Almond and coffee cake

You know those days when you just keep on singing a song that has stuck in your head? Well I had such one on Saturday and I wouldn’t mind that much if it just wasn’t the popular kid’s song. After several hours of constant annoying humming I managed to improve a bit the outdated version (don’t you think I’m a bit too old to clap my hands ?). I was so sick of it that finally I decided I should bake a cake and while mixing the ingredients I was still constantly singing to myself:

“If you’re happy and you know it BAKE A CAKE

if you’re happy and you know it BAKE A CAKE

if you’re happy and you know it and you really want to show it

if you’re happy and you know it BAKE A CAKE”

I thought that I’ll never get rid of this infuriating melody, but once the cake popped out from the oven, as if with the touch of a magic wound, the song has disappeared from my mind. I must admit I had some problems with the baking procedure itself. The recipe calls for baking in 150C, what seemed a bit suspicious, taking into consideration that it is just a very simple basic cake, as I bake most of the cakes in 180C. Anyway, as I’m not a baking guru and the recipe was from a guru – the great Gordon Ramsay I decided to simply follow it and see what happens. After 1h of baking my cake wasn’t ready yet, so I pulled the temperature up to nearly 200 and baked it covered with aluminum foil for 10-15 min. Fortunately, this didn’t affect the cake anyhow. It did not dry out, and was still nicely moist inside. Was it a typo in the book or rather my oven that has some problems with keeping temperatures right – that’s and unsolved mystery. Anyway, I pass on the original recipe to you.

INGREDIENTS:

170g unsalted butter

170g caster sugar

3 large eggs lightly beaten

1/2 tsp almond essence (I put 1)

100g ground almonds

4 tbsp extremely strong espresso (I put 6)

100g self raising flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

 

Crunch topping:

60g plain flour

40g demerara sugar

40g cold unsalted butter

 

1.       Preheat the oven to 150C. Butter the 20cm cake tin. Make the crunch topping mixing all the ingredients with your fingers and making crumbles.

2.       Cream the butter and sugar in a bowl. Slowly beat in the eggs. Fold in the almonds, almond essence and half of the espresso. Add flour, baking powder and finally the rest of espresso.

3.       Spread the mixture in cake tin and sprinkle the toping. Bake for 50-60min or until a skewer inserted into a cake comes out clean.

Pears poached in perry

You know those days when you’re craving for something sweet, yet are full of guilt of even thinking about any kind of  dessert? Well time to go back to good old fruit desserts before the bikini time is here . Usually pears are poached in an alcohol that gives them quite distinct flavour from their own one. But no worries here, pear cider nicely complements their natural taste and the spices are balanced perfectly! The recipe comes from Gordon Ramsay’s book “Great British Pub Food”.

Ingredients:

4 ripe pears

700ml pear cider

100g caster sugar

2 cinnamon sticks

10 cloves

3 star anise

1/2 tsp black peppercorns

1. Put all the ingredients into a sauce pan, except for the pears.

2. Bring the syrup to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes to thicken it slightly (don’t worry about the foaming, the liquid will clear further on).

3. Peel the pears and soak them in the syrup. Take care they are fully immersed in the liquid. Poach pears for 15-20 min till soft but still tender.

4. Take the pears out and return the liquid back to the heat and boil till it is reduced and thickened. Pour it over the pears to coat. Serve with ice-cream or whipped cream.

Chocolate fondants

I”ve found this recipe in one of the BBC Good Food issues (introduced by Ramsay of course, that’s why it works so brilliantly). It was the first time I was making fondants and I was really amazed how an impressive dessert can be made with such a few amount of preparation and effort. Moreover, you can make it a day before and let it sit in the fridge or freeze it for couple of months in advance. That’s why I really advise you to make a whole batch of those and store it for gloomy days when you need an immediate choco boost to make your day work (I filled 10 fondant moulds from the recipe below).

Ingredients:
- 200g good quality dark chocolate, finely chopped
- 200g butter, cubed
- 200g golden caster sugar
- 4 eggs + 4 yolks
- 200g flour

If you don’t have silicon moulds you will need additionally butter and cacao. Butter the moulds first, put cocoa in. Leave them in the fridge for 10 min. Sprinkle inside second portion of cocoa. Only then they are ready to use.

Preparation:
1. Melt the chocolate together with butter in water bath.
2. Meanwhile, whisk the eggs with yolks and sugar, till the mixture becomes whitish.
3. Slowly add there melted chocolate.
4. Mix and pour into the moulds. You may freeze fondants at this point or just leave them in the fridge till next day.
5. Bake in 180C for 10-12 min or untill tops start to detach from edges of moulds. If you have frozen fondants, add still 5 minutes to the baking time.
6. Wait 2-3 min, take fondants out of the moulds. Serve with ice cream.

Slow roasted duck

I love to shop in oriental food stores (not that we have that many of those here). Anyway, I have no idea what are 80% of the ingredients used for, but I still like to go there and wonder around, making Mr No Onion Please slightly irritated at best. Recently I’ve spotted a frozen duck – nothing special for some, but regarding how pricy and time-consuming it is to find one in a regular shop in Finland, I can say it’s a kind of delicacy here. Moreover, it was written on the pack with huge letters: Lucky Duck. Gosh…. what could I want more, I’ve grabbed it and proclaimed MINE (after the cash register of course).

I adore slow roasted meat. I bet you too, unless you describe yourself as a herbivore, in which case anyway you’re probably not reading this post anymore. I’ve found this recipe in one of the BBC Good Food issues. I must say that I’m not a great fan of Ramsay (yeah, it’s all about his personality), but I admit that his recipes are sure show-stoppers. Since I was scoping for a bit more fragrant meat, I’ve increased the amounts of spices that go for stuffing. So here it is – my Lucky Duck… ehem… Dinner.

Ingredients:

- duck – anything between 1,5-2kg

- salt & pepper

- 2 lemons, each cut into 8 parts

- 3 cinnamon sticks, broken into smaller pieces

- 5 star aniseeds

- 5 cloves of garlic, slightly smashed with knife

- new potatoes

Prep step:

It may not seem so, but is a very crucial step. VEEERY CRUCIAL, believe me. Just before you start, inform your second half that since you’re cooking tonight, he/she is cleaning. If you currently don’t have a second half, you’re advised to get one before you proceed.

Now…. ready…. steady…. cook!

1. Remove giblets (if any), pull the excess fat from the duck’s cavity and rub it generously with salt and pepper

2. Stuff the duck with lemon, cinnamon, star anise and garlic

3. Grab a fork and prick the skin all over (by this I mean also A LOT), being careful not to pierce the meat underneath

4. Heat your oven to 140C and roast the duck for 2 hours. Meanwhile, boil the potatoes till they are just ready

5. Take the duck out, increase the heat to 220C. Remove half of the fat from the baking tin, throw in potatoes and sit the duck back into the oven for 20-30 min to crisp it up

6. Take it out, look inside the oven, get happy you have followed the prep step (or not) and INDULGE