gingerbread bundt

A Christmas recipe. Would you believe it? I am very last minute with my Christmas prep. Sure I have a pinterest board started in March and endless lists and table ideas but actually making a mince pie? Decorating the tree? You are talking about the 20th at the earliest. So this year I have jumped the gun. I made a sort of festive cake prior to mid December and for that I believe I need a medal. This makes a lovely alternative to xmas pud, or even a cake to have in the tins for the days in between. You can also get my Golden Christmas Cake recipe here. I will stop now before I explode with too much festivity.

GINGERBREAD BUNDT CAKE

For the cake:

125g golden syrup

125g treacle

125g butter

125g caster sugar

300g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp mixed spice

1 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp cinnamon

thumb sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated

2 eggs

100g whole milk

For the icing:

200g butter unsalted

200g icing sugar

200g cream cheese

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease your bundt tin using melted butter and paint brush. Dust with a little flower and allow to set in the fridge whilst you make the batter. Melt the butter, golden syrup and treacle until just melted. Allow to cool for five minutes then stir in the remaining ingredients. Once smooth pour into your bundt tin and bake for 45-50 minutes, or until a sharp knife comes out the centre clean. Leave the cake to cool for at least 30 minutes before trying to turn it out. This is always the moment bundts go wrong so do wait for as long as possible. Allow to cool fully.For the buttercream beat the butter until pale. Add the icing sugar and beat again until almost ice white. It should be light and fluffy. A stand mixer works best but hand held electric whisks will also do it. Beat the cream cheese and vanilla in finally until just mixed. Spread over the cooled cake using a knife to highlight the grooves in the cake. Alternatively you can simply add some icing on top to create a fluffy white crown.Toppings: Decorate with fresh cranberries, lingonberries if you can get them, or red currants, or any other berries you would prefer. Dust with a little icing sugar to finish. 

pear, coffee and hazelnut: a cake on a whim

My standard Sunday begins as so. I will wake up a little later than planned and spend a horribly long time getting out of bed. I have got better at this however and can normally make it down the stairs before 10am. I am then greeted by Willow and her endless breakfast requests. This morning waffles were on the agenda. After a very slow feast and plenty tea I look at the list I have made for myself to do. Today I had grand plans of packing and organising and matriculating and all the other boring tasks that are involved when moving. I was going to sort my prints, begin the bake off scrapbook I have been threatening to do for the last month and then write up the six blog posts waiting in my drafts. I was then going to top this off with some accounting and general finicial sussing out. Needless to say not a single one of those things happened. Instead I spied to pears, knocked up a cake with a recipe I had never even dreamt of before and photographed it. I also made a million other things and snapped then here. Had it not been for the fact that this cake worked amazingly well for the first time, required next to no tweaking and made my mumma very happy I would have thought this had been a truly unproductive day. But no I made a tasty cake and the sun shone. Happy Sunday all!PS this happiness will slowly fade when I realise early tomorrow morning I still have my long list of things to do, sign my lease, get a haircut blah blah blah. Let me cheery for the remaining wee hours of the night.

PEAR, COFFEE AND HAZELNUT CAKE

250g softened unsalted butter

200g coconut sugar or dark muscavado

50g caster sugar

200g plain wholemeal flour

50g plain flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

4 eggs

100g + 25g roughly chopped hazelnuts

3 tsp instant coffee + 3 tbsp boiling water (or three espresso shots of possible)

3 pears

3 tbsp apple juice

Grease and line a 9" cake tin and set aside. Preheat your oven to 180C.Cream the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy. Add the flours, baking powder, eggs and 100g of the hazelnuts and set aside without mixing. Make the coffee and allow to cool slightly in a mug. Finely slice the pears - there is no need to peel them. Place the pears in a bowl with the apple juice to prevent them from browning. Add the cooled coffee to the cake mix and fold it all together until smooth. By mixing it later on (or as close to baking as possible) the baking powder won't activate to soon and you will have a lighter texture when baked. Pour into the lined tin. Working quickly layer the pear on top of the cake mix and sprinkle with the remaining nuts like this. Put into the oven immediately. Bake for 40-50 minutes or until a thin knife comes out the centre clean. The majority of the pears will sink slightly into the cake but don't worry as this will provide a little moisture to the cake. Serve with some yoghurt or ice cream while still warm for a great pudding or enjoy once cool with a cup of tea or coffee. 

a blood orange loaf cake with curd

Another of this weekends blood orange creations. There is nothing better than seasonal fruit, despite my attempts to use strawberries in December and radishes in February. There is no comparison. 

BLOOD ORANGE LOAF CAKE

For the loaf:

250g softened butter

200g caster sugar

4 eggs

juice of 1 large blood orange and zest of 2

1 tsp baking powder

50g ground almonds

280g plain flour

Beat the butter and sugar until soft and fluffy. Add the eggs, juice, zest, baking powder, almonds and flour and beat until smooth. Do not over beat however, just until combined. Pour into a lined and greased 2lb loaf tin and bake for around 35 minutes a 180C or until a knife or skewer comes out the centre clean. Allow to cool.

For the curd:

juice of 1 large blood orange

175g caster sugar

2 eggs

110g butter

Place all the ingredients in a heavy based saucepan and gently whisk over a low heat continuously. Do this until the mixture becomes thick and holds its shape when whisked in the pan. It is important to take your time about this and not crack up the heat as the eggs will scramble resulting in a citrus egg dish that will NOT be tasty on toast. Pour into sterilised jars or a tub and keep in the fridge until required.

Serve your cake with some of the curd, chopped mint leaves and sheet or crushed meringue.