Cake Slice Bakers 12 - Two Yummy But Grown-Up Cakes.

It's our last month baking from Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman and we were allowed to choose any recipe we liked.  I gave you a list in the last CSB post of cakes I had been eyeing up so I was just going to choose one of those.  But it was so hard to choose!  I narrowed it down to the Apple and Cheddar Cheese Cake or the Red Grape, Polenta and Olive Oil Cake.  Don't they just sound wonderful?  I looked at the ingredients to see which had the more accessible ingredients to help me make up my mind and found that they both actually contain polenta.  Well, if I am going to make an effort to find a bag of polenta then I may as well make both cakes.  And, am I glad I did?  Oh yes.  I loved both of these.  And, as you know, I make a lot of things for the kids - all a bit fun and childish, but these cakes just felt very grown up and sophisticated.  Didn't stop the kids eating them, of course!

So, two recipes today. 

Red Grape, Polenta and Olive Oil Cake.

Ingredients - 

1 cup plain flour

1/2 cup yellow cornmeal (found in the UK and Europe as polenta)

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

2 large eggs

2/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1/3 cup milk

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 tsp grated lemon zest

1 3/4 cups (about 10oz) reg seedless grapes, washed and dried

Icing sugar for dusting (ooops - I was too excited to get stuck in and forgot to prettify it)

Method - 

1. Preheat the oven to 180C.  Grease a 9-inch round springform tin.  Whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.

2. Combine the eggs and sugar in a large mixing bowl.  Beat on medium-high speed until light in colour and increased in volume, about 5 mins.  With the mixer on low speed, add the oil in a slow, steady stream.  Turn the mixer to medium speed and beat for 1 min.  Stir in the milk, vanilla and lemon zest on low speed.

3. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture, 1/2 cup at a time, until just incorporated.  Stir in 1/2 the grapes.  Scrape the batter into the prepared tin and bake for 10 mins. (You only put half in so that you can scatter the other half on later to try to keep them all from sinking to the bottom.)

4.  Scatter the remaining grapes over the top of the partially baked cake (next time I do this I will wait a little longer before scattering the remaining grapes - you can see in my pictures that my grapes still managed to mostly make it to the bottom layer) and continue to bake until the cake is golden and a toothpick inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean, about 40 mins longer.

5. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for 5 mins.  Release the sides from the tin and let the cake cool completely before dusting with icing sugar, cutting into wedges and serving.

6. Store uneaten cake in a cake keeper or wrap in plastic and store at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Verdict - beautifully sumptious cake.  I had never heard of grapes in a cake before but they were sweet and juicy.  The polenta gave a lovely, glowing colour and a bit of texture and the fragrant olive oil gave it a grown up, subtle taste.  Lauren Chattman suggests serving it with an Italian sweet wine for a dinner party dessert.  I think that would be extremely classy.  Most of my one was eaten with cups of tea and was thoroughly enjoyed.

Apple and Cheddar Cheese Cake.

Ingredients - 

3/4 cup plain flour

1/2 cup yellow cornmeal

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) (4oz/113g) unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

6 tbsp milk

1 cup grated Cheddar (I used a yellow Cheddar but in the book she has used an orange one and it actually looks really quite different with the flecks of orange through it.  The yellow Cheddar is probably better if you are serving it to people who might be put off by the thought of cheese in their cake but the orange would be better for making a statement or a bit of drama!)

1 large tart apple, such as Granny Smith, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/4 inch dice (I used almost two apples as I do like apple in a cake)

Method - 

1. Preheat the oven to 180C.  Grease a 9-inch round cake tin and dust with flour.  Combine the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.

2. Combine the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl and cream with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 3 mins, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice as necessary.  With the mixer on medium-low speed, add the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition.

3. Turn the mixer to low speed and add 1/2 the flour mixture.  Stir in the milk.  Stir in the remaining flour mixture until just combined.  Stir in the cheese and apple.

4. Scrape the batter into the prepared tin and smooth the top with a rubber spatula.  Bake until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean, about 35 mins.  Let the cake cool in the tin for about 10 mins, invert onto a wire rack, and then turn it right side up on a rack to cool completely.

5. Store uneaten cake in a cake keeper or wrap in plastic and store at room temperature for up to 2 days.

Verdict - intriguing cake.  I need to make it again and give it to people without telling them what is in it to see if they get it straight away.  It is not an overtly cheesy taste - more an extra tang - but recognisable when you know there is cheese there.  Went down extremely well also.

Winner - I am having a hard job choosing my favourite cake from the 13 recipes I have done from this book.  These two are definitely Number 1 and Number 2 but I'm not entirely sure which one wins.  I guess it would depend what mood I'm in.  Anyway, they are both similar recipes just with different additions so I think I might use the basic recipe and try experimenting with other additions.  In fact, just the plain, basic polenta cake on its own would be very satisfying.  

So, this time next month I will reveal the book the cake slice bakers will be baking from for the next 12 months.  It's a good one!  If anyone is interested in joining The Cake Slice Bakers, see Katie's post for details.  

Random Recipe 8 - Part 2 - Turkish Delight And Pistachio Meringue.

Okay, how wonderful is my husband?  For the Random Recipe Challenge this month he had to choose a recipe from my pile of cut out recipes.  Poor man got a recipe from Woman and Home magazine.  It was a big, girly meringue and it contained Turkish Delight which he just doesn't like.  But, you know what?  He knows I adore Turkish delight and meringue and pistachios so he went ahead and made it for me!

I don't think he has ever made meringue before.  The only problem was that it stuck to the parchment paper and ended up breaking as he tried to remove it so it didn't look as stunning as he had been hoping for.  However, it tasted like food of the gods!  Oh yum yum yum.  It had rose water in the meringue and the cream as well as chopped Turkish Delight all through it and sprinkled liberally with pistachio.  I was in heaven.  Huge brownie points to Stevie-boy!

Recipe can be found on the Woman and Home website here.

Spicy Carrot and Chickpea Pitta Pocket.

So, a few of you will have seen Hugh Fearlessly-Eats-It-All's (was it you who told me this name for him, little macaroon?) article on The Joy Of Veg in the Weekend Magazine of the Guardian on the 26th August.  It seems it has caused a little bit of controversy as HFW has been such a meat pusher up to now. In fact, someone in the letters page the following week rather cheekily asked if HFW would refund his money for his purchase of 'Meat' - the large tome of recipes for the carnivore.

I enjoyed the article and thought some of the recipes intriguing (it is obviously advertising for HFW's new book 'River Cottage Veg Everyday') and I am someone who owns and loves 'Meat'.  I think myself and a fairly hefty part of the population love meat but are also very much aware of the arguments for eating less meat (savings to household budget, animal welfare arguments, reduced environmental impact).  For my part, as a family, we think nothing of having meals with no meat at all and do this for a large proportion of our week.  When we do eat meat, we buy the best we can - as welfare friendly as we can and enjoy it as a treat.

I especially love vegetable-rich recipes for two reasons.  The first is that I LOVE vegetables.  My family have teased me for years that I devour loads of the veg at a roast dinner.  The second is that I want my boys to have a healthy diet and get into healthy eating habits while young.  We are by no means angels in this regard, though, as we do eat diets high in fat and sugar.  I reckon that's okay if the calories balance (well, they do for the kids and I'm making an effort) and we get plenty of the good stuff.

Chose to make the recipe for the spicy carrot and chickpea pitta pocket and it was a big hit.  Adam especially loved them and has asked me to make them again very soon.  The carrot dish is very similar to the one Steve made for his random recipes mezze.

Recipe on the Guardian website here along with the other recipes he included.  I'm going to make the aubergine and green bean curry next.  Yum.

If anyone has any links to their own quick and easy vegetable-full family meals, I'd love to see them. 

Random Recipe 8 - Part 1 - Saffron, Chickpea and Tomato Soup.

For this month's random recipe we had to randomly choose from our selection of loose recipes torn from newspapers, magazines, hastily written on scraps of paper.  As we moved house only a few months ago, I had vastly reduced my mountain of recipes so it wasn't so unmanageable.  This challenge will help get a couple of those that are left transferred on to the blog.  The best thing is that I am the only one who saves recipes in this house so whatever I chose and whatever Steve chose would be something I really want to eat.  Yay!  Steve chose a recipe that I will absolutely love.  It is quite girly and quite a show stopper so I'm delighted that he is going to go ahead and make it for me.  He'll be doing that this weekend so look out for it in part 2.

The recipe I chose was a scrap which looks like it has come from a magazine but it doesn't have the source written anywhere on the page.  I must have collected it before my blogging days.  It is Saffron, chickpea and tomato soup and it is really easy to make, healthy and full of flavour.  Perfect family food.  So, I feel awful that I can't credit it properly.  If anyone recognises it, let me know.  Of course, there are loads of similar recipes about.  I make versions of this all the time and yet I still seem drawn to any recipe like this and have to collect them all.  I don't think I would change this one much.  I might add some red pepper now and again just to beef it up a bit.

Both boys wolfed this down.  That's the best part!

Recipe - 

Serves 6. (I used very large onions and more chorizo and this soup has given us about 8-10 servings)

Ingredients - 

4 tbsp olive oil

2 onions, diced

1 clove garlic, finely diced (I used 5 or 6 - personal taste)

Large pinch of saffron strands

1/2 tsp caster sugar

small bunch of flat-leaf parsley

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp smoked Spanish paprika

2 X 400g cans chopped tomatoes

2 X 400g cans chickpeas, drained

1 bay leaf

salt and pepper

110g chorizo (I used the already cooked stuff and I used probably about 4 times this amount)

Method - 

1. Set a large saucepan over a medium heat.  Add 3 tbsp olive oil, followed by the diced onions and garlic.  Fry gently for 10 minutes or until soft and golden.

2. Place the saffron strands in a small bowl (or pestle and mortar) with the sugar, and using the back of a teaspoon, crush into a fine powder.  Stir in 200ml boiling water and set aside.

3. Strip the parsley leaves from their stems.  Save the stems and roughly chop the parsley leaves.

4. Mix the cumin seeds and paprika into the softened onion and continue to fry for 2 mins.

5. Next, add the canned tomatoes and the saffron water.  Rinse the saffron bowl with a further 400ml water, add tot he tomatoes and bring to the boil.

6. Meanwhile, rinse the drained chickpeas and stir into the soup with the bay leaf and parsley stalks (Tie them with string to make it easier to remove them later).  Adjust the seasoning to taste, turn down to simmer for 30 mins, then season again, to taste.

7. Shortly before serving, reheat the soup.  Cut the chorizo at an angle into thick slices.  Place a nonstick frying pan over a medium-high heat, and once it is hot, add the remaining 1tbsp oil and the chorizo.  Fry briskly for 1 min on each side until crisp, then remove and drain on kitchen paper.

8. Ladle the soup into individual bowls, garnish with the chorizo and sprinkle generously with the chopped parsley.  Serve immediately.

If you want to join in with this random recipes challenge, you have til the end of them month or check Dom's blog for the next one - he does them at the start of each month.

Gordon Ramsay's 'Healthy Appetite' Review.

I got this book a few Christmases back from my Mum and I have used it quite a lot.  I tend to go through phases and have had another recent phase of referring to it often.  It must be when my jeans feel too tight!

The book's chapters are divided into healthy breakfast, healthy brunch/lunch, healthy working lunch, healthy Sunday lunch, healthy barbecues, healthy suppers, healthy kids, healthy entertaining and healthy desserts.  There are hundreds of ideas - some really easy and none particularly difficult or time-consuming.  It is healthy eating but not faddy or weird - just good food.  There are lots of lovely pictures but not every dish is photographed.  There is, however, quite a lot of helpful advice about a healthy diet and how to boost your eating. 

I have made many recipes from this book and there are still a good few more I want to get round to.  Some I have found successful are Stuffed Mushrooms with Ricotta and Walnuts on Toast; Berry and Yoghurt Smoothie; Smoked Trout, Orange and Wild Rocket Salad;Spiced Pork Chops with Sweet Potatoes; Guinea Fowl with pea and lettuce fricasse.

Actually, I can't think of anything I have made so far from this book that hasn't been successful!

See this post to see the recipe for his seeded honey loaf.

 See this one for his rice noodle salad.

  Adam and I made his banana oat muffins recently and they were great for breakfast or a healthy snack after pre-school.  Here is Adam making them and the muffins cooling in the pan.

I made Wild Rice and Basmati Salad with Smoked Ham for tea a week or two ago.

Other recipes which are on my to do list are Oaty Walnut and Cheese Scones; Marinated Halibut with spiced aubergines; Venison Pie with Sweet Potato Topping (calling me this Autumn, I think).

 Today's recipe is also from this book - Fishcakes With Anchovy Dressing. These are lovely lemony fishcakes and I have made then twice in the past week.  The anchovy dressing is brilliant but for the second serving I made a dressing by microwaving some chilli jam and honey together and it worked well too.

My anchovy dressing would have looked nicer on the plate if I had, a) not forgotten to keep back some of the flat leaf parsley and, instead, piled it all into the fishcakes and, b) not overcooked it by forgetting about it so that the anchovy has all practically melted into the sauce and turned everything a sludgy brown colour instead of staying in lovely fleshy chunks.

Recipe - Serves 4.

Ingredients - 

400g waxy potatoes

2tbsp olive oil

finely grated zest of 1 large lemon

2 -3 tbsp lemon juice

sea salt and black pepper

few thyme sprigs

1/2 lemon, sliced

300g salmon fillet

300g smoked haddock fillet

handful of flat leaf parsley, chopped

handful of chervil, chopped

3tbs plain flour

2 medium eggs, lightly beaten

50g Japanese Panko breadcrumbs

2 tbsp olive oil

Anchovy dressing:

2 tbsp capers

2 shallots, peeled and finely chopped

bunch of flat leaf parsley, leaves only, chopped

4 marinated anchovies, chopped

4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Method - 

1. Peel the potatoes, cut into even-sized pieces and drop into a pan of well-salted water.  Bring to the boil and cook for 10-15 minutes until tender when pierced with a knife.  Drain well. While still hot, mash the potatoes using a potato ricer back into the pan.  Mix in the olive oil, lemon zest, lemon juice and seasoning to taste.  Leave to cool.

2. Meanwhile, add the thyme, lemon slices and salmon to a wide pan of slowly simmering salted water and poach for a minute.  Slide in the smoked haddock and gently poach for another 4-5 mins until both fish are almost cooked through.  Transfer to a plate, using a fish slice.  When cool enough to handle, break the fish into large flakes, discarding the skin and any pin-bones.

3. Mix the fish and chopped herbs into the mashed potatoes, using your hands.  Taste and adjust the seasoning.  Divide the mixture into four and shape into neat patties.  Season the flour with salt and pepper.  Coat the fishcakes in seasoned flour, then dip into the egg and finally into the breadcrumbs, turning to coat evenly all over.  Reshape them as necessary and place on a tray or plate.  Chill for 2 hours to set the shape.

4. To cook, heat the oven to 180C/GM 4.  Heat a thin layer of olive oil in a wide ovenproof frying pan.  Fry the fishcakes for 2-3 mins until golden brown, then flip over and fry the other side for 1-2 mins.  Finish cooking in the oven for 5-7 mins.

5. Make the dressing in the meantime, by gently warming all the ingredients together in a pan for 3-4 mins.  Spread a generous spoonful of dressing on each warm plate and rest a fishcake in the centre.  Serve immediately with peas or beans.

Fresh From The Oven 8 - August 2011 - Vegetable Bread.

Sweet potato bread.

Courgette bread.

This month I have made two types of bread.  One, a courgette bread from the recipe given to us by Sally from My Custard Pie who challenged us to create breads with vegetables in them; and the second, a sweet potato loaf.  She gave us the recipe for courgette cluster rolls as she found it to be a great way of using up a glut of home grown courgettes.  The recipe is adapted from a recipe by Roz Denny printed in House and Garden magazine.  

My courgette rolls all just amalgamated into one big loaf so we just tore off chunks to have with our soup.  Another sneaky way of getting vegetables into the children - my boys are bread mad so this worked like a treat!

Courgette Cluster Bread 

Makes 8 rolls or clusters

Ingredients - 

450g courgettes, grated coarsely
Salt (for degorging and for the dough)
675g strong white bread flour
2 sachets of easy-blend/fast-action yeast or 14g instant dried yeast
3 tablespoons parmesan, grated
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
Tepid water - about 200ml
Milk, to glaze
Sesame seeds, to sprinkle

Method - 

1. Place the courgettes in a colander, sprinkle lightly with salt. Allow the juices to drain for about half-an-hour, then rinse well in cold water and pat dry.

2. If using instant yeast whisk it into 90 ml of the tepid water until frothy and dissolved. Mix the flour, yeast, parmesan, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and some black pepper together in a bowl, then stir in the olive oil and courgettes. Add some more water until the mixture comes together as a firm, soft dough. 

3. If kneading by hand, turn the dough onto a lightly floured board or work surface and knead until smooth and elastic. Or use a stand mixer with a dough hook. 

4. Lightly oil a bowl and put the dough into rise, covered with cling film or a cloth, for about one hour or until doubled in size.

5. Knock back the dough in the bowl (punch the air out of it) and then turn out onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead again briefly until smooth.

6. Divide the dough into eight equal pieces and roll to shape into even balls. Lightly grease and line the base of a 23 cm cake tin with baking parchment. Place one ball of dough in the middle and all the others around it.

7. Brush the tops of rolls with milk and sprinkle over some sesame seeds. Cover again with oiled cling film or a cloth and leave to prove until doubled in size and the balls touch each other - about 30 minutes.

8. Put into a preheated oven at 200 C for about 25 minutes until golden brown and cooked. Cool on a wire rack. Tear each roll off to eat as a bun.

I then decided I would like to try making a loaf with sweet potato.  I felt the sweet potato would be quite soft (like the courgettes in the fluffy bread above) and, for this one, I wanted a bit of texture so I decided to try and adapt my favourite recipe for a seeded loaf.  The recipe is Seeded Honey Loaf from Gordon Ramsay's Healthy Appetite.

The basic recipe makes a really lovely every day seeded loaf and here is a photo of one I have made recently.

I will continue to make the basic one but I will also add the sweet potato version to my repertoire.  It is quite different - obviously quite sweet and a bit more chewy.  A lovely taste and will go very well with soup.  In fact, I would say that this is one of the tastiest breads I have had and I am very pleased with it indeed.  The fact it will sneak more vegetables into the kids is the cherry on the top.

Here, I will put the basic recipe and my changes in red.

Recipe -

Makes two 500g loaves. 

Ingredients - 

15g fresh yeast or 7g sachet fast-action dried yeast

275ml tepid water (I halved this when making the sweet potato loaf as there is a lot of moisture in the sweet potatoes then just added a few drops at a time until I got to the right consistency)

225g wholemeal flour

225g strong white flour

1.5 tsp fine sea salt

50g mixed seeds - poppy, sesame, pumpkin, linseed and sunflower (I used pumpkin, sunflower and sesame and added probably about 80-90g)

3 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp honey

2 tbsp milk, to glaze

(1 large-ish sweet potato (about 280g), grated)

Method - 

1. If using fresh yeast, put 3-4 tbsp of the water into a warm bowl, crumble in the yeast and stir to dissolve.  Leave to sponge for a few minutes.

2. Put the flours and salt into a large mixing bowl, add the seeds and stir to mix. (If you're using fast-action dried yeast, stir this into the flour mixture.) Make a well in the centre and add the olive oil, honey, yeast mixture and remaining water (all of it if using dried yeast).  Stir with a wooden spoon to combine, adding more flour if the dough seems too wet.  It should be soft, but not sticky. (I kept the seeds and the sweet potato out until I had kneaded the dough for a while then I added them in to finish the kneading.)

3. Press the dough into a ball, then knead on a lightly floured surface for about 5-10 mins until smooth.  Place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with lightly oiled cling film and leave the dough to rise in a warm part of the kitchen for an hour or so until doubled in size.

4. Punch the dough down onto a lightly floured surface and knead it lightly.  Divide into two pieces and shape each one into a round loaf.  Place each on a lightly oiled large baking sheet and cover with lightly oiled cling film.  Leave to prove in a warm spot until almost doubled in size.

5. Heat the oven to 200C/GM 6.  Remove the cling film and brush a thin layer of milk over the loaves.  Bake for about 20-25 mins until light golden in colour.  The loaves should sound hollow when tapped underside.  Leave to cool on a wire rack.  Best served slightly warm.

Thanks for a fun and healthy challenge, Sally. 

Grasshopper Pie For 1 Year Of Blogging.

Please Do Not Feed The Animals is one year old today and this is my 130th post.  If I post a photo from that first ever post, you can see how much my boys have grown over the last year.

My most viewed blog post BY FAR is my lion cake pops post.  I am sure there are a lot of disappointed viewers as my lion cake pops must come up on a search but the post itself has a couple of photos and a link to Bakerella's site so no instructions on how to do them or anything.  Bakerella is the person to go to, though, for information on making cake pops - she is the Queen of cakepops.

It was by reading others' blogs that I discovered cake pops and so many other things I have made this year.  I have loved having this blog and making new friends and trying new things.  Looking forward to another year of cooking with you all!

I decided to make a grasshopper pie for pudding to celebrate the blogoversary and we put a candle in it for fun.  You can't get much more fun for little boys than getting to blow out candles!!!!  As you can see, from the top picture, it is still in the tin I made it in as I didn't make it in enough time to let it chill properly.  It slid out of the tin beautifully later that day.

I have never had grasshopper pie in my life and had never heard of it until Christmas time when I came across a recipe for it in My Mum-in-law's copy of Nigella's Kitchen.  It looked like something the boys would love and I had visions of making it at Halloween so MIL gave me a photocopy of the recipe.  It was only later that I realised how much booze is in Nigella's one.  So, for this attempt, I used the no-booze recipe in my Hummingbird Bakery Cake Days book that the boys gave me for Mother's Day. 

  

The recipe worked well and we all had a slice but none of us were that excited about it.  Not enough chocolate, I think.  Or maybe not enough booze!

Just before I post the recipe, I just wanted to mention another blog that has recently turned 1 - Mince and Skirlie.  Chris made a video of himself making his paella recipe for his 1 year post and I am very impressed with it. 

Okay, on to the recipe - 

Recipe - 

(Serves 10-12)

Ingredients -

For the biscuit base

250g (9oz) chocolate-flavoured biscuits

175g (6oz) unsalted butter, melted

For the filling

180g (6.5oz) large white marshmallows

180ml (6.5 fl oz) whole milk

1/4 tsp peppermint essence (I used a whole tsp and think it needed it)

1/8 tsp green food colouring (I used my sugarflair paste and put a fair blob in - my pie wasn't subtle)

700ml (1 pint 4 fl oz) double cream

chocolate shavings, to decorate

Method - 

1. In a food processor with the blade attachment, blitz the chocolate biscuits into a fine crumb.  Alternatively, place in a plastic bag, seal the bag shut and crush with a rolling pin.  Pour the crumbs into a bowl and add the melted butter, mixing until all the crumbs are coated and can be squeezed together.

2. Tip the crumb mixture into a 23cm (9in) diameter pie dish or loose-bottomed tart tin, pressing it into the base and sides, then place in the fridge and leave for 30-40 minutes to set completely.

3. Meanwhile, make the filling.  In a saucepan over low heat, melt the marshmallows in the milk.  Remove from the heat then add the peppermint essence and food colouring and stir into the marshmallow mixture until it is evenly green in colour.  Set aside to cool for 10-15 mins.

4. Pour 300ml (10.5 fl oz) of the cream into a bowl and whip into soft peaks, then fold into the marshmallow mixture.  Pour the filling into the chilled biscuit base and leave in the fridge for 1-2 hours to set completely.

5. Once set, whip the remaining cream and spoon on to the top of the pie.  Sprinkle with chocolate shavings if you wish.