Black Forest Pavlova with Fresh Cherries

Food is like anything else and is susceptible to the fashions and fads of a particular era. When I was a young child in the 1970s, the height of sophistication, in culinary terms, was a meal consisting of a starter of prawn cocktail, steak diane for main course and black forest gateau for dessert. Due to their popularity, there wasn’t a restaurant menu in the land that didn’t seem to have at least one of these dishes on it. The reason for this is very simple – these dishes tasted wonderful! Well… they did; when cooked with love and attention to detail, but as with many things in life, their very popularity was their downfall and, particularly in the case of black forest gateau, inferior mass produced versions were bought into restaurant kitchens and served up to diners in an effort to maximise profits and cut back on the effort involved in actually making them in-house.

The black forest gateau began to fall out of favour and became to be seen as something a little kitsch and vulgar. In my opinion, this is an awful shame, because at its core, it is an absolute classic on the taste front! Chocolate, cherries, cream and kirsch… yum! These are flavours that were just meant to go together and when treated with love and an understanding of the flavour balances at play, they are heavenly.

 

I was thinking about food fashions recently and lamenting the fact that so many of the old favourites are now deemed unsophisticated and people regularly scoff at them.

Cherries are in season at the moment and whilst not the cheapest of fruits to buy, they are a lovely treat every now and again. I absolutely love them. Fresh cherries bear absolutely no resemblance to the tiny sugary orbs known as glacé cherries which are used in baking, most especially the fruit cakes that I love to bake at Christmas time. Fresh cherries, when ripe are unlike any other fruit – there is something so decadent about them and their rich and rounded fruity flavour tastes divine. I always think there is an air of naughtiness about them and they possess a definite air of hedonism.

Armed with a large bag of ripe cherries, I decided to start playing with the basic black forest gateau flavour combinations. I have been experimenting with mousses and tarts and pies and cakes and will post some photos and recipes for the dishes that I have been working on in the near future, but for the time being here is my recipe for Black Forest Pavlova.

The pavlova base for this is chocolate flavoured courtesy of some added cocoa powder and some chocolate chunks folded into the basic meringue mixture. I have topped the pavlova with some cream lightly flavoured with kirsch and a load of fresh cherries which I had great fun pitting with my newly acquired cherry pitter (every home should have one). Oh…and because I could, I also drizzled some melted dark chocolate over everything to give an added chocolate hit.

This is rich; this is sweet; this is deliciously unctuous… all the things a good dessert should be!

Ingredients:

4 large egg whites
215g caster sugar
2tsp cornflour
20g cocoa powder
1 tsp white wine vinegar

30g chocolate chips or chocolate cut into small chunks

To finish:
250ml single cream, whipped

2tsp kirsch or other cherry flavoured brandy

200g pitted fresh cherries

100g dark chocolate, melted
 

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 150C/Fan Oven 130C/Gas Mark 2. Line a large baking sheet with some non-stick baking parchment and set aside.

2. Place the egg whites in a scrupulously clean mixing bowl and using a hand-held electric mixer, beat together to the soft peak stage. Gradually add the caster sugar, mixing well after each addition to create a glossy meringue.

3. Sift in the cornflour and cocoa powder and fold into the meringue using a large metal spoon. Finally, mix in the vinegar and fold through the chocolate chips.

4. Pile the mixture onto the parchment lined baking tray, and using the back of a metal spoon spread out into a circle about 20cms in diameter. I always try to create an almost bowl shaped circle so that the fruit is easier contained in the baked pavlova. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 75 minutes. Switch off the oven and allow the pavlova to cool completely in the oven before removing.

To finish:

5. Place the pavlova on your serving plate/cake stand. Mix the kirsch through the whipped cream and pile onto the centre of the pavlova. Pile the cherries on top of the cream and finally drizzle the melted chocolate over everything.
 

Serves 6-8.
 

Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies

I always love to have a few home baked biscuits in the tin; something nice and sweet to enjoy with a cup of tea after the long and busy days that seem to make up my life. This is my treat to myself and the moment of the day that I always look forward to.

I love reading through my many cookbooks and make mental lists of recipes that I want to try in the future. Because I am quite a confident cook and really enjoy the whole cooking and baking processes, I regularly adapt recipes that I come across and try to put my own stamp on them. I have talked before about the trend towards new and wacky flavour combinations in cooking; and whilst I do think it is important to push culinary boundaries, there are times when some things are just too ridiculous to consider making – and you just yearn for some good old honest cooking with no fancy frills or artifice. A particular pet hate of mine is food that looks amazing but tastes of little or nothing. To my mind these dishes fail, because although food has to look inviting to eat, it must also taste wonderful… because otherwise, what’s the point?

 

Anyway, I was recently thinking about some of the first things that I ever baked and I recalled the jam thumbprint cookies that I loved so much as a child. It is years since I made them, but I was so glad that I recently did. They tasted wonderful. The biscuit is short and sweet with a lovely hint of vanilla which goes so well with the raspberry jam. As I was eating these, I decided that raspberry jam has to be the most wonderful preserve that there is. There is something about the preserving process that accentuates the raspberry flavour and makes your taste buds sing.

There’s nothing more to say about these biscuits – they taste fab, are incredibly easy to make and are something that you can definitely get the children to help with; they just love creating the thumbprints and splodging the jam in.

The one thing that I would recommend is using a good jam, one with a high fruit content because this will make all the difference to the finished product.

Ingredients:

100g butter, softened
85g caster sugar
1 egg yolk

1tsp vanilla extract

115g plain flour

¼ tsp baking powder

30g ground almonds

2tblsp raspberry jam
 

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 150C/Fan Oven 130C/Gas Mark 2. Line a large baking tray with some non-stick baking parchment and set aside.

2. Place the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl and using a hand-held electric mixer, beat together until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolk and vanilla extract and mix through again.

3. Sift the plain flour and baking powder together and fold into the creamed mixture along with the ground almonds.

4. Take tablespoonfuls of the mixture and gently roll them into balls in the palm of your hands (you should get 16-18) and place them on the lined baking sheet, spacing them about 5cms apart. Slightly flatten each ball of dough and using your thumb or the bottom of a wooden spoon make a small indentation in each. Fill the indentation with a little splodge of raspberry jam (about half a teaspoonful). Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes approximately until a pale golden colour. Allow to cool on trays and then serve!

Makes 16-18 cookies.

Gooseberry Cake with Orange Flower Water Drizzle Icing

Gooseberries can be an awkward fruit to use in cooking; because of their tartness, they need to be cooked and sweetened in order to make them appetising. There are dessert varieties to be found, but these can be hard to source and are often more problematic for the gardener to grow, and as such are not often readily available. It is all too easy to merely use gooseberries in pies, crumbles or to make jam and I have been on a quest to try and find new and interesting but also delicious ways of using them in my cooking.

 

Unsurprisingly, gooseberries are so called because the berries were traditionally used to make a sauce to accompany Roast Goose. Because of their tartness, gooseberries cut through the richness of many foods and create balance in the dish. In particular, gooseberries go extremely well with mackerel where their fruity but acidic tartness balances out the oiliness of this fish. I have been experimenting with different ideas for savoury dishes that include gooseberries and when I have perfected them, I will, of course, post the recipes here. For the moment though, I have been preoccupied with recipes for desserts, cakes and other bakes where gooseberries could be used.

 

This cake is extremely simple to make and is absolutely delicious. I was so pleased with how it turned out. Elderflower is often the flavour of choice when seeking something to pair with gooseberries, but I find that orange also works very well. Initially, I was going to add the grated zest of a large orange to the cake batter, but then I opted to use orange flower water instead as I thought the floral notes would complement the gooseberries perfectly, in much the same way that elderflower works so effectively.

 

This is what I would call a “plain” cake, to which I have substitutes some of the flour for ground almonds and to which I have also popped a few gooseberries on top. I have introduced the flavour of orange flower water and finished the cake with drizzle icing. So long as you keep the basic proportions of the cake batter constant, you can tweak the recipe a little and add your own flavourings. This is what I love about cooking and baking… once you become confident and understand why certain ingredients or proportions are used, you can then unleash your culinary creativity and start to experiment. I don’t believe that you should experiment just for the sake of being different and shocking; there should be a sound basis for the cooking choices you make and I certainly don’t regret the ones that I made concerning this cake – that’s not to say that I won’t also make a good old gooseberry crumble, because I am sure that I will before the gooseberry season finishes!

 

Ingredients:

250g butter, softened
250g caster sugar
6 large eggs

2tsp orange flower water

200g plain flour

1 heaped tsp baking powder

50g ground almonds

350g gooseberries, topped and tailed

1tblsp caster sugar for sprinkling

Icing:

100g icing sugar

1-2 tsp of orange flower water
A little boiling water if needed
 

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180C/Fan Oven 160C/Gas Mark 4. Grease and line a 23cm round spring-form tin with non-stick baking parchment and set aside.

2. Place the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl and beat together using a hand-held electric mixer until light and fluffy. Gradually mix in the eggs, beating well after each addition, until they are fully incorporated and then mix in the orange flower water.

3. Sift the flour and baking powder together and fold into the egg mixture along with the ground almonds. Spoon the batter into the prepared tin and level the surface. Arrange the gooseberries on top of the cake and sprinkle with the tablespoon of caster sugar. Bake in the oven for approximately 60 minutes until the cake is well risen and a thin skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes in the tin, before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling completely.

To finish:

4. Mix the icing sugar and orange flower water together to create a smooth but slightly runny icing. You may need to add a tiny amount of boiling water as well to reach the desired consistency. Drizzle over the cake and allow to harden a little before serving.

Serves 8-10.

Caraway Seed Cake

This is one of my mother’s favourite cakes and is also one that I am rather partial to. At heart, it is essentially a Madeira Cake which includes caraway seeds instead of lemon zest by way of flavouring. The seeds impart a mild aniseed-like flavour to the cake which I find very appealing. There is nothing fancy about this cake; it is almost austere in its simplicity – no frivolous frosting or sweet icings here – but it still retains a certain elegance and tastes wonderful to eat.

 

This is a close textured cake but if well-made should not be heavy to eat, but rather, it should leave a satisfyingly buttery but light feeling in the mouth. In a similar way, the flavour of the caraway seeds should be present and distinguishable but should not dominate. The food-writer and broadcaster Nigel Slater recommends the judicious use of caraway seeds when adding them to the cake batter and suggests using a mere teaspoonful in his loaf cake. Whilst I agree that overuse can result in a finished cake with a slightly medicinal taste, I use a tablespoon of the seeds. I feel that this amount is perfect in the recipe that I have given above.
 

Cakes including caraway seeds have been around for many centuries, with some of the earliest recipes being found in AW’s Book of Cookrye in 1591 and The English Huswife by Gervase Markham in 1615. In fact, historically, caraway was extensively used in cooking throughout the British Isles, including Ireland. Recipes for cake, bread and biscuits regularly included the seeds. I often include caraway seeds in my homemade soda bread or in my wholemeal scones. The soda bread is gorgeous served with some leftover baked ham and I find that the ham and caraway combination is a winning one.

 

Another way that I sometimes use caraway seeds is when making the shortcrust pastry for a quiche or an onion tart, where I add a generous pinch. Caraway complements a number of other ingredients and flavours; for example - onions, carrots and cabbage. It also cuts through the richness of fatty meats and as such, is a perfect accompaniment to pork or duck. I keenly urge you to experiment a little with this wonderful spice, but in the meantime, try out this recipe… It really is delicious.
 

Ingredients:

175g butter, softened
175g caster sugar

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

215g plain flour

35g self-raising flour

50ml milk

1tblsp caraway seeds
 

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 160C/Fan Oven 140C/Gas Mark 2. Line a 900g loaf tin with non-stick baking parchment and set aside.

2. Place the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl and using a hand-held electric mixer, beat together until light and creamy. Gradually add the eggs, beating well after each addition.

3. Sift the plain and self-raising flours together and fold into the egg mixture along with the milk and caraway seeds. Once everything is mixed together, spoon the batter into the prepared cake tin and bake in the preheated oven for approximately 65-75 minutes until the cake is well risen and a thin skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

 

Serves 8-10.
 

Baci di Dama

I have always loved Italy; the food, the culture, the art, the climate… I could go on and on, but I really think that it is the most beautiful country. Italian food is rightly very popular and it stands up as one of the great cuisines of the world.

Italy is the country that gave us pasta, pizza, risotto, ice-cream and many other delicious dishes. I know food historians may dispute the origins of some of these foods, but I think it is fair to say that Italy was the country that popularised these foods and they are foods that are immediately associated with Italy in the collective consciousness. There is a real ‘no nonsense’ philosophy underpinning the Italian approach to food and I find this really appealing. It is not food based on pretension or snobbery; flavour and taste is paramount and this is what makes Italian food so attractive to so many people around the world.

When thinking of Italian food, I don't think that most people immediately think of cakes and biscuits. This is perhaps a little unfair as some classic biscuits/cookies are Italian. I love the almond flavoured amaretti and the hard and crunchy biscotti and cantuccini are amongst some of my favourites. They are perfect to have as an accompaniment to a strong espresso, but I also love them with my good ol’ cup of tea. Basically if a biscuit passes my rigorous ‘tea test’, it has to be good.

 

Baci di Dama (translation: kisses of women) are another biscuit that are hugely popular in Italy. They are little hazelnut or almond shortbread-like cookies sandwiched together in pairs with some melted chocolate. Hazelnut and chocolate are one of those classic flavour combinations that I am always going on about but here, in these biscuits it is a true marriage in heaven. The chocolate makes the nuts taste hazelnuttier and the hazelnuts accentuate the flavour of the chocolate.
 

There’s no point in denying it - these biscuits are fiddly little feckers (as we say in Ireland) to make, but they taste sublime. They literally melt in the mouth. Of course with something that is bite-sized as these are, one is never enough. They are just so easy to pop into your mouth and because they are so light in texture and delicious to eat, you find that you keep reaching for ‘just one more’.

The dough is crumbly to work with and you may think that you will never be able to form the little marble sized balls, but I found that chilling the dough first before rolling helped.

I came across a number of recipes for Baci, but none of them worked until I tried this one, which I found on the fabulous Living the Sweet Life in Paris , a blog by David Lebovitz.

 

The first few recipes I tried used equal proportions of ground hazelnuts, butter, caster sugar and flour, but they failed utterly for me in that they were completely flat and did not have the required characteristic dome shape. I was so frustrated, but I wasn’t going to let success elude me, so I did a little more research and further experimental baking.

 

David recommends using rice flour instead of plain flour, but having tried a number of alternative ratios of flour to ground flour, the following is the recipe that I found to work the best. One further tip… after I had rolled my little balls of dough, I let them chill again for 15 minutes before baking.

 

Also, if you don’t want to go to the bother of melting and piping chocolate in order to sandwich the biscuits together, you could always use a little blob of Nutella instead.

Ingredients:

100g butter, slightly softened
100g plain flour
40g ground rice
100g caster sugar
140g ground hazelnuts (or almonds, or a combination of the two)
To finish:
100g dark chocolate melted

Method:

1. Place the butter, flour and ground rice in a large bowl and using your fingers, rub the butter into the dry ingredients to create a soft buttery crumbly mixture.

2. Add the ground nuts and the caster sugar and using your hands again, work everything together to form a crumbly dough. Gather the dough together as best you can and roll it into a long thick sausage shape. Wrap in cling-film and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

3. Line two large baking trays with non-stick baking parchment and set aside.

4. Roll small little marble sized balls (about 5g each) of the dough and place on the prepared baking sheets a couple of centimetres apart. Place the trays in the fridge to allow the dough to firm up again. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 150C/Fan Oven 130C/ Gas Mark 2.

5. Bake the Baci in the oven for 10-13 minutes until they are just beginning to turn a light golden colour but still retain a dome shape. Allow to cool completely on the baking trays – if you try to remove them too early, they could fall apart; they firm up completely on cooling.

To finish:

6. Sandwich the biscuits together in pairs using a little of the melted chocolate.

7. Allow the chocolate to harden and they are then ready to eat.

Makes approximately 40 sandwiched pairs of biscuits.