A Gathering for Friends

I love nothing more than hosting a small informal gathering; inviting friends to my home to share a home-cooked meal together.

Invariably, I will cook a simple supper; unfussy but considered. I will allow myself time to plan and prepare. For occasions such as these I will bypass the busy supermarket and head to a local greengrocers, fishmongers and bakers to purchase what catches my eye. Having done some research browsing through my cook books, food magazine tear-outs and the internet, I'll usually head to the shops with something in mind; a stew, a robust winter salad or something as vague as some locally caught fish, herbs and good bread or maybe just a determination to track down the first of the blood oranges. I’ll probably pick up some flowers from the florist to – nothing grand, just a few pretty blooms to place in an old jam jar or a small vase #littletouches.

The weekend before last we had some friends come down to stay. These were old friends from where we use to live. With kids, work and busy lives we don't see each other as much as we'd all like, so this was an occasion we were all very much looking forward to. I believe times spent with friends sharing food and conversation is so good for you; there really is nothing quite like reconnecting around the dinner table catching up on each others lives, whilst lingering over a meal and a bottle of wine (or two). 

For me every such meal needs to end with a pudding. I often plan my menu from the pudding back. I used this occasion as an excuse to try out a recipe from a new cookbook of mine, Plenty More by Yotam Ottolenghi. The recipe was Set 'Cheesecake' with Plum Compote. It is a deconstructed cheesecake, where the compote, cake and crumble are made and kept separate. Other than the fact I can never resist a cheesecake, I was drawn to the recipe as its components (which were easy to prepare) could be done so 24 hours in advance. Having pudding ticked off the list the day before appeals to my ‘control' streak. Here are a few pictures of the said pudding. It was delicious and there was enough leftover the next day for photographing and eating (again).

Click here for a link to a greengage compote version of the same recipe.

A Flourless Chocolate Cake + Holiday Planning

Have you planned you sumer holiday yet? Over the last couple of weeks we have. Flights are booked and the countdown has begun in earnest (though it's not until mid August). This year we are off to Finland and we are all extremely excited at the prospect. 

Our friend is letting us stay at her family summerhouse. It's a place that really has the best of both worlds. It's only a mere half-an-hour or so from Helsinki, yet it's pretty isolated, surrounded by pine trees and vast lakes. It will be the break we'll need: days free of agenda to kick back and relax combined with days of exploring a capital city I have always been fascinated by.

Over the weekend, our generous Finnish friend came over for lunch, with her husband and children and gave us a fantastic list of places to see and things to do and to impart some 'general Finnish knowledge' on us.

We ate Tahini-dressed courgette and green bean salad, with cheeses, sourdough and focaccia. Afterwards we indulged in this seriously chocolatey cake. Made without flour, it's rich and indulgent with a texture not to dissimilar to a chocolate brownie. The recipe originates from a Sophie Dahl cookbook I own, but I have made a few adaptions, mainly as I don't own a food processor, so I've adapted the method a little to suit my old-fashioned kitchen.

Flourless Chocolate Cake

Butter for greasing
300g plain chocolate (or 150g of plain, 150g of milk chocolate)

225g caster sugar

180ml boiling water

225g salted butter, cut into cubes 

6 eggs, separated

1 tsp instant coffee powder

1 tbsp vanilla extract

To top the cake:
125g blueberries

125g strawberries

a handful of pomegrante seeds

200ml crème fraîche

Grease and line the base of a 23-cm/9-inch round springform cake tin. Preheat the oven to 180℃/160℃ fan/Gas 4.

Break up the chocolate and add to a bowl and suspend over a pan of gently simmering water and melt, stirring occasionally. Then pour the melted chocolate and butter into a large mixing bowl and add the sugar, boiling water, egg yolks, coffee powder and vanilla extract and mix until combined. In a glass bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff and then add them to the mixture in the large mixing bowl and blend for 10 seconds or so. Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin and put in the hot oven for 45–55 minutes. The top will be cracked like a desert fault line.

After you take the cake out of the oven it will collapse in on itself quite a bit. This is ok; it’s not meant to be a proud cool cake, it’s meant to be slightly rough around the edges and home-made, and the crème fraîche and berries will hide any dips and cracks!

Let the cake cool, then put it in the fridge for a few hours. When you are ready to serve, remove from the tin and smother it in crème fraîche and liberally adorn with strawberries, blueberries and pomegrante seeds. You can indeed use any berries you like such as raspberries, blackberries or beautiful summer currants.

Individual Soured Cream Cakes with Butter Glaze

We had an old friend to come to visit and stay over night on Saturday. We had a blast: catching up on the last few years, laughing (he's a seriously funny guy) and generally relaxing in the early summer sun that graced our weekend. For supper that evening I cooked pizzas: tomato, chilli and sweet potato; asparagus, feta and pistachio and kale, onion and parmesan, which I served with a big green salad. For pudding, I made these individual soured cream cakes with butter glaze and served them alongside berries and mascarpone. I followed this recipe from BBC Good Food.

For a while I had been wanting to create some pretty little cakes. I bought a dainty tin mould for the purpose, but no matter how much I buttered and floured the tin, the cakes would get stuck and break when I attempted to ease them out. Needless to say I gave up with that tin. It was while in Milan last month that I came across a rather pretty silicone version of the original tin. I decided to try my luck and bought it. This recipe was its big moment - would the baked cakes come out effortlessly or would they become trifle sponges? I'm pleased to say that they popped out with no effort required. I think they are really pretty. No doubt there will be other versions of these appearing on the blog in time.

On the subject of pretty things, I just had to share these photographs of my gorgeous Hydrangea. It was my impulse purchase from my local florist last week. I simply adore its colour. It's in my kitchen and every time I see it, it makes me smile. That's 'flower power' for you.

Those Chocolate Swirl Meringues That We Ate On The Beach.

It now seems an age away, but less than a month ago, some friends came to visit for the day. It was their annual summer trip down to seaside: they still live where we used to live in Middlesex. With five children between us we headed to the beach in the afternoon. I bought each of our child guests buckets and spades and made an afternoon tea picnic to enjoy before paddling in the sea. I took along a Blackberry, Almond & Cardamom Cake and these Chocolate Swirl Meringues, for which my friend Reena requested the recipe. So Reena, here as promised is that recipe. It's one to do of an evening when your gorgeous children are tucked up snuggly in bed and you feel like a bit of pottering about in the kitchen. 

Chocolate Swirl Meringues

100g good quality dark chocolate, roughly chopped or broken

3 large egg whites

150g caster sugar

cocoa powder, to serve

Makes approx 12

Preheat the oven to 150℃ / 130℃ fan / gas mark 2 and line a couple of baking sheets with baking parchment.

Heat the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water until melted. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.

Put the egg whites in a large bowl and whisk until stiff peaks form. Add the sugar, one tablespoon at a time, whisking continuously, until all the sugar has been incorporated and the mixture is very stiff and glossy. Drizzle the cooled melted chocolate over the meringue and use a metal spoon to fold it gently through to create a marbled effect with bold chocolate streaks running through the mix.

Carefully place spoonfuls of meringue in 12 large dollops on the baking trays, making billowing peaks on each one with the back of a spoon.

Put the tray in the oven and cook the meringues for 30 minutes. Turn the oven off and leave them to cool and dry in the oven overnight.

To serve, pile haphazardly on a large plate or decorative dish and dust with a little cocoa powder.

Recipe: Bill's Cookbook: Cook Eat Smile.
Photography: Buttercup Days

A Chocolate Cake That You Can Eat During a Heatwave

Over the weekend we spent a lovely hot afternoon with some special friends, aka my yoga ladies (minus one, plus husbands and children). The occasion was to see our (yoga lady #1) friend Sarah and her two gorgeous girls who were briefly back in their home town for a few days. It was in Sarah's stunning Milan home that we stayed on our trip there at Easter. Marianne (yoga lady #2) and Jamie hosted the afternoon in their lovely garden. The children, eight in all, played like a dream running around bare-footed in-and-out of the paddling pool, while the grown ups relaxed and drank glasses of chilled bubbles.

Later we all enjoyed a delicious barbecue and for pudding had this chocolate cake that I took along, having made it the evening before. You see, according to Sarah eldest daughter Emilia (7), the Milanese don't really know how to bake a decent chocolate cake. Apparently they are always far too dry. A bold statement I know. I can't comment myself as I didn't really eat any chocolate cake whilst in Milan. But Emilia has and this is apparently the case believe it or not.

So the pressure was on to bake a 'moist' chocolate cake. Also, what with the heatwave I needed to find a recipe that could cope with the heat, yet still deliver that chocolate hit. In this recipe the sponge does all the work without the need for any chocolate frosting or covering that would sweat in the current heat, making it perfect for heatwaves. Well, I found it. The original recipe is by the talented Katie Quinn Davies and is titled 'Easy Chocolate Cake' - and very easy it is too. I made a few substitutions with ingredients. Below is the original recipe. However, I replaced the Savoiardi biscuits with Jules Destrooper's Almond Thins and the Frangelico with 2 tbsp of milk in order to make it kid friendly. Also, do check the cake as it bakes as mine was cooked in just 35mins - but I do have a rather speedy oven.

Easy Chocolate Cake

Serves 8 - 10

6 small savoiardi biscuits, crushed

300g good-quality dark chocolate, broken into small pieces

150g unsalted butter, softened

165g caster sugar

4 eggs

155g ground almonds

150g mascarpone

3tbsp Frangelico

icing sugar, shaved chocolate and double cream, to serve

Preheat oven to 200˚C/400˚F/ Gas 6.
Grease and line a 22cm round springform tin and sprinkle with 1tbsp of crushed savoiardi biscuits, just to coat the tin.

Bring a small pan of water to a gentle simmer and melt the chocolate in a small heatproof bowl that fits snugly over the pan without touching the water, stirring occasionally. Carefully remove from the heat and set aside.

Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and creamy, then add the eggs one at a time, beating between each addition - don't panic if the mixture resembles scrambled eggs at this stage.
Stir in the remaining crushed savoiardi biscuits, the melted chocolate, ground almonds, mascarpone and Frangelico. Mix until combined.

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 55-65 minutes until the cake has a crust on top and is firm around the edges – a skewer inserted into the centre should come out clean. Be careful not to overcook, as the centre of the cake should remain a little moist. Dust the cooled cake with icing sugar and sprinkle with chocolate shavings before slicing and serving with a generous dollop of cream.

Photography: Buttercup Days

A Mid Week Lunch In January: Roasted Carrot, Ginger & Coriander Soup & Chocolate Cake

Today was my first morning off since returning to work from Christmas. The business has had a busy start to the year, so I've found myself going into the studio more than usual. My morning off was, all in all, a 2 hour window while Arthur was at playgroup. But it was two hours peace and a chance to tidy up the house and prepare for my mid week lunch to which I invited my yoga ladies for a long overdue catch-up. Lunch was simple: Carrot, Ginger & Coriander Soup, followed by a dense Chocolate Loaf Cake.

It's been a while since I shared a recipe here on Buttercup days as I tend to 'save them up' for my weekly posts over at Heart Home. So see it as a rare treat.

The soup is not a recipe, its far too simple to have such classification. Basically, peel a bag of carrots cutting them into fair thick chunks of around 3 - 4". Tip into a roasting pan, drizzle with olive oil and season. Peel a thumb sized piece of ginger and finely grate over your carrots. Give it all a good mix and then roast in the oven for roughly 25 - 30 mins or until the carrots are soft and caramelised in places. Tip the carrots into a large saucepan and add a generous handful of chopped coriander. Make up some vegetable stock (around 1 - 1.5 pints) and add enough to cover the carrots. Blend with a blending stick until smooth and then add further stock until it reaches your preferred consistency.

The Chocolate Cake is a 'Nigella' and big favourite of mine. Perfect for all chocoholics out there.

Dense Chocolate Loaf Cake.

225 g soft unsalted butter

375 g dark muscovado sugar

2 large eggs, beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

100 g best dark chocolate, melted

200 g plain flour

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

Preheat the oven to 190C/gas5. 

Grease and line a 23x13x7cm cm (9x5x3in) loaf tin. Cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla, beating in well. Next fold in the melted and cooled chocolate, taking care to blend well but do not over beat. You want the ingredients combined: you don't want a light airy mass. 

Gently add the flour, to which you've added the bicarb, alternately spoon by spoon, with 250 ml of boiling water until you have a smooth and fairly liquid batter.

Pour into the lined loaf tin and bake for 30 minutes. Turn the oven down to 170C/gas mark 3 and cook for another 15 minutes. The cake will still be a bit squidgy inside, so an inserted cake tester or skewer won't come out completely clean. Place the loaf tin on a rack and leave to get completely cold before turning it out. It improves if left for a day or so before eating. This cake will probably sink in the middle because of its denseness.

A New Year + Distance

So here we are in a new year: 2013. The decorations come down tomorrow and all traces of Christmas will be gone, packed away in the loft for another year. It was a good Christmas with lots of time spent relaxing with family and good friends; all the day-to-day stuff that dominates the other fifty weeks of the year firmly pushed to the back of the mind.

In our home the start of January is never dull as we have a very important birthday in the house (David's: today), it seems to just gate-crash itself into the tail end of Christmas and therefore extend the kid's excitement somewhat. They both have an effortless ability to get more enthusiastic about our birthdays than we do ourselves.

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However, the new year hasn't been rosy everywhere. Someone I'm very close to lost her father on New Years Eve. It was unforeseen, cruel and shattering and I can't begin to understand the emotions that she must be experiencing at this time. There's roughly 350 miles between us. I want to be there. To do what, I don't know. I just want to take round a cooked meal for an evening that ends a tough day. I want to take her little girl, who has lost her granddad, out for a milkshake or an ice cream on the windy beach (I'm certain she'd have no problem eating ice cream in January). Just lots of little nothings. How I wish that distance wasn't so great.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas! What I really love about Christmas is the time spent with family and friends. So far there has been time spent with my family, the one I grew up with; my family that I married into and old friends, many of whom we've known for so long that they are considered family. Happy, relaxing, warm times with great company and delicious food!

And it's not over yet: we're off to the Isle of Wight tomorrow for a few days to do 'Christmas' with my parents, before arriving home in Hove to see in 2013. Perfect.

Merry Christmas - enjoy the rest of the festive holiday. X

The picture in this post of the Pistachio and Boozy Cherry Pavlova I made when friends came over yesterday evening. This morning only a lone slither remains in the fridge.

My World's Biggest Coffee Morning

On Friday I took part in the World's Biggest Coffee Morning to raise funds for Macmillan Cancer Support. It was the first year I had ever done it. In previous years the date, 28th September, often fell during our time at Tent London. But this year it didn't so I had no excuse and signed up for it. Macmillan's is a worthy charity so close to many people's hearts. I did my part in memory of my father-in-law who we lost to cancer nine years ago. He loved cake, so it seemed very fitting indeed.

I held the coffee morning in my home and invited a real mix of people; friends, school mum's, neighbours, even our company accountant. The turn out was amazing and everyone was so very supportive. A local catering hire company provided me with china cups and saucers, cake forks and plates free of charge and my local florist made up three beautiful jugs of fresh flowers for the table. So very lovely.

Of course I did all the baking: Chocolate & Beetroot, Orange & Almond, Courgette Cake, Lemon Drizzle, Toffee Apple Cake and Chocolate Brownies. Thanks to everyone's generosity and appetite for cake I raised £235.00, and that isn't including a few yet-to-come text donations.

Thank you to everyone who supported me - I'll be doing it again I'm sure.

40

What a month! I know we're only just over a week into it, but it has been eventful. I think everyone in the house has been ill with a bug, cold and / or cough plus I had to have a small op at the hospital (unconnected to the illnesses) and then, if that wasn't enough to manage into everyday life, I became 40.

So now does it feel to be 40? Well it's an odd one, becoming forty. I wasn't comfortable about it at all. It still sounds silly, quite ridiculous in fact, but I'm kind of pushing to the back of my mind telling myself I'm not actually that bothered by it anymore. 

My birthday itself was lovely. I was completely blown away (and still am) by the beautiful present my family bought me. David organised a collective of my very favourite people; my parents, my brother, his wife and my niece and my brother-in-law and together with David they all chipped in to buy me a Kitchen Aid. It's a gift that couldn't be more me. I absolutely love it. As a non-driver and a (albeit amateur) baker, the Kitchen Aid is my Porsche.

On Saturday evening, despite feeling not too well, I went out for some birthday drinks with a crowd of much loved friends. It was a lovely evening and the good company certainly took the edge off being 40. In true 'Louise' style, I made some little parting gifts for the evening: Lemon & Thyme Shortbread packaged in some bags that I made using some greaseproof paper and my sewing machine. It was whilst sewing these bags that David looked on hopelessly and declared that he believed me to have a disorder. But hey, everyone loved them and they all enjoyed the very first recipe made with my beautiful sexy Kitchen Aid. Lucky people.

An Overlooked Recipe

I met up with my friends the yoga ladies last week and baked a cake for the occasion. I wanted to make a fairly plain cake; no icing or chocolate, something more 'January'. I sought inspiration through the pages of some old cookery magazines that lay neglected on a kitchen shelf and in them I came across a recipe for Apple Cake. It's name didn't really sell it at first glance, but on reading through the recipe I discovered that it was in fact an apple, date, cinnamon and hazelnut cake. I was sold. It was made. It was eaten.

Jam Drops & Paper Angels

Lily loves having her school friend's over for tea. Earlier this week she had four of her friends back after school for a bit of 'festive baking & making.' We baked Jam Drop biscuits and made these sweet paper angels. I came across the angels on this lovely french blog that I recently discovered. It's full of lovely templates that can be downloaded for a crafty afternoon. If you want to have a go at making these angels you can download the template here. They certainly held the attention of a group of six year old girls whilst their Jam Drop's baked in the oven.

A Lesson In How To Do Christmas Decorations

The Christmas build-up has started in earnest this weekend. Yesterday was Lily's school Christmas Fair. I organised and ran the craft tables: it's been a bit of a 'second job' these past few weeks what with all the prep work involved but it's been what I would call 'busy-fun'.

Today we had our first official Christmas Engagement: a small pre-christmas gathering for some festive drinks at a friend's house. The abode in question belongs to an old friend of ours, affectionately known as Phil Hair (the name came about as we have three good friends all called Phil and this particular Phil is a hairdresser). But it's not only hair he has a way with. No, come December he turns his flat into the most amazing grotto. This is a man not afraid of multi-coloured tree lights and paper-chains. All of the decorations are vintage; some from as far back as the 40's and 50's. There's a fair amount of ones from the 60's and 70's too; some of which felt so very familiar. It's A Wonderful Life played on the TV and Christmas Tunes provided the background music. You couldn't fail to feel festive.

It's great to have a friend who goes through such effort each year (we're talking 2 - 3 days set up here). The kids loved it: it's far better than a trip to the local 'festive spectacular' in the shopping centre. We practically billed it to them as a 'fun afternoon out', and they weren't disappointed. Being the only children at the gathering wasn't a problem for them. They lapped up the festive ambience along with  what they would call a 'good spread'; nibbles in the form of crisps, peanuts, mince pies and chocolate mini rolls. I think we all could have stayed in that snug, comforting, nostalgic environment late into the evening. I left with a warm festive feel-good glow, though feeling a little inadequate in the Christmas decorations department.

My Yoga Ladies

It's been a long week and quite a tough one at that. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I've been struggling under a bit of a cloud this week. Maybe it's the weather turning, maybe it's the constant entertaining of the kids or (when not coming up with exciting things for them to do) the overused phrase of 'we're bored'. It could be the endless housework, tidying, washing up and cooking meals. It's non-stop for a good twelve hours a day and it is tiring. Then there was the bigger thing; the riots. At first they made me so very angry, now I just feel sad.

Sometimes, during times like these, you need to just lift yourself out of the everyday for a few hours. It's easier said than done, but luckily for me I had an evening out last night. It feels a long time since I last had a proper evening out. Reader of this blog will know that I did go to Vintage at the Southbank recently, but I say that doesn't count as it was 'work related'. I got my diary out and looked back through the months. The last evening out I had was the 5th of May; a good few shared bottles of wine at a friends house. So I was right, it has been a while. With that pattern, my next night out should be in mid November.

I was in very good company last night with my 'yoga ladies'. Yes, the four of us always refer to our collective as the yoga ladies. I must say it does give outsiders a false impression that we are all super bendy ladies that can transform into an elegant 'sun salutation' pose at the drop of a hat. The truth is that we all meet in 2008 as pregnant ladies doing a weekly pregnancy yoga class. Of the class, the four of us soon bonded and now see each other regularly with our resulting offspring; Arthur, Oliver, Cherry and Sofia. The truth is none of us has done any yoga since. But the rather fallacious name has stuck.

A night out with good friends is sometimes all it takes to feel like your old self again. Food, wine, conversation; all partner and child free is great therapy. We're all in the same boat and sometimes just knowing that is enough to wake up a little more positive the next day.

Moving On

 photo: bean-sprouts blog.

Today Lily is breaking up from school for the summer holidays. But the thing that makes this time around different is that come September she won't be going back to her school joining her classmates in their new classroom with their new teacher. She'll be the 'new girl' at her new school starting all over again. They'll be new friendships to build, new rules and routines to learn and a different environment to slot herself into. 

Anyone who knows us or reads this blog will know of what we've been up against with schools. I won't bore you with it - it's old news now. I covered it all in previous posts that you can read here and here. But we're basically moving Lily to a new school that we hope and believe will be better all round. It's a good local school that, unlike her current school will take her through to the end of her junior education. I can't see that far ahead, but for now, at least, it is the best option that has come our way.

It was however a difficult decision to make pulling Lily out of her current school a year earlier than her natural time there would have ended. She started there two years ago and shy little girl in a big school. She's leaving there with her confidence increased ten-fold and a true passion for learning. I have her school to thank for that. They've worked magic with her and I truly believe that without their nurturing environment and exceptional teaching Lily may not have got a place at her new school, and that could have made for a very different educational path ahead.

But, I think any shedding of tears today will me mine, rather than Lily's. Throughout her two years at school four of Lily's close friends have left due to relocation or a place becoming available at a more local school after a long time on the waiting list. So Lily, sees her self as 'just the next one' to move on. We plan to keep in touch with a handful of her special friends as they live so near and we'll try and arrange a get-together during the summer in the park or on the beach.

"Aren't you sad to be leaving your friends?" I asked her. "A little bit. But I'll make lots of new friends Mummy, so it doesn't really matter" was her reply. Six-year-old's can be extremely excepting of change. It's us parents that find these transitions harder I think.

The Simplest Orange & Almond Cake

Now this recipe is a real gem. Never before has a handful of ingredients and a bit know-how received such appreciative swoons and gushes. I came across this recipe a couple of years ago in the Observer's Food Monthly. It belongs to Rosie Lovell who the Observer introduced as 'the queen of the new cafe society; a comfort cook who hangs out with musicians in her Brixton deli'.

I read the article and made the cake. It was sublime. At the time I was writing food related features for the UK design blog The Beat That My Heart Skipped, and I contacted Rosie and she supplied us with a few of her amazing recipes from her beautiful cookbook Spooning with Rosie. I'm now a bit of a Rosie fan, it has to be said.

As I made this cake for an occasion, I tampered with it a little. I added a topping of glazed flaked almonds and some orange rose petals to enhance the overall beauty and to ensure those appreciative swoons and gushes. But when making this at home I stick to the original plain version dusted with a little icing sugar and serve it with a dollop of plain yoghurt and maybe some fresh raspberries on the side. Mmmm.

Orange & Almond Cake.

Makes 12 slices

6 medium free-range eggs

300g golden caster sugar

200g ground almonds

1 large juicy orange

2 tbs water

For the topping (optional)

1 small juicy orange or satsuma (or just use a splash or two of orange juice from a carton)

15g butter

1 tbsp golden caster sugar

50g flaked almonds

1. Grease and line a 25cm loose-bottomed cake tin. Preheat the oven to 160C/Gas2.

2. Separate 3 of the eggs, putting the whites aside in a mixing bowl. Beat the egg yolks with the remaining whole eggs in a large bowl.

3. Add 200g of the caster sugar and all of the ground almonds and mix thoroughly. Grate the orange zest and add this too, keeping the rest of the orange for later.

4. Beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Using a slotted metal spoon, fold the egg whites into the thick cake mix, a spoonful at a time. Be careful not to knock the air out of the whites.

5. Now pour this foamy cake mix into the lined tin and place in the oven for 40 - 60 minutes. The cake is ready when an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

6. Leave the cake to cool in the tin and make the syrup. Put the remaining caster sugar in small saucepan and add the juice from the orange and a few tablespoons of water. Place this on a really low heat in order to dissolve the sugar and slightly reduce the syrup. Using a toothpick, plant holes all over the cake and pour over the syrup. Allow the cake to cool and absorb the syrup before removing it from the tin.

7. If you want to go down the flaked almond topping route, here's what you do. Put the juice from an orange or a splash of orange juice from a carton into a small non-stick frying pan with the butter and sugar and melt it all together. After it has sizzled for a minute or so and begun to caramelize, add your almonds. Give it a stir and occasionally tip the pan to keep it all moving. Once all of the liquid has disappeared and the nuts are glossy and coated in the orange-scented glaze, remove to a plate to cool. Then sprinkle with merry abandonment on top of the cake. 

My Top Five Cakes

Last week I was very busy with cakes. Yes, I know I was going to move on from the cake business thing, but every now and again I'm asked so nicely to bake a cake that I just can't say no. I do love to bake cakes particularly those that are central to happy times, celebrations and milestones. They might only be a bit of home-baked sugar-sweet sponge but they make people so happy and on occasion quite delirious.

It was my good friend Celia who commissioned me to make five cakes for her mother's 80th birthday party. The big bash took place over the weekend in London. The venue was the local church hall and the menu was tea and cake. Yes, literally. No faffing around with sandwiches and alike, but straight into the cake course. Now that's my kind of party! What I liked best about this commission was that I was left to my own devises creatively. The selection that I finally settled on consisted of the following; Courgette Cake (with a Lime Cream Cheese Frosting and Pistachio Nuts); Chocolate & Guinness Cake (with White Chocolate Frosting); Orange & Almond Cake topped with Almonds; Chocolate Brownies; Lemon & Thyme Shortbread Biscuits served with Seasonal Berries and Creme Fraiche.

I chose these five cakes for their variety and interest, but also because I have now made each of them so many times I believe that I have them down to a tee. A few people have been asking lately if I ever share my recipes. 'Of course' is my answer. They're not really mine at all. Some are old recipes that exist on dog-eared magazine tear outs, some are from much-loved recipe books and some are borrowed with a couple of my own tweaks thrown in. But they have become part of my baking repertoire and thus I have great affection to them all. So over this week I am going to post these very five cake recipes, starting with the Courgette Cake, which was taken from the cake bible itself How To Be A Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson. Keep these recipes to hand then should a bout of baking come over you in the very near future you'll be well prepared to fully embrace it.
 

Courgette Cake (with a Lime Cream Cheese Frosting and Pistachio Nuts)

2-3 courgettes
2 large eggs
125ml vegetable oil
150g caster sugar
225g self-raising flour
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
½ tsp baking powder
lemon curd for the filling
200g cream cheese
100g icing sugar, sieved
I lime
2 – 3 tbsp chopped pistachio nuts


1. Preheat your oven to 180C/ gas mark 4 and grease and line 2 x 21cm sandwich tins.

2. Wipe your courgettes with a piece of kitchen towel and then peel on the coarse side of a grater. Once you have your pile of grated courgette, take a handful at a time and squeeze over the sink to remove excess water, placing the drained courgette in a bowl ready for adding to the mixture in step 4.

3. Put the eggs, oil, and sugar into a large mixing bowl and beat until creamy. Next sieve in the flour, bicarb and baking powder and continue to beat until well combined.

4. Now add your grated courgette and stir briefly until the mixture is flecked emerald green.

5. Divide the mixture equally between the two tins and bake in the oven for approx 30mins. The sponges are ready when slightly browned and firm to the touch. Once cooked place the tins onto a rack to cool for 10mins before turning out to cool completely.

6. Once the sponges are completely cool, you are ready to fill and ice. For the filling simply spread generously with some lemon curd. To make the frosting beat the cream cheese together with the sieved icing sugar. When your cream cheese and icing sugar are combined add a squeeze of lime for a delicious zing.

7. Smear the top of your cake thickly with the frosting. If you want to firm the icing up at all, place the cake in the fridge. Alternatively you can pop the icing in the fridge for 10 minutes or so to firm up slightly before spreading on top of your cake.

8. Just before serving sprinkle with the chopped pistachios and place a coordinating flower in the centre as a finishing touch. The inclusion of the flower is very much my little piece of creative freedom, but is by no means a necessity.

* Please note that this recipe is for a 2 layer cake. However this weekend I made a 3 layer version by adding half the ingredients again to fill a third cake tin.

What A Swell Party It Was ...

Yesterday afternoon we threw a small party at home to celebrate Arthur's 2nd birthday. It was delightful. All the little guests seemed to enjoy the celebration. Experience has taught me that the under 6's actually make perfect guests, so long as you keep the numbers low (our party was for 8). A simple meal and plenty of toys to hand is a winner for them. Those who know me are aware that I have difficultly keeping things 'simple', but I think I did okay. I forcefully limited my creative bursts to the cake, a bit of decor and a little take-home gift. The weather was dry so we decided to bring some of the party outside. The children enjoyed playing in the red house (which was a rather weather-beaten pale pink until I got handy with a paint brush last week). I put table and chairs outside complete with printed place names and little floral arrangements (I know they're only two, but just humour me!) for an alfresco tea of fish-fingers & chips. When plates were clean out came the birthday cake. Arthur simply loves cake and ice-cream, so I kind of combined the two, making individual ice-cream cone cakes. They are basically a cupcake baked into an ice cream cone. The result was complete silence, a high usage of wet wipes and 100% approval from the little people! After more play came home time, which some guests find a little hard -  after all who ever wants a good party to come to an end? But I hoped that the take home gift of a jar of homemade playdough and a bag of No. 2 shaped chocolate-chip cookies made it a little bit easier to bare.

Happy Birthday Arthur / A Tune for Tuesday ...

It's been a while since my last post. School and house issues have been demanding much of my time lately and I've generally just been really busy. However, I couldn't not post today for it is a very important day in our household; Arthur's birthday. My little man is now a very grown-up two years old. He isn't really aware what is happening. Lily has been telling him it's his birthday for a few weeks now, so he frequently says' berfday' and sometimes he follows that statement with 'tooooo'. He seems to have learnt that those two words go together at the moment and gets him a response of smiles.

Maybe he'll get an inkling that it is a special day later on in the day. We're going to have a little party at home for him and seven close friends. It will be a simple affair of toys, fish-fingers and chips, birthday cake, balloons and playdough. It will be right up his street.

What with it being a Tuesday, I thought I ought to make an effort to post up a Tune for Tuesday. This tune is dedicated to my wonderful birthday boy. I am blessed to have him; he is warm, funny, amazing company and he effortlessly makes all my days sunny ones. I'm sure I can speak for his daddy and big sister as well when I say that he has, without doubt, made our family rounded, complete and pretty damn perfect! Happy Birthday Arthur  - Big Love xxxxxxxxxxx

Friday Evening ...

I love it when I make an effort to do 'something' on a Friday evening. It always makes the weekend feel longer. Pre-children, we'd often go out after work on a Friday but these days it's all too easy to just sit on the sofa in front of the TV worn out from the busy week just gone. 

Well, last night we did do 'something'. We invited our friend's Madeleine and Dan over. It was one of those dinner invitations that had been in the pipeline for ages - long overdue. We share our work studio with Madeleine, the incredibly creative lady behind Mibo, so it was really nice to relax and enjoy each others company outside of the work environment. Plus, with them both looking forward to the arrival of their twins in a couple of months, it was nice to spoil them a bit.

We played music, chatted and enjoyed a relaxed leisurely meal. I cooked an Aubergine Involtini (a Nigella gem that never fails me) which was served with a simple green salad and local sourdough bread. For afters I made a Pistachio Cake (a River Cafe recipe, should you be wondering) served with Greek Yoghurt and Raspberries. I didn't realise until I bought the dessert out that Dan is very much a Pistachio fan. He is currently on a mission to 'better' a pistachio ice cream that he once had the pleasure of experiencing in Italy, which was apparently, an amazing taste sensation. It is great when you have those food moments that ingrain deeply and stay with you. What a task to set yourself ... to taste pistachio ice cream every time such an opportunity arises in order to seek out pure perfection. That's what I call a great pastime.