Here’s a recipe from the past that I really like. Passionfruit are plentiful at the moment, so it’s a great seasonal summer cake.
Claudia Roden is famous for her Middle Eastern orange cake, and it’s a staple in my cake baking repertoire.
This cake incorporates the Claudia Roden idea of cooking the whole fruit, this time with a lemon instead of an orange. It’s a yoghurt cake, too, and has oil instead of butter. All of which make for a very moist cake! Lemon drizzle syrup and a passionfruit icing give a tangy sweetness.
Ingredients
1 lemon 1 cup caster sugar 3 free-range eggs 1 cup vegetable oil 1 cup Greek yoghurt 2 cups self raising flour
Method
Preheat oven to 190 degrees C, 170 degrees C fan. Grease a 24 cm spring form tin and line the base with baking paper.
Place the lemon in a saucepan with water and boil gently till soft- about 1 hour. When cooked, leave to cool, cut in half and remove the pips. Then blitz in a food processor until pureed.
Place the caster sugar in the food processor, and process until well combined. Add the eggs and oil, mix well. Stir in the yoghurt, followed by the flour.
Pour the mixture into the tin. It will be quite loose. Bake for 30 – 40 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool slightly in the tin, and then turn out onto a wire rack.
Lemon Syrup
Combine 1/2 cup lemon juice and 1/2 cup caster sugar in a small saucepan until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is clear.
Pierce the cake all over with a skewer. While the cake is still warm, drizzle the lemon sugar syrup over the cake and allow it to soak in.
Passionfruit Icing
Place 1 cup icing sugar in a bowl with 2 passionfruit. Mix carefully to make a smooth, flowing icing. Ice the cake, allowing the icing to flow over the sides of the cake.
Blueberries, white chocolate, crumble, what’s not to like? These muffins are a winner, as they’re easy to make and even easier to bake.
They can be whipped up quickly for breakfast or a snack. But remember, as I’m sure you know, muffins should not be overmixed, so mixing by hand is the way to go.
Ingredients
Muffin mix
350g self raising flour
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
50 g castor sugar
50 g brown sugar
100 g white chocolate, chopped
2 free-range eggs, lightly beaten
200mls buttermilk
125 g butter
250g blueberries
Crumble topping
50g rolled oats
20g ground almonds
40g brown sugar
60g flour
35g roughly chopped almonds
1 teaspoon mixed spice
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
65g melted butter
Method
Preheat oven to 190 degrees C fan forced. Grease a 6 cup Texas muffin pan or a 12 cup ordinary size muffin pan. Depending on how big you make your muffins you may end up with excess mixture so be prepared to bake an extra muffin or two of either size.
Combine the flour and spices into a large bowl. Stir in the sugars and white chocolate. Combine the eggs, buttermilk and melted butter, and stir into the dry ingredients until just combined. Be careful not too overmix or muffins will be tough.
Fold in the blueberries.
To make the crumble, put all the ingredients together in a small bowl and stir until combined.
Spoon the muffin mix into the muffin pan, and add a generous spoonful of crumble on top of each one.
Place into the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes for larger muffins and 15-20 minutes for regular muffins, or in the case of each size, until a skewer inserted in the muffin comes out clean.
Pears are lovely at the moment, a great winter fruit perfect for cakes or pies or puddings.
This simple cake makes the most of pears and is great for morning tea, afternoon tea or even as a dessert. You could substitute apples too.
I added a plum to the fruit for colour because I had one on hand but that’s entirely optional.
Ingredients
2 pears
1 large plum (optional)
150g almonds flakes
125g butter
150g sugar
2 large free-range eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond essence
125mls buttermilk
50g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons Demerara sugar
Method
Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C.
Peel the pears and cut vertically into thin slices, avoiding the core. Cut the plum into slices if using.
Butter a 20 or 22cm cake tin. The smaller tin will give you a deeper cake, the larger tin will give you a flatter cake.
Line the base with baking paper.
Put the almond flakes into a food processor and blitz for a minute until you have small pieces. Remove from the processor.
Put the butter in the food processor and blitz until it is soft. Add the sugar and cream well. Add the eggs and mix until amalgamated. Add the essences and the buttermilk. Add the flour, baking powder and chopped almonds and blitz briefly.
Spoon the mixture into the prepare tin. Arrange the pear slices and plum slices (if using) in a circle around the mixture, any leftover can be put into the centre. Sprinkle with the Demerara sugar.
Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
Remove from the oven and leave to cool.
Serve as is or drizzle with lemon icing. Make this by combining a couple of tablespoons of lemon juice with enough icing sugar to make a drizzle icing.
You could also great a little lemon or lime zest over the cake too.
This would have to be one of the easiest cakes to make and it looks pretty nice too!
It’s an all in one cake. I’m a huge fan of these kinds of cakes as Mary Berry the “Queen of Cakes” advocates this method.
So this is a simple butter cake, given a bit of zing by adding passionfruit to the batter and in the icing. But you could just as easily substitute lemon or orange as the flavouring or chocolate or coffee.
I made the cake in a bundt tin, but an ordinary cake tin is fine. A bundt tin makes a cake look special, a tip given to me by another good cook, my sister!
Ingredients
200g softened butter
200g caster sugar
200g plain flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 free range eggs
3 tablespoons milk
Juice of half an orange
4 passionfruit
100g icing sugar
Method
Preheat oven to 170 degrees C fan forced, 180 degrees C non fan forced. Butter a large bundt tin or a 22cm cake tin. If using a bundt tin make sure you really butter it well to ensure the cake comes out successfully.
Place the butter, sugar, flour, baking powder, salt, eggs, milk, orange juice and the juice and seeds of two of the passionfruit in the bowl of a food processor.
Whizz until all the ingredients are well blended.
Spoon the mixture into whatever tin you are using. Place in the preheated oven and bake for 35-40 minutes for the bundt tin or 30-35 minutes for the regular tin. The bundt tin takes a bit longer as it’s deeper.
Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 15 minutes before turning out.
For the icing, mix the icing sugar with the juice and seeds of the remaining two passionfruit. Depending on how juicy the passionfruit are, you may need to add more icing sugar.
If you think the icing needs more liquid, add another tablespoon of passionfruit juice or lemon juice. You want the icing to be able to drip down the sides of the cake.
Specialise in liberally over the top of the cake.
I think the cake is lovely just served on its own for morning or afternoon tea. But by all means serve with cream or Greek yoghurt if you think it needs it!
I visited Shetland pre-pandemic when we could travel from home in Australia to the UK. I was so taken with the islands – the breathtaking scenery, the wildlife, the history and culture and of course the food!
This recipe is based on a recipe called Yeast Buns from Margaret B Stout’s “Cookery for Northern Wives” published in 1925. This book documents many Shetland recipes and was an insight into traditional cooking.
I made and blogged the buns a while back, see here. I’ve made a few more tweaks this time. The original recipe makes a lot of buns! So this time I divided the recipe in two, making a batch of 12 buns and I also made a lovely large fruit bun, with lemon icing.
I converted the imperial measurements to metric. doing a little bit of rounding up or down, but as I wanted to keep the integrity of the original measurements, I didn’t change anything too drastically.
I’ve also adapted the recipe to make in a KitchenAid or similar.
I’ve tweaked the ingredients in these ways. I substituted instant yeast for fresh yeast. I added a lot more more dried fruit than in the original, adding extra fruit again for the large fruit bun. I also added some more flavour in the form of vanilla extract and almond essence, as well as cinnamon and allspice.
I made the large fruit bun in a paper panettone case, but you could make it in a large high sided cake tin. You would end up with a slightly wider bun, but with less height.
Ingredients
For the sponge
227g strong flour
9g instant yeast
1 teaspoon caster sugar
426 mls milk
Mixture
567g strong flour
113g caster sugar
113g butter
2 free range eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon allspice
113g sultanas
113g raisins
100g candied orange
100g sour cherries (for the large bun)
Glaze
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon milk
Icing
200g icing sugar
Juice of half a lemon
The ingredients (except for the cherries) are for both the little buns and the big one. Divide the mixture in half after proving and before shaping.
Method
Here is the method, adapted from the rather scant instructions given by Margaret Stout.
For the sponge, sieve the flour into a large bowl, then add the yeast and sugar. Gradually add the lukewarm milk, stirring to make a smooth batter. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a tea towel or a disposable plastic shower cap. Leave to rise in a warm place for an hour.
Prepare the rest of the mixture. Put the flour, caster sugar and butter into the bowl of a KitchenAid fitted with a dough hook and mix until thoroughly combined. Add the sponge mixture, beaten eggs, vanilla extract, almond essence, cinnamon and allspice. Mix well, for for at least 5 minutes until the dough is elastic and passes the window pane test.
Cover the mixture in the bowl with plastic wrap/tea towel/plastic shower cap and leave to rise again for 1 ½ hours.
Remove the risen dough and stretch into a large rectangle. Scatter the sultanas, raisins and candied orange, a small amount at a time, over the dough, folding the dough over after each addition. You want to incorporate the fruit as evenly as you can into the dough.
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C fan forced.
Now divide the dough into two.
Take one half of the dough and divide into 12 pieces. Shape each into a ball and place on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Cover the tray loosely with a tea towel or large plastic bag and prove for 30 minutes in a warm place.
Take the other half of the dough, and stretch into a large rectangle. Scatter the sour cherries a small amount at a time, over the dough, folding the dough over after each addition.
Shape the dough into a large ball and place in a panettone case or large cake tin. Cover with a tea towel or plastic bag and prove for an hour in a warm place.
When the small buns have proved, put them into the preheated oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the buns are a deep brown colour.
Remove the buns from the oven, and while warm, brush the tops of the buns with a tablespoon of sugar mixed with a tablespoon of milk.
When the large bun has finished proving, put it in the oven and bake for 20 -25 minutes or until a deep brown colour.
Remove the large bun from the oven and leave to cool.
For the icing, mix the icing sugar with the lemon juice to make a thick lemon paste. You may need to adjust either ingredient to get the right consistency.
If you think the buns need zhushing, you could drizzle a little of the icing for the big bun over the tops. I made this icing a little more “drippy” by adding in more lemon juice. However I iced some and also left some plain.
Both the small buns and the large bun keep well as they are enriched with milk, butter and eggs. They are quite soft, and they remain soft even after a couple of days.
You could eat either bun as is or butter liberally – I even toasted the small buns the next day and ate with lashings of butter!
I love this cake as it’s so easy to make. It’s yet another cake based on stone fruit and a kind of frangipane mix, this time using ground hazelnuts.
You can make it with apricots, peaches and plums. And as it’s an upside down cake you get to see the lovely fruit on top of the cake!
Oh, and it’s all done in the food processor. Labour non intensive!
Ingredients
150g butter
150g sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla paste
3 free range eggs
100g plain flour
100g hazelnut meal
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
4 white nectarines, cut into thin slices
1 tablespoon of stem ginger pieces, sliced thinly (5-6 pieces)
3 teaspoons demerara sugar
Method
Preheat the oven to 160 degrees C fan forced, 180 degrees C non fan forced. Grease a 22 cm springform tin.
Beat butter and sugar in a food processor until pale and well creamed. Add vanilla paste.
Add the eggs one at a time, adding a tablespoon of the flour, hazelnut meal, baking powder and ground ginger mix at the same time with each egg. Mix in the food processor until each egg is incorporated. Mix in the rest of the dry ingredients by pulsing carefully.
Arrange the nectarine slices in the springform tin in a circular pattern, slightly overlapping. Place the ginger slices in between the nectarine slices. Spread over the cake batter, smoothing the top with a spatula. Sprinkle the mixture with the demerara sugar.
Bake for 35 – 40 minutes, until a skewer inserted in the cake comes out clean. If the cake is browning too quickly, cover the top with foil to prevent burning. When cooked, remove from the oven and leave to rest for 10 minutes.
I’m a big fan of Claire Ptak and her bakery in London. It was a delight to visit last time I was able to travel to the UK, pre Covid! I love her book “The Violet Bakery Cookbook”, and some of the recipes in it have inspired this one.
These tasty morsels are a cross between scones and biscuits. They are quite dense, with ground rolled oats and blueberries.
The mixture is very crumbly and will be difficult to bring together into a dough, particularly with the frozen blueberries. But don’t worry, just pat the mixture into shape and by resting it, you can cut the rounds from the mixture.
Here’s my recipe. This makes 12 smallish scones. You could double the quantities for larger, more substantial scones.
Ingredients 100g rolled oats 150g plain flour 3/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda 1/2 baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 50g raw sugar or brown sugar Zest of half an orange 125g cold unsalted butter cut into 1 cm chunks 150g creme fraiche 125g frozen blueberries
Method Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C fan forced. Line a baking sheet with baking paper.
Blitz the rolled oats in a food processor until finely ground. Mix all the dry ingredients plus the orange zest in a bowl or in a food processor. Cut in the cold butter by hand until the mixture resembles large breadcrumbs, or you can continue to use a food processor on pulse, but be careful not to overwork the dough.
Quickly stir in the creme fraiche until just mixed in. Stir in the frozen blueberries.
Turn the mixture out onto a floured board, and pat into a square about 3 or 4cms thick. Rest for 5 minutes at least, even 10 minutes.
Using a 6cm cutter, cut out rounds and place onto the baking sheet. You will probably get 8 or 9 from the dough, then you will need to gather up the remains of the dough and pat together (don’t re-roll) before cutting out the last few rounds.
Bake for 25-30 minutes until the rounds are brown on top. You could check after 20 minutes to see how they are coming along. Take out of the oven and wait until the oat scones are cool before serving.
Serve on their own – they are sweet enough – or with homemade berry jam and Greek yoghurt.
I made this shortbread for New Year’s Day yesterday. I think shortbread is one of the best things to come out of Scotland, not forgetting whisky!
It’s based on a Jamie Oliver recipe for chocolate orange shortbread, original recipe here. I left out the chocolate for simplicity’s sake, but by all means add this in. I think the orange is the star of this recipe!
It’s super simple. I made it in the food processor. After baking just leave in the tin before cutting into fingers.
Great for New Year – but don’t wait till then – a very nice tea time or coffee time treat any time of the year!
Ingredients
150g butter at room temperature
200g plain flour
50g golden caster sugar or raw sugar, plus extra to sprinkle
Zest of an orange
Method
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
Grease a 20cm square baking tin and line with baking paper.
Put the butter, flour, sugar and the finely grated zest of half the orange into the bowl of a food processor.
Gently pulse the ingredients until they just come together- don’t overmix.
Tip the mixture into the lined baking tin. With your hands pat the dough into the tin, being careful not to knead it. You will end up with a layer about 1cm thick. Don’t worry if it’s looks a bit messy, it will look fine after baking.
Prick the dough all over with a fork.
Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes, or until lightly golden brown.
Take out of the oven, and leaving in the tin, mark fingers using a sharp knife. There’s no need to cut through – it’s just to help cut the fingers once the shortbread is cold.
Sprinkle over a little more sugar, and grate over the zest of the other half of the orange.
Leave to cool completely, and then cut the shortbread into fingers along the marked lines.
Remove the fingers from the tin.
The shortbread will keep well in an airtight tin for a few days!
To serve – icing sugar and fresh or dried rose petals, whipped cream and Greek yoghurt
*the original recipe was 330g caster sugar but feedback suggests less sugar is preferable.
Method Preheat oven to 170 degrees C fan forced. Grease and flour a large Bundt mould or a 22cm cake tin.
Place the oil, caster sugar and eggs in the bowl of a food processor. Process until well combined. Pulse in the yoghurt, followed by the flour. Stir in the rosewater.
Pour the mixture into the bundt mould or the regular cake tin.
Bake for 30-40 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Just make sure you keep checking with a skewer for “doneness” after 30 minutes.
Remove from the oven, and cool for 10 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
To serve, sieve over some icing sugar, about a couple of tablespoons, and fill the centre with a few tablespoons of whipped cream and Greek yoghurt – or all cream, or all yoghurt. Your choice!
You can ice this cake, as I have done in previous versions, but it’s so elegant and pretty baked in a Bundt mould, it doesn’t really need it!
To serve – icing sugar and fresh or dried rose petals, whipped cream and Greek yoghurt
*the original recipe was 330g caster sugar but feedback suggests less sugar is preferable.
Method Preheat oven to 170 degrees C fan forced. Grease and flour a large Bundt mould or a 22cm cake tin.
Place the oil, caster sugar and eggs in the bowl of a food processor. Process until well combined. Pulse in the yoghurt, followed by the flour. Stir in the rosewater.
Pour the mixture into the bundt mould or the regular cake tin.
Bake for 30-40 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Just make sure you keep checking with a skewer for “doneness” after 30 minutes.
Remove from the oven, and cool for 10 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
To serve, sieve over some icing sugar, about a couple of tablespoons, and fill the centre with a few tablespoons of whipped cream and Greek yoghurt – or all cream, or all yoghurt. Your choice!
You can ice this cake, as I have done in previous versions, but it’s so elegant and pretty baked in a Bundt mould, it doesn’t really need it!
The Quirk and the Cool 