BABY FRUIT CAKES

This is my entry for the Waiter, there's something in my.......picnic basket! Our host for this event is Johanna over at The Passionate Cook.
It isn't exactly picnic in the park weather in my part of the country, here in the UK. More like picnic in the car weather! Even if you wrapped up and was brave enough to set out for a picnic, you would still end up eating it in the car - the weather has either rained all day or has teased us throughout, with black clouds looming above us.

When I saw these fruit cakes I didn't really associate them with picnics - but this year, perhaps we need something more substantial to take out with us for the day.

The recipe comes from Jill Dupleix who is a food writer, she often makes television appearances here in the UK, on programmes such as Market Kitchen and Saturday Cooks. Jill's recipes can be found in food magazines and she has also written several cookbooks. In 2002 Jill received the British Cookery Journalist of the Year Award from the British Guild of Food Writers.

My food blogging friends might be interested to know that Jill did all the photography for three of her books, Simple Food, Very Simple Food and Totally Simple Food.

GOAT'S CHEESE PUFF PASTRY SLICE

To be more precise the recipe title should read - Chorizo and goat's cheese puff pastry slice with broccoli, mushroom and tomato - phew!

I couldn't get any chorizo from the butchers, and because I'm a very fussy meat eater, I replaced the chorizo with Dolcelatte cheese.

The recipe oven settings and timings are suspect. I tried the settings as suggested, even though I doubted them, and they were just too slow. The recipe settings are 180°C/fan160°C/gas 4 - by all means try this - but I think you will have to turn your oven up.

The September issue of Delicious Magazine is full of wonderful recipes and this is one of Paul Merrett's, who is a professional chef. He took on an allotment, created some dishes using his produce and has written a book - Using the Plot:Tales of an Allotment Chef.

The slice was delicious.

Serves: 4

You will need:

500g good-quality puff pastry, 4 fresh chorizo sausages (I used some cubes of dolcelatte cheese), 100g (16) small broccoli florets, 8 thickly sliced button mushrooms, 120g (4 slices) goat's cheese log (skinned and broken into small pieces), 8 halved cherry tomatoes, 4 tablespoons grated Cheddar.

1. Roll out the puff pastry to a 30cm x 30cm square about 5mm thick. Cut this square of pastry into 4 smaller squares and crimp the edges with your fingers. Using a fork, prick the pastry bases. Place them on baking paper on a baking sheet, then pop them in the fridge to rest for about 20 minutes.
2. Preheat the oven to 200°C/Fan180°C/Gas 6.
3. If you are using the chorizo sausages, skin them and break them up into bite-size chunks. Blanch the broccoli in boiling water for 30 seconds, then refresh under the cold tap.
4. Arrange the chorizo(if using), broccoli, mushrooms, goat's cheese and tomatoes on the pastry bases. Make sure that each base is evenly covered. I brushed the vegetables with olive oil, then sprinkle over the grated cheese and the Dolcelatte cheese, if using.
5. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until the pastry is golden brown around the edges. Serve warm.

Note: I crimped the edges of the pastry but somehow it uncrimped itself!

CHERRY CRUMBLE CAKE

Is this a cake or is it a pudding? It's both, which makes this cherry crumble cake a wonderful double act. Great to eat with either a cup of tea or coffee (in my case always the coffee option). Or, how about warming a slice in the microwave for a few seconds and then serving with a dollop of creme fraiche.

My local coffee shop is a fusion of East meets West. The West is the fabulous range of home made cakes. An entire counter bursting to the seams houses glass cakes stands on which the cakes sit, each topped with domed lids. There are butter cakes, orange butter cakes, carrot cake, Maltezer cake, bakewell tart, cherry crumble cake, Bailey's Cheesecake, friands, brownies, paradise slices, Molly cake, the list goes on and on.

The first time I used this coffee shop and saw all of these wonderful cakes, I thought my favourite cake recipes had jumped off the cookery book pages and landed in front of me, I recognized all of them.

The lady who bakes the cakes uses recipes from Australian Women's Weekly, Nigella Lawson and Annie Bell.


My friend chose the cherry crumble cake and said it was amazing. After arriving home I quickly looked up the recipe, rushed out, bought the cherries and baked this cake. Not a pretty cake as a whole but when you slice it, it then comes into it's own, just look at those beautiful cherries sitting on top of the cake layer and topped with the crumble. Another wonderful cake recipe by the very talented Annie Bell.

Annie Bell has written some wonderful cookery books and writes regularly for The Mail on Sunday's YOU Magazine.

GORGEOUS CAKES BY ANNIE BELL

ISBN 1856266141 - Page 50

You will need: 1 round 20cm cake tin 9cm deep with a removable base.

For the cake:

100g diced unsalted butter, 100g golden caster sugar, 1 medium egg, 90ml milk, 125g self-raising flour (sifted), ½ teaspoon baking powder, finely grated zest of 1 lemon, 250g pitted black cherries.

For the crumble:

90g plain flour, 50g golden caster sugar, ½ level teaspoon ground cinnamon, 90g chilled and diced unsalted butter, 25g organic porridge oats.

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C fan/200°C/Gas Mark 6.
2. Butter the cake tin.
3. To make the cake, cream the butter and sugar in a food processor until light and fluffy. Add the egg, then incorporate the milk, flour, baking powder and lemon zest. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and smooth the surface.
4. To make the crumble, combine the flour, sugar, cinnamon and butter in a food processor and whizz until the mixture just starts to form large crumbs (or do this by hand). Transfer the mixture from the food processor to a bowl and stir in the oats.
5. Scatter the cherries over the surface of the cake, top with the crumble mixture and bake for 55-60 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Run a knife around the edge of the cake.

To serve: It can be served warm, about 30 minutes out of the oven, or at room temperature.

APPLE GINGER CAKES WITH LEMON ICING

I love ginger cake and came across this recipe from Australian Women's Weekly. To quote from the book 'it's the fabulous fusion of flavours that makes these little cakes unique'.

The tin they were cooked in, I believe, is called a 6-hole mini fluted pan or you could use a texas-style muffin pan which is 180ml capacity. You can buy these from eBay or TK Maxx. I'm sure other online stores also sell these.

I greased the mini fluted pan with Cake Release from Lakeland, this helps them to come out of the pan cleanly.

WOMEN'S WEEKLY HOME BAKED

ISBN 1863964118 - Page 225

Makes: 12

You will need: 2 six-hole mini fluted pans or 2-six hole texas muffin pans, well greased.

250g butter (softened), 330g dark brown sugar, 3 medium eggs, 90g golden syrup, 300g plain flour, 1½ teaspoons bicarbonate of soda, 2 tablespoons ground ginger, 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon, 170g coarsely grated apple (unpeeled weight 200g - a large apple or 1½ average size apples), 160ml hot water.

1. Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas 4.
2. Beat the butter and sugar in a small bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beat until well combined between additions. Stir in syrup.
3. Transfer mixture to medium bowl, stir in sifted dry ingredients, then apple and the water.
4. Divide mixture among prepared pans, smooth tops.
5. Bake in oven for about 25 minutes. Stand cakes in pan 5 minutes, then turn onto wire racks to cool.
6. Drizzle lemon icing over cakes.

Lemon Icing

320g icing sugar, 2 teaspoons softened butter, 80ml lemon juice (approx 2 lemons).

Stir icing sugar into medium heatproof bowl, stir in butter and juice to form a paste. Place bowl over small saucepan of simmering water, stir until icing is a pouring consistency.

RASPBERRIES AND CREAM ICE

I was inspired to make this whilst looking through the August 2008 Sainsbury's Magazine. Nigel Slater, ice cream and raspberries - perfect.

Unfortunately, I had a problem with this recipe. If you eat this straight from the freezer the cream ice and raspberries are frozen solid. If you thaw it for a while, the cream ice melts and reverts back to its original consistency and the raspberries remain frozen.

We served ours semi-melted and had lots of extra raspberries with it.

Serves: 6

You will need: a 10 x 16cm loaf tin, 9cm deep, the base and sides lined with clingfilm.

75g caster sugar, 3 large eggs (separated), a few drops of vanilla extract or a knife-point of vanilla seeds, 275ml double cream, 250g raspberries.

1. Add the sugar to the egg yolks and beat until thick and pale. Stir in the vanilla. Whist the cream until thick, but still able to slide a little when the bowl is moved from side to side. You don't want it to be stiff. Fold the cream into the egg yolk and sugar.
2. Crush the berries with a fork. Just mash them lightly.
3. In a clean bowl and with a clean whisk, beat the egg whites until stiff. fold them tenderly into the mixture, followed by the crushed raspberries. Pour into the lined tin. Tap gently to level the mixture then cover loosely with clingfilm and place in the freezer for a good 4-5 hours until frozen.
4. To serve, slice with a heavy, sharp knife into thick pieces.

Note: this recipe contains raw eggs.

JAMIE OLIVER'S FABULOUS FISH CAKES

This is one of Jamie's 'Feed Your Family for a Fiver' recipes from Sainsbury's Try Something New Today.

They were very easy to make and instead of my usual method of cooking fish cakes in butter and oil in a frying pan, these were cooked in the oven with only a drizzle of oil over them and obviously this is a much healthier option.

The basics salmon was surprisingly good, and I wouldn't hesitate to use this again in recipes requiring cooked salmon. Make sure you go over the salmon though for the odd few bones because you wouldn't want your children to have any of these in their mouths!

I didn't follow Jamie's salad to the letter because I had other salad ingredients in the fridge to use up, but I give the recipe below.

On another note - I still prefer to fry my fish cakes for extra taste and colour, also I always add some chopped parsley to the potato and salmon.

Nigel Slater says tinned salmon makes 'deeply flavoured fish cakes'. He has written a charming piece about fish cakes for Waitrose.

As a child we always had fish cakes made with tinned salmon and mashed potatoes. They were mostly served with baked beans and then we used to prod open the fish cakes and pour malt vinegar inside of them! That meal was always one of my favourites as a child. Does anyone else remember having this dinner or a variation of it? I would love to know.

Here is Jamie's recipe:

Serves: 4

You will need: 350g basics salmon fillets, 4 baking potatoes, 1 lemon, 1 egg

1. Place the salmon fillets in a metal colander over a pan of simmering water. cover and steam for 5 minutes.

2. Peel the 4 potatoes, cut each into about 8 pieces and boil until soft. Mash and leave to cool. Remove any skin from the salmon, flake and mix with the potatoes, a lightly whisked egg, lemon zest and some salt and pepper. Roll the mixture into 8 fish cakes.

3. Drizzle olive oil on both sides of the fish cakes and cook on a baking tray in a preheated oven for 15 minutes at 200°C/Fan 180°C/Gas 6 or until crispy on the outside and heated through.

For the salad: Round lettuce, cucumber portion, 2 tomatoes, 1 red onion.

1. Quarter the heart of the lettuce and set aside.

2. Chop all the remaining washed salad ingredients, including the outer lettuce leaves.

3. Place in a salad bowl.

For the dressing: Dijon mustard, juice of the lemon, olive oil, salt and pepper.

1. Make a well in the middle of the prepared salad and squeeze in the juice of the lemon. Add a dash of olive oil, a spoonful of Dijon mustard and the salt and pepper.

2. Mix through the salad.

3. Serve the fish cakes with the salad and quartered lettuce heart.