Ginger and Lime Drizzle Cake

 If you've been reading my blog for a while, then you know i love a drizzle cake, or any cake that contains some form of citrus fruit. Oh, and that I'm not very good at doing seasonal baking, but here you have a combination, with the freshness of the lime, and the warmth from the ginger, so is great if you want a light and fresher alternative to a Christmas cake or ginger cake, to serve at Christmas; handy if you have a warm weather Christmas. And as promised more Christmas food is coming super soon.

Fresh and citrus cakes always perk me up, and I love making them when the suns shining, but to be honest when its grey and miserable, and considering its the 1st of December, nothing has quote hit the spot, like my filo pastry mince pies and may, or may not, have had two yesterday(just eating my mums and sisters for them, since they can't, obviously). 

I personally love coconut, and thought it added something different, but if you don't like coconut, replace it with ground almond, or if your allergic just replace with more plain flour. I also had an extra lime, so added the zest the the drizzle mixture, as i think the speckles of green look pretty. If your serving it for someone special, top with chopped crystallised ginger for an extra ginger hit.

 Ingredients


200g butter
175g caster sugar
4 limes
3 large eggs
200g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 heaped tsp ground ginger
50g dessicated coconut
4 balls of stem ginger, chopped
2 tbsp milk
35g granulated sugar
3 tbsp stem ginger syrup

1. preheat the oven to 180°/gas 4, and line and grease a loaf tin 
2. beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy
3. gradually add the eggs, beating well after each addition.add in the zest of the limes
4. gently fold in the sifted flour, ginger and baking powder, along with the coconut and stem ginger.
5. add in the juice of 2 limes and the milk. spoon the mixture into a prepared tin (don't worry if the mixture looks slightly curdled mine did this and was absolutely fine).
6. bake for 1hr or until golden and a skewer inserted comes out clean
7. meanwhile mix the juice of the remaining 2 limes, granulated sugar and the ginger syrup
8. once the cake has cooked immediately spoon over the drizzle. cool fully in the tin

Raw Flapjack Squares

If you wanted a quick and healthy, but filling snack, then nothing fits the bill more perfectly than this. Perfect for making the night before, then chucking it in your bag in the morning. Before eating it as your lunch, on the train home, because people consistently don't give you a break ,and you end up eating lunch at home around 5, which is almost tea time. So this is the perfect snack, to keep back the hunger, without missing tea. 

As you can see in the photos i did two versions of this: One, i left the oats whole, to give more of a bite, and make it more flapjack like; Two, i blended the oats up finer to make oat flour, and make it more like a soft oaty cookie. 

I used chocolate chips in one of the bars, but not in the other, and can't say which i preferred, just what i was in the mood for. If you don't like chocolate, but still want to add something in, dried fruit such as apricot would work well, or if you're on of those extremely healthy types, add in seeds such as sesame or chia.

Ingredients

2 tbsp coconut oil
2 tbsp almond milk or other dairy free milk (i used oat)
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
3/4 cup oat flour (i just blended the same amount of oats up, until fine)
3/4 cup ground almonds
1/2 cup chocolate chips/ chunks 

1. melt the coconut oil
2. stir in the milk and sugar
3. mix in the flour, almonds and chocolate if using
4. press flat between greaseproof paper, and pop in the fridge until firm
5. cut into squares or bars, then keep in the fridge until consumed 

Orange and Poppy Seed Cake

I'm using the excuse that it wasn't my oven; As my defence, that the cake wasn't cooked enough; It obviously wasn't that, I didn't read the recipe properly, and the oven was supposed to be set at 160 instead of 180. That's also obviously, why the background has been occasionally changing recently, since I've been making full use of the house my mum house/dog sits for; by borrowing their kitchen of course! 

This is now the second citrus fruit, and poppy seed cake in a row, after this one. I do like them, I promise!(well it was my birthday cake) I'm not just trying to use the packet of poppy seeds up, like you all think. I love the slight crunch, and the nuttiness they give the cake. If your making the cake for a special occasion, then toasting the seeds will enhance their flavour.

If you don't like orange marmalade, then feel free to change it to a different marmalade, such as lime, or lemon. Also feel free to swap the marmalade top, with a sugar crust (just mix granulated sugar and orange juice together, use this recipe for it). If you don't like poppy seeds, then feel free to take them out.

Ingredients 
3 tbsp thick cut marmalade
150g plain yogurt
3 eggs
175g caster sugar
200g self raising flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
175g butter
zest of orange
5 tsp poppy seeds

for the sticky top:
juice 1/2 orange
5 tbsp marmalade

1. preheat the oven to 160°c. 
2. butter and line a loaf tin 
3. melt the marmalade into a small pan or microwave, then beat in the yogurt and leave to cool
4. put the remaining cake ingredients into a bowl and beat until smooth
5. quickly beat in the yogurt and marmalade mix, and pour into the tin( it will be quite runny).Don' smooth and level the top to encourage a crack in the middle.
6. bake for 1hr- 1hr 10mins, until golden and well risen, loosely cover if its getting too brown
7. meanwhile, while heat the orange juice and marmalade in a small pan, until combined and thick, but still runny glaze
8. spoon over the topping, while it's still warm 

Lemon and Elderflower Madeleines

It's the same story every year; i make the elderflower cordial, i give a couple bottles away, and then keep the rest for my family. As usual, i started looking for recipes that i can use it in, my pintrest addiction being put to use for once! Since, i haven't used my madeleine tin yet (I've had it for a year!). I thought it was about time i christened it, and I'm glad i did, with something so delicious!

These are the perfect afternoon tea cakes, they look pretty without being a difficult and fiddly. Or ideally served, with a coffee, at breakfast, not to mention on a little Paris balcony, ideally with a view of the Eiffel tower.No? A girl can dream...

Other than, that they look pretty, another reason why i like these, is that they let the elderflower "sing" on its own, unlike previous recipes which also contain fruit of some sort (but are just as delicious). If you want to you could add raspberry, just push them into the mixture, once in the moulds. If you don't have a madeleine tin, you could put it into mini cupcake tins, although it would look quite similar to my canape. If you didn't have either of those tins then my blackberry,lime and elderflower slice, might be a bit easier.

Ingredients 

2 eggs
75g caster sugar
100g plain flour, sifted 
1/2 tsp baking powder
75g melted butter, cooled
zest 1 lemon
3 tbsp elderflower cordial 

melted butter to grease 
flour to grease elderflower syrup, to glaze
icing sugar to dust(and make look beautiful and ladylike )

1. Whisk the eggs and sugar together, until thick and pale and fluffy
2. combine the butter, elderflower cordial and lemon zest
3. fold in the sifted flour and baking powder, alternating with the butter mixture
4. rest the mixture for about for 4 hrs, or longer(up to 3 days)
5. when ready, preheat the oven to 200°, gas mark 6
6. grease the moulds with melted butter, and dust with flour. place in the freezer for 2 mins to chill
7. fill each mould 3/4 full or almost full
8. bake for 8- 12mins depending on the size of your madeleines, or until golden and spring back when touched
9. brush immediately with elderflower syrup 
10. dust with icing sugar to serve 

Lemon Poppy Seed Cake with Lemon Buttercream Icing

Cake is x1000 better than lemonade, right? So, when you buy lemons, (because nothing in life, is free; life never gives you lemons) you should make this cake. Not to mention, its the perfect summer cake, as lemons just scream summer, particularly as this one contains lemon curd, which is refreshing. Just in case you needed any more persuading, then i thought i should mention, it was my birthday cake, and obviously put more effort into my own cake, than anyone else's(bit selfish like that, but i do share!)so its super tasty and obviously looks good(cant deal with ugly looking cakes!).

Lemon cake, is my favourite type of cake (coffee comes second) and if you hadn't noticed, regularly appears in many of my cakes, paired with other flavours, such as my lemon and cardamon cake. I also added lemon syrup on top, to make it extra moist, mainly because i accidentally cooked it for a bit longer than i needed (trust me to ruin my own birthday cake!). Luckily, the almonds and the poppy seeds in the sponge, make it quite a moist sponge anyway.

To make this cake super lemony, i added lemon curd to the icing, because i love it, and honestly wish i lived in a warmer country, so i live amongst lemon trees,and smell of lemons, and eat lemons in everything. I just love lemons! OK. Feel free to omit the poppy seeds if you don't like them, but personally, I wouldn't as they look so pretty, in the sponge anyway. I also did a thin layer of lemon icing, then lemon curd, then another thin layer of icing in the middle, plus dollops on top, because lemon curd is so good, i like to use as much as of it as possible. 

Ingredients

Cake

115g butter

115g caster sugar

4 large free range eggs

125g self raising flour

180g ground almonds

40g poppy seeds

2 lemons, zest and juice

Syrup

Juice of 1 lemon

3 tbsp caster sugar

Icing

175g butter

350g icing sugar 

1 lemon, zest, juice to taste

Lemon curd

Poppy seeds, to finish

1. Preheat oven to 180c, gas 4. Grease and line tins with baking paper 

2. Beat the butter and sugar, until light and fluffy.

3. Add in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition 

4. Fold in the almonds, flour, poppy seeds, lemon zest and juice.

5. Spoon into the prepared cake tins, bake for 30mins, or until golden and cocktail stick comes out clean.

6. Remove from the oven, leave to cool

7. Meanwhile make the icing.

8. Beat the butter and icing sugar together.

9. Add in lemon zest.

10. Add in lemon juice and lemon curd, until desired consistency is reached

11. When the cake is cool, sandwich together with a layer of lemon icing and lemon curd.

12. Place the remaining icing and on top and gently bring down the sides

13. Top with lemon curd and scatter poppy seeds if wished.

Canapés: Elderflower, Raspberry, Almond Cake with chargrilled Apricots, and quenelle of Marscaspone

Just one of those posts, that make you feel like a professional, as you did it so long ago (March), when the main ingredients were out of season(it was a nightmare, finding apricots, and had to resort to tinned, sadly). I did have a reason though, instead of seeming incredibly organised, which i wish i could be. The main reason why i held off sharing it, was because it was the winning canape (i won something for the first time in my life!!) so i wanted it too appear first (in all it glory) at the event.

I created it for the London produce show, the brief was to create a seasonal cold canapé, for the event. Simples, nope, not really. You might have gathered from the majority of my posts, that i have a sweet tooth, so of course it had to be sweet, not to mention i couldn't think of a good savoury one, without tomatoes or peas/beans, as i knew everyone else would use them. 

Feel free to change the apricots, if you don't like it, to another stone fruit e.g. nectarine or peach, and just grill the same, although you might want to cut them a little smaller. You could also switch up the base flavour, with lime or add in blackberries like my favourite slice here. Also feel free to take out the lemon basil (which a didn't actually use, it was just for the recipe) and replace with tiny normal basil, or mint leaves.

So, after many hours of brainstorming, searching pinterest, looking back at old recipes, and double checking that the fruit was definitely in season, i finally came up with my canapé.

My inspiration behind the recipe:

"I wanted to create something delicious with several of my favourite foods, using ingredients that I personally eat seasonally.

I chose a sweet canapé, because I have a sweet tooth, and I like making things look pretty.

I forage for elderflower every year, make it into the cordial, and am always looking for an excuse to use it because I enjoy its flavour.

I also wanted raspberries in the canapé, as they are my favourite fruit, and I only tend to eat them when they are in season, as they are most flavoursome then.

I used an almond sponge as I enjoy the taste and texture of almonds, but also because I wanted to create something lower in gluten, as it’s becoming more popular to eat less gluten."

Makes 48 (4.5cm cake tin), preparation(including cordial):-approx. 49hrs, preparation(excluding cordial):- approx. 30mins Cooking time:- approx. 1 hrs.

Elderflower cordial recipe

For the cake:

225g butter

50g self-raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

200g almonds

225g caster sugar

Zest of 1 lemon

4 eggs

2 packs raspberries(300g)

100ml undiluted elderflower cordial(can also use bought)

Juice 1 lemon

1tbsp caster sugar

8 apricots

100g Sugar

200g Mascarpone

250g Pistachios

1 pack Raspberries(150g)

Lemon basil to garnish

To make the cake:

Preheat the oven to 180c°.Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the eggs, one at a time, making sure everything is incorporated, before adding more. Fold in the almonds, flour and baking powder. Place into greased tins, about half. Put one raspberry in each, and press down. Bake for 15 mins, or until risen and golden on top. While the cakes are baking, stir together the cordial, lemon juice and 1 tbsp sugar. When the cakes are done, remove from the oven. Spoon the syrup over the cakes whilst still hot. Leave to cool.

To finish:

Cut the apricots into 6ths, dip into the sugar. Place on a preheated and lightly oiled griddle/barbecue. Cook the apricots for 1-2 mins or until caramelised on both sides. or sprinkle with sugar and blowtorch. Leave to cool.

Cook the raspberries until they start to break down. Blend the raspberries, sieve to remove and seeds. Set aside to cool.

Chop up the pistachios, set aside.

Quenelle the mascarpone and place on top of the cakes.(if you don't have small spoons feel free to pipe).
Place the apricot on top of the mascarpone, place on the pistachios, drizzle with the raspberry coulis and garnish with lemon basil.

Cheese and Tomato Scones

Don't judge a book by it's cover; is the saying, right? Not just the scones, but the photos were taken a year ago, and now look pretty shocking to me, sorry.The scones aren't incredible lookers either, but are one of my most baked  savoury thing of all time, and if i didn't get fat i would eat them every single day(well maybe, that's going to far!)

These were inspired by a cheese shop in Oamaru, New Zealand. Yep, they were so amazing that three years on, i can still(vaguely) remember them. They served beautifully rustic (less rustic, and more pretty than mine) but hey, I'm no professional cheese scone maker, scones topped with red onion and tomatoes, served warm from the oven, and slit with slices of flavoursome cheese.

I've just topped with sliced cherry tomatoes, but feel free to slice up red onion and put it on too. I also just used cheddar, but if you prefer another hard cheese then use that instead.

As you can see, these scones are so incredible that even my cat, Fleur, is fixated on them.

Ingredients 

100g butter
450g self- raising flour
240ml milk
150g grated cheddar cheese, plus extra for topping
cherry tomatoes
slices of cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 220°/ gas 7.
2. Rub the flour and butter together to make breadcrumbs
3. Stir in the grated cheese
4. Pour in the milk, stir in using a knife
5. Bring the mixture together, and lightly knead
6. Tear chunks away from the dough, or roll out 
7. Place on a baking tray, top with the sliced cherry tomatoes and scatter with extra grated cheese.
8. Bake for 20 mins
9. When golden brown, remove from the oven, slice and pop in the sliced cheese.
10. Put back into the oven for 1 minute, or until the cheese has melted.
11. Serve immediately.