Ingredients: Method: About this recipe This cake is a riff from a delicious Annabel Langbein number…it’s a hard one to track down, but it is this Coconut and Lemon cake. I’ve changed it up in this recipe to switch the lemon to lime and to …
I have had a hankering to make little cakes since Christmas, when I was lucky enough to receive, as a gift, a mini fluted Bundt cake pan. You might ask what took me so long, and to be fair, that is a reasonable question and …
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When is a mouldering banana a welcome sight? When you need to bake something, that’s when. Banana-based baking is the ultimate transformation from yuck to yum. Very ripe, very brown bananas might be a bit nasty to look at but think of the potential…all of that ripe sweetness and mushiness is the perfect base for tasty treats with excellent texture.
This banana loaf really fits the bill for when you have neglected not just one or two bananas, but most of a bunch. The 4-5 spent bananas required for this may seem a lot but it’s really worth it – they yield a very sweet, fulsome loaf that is also simple to make with a short ingredients list, as the bulk of the bake is banana. It’s really very simple to throw together, and so perfect for a weekend where you realise you have left some bananas forgotten and festering at the bottom of the fruit bowl all week and fancy something sweet.
I really like allspice in this, but if you don’t have that to hand or don’t like it, cinnamon or ground ginger make a great substitute. I usually eat this as is with some butter, but a plain or lemon icing is a nice addition if you fancy. I hope you have some brown bananas at the ready.
Cake ingredients: Icing ingredients: Method: ‘Carrot’ might not be first up when you think ‘I fancy something sweet’ but they are undeniably delicious and we have their sweetness to thank for carrot cake. Carrot cake in some form or other has been enjoyed for quite …
Ingredients: Method: I’ve recently subscribed to Wonky Box – what a delight! It gives me a nice little pick-me-up throughout my week – make no mistake, I am exactly the kind of geek who finds vegetable-related updates exciting. Tuesday’s announcement of which goodies to expect …
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About this recipe
My peach and almond upside down cake is dense and hearty with a buttery topping of sweet sliced fruit. Inspired by the retro delight of a pineapple upside down cake, this version is comforting and appropriate for winter, with a sweet memory of summery tinned peaches on the top. It’s very sturdy – you can pick it up with one hand for generous bites – and the almonds add some toasty texture throughout.
I really do enjoy a good upside down cake. They look so pretty and make a pleasing centre piece for pudding, but are really very simple and unfussy to make with low risk of disaster in my experience. And many other people have thought so throughout history – although upside down cakes came to prominence in the 1920s and 30s, when tinned fruit was the new thing, the concept dates back to the Middle Ages. Upside down cakes throughout the years have been topped with nuts and fruit, and some were baked in an iron skillet over a hot fire. That version in particular must have been a real winter warmer.
Ingredients Method About this recipe… I’ve been playing around with this recipe since Christmas. I treated myself to a jar of Roses strawberry conserve to go with festive croissants and needed something to do with the leftovers that wasn’t simply jam on toast. Nothing wrong …
I think we all need a little sweetness at the moment. Summer holidays, and the little dash of optimism and refreshment they deliver, feel like a long time ago indeed. Luckily, I have this spiced plum shortcake recipe stored up from my own summer holiday, …
Apples apples apples everywhere I look right now. So it’s a good thing I like them so much and an even better thing that I am still resolutely in the apple recipe section of the Edmonds Cook Book. Today I bring to you Edmond’s Apple Shortcake Squares.
What’s special about shortcake as opposed to just regular cake then? I didn’t know either but fortunately trusty Wikipedia was onto it again. Shortcake goes back to at least 1602! And we know this because the great bard himself wrote the character Alice Shortcake in the Merry Wives of Windsor. The short part of things is because the cake ingredients form a shortened crumbly dough, like a shortbread, and it’s baked to set into a cake at a reasonably high temperature.
Strawberry shortcake is the most famous example, first appearing in England where it was served hot with butter and cream. Yes, the idea of all that melty sweet goodness makes my mouth water too. But for true appreciation of strawberry shortcake we need to head to the States, where 14th June is National Strawberry Shortcake Day, the official day of celebration for this delicious treat. It stems from the tradition of celebrating the Summer fruit harvest with strawberry shortcakes. A great tradition indeed as far as I’m concerned.
Back here in Aotearoa I’m supposing apples were more plentiful than strawberries, and hence the good writers of Edmonds made sure the New Zealand home cook could still have a trusty fruit-based shortcake in their repertoire. It’s a good thing they did too, I found this very tasty and also very easy to make. If the shortcake sounds suspiciously like making pastry to you, don’t be put off. It is truly a minimal faff recipe, which is my main criteria for baking, frankly. And with our lovely apples being all seasonal and delicious right now, I promise this will prove popular if you need to bring a plate.
Edmond’s apple shortcake squares
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Preheat your oven to 180 degrees celcsius and grease and line a 22cm baking tin so that the baking paper comes over the top of the sides of the tin (you’ll need it later to hoist out the shortcake).
Simmer the apples with the water, lemon and cinnamon in a saucepan over a low heat until cooked and set aside. While the apples are cooking, make the shortcake.
Sift the flour and baking soda. Cut in the butter and rub it around with your fingers until it looks like clumpy breadcrumbs. Add the water, milk and egg and mix quickly until it comes together into a ball.
Divide this in half. Roll out one half of the dough with a rolling pin until and into the baking tin so it lines the base and sides. Place the apples on top.
Roll the other half of the dough out on a floured board with a rolling pin, until it as long and wide as the baking tin. Place it over the apples and pinch it together with the first piece of dough, so it encases the apples. Brush the top with water and sprinkle on the caster sugar.
Bake for 25 minutes until the top is golden. Remove from the oven and allow to cool, then removing the shortcake from the tin, lifting it out by the extra baking paper peeking over the sides of the tin. Dust with icing sugar and cut into squares.
Happy 2017 everyone! I think we can all agree that the year we have just ushered out was rather bruising, whether you’re talking politically, artistically, or for many of us, personally. So, what we really need to ring in the New Year is not cucumber sticks, …