' seemed to be a step too far originally. The cupcakes have a fantastic lemon flavour, they are light and fluffy just like a cupcake should be. I diligently followed the instruction on only filling the cases 3/4 full and I managed to get 18 cupcakes out of the mixture (normally I would just keep topping up the cases until the mixture was gone but Maria said 3/4 and as she is a true Goddess who am I to argue?!?!?!)

The only thing I would do differently next time is the icing, even though I ramped up the amount of elderflower the flavour is still lost amongst all the lemon. Next time I'll use only Elderflower cordial I think ... and maybe add a little to the cupcake batter too?

Stir Up Sunday Comes Early

Did you know that Stir Up Sunday is this coming Sunday?  That's only 6 sleeps away ... not sure if this helping you or not, sorry if it's not!  The thing is that I'm not going to be anywhere near the close and comfy confines of my wee kitchen on Sunday, I'll be in the Lake District instead for a nice long weekend, so I decided that I had better get ahead of the game and start to get myself organised. 

We are not huge mince pie fans in this house, although it just doesn't seem to be Christmas without the little blighters.  Every year I try to find new recipes to try out for alternative mince pie filling, Rhubarb and Vanilla is my all time favourite but owing to a particularly bad rhubarb season for me this year I'm having to go without ... sigh.  Then when I was flicking through the December issue of Delicious I spotted a recipe that, with a few tweaks, I could make my own and hopefully find a new alternative.  This is what I came up with;

Buttery Apple, Hazelnut and Chocolate Mincemeat
Finely grated zest and juice of 2 large oranges
Finely grated zest and juice of 2 large lemons
1 large (about 300g) bramley apple
100g butter
50ml frangelico
200g raisins
150g sultanas
150g currants
150g chocolate, grated (I used Willie's Supreme Cacao - Indonesian Black)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp mixed spice
175g light brown sugar
50g lightly toasted hazelnuts, chopped

Put the orange and lemon zest and juices into a medium pan.  Peel, quarter and core the apple, then grate ot, stirring it into the juices as you go so it doesn't discolour.

Add the butter, frangelico, dried fruits, vanilla extract and spices, then cook over a low heat, stirring frequently, for 1 hour until the apple has broken down, the dried fruits have plumped up and all the liquid has evaporated.  Leave to cool, then mix in the sugar, chocolate and toasted hazelnuts.

Spoon into cool, sterilised jars, press a waxed disc onto the surface of the mixture and seal.  Refrigerate and use within 1 month.

Makes about 1.2kg mincemeat

Adapted from Delicious, Dec 10

* Because this mincemeat is made with butter instead of suet, it keeps in the fridge for no more than a month.  However, it freezes well for up to 6 months.  For a mincemeat with a longer shelf life, omit the butter and stir in 100g shredded suet at the end, along with the sugar, chocolate and nuts.  This will keep for up to a year in a cool dark place.

The smell from this mixture bubbling away on the stove for an hour was so Christmassy and comforting.  The mincemeat is now sitting happily in the freezer at the moment, can't wait to sample it in pie form! 

Raspberries and Lemons!!!

Nearly another whole week since my last post!!!! Can't wait for Hubby's laptop to be back in good working order! I've been busy baking away but just not had the chance to get to my blog, or catch up with all my blog reading ... oh dear, its all getting a bit too much!

This weekend was spent int he kitchen making a whole host of things that I'm hoping to get on my blog very soon. In the meantime, here are two of the recipes I tried which have been keeping us going all week.

Raspberry Curd

175g raspberries (if using frozen, pat dry thoroughly - but I'm not sure why it gives this direction!)

100g unsalted butter, diced

200g golden caster sugar

The grated zest of 1 unwaxed lemon

150ml freshly squeezed lemon juice

3 large free range eggs, beaten

Puree the berries in a food processor.

Place the butter, sugar, lemon zest and juice in a heatproof bowl and sit over a pan of simmering water. Stir all the time until thick. (I'm not sure what the recipe mean's by 'thick'? I just stirred until all the butter had melted and the mixture resembled the base mixture for a lemon curd). This can also be done in a microwave but we don't have one of those!

Place a plastic sieve over the bowl and push the eggs and berry puree through the sieve, so that any blobby bits of egg white and all raspberry pips remain in the sieve. Stir the buttery mixture as you push the berry mixture through the sieve.

Stir well then return to the pan of simmering water (or microwave) and cook for 5 to 6 mins until it thickens. It should have the consistency of lightly whipped cream and will firm up on cooling.

Spoon into warm, sterilised jars. Cover when completely cold and refrigerate. You can keep the curd for up to 4 weeks.

Makes about 2-3 jars

Taken from 'A Cooks Tour Of Scotland' by Sue Lawrence

I'm the first to admit that I maybe could have cooked the curd for a touch longer. This is the first recipe I have made from any of my Sue Lawrence books (I'm ashamed to say that this particular book has been in my collection for a good few years now!) and I'm not entirely convinced that it is the easiest recipe in the world to follow ... how to you stir a bowl of melted butter and sugar while pushing a raspberry puree through a sieve? Things got a bit messy! The end product was worth persevering through the recipe though.

I love the colour of the finished curd, very cheery for this time of year and the lemon juice really helps bring out the raspberry flavour. I've enjoyed Raspberry Curd on Crumpets (not homemade I'm afraid!) every morning for breakfast so far this week!

I also made Hubby a treat on Sunday, Lemon Cream Squares. I spotted this on Martha's Daily Cookie and had to give it a go as it was made up pf everything he loves. Lip puckering good they are too, we've been enjoying them for dessert ...

Creamy Lemon Squares

120g unsalted butter, at room temp, plus more for pan

1/2 cup icing sugar, plus more for dusting

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup plain flour

4 large egg yolks

1 can sweetened condensed milk

Juice from 3 large lemons

Preheat oven to 180C. Butter an 8 inch square baking pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on two sides. Butter paper.

Make crust; using an electric mixer, beat butter, sugar and salt until light and fluffy. Add flour and mix on low just until combined. Press dough into the bottom and 1/2 inch up sides of prepared pan. Prick all over with a fork. Bake until lightly golden, 15 to 20 mins.

Make filling; in a large bowl, whisk together yolks, condensed milk and lemon juice until smooth. Pour over hot crust in pan, return to the oven and bake until filling is set, 25 to 30 mins. Cool completely in pan.

Refrigerate until filling is firm, about 2 hours or up to 3 days. Using paper overhang, lift cake onto a work surface, cut into 16 squares and dust with icing sugar.

Makes 16

Martha Stewarts' Daily Cookie Website

Next time I'm going to add the zest to the mixture along with the lemon juice, it could be a touch more lip puckering. And maybe serve it with some cream too ;0)

Lemon and Vanilla Puddle Pudding ...

... or at least it was meant to be!!!  Ever have one of those days in the kitchen when even the simplest of tasks turns to a charcoal briquette?  I should have given up while the going was [questionably!] good but instead I lurched from one disaster to another and my final effort of the day (which was last Friday, just in case you were wondering) was this 'dessert'.

In fairness it wasn't the biggest disaster of the day and was still very, very edible but owing to my slightly frazzled and completely demonic state of mind I misread the recipe and added the egg whites to the lemon batter mixture instead of the egg yolks, which then made it kinda difficult to whip the egg whites and fold them into the lemon batter mixture in order to get that lovely fluffy, souffle like topping to the puddle pudding.  Upon realising my error I decided to simply bung the egg yolks in along with all the other ingredients and carry on, the resulting pudding may not have had the right texture or fluffy, cloud like topping but hey-ho.  It doesn't seem like a huge biggy now but at the time ...

Should you wish to recreate this totally delectable pudding at home, here is what I didn't do!

Lemon and Vanilla Puddle Pudding
50g butter
200g golden caster sugar
1 lemon, zested
100ml lemon juice (include the juice from the zested lemon!)
3 eggs, separated
50g plain flour, sifted
250ml milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
Icing sugar for dusting
Double pouring cream, to serve

Heat the oven to 180C/fan 160C.  Whizz the butter, sugar and lemon zest until they are pale and creamy in a food processor.  Add the lemon juice, yolks, flour, milk and vanilla one by one until you have a smooth batter.  Whisk the egg whites until firm but not stiff, and fold the mixtures together.

Pour into a buttered ovenproof souffle or baking dish and put it in a baking tray half filled with hot water.  Bake for 45-50 mins until the top is lightly browned and set and there is a gooey lemon curd below.  Serve with or without cream.

Serves 4
Olive Magazine, March 2011

Banana and Passionfruit Muffins with [Lemon] Icing

So many posts and so little time! Where does the weekend go?!?!? I'm just going to launch into this first recipe, I made it for Hubby when I spied the usual aging banana's ... only thing was by the time I'd gotten around to making these a couple of nights later I discovered that Hubby had eaten the banana's. Apparently they weren't as aging as I had first thought!

Banana and Passionfruit Muffins with Lemon Icing (at least its meant to be lemon - I made passionfruit instead!)

125g butter

315g plain flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp ground cinnamon

150g light muscovado sugar

110g pecans, chopped

3 very ripe, medium bananas

Pulp of 3 passionfruit (about 3 1/2 tbsp)

Zest 1 medium lemon

65ml whole or semi skimmed milk

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

For the icing

150g icing sugar

Juice 1 medium lemon (I replaced this with the juice and seeds from a passionfruit)

Preheat the oven to 220C/fan 200C. Melt the butter and leave to cool slightly. Sift the flour, baking powder and cinnamon into a large mixing bowl and stir in the sugar and the pecans. Peel and mash the bananas in another bowl and mix with the passionfruit pulp and lemon zest. Next, whisk the melted butter, milk and eggs into the fruit, then stir this mixture into the flour until combined; don't over mix or the muffins will be heavy. Divide the mixture between baking cases that are lining a 12 cup muffin tin. Bake on the centre shelf of the oven for 20 mins until risen and lightly golden. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

For the icing, whisk three quarters of the lemon juice into the icing sugar in a bowl. Then add enough of the rest of the lemon juice to make a thick spreadable icing; you may not need all the juice. Use to ice the tops of the muffins.

Makes 12 muffins

I'm not sure which magazine a clipped this recipe out of - it may well have been Feel Good Food

For me, not being a lover of banana, I don't particular care for these muffins. There just seemed to be a million and one flavours going on, the cinnamon seems a step too far with the lemon and passionfruit. That said, the mixture did smell very tropical while I was making it. If I was to make these again then I'd leave the cinnamon out ... Hubby is slowly eating his way through them but that is evidence enough that he isn't really that keen on them! If he had really liked them they would have disappeared before I'd had the chance to ice them ;0)

Lemon Curd and Blueberry Loaf Cake

The picture of this loaf cake on the front cover of the March Good Food Magazine was crying out to be tried out in my own kitchen. I finally got the excuse to make it on Saturday when Hubby's Mum and sister joined us or dinner, this made the perfect after dinner treat.

Lemon Curd and Blueberry Loaf Cake

175g softened butter, plus extra for greasing

500ml tub greek yogurt (you need 100g in the cake, the rest to serve)

300g good quality lemon curd (you need 2 tbsp in the cake, the rest to serve)

3 eggs

Zest and juice 1 lemon, plus extra zest to serve, if you like

200g SR flour

175g golden caster sugar

200g punnet of blueberries (you need 85g in the cake, the rest to serve)

140g icing sugar

Edible flowers, such as purple or yellow primroses, to serve (optional)

Heat the oven to 160C/140C fan. Grease a 2lb loaf tin and line with a long strip of baking parchment. Put 100g yogurt, 2 tbsp lemon curd, the softened butter, eggs, lemon zest, flour and caster sugar into a large mixing bowl. Quickly mix with an electric whisk until the batter just comes together. Scrape half into the prepared tin. Weigh 85g blueberries from the punnet and sprinkle half into the tin, scrape the rest of the batter on top, then scatter the other half of the 85g berries on top. Bake for 1 hour 10 mins - 1 hour 15 mins until golden, and a skewer poked into the centre comes out clean.

Cool in the tin, then carefully lift onto a serving plate to ice. Sift the icing sugar into a bowl and stir in enough lemon juice to make a thick, smooth icing. Spread over the top of the cake, then decorate with lemon zest and edible flowers, if you like. Serve in slices with extra lemon curd, greek yogurt and blueberries.

Cuts into 8-10 slices

Good Food Mag, March 2010

In my usual style, I managed to ice the cake but not decorate it. Oops! But it still tasted pretty good, Hubby even had seconds. Marie over at the English Kitchen also made this recipe not so long ago. She added a twist to her icing though and created a Streusel Topping instead which looked pretty divine if I do say so myself. Click here to check out Marie's version, you won't be sorry ;0)

St Clement's Cake

Yesterday was my Mother-In-Laws birthday. As I said in my previous post, Sunday was the day that the whole family gathered to celebrate. Now in my book a birthday just isn't a birthday until there is a cake thrown in for good measure. MIL is a HUGE St Clement's fan and last year I made her a St Clement's Cake, a Hairy Bikers recipe so you can imagine how bad it is for your hips but not so tough on the taste buds!

Last year I followed the instructions to a tee and ended up with two very thick sponge cakes sandwiched with a thick layer of butter icing and topped off with even more butter icing. There were no complaints on the taste but the presentation wasn't that fantastic, it just didn't look especially 'finished'. So this year I sliced each sponge in half and then used thinner layers of the butter icing to sandwich them altogether. Not quite so sure that the presentation was improved any but it certainly didn't effect the taste so it was declared a winner again.

St Clement's Cake

500g unsalted butter, softened

400g caster sugar

8 eggs

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

2 heaped tsp baking powder

100g ground almonds

560g plain flour

Juice of a lemon

Zest of 2 lemons

3 tbsp orange juice

1 tsp orange extract

For the Topping

250g unsalted butter, softened

500g icing sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste

1 dessert spoon hot water

Zest of a lemon

2 tsp lemon juice

Zest of an orange

1 tsp orange extract

Cream together the butter and the sugar until it goes white (very important top tip). Beat in the vanilla bean paste and the eggs one by one.

In a separate bowl blend together the flour, almonds, salt and baking powder then fold into the butter and sugar mixture. This is the basic cake mix.

Divide the cake mixture evenly into two bowls.

In the first bowl - lets make the lemon cake. To the cake mix add the juice of one lemon and the zest of two lemons.

In the second bowl - let's make the orange cake. To the cake mix add the orange juice, orange extract and the zest of an orange.

Butter the two cake tins and line with silicon baking parchment. Pour the cake mixtures into the two cake tins.

Bake in a preheated oven at 180C for 40 mins. To test whether the cake is cooked test by pushing a metal skewer into the centre of the cake and if the skewer comes out clean then the cake is cooked.

Leave to cool in the tins.

Meanwhile, make the toppings. Cream together the butter, icing sugar and hot water and fold in the vanilla bean paste.

Divide the mixture equally into two separate bowls.

To the first bowl add the lemon zest and the lemon juice mix thoroughly and this makes the lemon butter icing.

To the other bowl add the orange zest and the orange juice mix thoroughly and this is the orange butter icing.

Cut the top off the lemon cake until it is level then spread generously with the lemon butter icing.

Sandwich the orange sponge on top of this. Coat the top of the cake with the orange butter icing.

Arrange decorations on top. (The Hairy Bikers used crystallised fruit, I used jelly sweets!!)

Serves lots of people

Now I am the first to admit that my attention was not fully on the cake by the time it came to he slicing and decorating ... those rotten scones were taking up far too much of my time. Its not an excuse, just the truth, but the end result is a cake that I am not all that proud of. In fact if this had been my first attempt I probably wouldn't have made it a second time. Next time, I'm going to slice the lumpy bumpy tops off as well as slicing the cakes in half. Come to think of it, next time I might actually use cutters to make small individual layered cakes ....