sweet potato (or pumpkin) cake

After getting far too much pumpkin in the vegie box one week, I started casting around for other ways to get the family to eat it. So I made this cake and it was pretty good. Then we had an even bigger excess of sweet potatoes and this cake, made with sweet potato, is really, really good. On the day it's made, this cake has a fluffiness from the sweet potato that's just gorgeous. However, it also keeps for days in the fridge, which is just as well because it is a filling the cracks kind of cake. But the texture does become more solid. Still good, but solid and sturdy.

Ingredients

125g of butter
1 cup of brown sugar, or fine raw sugar for a more orange colour
1 to 1 and 1/2 cup of cooked but not too watery mashed sweet potato or pumpkin (I cook it in not too much water until soft and then drain well. Microwaving would also work well here.)
1/2 teaspoon each of cinnamon, freshly grated nutmeg, allspice and powdered ginger
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
1/2 cup of yoghurt
1/2 cup of chopped walnuts
1/2 cup of sultanas
2 cups of self raising flour
2 eggs

juice of one lemon
icing sugar
a little butter

To make

• Preheat oven to 180C. Grease and line a 22cm (or 24cm) springform cake tin.
  
• Cream butter and sugar until well combined (no need to worry about it being pale and frothy).
  
• Add the eggs and beat some more. Add the yoghurt and sweet potato and beat some more.
  
• Add the flour, spices and vanilla and beat some more.
  
• Stir in the sultanas and walnuts.
  
• The mixture will be quite solid for a cake, but don't worry about that. Spoon into cake tin, smooth the top and bake for about an hour.
  
• Remove from oven when cake tests clean or springs back to the touch. Sit in tin for about five minutes and then de-tin, remove paper and place on a cake rack. This is very important for this cake otherwise it develops an unpleasant pudding like texture.
  
• Make a lemon icing with the juice of the lemon, about a teaspoon on melted butter and enough icing sugar to make an easily spreadable icing. Apply the icing while the cake is still a little warm for the dripping down the edges effect. A thin chocolate icing is also nice, but the lemon is better.

lentil and barley soup

The soup season is well and truly upon us and this one is my favourite. The one I make again and again in various permutations. The one I almost never get tired of eating for lunch or dinner. Goes particularly well with some crackers or dried toastie things with brie, (even the cheap safeway one which can be quite nice close to or just past its useby date). I like this soup best with the pieces cut small and not pureed. The family like it semi pureed which I do with the bamix. G insists on having sauteed mushrooms on top, because well, a meal isn't a meal unless it contains mushrooms.
Anyway here it is, it goes without saying that quantities are a guide.

Ingredients
2 stalks of celery
1 brown onion
1 medium carrot
several good big strong cloves of garlic
1 cup brown lentils (no need for soaking)
1/2 cup of pearl barley
1 tin of diced italian tomatoes
a good handful of herbs from the garden if you have them, mostly parsley with some smaller amounts of thyme, rosemary, sage and some oregano
2lt of water
To make
Finely dice the celery, carrot, onion and garlic. Saute in your soup pot with a tablespoon or so of olive oil and a good pinch of salt. Add the tomatoes, lentils, barley, water and half the herbs (if you have them) tied in a bouquet garni. Chop the rest of the herbs finely and set aside. Cook for about half an hour or until the barley is tender. Remove the bouquet garni, add the chopped herbs. Blend with the bamix if a blended soup is your preference (it does disguise the green vegetable factor - which in our house is a plus). Taste for seasoning and serve.

lemon and lime cheesecake

I do love an unbaked cheesecake. Made with cream cheese, cream and gelatine. And a crushed biscuit crust. Part of me feels like I should like the baked cheesecake more, but I really do prefer a well made unbaked cheesecake. Something to do with the creamy, slightly wobbly texture. Trashy but oh so nice. I don't tend to make them very often as they are not vegetarian due to the gelatine.

The success of this recipe depends on beating the cream cheese until it is very smooth before adding anything other than a little lemon or lime juice. And in getting the balance between the sugar and citrus right. I like to hover on the edge of danger here, but others around me prefer it if it isn't too lemony.

Crust

• I x 250g packet of arnotts ginger nut snaps (not plain brand)
• 125g of melted butter

I crush my biscuits inside a cloth bad with a rolling pin, but if you have a food processor, that would make it a whole lot easier. Just don't crush them too fine. Or your crust won't have texture. Stir in the melted butter. Place a piece of baking paper on the bottom of a spring form cake tin and clip together. Brush all around with oil or melted butter. Press biscuit mixture into tin and press down, including right into the corners with the back of a spoon. Place in fridge while you make the filling.

Filling

• 2 x 250g blocks of Philadelphia (or similar) cream cheese softened (back in the day when we had a microwave, I would cut it into chunks and zap briefly).
• 200ml pure cream
• 1 tablespoon of gelatine dissolved in 1/2 cup of boiling water and cooled
• 3/4 caster sugar (I have used plain white sugar and it works fine, you just have to beat it for longer. Brown sugar would also work fine and taste lovely but I quite like the pale colour of this cheesecake)
• the juice of 3 or 4 lemons and or limes, strained.

Beat the cream cheese in an electric beater until there are no lumps. If the cream cheese is a little hard, adding a small amount of the lemon juice will help. Add most of the remaining lemon/lime juice, the sugar and the gelatine and beat until the sugar is dissolved. Add the cream and mix gently. Taste for citrus/sugar balance. Add more citrus and/or sugar if necessary. When you're happy with the taste, beat the mixture on high speed until soft peaks form. Fill the crust, nearly to the top, and place back in fridge. The cheesecake will be ready to eat the next day. If there is any filling left over, place in a small bowl and have as a secret snack later that night. Yum.

To serve, run a knife around the edge of the tin and loosen the outside. The cheesecake should be easy to pick up with the baking paper. The baking paper will peel back easily once a cake slide or spatula is placed under the cake.

lemon slice

I'd forgotten how nice lemon slice could be. Especially when made with homegrown lemons picked straight from the tree. Mmmm. The scent of fresh lemons. Lemon oil on your hands. For me the key to this recipe is the huge amount of lemon zest. The original Women's Weekly recipe had just one teapoon. I've doubled the original recipe, because what would one do with a leftover half tin of condensed milk anyway?* The doubled recipe makes enough to take for morning tea at work and some for home. Or for a good showing at a cake stall. And it contains three table spoons of lemon zest which in my view adds a certain excitement.

You will need:
For the slice
1 cup (or tin) of sweetened condensed milk
250g butter
500g Marie biscuits (2 packets)
3 tablespoons grated/zested/finely chopped lemon rind with no pith attached. I use a sharp vegetable peeler and then chop with a knife
2 cups dessicated coconut
For the icing
3 1/2 cups of icing sugar
6 tablespoons of strained lemon juice
30g butter
coconut to put on top (if I have it I used the standed or flaked one here)
To make
Wash lemons and prepare lemon zest.
Crush Marie biscuits. I don't have a food processor so I place the biscuits in two plastic bags and bash and roll with the rolling pin. This is how my mum did it when I was a kid. But a food processor is also quite effective, just don't over process. Some lumps are good for texture here.
Mix biscuit crumbs, lemon zest and coconut.
Melt butter and condensed milk together. Stir and add to the dry mix. Combine well.
Line a big roasting or slice tray(s) with baking paper. Pour in slice mix. Place a piece of baking paper over the top and press down with hands. Then use a flat sided glass to roll out and compress well. Place in fridge.
Juice enough lemons to provide 6 tablespoons of strained juice.
Melt butter.
Mix juice butter and icing sugar together until it has a smooth consistency.
Ice the slice and sprinkle with coconut. Press down gently with that bit of baking paper from before.
Refrigerate overnight and then lift out of pan and cut into small(ish) squares with a big knife.
* I know, I know. One could eat half a tin of condensed milk. Or let your child eat it. Or fight the cat for it. Or turn it into lemon cheesecake mix and repeat as before.

gingerpeople

Grace was very excited when I said we were going to make gingerbread men for the fun day. There's a Richard Scarry video that she watches sometimes which features slightly scary gingermen. I thought it would be a fun thing we could do together; it was and it wasn't. First there was the bad taste when she sneaked a lick of the spice mixture and then the (not badly) burnt finger when she tried to taste the syrup mixture. That said, the rolling out of the gingermen and the icing of them was greeted with much enthusiasm. As was the eating.

However, I have to say that as far as eating goes, I'd prefer a softer textured gingerbread. Dark and slightly chewy on the outside. These were quite hard and would be really good for Christmas tree hanging and as small gifts. Recipe is adapted from Biscuits, The Good Cook, Time-Life Books 1982. For the cake stall, I made a double quantity and that was heaps, with some over for home.

You will need

125g brown sugar
125g golden syrup or honey (I think molasses would work well too if you like the taste)
1tsp ground cinnamon
some fresh nutmeg
some mixed spice (actually I might leave the mixed spice and nutmeg out next time - the recipe called for 1/8 ground cloves instead, which I didn't have)
1 tsp fresh grated ginger (I'd be tempted to add more next time, but I love ginger)
1 tsp powdered ginger
90g butter
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
500g plain flour
pinch salt
1 lightly beaten egg
glace icing made from icing sugar, a tiny knob of butter and hot water and then coloured with lurid food colourings

To make

Dissolve the sugar, honey or syrup, spices and butter over a low heat and slowly bring to gentle boil. Cool to room temperature and add the baking powder. It will froth a bit.

Make a well in the middle of the flour and salt. Add syrup mixture and the egg. MIx well and ten turn onto a floured board and knead until it all comes together. Wrap in plastic or grease proof paper and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Roll the cooled dough to about 3 mm thick and cut into shapes. Bake in a preheated oven 170C oven for 8-10 minutes or just until they start to colour.

When the gingerpeople are cool, ice with icing from an icing bag or using a plastic bag with a small corner cut off.   

apricot jam

 
I've always had problems with apricot jam, but from now on, this is my method. I'm so absurdly pleased with how this turned out. The big change to how I've made apricot jam in the past is to soften the fruit first in a few cups of water. Stirring well. This reduces the risk of the sugar catching or burning before the fruit has pulped. For some of my thoughts on jam making in general, see here. Especially the bit about having someone else looking after small children. And the big pot.

Ingredients

• 2-3 kilo of apricots including some that are on the green side
• white sugar, the same weight as the prepared fruit
• juice of two lemons (optional, but perhaps at the end)
• jars and cellophane covers

To make

• Wash fruit being diligent to remove all insects and bird shit.
• Wash jars in hot soapy water and rinse in vinegar water (or better yet run them through the dishwasher).
• Place jars on a tray in warmed oven and turn the heat off.
• Stone fruit and cut out any blemishes or bird damage.
• Weigh fruit and make a written note of the weight of prepared fruit.
• Place fruit in big pot with several cups of water, bring to boil and stir and watch to make sure none of the fruit catches or burns and that just a little liquid remains.
• Once the fruit has softened and become pulpy, turn off the heat and allow it to cool slightly.
• Add equal weight of sugar (from your note) to fruit and bring back up to the boil.
• Stir occasionally, making sure fruit is not sticking.
• It should take about twenty minutes or so but this will depend on how much water needs to be boiled off.
• When the jam is nearly ready the bubbles become thicker and when you stir into the corners there are little explosions of heat.
• Remove jam from heat and test for set by putting a little on a plate, allowing to cool and pushing your finger along the plate through the jam. The jam will set if it wrinkles when you do this.
• Taste for sweet sour balance. I added the juice of two lemons to a six kilo mix and it made the flavours sparkle. I imagine some fruit would need this and some wouldn't, so doing this step at the end makes sense to me.
• Allow to cool slightly before skimming, pouring into prepared jam jars and sealing with cellophane.
• Clean up and maybe shower away all the sugar and sweat, have a long cold drink and give yourself a big pat on the back.

Sago plum pudding

This is the pudding my Nan used to make. Now Mum makes it and I guess, but hopefully not for a long time, it'll be my turn. I did make it once but didn't dissolve the sago properly and spilt all the brandy over the back of my car on the way to lunch. A subject for a few jokes that day, especially as I was working as a cook then.

Not sure about the quantities here. I think Mum makes two so there'll be leftovers for breakfast on boxing day. Mmm. Also need to get the recipe for the sauce. It's a great recipe though, puddinging but not too heavy.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons of sago
1 cup of milk
1 cup of breadcrumbs
1 cup of raisins (or mixed fruit?)
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 teaspoon bi-carb soda
2 tablespoons sugar
1 egg

To MakeSoak sago in milk overnight.
Melt butter.
Add wet and dry ingredients and mix well.
Pour into a greased (greased and lined) pudding container and set on a trivet and boil in plenty of water for three hours.
Rest slightly before turned out and setting alight with warmed brandy and eating with spice sauce, crean and icecream.