Barefoot Contessa's Warm Duck Salad

I saw an episode of The Barefoot Contessa a few weeks ago where she made this Warm Duck Salad.  It wasn't until we went out for dinner to The Dome for our wedding anniversary that I remembered Ina's dish.  The Dome served Roast Breast of Barbary Duck with Sautéed Wild Mushrooms, Blackberry Chutney and Fondant Potato, finished with a Red Wine Sauce, and it was divine!  (Ironically the starter I picked was the exact same one we served at our wedding breakfast - Traditional Smoked Salmon served with Capers, Red Onion and Egg)

I'm so used to seeing duck paired with orange that branching out to blackberries and raspberries was a bit of a revelation for me.  This salad still uses oranges, but it is by no means that main flavouring and instead helps lift out the tart summery taste of the raspberries - just as divine as The Domes creation ;0)

Barefoot Contessa's Warm Duck Salad

2 boneless duck breasts, skin on

Salt

1 shallot, finely chopped

2 1/2 tbsp sherry vinegar

1 tsp orange zest

1/2 cup good olive oil (I used a locally produced rapeseed oil)
A mixture of salad leaves (I used Watercress, Spinach, Wild Rocket and Baby Gem Lettuce)

1 orange, peeled, cut in 1/2 and sliced

170g fresh raspberries

75g toasted whole pecan halves

Preheat oven to 200C.

Place duck breasts on a sheet pan, skin side up.  Sprinkle with salt and roast for about 20 mins, until medium rare (the duck breasts I had were quite large so I roasted them for longer as I'm still coming round to the idea of medium rare!)  Remove from the oven, cover tightly with foil and allow to sit for 10 to 15 mins.  Remove and discard the fat and skin on top, slice the duck and then cut the slices crosswise into julienned pieces.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the shallots, sherry vinegar, orange zest and 1 1/2 tsp salt.  Whisk in the olive oil and set aside.

For the salad, trim the bottom from the baby gem lettuce and cut them diagonally into 2.5cm slices.  Separate the leaves and discard the cores.  Place the slices in a large salad bowl.  Add the other salad leaves, oranges, raspberries and toasted pecans.  Toss with enough dressing to moisten.  Gently toss in the warm duck meat and serve immediately.

Serves 4 to 6
Food Network

I would definitely make this dish again but next time I would rethink the dressing.  The recipe makes enough for 8 to 10 people easily and even using a small amount I still ended up with an oil slick on the bottom of my plate.  It was pretty salty too.  Other than this though it was really yummy and actually a doddle to put together after work last night.

Daydreamer's Bliss

What's in a name?  I couldn't decide what to call my latest drink concoction, a mocktail no less!  I'll wait while you pick yourself up off the floor ... I know, me and mocktails!  I was shocked too ;0)

Anyway, back to the not deciding part.  I had my drink in hand and the beanbag and I were vying for ultimate sun worshiping position on the balcony, the competition being the clothes horse!  Sun beating down, birds singing and Hubby out for the afternoon with the boys so no World Cup bellowing in the background.  Bliss.  A sip of the mocktail, I closed my eyes and the balcony turned into a white sandy beach on a caribbean island.  Sigh.  If only! 

So what to call this drink that is very loosely based on Nigella's Pussyfoot.  I had to adapt the recipe a bit owing to the fact that I'm not that keen on grapefruit juice.  Actually I'm not that keen on grapefruit period.  I wasn't too sure what to come up with as an alternative so I headed to the juice isle in my local supermarket and pretty much grabbed one of every flavour that I do like.  Thankfully creation number one is a winner. 

I toyed with the idea of Swaying Teapots (instead of Palm Trees) but being a mocktail there won't be much swaying going on.  So I've settled on Daydreamer's Bliss ... but if you can think of a better name then do let me know ... I'll be back on that caribbean island three floors up ;0)

Daydreamer's Bliss
3 cups orange juice
3 cups tropical juice
3 cups orange and passionfruit juice
3 tbsp grenadine
3 tbsp lime juice
Ice Cubes

Add all the ingredients into a pitcher (being the sado that I am I love it when the grenadine sinks to the bottom and turns everything a lovely girly flush of pink!)

Stir to combine and serve in a nice tall glass with accessories of your choice.

Mince Pies and Mulled Cider for Christmas Eve

It was the night before Christmas and all through the house wafted the warm scent of cider mixed with vanilla and anise ... OK OK, poetry is not my forte!

Today has been spent in the kitchen getting a head start on tomorrow's feast. I'm sure I'll be very thankful tomorrow but right now I'm exhausted! But I just wanted to share with you some of today's adventures in the kitchen.

Jamie Oliver's Filo and Puff Pastry Mince Pies - My Way!
1 sheet ready rolled puff pastry
1 packet filo pastry
Home made mincemeat (I used the Apple, Cherry and Hazelnut mincemeat for this)
Melted butter
Icing Sugar, for dusting

Heat the oven to 180C.

Roll puff pastry to roughly 3mm thick. Cover with a thin ish layer of mincemeat and then roll the pastry up along the long edge, swiss roll style. Trim the edges and then slice the roll into approx 2cm wide slices.

Use melted butter to layer 3-4 sheets of filo together. Use to line a shallow bun tin. Sit a slice of the puff pastry and mincemeat mixture into each bun cavity and then brush more melted butter around the edges of the filo.

Bake for 20 to 25 mins. When you are ready to eat these simply snap the filo sheets into mince pie portions and dust with icing sugar.

Makes 21

If you'd like to see Jamie's original recipe then head over to Ruth's blog for the full ingredient list and instructions.

And if you're not quite fed up with Mince Pies just yet then please try the next recipe - this afternoon was the first time I've ever made them but I've decided this is the best ever Mince Pie recipe, especially for the Vanilla and Rhubarb Mincemeat.

Mincemeat Custard Pies
300g ready made custard
375g ready rolled puff pastry
Homemade Mincemeat (Vanilla and Rhubarb - mmmm)
Icing Sugar, for dusting

Heat oven to 220C/fan 200C. Unroll the pastry, then cut out circles using a 7cm plain round cutter. Gather up the pastry trimmings, re-roll, then cut out more circles. You should get 16-18. Use to line a couple of bun tins.

Spoon a heaped tsp of the custard mix into each tart case, then top with a scant tsp of mincemeat. Bake for about 10 mins until puffy and golden. Cool briefly in the tin, then dust with icing sugar and serve slightly warm.

Makes 16-18 pies
Adapted from BBC Good Food Website

And the last recipe was made for my Hubby to welcome him home on Christmas Eve ;0)

Mulled Cider
2 litres good quality traditional cider (scrumpy)
6 cloves
3 star anise
1/4 nutmeg finely grated into the pan
1 cinnamon stick
1 vanilla pod, halved
juice of 1 orange
juice of 2 clementines
juice and seeds of 1 pomegranate
4-5 tbsp caster sugar (I've not added any)

Pour the cider into a large pan on a low heat and let it warm through for a few mins. Add all the spices and juices and turn the heat up. Once boiling, turn down to a simmer and leave to tick away for 5-8 mins. Taste and add sugar as you like - you don't want it sweet. Ladle into glasses or mugs and serve while warm.

Serves 15
Jamie Oliver Magazine - Dec 09 /Jan 10

Chocolate Orange Sticks

This recipe comes from my Mum.  She used to make these most Christmas's (is that a word?) for the 'grown ups' who enjoyed that abomination combination of chocolate and orange.  In my younger days I assumed that I would learn to love these just as much as my Aunts, Uncles and Grandparents, thinking it took the more mature palate to appreciate such things ... clearly I still have a lot of growing up to do if that is the case!

While Sis In Law and I were in the Lake District last month she spotted some Chocolate Orange Sticks at one of the multitude of chocolate shops we visited.  I promptly emailed my Mum and asked her for the recipe and this is what I got;

Chocolate Orange Sticks
2 large, thick skinned oranges
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
125g dark chocolate

Cut oranges into quarters; peel away flesh with fingers; leaving thick pith in tact.
Cut quarters into strips 1cm thick
Drop into boiling water, return to boil. Repeat twice.
Combine water and sugar in pan, stir over heat till sugar is dissolved.
DO NOT BOIL
Add orange strips, bring to boil, reduce heat,simmer uncovered 5-10 mins or till translucent.
Stir occasionally
Remove to rack, dry overnight
Melt chocolate, dip rind, place on baking paper to set

Of course I had a couple of questions regarding this;
Me: "What kind of orange is best?  How are you supposed to know if it is thick skinned or not?"
Mum: "Naval oranges are best but I use Valencia."
Me: ..... ????? .... but I never bothered to ask!  I assume Naval oranges aren't around in Summer time back home.
Me: "Do I really need to boil a pan of water 3 times?  Can't I just drain the orange peel and add it back to the same water?"
Mum: "No.  Boiling it three times removes the bitterness, you need fresh water each time."
Me: Thinks to self "She's a clever old Mum!" [no offence to the world 'old', its meant as a term of endearment and not as a reference to age ... can't help but think I'm digging the hole deeper ...]

So with these instructions I set to and made my very first batch of Chocolate Orange Sticks.  It was pretty straight forward actually, although there was a small stint of panic when the peel started to curl after the first lot of boiling, subsequent boiling and liberal dosing in dark chocolate remedied this issue though.  Mum had also mentioned that 125g of dark chocolate isn't enough for dipping the peel in after it has been candied.  I started off by melting 125g of dark chocolate and then added more to it for tempering purposes.  Of course I ended up with way more tempered chocolate than I actually needed so I used the leftovers to make Hot Chocolate Orange Sticks (I'm hoping the orange flavour has been imparted as part of the 'dunking' process).

Of course I've not tasted them (heaven forbid such a travesty to my taste buds!) so I can't comment on the flavour but that may actually be a good thing.  They look just like the ones Mum used to make though and they smell like the ones Mum used to make so I'm hedging my bets ;0)

Anti Mince Pies (AKA Nigella's Mini Apple Pies)

I know there will be a fair few of you out there who will consider me a pure heathen for making 'Anti Mince Pies'.  Sorry!  But ... and in my defence ... booze sodden candied peel just isn't my thing ... apples on the other hand are always my thing, especially when they are wrapped in pastry and come to me courtesy of Nigella!  So if any of the Anti Mince Pie brigade should come to call sometime in the next week or so then having a sneaky batch of these at the ready can only be a good thing!

Nigella's Mini Apple Pies
1 quantity sweet shortcrust pastry
1 large egg, mixed with 1 tbsp water, to glaze, optional
For the Filling
2 cox's apples (375g total weight)
1 tbsp caster sugar
pinch of ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
zest of 1 orange plus 1 tbsp orange juice
1 tsp lemon juice
15g butter

Peel, core and finely chop the apple.  Put them into a saucepan with all of the other filling ingredients and cook over a medium heat with the lid on for 5 mins or until soft.

Transfer to a bowl and let the mixture cool.

Use the sweet shortcrust pastry to line the tins and fill them with a teaspoon of the apple mixture.  Use the same cutter to make lids with small stars cut from the centres.  Paint with glaze, if using, and bake in a 220C oven for 10-15 mins or until golden and bubbling.

Makes 36 mini pies or 24 regular pies
Taken from Nigella's Feast

For a bit of added 'yum' I also sprinkled the tops with some demerara sugar after painting the glaze on.

Rhubarb, Green Bean and Almond Salad

I have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of Rhubarb season so we could start eating this salad again.  We first tried it last Easter and it became a regular fixture in our dinners, the contrast of textures and flavours have made this one of my favourite salads.  I'm not the biggest fan of the dressing that is included in the recipe and I often swap it around for whatever I'm in the mood for, a grainy mustard vinaigrette is always high on my list and actually works well with the flavours in the salad.

Rhubarb, Green Bean and Almond Salad
2 handfuls green beans, blanched
2 sticks rhubarb, very thinly sliced
2 large handfuls spinach
1 orange, juiced and mixed with olive oil and seasoning to make a dressing
1 mozzarella ball, ripped into pieces
a handful of toasted almonds

Toss the rhubarb, beans, almonds and spinach with the dressing and divide between 2 plates.  Scatter over the mozzarella.

Serves 2 as a main meal
Olive, May 2009

A word to the wise, it would be best to wait until the rhubarb season is in full swing, the forced rhubarb can be a bit too tart and sometimes overwhelms!

Sunshine Smoothie

If you have had a weekend full of over indulging (I'm not naming any names here!) then maybe it is time to ring the changes with a healthy kick start to the day?  I've never been an enormous fan of smoothies for breakfast, don't get me wrong, a smoothie (in general) has its place, but to me a fruit drink was never going to fill me up enough to get me through to lunch time like a bowl of cereal or a couple of pieces of toast.  Joyfully, I was wrong!  My hips will be thanking me by Hogmanay I'm sure ;0)

Tropical Breakfast Smoothie
1 mango
1 orange
Juice from a lime
4 cubes of frozen passionfruit pulp
4 tbsp natural yogurt - low fat naturally!!

Place everything into the blender and whizz to your heart's content.  Sunshine in every mouthful!

Serves 2

... and now that I am feeling so positively virtuous I'm off to see how much chocolate can be smuggle into my Christmas baking!

Cranberry Orange Pecan Bread

I have no idea what possessed me to buy that punnet of fresh cranberries, having never tasted the fresh version in my life.  Dried cranberries are a firm fixture in my diet and I have even been known to dabble in the odd beverage containing cranberry juice ... but never a real life fresh cranberry!  With the punnet tucked away in the crisper draw (is that where they are supposed to be kept?  I have no idea!) I was happily drooling over the food porn at Foodgawker when I found this recipe for Cranberry Orange Pecan Bread (think more along the lines of Banana Bread rather than a recipe for the kind of bread to make sandwiches with).  I had almost all the ingredients to hand, although the buttermilk was subbed for semi skimmed owing to the pancakes for breakfast yesterday ... I'm not braving the weather for a trip to the shops today, that snow has been chucking it down all day.

Cranberry Orange Pecan Bread
1/2 cup pecans, chopped coarse
1 tablespoon grated zest from 1 large orange
1/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
2/3 cup buttermilk
90g unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 large egg, beaten lightly
2 cups plain flour
1 cup caster sugar
1 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
170g fresh cranberries, roughly chopped (good luck - those little suckers are tricky for chopping!)

Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease bottom and sides of a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan; dust with flour, tapping out excess.

Spread the pecans onto a baking sheet and place in preheated oven 5-7 minutes until fragrant. Shake the baking sheet halfway through baking so the nuts will toast evenly. Remove nuts from oven and set aside to cool completely.

In a small bowl, stir together orange juice, zest, buttermilk, butter, and egg; set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in large bowl. Stir liquid ingredients into the dry until just moistened. Gently stir in cranberries and pecans. Do not over mix.

Scrape batter into prepared loaf pan and smooth surface with a rubber spatula. Bake 20 minutes, then reduce heat to 160C; continue to bake until golden brown and toothpick inserted in center of loaf comes out clean, about 45 minutes longer. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then transfer to wire rack and cool completely before serving, at least 1 hour.

Makes 1 large loaf
Taken from Sweet Pea's Kitchen

The hardest part has been having to wait an hour for the loaf to cool - murder I tell you!  It smelt glorious right from the start with the toasted pecans and the orange zest wafting through the whole house.  There is nothing more comforting in this world than the smell of baking permeating the place ... until you actually get the chance for the first bite!

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! 

White Chocolate and Orange Cookies - Sweet and Simple Bakes

Phew - made this month's challenge for Sweet and Simple Bakes by the skin of my teeth! Maria picked White Chocolate and Orange Cookies, personally speaking I'm not a fan of orange and chocolate together but I know the rest of the world is so I stuck to the recipe like glue!

I only made two small deviations from the recipe this month. I scooped the cookie dough onto the baking sheet using a 'smallish' ice cream scoop, leaving them in full mound form and letting them flatten themselves while cooking. Really the only reason I did this was after reading some of the Sweet and Simple gang had problems with how much the cookies spread. This seem to work pretty well, they still spread quite a bit though.

And the only other change was to drizzle melted white chocolate over the top of the cookies once they had cooled and the crowning glory - an orange jelly slice on top! In for a penny in for a pound!

White Chocolate and Orange Cookies

115g unsalted butter, softened

200g caster sugar

1 egg

Grated zest of 1 orange (2 to 3 tsp)

1 tsp vanilla extract

200g plain flour

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/4 tsp salt

225g white chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 190C/fan 170C.

Beat the butter and sugar. Add the egg, orange zest and vanilla extract. Sift together the dry ingredients.

Stir the dry ingredients and chocolate chips into the butter mixture and combine.

Use a small ice cream scoop to place mounds of dough on a baking sheet lined with greaseproof paper, or alternatively roll into balls and place onto the trays, then flatten with your fingers. Make sure they are well spaced! Bake for 8-10 mins. Cool for 5 mins and transfer to a cooling rack.

When cool, store in an airtight container for up to 4-5 days.

Makes 2 dozen

Sweet and Simple Bakes

Hubby really likes these and i have to admit if I was going to eat a chocolate and orange combo then it would be in this form!

Head over to the Sweet and Simple Bakes blog tomorrow to see every body's masterpieces!

Breakfast Club - A Valentine's Day Special

Let me start this post by saying that if you don't like Valentine's Day (and I totally understand those feelings only too well!) then please don't read any further!

Are you sure you want to go any further? I'll understand if you turn back now.

You've been warned. Read on at your peril!

So to start this story at the beginning I have to admit that I'm one of those people who tend to look down their nose at Valentine's Day. Personally I blame all those year's of being single on the 14th Feb for my dislike of the day. I didn't always used to be like this. When I was five years old I thought Valentine's Day was the most wonderful day ever and that when I met my prince charming he would sweep me off my feet and whisk me away to our castle to live happily ever after. I thought that every day would be like valentines day, full of perfume and roses, bright blue skies and boxes of chocolates in big red heart shape boxes.

Oh the innocence of youth! If only fairy tales worked out like that in real life. As I got older my view of the day dimmed ... quite a bit! For me, it turned into an overly commercialised day that did nothing more than remind the lonely [read:me!] of how lonely they [again, read:me!] were. Yep it would be fair to say that I HATED valentines day! Please don't mis-understand me as not being romantic or sentimental, I have all of those attributes in abundance, perhaps even in excess but my feeling towards the day has not improved all that much, even now I am happily married. My opinion is still that there are 364 other days in the year that are spent with our loved ones, so why do the overly grand (and overly priced!) romantic gestures have to be confined to one day?

Now my Husband sits firmly in the other camp (much as he would say he belongs to no camp at all). Every year I have insisted that we do nothing more for Valentines Day than enjoy a nice home cooked meal together. And every year he has agreed with me and then on Valentine's morning I awake to find a card and some flowers and a gift. Big soppy bugger that he is (and I love him very much for his soppyness!) just can't let the day go by. This year is no different. A lovely card to accompany a teddy bear with chocolates, a beautiful big bunch of tulips with a single red rose in the middle and a love heart hamper filled to the brim with chocolates. If you are anything like me you'll understand the sense of 'Argh but awe' at the same time (mind you if you were anything like me you would have heeded my warning at the start and not read any further!) That man of mine is such a softy.

So each year I have found my nice home cooked meal for the day raising the bar ever so slightly on the previous years efforts. This year I'll be trying to recreate one of Hubby's favourite meals he had while we were on honeymoon ... no pressure there then! But seeing as Valentine's Day falls on a Sunday this year it seemed only right that our breakfast club would also need to take this event into account. But what to make? Hubby's current favourite breakfast items are crumpets and while I've not quite got round to the stage of making them from scratch just yet (that one is ear marked to try very soon though) I knew today's breakfast would need to include them. Hubby also loves french toast, then I remembered a Jamie Oliver recipe card that came in a magazine a few years ago for Eggy Crumpets. Do you think I could find that recipe card??? Nothing else for it but to make it up as I went along!

Eggy Crumpets

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 tsp vanilla extract

Zest of 1 orange

A splash of milk

Crumpets

Mix all the ingredients together in a shallow bowl. When combined, dip the crumpets in and leave to soak for a few seconds. Then turn the crumpets over and leave to soak for a few seconds more.

Add to a hot pan and cook one side at a time until lightly golden.

Serve with raspberry butter (recipe follows) or maple syrup.

This mixture made enough to coat 12 crumpets (no we haven't eaten them all!)

Raspberry Butter is a treat I normally reserve for pancake day, unfortunately I'm already booked up for the day this year. It seemed only right to make the butter to go with the eggy crumpets, the colour is so Valentine's Day-ish. If it wasn't so bad for the hips, I'd eat this butter a lot more often than just once a year ;0)

Raspberry Butter

115g butter, softened

50g raspberries, fresh or frozen

2 tsp icing sugar

If using frozen raspberries, leave in the fridge overnight to defrost.

Add all ingredients together and mash to make a pink butter. Don't try to completely mash the raspberries down, I always think some flecks of red scattered through the butter add to its charm.

Makes enough to serve 12

Happy Valentine's Day to all of those who aren't too jaded to actually like the day ;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 ....