Chocolate courgette spelt cake

Regular readers of my blog will note that I  feature more than my fair share of courgette recipes, I like a nice courgette cake recipe, that unassuming vegetable that adds moisture to your cake recipe and cake is a great way of using up a glut when they are in season. This recipe using spelt (one of my favourite flours) and agave nectar to give a more healthy cake, the result is a nutty chocolate cake, not overly sweet.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups spelt flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 4 tbsp cocoa powder
• 2 eggs 
• 3/4 cup agave nectar
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 1/2 cups grate courgette

Method 

• Preheat oven to 180c
• Oil and line a 2lb loaf tin
• Sift all the dry ingrients into a bowl
• Add all the well ingredients and mix well
• Pour your batter into your prepared tin
• Bake for approx 45 mins until well risen and tested as cooked with a skewer
• Cool on a wire rack
• Cake is better after being kept a couple of days wrapped in a tin.

Food Photography

Extra Virgin Cold Pressed Rapeseed Oil on a spoon.

Inspired by Food Photographer Tim Clinch, my take on one of his classic images

Danish Cinnamon Swirl Bundt Cake

This weeks post continues the odyssey of the bundt tin, after a busy couple of days I finally got round to baking. The recipe includes sour cream which helps to create a moist tender crumb, I did however get a bit worried that this cake might stick in the tin despite spraying with a vegetable oil spray but I managed to get the cake out with a sharp inversion. The resultant cake is tasty and has a lovely cinnamon swirl.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup vegetable margarine
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 3 eggs - free range
• 1 tsp vanilla paste
• 1 cup sour cream
• 2 1/2 cups plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp bicarb
• 2 tbsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup demerara sugar

Method

• Pre heat your oven to 180c
• Oil your bundt tin
• Mix the ground cinnamon and demerara sugar together in a separate bowl
• Cream your margarine and granulated sugar
• Now add all the other ingredients and mix well in your mixer
• Now pour half of the mixture in your prepared tin
• Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar on top
• Now top off with the rest of the mixture and level.
• Bake for approx 45-60 minutes until golden and fully baked when tested with a skewer
• Cool in tin and then tip out until a wire rack

In celebration of all things Bundt, I'm joining in National Bundt Day Uk from Dollybakes

Spicy Torus Cake aka Spicy Bundt Cake

I have secumbed to the trend sweeping through the baking nation , I have purchased a bundt or kugelhopf tin ! According to Mr B the correct geometrical term for this shape is a torus so that is what this cake has now been christened. Given that most recipes are from the US of A and thats where I have taken my inspiration from, this recipe is in cups, now I know that some bakers detest american cups but personally I love them, you just have to commit and buy a good set to get good results.

I love spiced cakes, my favourite spice being cinnamon, this recipe features both cinnamon and cloves, the warm comforting aroma that rises from the oven when baking is delightful  and  it scents the whole kitchen.

Ingredients

• 1 cup vegetable margarine
• 2 cups of caster sugar
• 3 eggs - free range
• 3 cups plain flour
• 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp ground cloves
• 3/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup buttermilk ( if you can't get it milk acidified with lemon juice)
• Icing sugar to spinkle 

Method

• Preheat your oven to 180c
• Grease / oil your tin
• Cream your margarine and sugar until light and fluffy, use a mixer if you have one.
• Add your eggs , don't worry about the curdled look
• Add the flour, cinnamon, cloves, salt and bicarb, sift as you go.
• Mix well and pour into your prepared tin.
• Smooth top
• Bake for 50-55 mins until tested as cooked
• Cool in tin for 10 mins and then turn out to cool fully on wire rack.
• Dust with icing sugar to serve.

In celebration of the bundt , I am linking this post to DollyBakes National Bundt Day UK celebration

Parkers Arms - Newton in Bowland

For many months I have followed Stosi Madi of The Parkers Arms on twitter, a passionate advocate of local food. Today finally saw our first visit to the fine establishment nestled in the nook of the rolling moorland countryside of the stunning Forest of Bowland.  Just 10 minutes drive from Clitheroe but a world away, this is pub/restaurant with rooms and is everything a country pub should be, warm, welcoming with fabulous local food, lovingly prepared. On pulling up on the carpark what first strikes you is the silence, well lack of intrusive noise anyhow, all we could hear were sheep bleeting and birds singing.

We were warmly and genuinely welcomed by front of house AJ , the fire already lit in the grate and the bar warm and cosy. We had booked but where given a choice of tables and chose to sit in the window so we could watch the  panorama of the glorious hillside outside.

Mr B ordered from a fine selection of local ales from Bowland Brewery - "Sawley Tempted" as I was driving I choose one of their soft drinks, I note they had a fine selection of mawsons traditional drinks to refresh any passing traveller, this being on the scenic route to the Ribblehead viaduct.

Whilst we perused the menu and the daily defined specials we chatted with the lovely friendly staff, the whole menu is focused on local seasonal produce, beautifully prepared to emphasise its best points and is just the right length, enough choice but not too much that you get bamboozled or doubt on the freshness of the produce.

Our choices made and we were pleased to be joined by other diners as the establishment started to fill up for lunch. Our first hints of the delights in store was the arrival of our first appetiser - crunchy roasted potato skins with tomato relish, delicious crunchy skins sprinkled with sea salt and served with a sweet smooth tomato puree, sweetened by being roasted. Delicious.

Next a tasting plate of local ( and when I say local I mean local a mile or so up the road) Dunsop bridge trout with horseradish and homemade country bread, the trout has been treated gently and was beautifully tender , the creamed horseradish just spiky enough to cut any oiliness from the fish. Then the puffy fluffy lancashire cheese souffles arrived, soft, yeilding and cheesy ( in the best way), also featuring local eggs again from the chickens at a local farm.

Next my Black pudding, egg, crispy potatoes and homemade chutney were delivered, perfectly roasted black pudding was complimented with a dippy egg and homemade chutney, a delight for the taste buds, the crispy potatoes perfectly complimented with the herb oil drizzle. My dining partner had selected the Spiced venison loin, pickled damsons and  homemade bread, I snuck a little taster of the venison which was tender and well balanced with the pickled local damsons.

By this stage we were getting a little full, AJ told to relax our mains would be with us soon, after a suitable polite pause( so grateful) ( whilst watching the other delights emerging from the kitchen) our mains were delivered, Hot-water crust pork and rabbit pasty, roasted roots, kale and thrice cooked chunky chips for my dining partner and Sole, sea vegetables, saute potatoes and lemon butter sauce for me.

WOW , all the food was beautifully presented and the portions exactly the right size, my sole was tender , cooked on the bone just how I like it , the sauce buttery lemon but not over powering , matched well by the sea vegetables which provided a nice salty edge to the dish, the potatoes were equally delicious and well matched to the rest of the plate. The cute pasty was packed with filling, moist and juicy all encased in a golden pastry crust, the chips triple cooked were a revelation and very much lived up to the recommendation of AJ, but I am sure the alternative of creamy mash would be just a good. The little dish of roasted roots and kale was great accompaniment to the pasty which needed the robust "roast dinner" flavours to meet the challenge of standing up to the slighty gamey pasty.

By this stage we were full, Mr B even leaving a couple of the chips,  however  the dessert menu looked equally scrumptious all made on the premises including the elusive local "wet nelly" !

All in all this lunch is up there with my best dining experiences and we will definately be visiting again, the food is very reasonably priced for the quality and the fact that this is real Lancashire Food and the word local really means local , I can only recommend you visit yourself very soon  for stunning food and the stunning landscape.

I'd like to apologise for the lack of photos too, the food was so good it disappeared to quickly to get many snaps. They are open Tuesday to Sunday and have a special very seasonal very local special menu on weekdays that is sourced from within either 10 or 20 miles of the pub and they serve a traditional Sunday lunch on Sunday's. I'd also to point out that the Parkers Arms did not ask me to write a feature on my blog and that I paid for my lunch. Stosi did know I was visiting as I had booked a table, at the time of my visit lots of other diners were also enjoying the same food and ambiance.

Marmalade cake for National Marmalade Week

In honour of the first  "National Marmalade Week" , this weekends bake is a Marmalade cake using my homemade marmalade. I made the marmalade a few weeks ago using lovely seasonal seville oranges purchased at my local Booths supermarket, it was a devil to set on this occasion but I got there in the end. My cake is based on the classic sponge recipe with the addition of marmalade to give it an extra orangey zing, in the past I have also used ginger marmalade in a similar recipe for a ginger variant. Make sure that you incorporate plenty of air when creaming your fat and sugar so you don't end up with a dense cake.

Marmalade is such a versatile ingredient to have in your store cupboard as you can use it as it is, on toast, in cakes and desserts and in savoury marinades and roasts.

Give Paddington Bear a shout as I am sure he would love this cake.

Ingredients 

• 175g Margarine or butter
• 175g  caster sugar
• 175g self raising flour
• 3 eggs - free range please
• 75g marmalade
• Grated orange zest

Method

• Preheat your oven to 160c fan / 180c normal
• Grease you cake tin, I used a loose bottomed one about 9 inches across or a 2 lb loaf tin
• Cream you fat and sugar until fluffy
• Ad your marmalade and orange zest, mix and then carefully add your eggs, you may need an addition of flour to stop the mixture curdling.
• Add the rest of the flour and mix well
• Spoon into your prepared tin, level
• Bake for approx 30 -35 mins in your preheated oven until well risen and golden on top.

Apple & chocolate Torte

I have been rummaging through my recipe archive and a came across a recipe for this delicious dessert / cake. It features the deliciously delicate flake chocolate, as far as I know only Cadbury's makes flakes. So apologies if you can't get hold of this chocolate if you aren't in the UK. 

The resulting bake is a tender apple scented delight, you can serve when cold with cream or ice cream or unadorned.

Ingredients

• 350g plain flour
• 125g butter
• 125g caster sugar
• Vanilla sugar for sprinkling
• Large chocolate flake
• 2 or 3 cooking apples

Method

• Preheat your oven to 180c fan / 200c non fan
• Rub the butter into the flour and then stir in the caster sugar
• Butter a loose bottomed or spring formed cake tin ( roughly 22cm)
• Press down 1/3 of the crumble mixture into your tin
• Crumble over the flake and cover the base
• Slice your apples finely and arrange evenly over the chocolate layer
• Sprinkle with your vanilla sugar
• Pour on the rest of the crumble on top of the apples
• Pat down gently
• Bake for 25 -35 mins until lightly golden
• Leave to cool in the tin and then carefully remove the tin sides.

Low Fat Oaty blueberry loaf cake

I try wherever possible to make my baking healthy, I am great believer in the positive benefits of a piece of cake and if it healthy too then great. This recipe features low fat or no fat yogurt, something I normally have in my fridge, the fabulous anti oxidant rich blueberry , but you could use blackberry if that works for you and the cholesterol reducing oat. Cinnamon is also featured ( one of my favourite spices ) which supposedly has the properties to help regulate blood sugar levels.

What I do know is it tastes good, so hopefully its doing you good too. Based on an american recipe for mufffins,I have pimped its health content by adding the oats and spices.

Ingredients

• 1 cup of fresh blueberries
• 1 3/4 cups of plain flour
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 2 tsp baking powder
• pinch of sea salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 cup of caster sugar
• 2/3 cup low fat / no fat plain yogurt
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1/4 cup skimmed milk
• 2 eggs - free range
• 1 tbsp sugar and 1 tsp cinnamon - to make cinnamon sugar

Method.

• Pre heat your oven to 180C
• Spray a 2lb loaf tin with oil spray
• Mix your first 7 ingredients in a bowl
• Whisk up in a second bowl, your eggs, yoghurt, milk, and lemon juice
• Add the wet mixture to your dry mixture and stir until well mixed
• Pour / scoop into your prepared tin
• Sprinkle the top with your cinnamon sugar
• Bake for approx 35-45 mins until well risen, golden and when tested with a coktail stick cooked through
• Cool in tin, serve in chunky slices.

Vinegar Cake

This month Country Living has a campaign for you to try a new cake recipe - Vinegar Cake, the recipe can be downloaded from the Country Living website , and ideally they would like you to tweet your photo to them for them to retweet their favourites.

I haven't made Vinegar Cake before , so I thought I would give it a try , as I like to put my own slant on  a recipe, I used Raspberry Vinegar and Amaretto. Initially the cake is a little crusty, so it benefits from storing for a couple of days in an airtight tin but it develops into a delicious moist fruity cake with no hint of the vinegar at all.

Vinegar cakes were apparently popular in the days when eggs weren't easily available as the hens had gone off lay , fortunately this isn't something my hens suffer from and they lay pretty consistently all year round. 

Goosnargh Cakes

For my Mum's 80th Birthday tea I was requested to bake amongst other things a batch of  Goosnargh Cakes by my eldest sister, these local cake / biscuits were also know as spell cakes in my childhood household. I can't recall baking them before but my Mum insists she used to bake them regularly as they were a favourite of my Father. 

Goosnargh by the way is a Lancashire village,  pretty much now subsumed by the Greater Preston but which is the home to other famous culinary delights as well as the cakes,  Goosnargh Duck, Goosnargh Chicken to name but two.

Caraway is an acquired taste a metholly aniseed taste, so go carefully with the quantity added to the mixture.

Ingredients

• 3 oz butter
• 2 oz caster sugar
• 6 oz Plain Flour
• 1 dessertspoon caraway seeds

Method

• Sieve your flour and sugar into a bowl, rub in your butter
• Add the caraway seeds and mix well
• Lightly flour a board and press out your mixture to about a 1/4 of an inch thick
• Use a cutter to cut out round to your desired size.
• Place on a greased baking sheet
• Bake in a moderate oven about 160c ish, do not allow to brown
• They are cooked when just firm
• Dust with caster sugar and allow to cool fully before removing from tray.

Lancashire Hot Pot - the ultimate comfort food

Most children who grow up in Lancashire have fond memories of this special dish and debate rages as to whether it should contain carrots or not. I am firmly on the side of carrots as this is a peasant dish and would think that hungry mill workers , farmers and the like would make their lamb stretch as far as they possible could.

The same goes for my dish, I am using some wonderful local lamb from Spout House Farm up the road in Wheelton, but a frugal cut - hotpot chops, these are great value and yes they do contain bone but also a good chunk of meat too. Slow cooked they will provide a wonderful lamby flavour to the whole dish.Slow cooking means you can use a cheaper cook of meat but still come home to a soft yielding casserole, slow cooking is also very frugal too energy wise.

Once cooked it is traditional to serve your Hotpot with lightly pickled beetroot or red cabbage, delicious.

Ingredients

• Lamb Hot pot chops
• Onions - chunky chopped
• Potatoes- peeled and chunky chopped
• Carrots  peeled and chunky chopped
• Thyme - fresh or dried - pinch
• Lamb stock

Method

• Pre warm your slow cooker
• Gently sear your lamb chops in a frying pan, add to your slow cooker
• Fry off your onions, carrots and potatoes in the frying pan, scraping up any dark lamby bits
• Add to your slow cooker
• Rinse off your frying pan with lamb stock, bring to a simmer and add to slow cooker, add your thyme at this stage.
• Cook for a minimum of 6 hours, thicken the stock is you want a thicker result using cornflour.
• Enjoy

Spotty banana recipes

As part of Torquoise Lemons Blog campaign this month I have been through some of my Banana recipes on the blog and tagged them with the above symbol, make sure you check them out if you have any spotty bananas to use up.


http://lancashire-food.blogspot.com/2011/10/banana-and-almond-tray-baked.html


http://lancashire-food.blogspot.com/2011/10/chocolate-banana-muffins.html


http://lancashire-food.blogspot.com/2011/12/banana-crumble-slices.html

CCC No 4 - Bean cake - yes really !!

The theme of the latest Clandestine Cake club is "Full of Beans" in tribute to the name of the venue that the club held its meeting at "Bean Drinking". Now I am not one for the obvious so I quickly discounted the cocoa bean, coffee bean and vanilla bean as the basis of my cake, some deep researching on the internet turned up a couple of interesting possibilities. The recipe called for pinto beans which I didn't have so I substituted a can of haricot beans instead, you could use cannellini as well.

Ingredients 

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup butter - softened or margarine
• 1 egg - free range 
• 1 can of drained and rinsed haricot beans - mashed ( I used my food processor)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup plain flour
• 1 tsp bicarb
• 1 cup of dried fruit
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp ground allspice
• 2 cups of diced apple without peel - eating apples

Method

• Preheat your oven to 190 C, grease a round cake tin or bundt pan - 9-10 inch size
• Cream your butter / marg with the sugar, then add your egg and mix, now add the mashed beans and vanilla.
• Sift the flour, spices and bicarb in a bowl and then mix the apples and dried fruit, mix well to coat the fruit. 
• Add to the wet mixture and pour into your prepared tin.
• Bake for approx 45 mins - 1 hour, until cooked. 
• Allow to cool and then ice if desired.

Hake with parmesan and parsley crust

I love fish and had recently picked a fabulous piece of Hake at my favourite fish stall on Chorley Market, this recipe is for a quick and easy topping which ensures that you fish stays nice and moist. Its also great as in most cases you will have the required ingredients in the cupboard and fridge.

Hubby declared this yum so next time you are cooking fish give it a go.

Ingredients

• Fresh breadcrumbs, I used stale sourdough blitzed in the foodprocessor
• Fresh lemon zest
• Freshly grated parmesan cheese
• Grind of pepper
• Parsley - fresh or dried
• Little olive oil
• Vegetable oil spray
• Fish fillet - I used hake but you could use cod, salmon, etc just make sure its sustainable

Method

• Blitz your bread crumbs in food processor or blender
• Grate in you parmesan, lemon zest
• Add parsley , pepper and blitz a little more
• Add enough oil to just moisten
• Lightly oil spray your tray
• Place your fish fillets on the tray and press the crumb topping on to them
• Lightly spritz with oil spray
• Bake in 180c oven for approx 15 mins, but vary this depending on the thickness of your fillets.

Delicious, easy recipe

Gluten Free chocolate cake

I do like to experiment and my deliberations on recipes for the next clandestine cake club meeting have taken me in the direction of this unusual recipe which contains no flour. So hence its gluten free, the cake doesn't rise much and is homely looking but can be spruced up by a liberal sprinkling of icing sugar or cocoa powder. It is also ideal to serve with ice cream, cream, creme fraiche or yoghurt. This is a high protein cake and has no added fats, so all in all its pretty healthy too.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups semi sweet chocolate
• 1 can of chick peas, drained and rinsed ( garbanzo beans)
• 4 eggs
• 3/4 cup of white sugar
• 1/2 tsp baking powder

Method

• Preheat oven to 180C , grease and base line a 9" inch springform cake tin.
• Melt your chocolate chips either using a bain marie or microwave.
• Pulse your chick peas in a food processor, now add your eggs and combine.
• Add you sugar and baking powder and blend, ensuring you scrape down the sides to mix well.
• Pour into your prepared cake tin
• Bake for approx 40 minutes until a skewer comes out clean, cool on wire rack.

Cream Crackers !

Every wonder why a cream cracker is a "cream" cracker, well its because it contains cream, real diary cream. Hubby likes experimenting so he located a recipe, which is very easy and produces some tasty little crackers which would be great for serving with cheese, dips or a drinks nibble. You can sprinkle with extra sea salt, herbs or parmesan cheese, its up to you.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup double cream
• 1 cup plain flour
• 1/2tsp salt

Method

• Sieve flour and salt into a bowl, mix.
• Add the cream and mix with your hand until you have a sort of dough.
• Now tip onto a floured surface and knead until you have a smooth dough.
• Wrap your ball of dough in cling wrap and let it rest at room temperature for about an hour.
• Now roll out very thinly , ideally between two pieces of baking paper, cut into your desired shape
• Bake at 170C for approx 15 mins maybe a little longer until lightly golden and the crackers are crispy.

Store in an airtight tin, if you can resist the temptation to eat them all at once.

Callooh! Callay! - Funky tea shop Clitheroe

Callooh Callay is funky little tea shop in the lovely Lancashire market town of Clitheroe, for those in the know its smack bang in the centre of all things foodie, the area is well blessed with fabulous growers, farmers, producers and talented chefs and cooks who make use of all this great grub to produce some of the best food in the country.

Callooh Callay sits on the charming traditional high street, so is very handy to bob into for a drink or a light meal whilst you are enjoying the delights of Clitheroe. Based on the theme of the mad hatters tea party, this quirky little tea shop draws you in. the decor is great, all chintzy retro, with lots of recycled and reused crockery, fabrics and furniture. The flooring however is amazing and its worth paying a visit for this alone, its an old map blown up of  Clitheroe and then made in vinyl, amazing !

The menu is relatively short, but thats not necessarily a bad thing in my opinion and is a range of soup, sandwiches, toasties and  homemade cakes. The tea menu however is longer after all this is an ode to all things "Jabberwocky" after all, lots of custom blends specially made for the tea shop. They also serve "Hot Vimto", a classic winter warmer. 

Service was attentive and our food arrived in a reasonably time, so it was freshly prepared, both the sandwich and toastie that we ordered were well flavoured and accompanied by vegetable crips and homemade coleslaw and some dressed salad. So all in all a great little tea room.

Valentine Treats - Hotel Chocolat

Its that time of year when everyone's thoughts turn to LOVE, if like me you find it difficult to know what to buy as a treat for your loved one or even just a treat for yourself, then Hotel Chocolat can give you a helping hand without breaking the bank. 

Hotel Chocolat have a great selection of gifts which can be delivered direct to the door of your loved one, this modern funky artisan cocoa grower and chocolatier has a gift for all budgets. I found it really easy to search for my selection by using the search function on their website. 

My choice The Sleekster LOVE selection, a large mixed selection of  luscious truffles,silky pralines and hand finished hearts comes packaged in a glossy long  funkily decorated box of 260 grammes. Inside carefully packaged, smooth, seductive and utterly devoted to love chocolates nestle.

The box contained 2 of each chocolate, Cherry Bombe, Bison Grass Vodka, Praline Oyster, Caramel Sweetheart, Chilli Sweetheart, Champagne truffle, Blackcurrant truffle, Vanilla truffle, Raspberry Rupture, Strawberry & black pepper, Bucks Fizz, Soft Chilli Caramel and Sweet Lips.

The chocolate was delicious in all its forms, especially the praline oyster, champagne truffle and Blackcurrant truffle.

So go on take all the stress out of Valentines day and order your gift now from Hotel Chocolat

Have Your Cake and Eat it too ! Sally Bee's new book !

As regular readers of my blog will know I really admire the work and personal courage of Sally Bee. I have been really lucky to be given the opportunity to review her latest book "Have your cake and eat it too !", her ethos being that life is too short to miss out on cake and puddings just because you are trying to eat healthy. Along side her common sense advice of positive thinking and living an active life, she has re worked all your favourite cake and dessert  recipes to be more heart healthy.

The book is presented with a sensible wipe clean cover for the busy cook and is well illustrated, the recipes are laid out in different sections to cover all the options for a sweet treat, Large cakes, small cakes, cookies, puddings, ices, etc. Each recipe is easy to follow and the instruction are comprehensive and feature healthy ingredients which should be easily sourced at your local supermarket, recipes are also provided for healthy toppings and frostings for your delicious creations.

This book makes a great addition to any cooks bookshelf, whether a beginner or a more experienced baker, and is available from Amazon or your local book shop. I can  so recommend the Blueberry Muffins !! 

Lancashire Nuts

Intrigued by a class on the schedule for the county WI show for "Lancashire Nuts", I set about finding out what they were ? Now I consider myself to be pretty well informed when it comes to all things foodie but this is one local delicacy I wasn't aware of and had never baked. I located two recipes on the internet and one in a recipe booklet I have in my archive, all slightly different. I haven't been able to find any history as to why they are called Nuts even though they don't contain nuts or anything about them looks like a nut, so if anyone can let me know their origins I would be grateful.

One of my fellow baking enthusiasts @Janemorecakepls, also a fellow WI member thinks they are a bit like a Lancashire version of a whoopie pie, and given the results when I baked the recipe I would tend to agree. You can apparently fill them with jam, lemon curd or butter-cream and they are a nice cross between a cake and a biscuit. 

Ingredients

• 4oz Quality Margarine
• 4 oz sugar
• 4oz cornflour
• 4 oz self raising flour
• 1 egg
• pinch of salt

Method

• Cream your margarine and sugar together until light and fluffy
• Add all the ingredients and mix well, your mix will be firmer than a normal cake mix
• Spoon onto a greased baking tray using a teaspoon
• Flatten your dollops with the back of your teaspoon slightly
• Bake in a pre heated oven at 150-160c for approx 20 minutes until firm and lightly golden
• Cool on a wire tray and sandwich two together with your desired filling

Homemade butter and Spelt Soda Bread

I fondly recall making butter when I was about 7 at school with Mrs Bolan, if I remember rightly it involved a yoghurt pot and lots of jiggling as we passed the carton round the class, at the end we did get butter. This week Tom and Henry Herbert ( The Fabulous Baker Bros) refreshed my memory on how easy it is to make butter at home. 

Double Cream and my trusty Kitchen aid mixer were all it took to produce so delicious butter and buttermilk for use in the Soda bread. You just mix until the butter forms on the spiral whisk and buttermilk is left in the bowl, you then rinse the butter in clean cold water to remove any buttermilk left in the butter.

Soda bread is equally as simple, I just followed the recipe in this Saturday's Times -Weekend from those fabulous baking bros again, the recipe uses spelt flour. 

Ingredients

• 300g spelt flour
• Pinch of salt
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 230ml buttermilk, if you haven't got enough from your buttermaking top up with milk

Preheat your oven to 230c and put your tray into to pre heat

Method

• Mix all your dry ingredients in a bowl and then add the buttermilk
• Mix with your hands until you have a sticky dough
• Turn out onto a floured surface and shape to a round
• Place on your tray and quickly slash deeply into the classic four
• Bake for 15 - 20 mins 

Cinnamon Spelt Cake

Spelt , is a species of the wheat family and has been in use since the Bronze age. The grain is grown in Britain and is reputed to be easier to digest that other strains of wheat, I have been using the flour in some of my baking for a while. Its pretty easy to get hold of in a quality supermarket and most health food stores will stock Spelt in various forms.

This recipe was one of the first I made using Spelt flour and you will find that the flour gives a pleasant nutty yeasty twang to the cake, recipes in most cases need to be adapted slightly to spelt flour. The topping is also a little unusual but go with it as it works to provide a nice crunchy top to the cake.

Ingredients

• 100g softened butter or quality vegetable margarine
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 100g soft brown sugar
• 3 eggs - free range 
• 100g demerara sugar
• 150g spelt flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 50g ground almonds

Method

• Cream the margarine / butter with the soft brown sugar, then beat in 2 of your eggs
• Add the spelt flour,baking powder and 1tsp of cinnamon
• Mix well and then turn into an oiled cake tin, either a loose bottomed or springform works best.
• Mix together your demerara sugar, ground almonds and the remaining tsp of cinnamon and the egg to a grainy paste, spread this over the top of the cake mix in the tin.
• Bake in a pre heated oven @ 180c for approx 30 minutes until well risen and cooked through.
• Cool in the tin

White Allium Soup

I was kindly sent a sample recently of some veal stock powder from Essential Cuisine, a company that specialising in stock both for the food service industry and the home chef. I needed a recipe that showcased the stock yet didn't actually need veal, as veal meat is very hard to get hold of in my area without pre-ordering. I have fond memories of onion soup as a child, a white onion soup as apposed to a dark french onion style one. So here is the recipe I came up with.

Ingredients

• 2 large white onions, peeled and very finely sliced
• 1 large leek, finely sliced, white part only
• 1 clove garlic - very finely chopped
• Essential cuisine veal stock, you could also use chicken stock
• Thyme
• Cream (optional)
• Slaked cornflour
• chives - optional garnish
• Butter

Method

• Melt your butter in a large saucepan
• Add your finely sliced onions, leeks and garlic and cooked without colouring over a low heat 
• Add a sprinkle of finely chopped thyme
• Add your stock and simmer until the onion mixture is very soft
• Add your slaked cornflour and stir whilst over the heat to  thicken your soup
• Season and add cream and chives if using
• Serve

Roast Roots and mushroom stew with parsley dumplings

What's better than a stew or casserole on a cold winter evening, nothing, well may be a  hot chocolate by a roaring  log fire comes close. Mildly inspired by the recent series "River Cottage" Veg a vegetable only stew was in order. This has all the flavour of a roast dinner but none of the meat , intensely satisfying and comforting. The recipe serves 3 -4 persons when accompanied with a green vegetable such as cabbage, use whatever root vegetables you have to hand , swede and turnips are just as suitable.

Ingredients

• Olive oil
• Onion - large , peeled, chopped in to large segments
• 3 carrots - peeled and chunky chopped
• 3 parsnips - peeled and chopped into chunky pieces
• 1 large sweet potato - peeled and chopped in to chunks
• 1/2 a medium celeriac - peeled and chunky chopped or swede or similar
• 4 cloves of garlic - whole and unpeeled
• Cornflour - 1tbsp
• 4 large mushrooms - chopped
• Vegetable stock - about 400ml
• Dried porcini - soaked 

You could also use butternut squash or pumpkin as some of your vegetables if you wish.

Method

• Preheat your oven to 200c
• Place your vegetables (except the mushrooms) on a baking tray, drizzle with 1 tbsp of olive oil
• Roast for approx 30 mins until tender and golden
• Transfer to a large casserole dish and cover with your stock, reduce the oven to 180c and bake covered for 30 mins.
• Fry the mushrooms (drain the porcini and chop if large) in a little olive, now add the cornflour and some of the porcini soaking stock, stir and then add the whole pan to the casserole dish, stir and return to oven. 
• Prepare your dumplings (check out my earlier recipe) and bake the stew with the added dumplings for a further 15 mins until your dumplings are cooked and fluffy and your stock has thicken.
• Serve sprinkled with fresh herbs.