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.