How not to bake a bone-shaped cake: Clandestine Cake Club April

As a child, I enjoyed being the centre of attention. Kind people might have called me 'confident'. Those more realistic might have described me as a show-off. One of my favourite toys was a magic set and I loved putting on elaborate magic shows for poor unsuspecting guests and family members. I loved magic and was often practising card tricks and slight of hand vanishing acts. I was enthralled by Paul Daniels and at one point actually wanted to be him when I grew up (…or a female version at any rate).

In adulthood, I have thankfully put my desires to be a professional magician to one side. These days, it is the alchemy of baking that holds me in its thrall. Is there a happier thing to do than bake a cake? I love every part - the careful weighing of ingredients, the mixing together, the sneaky taste of cake batter, the smell and anticipation as the ingredients work their magic in the oven, the patience required as the cake cools, the decorating and finally… the eating! Perhaps the best thing about cakes is that they are designed to be shared and, as such, bring happiness to others. 

The ingenious Clandestine Cake Club was founded on the notion that the sharing of cake is wonderful and special thing. Thanks to its founder, across the nation (and world, in fact) a love of cake is bringing strangers together. The idea is a simple one; each month the organiser chooses a theme and members must bake a cake that meets with the theme and bring it along to the meeting to share with others. No judging, no individual cakes - just whole cakes for sharing and enjoying. We all try a tiny (or not-so-tiny) slice of each and at the end of the meeting share out slices of each cake to take home.

I joined my local branch of the CCC in November last year and have thoroughly enjoyed each meeting. Themes have included 'Euro delights', 'What's your tipple' and 'One of your five-a-day'. This month though was the toughest challenge to date. Over the next few months, my local town is playing host to a fantastic hare hunt. Planted throughout the town are fifty or so giant hares which have been decorated by local artists, celebrities, school children and businesses. At the end of the year, the spectacular hares will be auctioned off for charity. Our challenge this month, was to use the hare hunt as inspiration for an appropriately decorated cake.

Now, I do love to bake cakes and I even quite enjoy decorating them but (and this is a big but), I am not particularly imaginative. I like to look at a cake and copy the decoration. And I am definitely not any good at 'shaped cakes' so a hare-shaped cake was out of the question. A happy Saturday afternoon spent hare hunting gave plenty of food for thought - a pyramid-shaped cake as an homage to the splendid egyptian P-hare-oh perhaps? A millionaire's shortbread inspired cake in support of the Million-hare which sits in the window of a local hairdresser? In the end it was the 'Bare Hare' that caught my imagination. This hare finds its home at the Royal Agricultural University and depicts the anatomy of a hare - bones, muscles and all. I instantly thought of a blood-red velvet cake and then set upon my design. A bone seemed an obvious choice seeing as the traditional red velvet icing is white. It was here that my 'good' idea ended. Unsure as to how to create a bone shape (cutting the shape out of a rectangular sheet cake would be the answer next time (next time? I think not, but you never know!). Instead I decided upon a loaf cake for the main part of the bone with two heart shaped cakes for the ends. A little trimming and I'd have the classic bone shape. Or so I thought.

Having turned my kitchen into something resembling the scene of a massacre, I came to the conclusion that (as suspected), shaped cakes are definitely not for me. My bone cake ended up being ENORMOUS. Worried it might be dry, I split each cake in two and iced the middles. The icing on top went badly. In haste, I didn't have time for a crumb coat and so it was liberally speckled with bright red crumbs. Mr LBG suggested another layer of icing. It seemed like such a good idea! Not so much. The cake was now white but, much as I love a cream cheese frosting, this ended up with almost an inch of icing. Just a touch on the sickly side.

Not to be discouraged, and putting aside all sniggers from Mr LBG about how it looked rather… rude, I persevered. A small family of fondant hares added a cute touch to my otherwise monstrous bone. I carried it on a huge tray to the gathering where it loomed large amongst an array of beautiful, artistic and more elegant creations! A good time was had by all however and it is the taking part that counts, of course.

A big thank you to our organiser for another fun evening of cake! Here are a few of the more elegant creations…

Red velvet 'hare' cake

'The Sneaky Harebush'

'The Original Hare'

Carrot cake with a strawberry hare

'The Hare that was Never There'

Pink and green clouds of sugar: pistachio and raspberry meringues

I'm a recent convert to 'the meringue'. That isn't to say that I don't love 'meringue'. I do. Very much so. Lemon meringue pie, baked Alaska, pavlova... I love almost any sort of dessert that incorporates meringue. A stand-alone meringue however, is a different story. I have never really understood the point of eating a meringue on its own. Even sandwiched together with cream, I've always been rather underwhelmed. I've always felt that meringues needed something else to cut through all the sugar be it a scattering of summer berries or a dollop of lemon curd swirled through the cream.

Recently though, in an attempt to shed some pounds, I have been trying to embrace 'the meringue'. It is, in some ways, the dieter's friend. Ok, ok, it is heavy to sugar. But it is also low in fat - hurrah! A short while ago, Mr LBF cooked a fabulous post-curry dessert from the Hairy Bikers Great Curries cook book involving divine pistachio meringues with raspberries and whipped double cream. The meringues were absolutely fantastic and I have been craving them ever since.

In a serendipitous twist of fate, whilst doing the weekly supermarket shop last week, I found myself purchasing a tube of freeze-dried raspberries. For no particular reason. Just 'as you do'. I had no particular plan for these shocking-pink morsels but simply felt I had to have them in my storecupboard 'just in case'. It suddenly dawned on me that the pistachio meringues could be the ideal destination for my freeze-dried raspberries. Pistachios and raspberries are, in my mind, a match made in heaven. For a start, I love green and pink together (my wedding flowers were all greens and pinks). Secondly, I just think that they work well. 

Pink and green; a match made in heaven!

I ground the pistachios up with the raspberries to fine crumbs and folded them through the meringue  mixture before sprinkling a little of each on top. The resulting meringues are a new favourite. Crisp on the outside and fantastically chewy in the middle. Importantly, the flavour of pistachio and raspberry really come through with the tartness of raspberry a welcome antidote to the sugary meringue itself. I served these with low-fat yoghurt and fresh raspberries but this was actually a mistake. These meringues are so good that they deserve to be eaten as a stand-alone treat. Whilst some lightly whipped double cream couldn't be wrong here, I really enjoyed these meringues on their own. So much so that I cannot bring myself to admit how many Mr LBG and I consumed in one sitting.

Another joy about meringues is that whilst they take a long time to cook, they are very speedy to prepare and ideal for a make ahead dessert for guests. I reckon that these were ready to go into the oven in about 15 minutes from start to finish. As such, I am submitting them to the Dead Easy Desserts challenge, hosted by Sarah at Maison Cupcake. Entrants must blog a dessert that has a preparation time of fewer than 30 minutes. 

Here is the recipe, with thanks to the Hairy Bikers for the initial idea...

Pistachio and raspberry meringues

Makes approx 9 medium-large meringues

Ingredients

3 large egg whites

150g white caster sugar

25g shelled pistachio nuts, plus a few extra for sprinkling

2 tbsp freeze-dried raspberry pieces (like these), plus a few extra for sprinkling

1. Pre-heat oven to 125C (fan oven). Using a mini-processor or coffee/spice grinder, blitz the pistachios and raspberries until you have fine crumbs.

2. Using spotless equipment, whisk the egg whites until you have stiff peaks. Gradually whisk in the sugar, a spoonful at a time, until you have a lovely glossy mixture. Don't over-whisk.

3. Using a metal spoon, gently fold in the pistachio/raspberry mix. A little streaking is good - it doesn't need to be thoroughly mixed and you don't want the meringue to lose too much volume in the mixing!

4. Dollop the mixture into free-form blobs onto baking sheets lined with baking parchment (not greaseproof paper) or silicone liner (my preference every time!). Or, get fancy and pipe the meringues into perfect swirls.

5. Sprinkle with a few finely chopped pistachios and a few nibs of the raspberries.

6. Place in the oven and immediately turn down to 100C. Cook for 2 hours then turn the oven off and leave the meringues to cool in the oven. Do check the meringues half way through to check they are not browning - turn the oven down further if so.

Random recipes challenge: chocolate tea bread

It has been an extremely busy couple of weeks for one reason or another. It is good to get to Monday morning and actually be looking forward to the week ahead; a quiet one in which I can potter gently rather than gallivanting around the country and trying to cram too many things into each day. I am looking forward to spending some time in the kitchen surrounded by gently simmering casseroles and slowly baked cakes rather than furiously boiling pots and hot sizzling pans.

I did manage to fit in a little baking towards the end of last week when I took on the random recipe challenge hosted by Dominic at Belleau Kitchen. This month he has joined forces with with Choclette from Chocolate Log Blog who hosts the monthly 'We Should Cocoa' challenging us to select a random chocolate recipe from our collections of recipe books. Running my hand along the bookshelves, the first book I selected turned out to be Delia Smith's 'Summer Collection'. A quick check in the index revealed that chocolate is apparently a seasonal item as it does not feature in this book (which has now gone down in my estimation - surely chocolate is essential year-round?). Fearing the next random book choice would be something equally bereft of chocolate, I decided to make things easier by pulling out the four chocolate-themed books I happen to own. I did a quick shuffle and ended up with a book that was given to me years ago and which I have never found to be particularly inspiring. Disappointing! 

I considered a quick swap for the Green and Black's book I had been hoping for but decided that this would not be true to the challenge. The book in question is a small hardback entitled 'Chocolate' and is written by Jacqueline Bellefontaine. First published in 1999, the book feels rather dated but does include many tempting recipes including a chocolate queen of puddings, white chocolate truffle cake and chocolate zabaglione. Sadly when opening the book at a random page, I did not open it on any of these pages. I wasn't too disappointed though as it opened on a chocolate tea bread. I am a huge fan of loaf cakes and particularly like a fruit-packed tea loaf spread with butter so thought this would be a pretty good variation. The picture looked tempting and the ingredients included raisins, chocolate chips, orange rind and walnuts which I felt would all work together.

Unfortunately, I was rather disappointed with this bake. Despite following the recipe, it felt like a heavy brick once baked and cooled. Upon eating it was heavy, dry and dense and definitely needed butter. Most definitely a tea bread as opposed to a loaf cake! I took it to my parents' house for the weekend where my mother declared that it would be quite nice without the chocolate despite my protestations that this rather defeat the object of a chocolate tea bread. Mr LBG thought it would be improved if spread with Nutella and thought it was overbaked. I felt there were too many eggs in the recipe (four for a standard loaf cake) and that this might have contributed to the dense texture.

Sadly, not a recipe I shall be repeating but a great opportunity to dust off and old cook book. 

Soup and bread to soothe the soul: celeriac and blue cheese soda bread and carrot, parsnip and coriander soup

Carrot, parsnip and coriander soup with celeriac and blue cheese soda bread

When will the rain stop? A question on the lips of many at the moment. We live in close proximity to a brook which floods and it is a nerve-wracking time. We have (so far, grabbing onto the wooden table for dear life) been fortunate to remain dry unlike the many across the UK who are struggling to deal with the carnage left by the hideous conditions this year. As I type, the rain is once again falling and the wind is whipping through the village. Wheelie bins are being blown down the street, trees are bending awkwardly in the gusts with their roots clinging on for dear life. Water is bubbling out of the drains and I have one eye on the brook, keeping check on the ever-rising level of water.

This winter has been a miserable one so far. Bring me the snow and ice any time over this incessant rain and wind. Compared to many, we are very fortunate, but I have to admit that the conditions are beginning to get me down. Life with an active toddler is no fun in this weather. Yes, the buggy has a rain-cover and yes, we both have waterproofs but, to be honest, being out and about in the pouring rain whilst pushing a buggy is not a great deal of fun. So we are largely spending time at home and, whilst cosy days at home can be fun, I am starting to get a little cabin fever. Not helped by the fact that my little boy is under the weather and exceptionally clingy!

Brushing with beaten egg gives a lovely shiny crust

This sort of weather demands soup. There is simply nothing else that will do for lunch on a dreary day such as this. Almost as good as a hug, a bowl of really tasty, hot soup warms you up from within in the same way as a morning bowl of porridge. My vegetable drawer is currently heavy to celeriac. I have three. Now, I love celeriac but nobody needs three celeriac. I toyed with making a celeriac soup but then I remembered a recipe card that had come with my last veg box for a celeriac and blue cheese soda bread. Bread-making and I do not normally get on well. It is for this reason that I purchased a bread maker which does the job brilliantly. I am not sure what it is, but I am never pleased with the results and have rather consigned it to the 'things I don't do well' list. Soda bread, however, is my friend. No yeast required! Quick and simple bread that is fairly foolproof. My kind of bread-making. This recipe could hardly be easier; you simply grate some celeriac and mix with flour and Stilton, add an egg and some milk, shape the dough and bake in the oven. No proving, no kneading. 

Serve the bread warm whilst the Stilton is still oozy!

I had to add a little extra flour as my dough was very sloppy (hence my rather flat 'loaf') but overall, I was impressed with this flavoursome bread. It was a great accompaniment to the warming bowl of soup I made to go alongside. I had a huge bunch of coriander and decided to tweak my usual carrot and coriander soup recipe by adding some parsnip, which worked well. The recipe for the soda bread can be found here and here is the rough recipe for the soup...

Carrot, parsnip and coriander soup

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 large onion, chopped

1 plump clove garlic, crushed

1 tsp ground coriander

4 large carrots, peeled and roughly chopped

1 large parsnip, peeled and roughly chopped

1 litre vegetable or chicken stock

large handful fresh coriander

1. Heat a little oil in a large saucepan and sweat the onions until starting to soften and look translucent (5 mins). Add the garlic and coriander and cook for a further minute.

2. Add the chunks of carrot and parsnip, place the lid on the pan and cook on a low heat for five minutes or so. Add the stock and simmer for 20 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft.

3. Roughly chop the coriander and add to the soup. Remove from heat and blend to a smooth soup with a hand blender or liquidiser. Garnish with a swirl of cream and a little extra coriander, if liked.

I am entering this lovely soup into two blogging challenges. Firstly, No Croutons Required, which this month is hosted by Jacquline at Tinned Tomatoes. Entrants must make a vegetarian soup or salad in order to enter.

Secondly, I am entering this into Karen's 'Cooking with Herbs' monthly challenge over at Lavender and Lovage. This month she has asked for an Oriental theme if possible to celebrate Chinese New Year. I can't really claim that this is very oriental but I did use heaps of coriander which does lend a very Asian flavour to the soup. 

Birthdays always require cake: lovely lemon layer cake

Cake baking is almost certainly my favourite sort of cooking. I am rarely happier than when the kitchen is filled with the aroma of a cake baking in the oven (...and splattered with the remnants of sticky batter, icing sugar and off-cuts of greaseproof paper - my husband despairs). Of all things, it is a cake that brings the most smiles when placed triumphantly on the table to share with friends or family. 

The constant efforts to shed pounds mean that I do not indulge quite as often as I would like but it doesn't take too much for me to find an excuse to get baking; a gathering of 'Mummy friends', a village fundraiser, weekend guests, new neighbours or simply a bunch of over-ripe bananas languishing in the fruit bowl. Last week was a very busy one but I still managed to squeeze in a spot of cake-bakery in honour of my mother-in-law's birthday. A birthday without cake is unimaginable to me - it was with great excitement and anticipation that I looked forward to viewing my birthday cake for the first time each year as a child. The excitement may not be quite the same these days, but the sight of birthday cake always lifts my spirits!

My lovely mother-in-law is an excellent cook and particularly good at cakes so I have to confess that I felt slightly under pressure when it came to choosing an appropriate cake to bake. We also have quite different tastes and preferences when it comes to cake-baking. She is not a fan of 'goo', preferring her cakes unadorned with the sponge itself the star of the show. I, on the other hand, live for goo. Well, almost. There are other things in my life too, but 'goo' is fairly high on the list. I like my cakes sticky, oozy and slathered with dazzling icing, sandwiched with the jammiest of jams and topped with gorgeous decorations. I try to be 'less is more' but it doesn't really work. I am quite clearly a 'more is more' kind of a person. (Note to self: this could explain my rather wide girth). 

This is not to say that I don't enjoy a plainer cake. I really do. I have a particular passion for an unadorned loaf cake. A simple fruit tea loaf, banana bread, lemon drizzle or (best of all) a fiery ginger cake are all very high on my list of favourite bakes. My mother-in-law and I share a love of loaf cakes and regularly discuss methods and swap recipes. But a loaf cake won't do for a birthday cake. No. To me, a birthday cake should be round (unless a novelty cake in which case any shape will do) and should have at least some sort of icing to make it feel 'special'. Here is where I start to become unstuck. All the round cakes in my repertoire are rather reliant on the sort of 'goo' that my mother-in-law dislikes. Carrot cake (I just can't bring myself to make it without the gorgeous cream cheese icing that I love to o much). Chocolate fudge cake (heavy on sticky, dark icing). Red velvet cake (artificial colouring AND lots of icing - a double no-no). The list goes on... I went over my cake books again and again and knew what had to be done. I had to face my nemesis. The Victoria Sponge. 

What is wrong with The Victoria Sponge, I hear you ask? The simplest, plainest cake there is. A much-loved symbol of the British teatime tradition. A cake that I am woefully bad at making. I think perhaps that my reliance on 'goo' is really a cover up. A decadent icing can hide a multitude of sins. With a Vicky sponge there is nowhere to hide. My mother-in-law makes a beautiful Victoria Sponge. It is always perfectly and evenly risen with a lovely light and delicate texture.  I know how to make 'The Perfect Victoria Sponge' (weigh the eggs and use the exact same weight of butter, sugar and flour is the method I like best) but somehow I have never quite achieved the results I am after. This is for various reasons but the main one is lack of practise. It is quite simply not a cake that I ever choose to make for myself. I just can't get excited by it. Which isn't to say that I don't enjoy a slice when someone else makes (a far better) one. I have come to the conclusion that in order to make a good Victoria Sponge, you have to love it in the first place.

Anyway, all this aside, I decided that I should make a simple sponge for my mother-in-law. I couldn't bring myself to make an un-iced birthday cake though. I decided that I would stick to the Victoria Sponge base but spruce it up with a burst of lemon. I tried so hard to keep the 'goo' at bay but the more I thought about lemons, the more I thought about other lemony additions. I was torn between filling my cake with lemon curd or with a lemon butter icing. I had already decided upon a glossy white glacé icing for the top. Before I knew it, I had spiralled out of control and baked three layers enabling me to have both fillings as well as the white topping. I toyed with various ideas for decorating (freeze-dried raspberries, candied strips of orange and lemon, a piped 'Happy Birthday' greeting) but in the end kept it reasonably simple with some pretty bought flower decorations.

To my lovely mother-in-law, I say 'sorry'. I tried (I really did) to keep the 'goo' at bay. I tried to bake a cake to please you and not to please me. But I confess, a little bit of me got in the way!

The verdict: for me, this was probably my perfect lemon cake. The only alteration I might consider would be drizzling a little lemon syrup over the warm cakes for yet more lemony flavour and moisture. But sometimes, you just need to learn when to stop!

I chose to bake my cake in three tins but you could easily make one large, deep cake and cut into layers. You will need to bake it for slightly longer, of course.

Lovely lemon layer cake

Ingredients:

250g golden caster sugar

250g softened unsalted butter

5 large eggs

250g self-raising flour

1 rounded tsp baking powder

2 tbsp whole milk

finely grated zest 2 lemons

For the buttercream:

85g softened butter

175g icing sugar, sifted

zest and juice 1/2 lemon

4-6 tbsp good quality lemon curd

For the top of the cake:

250g icing sugar, sifted

juice of 1 lemon

1. Preheat oven to 170C. Butter and base line three 20cm loose-bottomed sandwich tins (or see note above).

2. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and very fluffy. I used a stand mixer for this, but you could use an electric whisk too. It is worth spending a good few minutes on this. Also, ensure your butter is nicely softened - mine was a little too hard.

3. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition and adding a tablespoon of flour with each one if the mixture starts to curdle. 

4. Sift the flour and baking powder and fold into the cake mixture a little at a time. Mix in the lemon zest and stir gently until all combined. Add milk until you have a soft, dropping consistency.

5. Divide the mixture between the three tins (you can weigh each tin if you want to be really accurate - I didn't). Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes until the cakes are golden and spring back when lightly pressed with your finger. Remove from oven and cool in the tins for five minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

6. To make the buttercream, beat the butter until light and fluffy. Add the sifted icing sugar and beat like mad until very fluffy indeed (patience pays dividends here). Add lemon zest and juice and beat some more. Set aside.

7. To make the topping, mix sifted icing sugar with enough of the lemon juice to have a smooth, spreadable icing. You may well not need it all - my lemons were rather small - so add a little at a time.

8. To assemble: choose which cake has the flattest surface for the top of the cake and set aside. Spread a little buttercream onto a cake board or plate if wished, to secure the cake in place. Place one layer of sponge on the bottom and spread with a generous layer of buttercream. Place the second sponge on top of this and smother with lemon curd. Place the 'best' layer on top and smooth over the glossy white icing, allowing a little to drip over the sides. A warm palette knife is good for this job. Decorate as wished and serve!

What would your 'perfect' birthday cake be like? Mine would probably be a red velvet cake.

Loving your leftovers: pistachio and raspberry clafoutis

There is something peculiarly satisfying about creating a meal from nothing. Or rather, creating food from 'what is there' rather than having to shop for specific items. I particularly like using 'leftovers' to create dishes which are just as delicious as (yet totally different to) their original incarnation or purpose. Most Sundays, Mr LBG and I end our weekend with a proper feast. At this time of year it is usually a roast followed by a 'proper pud'. I love this simple ritual and also love the ritual of inventing creative dishes with the leftover meat on a Monday. I am not a fan of repetition and have never enjoyed trying to re-create the previous night's roast the following evening with cold meat. Instead I like to create something completely different; a curry, a creamy pie, a tagine or hearty casserole for example.

Whilst I am fairly good at creating new dishes from the ingredients in my fridge, I must confess that my larder cupboard is overflowing with half-used packets of this-and-that. Nuts, seeds, flours and baking ingredients which have been purchased with a specific recipe in mind and the remainder left to sit unloved until a spring clean deems them past their best. I hate wastage and have been trying to make more effort to love all my leftovers - not just the fresh ones. 

Ground pistachios

Mr LBG cooked a fantastic feast for a friend and I on Saturday night and finished with a delicious dessert of pistachio meringues with fresh raspberries and cream. I could see that the half-used packed of shelled pistachios was just the sort of thing that would sit in the cupboard for a while and that by the time I decided to use them, they would no doubt have lost their charm and be on the stale side. Pistachios are expensive and I was determined that these beauties would not go to waste! Leftover raspberries were also available which was great news as I think the two go so well together. I wanted to make a warm, comforting sort of pudding and wondered how to combine the two into something homely without loosing the fragrant and slightly exotic flavour of the pistachios. What else could I find? There were egg yolks left over from the meringues and - as luck would have it - the remainder of the cream that Mr LBG had bought for his dessert. 

Arrange the raspberries in a greased, shallow dish

I wanted to create a more comforting, warm and homely dessert to follow our roast pork. Using (almost) the exact same ingredients as the night before, I came up with something completely different. I turned to a favourite clafoutis recipe and decided to replace the ground almonds with ground pistachios (a few extra to ensure the flavour of the nut shone through) and replace the mixed fruits with my raspberries. The result? A definite success and a recipe that I know I shall repeat. 

Here is my version of the recipe. It serves two with enough for a second helping each or three with no second helpings! It would be easily doubled for a larger group. It is good served warm rather than hot, I think. Also - I didn't have quite enough double cream and topped up to 125ml using single cream. This was not a problem and I think that milk would have worked fine too - next time I might try half cream and half milk in an effort to lower the naughtiness somewhat.

Pistachio and raspberry clafoutis

Adapted from this recipe by BBC Good Food

Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

Butter or oil for greasing

150g fresh raspberries

30g shelled pistachio nuts

1 tbsp plain flour

50g golden caster sugar

1 whole egg

1 egg yolk

125ml double cream

1. Make the batter ahead of time, if you can. I made mine an hour or so before cooking. First, grind the nuts in a small food processor or coffee grinder. A few nibbly bits is fine but try to get them as fine as you can. Whisk or blend together all ingredients except for the raspberries until you have a smooth batter. Set aside.

2. Pre-heat oven to 180C. Grease a small gratin or other ovenproof dish. Arrange the raspberries over the base and pour over the batter. Bake in the oven for approx. 40 minutes until the batter is risen, golden and just firm (a little wobble is good). Remove from oven and rest for a while - best served warm.

Variation: Next time, I might consider adding a few little chunks of dark chocolate for added naughtiness.

A lighter way to bake: Ginger oat cookies and lemon and blueberry cake

Like many cooking enthusiasts, Mr LBG and I have quite a collection of cookery books. 136 to be precise as I have just this moment been to count. I am actually rather staggered by the figure. You can spot our favourites easily; the pages bear the hallmarks of culinary exploits (splatters of tomato sauce or marks from buttery fingers), notes are scribbled in the margins and books that fall open on favourite recipes. Others look pristine and unloved as they have failed to inspire and some fall halfway between the two - much browsed but rarely 'used'. I confess that increasingly I find myself turning to the internet for recipes - it is so much quicker when you know what you want to tap 'chicken cacciatore' into google than to flick through the books looking for the perfect recipe. (Wouldn't it be marvellous to have an online directory of all the recipes in your bookshelves so you knew exactly which to turn to when looking for something specific?). However, when planning a special meal or looking for inspiration, I love to turn to the in-house library for a good browse through the books.

For some time I have been thinking that I should make more effort to try recipes from some of the less-used books and I have found the perfect excuse in the form of blogging challenge organised by Dominic from Belleau Kitchen. His monthly random recipes event challenges us to pick a book and recipe at random and cook what you find on that page (no excuses save budget or seasonality). This month's challenge suggests we choose at random (no peeking) from books we received as Christmas presents. This year I received two new books and had yet to try either so this was the perfect excuse. 

The book selected was Lorraine Pascale's 'A Lighter Way to Bake'. Very appropriate considering the January healthy-eating I am currently trying to embrace. The book has lots of tempting recipes from savoury pies and tarts to the expected cakes, cookies and breads. Lorraine aims to cut calories, sugar and fat whilst retaining as much flavour and authenticity as possible. An interesting challenge! I opened the book at random and it fell open on a page with no recipe but a photo of a rather good-looking cake studded with blueberries. I turned back a page to discover the recipe for 'Blueberry and Limoncello Drizzle Cake'. 

Before

After!

I waited until I had friends visiting for tea and set to work. As it would happen, this is just the sort of cake that I might have chosen to bake under ordinary circumstances. Lorraine's healthy version replaces some of the butter with (full fat) Greek yoghurt and as well as two whole eggs, four lightly whipped egg whites are folded into the mixture. I confess that I found the recipe a little confusing - she states that the whites should be whipped until 'light and frothy' before folding them into the mix. Flour (half of it) is then added afterwards along with baking powder etc and you are then instructed to 'beat' until you have a smooth batter. This seemed strange as it would surely undo the effect of folding in the airy egg whites? Rather odd, I thought. I also found that at the suggested temperature (150C fan oven), the cake took almost twice as long to cook as she suggested.

All this aside, I was quite pleased with this lighter cake. I didn't have any limoncello so I simply used lemon juice in its place for the icing - probably more appropriate for afternoon tea for four Mums in charge of toddlers (....or maybe not?!). It is definitely not what I would describe as a lemon drizzle cake. To me, a drizzle cake involves skewering the warm cake and pouring a sugar and citrus glaze over the cake. This was more a nice, dampish lemon cake bursting with blueberries and topped with a drizzly lemon (or limoncello) icing. I wasn't wowed but Mr LBG thought it was superb and ate more slices than perhaps he should have done. I would have preferred it more lemony and - let's face it - with more butter! Having said this, I would make it again and, for a light alternative, it was rather good. You can find the recipe here.

The labrador's favourite: oatmeal and ginger cookies

I don't like to judge a book by one recipe so I decided I would also try one of the cookie recipes. I plunked for 'Oatmeal and Ginger Cookies' and thought this was a great and speedy recipe. Made with oats and wholemeal flour, these slightly chewy but crisp on the outside treats are satisfying and pack a seriously gingery bite (too gingery for Mr LBG who took one bite and passed it to me in favour of another slice of the cake). I thought they were delicious though (and so did the labrador who snaffled THREE from the kitchen counter whilst my back was turned - he is now, quite literally, in the doghouse).

Thank you to Dominic for organising this challenge as I'm pleased to have got started on this new book. Next stop is the filo-topped 'Thai fish pie'.