For those with a cholesterol deficiency!

PEANUT BUTTER, BANANA, AND CHOCOLATE CAKE



For the Cake
110g (4oz) luxury Continental Belgian dark chocolate (75per cent cocoa solids)
1 x 227g jar Whole Earth organic crunchy peanut butter
250g (9oz) unsalted butter, softened
500g (1lb 2oz) light muscovado sugar
5 large eggs
120ml (4fl oz) milk
225g (8oz) plain flour
2 rounded teaspoons baking powder
1 x 125g pack dried banana chips, roughly chopped or 100g chopped banana
Salt

For the Icing
25g (1 oz) unsalted butter
2 as-they-come tablespoons smooth peanut butter
3 tablespoons pure Canadian maple syrup
175g (6 oz) luxury Continental Belgian dark chocolate (75 per cent cocoa solids)

You will also need
A well-buttered ring tin, such as a kugelhopf or savarin tin, with a capacity of at least 2.6 litres (4 ½ pints), or measuring 23cm (9 in) in diameter and 9cm (3½in) deep.

It is easiest to make this cake in a food mixer or processor.



Start by making the cake. Preheat the oven to 170'C, 325"F, gas mark 3. Break up the chocolate into small pieces and melt it in a bain-marie, a bowl suspended over barely simmering water or in the microwave. Meanwhile, beat the peanut butter, butter and sugar in a food mixer for about 3 minutes, until light and fluffy.
In a jug, whisk the eggs with the milk until thoroughly combined, then sift the flour, baking powder and ½ a level teaspoon of salt into a bowl and mix until thoroughly combined.
Now, with the machine running, add about a quarter of the flour mixture to the peanut butter mixture.
Once it is incorporated, pour in about a quarter of the egg mixture.
After 10 seconds, add more egg and milk, and continue alternating flour and egg mixture until you have used them up. The finished batter should be thick , soft and floppy.
Transfer about half the cake batter into another bowl. Now, stir the dried banana chips or sliced banana(if using) into one bowl of the cake batter, and the melted chocolate into the other, making sure that the chocolate is mixed in well. Using a very large spoon, dollop alternate mounds of banana cake mixture and chocolate cake mixture into the tin, then drag a skewer or knife lightly through the whole cake to create a marbled effect when the cake is cut. Put the cake tin on the bottom shelf of the oven and bake for 30 minutes, then cover the cake with a piece of baking parchment and continue to cook for a further 30-40 minutes, or until the cake is risen but firm and springy when you press it. Remove the cake from the oven and leave it in the tin for 15 minutes, before turning it out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
To make the icing, melt the ingredients with 1-2 tablespoons of hot water in a small pan over a very low heat, and whisk until smooth.
Cool, until it is barely liquid, then pour it over the cake, using a palette knife to help spread the icing evenly.
Leave the cake in a cool place, but not the fridge, until the icing has set.
This cake should be eaten immediately with lots of other people, but will keep for several days in an airtight container.

Marmalade!

Sorry I've been so useless about posting recipes!
Anyway, here we go:




SEVILLE ORANGE MARMALADE
GUEST FAMILY RECIPE

3 lbs Seville Oranges
Juice of 2 lemons
6 pints of water
6 lbs granulated or preserving sugar

(makes about 10lbs)

1. Wash, rinse jars – place in cool over to dry out.
2. Scrub fruit – halve and squeeze juice – strain through nylon sieve into pan
3. Spoon out pulp and pips and put in square of muslin and tie with string – put in pan with juice
4. Thinly slice peel (or use cutter on Magimix) add to juice and pulp in pan.
5. Add water and bring to the boil
6. Boil gently uncovered until peel is soft when squeezed between finger and thumb (start trying after 45 mins, more likely an hour -Nigel Slater says organic oranges take less time)
7. When soft – remove muslin bag and squeeze to get as much liquid out into the pan.
8. Add sugar gradually and stir with wooden spoon to make sure it dissolves – takes a few minutes.
9. When sugar has all dissolved bring to a rolling boil and boil rapidly until setting point reached – try on cold saucer after 20 mins.
10. Remove from heat, skim if necessary.
11. Leave to cool for 10 mins.
12. Ladle or pour into warmed jars, cover, and label.

Stuff to do with pumpkins! And a hedgehog!

This is the best use I've found for all the pumkin left over from the jack-o-lanterns!

Spiced Pumpkin Waffles
Ingredients:

285g plain flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground ginger
Pinch of salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
2 eggs
55g brown sugar
250g cooked pumpkin or squash (fresh or canned)
375ml milk
55g melted butter or vegetable oil
Zest of 1 orange

Method:

1. Put eggs, sugar, pumpkin, butter and orange zest into a bowl and mix well.
2. Add dry ingredients. Mix well.
3. Leave batter for 5 minutes while waffle iron warms up before using.

Enjoy!

Tip: If you use fresh squash or pumpkin; grate it, and use a clean cloth or sieve to squeeze out any excess juice. This will stop the waffles being too heavy.

Or, you can make:

Spiced Pumpkin Cake


For the cake
300g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp fine sea salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground nutmeg
¼ tsp ground cloves
75g dried currants
75g walnuts, chopped
125g unsalted butter, softened, plus little extra to grease
280g molasses cane sugar (or light brown sugar)
2 large free-range eggs, lightly beaten
300g tinned pumpkin purée
50ml whole milk

For the cream-cheese frosting
125g unsalted butter, softened
200g cream cheese
45g icing sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
Finely grated zest of 1 orange

1 Preheat oven to 180C/Gas 4. Line the bases of two 20cm round cake tins with baking parchment. Lightly grease the sides of the tins with butter.
2 Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and ground spices together into a large bowl. In a small bowl, stir together the currants and walnuts with a tablespoon of the flour mixture.
3 Using an electric mixer, beat the butter until light and fluffy. Whisk in the sugar. Gradually beat in the eggs, adding a little at a time. If the mixture threatens to curdle, mix in a tablespoon of the flour. Fold in the flour mixture alternately with the pumpkin purée in two batches. Finally, fold in the milk, followed by the currants and walnuts.
4 Divide and spread the batter equally between the prepared cake tins. Do not worry if the batter only comes up to half the height of the tin. Bake in the middle shelf of the oven for about 25 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cakes comes out clean. You can also tell that the cake is ready when the sides begin to separate from the edges of the pan.
5 Let the cakes cool for 10 minutes, then invert on to a wire rack and peel off the baking parchments. Leave to cool completely.
6 For the frosting, beat the butter, cream cheese and icing sugar together until smooth and creamy. Add the orange zest and vanilla and mix well. Place one cake on a serving plate, bottom side up. Spread half the frosting over with a spatula or a palette knife. Sandwich with the other cake, bottom side down, then smooth the remaining icing on top. Cut into slices to serve, and chill leftovers in a covered container.

And also:

Hedgehog Recipe

This is a family recipe that my mum used to make for special occasions. We've always called it hedgehog, but it's a bit like an English version of tiramisu! It's very rich so you only need a small piece.

Serves 4
• 1 packet of chocolate chip cookies
• 1 small tub of double/whipping cream
• strong black coffee (2 tsp of instant coffee with about 50ml of boiling water)
• 1/2 pack of flaked almonds or a small bag of chocolate buttons
Make the coffee up and allow to cool, then pour into a shallow bowl.
Whip the cream in another bowl.
Take one cookie and dunk into the cold coffee, so both sides are coated. Lay the cookie on a serving plate. Spread the cookie with a small blob of cream.
Dunk the next cookie into the coffee and sandwich it onto the first one.
Repeat until all the cookies have been dunked and stuck together, so you have a long roll of cookies all sandwiched together with cream.
Cover with cling film or foil and put into the fridge for a couple of hours, so that the cookies can absorb the coffee.

After a couple of hours, completely cover the cookies with the rest of the whipped cream.
Then decorate the pudding by sticking in the flaked almonds or chocolate buttons, so that they look like the prickles of a hedgehog! (alternatively you could sprinkle it with crushed chocolate flake).
The pudding can be chilled for a further couple of hours before serving.
Serve on its own or with extra cream.

Variations

For a larger hedgehog, double the ingredients and put the two rows of cookies side by side, before covering with the cream.
For an adult’s version, you can put a tbsp of Tia Maria or Amaretto into the black coffee.

Stuff to do with apples!

We have a LOT of cooking apples right now. So, here's some things to make with them:

Eve’s Pudding

1 ¼ lb. Apples
2 oz. Sugar
1/8 pint of water
3 oz. Butter/margarine
3 oz. Sugar
2 eggs
4 oz. Self-raising flour
1. Heat oven to 190°C
2. Peel core and slice apples. Put in a dish with water and sugar and bake for 10 minutes.
3. Cream butter, sugar and eggs and stir in flour.
4. Spread over hot apples and return to oven for 35 minutes.

And if you have any berries that need using up:

Granny’s seedless Blackberry and Apple Jam

2lb. blackberries
1lb. apples
½ pint water
Sugar

Method: Stew blackberries in water until tender. Strain into a sieve. Keep the liquid and discard the pulp. Peel and core the apples. Cut up and place in a large saucepan with the blackberry juice. Boil until the apples are tender and break up. Cool for a little while and measure amount.
Place clean jam jars into a moderate oven to warm. Add 1 lb. of sugar to every pint of blackberry and apple mixture. Stir over gentle heat until the sugar dissolves, then boil rapidly for 15 minutes. Leave to cool for a bit, then pour into warm jam jars before it sets.
Store in a cool dark place. Refrigerate each jar once opened.

Carrots and parsnips!

With the autumn definitely here, we're into root vegetables in a big way! If you get bored with cooking them in savoury dishes, try these:

Carrot Cake

250g plain flour
150g whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
½ tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
4 egg whites
225g brown sugar
225g plain or vanilla yogurt
50ml rapeseed oil
350g grated carrots
225g drained canned crushed pineapple
150g raisins

Frosting
225g cream cheese, at room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
500g icing sugar

To make the cake:
1. Preheat the oven to 160°C. Grease a 13”x9” baking dish.
2. In a medium bowl, combine the plain flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt. Mix well.
3. In a large bowl, combine the eggs and egg whites. Using an electric mixer beat on medium speed until foamy. Add the brown sugar. Beat for 3 minutes. Add the yogurt and oil. Beat until creamy.
4. On low speed, beat the flour mixture into the egg mixture until combined. Fold in the carrots, pineapple, and raisins. Spoon into the prepared baking dish and bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. Let the cake cool completely.
5. To make the icing, combine the cream cheese, vanilla extract, and sugar until smooth. Spread on cooled cake.


Parsnip and Walnut Cake

Serves 8
125ml vegetable oil
125g light brown sugar
175g chopped nuts
350g grated parsnip
225g plain flour sieved
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tbsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
4 Eggs

1. Preheat oven to 180°C and grease and line a deep 20cm cake tin.
2. In a large bowl combine the oil and sugar to form a smooth mixture.
3. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the bowl and beat in each egg thoroughly.
4. Stir in grated parsnips and chopped walnuts and spoon the mixture into the prepared tin.
5. Place the cake tin in the centre of the oven for 70 mins. Allow to cool, serve and enjoy.
6. Alternately, you can ice with plain, lemon, or cream cheese icing.

Easy Oven bakes for kiddies!

Here are two easy dishes to make with children. You put them together cold. An adult can put them in the oven. An hour later - voila! Dinner is served!The pudding takes slightly less time cooking, so you can do them one after the other, and pudding should be ready just as you're finishing your first course. Clever - huh?

Phoebe’s Pasta Bake

Ingredients
200g dry pasta (shapes best – eg. Fusilli, penne, shells)
EITHER 500g creamy pasta sauce
OR 250g pasta sauce and 250g cream cheese or mascarpone
OR 2 small tins of condensed soup
100g grated cheese

Optionals:
Chopped peppers
Sliced mushrooms
1 x tin of sweet corn
1 x tin of tuna
1 x tin of beans/pulses
Diced tomatoes
Any cooked vegetables you need to use up!


Method:
1. You can pre-heat oven to 185°C/gas mark 6, or you can put this dish into a cold oven then turn it to the correct temperature.
2. Place dry pasta and all or any optional ingredients into a large oven-proof dish. Stir to mix.
3. Stir in pasta sauce/ pasta sauce and cream cheese or mascarpone/ 2 small tins of condensed soup which ever you are using.
4. Fill jar/tins/cartons from step 3 with water and add to pasta mix (essentially you need approx. 500g water). Stir to mix.
EITHER:
5. Sprinkle with cheese and bake in oven for 50 minutes.
OR (If your oven is a little temperamental!):
6. Bake uncovered for 25 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and stir thoroughly. Sprinkle with cheese and return to oven for 20 minutes.
8. Allow to stand for 5 minutes before serving.

Chocolate Fudge Pudding

Ingredients:
2 tbsp cocoa powder
110g/4 oz. self-raising flour
110g/4 oz. caster sugar
110g/4 oz. butter or margarine
2 eggs
½ tsp. Vanilla extract
1 tbsp chopped walnuts
1-2 tbsp milk
For the sauce:
110g/4 oz. light brown sugar
2 tbsp cocoa powder.

Method:
1. Heat oven to 185°C (or use nice warm oven from pasta bake). Lightly grease a deep ovenproof dish.
2. Mix butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
3. Add eggs and vanilla.
4. Fold in flour, cocoa, walnuts and as much milk as you need to make a soft consistency.
5. Put in baking dish.
6. For the sauce; mix the sugar and cocoa with 275ml/10 fl oz. of hot but not boiling water.
7. Pour sauce over the pudding in the dish and bake for 40 mins.
8. The cake will rise and the sauce will form a pool underneath and around it.
This is particularly good with vanilla ice-cream.

The Baroness Cooks!

So many people are blogging their recipes, and tips, and hints; and I see a bandwagon passing, so I'm jumping on!

Here's Phoebe being creative!