Baking with Raspberries

Posted on April 17, 2016 by AroundTheAga

I don’t see myself as much of a maker of puddings or desserts; I’m nervous about pastry and anyway, during the week there simply isn’t time to make a dessert. In all honesty I’d rather bake a cake to have with a cup of tea in the afternoon and then just eat some chocolate to satisfy my sweet tooth at the end of a meal. But, as I wrote here, I’m not eating chocolate anymore.

On Sundays, as I think I’ve mentioned before, my mother-in-law usually makes a pudding for us all. I’ll make one if we have friends round or to take to friends if we’re invited to lunch or supper. I’ll also make a dessert when it’s my turn to host book club or film club.

Raspberry and Cinnamon Torte

The raspberry and cinnamon torte I wrote about in my tumblr days is one of our favourites:

https://www.tumblr.com/annettehardy/124165468337/raspberry-and-cinnamon-torte-i-made-two-of-these

Bakewell Cake

This bakewell cake by Fay Ripley, which my Twitter friend @lesleyj28 alerted me to recently, could serve as a dessert or a teatime cake. I pounced on the recipe because it contains everything that’s delicious and good about a bakewell tart (almonds, raspberry jam!) but no pastry. I love pastry but (see above) don’t love making it. Without the need to make pastry, this cake is mixed and baked in no time. I used to watch Fay Ripley in Cold Feet on the telly (LOVED it) and had heard about her recipes but had not tried them before. As I began to make this, I realised how similar it is to my torte. It is a little more “cake-y” (two eggs instead of one), has jam in it and doesn’t contain cinnamon but apart from that it’s the same. In fact, if I made it again, I’d probably replace the vanilla extract with cinnamon, but that’s just my personal preference. Also – a small point – I didn’t have any flaked almonds in the cupboard so scattered over chopped almonds instead: a poor compromise on Fay’s recipe, we later all agreed.

Ingredients

150g butter, softened
150g golden caster sugar
150g SR flour
150g ground almonds
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
6 tsp raspberry jam
150g raspberries (I used frozen because it was all I had)
50g flaked almonds

Method

Grease a 22cm springform tin and base-line with bake-o-glide or baking parchment
In a mixer, food processor or with an electric hand whisk combine the butter, sugar, flour, almonds, eggs and vanilla extract (oh how I love the all-in-one method!)
Place half the mixture in the cake tin, smoothing it out, and dot the raspberry jam over, half a teaspoon at a time. Scatter the raspberries over
Drop spoonfuls of the remaining mixture over the fruit but don’t worry if there are gaps; it will spread in the oven
Scatter over the flaked almonds
Bake for about 40 minutes in the Aga baking oven (or a little longer in a conventional oven at 180ºc). Not easy to test this cake with a skewer because the raspberries make it a little wet in the middle. It should be golden brown and springy to touch when done

Couldn’t be simpler.

Raspberry Muffins

I love making raspberry muffins too, although I see them as more of a coffee or teatime thing than a dessert. I also wrote about these on my tumblr:

https://www.tumblr.com/annettehardy/119691034322/muffins-not-cupcakes-this-time-but-im-rather

Simnel Cake

Posted on March 24, 2016 by AroundTheAga

Why not make this delicious fruit cake for Easter? As you probably know, simnel cake was originally baked for Mothering Sunday in the middle of Lent; girls in service would make one to take home to their mothers. I love it because it’s a fruit cake and lends itself to being baked slowly in the Aga, which makes for a very moist cake. Then there’s the marzipan which I adore almost as much as chocolate, and that’s saying something.

Last year my son’s lovely girlfriend made us a simnel cake, so we had two. No-one was complaining. The only problem for me was that she raised the bar and made her own marzipan, and now my youngest son says he doesn’t like shop-bought marzipan at all and suggested I make mine too. It really isn’t difficult and actually doesn’t take very long if you have a food processor.

Marzipan

This will make more than you need for the cake but I adore marzipan and was happy to have some left over. Disclosure: marzipan quantities given here are approximate. The balls on top can be as big or small as you like. The top circle can be as thick as you like. If you don’t want to make your own, I suggest you buy a 450g packet of marzipan.

450g icing sugar
450g ground almonds
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsps brandy
Juice of a lemon
1/2 tsp almond extract
Simply blitz all the ingredients in a food processor until it’s come together nicely
Tip this out onto a dusting of icing sugar on your worktop and knead it for a bit
Flatten it slightly, wrap it in clingfilm and put it in the fridge until you’re ready to use it

Simnel Cake

I used a Mary Berry recipe except that instead of placing a circle of marzipan in the middle of the cake, I folded small pieces of it into the mixture, à la Delia’s recipe.

Ingredients

100g natural glacé cherries
225g softened butter
225g light muscovado sugar
4 large eggs
225g self-raising flour
225g sultanas
100g currants
50g chopped candied peel
Zest of a lemon (MB says 2 lemons, but I didn’t want it too lemony)
2 level tsps mixed spice
200g marzipan, cut into small squares or rolled into balls and tossed in a little flour

Topping

225g marzipan
2 tablespoons of apricot jam
1 large egg, beaten, to glaze

Method

Pre-heat a conventional oven to150ºC/Fan 130ºC/Gas 2
Grease a 20cm deep round cake tin, then line the base and sides with baking parchment or bake-o-glide
Put the cherries in a sieve, rinse under running water, drain and dry on kitchen paper. Cut into quarters
Measure all the cake ingredients into a large mixing bowl, except for the fruit and marzipan, and beat well until thoroughly blended. (I used my KitchenAid)
Fold the fruit into this mixture and then finally the pieces of marzipan
Spoon the mixture into your prepared tin and level the surface
Bake in a conventional oven for about 2.5 hours or the Aga simmering oven for 4-5 hours. This really depends on your Aga. The important thing is the cake is coming away from the sides a little, is well risen, evenly brown and firm to the touch
Leave to cool in the tin for 15-30 minutes
When the cake is completely cool, brush the top with a little warmed apricot jam and roll out marzipan to make a circle to fit the top. Press firmly on the top and crimp the edges to decorate. (You will see from my photos I made a bad job of this. You will do better.)
Mark a criss-cross pattern on the marzipan with a sharp knife. Form the remaining marzipan into 11 balls (representing the apostles minus Judas)
Brush the almond paste with beaten egg and arrange the balls around the edge of the cake
Brush the tops of the balls with beaten egg and then place the cake in the roasting oven (or under the grill) for 3 or 4 minutes, near the top, to turn the marzipan golden

Weekend Cooking

Posted on February 29, 2016 by AroundTheAga

It’s probably very dull and predictable that I almost always go food shopping on a Friday to get what we need for the weekend. I know I’m not alone in this because I invariably bump into friends doing the same thing. In fact, Waitrose can be a very sociable place on a Friday morning!

Sometimes meals have been planned and I’ve drawn up a shopping list of ingredients (on my phone – I add to it throughout the week), but some weeks I hope I’ll be inspired by something I see at the butcher’s or in the supermarket. Last Friday was one of those times. I bought duck breasts, half a shoulder of lamb and a kilo of minced beef in case I changed my mind about the duck breasts. When in doubt, make a bolognese or a chilli, is my motto. The mince is now in the freezer and I slow-roasted the lamb on Sunday.

Duck Breasts

Because we were going to be watching the Six Nations rugby on Saturday afternoon, I wanted to keep my duck breast recipe simple. I used two duck breasts for three of us. If your duck breasts are as large as ours were, you need less than a whole one per person.

Score the fat of your duck breasts and season. Peel and cut into cubes one medium potato per person and place in a roasting tin in a single layer. Place the breasts in a cold, non-stick frying pan on the Aga simmering plate (conventional: medium heat) skin side down. Cook for 8 minutes, pouring the fat as you go along into the roasting tin into which you’ve placed the potatoes. It would be sensible to line the tin with bake-o-glide (I forgot) because the potatoes might stick a little (as mine did).

After the 8 minutes, place the now golden breasts skin side up on a rack over the potatoes in the roasting tin and cook in the roasting oven (conventional 220ºc) for a further 15 minutes for a pink centre. If you prefer them well done, increase this time by 5 minutes or so. Make sure all the delicious fat from the frying pan has gone into the roasting tin.

While this is happening put the frying pan back on the simmering plate and add about a glass of red wine and a little stock (whatever you have to hand; I used Marigold Swiss vegetable bouillon powder). Let that bubble and thicken a little and then stir in some redcurrant jelly until melted. I’m not giving you quantities here. Just think of how many people you are serving; all you need is a little jus to pour over.

Pour the jus into a jug and keep this at the back of the Aga, take the duck breasts out of the oven and continue to cook the potatoes until they are golden brown, tender and crisp. Keep the breasts warm; they need to rest for 5-10 minutes anyway before being sliced thickly and served. We ate ours with buttered cabbage.

Best to slice it on a board before serving.

Served with buttered cabbage to serve.

If you like duck, I can also recommend this Chinese-style duck leg recipe by the excellent food blogger “Eat like a girl”. It’s where I got the idea for the potatoes in the above dish. I have made it many times, often for guests and a couple of times for 12 people: I just used two large Aga roasting tins in the roasting oven, one on the second set of rungs and one on the fourth, and swapped them over half way through cooking. As I’ve probably mentioned before, I love dishes that can be cooked in one dish/pot/tin. All you need to accompany this one is some pak choi stir-fried in a little oil with some soy sauce.

Tart

This weekend I also made this “Eat like a girl” Blueberry and Cardamom Frangipane Tart. (More cardamom, I hear you say. I’m not even going to apologise.) She only posted the recipe this week so probably hasn’t had much feedback yet. I can tell you we loved it. It’s very Scandinavian and would work as a dessert, with morning coffee or afternoon tea. I thoroughly recommend it.

Ginger Cake

Posted on February 16, 2016 by AroundTheAga

I’ve mentioned before that I’m a fan of Felicity Cloake’s “How to cook perfect…” series in the Guardian. This afternoon I’ve had a lovely time trying out her ginger cake. The recipe appeals to me because it doesn’t contain any black treacle. I’m eating a slice with my cup of tea as I write this.

I followed Felicity’s recipe precisely and I’m very pleased with it, but I think one could get away with using the all-in-one method for this; I’d mix all the ingredients together in my KitchenAid except for the fresh and crystallised ginger which I’d fold in at the end. I baked it in the baking oven with the rack on the floor. After 30 minutes I put a piece of baking parchment on top and also slid in the cold plain shelf to cool the oven down a little. Total baking time: 50 minutes.

Felicity Cloake’s “Perfect” Ginger Cake