Cut-and-Come-Again Cake: Part 3 - Lemon and Blueberry

The final cake recipe in this series for now (though far from the final cake recipe to feature on feedahappylife!), is this Lemon and Blueberry delight.

This is the moistest recipe of all three of the cut-and-come-again cakes, with soft sponge and juicy blueberries oozing with flavour and bursting with goodness.

The good thing about this is that it uses frozen blueberries, so if you have them on stand-by in the freezer, it's a really quick way to get a impressive cake on the table in less than 45 minutes (or if they're out-of-season and you can't get hold of fresh).

The basic lemon sponge mix lends itself to a variety of additions and you can easily substitute blueberries for whatever other frozen berries may be your preference. I think blackberries would really suit this, served with the compot perhaps in the panacotta recipe featured earlier this month, and some double cream.

Lemon and Blueberry Cake

Ingredients:

• 115g soft butter/margarine
• 170g self-raising flour
• 170g caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 6 tbsp milk
• 1tsp baking powder
• 200g frozen blueberries

Step 1: Preheat oven to 180c/GM 4

Step 2: Put all of the cake ingredients (excluding blueberries into a large mixing bowl and beat for 2-3 mins until smooth, glossy and easily falling from your spoon

Step 3: Stir through the blueberries and pour mixture into a lined cake tin (I've done this in loaf tins/round tins/cake tins and it works regardless!)

Step 4: Bake for 30-40 mins until top is browned and a skewer comes out clean

Step 5: Leave to cool in tin for 30 minutes before turning out and slicing.
 
Enjoy!
Helen x

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Lemon and Earl Grey Madeleines - cakes for ladies!!!

I’ve been after a Madeleine pan for a while to add to my excessive collection of baking tins and recently came across a bargain in the sales, which led to this delightful experimentation.

Madeleines are a traditional French sponge, lighter than a typical British sponge, made using a special pan to create scallop-shaped cakes.

Their fluted, bite-sized appearance creates an elegant cake, for ladies if you will! Whilst there are undoubtedly times when only a wedge of Victoria sponge will doodle-do there are other times when drops of fragrant sponge are quite necessary for light-indulgence and guilt-free pleasure.

I think this description, from Marcel Proust (in the book 'In Search of Lost Time'), whilst a little grandiose, perfectly sums up their appeal…

"She sent out for one of those short, plump little cakes called petites madeleines, which look as though they had been moulded in the fluted scallop of a pilgrim's shell. And soon, mechanically, weary after a dull day with the prospect of a depressing morrow, I raised to my lips a spoonful of the tea in which I had soaked a morsel of the cake. No sooner had the warm liquid, and the crumbs with it, touched my palate than a shudder ran through my whole body, and I stopped, intent upon the extraordinary changes that were taking place…at once the vicissitudes of life had become indifferent to me..."

How wonderful that a cake could have that effect!
 
Their elegant appearance deserves light, elegant flavours and the words of Proust got me thinking about lemon and tea flavoured Madeleines. Earl Grey, with it's delicate bergamot overtones, was the perfect base and a little lemon and honey provide the flavours to lift this sponge to the very happiest levels.
 
If you've not got a Madeleine pan, you could make small fairy cakes, which will taste just as good.
 
Bon Appetit!
 
Lemon and Earl Grey Madeleines
 

 
Ingredients

• 3 tbsp butter
• 90g plain flour
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• pinch salt
• 40g caster sugar
• 1 Earl Grey tea bag
• 1 lemon (zested)
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp honey
• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Step 1: Preheat oven to 150c/GM 3

Step 2: Melt butter until turning brown

Step 3: Rip open tea bag and grind contents to a fine powder. Add powder to sifted flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

Step 4: Rub the sugar and zest together with your fingertips until the sugar feels moist

Step 5: Add the eggs to the sugar mix and beat

Step 6: Add honey and vanilla to egg mixture and beat

Step 7: Fold in flour and Earl Grey mixture

Step 8: Fold in melted butter

Step 9: Pour into tin

Step 10: Chill for 1 hr in fridge

Step 11: Bake for 10 -12 minutes in the oven until risen

Step 12: Leave to cool and serve

Indulge soon!
Helen x

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My new favourite risotto...(beetroot, broad bean, goats cheese and lemon!)

Risotto often features in the house of feedahappylife.

A long day at work, is soon forgotten with 20 minutes of slow stirring and wine quaffing. I enter some kind relaxing trance, while grains glisten and bubble and herby scents rise up and sooth (reading that back, it sounds like a description of a Radox bath - forgive me...).

Until now I have favoured two risottos; a delightful chorizo concoction, with silky, smoky paprika oil running through the creamy bed of rice and a sweet potato, Gorgonzola and pancetta risotto (inspired by Piccolino's version, which has now been taken off the menu - it's a crime!).

However, there is quite a lot of risotto snobbery around. The grains have to be just right, not sticky and not too al dente. The sauce has to be smooth and rich but not gloopy and cloying. The flavours have to be multiple and complementary etc.. etc... Most of the time I ignore this, but sometimes I see a recipe where I think the effort will pay off....

I can't lay claim to this recipe -  it's from Delicious. I also can't tell you it's quick - there is a good 90 minutes of effort required here. However, I can tell you that this is the nicest risotto I've ever had! Providing you like the flavours of sweet earthy beetroot, paired with the piquancy of goats cheese and the tartness of lemon, I promise that you'll love this!

Beetroot risotto with broad beans, goats cheese and lemon thyme oil

Serves 4

• 100ml olive oil
• 1/2 lemon (zest and juice)
• thyme sprigs
• 500g beetroot (buy vacuum packs)
• 1.3 ltrs vegetable stock
• 5 small shallots (finely chopped)
• 3 garlic cloves (crushed or use puree)
• 300g risotto rice
• 120ml red wine
• 200g broad beans
• 120g goats cheese
• Seasoning

Step 1: Make your dressing my mixing 3/4 of your oil, with the thyme sprigs and lemon juice and zest. Stir it all together and put to one side

Step 2: Dice your beetroot into 1 cm cubes, toss with 1tbsp of your remaining oil, season and roast in an over (160c/GM4) for 15 minutes.

Step 3: Remove half of the roasted beetroot and puree it with 400ml of your stock. Pass your beetroot liquid through a sieve and then add to the remaining stock in a saucepan. Boil then simmer for a few minutes, before turning off the heat and putting to one side

Step 4: Return the remaining cubed beetroot to the oven and roast until caramelised (about another 15 minutes)

Step 5: Heat remaining oil in a pan and add the chopped shallots. Saute with the garlic for 5 minutes before adding the rice. Coat and cook the rice for about 2 minutes before adding the wine. Allow the wine to simmer and for the rice to absorb.

Step 6: Add a ladle full of beetroot broth at a time, stirring until it has been absorbed before adding the next. It'll take about 20 minutes of doing this before your broth is used and your rice perfectly cooked.

Step 7: Stir through the remaining roasted beetroot

Step 8: Boil your shelled broad beans for 3 minutes (ensure tough skins are removed - you can use frozen for ease!)

Step 9: Place a serving of risotto on a warmed plate. Scatter over the broad beans and crumble the goats cheese. Carefully pour the lemon thyme oil over the top and serve.

I know it's quite a lot of effort, but it's really worth it! Some pan fried pancetta would also work nicely in this too........

Hope you enjoy!
Helen x

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Potentially calorie neutral cakes?!

I wrote a few weeks ago that I was still trying to find my food love. It’s funny the amount of time I spend thinking, eating, cooking and writing about food that there isn’t one thing that comes to the fore.

When I look at a lot of the things I’ve been blogging about, the common theme appears to be vegetable dishes (e.g. Moroccan Vegetable Stew, Pea Soup) and cakes (e.g. Umbongo Cake, Afternoon Tea). I think I may subconsciously be off-setting cake calories with vegetable consumption! Seriously though, these are the things that time and time again I will cook for myself and others.

I love the freshness of vegetables and the ability to take an ingredient, that people regard as a side dish or force themselves to include in meals, and make something really delicious out of it. There is such variety that the recipe opportunities are never ending. With so many vegetables that I’m yet to cook (Samphire, Kohlrabi, Plantain to name but a few), there is some always something new around the corner willing me to experiment.

…and then there are cakes! Beautiful, moist, exciting, show-offy cakes! It’s oven-alchemy the way that a simple batter mix of flour, sugar, butter and eggs can be transformed into a golden sponge, filling the house with the smell of domesticity and a sense of safety and warmth. Most of my stresses can be soothed with a cup of tea and a slice of my favourite lemon cake (as featured in the Spring Feasting entry).

This led me to thinking about vegetables in cakes… I’ve seen some lovely recipes for chocolate and beetroot cake, pumpkin pie and of course the inimitable carrot cake but I’ve not really dabbled with them. Time to rectify things and combine my loves into easy, edible delights.

I decided to take my fail safe muffin recipe and experiment with the contents of my cupboard and vegetable basket….with the results as follows:

• Beetroot and Orange
• Courgette and Lemon
• Carrot & Nutty Nutmeg

I’m very happy with the results, particularly the carrot mix, and could happily scoff my way through the whole lot! I have a theory (this is grounded in no scientific fact and quite illogical), that the vegetable content offsets the calorie content, thus making thus a calorie neutral cake...so scoff away!

All of these can be happily enhanced with a flavoured cream cheese topping (see below) for a more elegant finish or just served as is!

....topping made from cream cheese and icing sugar....

Muffin Mix (makes 18)

• 350g plain flour
• 200g granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 large eggs (beaten)
• 120ml milk
• 120ml plain yoghurt
• 115g butter (melted)

Beetroot and Orange Mix

• 100g grated beetroot
• 1 Orange (zested and juiced - only 1/2 juice will be needed)

Lemon and Courgette Mix

• 100g grated courgette
• 1 Lemon (zested and juiced)

 

Carrot and Nutty Nutmeg Mix

• 100g grated carrot
• 50g mixed nuts (roughly chopped)
• 1 tsp fresh grated nutmeg

Step 1: Combine all muffin ingredients into a large bowl (do not over mix - it should be a little lumpy)

Step 2: Add the ingredients for your chosen flavoured muffin and stir through

Step 3: Pour mix into muffin cases (use paper cases or squares of baking parchment), fill 2/3 full and place into oven 190c/GM 5 for 20 minutes until golden and springy to the touch

Step 4: Remove and leave to cool before serving or icing

 

...Courgette and Lemon Muffins served warm with Greek Yoghurt...

 
Hope you enjoy this way of getting to your five a day!
Helen x

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Spring Feasting!

The bank holiday has given me lots more time to cook, hoorah!

With friends coming over for dinner before an evening out on Monday, I had the perfect excuse to put the cooking wheels in motion. Everything feels super fresh at the moment and I wanted to capture that in the menu. So, we had a mixed crostini platter with pea and mint puree, avocado and lemon and chargrilled peppers for starter, followed by lemon and pea risotto with cod and gremolata for main and a trio of lemon puddings for dessert.

Starter and main were super easy (you can get all those together and cooked in less than 1 hour), pudding is a little but more effort (most of mine was done the day before), but well worth it! If you only make 1 thing that I ever write about, I would really recommend the lemon sponge. I've had the recipe since 2002 and it never, ever fails! Everything goes into the mixer in 1 go and then into the oven (so easy!) and it comes out beautifully moist.

Crostini are always a fail safe starter. For my platter I sliced 1 ciabatta, drizzled with olive oil and toasted in a hot oven (190c) for about 10 minutes. Whilst it was cooling, I pureed 2 handfuls of defrosted petit pois with about 6 mint leaves and a glug of olive oil. Then I mashed 1 avocado with the juice of 1 lemon and some salt for the second topping and finally I mixed chargrilled peppers with olive oil and some balsamic vinegar for the third (you can make these yourself really easily - e-mail me if you don't know how - or just buy a jar of them ready prepared). When the ciabatta had cooled, I heaped spoons of each topping onto the toasts and that's it!!

For the risotto, I made a basic white risotto (use a medium heat to soften 1 finely sliced onion and 2 garlic cloves in a good glug of olive oil, add 4 handfuls of risotto rice and stir, add 1 glass dry white white and stir until absorbed then add vegetable stock a ladle at a time, waiting until each has absorbed before adding the next) and then when the rice was al dente I added the juice of 1 lemon, 2 good handfuls of petit pois (I used frozen, you could use fresh) and 1 tbsp of mascapone. Stir through, ensuring peas are cooked and your risotto is ready. The mascapone makes this really creamy and unctuous, but the zesty lemon and sweetness of the peas stop it from being too cloying.

The fish was really easy. I placed 4 cod loins in tin foil parcels in the oven for about 15 mins (timing will depend on size of fish/whether you're cooking from frozen), and then served them topped with gremolata.

Gremolata is an Italian flavouring which you can use on lots of different things to add flavour. I generally stick to putting it on fish or vegetables, but Italians use it on lots of different meats as well.  It's very quick to make too, just mix 2 tsps of lemon zest with 1 finely chopped clove of garlic and 4 tbsps of chopped flat leaf parsley (I also add the juice of 1 lemon and some salt, as I think it's nicer..but it's not the traditional recipe). That's it! Quite a fancy name for lemon, herbs and garlic!!!

So, onto the best bit! Dessert! I made a trio of lemon puddings (sponge, posset and ice cream), which went down really well....

All the recipes below are really easy and make enough for 4-6 servings. Best of all, the ice cream doesn't require any fancy equipment!

Lemon Posset

300ml double cream
90g caster sugar
1 lemon (zest and juice)

1. Heat cream and sugar until dissolved and then boil (keep stirring!)
2. Take off the heat and stir through the lemon juice and zest (it should thicken a little at this point)
3. Pour into dish of choice (I used espresso cups) and chill until set (6-8 hours for best results)

Lemon Sponge (best ever!)

115g soft butter/margarine (I use Flora Light..)
170g self-raising flour
170g caster sugar
2 eggs
6 tbsp milk
1tsp baking powder

Lemon Syrup: juice of 1 lemon and 2 tbsps of caster sugar mixed until dissolved

1. Preheat oven to 180c/GM 4
2. Put all of the cake ingredients (excluding syrup) into a large mixing bowl and beat for 2-3 mins until smooth, glossy and easily falling from your spoon
3. Pour mixture into a lined cake tin (I've done this in loaf tins/round tins/cake tins and it works regardless!)
4. Bake for 30-40 mins until top is browned and a skewer comes out clean
5. Use the skewer to stab holes in the cake and pour the syrup over the top while the cake is still warm

Lemon and Rosemary Ice Cream (recipe from Times Online)

500ml double cream
100ml lemon juice
200g caster sugar
1tbsp lemon zest
2 sprigs rosemary (remove and keep the leaves)
pinch salt

1. Mix together lemon juice, zest, sugar and leaves from rosemary sprigs. Leave to macerate for at least 30, stirring occasionally.
2. Stir in the cream and salt.
3. Pour into a shallow plastic container and freeze
4. Wait 1 hour, remove and stir with a fork (to break up any ice crystals)
5. Put back into freezer and repeat after another hour
6. Freeze for 6+ hours (ideally overnight) and then you're ready to go!

Whilst no Ice Cream maker was required, this menu was made infinitely easier by a food mixer (mine is a Kitchen Aid, price justified by 10 year life expectancy and weekly usage = £0.73 per use!!!) and a microplane (a million times better than a normal grater for zest/chocolate shavings/nutmeg). Without them, it might just take you a little longer to prepare, but end result should be the same!

Hope you like! If you have any comments or suggestions for future recipes, please post them on the feedahappylife Facebook page.

Helen x

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