Back to baking: sweet potato chocolate cake

It’s been quite some time since I last posted here, and indeed, quite some time since I last baked. The past few months have been a bit of a blur; my relationship of almost six years came to an end, I moved house, and seem to have spent most of my spare time since organising my new flat and toasting to the next chapter of my life with my wonderful friends.

At times of stress or trauma, it seems natural to retreat to self-preservation mode, living day-to-day and focusing on the basics of feeding yourself, general life-admin (mainly consisting of desperate attempts to get through the bottomless pit of laundry without the aid of a tumble dryer and phonecalls to utility companies), and work.

But living like this does little to inspire creativity, happiness, or wellbeing. I’ve found myself craving a return to the more well-rounded me, and a big part of that is tied up with baking and writing; the great satisfaction of creating something from scratch. Whether a piece of prose, or a slice of cake – to create, share, and enjoy, I’ve realised, is fundamental to my happiness.

Today brings the birthday of a wonderful friend, Esther, who has helped to make the last few months a time of fun, friendship and endless wine-fuelled laughter. So, last night, I dusted off my apron, turned my music up to 11, and spent an hour or two singing away at full-volume (apologies to my new neighbours) and baking up a storm with a smile on my face. ‘I’m back’, I thought to myself.

Esther isn’t a fan of citrus cakes, which are almost a go to for me, so I went back to the failsafe choice of chocolate – with a twist. I’ve posted before about my love of Harry Eastwood’s Red Velvet Chocolate cake, which features imaginative and decadent cakes made with vegetables in place of fat, and this recipe is adapted from one of hers.

I will admit to having something of a love-affair with sweet potato; its versatility, ability to hold its own against even the strongest of flavours, and quiet and assuming starring role in even the most decadent of cakes make it a staple in my shopping bag. It makes the texture of this cake quite unique; moist, but not heavy, sweet, and yet earthy. Like gravity, you never really notice it’s there, but it holds everything together. Ok, maybe that’s a little gushy, but it’s a damn good cake!

Besides that, it’s almost virtuous; the lack of butter in the cake surely compensates for the calorific content of the chocolate buttercream, and its vegetable content is a surefire way to convince yourself that seconds (and thirds) aren’t much worse than eating that dicey-looking apple in your desk drawer.  

Sweet potato chocolate cake

Ingredients

• 200g sweet potato, finely grated. Squeeze most of the moisture out by wrapping it in a muslin cloth or kitchen roll.
• 230g plain flour (use rice flour to make this gluten free)
• 160g caster sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 3 tbsp cocoa powder
• 80g ground almonds
• 125ml buttermilk (I used natural yoghurt with a dash of milk instead)

For the chocolate frosting

• 200g icing sugar
• 65g unsalted butter
• 25g cocoa powder
• 25-30 ml milk
• Small bar of milk or dark chocolate to decorate (optional)

Method

1. Grate your sweet potato into a bowl on your scales – it won’t weigh the same at the end as in the beginning as you’ll have lost moisture, so factor this in when buying.
2. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees / gas mark 4 and grease and line two circular baking tins
3. Whisk the eggs and sugar together for a good 4 minutes until very pale and fluffy
4. Add in your sweet potato and whisk again until combined.
5. Add the dry ingredients – flour, baking power, bicarb, cocoa powder, ground almonds, and mix again.
6. Finally, add in your buttermilk or yoghurt and beat until well combined.
7. Bake in the centre of the oven for 30 minutes. The cake should be moist, but firm enough to the touch that you know it will hold.

For the frosting

1. While the cake is cooking, start on your frosting. Beat together the butter, sugar and cocoa powder with an electric whisk or in a mixer until combined to a dusty texture.
2. Slow down the beaters, then gradually add the milk until the frosting combines into a smooth texture.
3. Et voila! Wait until the cake is completely cooled, before spreading in between the two layers and on the top with a spatula or pallet knife. (Feel free to like the whisk beaters while you’re waiting for the cake to cool down – in fact, I highly recommend it).
4. Decorate the top with grated chocolate and/or chocolate shavings. To make chocolate shavings, use the edge of a sharp knife with the tip pointed out to the side. Pull the knife down the length of the chocolate bar (carefully) and you’ll be left with long, delicate shards of chocolate.

Don’t forget to share; it’d be criminal to keep this little number to yourself. Besides, the look on people’s faces when you tell them it’s a sweet potato cake is usually fairly entertaining…

Earl Grey and Rose Water Bundt Cake

Just a few weeks ago, newspaper headlines declared we were in drought, and decried the start of a hose pipe ban. ‘But how will I clean my block paved drive way witouth my fully-loaded penis-esque Karscher pressure washer?!’ demanded middle-aged men with middle-aged spread.

Fear not, hose-wealders. As if by magic – or by the power of that lesser known phenomenon, Sod’s Law – at the very mention of a hose pipe ban, the mighty sky retaliated by rounding up a gang of the greyest, densest, meanest clouds around, and heartily encouraging them to piss down upon us all for the best part of ten days.

Now, I’m not particularly fond of pounding London’s uneven, puddle-laden pavements in (usually) porous shoes, wrestling with an umbrella determined to show off its jellyfish impression. But what I am fond of is having a perfect excuse to stay indoors, whack the heating up, and get in the kitchen – which is just what this rainy Sunday provided.

Now, don’t judge me, but I only tried Earl Grey tea for the first time a few months ago. (I KNOW). Now, I adore it; I have at least one every day at work and it always feels like a treat. It’s also perfect with a light and lovely piece of cake or a delicate biscuit (not that these are usually in abundance at work – for shame!).

Since my first taste, I’ve wanted to try Earl Grey in a cake, and since I had a bottle of rosewater that I was determined to bake with, too, I decided to bring them both together in a fancy floral experiment using my new bundt tin.

I am thrilled with the result; bundt tins make such a beautiful-looking cake- even before you do anything to the top! In my case, I decorated with my new favourite frosting (that’s a BIG deal, by the way): rose water glaze.

It’s just so gorgeous! I would describe the glaze as like a delicate, fancy version of a krispy kreme glaze – and since it was a bundt cake, I felt like I’d made myself a giant, classy krispy kreme. The best part about a bundt cake is that you use proportionally much less frosting because of the surface area, so it’s great if you don’t enjoy lots of sickly frosting – it’s probably less calories too..? A little like throwing deck chairs off the Titanic, I know, but god loves a trier…

Serves 12

Ingredients

• 225 butter
• 125 g caster sugar
• 100g light muscovado sugar
• 225g plain flour
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 tbsp essence of rose water
• 3-4 earl grey tea bags, brewed with 100ml water to form a strong solution
• 2 tbsp lemon yoghurt (plain will do w/a few drops of lemon juice)
• pinch of salt

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees (fan)/gas mark 4. Grease a bundt tin with butter.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together. Whisk in the eggs one by one, then add the yoghurt, rosewater and most of tea solution – saving a tablespoon or so for the glaze.
3. Sift and fold in the flour, baking powder, and saly until thoroughly combined.
4. Distribute evenly into the bundt tin, and smooth around the top with a spatula.
5. Bake in the middle of the oven for 25 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. NB – the colour on the side you will see in the oven will be lighter of the colour of the ‘top’ when it’s flipped, so don’t worry if it’s not golden brown!

For the rose water glaze

• 120g icing sugar
• 2 tbsp rose water
• few drops of the earl grey solution

1. Sift the icing sugar into a bowl
2. Add a the rose water and tea, and mix together thoroughly with a fork until you have a reasonably thick glaze.
3. Once the cake has cooled, use a tablespoon to drizzle the glaze over the cake in lines or criss-crosses to finish.
4. Serve with a smug smile as you show-off an effortlessly pretty cake!

PS – Do you like my rather sweet table cloth?I I picked up two tea towels reduced to £1.50 in paperchase and thought they were too lovely to wipe the plates with, et voila!

PPS – What other recipes do you find work with with a bundt tin? I’d love to use it more!

Lemon and poppy seed yoghurt muffins

So here we are; spring has sprung! The cherry blossoms are out, the daffodils are saluting the sunshine, and we’ve had the few heady days of sunshine that will undoubtedly be reffered to fondly in hindsight as  ‘summer 2012′.

For me, the spring breeze blows away the cobwebs of winter and draws in the light; light clothing, light colours,  light food, and fluffy-like-a-cloud light cakes.

Gone are my darkest cravings for deep, dark, decadent chocolate cakes (we’ll see how long that lasts) and in comes the wish for something of a more delicate persuasion.

Now I don’t need much excuse to bring out the citrus fruits – in this case, an insanely cheap load of lemons from a local market, and a fancy for a breakfast treat. These muffins are just ideal with a morning tea or coffee; they’re light, yet moist, and not too naughty on the calories either. With yoghurt and lemon in them, I daresay they’re one of your five a day (ahem). At least.

The great thing about these is that they’re so easy you could practically do them while you’re asleep – which is what I usually am for the first two waking hours of every day. Perfect!

Makes 16

Ingredients

• 260g flour
• 150g caster sugar
• 25g poppy seeds
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp bicarb
• 2 eggs
• 300g low fat natural yoghurt (full fat is fine too!)
• 100ml vegetable oil
• juice of 2 lemons, zest of one

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees/gas mark 6. Line muffin tins with baking cases.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, seeds, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda
3. In a separate bowl, combine the eggs, yoghurt, vegetable oil, zest and juice of the lemons.
4. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until thoroughly combined using an electric whisk or a wooden spoon (and a bit of elbow grease!)
5. Spoon into the muffin cases until only just over half full, and bake in the pre-heated oven for 18-20 minutes until golden and springy.

Triple-Layer Trilogy part 3: Brooklyn Blackout Cake

Well, well, well. It’s been almost three weeks since I posted the second part of this triology; probably the time it has taken me to finish the Steig Larsson trilogy in the two hours a day I merrily spend with my Kindle on my commute.

Time seems to move at a different speed in London to Bristol or Newcastle; time seems much more precious, and I seem to have become worse at making the most of it. I hope that will change (at least a little) when I get the iPad I pre-ordered last week.

This was a HUGE splurge for me; I can’t remember the last time I spent that much cash in one go, but as I got a little money from a relative recently, I felt like I deserved a treat . I’m particularly delighted that this treat one which means I can blog, read other wonderful blogs, and do all kinds of clever things from the comfort of my sofa. In short – hopefully we’ll be seeing more of each other!

Now – on to the most important part; the cake. This was made as a birthday cake for a joint let’s-all-crash-at-my-little-flat reunion and birthday celebration for two of my very good friends from university. For the first time in well over a year, we came together to drink too much booze, dance like we were 19 again to hopelessly cheesy music, and, importantly, eat.

I wanted to make an unashamedly calorific, insanely indulgent, enormous cake. Naturally, my first port of call was the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook, and a recipe I’d been eyeing up for a very long time – ever since I saw these two glorious words:

chocolate custard

Who can argue with chocolate custard used as frosting? Really, who?

The cake wasn’t the best chocolate cake I’ve made – I like my chocolate cakes to use real dark chocolate, rather than just cocoa powder, otherwise it just doesn’t pack the punch. But the chocolate custard. Oh, MAN.

It’s pretty much what I’d bathe in if I was Willy Wonka. Which is why it’s the only part of the recipe I’m blogging. It also sort of reminds me of a particular pudding I used to eat in primary school. Which I’m not sure is a good or bad thing. But either way, I loved it. I think it’d be amazing sandwiched between fluffy, thin chocolate biscuits, or macarons, piped into the centre of cupcakes, or, if you’re anything like me, eaten directly from the bowl. With a wooden spoon. Or your face.

Chocolate Custard

(Makes enough to cover two triple layer cakes. With plenty left for dinner.)

Ingredients

• 500g caster sugar
• 1 tbsp golden syrup
• 125g cocoa powder
• 200g cornflour
• 85g unsalted butter, cubed
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Method

1. Put the sugar, golden syrup, cocoa powder and 600ml water into a large saucepan and bring to the boil ovr a medium head, whisking as you go.
2. Mix the cornflour with 120-200ml water, whisking as you add it.
3. Whisk gradually nito the cocoa mixture in the pan over a medium high. Bring back to the boil, whisking constantly.
4. Cook, whisking all the time, for a few minutes until thick. Decant into a bowl, cover with clingfilm and chill until firm.

Triple-layer trilogy part 2: Coconut and Lime Cake

Following on from the Drizzled Lemon Curd Cake I made recently, the second installment in my triple-layer triology is this utterly charming, porcelain white beauty.

Coconut and lime are one of my most favourite combinations; whether in a cocktail, a thai curry, or these super-cute coconut and lime cupcakes, there’s something about the sharp zing of lime paired with the sweet, creamy flavour of coconut that makes it simply irresistible for me.

This cake is delicate (perhaps not in looks but in taste – my icing technique leaves a little to be desired and my tins are slightly different sizes!), yet it packs a punch; light and fluffy, sweet and smooth, yet sharp and tangy. It would be right at home at a tea party, or for little something different for a birthday party. Me? I made it to brighten up a freezing-cold Monday morning at work – and to introduce my new colleagues to my baking obsession. It certainly stepped up to the plate.

I smiled as my inbox pinged with compliments.

‘This cake is AMAZING!’

‘Our resident office bakers have some stiff competition!’

Those are the kind of e-mails I just LOVE to receive. Who wouldn’t? I love knowing I’ve brightened up someone’s Monday morning or made a perfect match for their afternoon cup of Earl Grey to help them beat the 3pm slump.

Yeah, yeah; so I should probably give them a handful of Brazil nuts, some acai berries and a generous helping of dust if we’re being health-conscious – but who wants to be that girl?!

Triple-Layer Coconut and Lime Cake

The cake itself is adapted from Dan Lepard’s wonderful Short & Sweet. If you haven’t already, I highly recommend you buy a copy.

Serves 10-12

Ingredients

• 300g caster sugar
• 275g plain flour
• 250g butter, softened
• 3 eggs
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 150ml coconut milk
• 50g dessicated coconut
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• Juice and zest of 3 limes

Method

1. Line 3 20cm round baking tins with baking paper and grease the sides.
2. Heat the coconut milk until almost boiling, then stir in the dessicated coconut
3. Add two thirds of the lime juice to the coconut mixture. Leave to soak in for 30 minutes to moisten the dried coconut.
4. Preheat the oven to 180c/160 fan/gas 4
5. Sift the flour and baking powder together.
6. Cream the butter and sugar in a bowl and beat until fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time until combined and add the vanilla extract.
7. Fold in the flour mixture and half of the lime zest, alternating with the coconut mixture until smooth.
8. Divide between the 3 tins and bake for 30-35 minutes.

For the coconut and lime cream cheese frosting

• 175g icing sugar, sifted
• 25g butter
• 125g cream cheese
• 30ml coconut milk
• Juice and zest of 1 lime (as above)

1. Beat the icing sugar and butter together with an electric whisk until combined. Add the cream cheese, coconut milk, the rest of the lime juice and zest and whisk on medium-high speed until smooth – at least 5 minutes.

Smooth the frosting between the layers and over the top, et voila! A totally tropical, totally tangy, and totally naughty triple-layer-tastic treat.

Enjoy with a caipirinha or mojito for a very grown-up treat.

Triple-layer Trilogy: Part one – Drizzled Lemon Curd Cake

This post showcases the first of three tantalising triple-layer cakes I’ve baked recently. Why have I baked so many of them, you ask? Especially when most people are on a new year, clean-eating-boot-camping-green-tea-swigging-booze-craving de-tox.

Well, there are two reasons; one, I prefer dirty eating – particularly in January and February, generally the coldest, most depressing months of the year.  Secondly, when it comes to cake, I feel there are few things more satisfying than watching a cake slice gently glide through three decadent, fluffy layers of sponge, and lifting up a resplendent, towering triangle to endless ‘ooh’s and ‘aah’s.

A triple layer cake should be a perfect symphony of lusciously light layers, moist-making filling, and an irresistible topping that come together to woo anyone within a 2-mile radius. Cheeky.

The first in this series is something of a classic, created by a classic – Delia Smith. It’s a zesty, light, and simply sublime lemon drizzle cake, sandwiched with homemade lemon curd.

The only thing I’d change would be to make it bigger (with good reason, honest) by upping the quantities – Delia actually cooks this in two tins before slicing them both in two, but I found that I didn’t get as much rise as I’d like to get four good layers. And – obviously – bigger is always better when it comes to cake!

I’d probably also change the fact that I made it after getting around 3 hours’ sleep due to being stranded after a night-out when London’s transport system decided it didn’t want anyone in north London to get home. But that’s another story!

Triple-layer Drizzled Lemon Curd Cake

Serves 10-12 generously

For the cake

• 1 lemon, zest only, grated
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 175g/6oz self-raising flour sifted
• 1 level tsp baking powder
• 175g/6oz butter at room temperature
• 175g/6oz caster sugar
• 3 eggs

For the lemon curd

• 1 large juicy lemon, grated zest and juice only
• 75g/3oz caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 50g/2oz unsalted butter

For the icing

• 1 large lemon- zest only
• 50g/2oz sifted icing sugar
• 2-3 tsp lemon juice

Preparation method

1. Preheat the oven to 170C/325F/Gas 3.
2. Measure all the cake ingredients into a mixing bowl and beat – ideally with an electric hand whisk – until you have a smooth, creamy consistency.
3. Divide the mixture evenly between the two tins and bake them on the centre shelf of the oven for about 35 minutes or until the centres feel springy when lightly touched with a little finger.
4. While the cakes are cooking, make the lemon curd.
5. Pop  the sugar and grated lemon zest in a bowl, whisk the lemon juice together with the eggs, then pour this over the sugar. Then add the butter cut into little pieces, and place the bowl over a pan of barely simmering water.
6. Stir frequently with a whisk until thickened – about 20 minutes.
7. Remove the cakes from the oven and after about 30 seconds turn them out on to a wire rack. When they are absolutely cold – and not before – carefully cut each one horizontally into two using a sharp serrated knife.
8. Spread the curd thickly to sandwich the sponges together.
9. For the icing, begin by removing the zest from the lemon – it’s best to use a zester to get long, curly strips. Then sift the icing sugar into a bowl and gradually stir in the lemon juice until you have a soft, runny consistency.
10. Allow the icing to stand for 5 minutes before spreading it on top of the cake with a knife, almost to the edges, and don’t worry if it runs a little down the sides of the cake. Then scatter the lemon zest over the top and leave it for half an hour for the icing to firm up before serving.

 

Chorizo and Sweet Pepper Winter Warmer with Cheddar Dumplings

With ear muffs, hats, gloves, scarves and several layers, Alex and I headed out to join the celebrations for Chinese New Year this Sunday in London’s Trafalgar Square and Chinatown.

After a couple of hours squeezing down colourful streets crammed with excited children bringing paper dragons to life and hungry grown-ups hunting out the best dim sum, we moved on to take in some of the dancing and music in Trafalgar Square.

By 4pm, we found ourselves faced with a dilemma; do we wait a couple of hours in the cold to see what seemed certain to be a fabulous fireworks display, or do we head home and potentially miss out? We decided to grab a (very large) hot chocolate, find ourselves a spot on some (very cold) stone steps and wait it out.

That turned out not to be such a great idea; firstly, the fireworks felt distinctly disappointing. There was something of a cumulative ‘is that it?!’ as they came to an end the huge crowds dispersed. Secondly, we were freezing – ear muffs and all.

So it’s safe to say that by the time we got home, getting warm was top of our list, and I had just the thing for it; stew. There’s nothing quite like a bowl full of steaming hot, flavoursome stew on a cold winter’s night to warm from within.

But after a day being wrapped up in divinely exotic smells from all corners of the world, I knew we needed something with a little zing to it. With a little experimentation, this was the fabulous, sweet, rich and spicy result.

These tiny, beautifully sweet and zingy peppers are a fantastic store cupboard ingredient, and will perk up any dish. I actually picked up a huge jar in our local 99p store, but you can grab them in most supermarkets, too.

The great thing about this one is that although it’s hearty and filling, it actually contains at least four of your five a day. Whack a little butternut squash in there if you fancy and there’s your five!

Chorizo and Sweet Pepper Winter Warmer

Serves 2-3 but is easily doubled.

 Ingredients

• One large onion, finely chopped
• Two cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 30g chorizo, diced
• 1 yellow, orange or red pepper, chunkily chopped
• 1 medium courgette, sliced/diced
• 6 small sweet red peppers (mine were pickled)
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• 4 medium tomatoes, chopped into chunks.
• ½  tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
• ½ tsp oregano

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees/gas mark 4.
2.  In a medium saucepan, heat the olive oil and add the onions. Cook for 3-4 minutes until softened, before adding the garlic and chorizo. Cook for a further 5 minutes until the chorizo oil has nicely coloured the onions.
3. Add the pepper and courgette to the pan and cook for another couple of minutes.
4. Throw in the tomatoes (chopped and fresh), add the herbs and spices, and season generously with salt and black pepper. Fill up the tomato tin halfway with water and add that to the pan.
5. Simmer for a couple of minutes, before transferring to a casserole dish and popping in the oven for 30 minutes.
6. While the stew is bubbling away, get on with making your dumplings.

 

For the Cheddar Dumplings

 Makes 6 medium-sized

• 80g self-raising flour
• 25g suet (or grated butter if you prefer)
• 3-4 tbsp water
• 30g cheddar cheese, finely grated
• ½ tsp oregano
• ½ tsp dried rosemary

Method

1. Add the flour, grated suet and cheese to a bowl and rub together.
2. Gradually add the water until the mixture comes together easily.
3. Form the mixture into six balls by rolling in the palms of your hands.

When the stew has been in the oven for 30 minutes, take off the lid, pop in the dumplings, and return to the oven without the lid, turning the oven up to 200 degrees, for 20 minutes.

It’s hearty enough to serve on its own, but it’d be great with a hunk of fresh bread or spicy rice, too.

Glorious game pie

I won’t flatter myself enough to think that anyone’s noticed my lack of posting recently, but the reason for the slow-down has been pretty simple; I’m exhausted! Starting a new job is always tiring – there’s always so much to learn, and usually at breakneck speed. Thankfully the job is fantastic and I’m really enjoying it, but it’s safe to say that most evenings, I’ve been getting through the door and becoming at one with the sofa

Weekends are when I’d usually blog, but of course,  with a huge city like London just waiting to be explored, we haven’t felt much like staying indoors. We’ve been checking out some of the fabulous galleries, pubs, foodie haunts and markets – and I have to say, I’m loving it. I’ve been dying to share some of our finds.

A couple of weeks back we decided to check out a real London foodie favourite; Borough Market. And boy was I glad we did.

This bustling bazaar is packed to the rafters every weekend with locals, tourists and long-lenses snapping away at the tempting tables. It’s not hard to see why; from high-quality cuts of everything from Oxtail to Ostrich, to rich, moudly cheeses strong enough to wake the dead, and from huge, perfect loaves to stacks of pots filled with every condiment, preserve and pickle you could ever wish to lay your hands on – this place has it all.

We went in empty-handed, preparing to save our money to go out for a meal that night. Needless to say, that meal never happened; we pooled our cash into splurging on a host of luxurious treats we’d otherwise never dream of buying. It was endlessly thrilling to be able to waltz over to a stall of decadent delights and walk away clutching some to take home, rather than looking back wistfully.

Favourite buys were some wonderful freshly-made harissa from a Moroccan stall with chefs on-hand cooking up tempting take-away treats, some ‘wow wow’ mustard to knock your socks off, English muffins big enough for a small child to sleep on, and a gorgeous slice of cake with quite possibly the best frosting I’ve ever tasted. We also decided to go all out red meat – not something we eat too often – and bought a mixed pack of game; rabbit, venison, and pheasant, with a view to making a gloriously gluttonous pie.

We stumbled across a fantastic pastry recipe purely by the accident of running low on plain flour; by mixing plain flour and bread flour we ended up with a wonderfully crisp, yet still light, golden crust.

Makes 4 hearty servings fit for a winter’s day

Ingredients

For the filling

• 500g mixed game
• 1 medium sweet potato
• 1 large onion
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp corn flour
• 1 glug of red wine (optional, but highly recommended)
• 1 tbsp harissa
• 1 beef stock cube
• 225ml water

For the pastry

• 150g plain flour
• 150g strong white bread flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 150g unsalted butter
• 70 ml cold water
• 1 egg (to egg wash the pie)

Method

For the filling

1. Chop up the onions into medium sized chunks,  and add them to a large saucepan with the olive oil. Brown the meat on a medium-high heat for around 2-3 minutes, before turning down the heat, adding the garlic and cooking for another couple of minutes.
2. Mix the stock cube with 225ml water (or use fresh stock if you’re lucky enough to have it) and add it to the pan with a good glug of red wine and the table spoon of harissa.
3. Continue to simmer for at least an hour and a half, preferably two hours, to ensure the meat is really tender and all of the flavours have blended beautifully. Check after an hour, and sprinkle in the corn flour if the mixture needs thickening, or add a little water if it looks dry. While it’s cooking, make your pastry.

For the pastry

1. Mix together the dry ingredients in a food processor (or a bowl if doing by hand).
2. Chop the butter into small pieces and whizz or rub together.
3. Add the water a little at a time until the mixture comes together into a ball.
4. Wrap in cling film and chill for 30 minutes before using.
5. Roll out just over a third of your pastry and line your pie tin (we used a loose-bottomed 20cm cake tin). Roll out another third to make the sides of your pie, and then the final third to make your lid.

For the pie

Season your mixture well and remove from the heat. Gently spoon the mixture into the pastry case, top with the lid (remembering to pop a couple of small holes in the top), and splosh over your egg wash to give a lovely golden bake.

If you like, you can get creative and make a little pie topper, use a fork to seal the edges, or even do some fancy twists or crimping. I just happened to have a reindeer cookie cutter that seemed very apt!

Finally, bake in the oven at 180 degrees/gas mark 4 for 40 minutes, or until the pastry is golden and crisp. Serve with a red wine gravy, mash, and some tasty greens for a luxurious treat that’ll warm up even the coldest of winter days.

Cranberry and pistachio cookies

As I’m sure you know, with moving house (and cities) comes great upheaval and chaos. For the last week or so, along with trying to expore this bewilderingly big and endlessly entertaining city, I have been pretty much in nesting mode for the last week. This has mainly involved a lot of squaring up furniture, trying to make our new flat cosy and organised, and discreetly pushing boxes of miscellaneous ‘stuff’ under the bed or to the back of very high cupboards. Out of sight, out of mind…

I was also desperate to get into my new kitchen and get baking, but was lacking a lot of ingredients and the determination to dig out most of my equipment. It was on this premise that I decided to go for cookies. I really forget sometimes just how much of a win-win bake they are.

Firstly, they’re delicious (obviously); warm, fresh, chunky cookies filled with your favourite flavours are always a treat. Secondly, they’re just so easy. It’s basically a case of chucking everything into a bowl, rekindling your playdoh-loving youth by moulding them however you like, and popping them in the oven for next to no time. Everybody wins!

These decadent cookies are a sort of hangover from Christmas – and an expensive one at that. Think of them like a cashmere jumper; expensive and fabulous, but totally worth it. Sadly, unlike a cashmere jumper, these won’t last forever – or very long at all, for that matter.

Their luxurious nuggets of fruit and nut, and the sprinkling of mixed spice are reminscent of an exotic Christmas pudding. I warn you, hang around my kitchen too long in winter and you might just end up with a sprinkling of mixed spice, too.

I’m suggesting caster and light muscovado sugar in the recipe to give crunch and chewiness, though I only had caster sugar in at the time and they were still delicious – just a little crunchier. You can easily make them gluten-free by switching plain flour for corn or rice flour.

Makes around 24

Ingredients

• 100g unsalted butter, softened
• 125g light muscovado
• 125g caster sugar
• 250g plain flour
• 100g dried cranberries
• 100g raw pistachios (shelled weight)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 50ml boiling water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon mixed spice

Method

1. Pop the cranberries in a mixing bowl and cover with the boiling water to re-hydrate for 5 mins.
2. Add the butter and sugars and beat until smooth. Add the vanilla and mixed spice and beat again.
3. Add the flour, baking powder, bicarb and beat, before mixing in the walnuts.
4. Heat the oven to 170/150 fan/gas mark 3. Line a baking sheet with non-stick baking paper. Roll the dough into walnut sized balls and press down onto the baking tray, well-spaced to allow for spreading in the oven.
5. Bake for 15 minutes. Leave to cool on the tray to firm up, before cooling on a wire rack.

The dough will keep in the fridge for a few weeks, so freshly baked cookies can be yours at the drop of a hat!

My new favourite book

I came home tonight and spotted a card from Royal Mail, who’d left a special delivery with a neighbour. I’ve already had all of my Christmas presents, so I had no idea what it could be.

I love a surprise, and this one was no exception. It turned out to be my very own limited edition printed copy of the Kerrygold Community Cookbook with my very own recipe and name printed in it!

You might remember I posted a little while ago about how thrilled I was about my Blackberry and Hazelnut Brownie recipe being selected by Rachael Allen to appear in the book.

Receiving a real copy put a huge smile on my face; just what I needed with a house like a bombsite/cardboard box shanty town in the middle of getting ready for The Big Move!

I feel like it’s a small testament to how far I’ve come with my baking in the past couple of years – from a few higgledy-piggledy cupcakes once every six weeks or so, to taking on technical bakes like macarons, tarts and fiddly fondant icing, and creating my own original recipes. I owe a lot of that to the wonderful encouragement, advice, tips, and general loveliness I’ve had from friends, tweeters, and many talented bakers and bloggers, so thank you.

If you’d told me  5 years ago – when my favourite late-night snack was pasta with tomato ketchup (mmm, starchy) – that I’d be creating food like this, I would have laughed you out of the room. It’s safe to say, then, that this little beauty will take pride of place on the kitchen bookshelf of my new flat and serve as a gentle reminder that even culinary caterpillars can turn into butterflies.

It wil also serve as inspiration – there are some gorgeous recipes in there!

Alan Palmer’s Summer Almond Cake with Lavendar Icing sounds perfect for a Sunday afternoon tea party…

And Bill King’s Triple Chocolate Orange cake sounds delightfully indulgent.

Yes, that is my 'big fat to do list' in the background...

There are also tons of gorgeous savoury dishes, and lots of recipes from Rachel Allen herself. The best bit about it is that you can download your very own copy for free!

Just visit the Kerrygold facebook page and click on the ‘recip-e-book’ tab. Happy cooking!