Steamed pudding is like a sweet, jammy hug in a bowl. I love it. It’s a special favourite in our little country. I was recently introduced to a New Zealand specialty steamed pudding which is the queen of both steamed puddings and now of my heart…burnt …
I always loved visiting Wales when I lived in the UK, and what’s not to love? Beautiful countryside, that lovely lilting accent and, most importantly, Welsh cakes. To the uninitiated, these little morsels may present like just another baked good. I promise you, they are …
The busy run-up to Christmas is paved with good intentions, namely my intention to publish this post. So forgive me for missing the boat a little with this one. I think we can still consider this timely though, as many of us will have tin-foiled lumps of Christmas cake waiting for a cup of tea.
I would never try to better my go-to Christmas cake recipe – Nigella Lawson’s chocolate fruit cake. I have made her cake for a least five years and partly what makes it so great is that it’s another of my favourite one-pot recipes. You don’t need to make it weeks in advance as all of the delicious fruity, boozy, buttery ingredients are gently boiled together to mellow and release their flavours. Not only does this make it scrumptious, it will also make your house smell amazing.
So without further ado, here are the ingredients and method below. It’s a long list of ingredients I know, but worth it! My only little tweak is the brazil nuts, which make the cake feel all hearty and wholesome and slightly good for you. I also used brandy in my most recent version instead of coffee liqueur, but both are equally good and cointreau’s not bad either.
For Nigella Lawson’s chocolate fruit cake you will need:
Put the fruit, butter, sugar, honey, booze, orange juice and zest, mixed spice and the cocoa in a big saucepan over a medium heat and bring it to the boil, stirring. Simmer for 10 minutes and remove from the heat, letting it stand for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, warm your oven to 150 degrees celsius and get your cake tin ready. You are going to line it so the baking paper towers up beyond the sides of the tin and your finished, prepared tin looks like it has an extra top layer of baking paper.
This may seem a lot of faff but I promise it’s worth it as without it, the top of the cake can be burned and tough. There are more explicit instructions here. In short, I find it works for me if I grease the whole tin liberally to start. I cut out a circle of baking paper for the base and two long strips which circle around half of each side, and then plaster it all on, the side pieces first and then the base circle. This is not the best picture, but I’m including it to give an idea of the finished product if that’s helpful and, like me, the idea of origami makes you balk a little.
Add the eggs and all dry ingredients to the cooled butter mix and stir gently to combine. Pour the mix into the prepared cake tin and bake for 1 and 3/4 to 2 hours, until the top is firm but shiny and a skewer inserted into the middle has a little gooey mixture clinging to it.
Cool in the tin. It keeps for ages wrapped in a layer of baking paper encased in tin foiled. It’s not at all bad with a little nip of something! And of course, it goes well with tea.
Keep safe and happy this Christmas season, wherever you are in the world.
How do you like them apples? That’s how I feel I should be addressing you, because we really have had a lot of apply recipes by this point in the Edmonds A section. But I love a good flan and this little number is easy …
You know something’s a winner, don’t you, when you’ve adapted from our national treasure, Dame Alison Holst. As you’ll all know, I have a bit of a thing for old-school cook books and recipes. So you can imagine I could not leave Alison Holst’s Simply …
I am so happy it is tamarilo season once more. I love tamarillos. Not just for their cheek-sucking tartness, but also because I think they are one of the most beautiful fruits, with their plump, ruby skins and yellow flesh.
Tamarillos, which were once known as the very cute name ‘tree tomatoes’ in New Zealand, are considered by some to be the lost fruit of the incas. How exotic! These gorgeous little fruits spring from the Andes, and are now found in countries including India, USA, China, Malaysia and of course New Zealand.
And it’s not only me who loves them…one half of our recent two-cat addition to the family spent the best part of the afternoon pestering the tamarillos too.
My inspiration for this recipe comes from the New York Times plum torte. I was introduced to this delight by my good friend Sondra who, as it happens, also introduced me to our new cats the same night. I love the story behind this plum torte. It was published every Autumn for seven years until the editors decided that was plenty long enough. However, this was met with outrage and a slew of angry letters, and so now it is published every year, just in time for Autumn.
So, with many thanks to the New York Times and its plum torte-loving readers, here is my take on their classic, with my beloved tamarillos.
Ingredients:
Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees celsius.
Halve the tamarillos and scoop out the flesh into a bowl. Add the vanilla essence, sugar and cinnamon. Combine and set aside.
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the flour, baking powder, salt and eggs, and beat well.
Spoon the batter into a springform cake tin, between 20 – 25cm diameter. Place the tamarillos over the top of the batter and drizzle with the remaining liquid.
Bake until the torte is cooked through and springs back to the touch, approximately one hour.
This is quite lovely served warm with some yoghurt, or even better, cream.
What’s not to love about a cake that you can make entirely in one cake tin? Hardly any dishes and quick to boot. Because, although I love to cook and bake, there are times when I am too greedy or impatient to fuss around. If it’s …
Every Autumn when I start spying lovely plump pears, plums and apples, thoughts of warming fruity goodies are not far behind. This particular little loaf I’m bringing you today has been a long time in the making. It first starting flitting about the corners of my mind a few …
You can tell the state of the economy by the price of a lime, or so the saying goes. What it’s meant to tell you, I’m not sure, but I can reliably inform you that limes in these here parts cost a small fortune at the moment.
This is why I can never resist the bags of juicy, home-grown limes which perch temptingly by the counter for only five dollars a pop when I visit the lovely Shannons to attend to matters of personal grooming.
I’m never at a loss for what to do with a lime and with a whole bag in hand, my thoughts turned to this delicious orange and almond cake that my lovely sister brought along for a lunch visit a few years ago.
Curiously, I learned, the orange is boiled to provide a flavoursome, moist base. It may feel sacrosanct to boil a precious lime, but with a whole bag, I was feeling reckless. Having never considered the possibility of boiling fruit for the purposes of cake before, my imagination was on fire.
A little polenta to the recipe, inspired by Nigella’s lemon polenta cake recipe, gives this cake a lovely texture and just the right amount of chew to the crust. I enjoy the tanginess of the limes, but for the more faint-hearted, include a little extra sugar if you like a touch more sweetness. And, if you make sure to use gluten-free baking powder, this even ticks the gluten-free box.
Ingredients:
Butter and line a 21cm springform tin.
Put the limes in a saucepan, cover them with cold water and pop them on the stove. Bring to the boil and boil for an hour.
Drain the limes, watching for your fingers as they will still be a little hot. Chop the limes into bits and pick out any seeds. Use a blender or masher to puree the limes, skins and all, until smooth. Set this aside.
In a largish bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until they are thick and pale.
Add the pureed limes, ground almonds, polenta and baking powder to the egg and sugar mixture. Gently fold in until everything is just combined.
Pour the mix into the prepared cake tin.
Bake in a 180 degrees celsius oven for 45 minutes, or until a skewer prodded into the centre of the cake comes out clean and the cake is just beginning to pull away from the sides of the tin.
Leave the cake in its tin on a baking rack to cool before turning out. I can heartily recommend this cake warm, with a little yoghurt or vanilla ice cream on the side.
