The reason why I have posted so many cake recipes in
this blog along the seven years since I started publishing it on Lancashire
Life’s website and then on Blogspot, is that I usually make a cake every
weekend. We like having it as a dessert and it is handy to have a slice of cake
for breakfast before dashing to work. Above all, I really enjoy making cakes,
it is relaxing and rewarding. Not just because they come out well, all modesty
aside, they also taste good, their sugary flavour boosts my energy and makes me
feel better on the whole. Here are some of them I have recently experimented,
which may come in useful during Christmas time as well.
Cake
with yogurt
You need: two eggs, 300 g of plain flour, 170 g of
golden caster sugar, 50 g of butter, 100 g of chopped dried apricots, 250 g of
natural yogurt, one tsp of baking powder, half a tsp of bicarbonate of soda,
100g of white chocolate and party sprinkles to decorate.
Beat the butter and add the yolks of the eggs and
the sugar. Mix the yogurt with the dried apricots and add it to the mixture.
Add flour, the baking powder and the bicarbonate of soda. Finally whip the
whites till stiff and add them as well. Bake at 180° C for 30-45 minutes. To
decorate the cake, melt the white chocolate in a pan adding some milk if it is
too thick. Pour it on the cake and sprinkle some sweets on top.
Fruit
pie
I prepared this fruit pie to celebrate our ten years
in the UK using fruit with the colours of the British and the Italian flag. It
was so good it was gone in a flash.
For the dough you need: 250 g of self-raising flour,
two eggs, 50 g of sugar, 50 g of butter.
For the custard cream you need: 500 ml of milk, 100
g of sugar, two eggs, 40 g of plain flour, grated zest of a lemon.
For the topping you need: fruit (e.g. strawberries,
raspberries, blueberries, kiwi, peaches), gelatine in leaf or sachet (follow
the instructions on the packet).
Prepare the dough mixing all the ingredients then
chill it for half an hour. Prepare the custard cream mixing all the ingredients
and cooking it till it thickens then let it cool. Roll out the dough and line a
greased pie tin with the dough sheet. Bake the dough for 20-30 minutes at 180°
C or till golden. Spread the custard cream on top and decorate with the fruit.
To finish pour some gelatine on top and chill before serving.
Rice
pie
You need: 250 g of Arborio or Carnaroli rice, 500 ml
of milk, a piece of the rind of a lemon, two tbsp of sugar.
For the dough and the custard cream see the recipes
above.
Prepare the dough and the custard cream following
the instructions of the fruit pie above. Cook the rice in 500 ml of milk adding
two tbsp of sugar and the lemon rind. When the rice is ready, remove the lemon
rind and mix it with the custard cream. Roll out the dough and line a greased
pie tin, spread the rice and custard cream mixture on top and bake for 30-45
minutes at 180° C.
Apple
pie
I made some apple pies and cakes at the end of
summer when some neighbours kindly provided apples for free leaving them in
baskets along the road leading to Chobham high street. Here is the recipe of my
favourite apple pie:
For the dough you need: 300 g of plain flour, a
pinch of salt, half a tsp of baking powder, 100 g of sugar, three eggs, 60 g of
melted butter.
For the filling you need: 5 apples, 100 g of sugar,
the juice of a lemon, 3-4 whole cloves, a tsp of fennel seeds, a tsp of ground
cinnamon, the grated zest of a lemon, 100 g of pine nuts, 100 g of sultanas.
Peel, core and cut the apples in cubes, add the sugar,
the juice of the lemon and all the other flavours. Prepare the dough mixing all
the ingredients and chill it for half an hour. Roll out half of the dough and
line a greased tin pie, fill it with the apple mixture and cover the pie with
the rest of the dough. Bake for 45 minutes 180° C.
Fig
tea loaf
Here is a super-delicious fig cake made with dried
figs which I love. Figs always remind me of Christmas as that's the only time I
had them when I was a child.
You need: 300 g of flour, two eggs, 10 g of brown
sugar, the grated zest of a lemon, two tbsp of sunflower oil, one and a half
tsp of baking powder, half a tsp of bicarbonate of soda, 150 g of dried figs
coarsely chopped, 50 g of mixed peel and half a glass of milk.
Mix the figs, mixed peel and the zest of the lemon
with the sugar and eggs. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir well. Pour
the mixture into a greased loaf tin and bake for half an hour to forty five
minutes at 150°C, till a skewer comes out clean. Sprinkle generously with icing
sugar when cold.
I’ll be back in January. Have a good Christmas!
No comments:
Post a Comment