Tiramisu Cake - Cake Slice Bakers January 2012

Well, I didn’t mean to skip two Cake slice bakers cakes, but that was the way life went in November and December last year. I’m back this month, even though I just missed the main post date of the 20^th of the month. Short and sweet this month, but better late than never!

This month’s cake is from The Cake Book by Tish Boyle published by John Wiley and Sons 2006. A Tiramisu Cake, a nice ‘pick me up’ (what tiramisu means) cake for the New Year. I’ve changed it and simplified the recipe a little.

Sweet coffee syrup soaked sponge, layered with a mascarpone and rum cream.The cream was very light in texture despite containing 500g mascarpone! The rum was a background note and the cream was set with a little gelatine, which probably helped the nice lightness, and meant there was no danger of the layers sliding apart. I tried to make it look like a cappuccino lol!

I liked this one, and am pleased I tried it even if I am late, it’s pretty for a dinner party and can all be done before hand. Do have a look at the Cake Slice Bakers blogroll to see how other members have made it

Next Review Up: One Sweet Cookie

Stilton, Bacon and Dried Cranberry Salad

Happy New Year to you all! It seems like a long time since I last posted, although in actual fact not soooo very long ago. Time always seems to go by too quickly in December, and last year was no exception. Christmas came and went, and I hope it was a good one for one and all.

The New Year has also been and gone and here we are in January, fairly chilly and in need of comfort food. Thoughts of a healthy eating regime is in my mind, I’m only willing to downscale a bit. Perhaps in the long run that will work better, no severe cutting back, so no big binge on sweet stuff when I fall off my chosen dietary wagon. I’m definitely upping my exercise though. We will see how it goes.

I have a lot of bits and pieces to use up after the festive period - stilton, dried cranberries, nuts and I do seem to have amassed a number of boxes of pancetta cubes in my fridge. I was wondering what to make with them all, and remembered a salad of Ina Garten’s that I saw in her second last cookbook Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics published in 2008 by Clarkson Potter. I’ve made a couple of recipes from the book:

Tuscan Lemon Chicken and Oven Roasted Vegetables.

Both of which were also good (click on recipe titles for recipes at The Food Network). The salad here is a variation on Ina’s Cape Cod Chopped Salad and was delicious and we all enjoyed it a lot. Dried cranberries, crispy warm bacon cubes, blue stilton for us (cheddar for little peeps), toasted walnuts and fresh apple plus an orange-maple dressing. I thought it was a fabulous mix of tastes and textures, one that I’ve been asked to make again, and not just to use the Christmas leftovers!

Stilton, Bacon and Dried Cranberry Salad

I’ve upped the add ins, down scaled the dressing and changed the lettuce from rocket to romaine, for Ina’s recipe look here. We still had some dressing left over, but I’m good with having some of it in the fridge for later in the week. This makes three to four main course salad plates.

½ cup walnuts,

130g Pancetta cubes

1/2 cup dried Cranberries

2 Romaine Lettuces

½ cup Blue Stilton cheese (or cheese of your choice), crumbled

1 Pink Lady Apple

Dressing

1 ½ tablespoons Cider Vinegar

½ teaspoon Orange Zest

1 tablespoon Orange Juice

1 slightly rounded teaspoon Dijon Mustard

1 tablespoon Maple Syrup

Salt and pepper

80ml Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Dressing: Whisk everything together in a bowl and set aside.

Salad: Heat a sauté pan and toast the walnuts in it for one to two minutes, stirring to prevent them catching. Dry fry the pancetta until cooked and crispy, drain the cubes on kitchen paper on a plate. Peel, core and chop the apple. To assemble tear or chop the leaves and arrange on plates, scatter over the apple, walnuts, cranberries, bacon and blue cheese. Finally whisk the dressing again and drizzle a little over the salads, I used about a tablespoon per person.

Next review up: One Sweet Cookie

How to Be a Domestic Goddess, Review and one copy to give away

Now for a post about a book that is dear to my heart. How to Be a Domestic Goddess Baking and the art of Comfort Cooking by Nigella Lawson first published in 2000 by Chatto and Windus. This was Nigella’s second cookbook (after How to Eat). I was asked a little while ago if I’d like to review this book, which of course I would! I have a copy from when it first came out, so I asked WH Smith if they would be ok if I gave away the copy I was sent to a reader on here, and they said yes, so thanks to WH Smith for the paperback copy to give away. Just leave a comment to be entered for the draw, first name out of the hat on 22^nd December 2011. Closing date for comments to go in the draw is 21^st December 2011 at midnight. THIS IS NOW CLOSED.

Pink Wafer Rose Bud Fairy Cakes

When this book came out I cooked from it obsessively for a good number of months. It’s a great book, a baking book to entice existing bakers, but with enough of a modern edge to appeal but the new bakers too. The book is nicely presented, although do be aware this is not a book where every single recipe is pictured, but the pictures are all tempting. I still love it today, all these years later. The main chapters are: * Cakes* Biscuits* Pies* Puddings* Chocolate* Children* Christmas* Bread and Yeast* and The Domestic Goddess’s Larder*.

Dolly Mixture Fairy Cakes

I have baked a lot from this book, it was in my pre-blogging days that this book came out, which is a shame, as I could have had some pretty pictures of cakes and cupcakes on here! I have been particularly taken with the cupcakes in Domestic Goddess and some of the recipes I have made are: Burnt Butter Brown-Sugar Cupcakes (which were a lot nicer than the title makes them sound), Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing, Blueberry Muffins, Baklava Muffins, Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes, Espresso Cupcakes, Night and Day Cupcakes, Cappuccino Cupcakes, Jam Doughnut Muffins, Chirstmas Morning Muffins and Christmas Cupcakes which are very beautiful as well as delicious.

Cake wise I’ve made a few too, Nigella’s Victoria Sponge is my go-to recipe, Dense Chocolate Loaf Cake is fabulous too - I sometimes make it as cupcake sponges too, Flora’s Famous Courgette Cake, Butterscotch Layer Cake, Boston Cream Pie, Marzipan Fruit Cake, Coconut Cake, Chocolate Marsala Cake – one of my favourite cakes and Chocolate Pistachio Cake. The Strawberry Shortcakes definitely need a mention too as do the Peanut-Butter Squares which are like home-made Reese Peanut Butter cups. This is not an exhaustive list of all I’ve baked from this book – but you get the picture, there is a lot to tempt the baker and eater!

Butter Cut Out Biscuits

I made these for a party a while ago.

Fairy Cakes

I’ve made these often, and here are three ways I’ve decorated them for parties.

Store Cupboard Chocolate-Orange Cake

I’ve made this one a few times too, if you use marmalade you get a bitter-ish orange taste, I prefer it with jam for a sweeter fruity vibe.

Banana, Cherry and White-Chocolate Cupcakes

These are very easy, a quick mash and stir is all that’s needed. I think these are super comforting. A number of years ago I made these when my hubby had a friend round, they were not that long out of the oven. Every time I have seen his friend since he sees me and thinks of these cupcakes!

Good luck with the draw if you enter and hope you win (NOW CLOSED), but if not WH Smith have a great cookery selection here.

The winner is the second commenter Aby Wilson - well done Aby, I'll be in touch and you'll soon have your book :)

Next up: One Sweet Cookie by Tracey Zabar

Monday Morning Cooking Club, Review

Ever since I read the information about this book I was itching to get my hands on it! Monday Morning Cooking Club by Merelyn Frank Chalmers, Natanya Eskin, Lauren Fink, Lisa Goldberg, Paula Horwitz and Jacqui Israel, published in 2011 by Hardie Grant Publishers. With thanks to Caroline and Hardie Grant for my copy.

It was worth the wait too. I would have to start off by saying that I’m not Jewish, but for some time now I’ve been buying and looking at books searching for ‘the’ book on Jewish food. I don’t know exactly what I was looking for only that I had not managed to find it, but let me tell you, for me - this is it!

So what is the Monday Morning cooking club? Well it is a Monday morning meet up for the six authors of this book, where they have hunted out recipes, tried and ditched, or tried and kept the recipes. The recipes in the book are the keepers, all accredited to their family owners, and there is a little information about each family, and how they came to Australia – the country where they all now live. I love the little snippets of family history, particularly as I get older where recipes come from their provenance and how they have evolved is ever more important to me.

Chapters are: *Our Story* Who we are* The cooks, their stories, the recipes* plus a glossary. The book is nicely laid out, with lots and lots of pictures, and they in turn are very doable and look like they have been cooked in a family kitchen.

There are so many recipes I’d like to try over the next while like: Chocolate Almond Florentines, Bienenstich, Mediterranean Fish Stew with Couscous, Sophie’s Orange Cake, Mamoul, Chicken Persian Pilau, Lauren’s Tuna Salad, Almond Kifli, Israeli Couscous Soup and Mum’s Crumb Cookies (date bars), Gina’s Hair Raising Honey Cake – to name but a few.

A lovely book all round, worth keeping an eye out for - interesting for the cook, but also the cookbook reader too. Here are the three recipes I’ve tried so far:

My Own Red Chicken

This is an oven bound sort of sweet and sour chicken. It’s punchy and loud, but I loved this recipe.

Perogen

These are suggested as accompaniments to soup. Little yummy savoury beef puff pastry morsels, well actually not so very little! Beef mince cooked with red wine, tomatoes, kecap manis and Worcestershire sauce, then encased in puff pastry and baked. They would be nice for supper with a good salad too.

Ginger Snaps

I love ginger snaps, but have never got round to making them myself until now, very easy and results in a good crisp gingery biscuit. A lovely biccie to have in your cookie tin or jar.

Next Review Up: One of Nigella’s classics - How to Be a Domestic Goddess with one copy to give away.

Rachel Allen Easy Meals - Review

Bacon and Potato Gratin with Buttered Cabbage

First off I didn’t mean to go awol, but we have been having problems with the computer, which I do hope are all fixed now. No Cake Slice Bakers today either but do have a look at the blogroll to see what my fellow bakers have baked.

I’ve been a fan of Rachel Allen for a number of years now, and in the past few years it’s with much anticipation that I’ve looked forward to her new books. Her latest one this year is Easy Meals by Rachel Allen published by Harper Collins Publisher in 2011.

It’s full of easy meals and a good number of them are fast too. Lots of picture of the finished dishes, you know really attainable ones. It has a clean layout, not as girly as some of her previous books. The chapters are: *Store Cupboard,* Fast and Fabulous,* Five Ingredients or Less,* One Pot, * No Cook, * and Fuss-Free Extras and Sides*.

I must confess when it first arrived I felt a bit underwhelmed, but I nipped down to our nearest shop and bought the ingredients for bacon and potato gratin and buttered cabbage (see below), and was converted!

A lot of photographs of the dishes, though not every single one is pictured. The book has a very clean, simple layout and for this reason it’s not my favourite Rachel book – I prefer the more feminine and embellished books she has. However, all the recipes I’ve tried have been good, and the book has grown on me.

I feel it’s a sort of follow on from Home Cooking, and that’s no bad thing for the family tea table. There is a TV series on UKTV Food to go with the book ‘Rachel Allen’s Easy Meals’ so that’s a bonus too! There are plenty more recipes I’d like to try, next on the list are: Vanilla Buttercream Squares, Chicken Skewers with Carrot and Apple Salad, Coconut Macaroon Meringue, Fish en Papillote three ways, Honey Mustard Pork Chops, Provencal Beef Stew and Coconut and Cardamom Pannacotta.

As well as the recipes below I’ve also made Rachel’s caramel rice pudding which was lovely, no picture to share here though, plus a couple of her quesadilla options and they were good too, likewise no picture.

Bacon and Potato Gratin with Buttered Cabbage

I made this one the day I received the book, to be honest I might not have made it, but it had to be something my local shop would sell, and this fitted the bill perfectly. Really tasty and well partnered with the cabbage. Even the little one liked it, and of late she has been so fussy. I’m making this again this week.

Carrot, Ginger and Coconut Soup

A great soup this one, smooth, creamy, carroty and a bit spicy from the ginger too, a keeper for sure.

Chicken and Chorizo Rice

This one is hearty and satisfying, I added in some cooked peas and sweetcorn for a few extra veggies and colour.

Chicken Biryani

Now a long slow biriyani, but this was another winner, lovely with a few dishes of bits and bobs, yum!

Little Banoffee Pots

These were yummy too, cream, bananas and toffee – what’s not to like?!

Chocolate Toffee Peanut Squares

I’ve been quite resistant in the past to using salted peanuts in my cooking, but here they do work, giving something familiar a new dimension, mmm.

Stir Fried Steak with Kale

Made this for hubby and I one night, and we both liked it, not cheap, but worth it for a midweek treat.

Pork Stir Fry

Or Rachel’s sweet and sour pork, enjoyed this, would add in a few more veggies next time.

Mediterranean Pasta

This is a one pot pasta dish where the pasta is cooked in with the sauce. I wasn’t sure about this method at all, but I overcame my prejudices and the resulting dish was fast and really delicious.

Next Review Up: Monday Morning Cooking Club

Cake Slice Bakers October 2011 – Apple Cake with Maple Frosting

It’s October and in the Cake Slice Bakers that means it’s the month when we welcome new members and start baking from our new book, which we continue to bake from once a month for a year. I’m pleased to tell you that our new book is The Cake Book by American author Tish Boyle published by John Wiley and Sons 2006. I’ve owned this book since it came out and although I have a lot bookmarked I’ve not managed to get round to baking from it until now, but I’m very much looking forward to trying some of the lovely cakes from this book.

Our starting cake is a really nice one for this time of year – Apple Cake with Maple Frosting. It’s a slightly spiced cake batter which has peeled and chopped Granny Smith apples and chopped walnuts folded through it before baking. The frosting is a cream cheese number that is again lightly spiced and also has some maple extract.

I liked the cake and the frosting, the maple extract gave a sort of butterscotch Angel Delight taste to it, or at least the one I remember as being so beloved from my childhood. I had the maple extract in my cupboard having needed it for another American recipe, that I’ve not managed to get round to yet, but I will… I ordered it from Ebay one day a little while ago.

Can’t wait to see what next months’ one is, but in the meantime I’m off to see some of the apple cakes from my fellow bakers here on the Cake Slice Bakers blogroll.

Next Review Up: Rachel Allen Easy Meals

A Month in Marrakesh – Review

Well we had a Moroccan night chez moi last week, courtesy of recipes from a new cookbook - A Month in Marrakesh by Andy Harris published by Hardie Grant Books 2011, with thanks to the Publisher for my copy. The author has a background in food and is currently editor of Jamie Oliver’s ‘Jamie’ Magazine.

I think it has a masculine edge, it’s nicely done. Loads of pictures of food and absolutely fabulous scene setting pictures of Morocco and life in Marrakesh by the great photographer David Loftus.

Chapters are: Breakfast, Salads and Vegetables, Street Food and Snacks, Soups, Savoury Pastries, Tagine, Roasts, Desserts and Condiments. There is also a Glossary of Moroccan Spices, Moroccan Grains and Pulses then finally Moroccan Ingredients.

There is slow food, fast food, vibrant and different salads and unusual desserts. There is also a real deal couscous recipe in the Glossary section of the book, no boiling water and 10 minutes in a cling covered bowl here! This needs steaming, cooling, fluffing with butter and more steaming, cooling and fluffing… This method gives a fabulous couscous, but it does take time. Something to make one day when you have a relaxed timetable and feel like showing your friends and family a little love and great couscous!

Having dipped my little finger into the food of Morocco I’m sure I’ll be trying out some more soon. Some of the dishes on my list from Andy’s book are: Seffa with Stewed Fruit, Chorba, Sept Legumes with Couscous, Lamb and Prune Tagine and Mahallabia (milk pudding). Here are the three dishes I tried out:

Chicken Tagine

I took a gentle introduction to Moroccan food with this tagine, it should have been rabbit, but, I swapped it for chicken instead. I deliberately chose a mild mannered tagine, and it was nice, the flavour delicate and aromatic, the meat so tender.

Date Compote and Greek Yoghurt

This was a very unusual dish, a compote of dates and almonds flavoured with thyme, and rose. I have honestly never tasted anything like it before. The compote was layered with Greek yoghurt which should have had lemon juice folded through, but my yoghurt was pretty sour already, so I omitted this step. I served this with shortbread, which was totally misplaced, but good!

Avocado, Persimmon and Mango Salad

This was a fabulous salad - unusual, sweet, gentle but full of delicious tastes, we had this dish one lunch time with some cold chicken and it was lovely.

Next Up: Cake Slice Bakers

Next Review Up: Rachel Allen's Easy Meals