Orange Yoghurt Cake with Pomegranate Syrup

This is such an unusual but delicious tasting cake and one that can be served as a dessert or eaten as a delicious treat in its own right. There is something so exotic about pomegranates, and perhaps, it is just me, but I think that they look so sensual and beautiful. Pomegranates are frequently used in Middle Eastern cookery where they are regularly employed in both sweet and savoury dishes. Although they were once hard to source in this country, they are now readily available to buy, especially in the Autumn. I just love them and the slightly decadent air they lend to those dishes in which they are used.

 

This cake is unusual in that it contains no butter but rather, richness is added by way of the inclusion of thick Greek style yoghurt. Now ... as anyone who knows me will testify ... I LOVE butter and it is therefore surprising that I didn't miss it in this cake. The cake still has a depth of flavour and a certain richness despite the fact that no butter is used. This makes it a perfect cake for those who want a little sweet treat but are trying to watch their saturated fat intake. The inclusion of the yoghurt and also some orange zest and also orange juice in the syrup gives the cake a real freshness; this is a cake to enliven even the most jaded palate.
 

As with most of the recipes I favour, this cake and the accompanying syrup are relatively simple to make. You don't absolutely have to make the syrup; you could instead just top the finished cake simply with some pomegranate seeds and a few slivered hazelnuts for added texture but ultimately, I do recommend that you make the syrup because it is SO tasty.

 

Ingredients:

Cake:
2 large eggs
225g caster sugar
225g Greek-style yoghurt (I used Glenisk)
Finely grated zest of 2 oranges
150g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
100g ground hazelnuts (or ground almonds)
Syrup:
Juice of 2 oranges
100g caster sugar
1 tblsp pomegranate molasses (optional)
Juice 1 pomegranate
To finish:
Seeds of 1 pomegranate

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 170C/Fan Oven 150C/Gas Mark 3. Grease and line a 20cm round, deep spring-form cake tin with baking parchment, place on a baking tray and set aside.
2. Place the eggs and sugar in a large mixing bowl and using a hand-held electric mixer, beat together until the mixture is pale and has thickened (about 7-10 minutes).
3. Add the yoghurt and orange zest to the egg mixture and gently stir through using a large metal spoon. Sieve the flour and baking powder together and fold these into the yoghurt/egg mixture along with the ground hazelnuts/almonds. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin, level the surface and bake in the preheated oven for 40-45 minutes until the cake is well-risen and a pale golden brown colour and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. (NOTE: check the cake after 25 minutes and if it is browning too much cover the tin with some aluminium foil to stop it burning).
4. Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool in the tin whilst you make the syrup.
Syrup:
5. Put all the ingredients into a small saucepan and bring up to the boil. Allow to bubble and reduce by about half or until the liquid is quite syrupy.
To finish:
6. Prick the cooling cake all over with a thin skewer and gently pour over the syrup. Allow to cool completely and then remove from the tin. Scatter over some fresh pomegranate seeds and serve.

Serves 8-10.
 

Lemon Bakewell Tarts

This is such a gorgeous recipe and a lovely variation on a classic Bakewell Tart. For anyone who loves lemon, these little tarts are an absolute must.

The combination of pastry flavoured with finely grated lemon zest, lemon curd and a lightly lemon flavoured frangipane results in a little cake-like tart which is packed full of zesty flavour.

A traditional Bakewell Tart consists of a pastry base (most commonly shortcrust pastry but purists would say that traditionally, it should be made with puff pastry and called Bakewell Pudding - NOT Bakewell Tart) and a layer of jam topped with an almond sponge or frangipane. Over the years I have made Bakewell Tarts using both shortcrust pastry and puff/flaky pastry, and on balance, I much prefer the shortcrust pastry, so the recipe that I give here uses it. I tend to use raspberry Jam when making Bakewell Tarts, because it's my favourite, but really ... any jam can be used. In the past, I have made an alternative to the traditional Bakewell using my homemade Seville Orange Marmalade where I also flavoured the sponge with some finely grated orange zest. This was wonderful served with some softly whipped cream laced with a little Irish whiskey.

Normally I prefer to make one large tart and slice it into portions for serving but here, I decided that I would make individual tarts. I toyed with using a cupcake tin to make them so that I would have very deep individual tarts but, in the end, decided to use the ancient mince pie tin that I inherited from my grandmother, which produced shallower tarts that I felt resulted in a better balance between thin pastry, lemon curd and frangipane.

 

I flavoured the pastry with a little finely grated lemon zest and filled the tarts with homemade lemon curd and a very lemony flavoured frangipane. Although it may not be traditional, I also drizzled over a small amount of lemon flavoured glace icing. I wouldn't include icing when making a traditional Bakewell as, in my opinion it makes everything just too sweet, but I think that it's lovely in this lemon version as the tartness of the lemon serves to 'cut through' the sweetness. If you prefer to leave the tarts plain, by all means do so.

 

You can make your own lemon curd, or use a good quality store bought version ... the only thing I will say In this regard is that lemon curd is actually very easy to make yourself and nothing tastes as good as homemade.

 

These little tarts were absolutely delicious and I really regretted not making a double batch of them because they were quickly snapped up by the hungry hoards at home.

 

This recipe is based on one that appeared in BBC Good Food Magazine - a magazine I have been buying for over 20 years and one that always contains delicious and reliable recipes. I have varied it a bit, but if you want to take a look at the original you can do so here.
 

Ingredients:

Lemon curd:
4 unwaxed lemons, juice and finely grated zest

200g caster sugar

100g butter, cubed

3 large eggs plus 1 yolk, lightly beaten

Shortcrust pastry:

200g plain flour

50g icing sugar

Finely grated zest of 1 lemon

85g butter, cubed

1 egg yolk

1-2tblsp cold water

Frangipane:

100g butter, softened

100g caster sugar

Finely grated zest of2 large lemons

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

85g ground almonds

25g plain flour

To finish:

150g icing sugar

Juice of ½ lemon
 

Method:

Lemon Curd:

1. Place the lemon juice, zest, sugar and butter into a heatproof bowl. Place the bowl over a saucepan of just simmering water, making sure that the bottom of the bowl is not touching the water.

2. Stir the mixture occasionally until the butter has melted. Add the eggs into the lemon mixture and which together until everything is well incorporated. Cook for about 15 minutes stirring constantly until the mixture has thickened.

3. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool completely (NOTE: this makes more lemon cure than you need for this recipe, but an excess can be spooned into sterilised jars and stored in the fridge for 2-3 weeks).

Pastry:

4. Sieve the flour and icing sugar into a large mixing bowl and add the lemon zest. Add the butter and using your fingertips rub it into the flour until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

5. Make a well in the centre and add the egg yolk and cold water. Using a fork, mix everything until it comes together and forms a dough. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and briefly knead and shape into a ball. Cover with cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Frangipane:

6. Place the butter, sugar and lemon zest in a large mixing bowl and using a hand-held electric mixer, beat together until light and fluffy. Gradually add the eggs, beating well after each addition. Add the ground almonds and flour and mix in thoroughly. Set aside.

To bake the tarts:

7. Preheat oven to 170C/Fan Oven 150C/Gas Mark 3.

8. Remove the pastry from the fridge and roll out to a thickness of about 3mm. Stamp out rounds using a 6-7cm round fluted cookie stamp and use to line a 12 hole tart tray/patty tin. (This recipe makes about 18 individual sized tarts so you will need to use a second tray).

9. Place a teaspoonful of lemon curd on top of pastry for each tart and then top with a couple of tablespoons of frangipane, gently leveling the surface to neaten.

10. Bake in the preheated oven for 13-15 minutes until slightly risen and a light golden brown colour. Remove from oven and allow to cool in tart tray for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rick to finish cooling completely.

To finish:

11. Mix the icing sugar and lemon juice together to create an icing that is only very slightly runny, Drizzle over the tarts.

Makes 18-20 tarts .
 

Rye Bread with Walnuts & Caraway Seeds

Scandinavian food has become increasingly popular in restaurants here in Ireland but also across the water in the United Kingdom. The success of restaurants such as Faviken In Sweden and in Noma in Denmark, and their inspirational chefs (Magnus Nilsson and René Redzepi, respectively) has resulted in increased interest in Scandinavian food and cookery.

 

I recently purchased a few books on Scandinavian cooking and baking and was literally salivating at the recipes and photographs contained within them. All I wanted was to be holed away in my kitchen for the next month with a store cupboard full of all the ingredients I would need to try out all the recipes!

 

Most of the ingredients used in Scandinavian cookery are fairly easy to come by in this country though, as with most regional cuisines, there are a few that I think that I might have some trouble sourcing in the west of Ireland! Having said that, I was itching to cook something, so rather than do something completely alien, I decided that I would make rye bread.

 

I have always loved the fact that rye bread is denser in texture but also higher in fibre than the breads that we are more used to which are mainly made from wheat flour. This makes it a perfect vehicle for creating the open sandwiches so beloved in Scandinavia as the bread has a certain stability to it and doesn't collapse or buckle under the weight of the toppings it carries.

 

I made a few loaves of bread by way of experimentation, trying out different proportions of wheat to rye flour, but this was the one that I settled on and that I found worked best. I decided to add some roughly chopped walnuts and a tablespoon of caraway seeds to my dough and really liked the slight tannic bitterness they brought to the finished bread. In many ways I thought the caraway seeds had an almost palate cleansing effect making the bread seem less dense than it was. In any event, you can omit either or both the walnuts and caraway seeds if you are not a fan ... or you can substitute other nuts or seeds if you wish.

 

Rye flour creates a dough that feels stickier when kneading, but don't worry about this; this is the way that it is meant to be. Don't be tempted to add extra flour, because you will only end up with a bread brick after baking!

 

This bread was delicious with smoked salmon (Irish of course) and also the smoked mackerel pate that I love to make every now and again. In the accompanying photographs you will see that I actually enjoyed it with some Cashel Blue Cheese, which was also fab.

 

Ingredients:

200g rye flour

100g wholemeal flour

100g strong white flour

7g fast action yeast

1 tsp fine sea salt

300ml warm water

2tblsp malt extract (or treacle)

60g roughly chopped wlanuts

1tblsp caraway seeds

 

Method:

1. Put the rye, wholemeal and strong white flours in a large mixing bowl along with the yeast and salt and using your hands, agitate so that everything is mixed well together.

2. Stir the malt extract into the warm water and pour this into the flour mixture mixing well to form a slightly sticky dough. You can use a wooden spoon to do this, but to be honest; I find it far easier with my hands. Form the dough into a bowl and then turn out on to a very lightly floured work surface and knead, pulling and stretching the dough as you go for 7-10 minutes. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with cling film. Set aside in a warm place for 1 hour until the yeast starts to do its job and the dough rises to just under double its size.

3. Remove the dough from the bowl and knock back, removing the air. Knead again adding the walnuts and caraway seeds. Shape the dough and place into a greased and floured 900g loaf tin. Cover loosely with a clean tea towel or some cling film and allow to rise for 45 minutes.

To bake:

4. Preheat oven to 220C/Fan Oven 200C/Gas Mark 7. Dust the top of the bread with a little rye flour before baking in the oven for 30-35 minutes. The bread should be well risen with a dark golden brown crust. Remove from the oven and allow sit in the tin for 10 minutes before removing from the tin, transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling completely.

 

Makes 1 loaf.

 

 

 

 

 

 

PVC Cake (AKA Pistachio, Vanilla & Chocolate Marble Cake)

There's no doubt about it; I am like a woman obsessed at the moment. Obsessed with all things pistachio, that is! Well I'm still experimenting and this cake was just so good, I had to share the recipe. This is just a quick post…but believe me the cake is fab and looks so pretty!

This is essentially a simple marble cake - lightly blended, differently flavoured or coloured cake batters that are baked together in the one tin to create a mottled/marbled finish when sliced. I considered these cakes the height of sophistication when I was a child and regularly begged my grandmother to bake them as a special treat for me. As a child, my favourite marble cake was one made with chocolate, plain and brightly pink coloured cake batter - we called it our Neapolitan Marble Cake as it resembled the Neapolitan ice-cream that my brother and I had such a penchant for.

 

Here I was keen to create a cake that looked a little bit more elegant and one that showcased my nut du jour - pistachios. The cake was very simple to make but looked beautiful when sliced. The pistachio, vanilla and chocolate flavours all came through distinctively yet complemented each other so well. I am confident that this is a cake that both young and old will delight in.

 

I chose not to decorate or ice the finished cake, but a simple chocolate glace icing or some melted chocolate drizzled on and allowed to set, would not be out of place!

Ingredients:

225g butter
225g caster sugar
4 large eggs
275g self-raising flour
1 level tsp baking powder
25ml milk
25g pistachio paste
1/2 tsp vanilla extract/paste
1tblsp cocoa powder + 1-2 tblsp boiling water, mixed together to form a paste

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 160C/Fan Oven 140C/Gas Mark 3. Grease and line a 900g loaf tin and set aside. Place the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl and using a hand-held electric mixer, beat together until light and fluffy. Gradually add the eggs, beating well after each addition.
2. Sift the flour and baking powder together and fold into the creamed mixture, adding the milk half way through. Make sure that everything is mixed together well, but do not over mix as this will develop the gluten in the flour and result in a heavy cake.
3. Divide the cake batter into three, placing in separate bowl. To the first bowl add the pistachio paste; to the second the vanilla extract/paste and to the third the cocoa mixture. Make sure that each of these additions is we" mixed through the batter in their respective bowls.
4. Drop spoonfuls of the three cake batters into the prepared loaf tin, alternating them until all of the batter is used up. Drag a thin skewer through the cake batter (once it is in the tin) to encourage the intermingling of the batters. You need only do this three or four times.
5. Bake in the preheated oven for 45-50 minutes until the cake is well risen and a thin skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow cool in the tin for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling completely.

Serves 8-10.