Marmalade Cake

There are certain cakes that just do it for me and this is one. It is beautifully moist, keeps very well and is full of the delicious flavour of orange due to the inclusion of the fresh orange juice and zest and the marmalade. Speaking of which, this cake is a great excuse to use a little of the Seville orange marmalade that I recently made – not that I really needed an excuse to bake this cake!

This recipe is based on one that I came across in the Peyton & Byrne – British Baking book that I recently acquired. As with many recipes that I uncover within the pages of my embarrassingly large cookery book collection, I have tweaked this one slightly. I have used blood oranges because they are what I had to hand, but I admit that I also found the slight pink hue that the blood orange juice gave to the finished cake was particularly appealing and very pretty looking.

Blood oranges just look so beautiful when cut in half horizontally to reveal their exotic interior. In the aforementioned book, Oliver Peyton comments that British baking is often accused of being predominately brown coloured. There is probably a certain truth in this and it is one of the reasons why I readily embrace all opportunities to introduce fresh and zingy colours and flavours to the foods I prepare. Rather than blood oranges you could of course use standard sweet oranges.

 

I used a coarse cut marmalade because I love the taste and texture of it, but you could use fine cut or one with no peel at all. Even if you are not normally a fan of coarse cut varieties, I urge you try one here because it really does add that little something extra.

 

Ingredients:

150g butter
130g caster sugar

70g light brown muscovado sugar

Finely grated zest of 2 blood oranges

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

75g Seville orange marmalade

2 tblsp blood orange juice

Pinch of salt

175g self-raising flour, sieved

Icing:

150g icing sugar

4-6 tblsp blood orange juice

 

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/Fan Oven 160C/Gas Mark 4. Line a 900g loaf tin with non-stick baking parchment and set aside.
2. Using a hand-held electric mixer, cream the butter, sugar and orange together until light and fluffy. Add in the eggs gradually, beating well after each addition. Add the marmalade, orange juice and salt and mix together well to fully incorporate.

3. Add the sieved flour and fold in to the egg mixture thoroughly to create the cake batter. Spoon into the prepared tin and smooth the surface with a spatula or the back of a metal spoon.

4. Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 45 minutes until the cake is springy to the touch and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Do not check on the cake until at least 30-35 minutes of baking time have elapsed as the cake is liable to sink in the middle due to the inclusion of the marmalade.

5. Allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes and then remove to finish cooling on a wire rack. Once cooled, the cake can be iced.

Icing:

6. Mix the icing sugar and orange juice together in a small bowl and then pour evenly over the top of the cooled cake, letting it drip naturally down the sides of the cake.

Cuts into 8-10 generous slices.

     

Apple Dumplings

This is such a lovely dessert and although comforting and heart-warming to eat it is not too rich nor is it too sweet.

The premise of this recipe is so simple; the apple is peeled and cored, stuffed with fruit, nuts or whatever takes your fancy, is then wrapped in a snug blanket of shortcrust pastry and baked in the oven until golden brown and the apple is cooked through.
 
I still had some of my homemade mincemeat left over from Christmas so decided to use that to stuff my apples. I also added a good glug of Amaretto as its almond flavour really complements the flavour of the mincemeat, and…well… basically because I love it! You could use an apple flavoured brandy instead. Also, if you are not a fan of mincemeat or dried fruits, you could stuff the apples with a mixture of brown sugar, cake crumbs, chopped marzipan or nuts. Basically anything that takes your fancy. I would recommend that whatever you choose should have some substance to it and not be too liquid or inclined to melt in the heat of the oven, but essentially this is a recipe where you can use up those ingredients that  you have lurking at the back of the kitchen cupboard. As such, it is one that appeals to me greatly.

I love mincemeat and thought that it added just the right amount of sweetness in this recipe, whilst still allowing the flavour of the apples to shine through. All too often we can fall into the trap of thinking that complicated cooking is better cooking – this is not necessarily the case. What is important is using the ingredients that you have to hand and cooking them well to produce great tasting dishes. Yes, I love dramatic dishes and particularly love the challenge of cooking technically demanding dishes, but they have to taste delicious or what is the point?

 

I served my dumplings with clotted cream, but ice-cream or custard would work equally well.

      

Ingredients:

4 medium sized cooking apples, peeled and cored
Pastry:
200g plain flour
1tblsp icing sugar

120g butter, chilled and diced

1 large egg yolk

1-2tblsp water

Filling:

75g mincemeat

3tblsp Amaretto

To finish:

1 egg, lightly beaten
 

Method:

Pastry:
1. Sift the flour and icing sugar into a large bowl. Rub in the diced butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolk, sprinkle in the water and using a fork, or your hands mix until the mixture comes together to form a dough.
2. Tip the dough out onto a lightly floured work-surface and knead briefly and shape into a ball. Wrap the dough in cling-film and place in the fridge for about half an hour to rest.

To prepare the apples:

3. Preheat the oven to 200C/Fan Oven 180C/Gas Mark 6. Line a baking tray with a sheet of non-stick baking parchment and set aside.

4. Remove the pastry from the fridge and roll out thinly using a rolling pin. Cut out four pastry squares, large enough to encase each apple completely.

5. Mix the Amaretto through the mincemeat in a small bowl.

6. Place each apple in the centre of each of the squares and spoon the mincemeat mixture evenly between the cored out centres of the apples. Brush the edges of each pastry square with a little water and draw up, pressing the pastry edges together to completely encase each apple. Turn the apples over so that the joins are on the bottom and place evenly spaced apart on the lined baking tray.

7. Cut a small hole in the middle of the pastry at the top of each apple. Brush with a little of the beaten egg and use any pastry off-cuts to decorate with leaves if desired.

8. Bake in the pre-heated oven for about 35 minutes until golden brown all over.

9. Remove form the oven and serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream, a little clotted cream or if you want to really up the comfort stakes….some warm home-made custard!

Serves 4.

Gypsy Tart

I have always been intrigued by this tart and just couldn’t get my head around the fact that the filling only included two ingredients. I just didn’t think that it was possible that the tart would set as they were no eggs or thickening agents such as cornflour or even plain flour to help it along.

As far as I was concerned it couldn’t possibly work! But….it DOES! The only thing that I can put this down to is the fact that the muscovado sugar and evaporated milk have to be beaten together for a considerable time before being poured into the pastry case to be baked. I presume some manner of chemical reaction takes place after all that beating, which results in a stabilisation of the two ingredients allowing it to “set” when baked in the oven.

Tradition has it, that the tart gets its name from the fact that it was first served to some hungry gipsy children during the First World War, by a woman who only had very basic ingredients in her house due to food rationing that was introduced because of the War. As with the origins of so many recipes, we cannot be absolutely certain of the accuracy of the stories that build up, but there is no disputing the fact that despite the richness of this tart it has remained popular over the years.

It is really important to ensure that you use dark brown muscovado sugar as substitutes will not create the same effect.

This is sweet… VERY sweet and I recommend serving it in thin enough slivers, but it does taste delicious and looks very beautiful when it comes out of the oven; with its gilt like surface which gives way to a dark brown fudgy centre when you cut in to it.

 

Some recipes that I came across when researching this particular tart, use sweetened condensed milk instead of the evaporated milk. I imagine that the finished tart must be shockingly sweet. The recipe I give here is for the version using evaporated milk.      

Ingredients:

Pastry:
200g plain flour

1tblsp icing sugar

120g butter, chilled and diced

1 large egg yolk

1-2tblsp water

Filling:

200g dark brown muscovado sugar

200g evaporated milk

 

Method:

Pastry:
1. Sift the flour and icing sugar into a large bowl. Rub in the diced butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolk and sprinkle in the water and using a fork, or your hands mix until the mixture comes together to form a dough.

2. Tip the dough out onto a lightly floured work-surface and knead briefly and shape into a ball. Wrap the dough in cling-film and place in the fridge for about half an hour to rest.

Blind-bake pastry:

3. Preheat oven to 180C/Fan Oven 160C/Gas Mark 4. Grease a 5cm deep, 23cm round fluted tart tin (with a removable base) with a little butter. Using a rolling pin, roll out the pastry dough in a circle large enough to fit into the prepared tart tin and to a thickness of about 4mm. Use to line the bottom and sides of the prepared tin. Cover the pastry with a sheet of crumple non-stick baking parchment and then fill with baking beans. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 12-15 minutes. Remove the parchment paper and baking beans and then bake for a further 5 minutes. Any pastry off-cuts can be used to cut out shapes to decorate the pie or, as would traditionally be the case to make a lattice pastry topping for the tart.

4. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool down slightly while you make the filling.

Filling:

5. Put the muscovado sugar and evaporated milk into a large bowl and using a hand-held electric mixer, beat together for 10 minutes at a high speed until the mixture has slightly increased in volume and is a creamy caramel colour. Carefully pour into the prepared pastry case and bake in the pre-heated oven for 12-15 minutes until the surface is set. Remove from the oven… It may still have a slight wobble, but the tart will continue cooking as it cools, so this is perfectly normal. Allow to cool in the tin. Serve at room temperature with a dollop of crème fraîche if liked. 

Serves 6-8.     

Preserved Lemons

The supermarkets and grocery stores are full of citrus fruits at this time of year. As I have mentioned many times before, lemons are, in my opinion, an essential ingredient for any cook. A couple of squeezes of fresh lemon juice will perk up any savoury dish and it also has a wide range of uses in baking and sweet dishes. As you can see, I am quite a fan of the humble lemon!

Preserved lemons are used in many Moroccan dishes, most famously tagines, where their sour pungency cuts through the richness of other ingredients used. Many recipes for preserves lemons employ a method whereby the lemons are preserved in salt and vinegar. Whilst these are delicious, the saltiness can sometimes linger, even when the lemons have been rinsed beforehand and they can skew the flavour balance of the recipes in which they are used.

 

This recipe for preserving lemons avoids that problem as no salt is used, but rather the lemons are preserved in a light sugar syrup with added spices and aromatics courtesy of the inclusion of coriander seeds, bay leaves and fresh chillies.

This is a really useful condiment to have in the kitchen cupboard and is incredibly easy to prepare.
 

Ingredients:

9 smallish sized lemons
1 litre water

300g granulated sugar

Juice of ½ lemon

4 bay leaves

1 long, thin red chilli pepper, quartered lengthways

1tsp coriander seeds
 

Method:

1. Wash the lemons and scrub them with a vegetable brush.
2. Put the whole lemons into a large saucepan with the water, sugar and lemon juice. Bring up to the boil and then reduce heat to a gentle simmer. Simmer the lemons for half an hour.

3. Remove the saucepan from the heat and allow to cool.

4. When the lemons are cool enough to handle, remove from the syrup with a slotted spoon and using a sharp knife cut into quarters. Carefully remove any lemon pips that you come across and discard.

5. Pack the quartered lemons into a sterilised jar (1litre capacity) along with the chilli, coriander seeds and bay leaves.

6. Reheat the syrup and bring up to the boil. Allow to bubble away for 7-10 minutes until it has reduced by about a third. Strain into the jar containing the lemons. Seal the jars and when cool, store in a dark cupboard for at least three weeks before using. Once opened, refrigerate.

Makes 1 x 1lt jar.     

Treacle Tart

I might as well hold up my hands and declare straight away that this is a very sweet tart, but provided you get the balance right with the added lemon juice and lemon zest, it should have a slight bitter edge to it. This coupled with the moist, almost slightly chewy nature of the tart filling, makes it something which is irresistible.

Although called treacle tart, modern recipes do not actually use treacle but use golden syrup instead. Sometimes, to ring the changes I replace a tablespoon of the golden syrup with some black treacle which results in a tart that is darker in colour and with a richer almost malty flavour.
 

Some versions of this tart are shallower than the one that I present here, but I prefer a tart with a slightly deeper filling as I think that the pastry to filling ratio is more balanced. As usual I am not going to be dogmatic about this and ultimately I recommend that you bake the tart as you best like it.

I have used white breadcrumbs here, but I have also made versions using brown breadcrumbs. I find that breadcrumbs made from brown soda bread work extremely well and add a welcome nutty flavour and given that soda bread is almost the national bread of Ireland, it is something that I like to do when I have some soda bread hanging around.

Ingredients:

Pastry:
200g plain flour
1tblsp icing sugar
120g butter, chilled and diced

1 large egg yolk

1-2tblsp water

Filling:

450g golden syrup

½ tsp ground ginger

110g fresh breadcrumbs

1 large free-range egg, lightly whisked

Finely grated zest of 1 lemon

3tblsp lemon juice

Method:

Pastry:
1. Sift the flour and icing sugar into a large bowl. Rub in the diced butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolk and sprinkle in the water and using a fork, or your hands mix until the mixture comes together to form a dough.
2. Tip the dough out onto a lightly floured work-surface and knead briefly and shape into a ball. Wrap the dough in cling-film and place in the fridge for about half an hour to rest.
Blind-bake pastry:

3. Preheat oven to 190C/Fan Oven 170C/Gas Mark 5. Grease a 5cm deep, 20cm round fluted tart tin (with a removable base) with a little butter. Using a rolling pin, roll out the pastry dough in a circle large enough to fit into the prepared tart tin and to a thickness of about 4mm. Use to line the bottom and sides of the prepared tin. Cover the pastry with a sheet of crumple non-stick baking parchment and then fill with baking beans. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 12-15 minutes. Remove the parchment paper and baking beans and then bake for a further 5 minutes. Any pastry off-cuts can be used to cut out shapes to decorate the pie or, as would traditionally be the case to make a lattice pastry topping for the tart.

4. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool down slightly while you make the filling.

Filling:

5. Reduce oven Temperature to 180C/ Fan Oven 160C/Gas Mark 4.

6. Put the golden syrup, ground ginger in a small saucepan and heat through until warmed but not bubbling. Remove from heat and add in the breadcrumbs, egg and lemon juice and mix everything together thoroughly. Pour into the blind-baked pastry case and bake in the pre-heated oven for approximately 25 minutes until golden brown and slightly risen.

7. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin. I like to serve slices of this tart, still very slightly warm with some clotted cream or with a scoop of marmalade ice-cream.

 
Serves 6.