Luscious Lemon Cake

I am very VERY keen on lemon cake. I love it to be both sweet and sharp all at once, which is achieved by drizzling a syrup made of lemon juice and icing sugar all over a sponge made in a loaf tin as soon as it comes out of the oven, then leaving it to cool completely in the tin. This makes it sticky, moist and completely delicious. My mum made a fabulous version of this, but used a 18cm square tin and cooked it for less time (about 30 mins should do it). This is also her name for it and it is completely fitting, for luscious is exactly what it is!

Ingredients

125g butter, softened
175g caster sugar
2 eggs
zest of 1 lemon
1tbsp poppy seeds (optional)
175g self raising flour
pinch salt
4 tbsp milk

For the syrup:
juice of 1 lemon (about 4 tablespoons)
100g icing sugar

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Line a 1lb loaf tin (roughly 23x13x7cm) with baking parchment or greaseproof paper.

Cream together the butter and sugar until well combined and a little bit paler than the butter's original colour. Add the eggs and beat together. Mix in the lemon zest and poppy seeds if using, then add the flour and salt. Add the milk to loosen the mixture, the scrape into the prepared tin. Bake for 45 minutes, until risen and golden.

Whilst it is baking, put the juice and icing sugar in a pan and warm gently until the sugar is dissolved. As soon as the cake is cooked, jab it all over with a skewer or small knife, then pour the syrup over. Make sure it is evenly distributed, as it is rather keen on running to the edges so spoon plenty of the syrup into holes made in the middle. Once you've doused it, leave it to cool completely before taking it out the tin. If you can leave it over night, as it will soak in fully and the remaining heat of the cake will help the liquid evaporate, and leave an almost imperceptible sugary crust on the top of the cake.

Variations

You could do this with any citrus fruit I think. If your using oranges, it will probably be the juice of half an orange, if limes, probably the juice of two.

Rhubarb and Cinnamon Muffins

I love rhubarb, as I have rambled before. I think it's just magical and I am fully convinced it must be really good for your health, possibly full of cures for all sorts of diseases. This is based on the idea that it's a pink vegetable that you eat in puddings. I have no scientific data to back this up.
I also love cinnamon, though I do believe that it is used too much in commercial bakery. Every fruited bun or cake that you buy in high street bakeries or supermarkets is loaded with cinnamon, almost to the detriment of any flavour of any other ingredients. In small amounts it's beauteous, rich fully rounded flavour is in harmony with fruit bakery. In large amounts it's like having your cake soaked in mouth wash.

Ingredients

300g rhubarb, chopped into 1cm dice
3 tbsp caster sugar
300g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
100g caster sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 eggs, beaten
200ml semi-skimmed milk
100g butter, melted

For topping

3 tbsp light muscavado sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas 6

Mix the rhubarb and 3 tbsp of caster sugar together and place in a oven proof dish, add two tablespoons of water or orange juice and bake for about 10 minutes. This softens the rhubarb. Once it is cooled, spoon it in to a sieve over a dish to catch any drips, though you won't need the juice.

Mix the dry ingredients for the cake mixture in a bowl. In a jug, whisk together the milk, eggs and melted butter together, then add to the dry ingredients and stir together, but don't be too thorough. Don't forget, a lumpy mixture makes better muffins, an over stirred mix can make the muffins become tough. Tumble in the cooled and drained rhubarb pieces, stir in, then divide between 12 muffin cases in a 12 hole muffin pan. Mix together the topping ingredients, and scatter over each muffin.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, until risen and cooked through. The sugar won't melt, but will leave a crunchy crust on the top of the muffin.

Eat warm with custard or ice cream.

Banana Bread

This is one of the easiest and most rewarding cakes you can bake. It has the added advantage of being good household economy. We've all bought a bunch of bananas and then a week later been left with overripe fruit that is not entirely appetising to eat, unless you are a very small child. It is also satisfyingly mucky in it's construction; if you enjoyed making mud pies or crashing about in puddles then this pushes all the same buttons. Mashing banana with a fork is simple enough, but it seems to fulfil some primeval urge. Or it's just me. The cake itself is delicious, having all the advantages of a fruit cake without being a fruit cake (I speak as someone who doesn't actually like eating fruit cakes.) and makes your house smell like some centre of domesticity and capability, and why let anyone think otherwise. I will admit that this recipe comes almost verbatim from Nigella Lawson's 'How to be a Domestic Goddess'.

Ingredients
100g sultanas
75ml recently boiled water
175g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
0.5 tsp bicarbonate of powder
0.5 tsp salt
125g butter, melted
150g caster sugar
2 large eggs
300g very ripe banana, mashed

23x13x7cm loaf tin, lined.

Preheat oven to 170C/Gas Mark 3

Put the sultanas in a bowl with the hot water and leave to stand to plump them up. This can be done an hour or two in advance for really nicely plumped up fruit. However if, like me, you're not that organised then you can leave them to soak until you need them.

Put the flour, baking powder, bicarb and salt into a bowl and mix together. In another, larger bowl mix the melted butter and sugar together until well blended, add the eggs one at a time, again until well blended and then add the mashed banana and mix. Drain the sultanas then add them to this liquid mix. Then add the flour mix into this. You can either do it all at once or in two batches, it depends on your level of patience.

Pour this mix into the prepared loaf tin, scraping the bowl out thoroughly, then place in the oven for 1-1.25 hours. Use a skewar or cake tester to check whether it is ready (if it comes out clean it's ready, if cake mix adheres to it, give it longer).

Once it is cooked, leave to cool in it's tin. Then eat with glee.

Variation
In the original recipe, there was also 60g of chopped walnuts added at the same time as the sultanas, but I have an absolute hatred of walnuts. With the soaking of the sultanas Nigella uses bourbon or dark rum which is fine, but not something I have in the cupboards but feel free if you do.

Apple Cake Crusoe Style

This recipe was called Tuck's Apple Cake but I've change it because I don't know who or what Tuck is, and it's just like the cake my friend Vicky Robinson's mum makes, so it's a much better name. Be warned though, this cake is mighty tastey and will be eaten very quickly.

A quick note about the ingredients. The butter will be easier to use if it's at just below room temperature. Take it out of the fridge 30 minutes to an hour before you need it. You can use cold butter, but it's more work for your fingers.

350g self raising flour
225g unsalted butter cut in to cubes
175g caster sugar, plus extra
450g Bramley apple, peeled, cored and diced
125g raisins or sultanas
3 eggs, beaten
pinch salt
1tsp ground cinnamon (optional) 1/2 tsp grated nutmeg (optional)

Preheat the oven to 150°C/300°F/Gas 2. Grease and line a 20cm/8in cake tin.

Sift the flour into a large (it must be large as there's a lot of stuff to go in) and add the butter and salt. Rub the flour and butter together to create breadcrumbs.

Add the sugar and dried fruit and mix together gently, you don't want to make the breadcrumbs clump up into dough. Add the spices here if you're using them.

Add the apple chunks and mix in until evenly distributed throughout the mixture. I find it best to use the same technique as you use for folding egg white, not for gentility's sake but because there's a lot in the bowl and going mad with the mix will result in a messy kitchen!

Now add the eggs and mix until all the breadcrumbs are combined. Don't be tempted to add extra liquid, this comes from the apples as they cook down. Put the mixture into the cake tin and smooth it out a bit.

Bake for 1 1/2- 2 hours until golden. To check it is cooked through, insert a skewar or thin blade. If it comes out clean then it's cooked, if some cake mix is stuck to the metal, stick it back in for another 10-15 minutes.

Once you're satisfied it's cooked, remove from the oven and leave to cool. Don't take the cake out of the tin until it's cooled enough for you to handle. If you remove it whilst it's hot, it will go a bit squiffy and wonky.

Sprinkle the extra caster sugar all over the top when you take it out for a nice crunchy top.

Serve warm with custard or cold whipped cream for a pudding or have cold as a cake.

And yes, there will be a chocolate brownie recipe coming soon!

Triple Chocolate Brownies

As requested by Mrs Shore, here is a recipe for chocolate brownies. These are seriously delicious and once you've made them you'll realise how AWFUL the shop bought variety is. I'm yet to discover anywhere which does anything even remotely close to these. I wouldn't make these too often though, they are really naughty and I dread to think how many calories each one has in it.

The chocolate I use (religiously) is Green and Black's Organic Dark 70%. This is possibly the best dark chocolate available so widely. For this recipe you'll need two 100g bars, which will leave you a little left over to snaffle secretly.

Another good ingredient is vanilla sugar. Put your caster sugar in an airtight container and bury 3 or 4 vanilla pods in it. After a week your sugar will be gorgeously perfumed. You can keep topping it up with more sugar, as the pods seem to have almost endless flavour. I've had the same ones for 2 years and they are still doing their stuff. This is great for baking, especially chocolate recipes which benefit enormously from the addition of vanilla. You can't really taste the vanilla but it seems to lift the chocolatey-ness to another level of yumminess. I also use it for sweetening my coffee or hot chocolate, but not tea. It does something odd to tea.

Ingredients
190g unsalted butter
190g dark chocolate
3 large eggs, preferably free range and organic
250g golden caster sugar
1/2 tbsp vanilla extract (if not using vanilla sugar)
110g plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
100g dark chocolate chips
100g milk or white chocolate chips

Baking tin measuring 23 x 23 x 5cm (9 x 9 x 2in)

Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas mark 4. Grease and line your brownie tin with baking parchment, making sure to line the sides as well. You'll be thankful for it later.
Melt the butter and chocolate together in a pan and set aside to cool a little. In a large bowl, beat the eggs then add the sugar and extract, if using. Add the chocolate mixture and combine thoroughly, then add the flour with salt and mix together. Finally add the chocolate chips and stir well until they are distributed evenly. Pour this mixture into the tin. I usually need a second pair of hands to hold the bowl whilst I scrape it out.
Bake for about 25 minutes. The top will go strangely pale, the colour of milky coffee and start to crack. I take them out after 25 minutes as they continue to cook outside the oven and you want them to be gooey in the middle.
Once cool enough to handle turn out the cake (here's where lining the sides is a big help) and cut into 16 pieces. Eat with a glass of cold milk or a cup of coffee.

Variations I think traditionally brownies have nuts in them, usually walnuts but I can't stand them and live with someone who hates all nuts so I had to come up with something different. Of course you could add any nut really; pecans, brazils, peanuts etc. You could also try some par-dried fruits, such as strawberries or even better, raspberries. These odd little things go like small pockets of jam within the brownie.

Bread

Bread making is one of the most satisfying things you can ever do. It makes you feel absurdly capable, as if you are somehow a great provider of marvelous things in life. I wonder if professional bakers would agree. I have a feeling starting work at 1am would take the shine of the feeling a little. Still, to make bread with your own hands is truly wonderful. I think this has a lot to do with the use of yeast. I think there's something quite magical about yeast. Of course I know its cold logical science, which I'm not going to go into here for fear of showing how little I was listening in biology, but there is something almost miraculous about it. The idea of cooking with something living is, to me, very appealing. And because I love it so much, and possibly because I'm a wee bit touched, I do tend to talk to bread dough. In fact I have a habit of talking to inanimate objects that I love. Courgettes often get whole conversations from me, admittedly a little one sided. Anyway, bread. Bread combines all the best bits about cooking: chemistry, nourishment and sensuality. Bread is a touchy feely affair, and often you can't describe to someone how you know the bread is kneaded enough, it's just about learning the dough. Although my mother did once helpfully explain that dough that is ready to be proved should feel like a milking breast. This is not a suggestion to go and grope lactating mothers. However should the opportunity arise it may be an interesting comparison. In this recipe I use a sachet of dried yeast, but not the fast acting stuff which I believe is better used for bread making machines. If you want to use fresh yeast and can actually get hold of some, then use twice the weight. And no I haven't picked a purposefully pernickety weight, it's how much the sachets weigh.

Ingredients

500g strong white bread flour

7g dried yeast (15g fresh)

300ml warm water

1tsp salt

Olive oil

Put the flour and add the yeast and salt, though keep them apart as salt in high concentrations can kill yeast. Add two thirds of your water and using your hands mix it together, but be prepared to add the whole lot. You want a sticky, wet-ish dough otherwise your finished bread will stale in about 47 seconds. Once all the dry flour is combined and its coming together in to a single lump, put the dough on to a clean surface. It doesn't need to be floured, but if you feel safer with a floured surface, who am I to judge? Now we get to knead, which is truly fab to do, but quite difficult to explain. Using the heal of your hand, push the dough away from you then bring it back with your finger tips. I tend to turn the dough 90° so you don't get too sausagey a shape. You need to do this for at least 10 minutes. You will feel the dough change in your hands and what you are looking for is a silky smooth texture. And it should smell yeasty as well, as the kneading starts to activate it I'm sure. Being punched for 10 minutes would wake anyone up.

Put the dough in to a clean bowl which has had some olive oil rubbed onto the surface to prevent sticking. Cover with cling film and leave to prove (rise) for 1.5-2 hours in a warm place, making sure it has doubled in size. You can leave it to prove in the fridge for 12 hours. This, I'm told makes great bread, the long process meaning that the gluten chains are very stretched out. However I'm not a patient enough person to make the dough in the evening, leave it to prove over night and then cook it in the morning. Nor am I organized enough. So, once your dough is double the original size, we need to knock it back. This means very gently punching it (honestly) and making it deflate. You then give it another minute or so of kneading, then prepare it for baking.

Preheat your oven to 220°C/430°F/Gas mark 7. Place your dough in a rounded shape on a baking sheet or in a loaf tin (1 lb tin) and cover with a clean tea towel or cling film leave to prove again for half an hour. Once this is done, it should have double in size again. Cook for 35-40 minutes until ready. To test this, lift the loaf and knock the bottom with your knuckles. It should sound hollow, if it doesn't, put it back in for 10-15 minutes. If you were using a tin, this extra bake can be done without it.

Et voila! You have bread. Eat it with whatever you want, I'm not about to give serving suggestions for it! I am told that hot bread gives you indigestion but I think this was my mother stopping us from inhaling the loaf she had just made.

Dropped Scones

...or Scotch Pancakes if you aren't, somewhat ironically, Scottish. These are the smaller version of those rather alarming stacks that Americans have with maple syrup and bacon as a breakfast. It's no wonder that America has had so many of the tallest buildings when you look at the height of their breakfasts.
These are very much a tea time consumable. And when I say tea I mean a meal eaten at about 7 o'clock on a Sunday comprising fruit cake, crumpets, bread, scones, jams, cream, butter and gallons of tea. It's what my mother calls Scottish High Tea (capitalisation entirely called for) and I suppose it's similar in form to English Afternoon Tea, only taken later. I think this is mainly because it's eaten on a day when you'll have eaten a proper 'dinner' at lunchtime. The problem with calling things lunch, dinner and tea is that they mean different things depending where you come from and what your parents called things. And how pretentious you are...
This recipe come from my mother, who has been making these for ever. She has the recipe written on a card in a recipe box. The card is covered in splatters of 'oops a bit of egg!' and 'whoops a splash of milk!' and a telltale see through grease spot of vegetable oil. This is a sure sign of a great recipe. This recipe came from her mother, and presumably her mother also. Its measurements are all '3 serving spoons of this, half a teacup of this' but as I have different utensils to my mother I have converted it into cold, hard measurements. I assured her it was for the betterment of mankind.

Ingredients

Makes 20

100g self raising flour
1tsp baking powder
60g caster sugar
pinch salt
2-3tbs vegetable or sunflower oil
1 large egg
100ml semi skimmed milk

Sift the flour and baking powder into a large mixing bowl, then add the sugar and salt. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients.
Mix the oil, egg and two thirds of the milk together in a jug. Put this in the well in the flour and mix together to make a smooth batter, adding the remaining milk if you need it. It's difficult to say if it will be necessary to use all the milk as flour has different absorbency rates depending on brand, age and even temperature. If you have used all the milk and still need more liquid, add a splash of water. The consistency should be the same as thick but not set yoghurt. Leave to stand for ten minutes.
To cook these you need a very flat non-stick frying pan or a griddle pan. I have one that sits across two gas burners, one side is flat and one side is ridged. Needless to say I need the flat side here!
If you're using Teflon coated cookware you probably won't need any oil at all but it's better to be safe than sorry. No point crying over stuck dropped scones. I tend to put a tablespoons worth of vegetable oil on to a saucer and dip a wad of kitchen paper in it, then wipe it over the surface of the hot pan. You just want a very small amount. I repeat this before each batch.
Using a serving spoon (or there about) drop the batter onto the hot pan. They should only spread a little and you're looking for a diameter of about 2 inches. My pan makes about 8 at a go, but a normal sized frying pan will take three or four. Once you see bubbles forming on the surface of the scone, you can turn it over to cook the other side. They should take about a minute each side. They will go a quite dark brown, the same colour as chocolate milk.
I keep a plate with a clean tea towel laid over it to put them on. As each batch is cooked I put them on the tea towel then cover them up. This helps keep them warm and stops them drying out. And it's what my mum always does.
We always have these as we would eat a cream tea. Soft whipped cream and strawberry jam, but also apricot jam, which is not the done thing with a Cornish style cream tea. They are also very good when toasted and buttered, but I would only do this if I had day old ones. Fresh ones should be devoured in an orgiastic cream and jam fashion. And believe me, 20 will be just about sufficient for 2 people, as they are horrendously easy to eat.

Naughty Chocolate Cake

This is the recipe I was going to do for Easter weekend, adorned with Mini Eggs for a decadent treat. But instead I got a stomach bug so I am making it now and present it to you here. This is a chocolate cake that shops or cafes would probably called chocolate fudge cake, and has a very light, rich sponge and a ridiculously rich and naughty icing. You could use any icing you like, but I've given a recipe for a chocolate ganache, which will make you dribble everywhere with delight, so get a bib handy!

Ingredients
200g good quality chocolate (I use Green & Blacks 70%)
200g unsalted butter, cubed
1tbsp instant coffee powder or granules
85g plain flour
85g self raising flour
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
200g light muscavado sugar
200g golden or white caster sugar
25g cocoa powder
3 medium eggs
1tsp vanilla extract
75ml buttermilk

For the ganache
200g chocolate (same as above)
284ml tub of double cream
2 tbsp golden or white caster sugar

Butter the base and sides and line the base of a 20cm round cake tin (7.5cm deep). Preheat the oven to 160°C/320°F/Gas 3.

Break the chocolate in to pieces and put in a heavy based pan with the butter and the coffee powder mixed with 125ml cold water. Place on a low heat until everything is melted and mixed but avoid overheating as the chocolate will catch and burn when exposed to too much heat. Once everthing is combined, take off the heat and leave to cool a little

In a large mixing bowl, mix the flours, sugars, bicarbonate of soda and cocoa powder. In a jug whisk the eggs and buttermilk together (If you can't get buttermilk, measure out 75mls of milk and add half a teaspoon of white wine vinegar, then leave it to sour for 5 mins. This means that the acid will be present in the batter to react with the bicarbonate of soda and create a light cake) then add to the dry ingredients followed by the chocolate and butter mixture. Mix together thoroughly until you have a smooth batter. This will be quite runny but don't worry, it's meant to be.

Pour the batter into your cake tin and cook on the middle shelf of the oven for 1 hour 25-30 minutes. To check this is ready put a cake tester or skewar into the middle of the cake, which should come out clean once the cake is ready. The top of the cake should feel firm to the touch, but don't be alarmed if it's a little bit cracked. Leave it to cool in the tin for about 10-15 minutes, then turn out on to a rack to cool completely.

When the cake is cold, cut it horizontally in to three pieces. To make the ganache, break the chocolate into small pieces and tip into a heat proof bowl. In a heavy based pan heat the cream with the sugar until it is about to boil then take off the heat and pour over the chocolate. Stir this until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth.

Sandwich the layers together using a little icing, then once all the layers are together, pour the rest of the ganache over the top, letting it fall down the sides. Smooth the sides with a palette knife then decorate the top with whatever you fancy: sprinkles, chocolate vermicelli, chocolate curls, crystallised flowers etc etc. Of course you can leave it unadorned too.

Variations
If you wanted something a bit more varied, you could sandwich the layers with tinned strained cherries and a thin spreading of lightly whipped cream, which would give you a Black Forrest type thing. I would top it with more whipped cream, some cherries and grated chocolate. You could do the same with fresh strawberries, though I would use a thin layer of strawberry jam then a layer of thinly sliced strawberry (about the thickness of a £1 coin). Do this on both layers then dust with icing sugar and serve with the whipped cream