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Lemon Drizzle Cake

Posted on February 27, 2013 by thesweetestbrunch

LemonDrizzleJael01_1

Anyone for some lemon cake?

Apparently, someone in my circle of London friends always is.
At least that’s what I’ll assume as this lemon cake seems to be one of my most popular cakes here and whenever I make it, people compliment me for it.

To be honest, I don’t quite actually quite know why, as it is just a basic lemon cake, which isn’t very exciting really but then again, I guess, it’s the simplicity of it that everyone likes: the light lemon flavor and the crunchy sugar topping.

What I like most about it, is that the making is very simple too, which is always a plus…

For the cake you will need:

  • 275g flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 225g unsalted butter or margarine
  • 225g sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 4 tbsp milk
  • grated rind of 2 lemons
  • pinch of salt

For the cake topping you’ll need:

  • 175g sugar, if you want it crunchy go for granulated sugar
  • juice of 2 lemons

Preheat the oven to gas mark 3 and prepare a deep baking tin (mine is about 20 x 30 cm and the type that’s great for pasta bakes or tiramisu) by brushing it lightly with oil and lining it with baking paper.

Mix the flour and baking powder in one bowl. In another one, mix the butter/margarine, eggs and sugar, as well as the pinch of salt and lemon rind with an electric whisk until combined. Then add the baking powder enriched flour and milk and whisk again until the dough is smooth, which won’t take long at all (2-3 mins).

Pour the dough in your tin and level it with a spatula, then bake it for 40 – 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. 

Cool the cake down in the tin, on a wire rack, but while it is still a little warm, use a toothpick to prick a few holes in the cake. Mix the sugar into the lemon juice and slowly drizzle it over the cake, letting some of it getting soaked up, so that it will infuse the cake with the lemony syrup but the crunchy sugar will stay on top.

Enjoy when it’s completely cooled down and the topping has set.

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Chocolate Beetroot Cake

Posted on January 14, 2013 by thesweetestbrunch

choc_beet_cakeJM01

I’m back!

Having spend most of the last three months in NY (with a visit to Botswana in between), I am now back in my own kitchen, here in London.

I have to admit, that I did become one of those New Yorkers who doesn’t bother cooking or baking. But why would you when the choice for eating out, delivery and deli food is so great. I loved the food markets, especially the weekly Smorgasburg in Dumbo…I loved the fact that you can get dessert at midnight, if you go to the Chocolate Room…I loved the American bbq joints… the cheap Chinese dim sum… the great Mexicans tacos…

And as for brunch – oh, how I’ll miss my weekly girlfriend brunch outings. My favourite brunch place overall was probably Bobo in Chelsea but I will tell you about that another time.

Right now, I want to share the first cake I made this year with you. Since it’s January and everyone (apart from me) seems to be on some new year’s resolution healthy eating scheme, I wanted to make something a little less loaded with sugar and fat and decided a chocolate beetroot cake is the way to go.

It might sound strange but is actually one of my most popular cakes. It’s lighter than a regular chocolate cake, probably as it contains neither butter nor chocolate but features sunflower oil and cocoa powder instead.

The icing is another story, of course. If you really want a healthier, reduced calorie cake you have to omit it, though you could maybe drizzle it with some plain melted chocolate instead. But I think, the taste of the sweet white icing on top of the dark cake is worth the extra calories. It also turns a plainer cake, that’s not too heavy and can therefore be eaten for brunch, in to a celebration cake, especially if you make enough icing for the top and a layer for within the cake.  

Either way, it’s super easy to make but you will need ready cooked beetroot (NOT the pickled vinegar one, of course) and a blender!

For the cake you’ll need:

  • 180ml sunflower oil, plus more for the tin
  • 190g self-raising flour
  • 60g cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 250g (golden) caster sugar
  • 250g beetroot, cooked
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • a blender
  • a round tin at the size of 18cm min – 23cm max

Preheat the oven to gas mark 4 and line your cake tin  – both sides and bottom – with baking parchment

Combine the flour, bicarbonate of soda, cocoa and sugar in one big bowl.

In your blender, purée the beetroot, eggs and vanilla. Then slowly pour in the oil, while the motor is running on the slowest speed (make sure it really is on a slow setting and don’t take the lid of fully, or you may end up with a red kitchen…). Pour the beetroot mixture into the dry ingredients and gently combine by folding them together with a bit spoon or spatula.

Pour into the cake tin and bake for 40–50 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
After removing it from the oven, leave it for 5–10 minutes in the tin, then turn it out on to a wire rack and peel the lining off to let it cool completely.

 

For the icing you’ll need:
(Note, that if you want enough icing for a sandwich cake, with a thick layer in the middle, you’ll have to double the quantities)

  • 25g white chocolate
  • 100g cream cheese, softened
  • 50g unsalted butter, softened
  • ½  tsp vanilla extract
  • 250g icing sugar
  • 1 tbsp whipping cream

Melt the white chocolate carefully in the microwave by using a low setting and checking it every 4 seconds. Stir until smooth, and allow to cool back to room temperature.

In the meantime, whisk together the cream cheese and butter with an electric whisk until smooth, then mix in the melted white chocolate and vanilla essence.

Finally beat in the icing sugar and cream, again with an electric whisk until fluffy.

Spread the cake and let it set in the fridge for at least an hour – but note, that before eating you want the cake back to room temperature, so the icing isn’t too hard!

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Toasted Banana Bread with Maple Mascarpone and Plum Compote

Posted on September 10, 2012 by thesweetestbrunch

It’s been too long since my last post but things have been a bit busy for me lately as I have temporarily moved to NYC for a couple of months, which is very exciting.

NYC is a food lover’s heaven!

I am based in Brooklyn and the two local shops down the road, delis, as they are known here, have more varieties of European cheese on offer than English supermarkets (which are in Europe, after all). You can also get all sorts of baking and cooking ingredients in the delis though it’s true what they say, New Yorkers don’t cook much. But who can blame them with so many nice eateries around. I intend to try out as many as possible whilst living here and hopefully will be able to recommend the best ones to you too.

Before coming out here, the last brunch I had in London was back at Workshop Clerkenwell (see my earlier review here). My favourite dish there that day was a toasted banana bread with espresso mascarpone and rhubarb compote. It inspired me to make my own version of this at home: toasted banana bread with maple mascarpone and plum compote, which is probably the longest receipe title on my blog yet.

I looked for a fat free banana bread receipe, which I found on Gourmet Getaways, as I like to top it with a generous helping of mascarpone and figured that would be rich enough. As for the fruit compote, you could go with any fruit of your liking but I since plums are in a season right now, that’s what I’d recommend. You could use the plum compote receipe that I gave out for the oat pancakes a while ago.

You can make the banana bread up to 3 days ahead, if you like since it will be freshly toasted just before serving.

For one banana bread, you’ll need:

  • 2 cups plain flour
  • 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 4 ripe bananas
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 whole eggs

For the plum compote, you’ll need:

  • 500g plums
  • 50g sugar
  • 3 tablespoons of lemon juice (or water)
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 cinnamon stick

For the mascarpone:

  • 250g mascarpone
  • 1 tbsp maple syrup, or more if desired

Start with the cake:
Grease and/or line a loaf tin and preheat the oven to 160 degrees,

Mix the flour and bicarbonate of soda and salt in a large bowl, then add the sugar.

Mash the bananas in another bowl, with the help of a fork – they don’t need to be fully mashed to a puree, leaving a few chunks is actually quite desirable.

Break the eggs into a small bowl and lightly beat them, then add them to the mashed banana along with the vanilla essence. Combine the three and add the mix to the bowl containing the flour. Mix gently with a wooden spoon until combined.

Pour the mix into the prepared loaf tin and bake at 160 degrees for 40mins or until a skewer comes out clean. Cool down for 5 minutes before turning the cake out to cool down fully on a wire rack.

Now make the plum compote, for directions please see my earlier post here.

For the maple mascarpone, just mix the two ingredients together until the syrup is blended in and the mascarpone is getting softer.

Just before serving, cut chunky slices off the bread and – for best results – toast them, for about 3-5 minutes, in a non-stick griddle pan on a medium heat. Alternatively, a toaster will also do the trick.

Serve with a spoonful or so of the compote and a generous dollop of the sweetened mascarpone, which will start melting on the warm banana bread. Hmmmmmmmhhhh….

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Lemon Courgette Cake

Posted on August 10, 2012 by thesweetestbrunch

 

After volunteering in Botswana earlier this year I am going back in October to see some of the kids in the school I worked at again and to help setting up some more orphan projects with a group of volunteers and therefore I have started ‘baking for charity’ again.

I am getting involved hands on, on these projects but I am also raising funds for the charity, the Botswana Orphan Project  and one of the ways of doing this is by baking cakes and giving them out for donations in my office.

Admittedly, it’s a very slow way of raising money (and maybe even a bit of a false economy if you consider the costs in making a cake, which a donations of £1 a piece hardly covers…) but I like baking and so far, my office colleagues like eating.

The easiest things to make for these charity bakes – mainly, for transport reasons – are muffins or loaf cakes,  and I thought I’d share a receipe for one of the later, a Lemon Courgette Loaf Cake, which can also be served as a tasty breakfast cake.

Don’t be scared of it containing a vegetable – you’ve probably had carrot cake and now it’s time to broaden your (vegetable cake) horizon!

It’s very easy to make, sweet yet lemony, and the grated courgette along with the buttermilk keep the cake moist.
And, you’ll need neither scales nor an electric whisk to give this receipe a go – so why don’t you this weekened?!

Receipe from : http://nancycreative.com/2012/03/25/lemon-zucchini-loaf-with-lemon-glaze/

 

For the loaf cake you’ll need:

  • 2 cups plain flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 2 eggs
  • ½ cup sunflower oil
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • ½ cup buttermilk
  • Juice and zest of 1 lemon
  • 1 cup grated zucchini

And for the lemon glaze:

  • 1 cup icing sugar
  • 2 1/2 Tbsp, at least, of bottled lemon juice

Preheat the oven to Gas mark 4.

Grease and line a 9”x5” loaf baking tin.

Grate the courgette until you have a cup full of it. Don’t peel the courgette, as the little green spots from the skin add a nice touch to the cake (wash it first, of course).

In one bowl mix the flour with the baking powder and salt and set aside.

In another, larger bowl whisk the 2 eggs with a balloon whisk. Then add the oil and sugar and whisk them all again.

Now add the buttermilk, lemon juice and lemon zest and blend everything together, before folding in the grated courgette.

Finally add the flour mix from the bowl you set aside earlier, again folding it in with a balloon whisk. Pour the cake mix in the prepared loaf tin and bake for about 40 – 45 minutes. Do the toothpick test to know when it is ready and take it out of the oven, as soon as the toothpick comes out clean.

Cool in the tin for 10 minutes then turn the cake out on to a wire rack and let it cool completely.

For the glaze, using a spoon mix the lemon juice in to the icing sugar in a small bowl. Keep stirring until there are no lumps and the consistency is thick but pourable. Drop the glaze on top of the cake, helping to spread it with a knife (keep repeatedly cleaning it in hot water as you keep icing) and letting it drizzle down the sides (you may want to keep some paper under the wire rack as any spillage will be very sticky).

Let the glaze set and serve!

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Banana Muffins

Posted on July 30, 2012 by thesweetestbrunch

 

I always thought this receipe would be one of the first ones I put up on this blog and I’m surprised it’s taken me this long.

That’s because these banana muffins are so quick to make and you can’t really go wrong with this easy receipe and even vary it slightly if you like by adding some chopped nuts or chocolate chips or  - if you can find them in the shops – peanut butter chips!

Making these muffins is also the best way of using up old bananas that may have gotten left at the bottom of the fruit bowl, you know those forgotten bananas that that no one wants to eat as they’ve gone all bruised and brown or even black.

Well, they are perfect for this receipe.
And don’t attempt to use bananas that haven’t gone dark yet – for this receipe, the browner the bananas the better! If you remember this you can’t really go wrong with these crowd pleasers…

For 12 cupcake sized muffins you’ll need:

  • 3 big, over ripe bananas
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1/3 cup of sunflower oil
  • 1 egg, lightly whisked
  • 1 ½ cup plain flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • optional: 1/2  cup chocolate or peanut butter chips or walnut pieces

Preheat the oven to gas mark 5 and line a muffin tin with paper cases.

Mash the bananas with a fork.

In a large bowl mix the flour with the bicarbonate of soda and baking powder.

Now add all other ingredients and mix them together.

It really is as easy as that!
As long as you mix up the flour with the raising ingredients first the order of the rest doesn’t matter and you can even mix everything together with a wooden spoon or fork (as with all muffins this is preferable to using an electric whisk to get the right muffin texture).

Fill the muffin cases evenly and bake for about 20 – 25 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the muffins comes out clean. Leave to cool down in the tin for a few minutes then lt the muffins cool on a wire rack.

They will keep in a cake tin for a few days!

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