Banana and Coconut Polenta Cake. So Delicious.

I have been continuing the clear-out of the cupboards as we prepare to move back to the UK... This weekend saw a couple of half empty bags of dessicated coconut, some overripe bananas and polenta inspiring me to create a delightful tea-time cake.  

It is a moist banana cake with a hint of coconut and heavy dusting of icing sugar.  It takes moments to assemble and is so delicious with a cuppa in the afternoon.  It also keeps jolly well, if you can resist it...

Ingredients

200 g unsalted butter, very soft
200 g caster sugar
120 g fine polenta
130 g dessicated coconut
50 g ground almonds
50 g flaked almonds
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 ripe bananas, mashed
3 large free-range eggs
icing sugar, for dusting

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C and grease and live a 23 cm round cake tin.
2. Beat together the butter and sugar.

3. In a separate bowl mix together the polenta, coconut, almonds and baking powder.

4. Add one egg to the butter mixture as well as one third of the polenta mixture.  Beat well until combined.  Continue until all the eggs and polenta mix are combined with the butter mixture.
5. Add the mashed bananas and beat well.
6. Spoon into the cake tin and pop in the oven for about 40 minutes or until risen, golden brown and starting to come away from the edges of the tin.
7. Allow to cool in the tin and then remove, peel away the greaseproof paper and then dusting, heavily, with icing sugar.

Another super use for polenta.

The Best Tiramisu. I Promise.

I love tiramisu.  There is something so deliciously indulgent about the mixture of coffee-and-booze-soaked spongy biscuits, dollops of thick creamy yumminess and a generous topping of cocoa.  So when we had a dinner party last night I decided to indulge my (not so hidden) glutton.  

However, there was a hitch in the plan.  This part of SA is notorious for spontaneous, as well as scheduled, power-cuts and I am never prepared (the laptop and chargeable torches are always dead, the washing is always just starting a cycle and I've normally arranged a skype call).  Yesterday we had a power-cut from 8 am until 4pm - scheduled, apparently, but speedy communication is not a strong point out here.  So the eggs in this tiramisu were hand whisked - my word, what an effort.  Anyway I persisted and the pud was made and popped in the fridge until the evening.  It was a complete success; so much so that there were no leftover portions to photograph in the morning light!  There are recipes and recipes for tiramisu, but trust me, look no further, this is the one you will use forevermore.

Ingredients (serves 6)

400 g mascarpone cheese
5 free-range eggs, separated
120 g caster sugar
pinch of salt
200 g Savoiardi or lady finger biscuits (I only had 100 g so I used 100 g of Amaretti biscuits which worked a dream)
200 ml cold filter coffee (decaff all the way for me)
50 ml Frangelico or similar
Cocoa powder

Method

1. Beat the mascarpone until it is soft.
2. In another bowl beat the egg yolks with two thirds of the sugar until it is pale and creamy.  Gradually beat in the mascarpone.

3. In a third bowl whisk the egg whites, salt and remaining sugar until it forms fairly stiff peaks.

4. Fold in the egg white mixture into the egg yolk and mascarpone mixture.

5. In a bowl lay half the biscuits.  Mix the coffee and Frangelico together and then pour half over the biscuits.  Top with half the mascarpone mixture, smooth over.  Repeat again.  Finish with a good dusting of cocoa and pop in the fridge for at least 6 hours but preferably overnight.  When you pull it out, dust it further with more cocoa and serve.

Yum yum yum.

Moroccan Chicken. Arabian Nights.

We had an incredible honeymoon in Morocco (thanks to my very generous parents-in-law), during which I had a Moroccan cooking lesson in the middle of the Sahara.  It was incredible, sitting under the stars in the almost oppressive silence being shown how to cook traditional Moroccan food.  We even had a lesson on how to bake bread in the sand.  So magical.

Anyway since we got back I have ended up taking my own slant on the traditional cooking (thanks to the lack of a tagine, saffron funds etc).  This is my Moroccan chicken which is amazingly reminiscent of our weeks in that wonderful country.  It is simple to make from store-cupboard ingredients and goes well with a bowl of couscous cooked in vegetable stock and scattered with plumped up sultanas and flaked almonds.  I use chicken breasts, so don't allow it to simmer for a long time or else the meat will dry out.  If you want to make a stew that sits on the top of the oven for a long time use chicken legs instead of breasts.

Ingredients (serves 4)

4 tbsp oil
4 free-range chicken breasts, de-skinned and cut into chunks
1 onion, finely sliced
3 fat garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tin of tomatoes
1/2 tin of water
70 g tomato puree
a large handful of dried apricots, halved
4 heaped tsp cumin
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 tsp chili powder
a handful of cherry tomatoes
1 tbsp honey

Method

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a moderate heat.  Add the onion and cook until nearly softened. then add the garlic and cook for another minute or so.

2. Throw in the chicken breasts and cook, stirring until they are white all over.

3. Add the cumin and chili powder and cook for 10 seconds then pour in the tinned and fresh tomatoes, the water, the puree, apricots, cinnamon stick and honey.  Bring to a simmer and allow to cook for 5 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through.

Serve hot with couscous.

Apple, Almond and Amaretti Cake. Divine.

This is such a delicious cake, soft and almond-y with a line of apple and crumbled amaretti biscuits in the middle and then scattered over the top.  

It is perfect with a cuppa after a hard day's work (or so I'm told!) and is equally as lovely sliced, warmed and served with a dollop of ice cream for a homely pud.

Look who came to visit or garden when I was baking this cake...

Ingredients

180 g unsalted butter, softened
140 g caster sugar
1 tsp almond extract
3 free-range eggs
100 g ground almonds
150 g self raising flour
100 ml whole milk
2 small eating apples, cored and thinly sliced
a handful of amaretti biscuits, lightly crushed

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170C, grease and line a 2lb loaf tin.
2. Beat the butter, sugar and almond essence until pale and creamy.
3. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

4. Stir in the remaining ingredients bar the apples and amaretti biscuits.
5. Spoon half the mixture into the tin and smooth.  Scatter over 3/4 of the apples and amaretti biscuits.  Top with the remaining cake mixture, smooth the top and scatter over the remaining apples and biscuits.

6. Pop in the oven for 45 minutes or until risen, golden brown and a skewer comes out clean(ish) when stuck into the centre.  I popped some tin foil over the top at about the 25 minute mark to stop the top burning.

7.  Allow to cool in the tin for 20 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack removing the greaseproof paper.

Smoky Bacon, Tomato and Lentil Soup. With Chili and Cumin.

Did anyone else laugh out loud when watching Nigella Express a few years ago?  Nigella claimed to take a flask of pea and pesto soup out with her to deal with any pangs of hunger - there was a classic scene of her sitting on a London bus supping away at her homemade creation.

Anyway...I had to eat my chuckles this weekend.  I made such a delicious soup on Friday and then took the leftovers out with us on Sunday.  Taking soup as a packed lunch isn't too radical I agree, except when you do a Nigella and eat it in a ridiculous place.  For us it was in a lecture hall as we were about to watch a shark dissection....And most ridiculous of all, as I've already taken our enamel bowls back to the UK, we ate it out of two china bowls with proper spoons.  I think the audience members thought we were potty.  But the fact that confused glances didn't deter us from munching away is surely a testament to how very delicious the soup is!  And best of all it is a store-cupboard soup requiring minimal fuss.  I couldn't recommend it more.

Ingredients (serves 4)

280 g black lentils, rinsed well
220 g smoked free-range back bacon
4 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp vegetable stock powder
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
1 tin of water
70 g tomato puree
1 bay leaf
1 stick of cinnamon
1 tbsp honey
4 heaped tsp cumin
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp chili powder
salt and black pepper

Method

1. Pop the lentils into a saucepan and cover with about double the volume of water.  Add the stock powder, bring to the boil and allow to simmer, with the lid on, for 20-30 minutes, or until just tender.
2. When the lentils are done add the tin of tomatoes, then fill the tin with water and add as well.  Stir in the puree, bay leaf, cinnamon and honey.

3. Heat the oil in a frying pan.  Remove all the fat from the bacon and cut into small strips.  Fry the bacon in the oil, towards the end of cooking add the cumin, paprika and chili powder and cook for 30 second.  Scrape the lot into the lentil mixture.
4. Bring to a gentle simmer, season well and then serve.

So easy and so delicious.

Chocolate Birthday Cake. A Classic.

There is a lovely English couple (Sophie and Toby) who work in the same hospital as the hubbie.  They are amazingly adventurous, driving up to Lesotho for a weekend (it took us a week), and are such good social organisers, hosting huge braais on a regular basis.  

This week it was Sophie's birthday and so a cake was in order.  The basis of this recipe is taken from the BBC Good Food site but I adapted it slightly and made up my own icing.  It went down a storm and provided another venue for my lovely cake animals.

It will freeze well, un-iced.


Ingredients (makes one loaf cake)

For the Cake

175 g softened unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
175 g caster sugar
3 large free-range eggs
140 g self raising flour
85 g ground almonds
1/2 tsp baking powder
100 ml whole milk
4 tbsp cocoa powder, sifted
100 g left over chocolate roughly chopped (I used some leftover hotel pillow chocs and some dark choc covered marzipan from Christmas)

For the Icing

145 g creme fraiche
210 g icing sugar, sifted
25 g cocoa powder, sifted

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160C and grease and line a 2lb loaf tin (standard size).
2. Make the cake.  Beat the butter and sugar with an electric whisk until light and fluffy.

3. Beat in the eggs, flour, ground almonds, baking powder, milk and cocoa...

... until smooth.

4. Stir in the chocolate chunks...

....and scrape into the tin....

Pop in the oven for 45-50 minutes until risen and a skewer poked in the centre comes out clean.

5. Allow to cool in the tin.
6.  In the meantime make the icing.  Whisk together the icing ingredients and pop in the fridge for a couple of hours.

7. When the cake is cold, remove from the tin and pour over the icing (there will be a little extra which you can keep in the fridge and serve warmed with vanilla ice cream or served alongside the cake).

How cute is that?

Bircher Muesli. Low GI and Unbelievably Addictive.

When taking stock of my cupboard this week it became starkly apparent that I'd over-catered on 'bird food' (porridge oats, dried fruit and nuts).  Given that I'm on a cupboard-clear-out session the recipe options were - granola (bit boring), flapjacks (again), crumble (far too hot out here) or... bircher muesli.  

I settled on the latter - I completely adore the stuff ever since I tried a Jamie Oliver recipe years ago.   It is so simple and so delicious and amenable to using up leftover bits and bobs.  I've given the ingredients I used but feel free to change the dried fruit and nuts to work with what's in your cupboard.  You can make the dried mixture in advance and keep in a Tupperware and then take out and prepare enough for your breakfast the night before.

Ingredients (makes enough for 8 breakfasts)

240 g rolled porridge oats
30 g wheat bran
30 g cranberries
65 g dried apricots, chopped
30 g mixed dried fruit flakes
100 g mixture of raisins and sultanas
60 g almonds, chopped
100 g Brazil nuts, chopped
3 apples, grated
milk to cover

Method

1. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large Tupperware and store until you want some for your breakkie.

2. The night before take out a couple of portions of the muesli and pop in a bowl, cover with milk and grate in some apple (1/2 per serving).

Leave in the fridge.

3. Serve the next morning as it is, or with some sliced banana over the top.

So delicious and best of all it keeps you full until lunch, and beyond!

Chocolate Cupcakes. So Indulgent and Cheering.

Last weekend we visited some lovely SA friends after they'd been on a ski trip...  Rob, a keen surfer and kite surfer, was always dubious about flying to Europe to try snowboarding when the price was equivalent to 3 surf trips.  Nonetheless, off they went...

But sadly, when we saw them last weekend poor Bonnie had her hand strapped up following a break and Rob had his arm in a sling after a dislocated shoulder and subsequent op, both due to the mountain....So to try and cheer them up I made some seriously rich fudgy chocolate cupcakes, christened Kruger cupcakes by Bonnie.  I'm not sure they helped with the injuries but apparently they went down a storm on a 24-hour doctoring shift.

It is a BBC recipe and also works well as an iced chocolate Victoria sponge.

Ingredients

For the cake

225 g plain flour
350 g caster sugar
85 g cocoa powder, sifted
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 free-range eggs
250 ml milk
125 ml vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
250 ml boiling water

For the chocolate icing

200 g plain chocolate
200 ml cream

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C and line 24 muffin tins with paper cases.
2. Place all the cake ingredients except the boiling water into a large mixing bowl.  Using a wooden spoon beat the mixture until smooth and well combined.
3. Add the boiling water to the mixture, a little at a time, until smooth.   The mixture will be very liquid.
4. Use a measuring jug to pour the mixture into the cupcake cases.

5. Pop in the oven for 20 minutes or so, until the top is firm to the touch and a skewer inserted into the centre of one or two of the cupcakes comes put clean.

6. Place on a wire rack still in the tins to cool.
7. Make the icing. Heat the chocolate and cream together over a gentle heat in a saucepan.  When the chocolate melts remove from the heat and whisk the mixture until smooth, glossy and thickened.  Set aside to cool for 1-2 hours, or until thick enough to spread over the cupcakes.
8. When the cupcakes are cool, remove from the tins and spread over some icing and decorate as you wish.

Yum, yum, yum.  the animals are courtesy of my lovely friend, Vic. xx

Simnel Cake. Easter and Mothering Sunday.

Perhaps preemptively I've got a Spring feeling and so here is Mary Berry's Simnel cake recipe, it is simple simple simple and so very delicious.  

It is an all-in-one cake where you just throw all the ingredients in a bowl and beat well.  And perfect for using up mixed dried fruit.  Apparently it was traditionally given by servant girls to their mothers when returning home for Mothering Sunday but whatever the excuse you come up with, it makes a delicious mid Lent treat.  

If I had some primroses or other Spring flowers I'd pop them on the top - but out here it is far too hot for such things and I understand that snow is falling in the UK today!


Ingredients

For the Cake

100 g glace cherries
225 g unsalted butter, softened
225 g brown sugar
4 large free-range eggs
225 g self-raising flour
375 g fruit cake mix
2 lemons, zest only
2 tsp mixed spice

For the Middle and Topping

450 g marzipan


Method

1. Grease and line a round 20 cm cake tin and preheat the oven to 150C.
2. Cut the cherries into quarters, put in a sieve and rinse under running water.  Drain well then dry thoroughly on kitchen paper.

3. Place all the cake ingredients in a large bowl and beat well until well combined.  Spoon half into the cake tin and level the top.  Roll one third of the marzipan into a circle the size of the tin and place over the top.  Spoon over the remaining mixture and level the top.

4. Bake in the oven for about 2 1/2 hours or until well risen, evenly brown and firm to the touch.  Cover with aluminium foil after one hour if the top is browning too quickly.  Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes then turn out, peel off the parchment and finish cooling on a wire rack.

6. When the cake is cool, make 11 little marzipan balls (to represent Christ's apostles minus Judas) and then roll the remaining to fit the top of the cake (I used the cake tin as a guide).  Cover the top with the marzipan and then place the balls around the edge.

Delicious.