This cake is a version of my apple cake only made with cherries and almonds. It’s a very moist puddingy cake and it goes marzipany in the centre and has a pie like crust on the outside. The cherries I use are hassle free frozen ones from the supermarket which have been stoned and are cheap and easy.
Continue reading
This delicious traditional Italian cake was the precursor to the carrot cake we know now and love but this is kind of marzipany without the bitterness. Don’t be fooled by its simplicity as it’s fantastic with coffee, for breakfast or with a glass of vin santo after dinner. Like a lot of Italian recipes it’s dairy free and it also has no oil or butter. It is mostly carrots, egg and almond.
This pudding can be assembled in 5 minutes max, so zero stress. I’ve never met anybody who didn’t think it was really amazing. It has that great combo of creamy and crunchy mixed with sweet from the meringues and ice cream and tart from the berries. It’s a visual and sensual feast. The recipe uses any vanilla ice cream, but I use Swedish Glace or the newly launched coconut ice cream from Coconut Collaborative which are delicious if you are going down the dairy free route. None of your guests would guess it’s dairy free and it’s perfect if you are following kosher.
While I was in Morocco recently I was hoping to learn to cook new amazing dishes but our food was cooked for us by a cook who didn’t speak any English so I didn’t learn much. Since I got back I wanted to put more Moroccan and moorish dishes on the blog, so along with my Moro cookbooks which I adore and a new book I bought, Orange Blossom and Honey by John Gregory-Smith from which I am learning new recipes that he bought back from Morocco I hope to enthuse you as much as possible with the fragrant flavours from the souks.
This potato tagine is delicious with couscous ,salad and roast meat if you eat meat.
I also like a dollop of garlic infused Greek yogurt on top, but you could use soya yogurt if you prefer. Continue reading
I took a Mary Berry recipe for Florentines and converted it to a vegan recipe, so they are dairy free. What is missing in some vegan baking is the luxurious taste of fine ingredients and interesting textures. These Florentines are chewy, tasty and very lux, perfect for a special occasion or just with coffee as a treat.
I’m testing them out later on friends, and I won’t tell them they are vegan then I’ll get back to you…..yay! They loved them and couldn’t tell they were vegan.
There really isn’t anything as delicious and comforting as a home made mince pie that’s still warm from the oven. It’s totally evocative of Christmas with the smell of all the spices, dried fruit and brandy. These mince pies are totally vegetarian and don’t use beef suet or the unethical palm oil which are in most shop bought mince meat jars and mince pies. They are easy to make, you use shop bought pastry if you can’t, like me, be bothered to make it and because the filling is so good, no one will notice. They are fun to make with kids too as they can decorate the top their way. I use a Christmas tree cookie cutter, but there are lots of different Christmas themed cookie cutters you could use.
One of the first times I had this cake was in the restaurant Polpo in Beak Street, London. I was then given their cookbook as a Christmas present a few years ago and it’s one of the easiest cakes to make at home, after you have boiled the oranges the rest of it is done in a blender, so there’s no faffing about with creaming in or sifting. It’s gluten and dairy free, not that you’d notice, plus it’s so delicious I was proposed to by a friend’s husband when he ate a slice. It’s delicious with a dollop of mascarpone and a coffee, as it says in the book. My friends now cook this a lot.
Serves 12.
Ingredients:
2 oranges
100g golden brown sugar
400g caster sugar
6 medium eggs or 5 large
250g ground almonds
1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
Zest and juice of an orange
A little bit of icing sugar for dusting
