My good friend Patricia Scarpin from the beautiful Technicolor Kitchen spent 12 days in England with me. I had the time of my life with her. With went raspberry picking at Garson’s in Esher, Surrey. Even though she came in the beginning of autumn the weather was still quite pleasant and on the day we went fruit picking it was in fact rather warm and beautifully sunny.
The raspberries I used in this recipe are not the ones we picked up. During her stay we were always out and about so we spent very little time in the kitchen. However, whilst preparing these little tarts I did think of my friend and the lovely time we spent together. There is nothing better than good friends.
Ingredients:
For the tart case
3 egg whites
¾ cup sugar ( 165g )
3 cups dessicated coconut (225g)
For the filling:
½ cup single cream (Australian single cream is 35% fat)
125g dark chocolate chopped
2 eggs
2 tablespoons caster sugar
2 tablespoons self-raising flour, sifted
200g rasperries, fresh or frozen
Preparation:
Pre-heat the oven – 140oC – 120oC if fan assisted
Tart cases:
Combine the egg whites, sugar and coconut in a bowl to make the macaroon mixture. Divide the mixture between 6 small tart cases (8 cm each) which should have been greased. Press the mixture firmly over the base and sides. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until the macaroon shells are firm.Remove from the oven and let it cool in the tin. Set the temperature to 160oC.
Filling:
Place the cream and chocolate in a saucepan over low heat and stir until smooth. Set aside. Place the eggs and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until light and creamy. Fold through the flour and the chocolate mixture. Spoon the mixture into the macaroon shells and top with the raspberries. Bake at 160o for 25 minutes or until the filling is just firm. Cool in the tins.
I love coconut. Preferably fresh. I love eating the flesh, drinking the water that comes inside it – it is very good for you. It is dead cheap back in Brasil. Drinking coconut water is the type of thing that we always do when on holiday on the coast. Heavenly. I remember getting a bit dehydrated once at a concert during one of these summer breaks, and being advised by the local nurse to keep drinking coconut water to get better.
I love Thai cuisine and all the coconut milk that it uses, I love coconut cakes, chocolate with coconut like the Brazilian Prestígio or Bounty that I get over here in the UK.
Flicking through the spring edition of the Feel Good Magazine I fell in love with this coconut and lime cake. I spent days thinking about it –like, many days. I went to Singapore on business and had to wait till I came back two weeks later in order to finally prepare it. Today, a month later since I got the mag, I finally managed to bake this beauty.
I had planned on using fresh coconut and a few days ago I actually grated a coconut so that I could use freshly grated in the recipe. Unfortunately the coconut went off as it took quite a few days in between me grating it and finally preparing the cake. I was rather sad about it. So in the end I resorted to dessicated coconut. The final product is a lovely cake with a fabulous tang from the lime curd, but also from the cake itself which has lime juice and zest in the batter. It is a very moreish cake and I am very glad for having made it as it is indeed divine.
Ingredients for the cake:
Finely grated zest and juice 3 lemons
2 tablespoons water
100g creamed coconut block, grated
375g butter, room temperature and softned
375g caster sugar
375g self-raising flour
6 large free range eggs
Ingredients for the filling:
400g cream cheese
400g icing sugar, sifted
Finely grated zest 2 lemons
300g lemon curd
175g dessicated coconut
Pre-heat the oven – 180oc. Grease and line two 20 cm cake tins and set aside
Preparing the filling:
Put the softned cream cheese or doublé cream in a bowl, add the lemon zest, icing sugar and mix well until you get a smooth mixture. Put in the fridge until you need it.
Preparing the cake:
Place the lemon juice and 2 tablespoons of water in a saucepan and heat it up gently. Add the grated coconut and mix gently until the creamed coconut is dissolved. The remove pan from the heat and let it cool.
Put the butter, sugar, flour, eggs and cooled coconut mixture into a large mixing bowl and mix it well until you have a mixture with a dropping consistency. Spread the mixture evenly amongst the two pre-prepared tins and bake them for approximately 25 minutes. I always like to check it after 20 min.run the tooth pick test and let it cool on a rack before removing it from the tin.
The original recipe had each cake cut in half. I only kept the two sides. Spoon the lemon curd evenly over one of the halves - if you have cut each cake into halves you will need to spread the icing over two halves, then cover it with the other half. You want to have lemon curd spread over the halves of the cake. Spread the filling over the sides, then roll the cake over a dish with the coconut and get it coated evenly - I did not do very well with mine. Put it back on the serving dish, spread more icing over the top of the cake and throw more coconut over it. Decorate as you wish.
This is a very simple cake and terribly comforting. It hugs you. I had a slice and the juiciness of the pear, with the hint of spices just gives you a lovely embrace. The brown sugar used gives a lovely sweetness that is much nicer than the one added by caster sugar. The spices add to a feeling of warmth – I find spices so Christmassy. I have been nurturing a terrible sore throat and today I managed to bake this cake. It tasted gentle. I had it with a lovely cup of tea.
Only this year I had pear and ginger for the first time, and they go so well together. In this recipe it is used in powder form. The first time I bake a recipe I tend to be very faithful to it but this time without realizing I used 80g less flour than in the original recipe. It asked for 300 but it showed 2 cups. I automatically translated the 2 cups measurement to 220g which is my baseline. I am glad I did that as I feel that the recipe is just right and light with 220g. I cannot possibly imagine what it would taste like if it had more of it. Be patient and cream the butter well. It will be very important in adding lightness to the final product. Patience in the execution will pay off, you will see.
The cooking time has a lot to do with my oven temperature, of course, but also with the type of baking tray that I used – a flat and rectangular one. Only 3 cm deep. If you are to choose a different baking pan please make the necessary adjustments. However, if I may, stick to a flat cake. Otherwise you will end my with a lot of ‘dough’ and the juiciness of the pear will not be enough to make such thick dough interesting. If I could share this cake with someone I would do so with the 5 first people who visited this blog, my very first recipe posted here. Thank you so much for your visit and kind words.
Pear and ginger slice
125g butter at room temperature
1 cup (220g) firmly packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 cups (220g) self raising flour
1 ½ teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon mixed spice
¾ cup (180g) sour cream
2 tablespoons milk
2 ripe pears, peeled, cored, sliced
To sprinkle;
1 tablespoon caster sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
Pre-heat oven to 180oC or 160oF. Lightly grease a lamington pan (28cm x 20cm and 3 cm deep) and line the base with baking paper.
Beat butter and sugar together until creamy and light – at least 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Fold in sifted flour and spices. I like to mix them beforehand and have the mixture ready. Alternate the flour mixture with the sour cream and milk mixture. Begin and end with the flour mixture. Be gentle when folding it.
Spoon into the prepared pan and arrange the pears on top. Sprinkle the sugar mixed with cinnamon on top before putting it into the oven. Bake for approximately 30 min. cool in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring it to a rack to cool completely. Right before serving dust it with icing sugar, slice and serve. A nice cup of tea would go really well with it.
I am a big fan of friands. My friends might even be bored with me talking about it. The other day I was home and I had to use some plums which were just getting too ripe. I decided to make a puree first. Got a recipe with cinnamon and star anise. Such wonderful perfume. I then decided to add the puree to the friands batter. The friands had an extra moist texture. I have to admit that the plums could not really be tasted – perhaps I would need more puree than what I ended up with. The star anise gave an extra touch, and perfume. It makes a lovely afternoon tea accompaniment – elegant friands.
Ingredients:
50g ground almond
150g sugar
4 egg whites
50g flour
140g melted butter
Plum puree * see recipe below
Preparation:
Sieve the almond, flour and suga and then put all in one bowl. Add the egg whites and butter and mix it with a fouet. In the end add the puree and mix again untilyou have a uniform mixture. Put it in the friedge overnight or at least for 4 hours.
Pre-heat the oven – 180oC (160oc fan assisted) and grease the friand moulds. Divide the mixture amongst the moulds and add a star anise on each to decorate. Bake for approximately 15 min – check with a skewer before removing it from the oven. Leave it to cool in the tin for about 5 minutes before transferring it to a rack. Dust it with icing sugar and serve.
**Plum Puree - gordon ramsey
Ingredients:
4 ripe plums, about 500g
Half tsp ground cinnamon
2-3 tbsp caster sugar, to taste
1 star anise (optional)
Halve the plums, remove the stones and roughly chop the flesh. Toss with the cinnamon and 2 tbsp caster sugar. Place a wide frying pan over a high heat, tip in the plums and add the star anise if using. Sauté for 4-6 min until the plums are soft, moistening with a splash of water if necessary. Taste for sweetness, adding more sugar if the plums are too tart. Discard the star anise. Transfer the cooked plums to a blender or food processor and whiz until smooth. For a really smooth purée, pass through a fine sieve to remove any pulpy bits. Leave to cool completely.
