Lemon & Poppy Seed Cake

The theme of the next Bury St Edmunds Clandestine Cake Club meet is "Beautiful Bundts" so I thought I would dust off my ring mould tin (technically it's only a Bundt tin if it's made by the kitchenware company Nordic Ware) and try out one or two recipes.

I found this particular recipe in The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook. This book has had mixed reviews due to the reliability of some of the recipes (the Brooklyn Blackout Cake in particular) but so far, touch wood, I've had no problems. This recipe certainly didn't cause me any problems, in fact it was very straightforward and the resulting cake is truly delicious.

This is basically a lemon drizzle cake so you kind of know what to expect but I've never made one with poppy seeds before and I liked the tiny hint of crunch they added. This recipe also just uses egg whites, beaten until stiff, rather than whole eggs, which added an extra lightness to the texture of the cake. Lemon syrup is always a great addition to this sort of cake (although next time I'll poke more holes in the cake so it soaks in a bit more) and the lemon icing provides the perfect sweet-citrussy finish.

Lemon & Poppy Seed Cake
(adapted from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook)

85g/3oz unsalted butter at room temperature
245g/9oz caster sugar
grated zest of 1 1/2 unwaxed lemons
15g poppy seeds plus extra for decorating
165ml whole milk (I used semi-skimmed with no obvious side effects)
235g/8 1/4oz plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 egg whites

Lemon Syrup
freshly squeezed juice and zest of 1 lemon
50g caster sugar

Lemon Glaze
freshly squeezed juice of 1 lemon
250g/9oz icing sugar, sifted

1) Preheat the oven to 170c/325f/gas 3. Grease a 24cm ring mould and dust with flour, knocking out any excess over the sink.

2) Put the butter, sugar, lemon zest and poppy seeds in a bowl and beat together with an electric mixer or freestanding mixer until well incorporated. Slowly add the milk until mixed in (don't worry if the mixture looks like it has split).

3) Combine the flour, baking powder and salt and then gradually add it to the butter mixture. Beat well until the mixture is light and fluffy.

4) In a separate bowl beat the egg whites until stiff then, using a metal spoon, fold them carefully into the cake mix. Pour into the prepared tin and level the surface. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes or until the sponge bounces back when touched and a cake tester comes out clean.

5) While the cake is baking, put the lemon juice and zest for the syrup into a small saucepan with the caster sugar and 100ml water, and bring to the boil over a low heat. Raise the heat and boil until it has reduced by half or has a thin syrup consistency. When the cake comes out of the oven pour the syrup over the top. Leave to cool for about 10 minutes before turning the cake out onto a wire rack to cool.

6) Make the lemon glaze by mixing the lemon juice and icing sugar together until smooth. It should be thick but spreadable. Add a little more water or icing sugar if necessary. When the cake is cold place it on a cake stand and decorate it with the icing and poppy seeds.

Makes 12-16 slices

Apple Amber

Does anyone else feel like they're done with summer? As soon as we got back from our holiday and hit back-to-school mode my thoughts turned to Autumn and beyond and I've spent much of the last week or two looking at winter clothes, planning a trip in December and even, I confess, thinking about Christmas. The arrival of a big pile of logs for the fire and the increasingly dark evenings aren't helping either.

I'm thinking more and more about autumn food aswell. After taking an unexplained sabbatical last year our two apple trees are now producing a bumper crop. I love cooking with apples (although peeling  and coring them is one of my least favourite kitchen tasks) and I'm looking forward to plenty of apple cakes, crumbles and pies.

This recipe is one I've been meaning to make for years but never quite got around to, partly because the recipe includes a few tablespoons of cake crumbs and I rarely have these to hand. This time, however, an unsuccessful batch of cupcakes that got consigned to the freezer provided the missing ingredient and I had everything I needed.

The recipe is very simple, but delicious, and fills the kitchen with that lovely apple/cinnamon smell that will have you thinking about scuffing through autumn leaves and turning the clocks back before you can say "Bonfire Night".

Apple Amber
(adapted from The Dairy Book of Home Cookery)

450g/1 lb cooking apples, peeled, cored and sliced
1 tbsp water (I found I needed a couple more tablespoons to stop the apple getting too dry)
25g/1 oz butter
50g/2 oz caster sugar
3 tbsp stale cake crumbs (plain cake is best)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 egg yolks

For the meringue topping
2 egg whites
100g/4oz caster sugar

1) Put the apples, water and butter into a saucepan and cook until soft and pulpy, then beat until smooth.

2) Add the sugar, cake crumbs, cinnamon and egg yolks and beat well. Transfer to a 900ml/1 1/2 pint ovenproof dish.

3) To make the meringue, beat the egg whites in a large bowl until stiff and peaky. Add half the caster sugar and beat until the meringue is shiny and stands in firm peaks. Add the remaining caster sugar and beat until the meringue is very stiff and silky-looking and the texture is fairly close. Cover the apple mixture with the meringue.

4) Bake at 150c/300f/gas mark 2 for 30 minutes or until the meringue is light gold.  Serve with fresh double cream.

Serves 4

Pudding Club Part 3 - Rhubarb Marshmallow Meringue Roulade

So here's the final installment in the Pudding Club series and I can now reveal that the dessert that I've placed at the top of the pile is the simply fabulous Rhubarb Marshmallow Meringue Roulade. This recipe comes from Jo Pratt's book, In the Mood for Entertaining: Food for Every Occasion and was just as delicious as it sounds. The meringue was perfectly soft and marshmallowy, just as the title suggests, with just a whiff of crunch on the outside and the rhubarb and cream filling was heavenly. To top it all off, this was probably the easiest of the puddings to make. The meringue and the rhubarb can be prepared several hours in advance so all you need to do at the last minute is whip up the cream, fold in the rhubarb and assemble the roulade. I was a bit concerned that the meringue might be tricky to roll up but it was breeze.

This is a pudding to be eaten as soon as it's assembled if possible and it makes just about the right amount for six people (assuming you're not expecting them to get through three more puddings afterwards!). The leftovers the next day were more than edible but I wouldn't have wanted to keep it any longer than that.

All in all, this pudding was voted a winner by most of the people who tried it and there's no doubt I'll be making it again.

Rhubarb Marshmallow Meringue Roulade

(adapted from In the Mood for Entertaining by Jo Pratt)

for the meringue

4 large egg whites

175g caster sugar

1 teaspoon cornflour

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons sifted icing sugar, for dusting

for the filling

400g trimmed rhubarb

50g caster sugar

200ml double cream

1/2 teaspoon rose water (I didn't have any so left it out)

1) Line a baking tray measuring approximately 35cm x 25cm x 2cm deep with non-stick parchment paper and lightly oil. Preheat the oven to 160c/fan140/gas mark 3.

2) To make the meringue, whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks then add half the caster sugar and continue to whisk for a couple of minutes. Mix the cornflour with the remaining sugar and add to the egg whites with the lemon juice and vanilla extract. Whisk until you have a firm, glossy consistency, a bit like shaving foam. This will take a good few minutes. Spoon and spread into the prepared baking tray. Place in the oven and cook for 25 minutes.

3) In the meantime, cut the rhubarb into 3-4cm lengths and place in a saucepan with the sugar and 1 tablespoon of water. Cook for about 10 minutes, turning a couple of times with a metal spoon and trying not to let all of the pieces become too mushy.

4) Remove the cooked meringue from the oven and leave to cook in the tin for a few minutes, then carefully turn out on to a piece of baking paper heavily dusted with the icing sugar. Cool completely.

5) Whip the cream with the rose water (if using) until it forms soft peaks. Fold in the rhubarb and then spread over the meringue, leaving a border of about 2cm. Carefully and loosely roll the meringue lengthways into a fat cylinder shape. Transfer to a serving plate and serve.

Serves 6

Delia's Strawberry and Vanilla Pavlova

We've passed the peak of the strawberry season now (sadly, as they are my favourite fruit by a long way) but you should be able to get British ones in the shops for a few weeks yet. The following recipe is the perfect use for them.

This is another of those recipes created by Delia Smith for Waitrose and if you can't find the recipe card instore you can find all the details on the Waitrose website here.

I have to admit that I struggled a bit with the meringue at first as it was too runny and refused to stay in the neat and tidy peaks I was hoping for. In the end I realised that I probably hadn't beaten it enough so I just put it back in the bowl and set to it with the whisk for several minutes longer. Eventually it seemed to be the right consistency and I manage to achieve a reasonable shape.

I was quite sure what to expect from the mascarpone and fromage frais combination and was worried that it might not be sweet enough. I worried for nothing though as it turned out to be delicious and the balance of sweetness was just right.

The recipe says it serves 6, however I served it to 4 people and we devoured the lot with no trouble at all. If cooking for 6 or more you might want to consider scaling up the quantities!

Lemon Meringue Pie

Wow, the weather here in Suffolk has been fantastic for the last few days and today we even dusted off and fired up the barbeque. I was looking for a light springtime pudding to follow the burgers and sausages and decided that a meringue pie would be the way to go. I considered one of my all-time favourite desserts, Rhubarb Meringue Pie, but in the end decided to try the classic lemon version instead as I've never actually made this from scratch before. I don't know why as it's another one of my favourite desserts with it's wonderful mix of flavours and textures.

I searched through a few cookbooks and eventually found a recipe I liked the look of (I found one in the Hummingbird Cookbook but it used 8 lemons - 8!). The following recipe only needs 3 lemons (which was handy as that was all I had) and produced a pie that served four generously with almost half of the pie left for later.

I was really pleased with how this turned out. The lemon filling stayed nice and firm, even when the pie was still warm, and the generous layer of sugar on top of the meringue, which gave it a wonderful crunch, was an inspired touch. Perfect for a sunny day in the garden.

Baking Beans

Lemon Meringue Pie

(adapted from The Art of the Tart by Tamasin Day-Lewis)

Pastry

140g/5oz plain flour

70g/2 1/2 oz butter, cut into small cubes

Cold water

Filling

Juice and zest of 3 unwaxed lemons

300ml/10 fl oz water

45g/1 1/2 oz cornflour

3 large egg yolks

60g/2oz butter, cut into small pieces

80g/2 1/2 oz vanilla caster sugar (I just used regular caster sugar)

Meringue

3 large egg whites

120g/4oz vanilla caster sugar (as above)

1) Grease a 23cm fluted tart tin and preheat the oven to 190c/375 fan/gas mark 5.

2) Make the pastry by rubbing the butter and flour together until you have fine crumbs, or blitz them together in a food processor. Then gradually add the cold water until the dough begins to clump together. You should need approximately two tablespoons of water. Once you have a single ball of dough wrap it in cling film and leave it in the fridge for 20-30 minutes.

3) Roll out the dough on a floured surface (or use my no-mess-no-stress method and roll it out between two sheets of cling film) and use to line the tart tin then put the tin back in the fridge for another 20-30 minutes.

4) When you're ready to bake the pastry, line the tin with baking parchment or foil and fill with baking beans (see picture above), or dried rice or lentils, and bake in the oven for 15 minutes. Then remove the parchment/foil and beans and return to the oven for another 10-15 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown. Leave to cool.

5) Make the filling by putting the lemon zest and juice in a bowl over a pan of simmering water (a double boiler). Add the cornflour and whisk in with 2 tablespoons of the water until you have a smooth paste. Bring the remaining water to the boil, add to the lemon mixture and keep whisking over simmering water until the mixture is thick and bubbling (my mixture thickened up as soon as I added the water). Remove from the heat and whisk in the eggs yolks, sugar and butter. Leave to cool slightly.

6) Make the meringue by whisking the egg whites until stiff and then adding a third of the sugar. Whisk again until stiff, fold in another third of the sugar and fold it in with a metal spoon. Spread the lemon mixture over the pastry, top with the meringue and sprinkle with the remaining sugar. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Allow to cool slightly before serving (and it is just as good when cold).

Serves 6 generously

A spare egg white

The Viennese Biscuits I posted about previously resulted in a spare egg white which gave me an excellent excuse to bake the following recipe. This is one of my all-time favourite recipes and ranks very highly on my effort/reward scale! (I will try and elaborate on this at a later date). In short, they are ridiculously easy to make and taste fantastic.

Forgotten Cookies

(by David Oppedisano writing in Good Food Magazine)

2 large egg whites

120g (4 1/2 oz) golden caster sugar

120g (4 1/2 oz) pecan nuts, roughly chopped

150g (5oz) dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa solids), roughly chopped

1 tsp vanilla extract

1) Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas Mark 4. Line two baking sheets with foil.

2) In a large clean bowl, whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff and dry. Gradually whisk in the sugar to make a thick and glossy meringue. Gently fold in the nuts, chocolate and vanilla.

3) Spoon heaped teaspoonfuls on to the baking sheets. These don't tend to spread a great deal so you don't need to leave huge gaps.

4) Put the sheets in the oven, then turn it off and leave the cookies for at least 3 hours, overnight, or until the oven is cold.

5) Carefully peel the cookies from the foil and store in an airtight container.