Fig, yogurt and rosemary loaf cake - gluten free

I just can't resist beautiful fresh figs and at the moment they are at their peak, I have always had a thing for them even as a child, mainly in the form of a fig roll (newton) I might add. High in fibre and with a sticky sweetness whether fresh or dried they make a great addition to many dishes, my favourite memory is of picking a perfectly ripe specimen off a huge tree outside my apartment window whilst staying in Calvi, Corsica. Still warm from the Mediterranean sun and so juicy, a great food memory.

Inspired by a bake I spotted whilst wandering on the internet this recipe, my version is gluten free and uses rapeseed oil rather than olive and has the subtle addition of almond extract also. Don't worry about the rosemary in this sweet bake its barely noticeable and just provides a slight herbyness to the sponge, the cake is moist and very moreish.

                                      

What you need

• 175g caster sugar
• 2 tsp chopped fresh rosemary - finely chopped
• 125g ground almonds
• 50g plain gluten free flour
• 2tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp almond essence
• 180g Greek yogurt
• 120 ml Extra Virgin rapeseed oil
• 2 large eggs - free range of course
• 4 fresh figs - halved
• 2tbsp - soft brown sugar
• 2lb loaf tin, lined

What you do

• Pre heat the oven to 180c
• Whisk the eggs and sugar in a stand mixer until light and fluffy and tripled in volume
• In another bowl or jug, whisk together the yogurt, oil and almond essence
• Add to the egg and sugar mixture, the ground almonds, flour, salt, baking powder and rosemary, fold them in gently and try not to loose to much air.
• Quickly whisk in the oil and yogurt mixture until incorporated, then pour into a prepared 2lb loaf tin
• Carefully place the halved figs on the top, place in the oven and bake for 30 minutes
• Sprinkle the brown sugar on to the figs and bake for another 20 - 40 minutes until tested cooked with a skewer, if the cake is browning too much cover with foil
• Remove when bake and cool initially in the tin, cool full on a wire cooling rack.
• Serve as it is or with a little additional yogurt

A delicious moist cake with an exotic twist.

This last few weeks my blogging mojo has been a little absent and life generally has taken over, hopefully normal service is now resumed.

We are linking up to a few of our favourite linky's

Bake of the Week from Casa Costello, fellow WI member and all round lovely person.

                                                       

Emily over at A Mummy Too for Recipe of the Week

                                                             

Karen over at Lavender and Lovage for Cooking with Herbs - them this month Herbs for Autumn ( Bay, Sage, Rosemary, Thyme)

                                       

Dom over at Belleau Kitchen for Simply Eggcellent - them this month Anything Goes as long it contains free range eggs.

                                                          

Adapted from a recipe by blog.plentyofzest.com

Blackberry and apple geranium swirl

My lovely blogging friends, Karen at Lavender and Lovage and Janice who blogs at Farmers Girl Kitchen are currently running a campaign to encourage us all to enjoy seasonal blackberries and have created #GBBR or Great British Blackberry Recipe Round Up. So I'll be linking up this post to there linky.

                                                    

If you are a regular reader of this blog then you will have no doubt noticed that along with courgette, blackberry recipes are quite common. I regularly post blackberry recipes as we have a large plant of the thornless variety "Loch Ness" in the garden, its a fabulous reliable variety and routinely spurs new plants, the plant I am currently picking from is a spur of a spur of a spur we moved from our previous home. The plant crops very well most years and produces large juicy berries so beloved for inclusion in jam, preserve and crumble recipes.

This recipe came about as I wanted to utilise the beautiful subtle flavour of a new scented leaved pelagonium for this year, "apple scented" and what better combination than apples and blackberries. I was aiming for a fool but decided to substitute the cream for yogurt instead to lighten the dish.

I have also been experimenting with my new camera too, not that I am trying to surpass Mr LF but just handy for when I am in the kitchen or he's not available. So far I am pretty pleased with the results. Anyway on to the easy recipe.

What you need

• 1 cup of blackberries (retain a few whole ones for decoration)
• A few Apple pelagonium (geranium) leaves (optional, still tastes great without them)
• 1 tbsp caster sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla paste
• 1 cup Greek yogurt (0% fat works well)
• 1/2 cup creme fraiche
• Qty of dinky glass pots or dishes to serve 

What you do

• Whiz up the blackberries, sugar and pelagonium leaves in the food processor until you have a puree
• Sieve the puree to remove the seeds,leaves and stalks.
• In another bowl mix the vanilla, yogurt and creme fraiche to combine
• Simply place alternate layers of the yogurt and puree into your glass pots and swirl using a cocktail stick
• Chill a little before serving

Tumbleberry and yogurt iced lollies

Need to cool down, these gorgeous summertime treats are a doddle to whip up and are much better for you than the icy treats you buy from the shop. Made with fresh berries, some sugar and a little yogurt they have just the right amount of fruity tang to creaminess ratio to deliver a very satisfying ice lolly.

For many months I have been searching for the perfect iced lolly mold, ideally my perfect one would be metal where you can use wooden sticks, just like the one I remember from the 1970's from the little corner shop that made vimto lollies in summer. So far I have managed to buy a plastic one where the plastic handles snapped one by one and then a supposedly metal one which turned out to be plastic with a steel finish (and yes I did complain to the manufacturer - who frankly wasn't very forthcoming). So the search continues......

To make tumbleberry and yogurt lollies you need

• 500ml mixed berries (can be frozen and defrosted)
• 200-250g sugar (varies depending on mix of fruit you use)
• 75ml of yogurt (I used a Greek yogurt)
• Icing sugar
• Ice lolly mold and sticks

To make the mixture

• Start by making a over sweetened compote, using the berries, the sugar and just a drop of water to get the juices going in the pan. Once the berries are softened and the sugar dissolved, switch off the heat. 
• Cool a little and then sieve to remove pips and seeds and any tough skins.
• Cool and then taste for sweetness, what you are trying to achieve is just a bit too sweet before freezing. If you need to add more sugar then use icing sugar as this dissolves without heating.
• Once you are happy with the level of sweetness, mix in the yogurt.
• Pour into molds and insert lolly sticks
• Freeze for at least 12 hours

Ta dah Tumble berry and yogurt iced lollies, on a hot sunny day you will be popular.

                                                    

Laterly we are linking up to Bloggers scream for Ice Cream over on Kavey eats who's theme is Fruity ice lollies, this is perfect.

Yogurt baby bundt cake - gluten free

One of my favourite all time recipes is a delightfully simple yogurt loaf cake which is so simple that you don't even need scales. When I went gluten free I had doubts that this recipe would convert well to being made with non wheat flour, how wrong was I !

With a couple of little tweaks this recipe has successfully made the switch to gluten free, the recipe makes 2 x 2lb tin loaves, or one 2lb tin loaf and a small bundt cake. You now have a cake for the freezer, and one on ice for if you ever need a quick cake when guests arrive with little notice. Its really difficult to tell that this cake is gluten free, its not gritty or grainy unlike other recipes.

So here's the tweaked recipe

What you need

• 1 pot of yogurt (plain, vanilla, lemon, strawberry whatever you like)
• 3 pots of gluten free self raising flour (or plain with 2 tsp baking powder)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 pots of caster sugar
• 1 pot of vegetable oil ( I use coconut oil or sunflower)
• 3 eggs - free range
• 1/2 tsp xanthum or guar gum (not absolutely necessary but helps crumb structure)
• 2 x 2lb loaf tins lined or 1 loaf tin and one small bundt tin oiled

What you do 

• Mix all ingredients together until you have a smooth batter, its really easy in a mixer
• Pour into prepared tins and smooth level
• Bake in a pre heated oven at 170c for about 45 minutes until golden and well risen
• Cool in the tins, to remove bundt upend tin gingerly with a gentle tap and the cake should release.
• I iced the bundt using a simple glace icing - using sieved icing sugar and water, I then sprinkled with freeze dried raspberries.

Orange yogurt loaf with orange glace icing for Alphabakes

The theme for this month's Alphabakes is "O", I plumped for one of the more obvious O's - oranges, this easy bakes uses orange zest in the cake and the oranges juice in the glace icing which creates a lovely contrast to the soft crumbly cake. Using my trusty yogurt cake recipe I just added the finely grated zest, its a very versatile recipe and would also work well with lemon.

Oranges are great at this time of year and signal to me that the festive season is just around the corner. The resulting cake is beautifully elegant and ideal for afternoon tea, give it a try.

What you need

• 1C yogurt
• 1C sunflower oil
• 1 egg
• 2C caster sugar
• 3C self raising flour
• Grated orange zest

For the glace icing

• Icing sugar
• Orange juice

What you do

• Mix all the cake ingredients together until you have a smooth cake mixture
• Pour into 2 prepared loaf tins
• Bake in a pre heated oven at 180c for approx 45 minutes until cooked through
• Cool in the tin intially and then on a wire rack
• Once the cake is fully cool, then mix the icing sugar with a little orange juice till the icing is the thickness of double cream
• Drizzle onto the cooled cake artistically

Alphabakes is hosted by Caroline Makes and The more than the occasional baker on alternate months

Spiced yogurt chicken

More playing with the samples from Total Yoghurt and I have created a savoury dish this time, ideal to serve with a salad or flavoured  rice or couscous You could even cook it on the barbeque if the weather is playing ball.. The spicing in this dish is very much to personal taste so feel free to add or take away as you see fit , many herbs and spices would work equally as well as the paprika and cinnamon. I used the 0% fat yogurt in this recipe and it worked really well, I had no problems with it splitting, you just create a lovely coating which tenderises your chicken  and helps it keep moist whilst being grilled.

Ingredients

• 2 free range skinless chicken breast 
• 1/2 cup of Total Greek Yogurt 0%
• 1/2 cup of olive oil
• juice and zest of a lemon
• 2 cloves of garlic - crushed
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• Pinch of Sea Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper

Method

• Place all your ingredients in a large freezer bag
• Mush all together and leave in the fridge for a minimum of 30 minutes
• Preheat your grill
• Remove the chicken breasts from the bag and place under the grill, discard the excess marinade
• Grill on both sides until slightly charred , this takes about 8 mins per side but does depend on the thickness of your chicken, just check the chicken is cooked through before serving

Studded rosewater, almond and yogurt cake

I have been having some fun with the Total Greek yogurt I have been sent for recipe development, the inspiration for this cake came from wanting to recreate the moist almondy  yogurt cakes common in the Mediterranean or middle east, that are normally syrup drenched, but instead I wanted to stud it with raspberries or in my case tayberries.

This cake can be served plain drenched in icing sugar or decadently drizzled with rose honey and served with more creamy yogurt on the side, as in the photograph.

Ingredients

• 250g Total Greek Yogurt
• 150ml sunflower oil or rapeseed oil
• 2 large free range eggs
• 200g self raising flour, sifted
• 100g ground almonds
• 150g golden caster sugar
• 1 tbsp rosewater
• 1 tsp baking powder
• Handful of fresh raspberries or tayberries
• Pinch of salt

Approx 20cm spring from cake tin - oiled

Preheat oven to 160c fan, 180c normal / gas 4

Method

• Place your flour, almonds, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl
• Add the yogurt, oil, eggs and rosewater in the same bowl and mix throughly incorporating as much as was possible.
• Once well mixed, pour / scrape into your prepared tin, level and stud with berries
• Place in your pre heated oven and bake for approximately 30 minutes until well risen and golden. Test with a skewer to ensure it is cooked through.
• Remove from oven and allow to cool in tin for approximately 15 minutes and then remove outer ring.
• Serve with more yogurt and drizzled with rose honey 

Rhubarb, vanilla and honey frozen yogurt

Mr Lancashire Food picked a large quantity of Rhubarb from the garden this weekend, so rather than just freeze it I decide I would experiment. After making a tray of honeyed rhubarb, the ice cream mood took hold, so I came up with a frozen yogurt alternative using items I  had readily  found in  the fridge. This will satisfy any cravings for a sweet cool dessert you have , it would also be great served with hot puddings or fancied up with shortbread or other biscuits.

Honeyed Rhubarb

• 1 kg Rhubarb, cut in small pieces
• Honey - 4 tbsp 
• Orange / lemon - grated zest and juice

Just place your rhubarb in an oven tray, drizzle with the honey and the zest and juice, bake in a 150C oven for about an hour or until soft and slightly golden

Frozen yoghurt

1/2 of a large pot of low fat vanilla yogurt

1/2 pot of low fat creme fraiche

1 tsp vanilla paste

2 tbsp honey

1 ramekin of honeyed rhubarb

Method

• Mix the yogurt, creme fraiche, vanilla and honey in a large bowl
• Stir in the honeyed rhubarb 
• Pour in to your ice cream maker, churn until softly frozen
• If you don't have an ice cream maker then place in a freezer suitable tub in the freezer , remove approximately every half an hour and stir vigorously.
• Store in the freezer until you want to use.
• Serve as you would ice cream

This post is my contribution to Frugal Food Fridays from fuss free flavours and guest hosted by Blue Kitchen bakes this month

Blueberry, mango and passion fruit yogurt cake

I love my easy peasy yogurt cake recipe that you can find on an earlier blog post, last night I had a craving for  cake but I had no plain yogurt in the fridge just the remains of a pot of mango and passionfruit, I also had  about half a punnet of blueberries that needed using up, so this how this loaf was born. You could also add chopped mango and passion fruit to plain yogurt, it really is up to you.

Recently I have also be experimenting more with adding a topping to my homely but tasty loaf cakes to add another texture to the cake.I was really pleased with the resulting cake a delicious tender crumbed confection with a crunchy contrasting topping. Bake two, I did !


Easy peasy yogurt cake recipe is here, to add a crunchy topping mix 2 tbsp of demerara sugar with 2 tsp of ground cinnamon. Sprinkle onto the top of your unbaked mixture before baking.