Peachy keen.

There isn't a meal better than afternoon tea.  It's perfection.  Not a super heavy meal, usually of the sweet variety (my favourite), involving rather large amounts of chatter, and it's completely acceptable for it to go on for more than a few hours.  This week, I baked this fabulously light cake in the morning for an afternoon tea catch-up with friends.  It has a consistency much like a tea cake and the lemon comes through to save it from being overwhelmingly sweet.  

Lemony Peach Cake

175g unsalted butter, softened

165g caster sugar

3 tbsp lemon rind, finely grated

3 eggs

150g plain flour, sifted

1 tsp baking powder

70g natural yoghurt

2 peaches, sliced

Preheat your oven to 160 degrees celsius and line a 25cm round, springform tin in readiness.  Beat together the butter, sugar and lemon rind until light and creamy.  Gradually mix in the eggs, one at a time.  Add your flour, baking powder and yoghurt, stirring until just combined (much like you would do with muffins).  Pour your batter into the prepared tin and even out the top with a spatula.  You now have two options for adding the peaches.  My preferred choice is to neatly arranged them on top in a circular formation.  Otherwise, you could take a more rustic approach and plop the peaches into the batter.  Both work well.  Bake the cake for 50-55 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.  Allow to cool before dusting with icing sugar and serving with whipped, thickened cream.

Happy afternoon tea-ing!

F. x

Tea-time Tempter

It couldn't be a bad day if you had one of these babies, could it?  Don't leave me while I am away, lovelies, because I will be back with the recipe for these Dark Chocolate Coffee Bean Cupcakes next week.  Don't miss me too much, now!

F. x



Pure Indulgence



I have been wanting to try this elegant chocolate treasure for quite a while now.  Every time I open Nigella's How to be a Domestic Goddess, I can't help but read this recipe and take pleasure in the eloquent way in which she gives directions for its creation.  Well time is of the essence and all of that, so today was the day! And it was wonderful.  How fantastic is the feeling when you complete a recipe and it looks identical to the illustration you have been lusting over?!  Food is all about the senses...first and foremost, the visual.  When the visual is matched by the taste, aromas and texture, you have achieved the holy grail of cooking - hallejulah!

This rich dessert provides a beautiful balance of sweetness and chocolately bitterness. Truly, a gorgeous dinner party people pleaser, this dessert can be prepared well ahead of time and be cooked straight out of the fridge.  I would highly recommend completing a practice run to ensure the perfect cooking time in your oven.  A solid outer, with that insanely indulgent molten centre is difficult to achieve first go but so incredibly satisfying when you do.  Serve them with sweet vanilla icecream and tart raspberries.  A sweet raspberry sauce would also compliment the dessert wonderfully.  These cakes are a labour of love - share them with your favourite sweeties.

Nigella's Molten Chocolate Babycakes

50g soft unsalted butter

350g dark chocolate

150g caster sugar

4 large eggs, beaten with a pinch of salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

50g plain flour

Preheat an oven to 200 degrees C, putting your baking tray in at the same time.  Prepare your pudding moulds by greasing with (extra) butter and lining the base with baking paper circles.

Melt the chocolate (I used the microwave for ease) and put it aside to cool slightly. I must admit that I only used 250g of chocolate as that was all I had in the fridge and the Babycakes were still incredibly rich. 

Cream the butter and sugar before gradually beating in the eggs.  Once these are well combined, mix through the vanilla extract.  Sift and mix in the flour until the mixture is smooth.  Scoop in the cooled chocolate and blend to a smooth, glossy batter.

Divide the batter between six moulds.  Place them on the heated baking tray and put back into the oven.  Nigella dictates 10-12 minutes for cooking, in my oven with dariol moulds, my puddings took almost 20 minutes.  Keep checking them.  The Babycakes will rise like souffles.  You will be able to see the ring of cooked batter quite clearly.

As soon as you take them out of the oven, tip these luscious little babies onto your serving plate. Be gentle, banging and shaking has no place here. Icecream suits perfectly as an accompaniment but so would a creme anglaise or whipped double cream.

F. x

Like your grandma used to make

"Everyone seems to think it's hard to make a cake (and no need to disillusion them)"

Nigella Lawson.

This is no dainty, light, lady-like cake.

This cake has a presence, an authority.

This cake is not about restrained, understated flavours.

This is a cake like your grandma used to make.

It has probably been ten years since I have attempted a carrot cake and there is no real reason why I haven't made one in so long.  My lovely new Frankie recipe book appealed to the nanna in me and so that is why I have carefully followed the recipe of someone else's nanna.

Wet ingredients first blended together to a gorgeous golden and syrupy consistency - the smell of ground ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg already emanating from the mixture.  Dry ingredients sifted were added, a little at a time and well combined.   Finally, the ingredient that makes this cake what it is...carrot.  This batter of this cake is quite thick and heavy but manages to be runny at the same time.  One all mixed together, it's time to play the waiting game.

Almost as soon as it enters the oven, the spicy aroma wafts from the kitchen.  This is the smell of home: patchwork quilts; bed socks; and flannelette pyjamas.  It is very lucky that my oven has a glass door because otherwise, my cake may have taken all night to cook based on the number of times I went to admire it rising in the oven.  The recipe called for one hour cooking time.  However, I used a slightly smaller tin than stated and so my golden beauty took almost as hour and a half.  My baby left to cool in its tin; I covered with a tea towel and bid it good night.

As is my custom, I rose early this morning and couldn't even wait to have breakfast before finishing off my cake.  I whipped together the cream wheese and butter I'd left to soften overnight (always prepared) and squeezed in a little lemon juice to take the edge off the copious amounts of icing sugar I then mixed in.  The cream, clean white frosting fits this cake perfectly.  I adore the tang of the cream cheese and the sweetness which complements the spices in the cake.  This recipe is an absolute classic.  To describe it as out-dated would be ludicrous; to describe it as old-fashioned is apt and hints towards the feelings of nostalgia and comfort it provokes.  As it is, this cake is everything is should be and more.  To be honest, it can only be made better by a pot of Earl Grey and a good book.  Look out C.W.A., here I come!

F. x

Keep Calm

I never understood the "Keep Calm and Carry On" fad...here is version I relate to.

Need to get myself one of these....

Esty - Keep Calm Shop