LET ME EAT CAKE, I SAY (Just like Marie Antoinette) Spelt and Olive Oil Cake with Blood Orange

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I don’t really know whether Marie Antoinette was into ‘healthy eating’ or not really. If she was anything like me she needed to be, as when I am in France I tend to eat my own weight in croissants, camembert and crusty ‘baguette’ and then wash it down with Madiran, and whilst red wine is meant to be REALLY good for you, I am not sure the rest of it is. Anyway, the damage is done for me and before our next jolly to La Belle France in July (Annecy and the French Alps, plus a foray into Northern Italy – very excited) I want to be healthier. But I want cake.

Here is the compromise.  I bought some spelt flour yonks ago because I bought a recipe book (yes really) which raved on about it. I made a recipe from the book for a lemon tart and it was horrible and I thought, ‘Spelt? Nah…’ and put it back in the cupboard. Fast forward to the purchase of another cookery book (yes really…) called ‘Grains as Mains’ and after a couple of successful meals made, no doubt coming to a blog near you soon) I happened upon a recipe for olive oil and spelt cake, with blood orange. I lurve blood orange. I lurve cake. This doesn’t sound as unhealthy as ‘normal’ cake. I opened the cupboard and out came the much maligned spelt flour. 

The alterations I made for this recipe were down to the fact that I like a cake that looks semi appealing, and I had an idea that this might not. Plus I did not want to waste any of my blood oranges so I upped the zest to the zest of two oranges as it took two oranges to produce the juice required to make the cake. I also decided to slice my remaining orange up, after removing the peel and a pith with a sharp knife, and put it on the cake. Then I thought that the slices might dry out and look a bit shrivelled so I strew a tablespoon or so of Demerara sugar over the cake in the hope that it would caramelise over the orange slices and make them look like huge jewels.

As the cake came out of the oven, I brushed over a luscious syrup made of orange juice and icing sugar to give it that ‘French Patisserie’ look.  Marie Antoinette would definitely be up for this cake. I am sure of it.

Spelt and Olive Oil Cake adapted from ‘Grains and Mains’ by Laura Agar Wilson

Serves 12, apparently…

Ingredients:

120ml extra virgin olive oil plus extra for greasing the tin

225g spelt flour

100g ground almonds

Grated zest of one orange (I used two)

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 eggs

150g light brown sugar

To decorate the top

A blood orange, peeled with the pith removed

1 tbsp Demerara sugar

To glaze:

1 tsp blood orange juice

35g icing sugar

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180c – grease and line a 23cm round cake tin.

Mix the dry ingredients (not the sugar) and the orange zest together until well combined.

In a separate bowl, mix the wet ingredients, plus the sugar, together.

Add the wet and dry ingredients together and mix until only just combined. Do not overmix.

Place the cake mixture into the prepared pan.

To prepare the decoration, slice the bottom and the top of the orange so that it sits flat. Using a sharp knife, cut the peel and pith away from around the orange, starting at the top of the orange down to the bottom. When you have removed the peel and the pith, slice the orange into thin slices and place them onto the top of the cake. Strew the Demerara over the cake and then place it into the oven.

Whilst the cake is baking, make the glaze. Mix the orange juice and the icing sugar with two teaspoons of water until everything is combined.

Bake for about 40 minutes, until a skewer/toothpick in the centre comes out clean. Brush the glaze over the cake.

This is best served warm.

Cooking like a Star - Strawberry and Almond Crumble a la Nigella

 

 

Strawberries. I do love them, and for some reason the garden has, this year, produced loads! Seems to me that snow in April and the coldest Spring in general for many a year is good for strawbs! Some of them have been luscious, gigantic ruby like jewels hanging heavy, others have been less alluring to look at, but certainly pack a beautifully sweet summer flavour, better than anything I have tasted at the supermarket, where all their strawberries tend to look alike and taste like squidgy cotton wool. Anyway, I used some of the less handsome looking strawberries in this gorgeous Nigella crumble, which was a total hit. If there was a way of making strawberries taste even better, then this could be it, and I think as Nigella says, it might also work wonders on those beautiful but insipid things you get off the supermarket shelf... maybe.

 

 

 

August is the month of Nigella Lawson on the 'Cook Like a Star' blog hop, hosted by Zoe at Bake for Happy Kids, Joyce from Kitchen Flavours and Anuja from Simple Baking. Hopefully this recipe will be a pleasing addition to an already growing and delicious list.

 

Strawberry and Almond Crumble, taken from 'Kitchen' by Nigella Lawson

 

My adaptions in red

 

Serves Lola, Finn, Mum, Dad and one other

Ingredients:

500 grams strawberries (hulled)

50 grams caster sugar

25 grams ground almonds

4 teaspoons vanilla extract

for the topping:

110 grams plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

75 grams cold butter (diced)

100 grams flaked almonds (I used ground almonds)

75 grams Demerara sugar (I used light brown sugar)

double cream (to serve)

 

                            Method:                           

 

Actually some of these strawberries look mighty fine! The dodgy ones must be on the bottom!!

 

 

 

Preheat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6/400ºF. Put the hulled strawberries into your pie dish, Nigella uses a round ovenproof pie dish approx. 21cm diameter x 4cm deep (approx. 1.25 litre capacity) / 8 inches diameter x 2 inches deep (approx. 1¼ quarts capacity),  I use an oval one roughly the same diameter and sprinkle over them the sugar, almonds and vanilla extract. Give the dish a good shake or two to mix the ingredients.

 

Now for the crumble topping: put the flour and baking powder in a mixing bowl and rub in the cold, diced butter between thumb and fingers (or in a freestanding mixer). When you’ve finished, it should resemble rough, pale oatmeal. Stir in the flaked almonds and sugar with a fork.

 

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Tip this over the strawberry mixture, covering the strawberries in an even layer and giving a bit of a press in at the edges of the dish. Set the dish on a baking sheet and bake in the oven for 30 minutes, by which time the crumble topping will have darkened to a pale gold and some pink-red juices will be seeping and bubbling out at the edges.

 

 

 

Leave to stand for 10 minutes before serving, and be sure to put a jug of chilled double cream on the table alongside. Or, if you have any left over (unlikely) cover it in foil and bang it in the oven  the next day to warm through and then serve with vanilla ice cream. OMG, as my kids say...

Cooking Like a Star, Delia Stylee - Orange and Greek Honey Syrup Cake

 

 

I think it is safe to say that you know where you are with Delia. There is some unwritten gastronomic rule somewhere that says that every Delia recipe will deliver. Your dinner party will be amazing. Everyone will swoon over your pudding. Your bolied egg will be perfect, for Delia showed you how to boil that egg. And whilst a lot of what I have just written is just a little tongue in cheek, it’s very rare a Delia recipe fails you. It’s food that makes you happy.

And that brings me rather neatly to cake, and I will speak for the group here; cake makes you happy. In that way they’re a bit like flowers, or balloons. They make you smile, and even if you decline a slice, (What is wrong with you?) they’re nice to look at. Pretty little things.

 

 

So, when I realised that March is the not only the month of white rabbits, but the month of Delia Smith on ‘Cook like a star’ hosted by Zoe at Bake for Happy Kids, Baby Sumo at Eat your Heart Out and Mich at Piece of Cake I had to start with cake and as it’s a month nearer to what should be the start of some warmer weather (one of these years, I will be right…) I chose something Greek, and who knows, if I wish really hard and my punt on the Euromillions this evening comes off, then tomorrow I might be eating something similar sat outside some taverna somewhere *crosses fingers*.

Cakes with a soaking syrup usually don’t dry out so you can choose to eat this over a few days if you like. It’s a very moreish, tasty, zingy cake though quite crumbly despite the syrup soaking. Probably the semolina/cornmeal content. It does need the yoghurt topping because of this in my opinion. If I made this again, I would go for something richer like ever so slightly sweetened mascarpone spread over the top. That would be tremendous!

Greek Orange and Honey Syrup Cake, adapted from Delia Smith’s ‘How to Cook, Book Three’.

Ingredients:

For the cake:

2 small oranges (weighing about 9 oz/250 g)

4½ oz (125 g) ground almonds

6 oz (175 g) well-softened butter, plus a little extra for greasing

6 oz (175 g) golden caster sugar

3 large eggs, beaten

9 oz (250 g) semolina (I used fine cornmeal)

4½ level teaspoons baking powder

For the syrup:

8 fl oz (225 ml) Greek mountain honey

5 tablespoons orange juice

1½ tablespoons lemon juice

1½ inch (4 cm) cinnamon stick (I used a tsp of ground cinnamon)

For the topping:

7 oz (200 g) Greek yoghurt

1½ oz (40 g) unsalted, shelled pistachio nuts

2 tablespoons Greek mountain honey

 

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 6, 400°F (200°C)

 

 

First, cut the oranges into chunks, removing the pips. Then tip the whole lot – flesh, pith and zest – into a food processor and whiz it to a thick purée.

Next, put all the other cake ingredients into a large bowl and, provided the butter is really soft, just go in with an electric hand whisk and whisk everything together until you have a smooth, well-combined mixture.

When combined, fold in the orange purée, spoon the mixture into a prepared 10 inch springform tin and smooth the top with the back of the spoon.

Now place the cake on the centre shelf of the oven and bake it for an initial 10 minutes. Then lower the temperature to gas mark 4, 350°F (180°C) and bake for a further 40-45 minutes, or until it is golden brown, springy in the centre and has shrunk slightly from the sides of the tin.

Meanwhile, make the syrup. To do this, simply combine the honey and 5 tablespoons water with the cinnamon stick in a small saucepan, place it over a gentle heat, bring it up to simmering point and let it simmer gently for about 5 minutes. After that, take the pan off the heat, remove the cinnamon stick and stir in the orange and lemon juices. (I just threw it all in together and heated the mixture!!)

 

Leave the cake aside to cool for 5 minutes, then remove it from the tin to a wire rack to cool, with a large plate underneath. Make a few holes all over it with a skewer before pouring the syrup over it. (It will look like there is far too much, but don’t worry, the cake will absorb more than you think, and any that is not absorbed can be poured from the plate back over the cake.) Then, when the cake is absolutely cold, place it on a serving plate, cover it and leave it in a cool place overnight, though I served it a few hours later.

 

 

Just before serving, spread the top of the cake with the Greek yoghurt, sprinkle over the pistachios, drizzle with the honey and serve cut into chunky slices.

This is a big cake. Serves 8 – 10 comfortably.

 

I am submitting this recipe to March 2013's 'Cook Like A Star' blog hop hosted by Zoe at Bake for Happy Kids, Baby Sumo at Eat your Heart Out and Mich at Piece of Cake. See other amazing Delia recipes below!

Because I got confused. Easy Peach and Amaretto Flan

 

 

 

...and confusion happens often. I appear to be hurtling towards some sort of befuddledom, though to be fair the fact that I don't seem to be able to tell the difference between tinned apricots and peaches may have had something to do with the fact that when shopping I was being hassled at the time by two children, well known to this blog, who were putting stuff in the trolley that I didn't want, in between partaking in playfights in the middle of the supermarket aisle so much so that little old ladies were having to manoeuvre their trolleys around them to get to the custard (or whatever it was they were buying). What's that? Yes, you're right. I am an appalling mother.

 

Anyway, when I got home and set upon the original Gino D'Acampo recipe I realised my mistake in that I had peaches for his easy apricot and kirsch flan which is in his 'Italian Home Baking' cookbook but sourced here from a column in the Daily Fail Mail. I uttered several words not in keeping of the spirit of this blog as I had got everything else out, ready to prepare the damn thing...so, a few tweaks and judicious ingredient changes and what we have now is an easy peach and amaretto tart which though inspired by the original recipe, I will now attempt to claim as my own.

 

I like pastry - I'll have it in, or on, anything, but because I am extraordinarily good as putting fat down I have convinced myself that using filo pastry as the pastry case is almost healthy. I subbed the kirsch for amaretto, the hazelnuts for almonds and a little almond extract and obviously the apricots are now peaches, so you will not need as many of them. I needed a large tin only.

 

My filo was quite thick as it is the last of the French stuff that I bought back home from that huge supermarket shop I did in Calais in the Summer. Make sure that you put your finished tart on a preheated baking tray when you put it in the oven to ensure that the bottom of the tart cooks all the way through, as the filling is a little bit wet. Mine cooked, just. I think if I had used the thinner filo pastry (or maybe used less of the one I was using in the first place) it might have been easier for the bottom to cook through quicker.

 

So here we are. This is the recipe that I created from confusion. If you want the original recipe, click on the link above, or buy the cookbook.

 

 

Peach and Amaretto Tart, loosely based on a Gino D'Acampo recipe for something similar.

 

 

Serves Lola, Finn, Mum and Dad, twice, so 8 people.

 

Ingredients:

 

For the pastry case:

120g filo pastry

20g salted butter melted

For the filling:

 

120g salted butter plus extra for greasing

115g caster sugar

2 medium eggs beaten

100g finely ground almonds

1/2 tsp almond extract

2 tbsp amaretto liqueur

1 large can peach halves drained (though this might be two normal size tins with a few halves left over)

2 tbsp apricot jam

icing sugar for dusting

Method:

 

 

 

Grease a 25cm loose-based flan tin with butter and preheat the oven to 220C fan/gas 7 (add 10C-20C for non-fan ovens).

 

 

 

Cut the filo pastry into 20cm squares and lightly brush each one with the melted butter. Line the base and sides of the

flan tin with the filo squares, ensuring that each one overlaps the next. Fold in any uneven edges, or trim off, as I did.

 

 

 

Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl until pale and fluffy. Gradually whisk in the eggs. Add the almonds, almond extract, flour and amaretto and gently fold everything together. Spread the mixture evenly in the prepared pastry case.

 

 

 

Arrange the peach halves on top of the mixture, placing the fruit rounded side up (you may have some left over).

 

Put the flan tin on a baking tray and bake in the middle of the oven for 8 minutes. Reduce the heat to 190C fan/gas 5 (add 10C-20C for non-fan ovens) and continue to bake for a further 20-25 minutes until the filling is golden brown and firm to the touch.

 

Meanwhile, heat the apricot jam over a low heat in a small saucepan. Remove the flan from the oven and brush the jam over the top.

 

Leave the flan to cool in the tin for 15 minutes before removing the outer ring and place on a wire rack to cool.

 

 

 

Dust with a little icing sugar and serve warm, or leave to cool to room temperature.

 

 

 

We had this with a little cream and it was really good! Thumbs up!

 

  

From the garden: Gooseberry and Elderflower Filo Pie

 

I have neglected my garden now for about six years, funnily enough about the same time I have had children, but there are still some things that thrive in there apart from bindweed. Hidden here and there amongst the overgrowth are little glimmers of the past where I had fruit plants from which I had this romantic notion that I would have bumper harvests all the time and would whisk them away to the kitchen and so something marvellous with them. Being a) not talented in the garden department, and b) living in a country where Summer happens in March and a few days in September, means that my attempts have been met various levels of failure, but if there is one thing that can be guaranteed to bring forth something I can do something with, it is my very thorny gooseberry bushes and my unwieldy blackberry bushes, both of which seem to thrive in grey cloud and sodden soil it would seem.

So, this year's crop of red tinged sourness was initially frozen by me in two plastic bags because I was about to go to France and couldn't really do them much justice. But, once returned I had plans for one of the bags and this is the result, a Nigel Slater inspired gooseberry filo pie. I currently have lots of filo pastry which I bought when I did my supermarket shop in Calais before returning to the UK, and pastry in all its forms is cheaper and in many cases better than I can make, plus it speeds up stuff. Sometimes I like to make quiche on a whim. How exciting.

The alteration I made to this recipe was that I added a little elderflower cordial to the gooseberries. If you have never had gooseberries and elderflower together, then you really, really should. It is so amazingly tasty. It does make for a filling that is a little liquidy, but that pleases me in all honesty as I can then pour a little cream on it and make it even better. Crispy filo, tart gooseberry liquor, unctuous cream. I can think of little better.

Gooseberry Filo Pie, adapted from Nigel Slater's recipe in the Guardian newspaper

Serves Mum and Dad twice, whilst Lola and Finn had an ice cream from the freezer (yes, I failed)

Ingredients

350g gooseberries

1 tbsp elderflower cordial

80g caster sugar

125g ground almonds

50g butter

6 leaves of filo pastry

 

A little Demerara sugar

 

Cream, to pour over

 Method:

 

Top and tail the gooseberries, removing any stalks and dried flowers. Put the berries in a bowl, add the caster sugar, elderflower cordial and the ground almonds and toss them gently together.

 

 

Melt the butter, then brush a little of it on the base of a 22cm metal baking dish or shallow cake tin. Lay a piece of filo pastry in the tin, leaving the edges overhanging the sides, then brush it with butter. Add a second sheet and continue, layering and brushing until all the sheets are used.

 

Set the oven at 180C/gas mark 4 and place a baking sheet on the oven shelf.

 

 

Tip the gooseberries into the baking dish, then pull the over-hanging pastry sheets into the middle to lightly cover the berries. If you twist the pastry sheets as you do so you get interesting folds and ripples and the crust will crisp nicely. Brush lightly with butter and sprinkle with Demerara sugar. Note: My pastry sheets were thicker than the filo pastry I buy here, and as such wouldn't fold down in the way I wanted them initially. I folded them as I could, brushed the top with butter and then put a saucer with a tin of beans on the top of the filo to get it to 'lie down'.

 

 

Bake for 20-25 minutes, on the hot baking sheet (the extra heat will help the base to cook, although it will always be slightly soft) till the top of the pastry is crisp and golden.

 

Serve hot, or warm, with cream.