Orange Juice and Olive Oil Cake

The uncrumbly side of the cake

Another recipe from 'Apples for Jam' - this cake uses olive oil instead of butter, and orange juice for flavouring, so I think it's pretty good for you (and I added cream for calcium!)

It's not the most straightforward cake to make, but as long as you have 2 large bowls and a hand-mixer, it's pretty easy.

First you whisk up the egg whites in a bowl until firm, then put them in the fridge until you need them, if it's a warm day.

In the other bowl, whip up the yolks and vanilla until foamy, whisk in the caster and brown sugars, then gradually whisk in the olive oil. Add the flour, baking powder, and orange juice and zest, then beat it all together until smooth. Gently fold in the egg whites and pour the cake mix into a 22 cm springform tin. Cook at 180 C for 35 mins until the top is crusty.

In the book, the cake is topped with pine nuts, but I topped mine with some semolina and demarara sugar which gave a good crusty topping. I think flaked almonds would work well too.

I had a bit of trouble getting the cake out of the pan and it crumbled on one side which was a bit annoying, so it's best to wait until it's cool and firm to get it out of its pan. I also had a problem with my #!@$ oven which decided to turn itself off while the cake was cooking (it has a dodgy timer which does its own thing sometimes). The cake turned out fine though. Phew! A light, orangey sponge cake with a crunchy topping that works really well as a dessert. Would go very well with fruit and ice cream too.

Ingredients:
2 eggs, separated
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
125 g caster sugar
25 g brown sugar
100 ml olive oil
200 g plain flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
125 ml orange juice, freshly squeezed, and zest of half orange

Cranberry and White Chocolate Cookies

These cookies are from 'Feast' by Nigella Lawson, and are very nice! I reduce the amount of sugar to avoid them being too sweet, because the choc chips add a lot of sweetness.

You cream together the butter and sugar, beat in the egg and vanilla, then the combined flour, baking powder, salt and oats. Stir in the cranberries, nuts and choc chips.

Cook tablespoonfuls of the mixture on a lined baking tray at 180 C for 15 min or until tinged with gold.

Ingredients:
140 g flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
75 g rolled oats
125 g soft unsalted butter
50 - 75 g brown sugar
70 - 100 g caster sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
75 g dried cranberries
50 g pecans, chopped
100 g white choc chips

Part of today's lunch - bread rolls (from the bread shop), apricots, cookies (as above) and blueberry buttermilk cake.

Blueberry Buttermilk Cake

I've made this recipe before, with strawberries (here) and today I used blueberries instead. Delicious! Blueberries definitely are the fruit to use rather than strawberries because they melt into the cake so well.

Orange Cornmeal Cake

This is a cake recipe from 'Forever Summer' and it's the sort of cake that's supposed to be eaten as a pudding, for example with fruit and cream.

It's easy to make - beat soft butter until it's light, beat in caster sugar, egg, plain yogurt, orange juice and zest (and orange oil if you have some) - then fold in polenta (cornmeal), flour and baking powder. I made half the recipe and cooked it in a loaf pan lined with a strip of baking paper.

It's a soft, puddingy cake, which adds a light, orangey-buttery flavour to a bowl of fruit and cream or yogurt. It also has a slight crunch because of the polenta. We've been having hot weather here lately, so it's perfect for dessert or afternoon tea.

I have a similar recipe from an Italian cookbook which uses oil and no orange, which I'll be trying soon.

Ingredients:
250 g soft unsalted butter
175 g caster sugar
4 eggs
60 ml plain yogurt
zest of one orange, juice of half
half tsp orange oil if you have it (I found just the juice and zest was a strong enough flavour)
125 g fine (yellow) cornmeal/polenta
50 g plain flour
1 and a half tsp baking powder
To serve: mixed summer berries, and creme fraiche, marscapone or whipped cream

Focaccia

We were having pasta with Bolognese sauce tonight, so I decided to try making focaccia to go with it. I followed the recipe for focaccia from 'Apples for Jam' which uses normal plain flour instead of bread flour, and I wasn't quite sure how it would work out, but decided to go with it.

Making the focaccia was very similar to making normal bread, with slight variations. The yeast frothed up more to start with, and the dough was much stickier so had to be kneaded (or squished around) in the bowl. It puffed up a lot after being left to rise, and then had to be spread gently into a pan before being proved. Then after making dents in the surface, I brushed it with a salt/oil/hot water mix before cooking it.

It was really lovely bread, and went well with the Bolognese - especially when topped with some butter, garlic and herbs!

Easy to make, although a little more time-comsuming to make than a normal loaf. It had a crispness to it which I assume would be lost slightly if bread flour was used, and the amount of ingredients made a large slab (about 25 x 35 cm) - about twice as much as the 5 of us needed for our meal.

Ingredients:
435 ml warm water
20 g fresh yeast (or 10 g dried)
1 tsp honey
1 tbsp olive oil
600 g plain flour

Caramello Ice Cream Sauce

There's not a lot of cooking going on here at the moment, but last night I melted a block of Caramello chocolate with a little bit of cream, and poured it over some ice cream. Yum!

Pistachio Biscotti

I've always been impressed by people who can make their own almond bread or biscotti, and thought it would be really difficult to do. It's actually very easy, it just takes a little while because you cook them twice.

I followed a Bill Granger recipe, and supposedly they will last for a month in an airtight container - but I don't know how anyone ever manages to keep them that long. Oli helped me with the flour sieving and stirring.

First you beat eggs and caster sugar together for 3 mins with an electric hand-mixer, and sieve in flour. Mix in until almost combined, then stir in almonds and pistachios. Form into a dough with your hands, divide into two and on lightly floured board, make each half into a 15 to 20 cm loaf. Transfer to a baking sheet and flatten to 2 cm thick. Bake 20 cm until firm (see above) and cool completely.

When cool, cut into 7 mm-thick slices and bake at 120 C for 20 min, turning over once. Cool completely on wire rack.

Very easy to make, and the bit I thought would go wrong (cutting the loaves into slices) was no problem.

Ingredients:
150 g caster sugar
2 eggs
350 g plain flour
50 g shelled pistachios
50 g whole almonds

Two of the biscotti looked like little shocked faces - a bit like the biscuit version of the painting "The Scream"!

White Milk Loaf

Another 'Apples for Jam' recipe - a soft white loaf. Having bought some fresh yeast I wanted to try it out in a plain loaf to see if it tastes better than the bread made with instant yeast.

You start by mixing the yeast with honey and warm milk, then leave for 10 minutes. Stir in bread flour, a beaten egg, butter (and a I added a handful of unprocessed bran which is not in the recipe but I think it adds a bit of body to white bread). Knead for a few mins, in the bowl if it's sticky, then cover and leave to rise for one and a half to two hours. Punch down the dough, put on a baking sheet or in a loaf tin, cover and leave for 45 - 60 mins. Brush with flour and cook for around 25 mins on 190 C until loaf is hollow-sounding when knocked on base.

This is a lovely soft loaf, and the fresh yeast is so much better than the instant! The bread tastes more 'bready' and has a fuller flavour, and doesn't have the slightly vinegary tang that the instant yeast seems to give.

Ingredients:
250 ml milk, warmed so it's comfortable to your fingers
15 g fresh yeast, crumbled or 7 g active dry yeast
1 tsp honey
450 g bread flour (and a handful of bran if you like)
1 egg, lightly beaten
40 g butter, melted

Chocolate Loaf

Another recipe from 'Apples for Jam' - chocolate loaf is a bread, not a cake. It's made in the same way as an ordinary loaf of bread, but has cocoa powder added.

I managed to buy some fresh yeast recently, and this is the first time I've cooked with it since school cookery lessons! I wanted to see how it compares with the instant yeast, which is what I have been using.

For this bread, the yeast is crumbled into a large bowl, caster sugar and hand-hot milk are added, and this is left for 10 mins or so, until the yeast has frothed a little. Flour and cocoa powder (I sieved mine because it was a bit lumpy) and melted butter are mixed in to make a dough. Knead until smooth, then cover and leave in a warm place for one and a half to two hours until risen. Knock back, form into a loaf shape on a tray, or put in a buttered loaf tin, cover and leave for 30 mins to 1 hour then cook at 180 C for 25 mins or so until hollow when base us knocked.

Ingredients:
15 g fresh yeast
40 g caster sugar
310 ml milk
400 g bread flour with a pinch of salt
40 g cocoa powder
40 g butter, melted

This made a beautiful-looking chocolate-coloured loaf, with a distinctive cocoa flavour. It's not at all sweet, and almost bitter. The book suggests you eat it at breakfast time with butter or jam, and to warn people that it's not a cake so they're not expecting sweetness. I'll have some in the morning for breakfast and see what everyone else makes of it, as I'm the only one who's tried it so far!

PS It's not particularly popular around here! It really needs to be eaten with butter and a tart-tasting jam such as marmalade, which to me makes it taste wonderful. I'll be freezing the rest and eating it myself I think.

Cheese and Pineapple Hedgehog

I made this in October for a birthday party just for fun, as I remember when I was a child (in the '70s) there was always one of these at a party.

But if you want to see a much more spectacular Christmas version, visit Sally's blog here

Mincemeat Slices

This recipe is in in Delia Smith's Christmas, and is great if you want to make mince pies but can't quite bring yourself to make pastry.

You melt butter in a big pan, turn off heat, then stir in brown sugar. Mix in wholemeal flour and porridge oats, then firmly press half the mixture into a buttered pan. I used a square Pyrex dish and buttered and lined it with a strip of baking paper to make lifting the slice out easier. Smooth over a layer of fruit mince, then press over the other half of the oat/butter mixture. Cook in a 200 C oven for 20 mins or until the top is lightly browned. Cut into 12 pieces but don't remove them from the dish until they are cool.

Ingredients:
150 g butter
75 g soft brown sugar
225 g wholewheat flour
110 g porridge oats
225 g mincemeat

Baked Agnolotti and Vegetables

Time for a savoury dish after all those sweet things. This uses bought fresh pasta, and you can use whichever filled pasta you like. Today I used ricotta and spinach agnolotti which works really well.

Cook a finely chopped onion, and any other vegies you have hanging around, in a medium pan. Depending on what they are, and how long they will take to cook, you can finely chop them (zucchini, sweet potato, broccoli stalks, bok choy, red capsicum, mushrooms etc) and add them to the onion, or steam them first before adding them (green beans, broccoli, chopped carrot etc). Today I had some sweet potato and broccoli.

Stir in a jar of tomato passata, add salt, pepper, a little sugar and some herbs. Meanwhile cook the pasta and drain it, reserving a cupful of the cooking water in case it's needed to thin the sauce. Return the pasta to its pan, stir in the tomato/vegetable sauce. Tip into a baking dish and top with grated cheese. Cook in a medium hot oven for about 15 mins until cheese is golden.