and the cooking continues

In my last post I had made the easy almond cake and was about to try Gateau Breton and I'm pleased to announce both were a huge success.

The almond cake was beautifully easy to make (as the recipe promises) and a moist marzipany delight to eat. The gateau Breton, although easy to put together, was a bit more fiddly in the cooking process. I had to cook it quite a lot longer than the recipe suggests, however I suspect that is due to my terrible cheap and nasty oven rather than Nigella's recipe.

None the less, it was worth the mucking about and was amazing! It doesn't look like anything much, but the chewy butteriness of it makes it simply divine. This recipe gets 4 3/4 stars, and I will certainly be making it again.

I have also now made the almond and lemon cake, again another incredibly moist cake, and the zestiness of the lemons cuts what can sometimes be too much sweetness. I especially found this advantageous having sampled so many cakes of late. you do find yourself getting a bit sick of eating the same thing. 4 stars.

Last thing I have cooked is lime curd, or lime butter. My Mother used to make lemon butter quite regularly as children and it was one of my FAVOURITE things in the entire world to eat. My sister and I would go through a jar in a matter of days, applying it to everything we could think of! Ice cream, toast, biscuits, cake and even by the spoon full on it's own straight from the jar. For some reason I always harboured the idea that it would be difficult to make, but having now made it myself I am blow away by just how easy it is! The only 'tricky' part is making sure you stop cooking it at the right time so the egg in it doesn't become scrambled and the whole lot splits. You want a lovely velvety smooth emulsion.

Although the lime curd is at the back of the book and I kind of intended to make everything front to back it is something I need for the 'courgette cake' that I will be making soon, and so I thought it best to make it early. At the rate it's being eaten, I may have to make a second batch for the cake.

Next recipe is a lemon syrup cake and that is the last of the 'plain cakes' chapter! Chapter two and we move on to 'filled cakes', the first of which is a classic Victoria Sponge. You know the type your Nana makes filled with jam and cream. Old fashioned simplicity at is best I feel, and a great one to share with friends as it should be consumed as soon as possible. The cream in it means it won't keep very well.

How to be a Domestic Goddess

In times of financial 'famine', it's nice to have one of life's simplest pleasures at my finger tips. How can anyone feel poor and down about their life when their kitchen is filled with smell of butter, sugar, warm spices and other delights? For me life's riches are held in the joyful look in a friends eye when they take that first bite into something you've made with love and care.

Never in my life have I gone through more butter, sugar, eggs and flour! I thought as my hens started to lay eggs that I would never be able to use all their eggs up in time, instead I am finding myself buying store bought ones to make up the difference. Of course now having chickens and seeing their delight at scratching in the dirt I am always mindful of buying the best welfare eggs I can afford/find, and I encourage you to do the same too.

So my current project is to cook Nigella Lawson's 'How to be a domestic Goddess' from start to finish. I have a million cook books, but I have always used them for inspiration instead of following a recipe to the letter hoping to arrive at what the picture in the book tells me I should have accomplished. With this thought and realisation in hand I wondered what would happen if I did follow the recipes? Would I find a hand full of precious recipes that will become family favorites for years to come? Will I cook something that someone else will enjoy so much that it becomes a favorite tried and true recipe for them? Or will I just put on 5kg? Although at the rate I am sending cakes to The Frontier Group with Tony, maybe it is the TFG boys that will all put on 5kg and not me!

So I am 3/4 the way through the first chapter which is on 'Plain Cakes'. The kind of basic base cakes that you can tart up in a myriad of ways. I am finding it an odd sinful pleasure writing little notes about each recipe in the book itself. The angel on my shoulder tells me I am defacing a lovely book, the devil on my shoulder thinks it's a wonderful idea and that I am just improving on what is already before me. This time the devil wins and so each recipe gets a brief note about how it could be improved, or what I could have done better (over mixed, cake tin too small, could do with a pinch of baking powder, eggs cold instead of room temperature, oven too hot etc, etc) and then my score out of 5. Here's where I'm at:

Madeira cake: 3* - a very plain cake, but good none the less. Would be lovely cut into layers with jam and cream.

Easy Almond Cake - I made this today but am yet to taste it. It looks lovely, I'm going to guess it will get about 4*

Rosemary Loaf cake: 3 1/2* - similar base to the Madeira cake, but with chopped rosemary throughout. This is what I sent Tony to work with today. An odd thing to add to a sweet cake, but I found the subtle spicy green of the rosemary was just lovely. Next time I make this I am going to add the zest of a lemon and twice the rosemary. I ate my slice with stewed apples, definitely a winning combination.

Next will be Gateau Breton. Nigella describes it as a cross between shortbread and pound cake. This looks like the kid of short buttery confection my Mum loves.

So be warned all those who come to Alonso street or work at TFG in the coming months, you will be plied with cake! I would also love to hear your thoughts if you get to try any of them. Good, bad, your rating out of 5 etc.

Happy Cooking!