Category Archives: Sweet Things

A Wedding Cake

11 Thursday Oct 2012

Posted by in Sweet Things

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I was recently commissioned to make a wedding cake that captured the essence of southern Spain. The traditional white iced fruit cake was not the brief, but a cake that was pudding and cake combined but still looked like a wedding cake. The palette of colours were corals and oranges with leaf green as a contrast. It was suggested maybe a cake flavoured with oranges and decorated with crushed pistachios as a contrast.

There is a rich cake that is found all around the Mediterranean which uses only four ingredients, almonds, eggs, sugar and citrus fruits, no flour. I have made it using oranges, lemons, clementines and of course limes being on a lime farm, all of which work really well. I was served a version in Portugal that was made with a mixture of the flesh of Angels Hair Gourd and oranges. This flesh is quite sweet and when cooked separates out into strands, hence the name. You can buy it here in tins ready cooked with lots of sugar to preserve it. It is quite sickly sweet, but when mixed with other things or used as a filling in pies is rather nice. The cake was cooked to a wonderful caramelised  – not burnt –  crisp around the edges and deliciously rich. I have intended to try cooking this version myself but haven’t got round to it yet, when I do I will report back to you the method.

When I came to be describing the options of orange cakes to the bride, the description of the flourless orange and almond cake elicited a “mmmh” that told me it had to be the one. I was confident that the cake would taste good, but how to get a plain cake of a burnt orange colour to look glamorous and festive? Layers of cream were not an option as the temperatures here were still in the 30’s even though it was late September. Then one of my friends came up with the genius suggestion of edible gold leaf. I hadn’t used this before, so was a bit nervous about it, but the idea of cracked gleaming gold with a background of  burnt orange for the walls of the cake to contrast with the topping of deep green crushed pistachios, was irresistible.

The cake was served with a mascarpone and fresh cream mix, and a generous sprinkling of lime sherbert and more of the crushed pistachios.

For a 20-24 cm cake tin that will serve about 10 -12 people.

500 gms oranges, or other citrus

8 large eggs

350 grams ground almonds

275 grams sugar (300 grams if using lemons or limes)

1.5 teaspoons baking powder

If the oranges are large cut them into 4 or 8, likewise for lemons, for smaller fruit leave them whole. Put the fruit in a pan with just enough water to cover. Bring to the boil and simmer for about an hour until the skins are soft. Check from time to time that they have not boiled dry, adding a little water if they are too dry.

Drain reserving the liquid. Remove any pips and put the fruit into the processor and process until a pulp.

While this is cooking line the cake tin with baking paper or buttered greaseproof paper.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.

Break the eggs into a large mixing bowl and beat enough to amalgamate.

Stir in the rest of the ingredients, the fruit pulp, sugar, ground almonds and baking powder bit by bit until all is well blended.

Pour the cake mix into the tin and bake for 40 minutes at 180 C then turn the oven down to 160 C and bake for a furthur 20 minutes. To ensure that the cake is cooked in the middle, a skewer or cake tester pushed into the centre should come out clean. if not bake the cake for another 10 minutes at 160 C and test again.

Let the cake cool completely in its tin before removing it and its lining paper. This is one of those cakes that is better at least a day after baking, so can be made a couple of days in advance of being needed.

For a less formal occasion than a wedding the cake can be decorated with a dusting of icing sugar just before serving, or it can be topped with crushed pistachios. Use some of the leftover orange cooking liquid. Heat a little with a couple of spoons of sugar to make a syrup. Let this cool and then brush the top of the cake with it before sprinkling over the crushed pistachios. These will absorb the syrup and darken nicely if left for a few hours.

To make lime sherbert (or lemon which is just as good), sprinkle a thin layer of sugar onto a tray. Take unwaxed limes and using the finest rasp on the grater, grate the zest onto the sugar. You need enough zest for a thin layer all over the sugar. With you finger gently rub the zest into the sugar. Spread it out as evenly as you can on the tray again and put in a warmish dry place to dry out.

As it dries it will do so in clumps, so break these up every few hours. Once it is totally dry it is ready to use as a zingy garnish on sweet dishes. It will keep for a couple of weeks if stored in an air tight jar.

Fresh Fig Tart

28 Tuesday Aug 2012

Posted by in Starters, Sweet Things, Techniques

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la_breva_green_eating_do_it_yourselfMy fig trees are behaving themselves this year. We planted four varieties – actually that is not strictly speaking true – we planted three varieties and another planted itself. It could not have worked out better though. The trees we planted were an early black variety called La Breva, which has a very early small crop in May, followed by its main crop of very sweet large fruit throughout the month of July going into August. As these come to an end the green figs start to ripen. One tree has large fruit for eating and the other smaller fruit for drying. The do-it-yourself tree crops from June to October with small black very sweet fruit that are good to eat or dry. I wish that I knew which variety it was then I could reccomend it.

The above description is how the trees are supposed to behave, but some years, depending on the weather, all the trees crop at the same time which makes quite a lot of work to deal with them.

The surplus Breva are made into Caramelised Fig Jam which is sold throught the farm shop and is very popular. The small figs are dried for the winter. As for the sun dried tomatoes, I use a fold out clothes drier with a sheet of mesh or fabric pegged to it to make a flat surface, and place it in a spot with all day sun and a breeze. Leave the figs whole and just place on the mesh. Bring them in at night so that they are not re-moistened by the dew. Turn them each day. I have problems with bugs getting in the green figs, but not the black ones. I think that this is because the end where the flower was on the green ones, it leaves a little hole that the bugs can use as an entrance. I am experimenting at the moment with stopping up this hole with a paste made from bread and water. I will report back on success or lack of it.fig_goat_cheese_Mint_salad

The fresh figs are complemented by anything salty, so are very good with Serrano Ham or salty cheese as in the above salad of Oak Leaved Lettuce, La Breva Figs, Goats Cheese, and Fresh Mint dressed with Basamic Syrup.

For eating as a sweet, try putting them into a tart.fig_tart

For a shallow 28 cm diameter tart tin

500 gms fresh figs

100 ml thick cream

3 large eggs

Fresh or bought puff pastry to line the tart tin

250 gms crema de almendras / 200 gms ground almonds and 50 gms sugar

This is a very quick and easy tart to prepare particularly if you are using bought puff pastry.

Preheat the oven to 180 C.

Roll out the pastry and lay out in the tart tin. You will see from my photos that I like to line the tart tin with baking parchment, it just makes it that little bit easier to slide the tart out of the tin.

Wash and dry the figs. Cut them into quarters. Arrange them on top of the pastry close together and in a pattern that pleases you.

Mix together the eggs, cream and almond cream or ground almonds and sugar.

When well amalgamated, spoon evenly over the figs. 

Bake for 1 hour at 180 C until golden brown. Let cool slightly before serving.

The Dinner that Started it all……

08 Thursday Mar 2012

Posted by in Starters, Sweet Things

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This is the meal that inspired my friend Gines to insist that I start to write a diary of what I cook, which then led on to this blog, so I thought you would be interested to see the menu and recipes for this dinner.

The starter was Butternut Squash Ravioli served with Lemon and Sage Butter. The tartness of the lemon in the sauce cuts thought wonderfully the sweetness of the butternut squash. In the photo I have garnished the ravioli with some fried artchoke slices – just in case you were wondering what it was.

After a soft textured and saucy starter the main course needed to be something crunchy. I always have a selection of salads in the vegetable patch, so a crispy green salad to accompany a nice fat piece of grilled fish, salmon in this instance.

For dessert a grown up sundae. Vanilla ice cream, bitter chocolate sauce, rum soaked raisins topped with a coffee meringue and maple syrup. I see no shame in using a good shop bought vanilla ice cream as the basis for this type of dessert. Buy a sample tub from each of your local supermarkets to see which you like best, it may not be the one you expect. My favourite comes from a well known German supermarket chain.

BUTTERNUT SQUASH RAVIOLI

For 4 people

The pasta – 40 grammes 00 flour

2 large egg yolks

good pinch of salt

The filling – Half a medium sized butternut squash

30 grammes butter

2 tablespoons breadcrumbs

an egg white

50 grammes grated cheese

Salt and pepper

Another egg white for sticking the ravioli

The sage and lemon butter

                   50 grammes butter

                   grated zest and juice of half a large lemon

                    teaspoon finely chopped fresh sage

To serve – finely grated parmesan cheese

Firstly make the pasta. Put all of the pasta ingredients into a small food processor and blitz until you have a lumpy dough that will stick together. Remove dough and form into a ball. Wrap in cling film and put in the fridge until needed.

The filling. Peel and deseed the butternut squash and cut into rough cubes about 2cm square. Place in a saucepan with the butter. Cover and gently stew in its own moisture until tender, stirring from time to time to prevent sticking.When done put in the food processor and puree. Add the egg white, breadcrumbs and seasonings. Pulse to mix. Add the grated cheese and pulse again. Check seasonings. Put aside in the fridge for the breadcrumbs to absorb the moisture and bind the mixture.

Using a pasta machine roll the pasta in the usual way and roll into thin sheets – number 7 on my machine.  Cut into squares of the desired size – mine usually end up about 5 cm square. Put a blob of the butternut mixture in the centre of the squares, brush with egg white around the edges, put another square on top and gently squeeze the edges together. Dust liberally with flour and put in a tray in the fridge until needed.

Prepare the sage and lemon butter. Put all ingredients in a saucepan. Cover until needed.

All the above can be prepared some time in advance. Shortly before serving bring to the boil a large pan of water to which you have added salt and a tablespoon of olive oil. When boiling add the ravioli – they will only need three or four minutes to cook. Meanwhile put the sage and lemon butter on a low heat and swirl regularly to combine the ingredients. You do not want this to boil, only heat enough to amalgamate the ingredients then turn off the heat. Drain the ravioli and add to the pan containing the butter and swirl around to coat the ravioli.

Serve on warm plates and sprinkle with finely grated parmesan.

SOPHISTICATED SUNDAE

 Vanilla ice cream, raisins soaked in rum, bitter chocolate sauce topped with a coffee meringue and maple syrup. This turned out to be an absolute wow with my guests. Remember to put your sundae dishes in the freezer to chill them down at least two hours before they will be needed. They look so pretty with the frosting of condensation on the cool glass and help keep the sundae from melting before it gets to your guests.

For  coffee meringues for four, beat 5 egg whites until really stiff having added about half way through the beating half a sachet of instant expresso coffee powder. To this I beat in 250 grammes of caster sugar.

To bake the meringues, heat the oven to 180 degrees F. Line your baking tray with baking paper and make mounds of meringue. This amount of mixture made 14 – more than was needed – but they do keep.

Once the oven is hot put in the meringues and turn the oven down immediately to 140 F. Bake for one hour by which time they should be crisp and crunchy on the outside and still a bit gooey on the inside. Let cool before removing them from the tray and using or storing.

It is very easy to make your own chocolate sauce and it gives you control over the sweetness or richness that you want for your dish.

For this sauce put a couple of heaped tablespoons of good cocoa powder – the unsweeted one – in a small saucepan and add black coffee bit by bit to make a thin sauce. At this stage add a dessert spoon of brown sugar. Heat slowly until the sauce comes to the boil. Continue cooking on a low heat for 20 minutes stirring regularly. The sauce will thicken and darken during this cooking time. If you think that it is too thick add a bit more coffee. Taste the sauce and add more sugar to your taste if you like but stir the sugar in well to dissolve it.

Once cooled this sauce will keep quite a long time in a jar in the fridge. It can also be frozen for an intense sorbet. If you want a richer sauce to serve hot you can add a knob of butter at the beginning.

To assemble the sundae start with a spoon of the vanilla ice cream, a dribble of chocolate sauce, a spoon of raisins with some of their rum. Repeat these layers then top with a coffee meringue and a drizzle of the maple syrup. Enjoy!