CARROT CAKE

Sam's Famous Carrot Cake, the best of it's kind. Great for a wedding cake, though the one above was for a less happy occasion. The light is a bit strange in the photo; the cake is white, not yellowish.

The original recipe has been adapted to yield a 28cm cake.


5 eggs
290ml milk
10ml lemon juice or vinegar
295ml sunflower oil
500g sugar
15ml vanilla extract -- 0r 16,25ml to be exact!
15ml cinnamon
2.5ml salt
415g flour
15ml bicarbonate of soda
365g grated carrots
125g desiccated coconut
195g chopped nuts
1 very small tin crushed pineapple with liquid (200ml)



In a large bowl, mix together eggs, grated carrots, coconut, nuts, pineapple, sugar, spices and liquids.


In a medium bowl, mix together remaining ingredients, which will be flour and bicarbonate of soda.



Combine by sifting the flour into the wet mix.

Bake in 175 for 1 hour and then in 150 for any remaining time.



FILLING:
Orange marmalade.

Cut the cake into three layers. Dampen all layers by brushing on orange juice or milk before spreading on a thick layer of marmalade. Make sure the top and the sides of the cake do not remain dry or crusty before applying the icing.




ICING:

200g unsalted butter
icing sugar to taste
800g cream cheese
15ml lemon juice


Beat together butter and sugar until white. Push the cream cheese through a sieve to soften it and add to the butter with the lemon juice. Mix together well. Add more sugar if necessary.

If you want an even finish, it may be easier to achieve it if you pop the icing in the fridge for a while to harden it a bit.




Cake recipe from http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Sams-Famous-Carrot-Cake/Detail.aspx

DOG-SHAPED CHOCOLATE CAKE

This was for my sister-in-law's birthday. The cake itself is a Black Forest cake, or Black Forest gateau, as Delia Smith likes to call it. As gateau is just a French word for a layer cake, I'll call this a cake. The recipe is from Delia's book Delia's Complete Cookery Course. Anyway, Black Forest, or Schwarzwald is in Germany. Why the French then?

Black Forest cake is a very traditional cherry cake, and something I wanted to try but you can use any recipe you like because this post is just about creating the dog-shape.


Delia's Black Forest gateau:

6 large eggs
150 caster sugar (Non-British readers: that just a type of sugar that's slightly finer than usual)
50g cocoa powder

Filling and topping:
300ml double cream (I'd say you need 400ml)
sugar
450g tin or jar Morello cherries
(I also used raspberry jam for the semi-circle)
1-2 tblsp Kirsch or rum
(50g plain chocolate to decorate - didn't use any because I wanted the dog to remain perfectly white.)

Use a 20cm deep cake tin. Separate the egg whites from the yolks, do not discard anything. Whisk the yolks with the sugar until they just begin to pale and thicken, which will not take long. Fold in the sifted cocoa powder. Beat the egg whites on their own until white. Stir a little bit of the egg white into the chocolate mix to loosen it up and fold in the rest of the egg white. Bake in 180°C until done but not dry.

The cake should be very moist so I used the liquid from the cherries to dampen the cake when I filled it.

What I used to paint the mouth, eye and ear is a mixture of honey and cocoa powder.


When the cake has cooled down, cut it as demonstrated below.



Thinnen the head and legs of the dog. Leave the semi-circle thick. Adjust any bits if they look wonky.




Cut the cake into layers and fill it.



Then it's time for the cream. I forgot to save some to make a tail.




Paint on the eyes, etc, just before serving if you're using honey-cocoa mixture because it will bleed a little.

ROYAL ICE CREAM COMFORTER

Today was the second Monday I wanted to go dancing in the effort of starting a new hobby. Last week I had a bad day so I stayed home and ate, and ate a bit more. Today I took so long finishing my dinner (eating again?!) that I would've been very late so I decided to give it a miss again. I wish I had some ice cream and lemon curd now to cheer me up.

Next time I will be there, and I will be on time. I'll have to go now that I've written it here.

Here's an older photo and my recipe for a treat good enough for the Queen. I bet she eats her ice cream with lemon curd like I do. I bet she loves it.


A few scoops of vanilla ice cream
Maybe four spoonfuls (tbsp) lemon curd
Fudge shavings or pieces (from 1 bigger piece of pick-and-mix fudge)
Vine fruit: raisins, sultanas, currants, whatever you like.

GARLIC CHEESE SALMON

2 serving-size pieces of salmon
plenty of salt
2 cloves garlic
2 heaped tbsp cream cheese


Sprinkle the salmon with so much salt the surface is grainy all over. Spread the crushed or chopped garlic on the fish and spread the cheese on top of that. Bake in 200°C until the peaks of the cheese are brown.

Don't worry about the amount of salt, it'll be just perfect.

This recipe echoes one that my in-laws sometimes make. They cook the salmon fillet whole with the skin side up and there's a huge amount of salt and garlic between the flesh and the oven tray. The skin is removed when the fish is cooked.

LAMB LOAF COOKED IN CIDER

This is one of those super-easy but really fragrant recipes to impress your date on Valentine's Day.

My apologies for the quietness lately. I've had other things on my mind but now I'm back to my usual self and I'm dying to try new things.






LAMB LOAF COOKED IN CIDER

1 000g minced lamb
2 eggs
a few tablespoons ground almonds
2 tsp salt
dried thyme
pepper
pint can of dry apple cider, divided


400g swede (or more if you want to make it a one-dish meal but add more cider as well)
1-2 apples


Mix all the dry ingredients, meat and eggs. Add 100ml of cider and mix in. Knead until the mixture starts to firm up.




Cut the apples and swede and place them around the loaf. Pour the rest of the cider over the food. I've suddenly forgotten how to revert pictures but you get the point.




Bake in 200°C for about an hour.

Wow the smell is bad! The alcohol evaporates during cooking but all the good aromas will still be left.

LAMB TAGINE

I never liked lamb until I tried this tagine and I can tell you that getting all those spices is really worth it. I've made this just a tad spicier than in the original recipe because I only wanted to use enough meat to make four servings. You can add chickpeas, augergines, tomatoes and whatever vegetables you like about halfway through cooking if you'd like to have a one-dish meal.

Serves 4.

Spice mix:
oil
2tsp paprika
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp salt
small piece crystallised or fresh ginger (about the size of a medium or large grape)
pinch of saffron
3/4 tsp garlic powder
3/4 tsp ground coriander

225g carrots
large onion
300ml chicken stock
550g lamb, separate some of the fat
3 cloves garlic
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp tomato puré
t tsp sugar
6-8 dried apricots


Cut the lamb the night before and leave to marinate in the spice mix. Remember to keep the excess fat for later.




Cut the onions, carrots and apricots and chop the garlic.




Fry the lamb fat until about half of it has melted and the solid bits are brown.




Add the onions, garlic and carrots and sauté until the onions are slightly transparent.




Add the sugar, lemon juice, chicken stock and tomato puré. Also stir in the apricots.



Mix this in with the meat and bake with a lid on in 100°C for 3 hours and an extra hour in 80°C if desired.

Before:


After:


Serve with couscous or boiled green lentils fried in plenty of butter until nicely crispy. Merlot goes well with this dish if you like wine.




Original:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Lamb-Tagine/Detail.aspx

PLAYBOY SALAD

This salad was inspired by a recipe in Arto Paasilinna's Finnish novel Kymmenen riivinrautaa which unfortunately hasn't been published in English yet. The book revolves around a ladies man whose driver prepares food to please women at one point.




2 large avocados
1 large pear
250g cherry tomatoes
125-200g brie
1 portion (bag, punnet, etc.) lettuce, not iceberg.


The avocados, pear and tomatoes need to be perfectly ripe.


Wash and cut the ingredients and place everything in a bowl or on plates.




Remember to de-seed the pear like this.