Recipe for an August afternoon...& a giveaway!

 My newest acquisition in the vast library of cookbooks that threaten to take over our home is 'The Baking Book' from the fabulous Honey & Co . You may remember that I wrote about their first book 'Food from the Middle East'...and gave a copy away here too! Well, this one is just as good...it contains some wonderful recipes - not all sweet - and I've been having such fun with it in my (not too copious) free time! I wanted to share the cake I made yesterday with you. As usual, I tweaked the original recipe. NOT because there was anything at all wrong with it - but just because I was giving it away to my family, and I know what they like! The 'real' recipe for Coffee, Cardamom & Walnut Cake has a rich coffee cream icing as a filling and on top. Delightful as that sounds, I knew that this wouldn't go down too well with 'my lot' as they prefer things less creamy and more fruity. So I followed the recipe for the cake, but added fresh apricots and finished it simply with the syrup from the original and a sprinkle of toasted walnuts after baking. The perfect marriage of flavours for a sultry August afternoon.

The cake itself is not difficult to make and has no weird ingredients...the only technique that may be new to you is making the 'burnt butter' that adds a deep, nutty note to the batter. This isn't difficult either...you simply melt the butter over a low heat and then increase it slightly, 'cooking' the butter until it turns a rich brown. It will smell delicious...sort of caramelly & hazelnutty...and you'll notice little brown specks at the bottom of the pan. These are good! Don't leave it, though...or it WILL burn, and black is not the colour you need....
                                     
 ...it should look like the photo above, in fact! It will be really hot to start with, so it may help to make it first and then set it aside while you get the rest of the ingredients together.

Coffee, Cardamom & Walnut Cake with Fresh Apricots
Inspired by an original recipe from Itamar Srulovich & Sarit Packer from their book Honey & Co - The Baking Book 

For the cake batter:

330g icing sugar
120g ground almonds
130g self-raising flour
80g roasted walnuts (plus a few extra to garnish)
1 tsp ground coffee (I used ground espresso beans)
1/2 tsp freshly ground cardamom
3 whole eggs
150g egg whites (from about 4 eggs)
140g burnt butter (see above!)
Approx 4-5 ripe apricots 

For the syrup:
2 tbsp honey (I used runny orange flower honey)
60g/ml water
50g caster sugar
a double espresso (or 60g/ml strong black coffee)

Preheat oven to 190c/170cfan/gas mark 5
Line a 9"/23cm square pan with baking parchment (or circular if you prefer!)

Stir the dry ingredients and nuts together in a large bowl, 


then add the eggs and egg whites and mix really well until smooth (I used my Kitchenaid for this) Pour in the warm melted butter (scrape in all the nutty brown bits too!) and stir carefully, then transfer to the prepared tin...

...break the apricots apart gently using your fingers, remove the stones and arrange in rough pieces lightly over the surface of the cake batter. Don't push them down, just lay them on top...

 Let the batter rest in the tin for about 10 minutes, then bake for about 35 minutes until set and golden brown...this may take a little longer depending on your oven. Meanwhile, bring the syrup ingredients to a boil in a small saucepan and remove from the heat. Once the cake comes out of the oven, brush the top generously with the syrup while still hot and let it absorb...

 ...sprinkle with the remaining toasted walnuts and allow to cool in the tin...

...before you dive in...(although it's lovely slightly warm, too...I'd eat it like that, with a big spoonful of labneh or creme fraiche...)

 Totally divine!

To celebrate this beautiful book, I'm giving away a copy to one of you loyal readers of this blog! 

All you need to do is leave me a comment on this post to qualify. I'll send it anywhere in the world, so don't worry that you'll miss out if you don't live in the UK. I'll make the draw two weeks from today, on Monday 24th August...good luck...and thanks for reading! Have a great week x

A treat for the last day of August....

 August 31st. Already. HOW did we get here so soon?! It's been a golden day....not hot, but warm with the leaves on the ripening tomatoes beginning to yellow and the other plants starting to look a little tired. I found these very ripe bananas in the fruit bowl. They spoke to me...and the words they said were 'banana bread'! How could I resist? I made 2 big loaves, but the recipe below has been written for 1...feel free to double up and freeze one, or - as I am doing - give one away to a neighbour!

Sugar Moon Banana Bread - loosely based on a recipe by the inspirational Ina Garten

3 large very ripe bananas
250g/2 cups rye flour (I devised this recipe for my Mum, who is wheat-intolerant although not coeliac. If you prefer, you can use spelt, wholewheat or simply plain white flour. I just love the taste of rye!)
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda/baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
Big pinch of sea salt
50g/ 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional but lovely, I think!)
150g/ 1 & 1/2 cups light soft brown sugar - muscovado if possible
2 large free-range eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla powder or good vanilla extract
120ml/ 1/2 cup sunflower oil
120ml/ 1/2 cup full-fat Greek yoghurt....you could also use sour cream or creme fraiche of that's what you have...but don't use low-fat anything!

Preheat oven to 175c/350f
Line a 1kg/2lb loaf tin with baking parchment or a liner...

 ...comme ca!

 This is the rye flour I use, by the way...available in most supermarkets. I use it a lot because although rye does contain gluten, it has much less and is usually suitable for those with an intolerance to wheat.
Peel the bananas and break into the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the brown sugar...

 and mix, using the paddle attachment, until the bananas are properly broken up...they will never be fully smooth, but should be liquidy by now!
Add the vanilla - I use Ndali organic pure vanilla powder because it's Fairtrade and also absolutely gorgeous...

 but any decent extract will do, of course. Then add the oil, yoghurt and eggs to the bowl too...

 Mix again until well combined, then add in the dry ingredients, except the walnuts if using, and mix on the lowest setting just until combined. Remove the bowl from the mixer, add the nuts and stir in using a spatula...

 Pour into the prepared tin....

 it looks and smells divine by this point, with the little specks of cinnamon & vanilla clearly visible...

 Bake for approximately 1 hour...if you have a 'hot' oven, start checking after 45 minutes and rotate the pan if necessary to achieve an even bake. When done, the cake should be well-risen and golden brown...

 Remove from the tin and cool on a wire rack....

... although a barely-warm slice is absolutely irresistible....

Well, I certainly found it so! It smells almost alcoholic...probably the ripeness of the bananas...just beautiful. It freezes well for up to a month, or will keep for a couple of days if wrapped well - if it's warm where you are, store in the fridge.

I hope you make it and enjoy it....see you in September!

A Friendship Cake....

I met my longest-standing friend,Isobel, on my first day at a new primary school 42 years ago! Of course, the closeness of school years can't continue forever - those days when I would say goodbye to her on the school bus and then call her the minute I got home to continue our conversation....but we have been in each others lives in some way from that day to this. She and her husband, Brian, now run a successful & delicious crumble business based in beautiful Somerset - so our lives aren't so very different once again (although Isobel also has two young & gorgeous children to juggle!)

When she used to come to our house for tea, there was one cake that my Mum would bake that Isobel absolutely adored...& to this day my mother still refers to this as 'that cake Izy loves'! So, as the days are somewhat autumnal right now, I thought that I would reproduce the recipe here (with a few tweaks) in honour of our friendship. This one's for you, Is! xx

Blackberry Streusel Cake

For the streusel topping:

100g plain flour (you can use spelt/wholemeal if you have it)

80g butter

1 heaped tsp ground cinnamon

50g light brown muscovado sugar

For the cake:

200g self raising flour

100g light brown muscovado sugar

200g butter

3 free-range eggs

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (optional - but I love cinnamon!)

About 250g blackberries (preferably picked from a sun-drenched bramble bush! You can use raspberries or blueberries too, if blackberries aren't in season)

Line a 23cm square pan with baking parchment.

Preheat oven to 175c

First make the topping; just place all the streusel ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until it forms large crumbs...

 tip into a small bowl & set aside. Without washing the bowl of the processor, add in all the cake ingredients (except the fruit) & whizz to a smooth, silky batter..

 It won't be too liquid as it needs to hold up the berries & topping! Scrape the mixture into the prepared pan and level the top roughly...

 then stud with the blackberries...you don't have to be too precise, but try & make sure that there's an even covering of fruit all over the surface...

 finally scatter the streusel over the berries...

 distribute it fairly evenly over the top...don't pack it down, and I think it looks lovely when a few blackberries show through the crumbs too! Bake in the preheated oven for around 45 minutes...the streusel will look golden brown, the middle will be slightly domed. You can test by pushing a skewer or cocktail stick into the centre & checking that no wet dough is sticking!

 Then cool in the pan on a wire rack...however, this is so delicious served slightly warm so feel free to cut it then and enjoy a slice...perhaps with cream?

 Store in an airtight container, or wrap in foil securely...it will keep in a cool place for a couple of days (not longer, as the fresh fruit will deteriorate.)

 I recommend eating a large square, with a big steaming cup of coffee,sitting in the August sunshine in a garden somewhere...if you are sharing with a friend, so much the better (it doesn't have to be Isobel, although she would be my choice....)

Enjoy! And now I'm back to the brownies...also delicious with friends! xx