Courgettes & Christmas...in September!

 This is a time of year for abundance...our tomatoes are ripening so fast, that I pick them twice a day...

I have given many away, but they keep coming! 4 types this year...marmandes, plums, golden cherry & little grape ones, like mini red lightbulbs...so sweet, we eat them straight from the vine. A neighbour has the same 'problem' with courgettes...too many ripening at once to be able to use them quickly enough! So we did a swap...and after using some in conventional recipes, I thought I would bake a courgette cake. After all, we use carrots & beetroot quite routinely in baking nowadays, so why not? I turned for the recipe to an old friend...

 ..as you can see, my copy of Nigella's brilliant book has been extremely well-used! Her version of the cake is baked in round layers and has a lime curd filling and cream cheese frosting...but I wanted a plainer cake, a loaf cake to slice for everyday tea...so a little adaptation went on (as always!) I also added lemon zest and a lemon syrup glaze to finish (I almost forgot to say that made this way it is also dairy free if that's important to you!)...so here is the recipe for a

" Sugar Moon via Nigella Courgette Cake"

2 medium courgettes (about 250g) grated - but not peeled
2 large free-range eggs
125ml sunflower oil
150g caster sugar + 1 tbsp extra for the lemon syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract - I use pure vanilla powder from Ndali
225g self-raising flour
1/2 tsp each baking powder & bicarbonate of soda
pinch of salt
zest & juice of 1 unwaxed lemon

Line a 2lb/1kg loaf tin with baking parchment
Preheat oven to 180c/350f

First place the grated courgette in a colander to drain off any excess water...(for best results, grate them by hand on the coarse side of a regular box grater)

 In a large bowl, place the oil, 150g sugar, eggs, vanilla and lemon zest and mix well together - I do this in my stand mixer using the beater attachment...

 Next measure the remaining dry ingredients...

 ...and add to the liquid...

 ..mixing until well combined...

 ..it will be quite thick and glossy. Now mix in the grated courgette - I use my silicone spatula because it gets right down to the bottom of the bowl...

 ...and scrape into the prepared loaf pan.

 Bake for about 45mins - 1 hour...this depends on your oven, but it should be well-risen, golden brown and spring back in the middle when pressed gently with a finger...

 Remove from the tin and cool on a wire rack. Make a syrup by gently heating the lemon juice and remaining tablespoon of sugar and brush over the surface of the warm cake to glaze...

 Leave to cool completely before slicing...

 ..it is gorgeous inside, with emerald flecks...very light and moist. It won't keep for too long because of the fresh courgette, but definitely for a couple of days if well wrapped and airtight. Or you can freeze it for up to a month...

ENJOY!!

We have also started baking Christmas cakes! These are really popular on the farmer's market stall, where some are sold undecorated to be passed off as home-made (and why not?!) and others will be glittered and glazed and gilded...

 I started off by baking the really rich, alcoholic cakes as these have the best keeping qualities..

 French brandy, Jamaican rum and Portuguese port goes into these babies...the fruit is soaked in all three for a whole week first....then they are 'fed' with yet more rum & brandy after baking...before being double wrapped and stored in a cool, dry place for the next 3 months. I will unwrap and feed them with alcohol a few more times. So they are really quite special!

There will be other versions too...some with no alcohol at all...but these smell absolutely divine and started me thinking about more Christmas baking. But then I looked out at the warm, golden September afternoon...and resolved to forget about it for just a few more weeks!

I hope you will try the courgette cake...and if you bake anything from the Sugar Moon Blog, we'd love to hear how it turns out! It was great to get your views and comments on the blueberry brownies and other flavours...Have a great week...and if you would like to try some of our remarkable brownies, then do visit our website here!

Hot cakes...

Last week was full of birthdays! Not family ones, but customer ones. The cake above was HUGE. It was for a man, so I didn't want to make it look too feminine...they just stipulated 'yummy & chocolatey'...I think it fitted the bill.

It was the Farmer's Market on the Tuesday...and it was having a birthday too...

I made another chocolate cake, which was photographed by the local newspaper at the little 11am  ceremony that marked the occasion...then sliced up and given away free to the shoppers. I love making the sugar paste fruit & veg for the top...I rolled the 'potatoes' in a little cocoa powder to look like mud...
My brownie-of-the-month on the stall was a special sparkly birthday one, filled with coloured smarties and covered in 100's & 1000's and edible glitter...

all the little girls begged their mothers to buy one (and usually succeeded!)

It's been so hot here, too...on Monday I baked brownies until my eyes went swimmy with tiredness! The kitchen felt so steamy. It's not a great time of year to be chained to the stove. But, customers have to be supplied with CAKE! So here are some highlights...

Sugar-crusted blueberry lemon scones...they turned out so beautifully...light & fluffy and not too sweet. I made a few extra so that I could give some to my Dad (who has developed a real sweet tooth as he's got older...)

These will be in my book...White Chocolate Peanut Caramel Shortbread Bars. A mouthful whichever way you look at it! They sold really well too...

And finally, this glossy extravaganza was this morning's delivery (along with Greengage Almond Muffins)

Dark Chocolate & Fresh Raspberry Cake. The fruit is baked into the cake, and I left the ganache frosting plain so that there would be a surprise when it was cut into...the slightly sharp jolt of raspberry against the bitter chocolate is a wonderful contrast.

I have a Victoria Sponge baking as I write...and 60 vanilla cupcakes to bake and ice for collection tomorrow (a wedding) Life is busy at The Blue Angel Bakery this summer, I'm very pleased to say!

I hope that you're having a wonderful week too...xoxo

Presents from a friend...

There are many bad people in this world...the events of this week have highlighted that yet again...and it's a depressing thought, of course. BUT I'm so happy that there are many, many more good, kind and generous souls around!

A  few weeks ago I mentioned that in the UK we don't have flaked, sweetened coconut. The moist & delicious kind. We get desiccated coconut...shaved, dried coconut...and of course we can buy fresh ones, milk & cream. But I love the strands of white deliciousness that are so great to bake with, and I find mentioned so often in my American recipe books. I always bring some back from my trips to Australia...but it never lasts long.

So how thrilled and touched I was to receive in the mail this week four - yes, FOUR! - packs of gorgeous flaked coconut from my dear Canadian friend Rosinda . She's just started a beautiful new food & family blog...you can go to it by clicking on her name & I'd highly recommend it. Anyway, I was so delighted by her kindness that I decided to create a new bar for the Coffee Tree in her honour. You can see it above - and it'll be in my book too! I've called it a 'Double A Bar' as she has two beautiful young daughters whose names both start with an 'A'! The bar is chewy, coconutty, oaty with a touch of lemon...there's a filling of lemon curd...and a lemon frosting with more coconut pressed into the top. Beautiful! Just like the thought.

Two were sold before I even left the shop after delivering yesterday...a new classic?

Thanks again Rosinda....xo

Happy weekend everyone...it's going to be a hot one here...xx

Twas the week before Easter...

Lots to show you today, from my recent deliveries to The Coffee Tree. This is a Chocolate & Salted Caramel Cake....

Dark, soft chocolate cake with milk chocolate whipped frosting in the middle & on top...drizzled with sea salted caramel....it's one of those cakes that I have to get out of the house quickly....as I'm in danger of burying my face in it otherwise!

I think it's the smooth silkiness of the frosting, the deep chocolate flavour and the crunch of the salt flakes with the ultra sweet caramel....mmmmmmm!

Toasted Coconut Cake....another beautifully fragranced offering to the Gateau Gods!

We don't get the lovely moist flaked coconut that's available in the US & Australia, so have to make do with sort of shavings that I toast myself...

Lemon Passionfruit Muffins went down a treat....all gone in 2 hours!

The actual muffins were just very lemony  quite plain...with a very zingy fruity fresh passionfruit glaze which I put on while they were still warm...

And here are two trays of my famous Cranberry Carmelita Bars. Difficult to show you because I couldn't cut into them to photograph...but imagine an oaty, buttery, crunchy top & bottom with dried cranberries, chocolate chips & caramel sauce in the middle...again, very popular (I make variations on them too...one with walnuts replacing the cranberries, which I prefer...)
So that's a little selection. There will be lots of egg-themed delights this week of course....so watch this space!

Happy Monday xo

Puddings & other stories...

Busy is not the word at the Bakery right now...this is the first chance I've had to post in almost a week. I keep forgetting to take pictures! Every time I have left a delivery recently I've smacked my forehead as I remember that I forgot (!) to snap my creations! Anyway, here I am. It's mainly brownies, brownies, brownies right now. Charlie, my biggest customer, is well into his new season on the equestrian eventing circuit. Each weekend (and during the week too) he tows his wonderful trailer, complete with Italian coffee machine, all over the South West supplying tired and hungry competitors...and excited spectators...with coffee & cakes to sustain them! So I am kept busy at my kitchen unit, producing trays by the dozen ready for pick up. There's only so many pictures of brownies you can take!

Still, there are my other customers too of course. It's a big weekend for the catering industry here in the UK. Mother's Day is one of the most popular 'going out' days in the calendar, so the pubs and restaurants I supply are ordering extra.

Bread & Butter Pudding is a huge seller on the menu. A traditional British dessert that most people love (I say most because I can't stand it....!) I make these with brioche instead of regular white bread, for extra richness. And I flavour them with real orange zest, as well as plenty of raisins. The liquid is cream too...to make them luscious.

They are eaten hot with either custard or more cream. Yum!

The Coffee Tree, too, will be busy this weekend...

These 'Charlie Bars' are my own creation...crunchy, crumbly peanutty shortbread (there are some chopped Reeses Pieces in there too) with a middle of peanut butter & chocolate. Perfect with coffee.

It was Fresh Raspberries & Cream Muffins this morning....made with cream, studded with ruby raspberries and dusted with icing sugar...

and an Almond Tosca Cake too. Based on a Swedish recipe, it's very, very moist & almondy with a lemon glaze & toasted flaked almonds too. This is one that I would love! I may make it at the weekend too, as we have some dear friends from Italy visiting...and Roberto adores CAKE!!

Happy Thursday....can you believe that it's April tomorrow? Have a wonderful day xoxo

Marmalade & Meringues

Hello...Happy Wednesday! It's the middle of the week already, and as I write the moon is bright and full in the clear sky. We woke to frost this morning and it's been  gorgeous sunny day...I think that the temperature will plunge again overnight but when it's gorgeous like this I don't mind a bit. My mother told me that she had to go out into the fields at the farm at 2am this morning to release a sheep that had got it's fleece trapped in the bramble hedge. I was worried for her, out in the dark & cold, but she said that she'd felt 'privileged to be outside in all that beauty'...which was a lovely thing to hear. I knew just what she meant.

First, today, I wanted to show you my new teatowel...that's it in the picture above - gorgeous, no? I love teatowels and collect them from wherever I visit (I have several kind friends who add to my collection too!) This is my new favourite...

So, it's marmalade season....bitter Seville oranges are one of the very few truly seasonal fruits - they are available for a very short time from mid-January here. Reading my friend Cherry Menlove's beautiful blog reminded me to buy them & MAKE MARMALADE!! So I prepared jars, labels...and scrubbed the gorgeous fruit (I also added in some limes & lemons for extra interest...)

this is the cooling period after boiling to soften the skins...then the chopping, which I love! Boiling with sugar until just right and potting into the warm jars...

and then labelling, leaving to cool - and that satisfying feeling of a job well done and the cupboard stocked! For us, for friends and family..for enjoying a little taste of bittersweet sunniness whenever and remembering the dark, rainy January day when I made...

That was for home. For The Coffee Tree today, I decided to use the egg whites left over from yesterday's Lemon Passionfruit Bars to make meringues. I love meringues - eating and making.

I made them last night and left them in the oven to dry out and crisp up. These were made with brown sugar for a caramel flavour and a touch of espresso coffee powder too..still a little chewy & toffee-like inside.

This morning, I mixed some sweetened chestnut puree with pure vanilla seeds and mascarpone to make a thick, luscious cream...

which I used to sandwich the pairs of meringue together. Chestnut puree has an amazing texture and flavour...it tastes so deep and complex, it's almost alcoholic!

I think these looked so pretty, resting on their little paper cases - another individual delight!
They don't keep well, but hopefully they won't have to...a good dessert for a special dinner perhaps?

I hope you've had a beautiful day...and that you can see the moon, wherever you are!

xo