A Tale of Two (or Three) Cook Books

Because like it or not I’ve reached a point in my life where Friday nights are about baking (if I have the energy) blogging (if I have the energy) and staring at the television (requires no energy – happens a lot). Anyway tonight I had a few bits and pieces (including rhubarb that I bought at the beginning of the week in a fit of optimism) that needed using and a new book; Pam Corbin’s ‘Cakes’. Could the two come together in a glorious pudding-y collision?

Well as it happens not quite – the rhubarb has gone into a cake but it’s a version of the apple pudding cake from ‘River Cottage Everyday’ (rhubarb instead of apple, no cinnamon, bit of extra sugar on top for crunch and sweetness, tea spoon of almond essence) although there has been help from Niki Segnit’s ‘The Flavour Thesaurus’ which assured me that rhubarb and almond have an affinity for each other. Somehow this isn’t a combination which struck me as obvious but I now have a slightly burnt tongue that assures me that it is indeed so.

‘Cakes’ came in handy with an instruction to toss the rhubarb in a scant tablespoon of self raising flour – apparently this helps stop the fruit from sinking to the bottom, and it’s worked so I feel like I’ve learned something worth knowing. I also learnt that tipping the rest of the flour on top of the rhubarb when I emptied the dish means you just get a little lump of flour on top of the rhubarb at the end of the process, another valuable lesson for me.

I had meant this post to be all about ‘Cakes’ rather than all about cake but blogging and the scent of fresh baking are incompatible bedfellows; my mind will keep wandering back to the edible so a proper write up of this book will have to wait until I have the attention span to do it justice... And now as bed time approaches; the washing up has yet to be turned into drying up, ironing needs to be done, all Wednesdays books are still on the floor, and worst of all my census form still needs filling in – it seems some things about Friday (or me) never change.

Honey Cake

Work and indolence seem to have got in the way of baking recently, but the need to use up eggs and butter finally prompted me into the kitchen last weekend where I made a honey cake (recipe courtesy of River Cottage Everyday). Unfortunately I got distracted so one moment the cake was not quite ready and then 25 minutes later it was overcooked and sunk in the middle. Even so it was really quite good, and when I made a second attempt later in the week it turned out even better (it’s been a social kind of week, I haven’t eaten two cakes all by myself – I mean I probably could if I set my mind to it, but honestly I haven’t.)

I’m not sure why it’s taken so long to discover these almondy cakes – they must have been out there for years just waiting to ambush me and I’m so over chocolate now (I haven’t experimented yet but I imagine other nuts would work just as well – has anyone any experience with hazelnuts?) Equally good with coffee or as a pudding (or as the Scottish one demonstrated; not bad for breakfast) quick to put together, universally popular, and they seem to keep well (when they get the chance). It’s like cake nirvana.

To fit in with what I had in the cupboard I changed the recipe slightly – for the original, and quite possibly better version go to ‘River Cottage Everyday’.

One 20cm springform tin prepared with a layer of greaseproof paper and the oven set to 170°

250g unsalted butter

250g of golden caster sugar

150g self raising flour

150g ground almonds

1 teaspoon of baking powder

4 eggs

50g flaked almonds

A pot of honey

Mix the butter and sugar to a smooth cream, add the eggs and flour and beat together, finally add the almonds and baking powder mix it all up and stick it in the tin, smooth down the top and sprinkle the flaked almonds over it.

Bake for about 50 minutes to an hour (taking care not to get absorbed in an old episode of CSI and leaving it for an hour and a half) or until a knife comes out clean and the centre hasn’t sunk into a pit. (This cake does have a tendency to sink a little, or it does for me, but there’s a difference between cute honey soaking dimple and crater.) Finally and whilst it’s still hot, drizzle about 4 tablespoons of honey over the cake as evenly as possible – let it soak in and then eat – warm or cold it’s delicious.

My sink still leaks, but I don’t care because I have cake.

So much to do...

So why I wonder am I procrastinating in front of the television again? Okay so the answer to that is I’m a sucker for a hospital drama and ridiculously easily distracted at times. Ridiculously easily distracted on Sunday at any rate – I set off into town in search of another Gladys Mitchell. It wasn’t available (poor show on behalf of the high streets only remaining dedicated bookseller) but they did – and still do – have the penguin decade’s series in a three for two offer which changed my dilemma from the normal ‘can only find two books’ to the still overly familiar one of ‘too much choice’.

I was sorely tempted by a Julia Childe cookbook until I worked out (by reading the cover, but it took a lot longer than might reasonably be expected) that it was volume 2. No volume 1 being available I went back to the penguins and dithered for a very long time. Choice finally made I set off for home again full of good intentions regarding ironing and hovering, and then got waylaid by a bench with an attractive view. In my defence I don’t have a garden of my own, and the park is on the way home, and it was far too nice and sunny to be doing housework anyway.

In the park (okay in park number two – it’s a leafy area) I was utterly sidetracked by a huge quantity of wild garlic, I’ve seen it every year for the last five years and every year swear I’m going to pick and cook some – it’s taking such a long time because I want to identify a patch which hasn’t been visited by dogs/cats/foxes/tramps and a time when passing youth won’t laugh. Sunday afternoon wasn’t quite the time. Besides which why do when you can read about doing? (A lot of good answers to that question which I will probably be ignoring.) So it was home for a good browse on things to do with wild garlic – at this point I had every intention of going back to gather some but ended up distracted by something in River Cottage Everyday... Apple and Almond Pudding Cake. It was very good, and yet again I ended up going to bed wondering how it is that I do so few of the things I mean to do on a day off. I still need to hoover.

3 or 4 good sized apples

25g unsalted butter

1 heaped tablespoon granulated sugar (I prefer golden sugars for apples)

¼ teaspoon of cinnamon

150g soft butter

125g sugar (I mixed golden castor sugar with a spoon of muscavado – because I could!)

1 teaspoon of Almond extract

75g of self raising flour

75g of ground almonds

2 eggs

20cm springform tin, lined and greased

Peel core and cut the apples into chunky slices, melt the butter and sugar, add the cinnamon and cook for about five mins until the apples are getting just soft. Put to one side and heat the oven to 170°C gas 3

Mix the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, add 1 egg and beat some more, add egg 2 along with the almond extract and a spoon of flour to stop it curdling. Fold in the rest of the flour and the ground nuts and spread onto the bottom of the tin. Arrange the apples, complete with any juices, on top of the cake and bake for 45 mins. Good hot or cold – that Hugh knows his cakes.