Pistachio and Pomegranate Cake

This time last year I remember writing a post about Valentines day and how I was single and bitter, slightly tongue in cheek but definitely with a dash of truth (I was recently single to be fair). A year on and well, not much has changed! Okay so thats not exactly true, I’m still single but I’m far from bitter and this cynic is taking a more open approach to Valentines Day. It is far from my favourite holiday but who am I to stop people celebrating there relationships (sounds like the bitter/sarcastic me is slipping back a bit!). The one thing I don't like is cookie cutter solutions, a card and flowers bought lazily from the corner shop is not up my street, effort and originality on the other hand, well that will always gain you points with me. What better way to show someone you love them than with something homemade. With a cake this pretty and colourful it would make the perfect thing to spoil your loved one with and even better it isn't too sweet or heavy, always a no-no for dates.

Pistachio and Pomegranate Cake

225g unsalted butter, room temperature 
200g caster sugar
Zest of 2 large oranges
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
70g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
200g green pistachios, plus extra for decoration
Seeds from 1 pomegranate

Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan) and grease a deep 20cm round cake tin with a little butter and line the base with parchment paper. 

To make the cake place the pistachios into the bowl of a food processor and pulse until finely ground (to prevent the nuts forming a paste you can add a tbsp of the flour to the processor).

Place the butter into a large bowl and, using an electric mixer, beat until light and creamy about 3 minutes. Add the sugar and the orange zest and beat together until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.

Add the eggs a little at a time, beating until fully combined. Sieve the flour, baking powder and salt together, add the pistachios and mix together. Add the dry goods to the butter mixture and gently fold together until combined. Scrape the batter into the prepared tin and gently level out. 

Bake the cake in the preheated oven for 50-55 minutes or until the cake is golden brown and when a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean, if the cake is browning too quickly lightly cover with a piece of foil. 

Allow the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely. To finish the cake sprinkle with extra chopped pistachios and the seeds from a pomegranate. 

Because this cake is made with ground nuts it keeps brilliantly, at least 4 days if kept in a sealed container. 

Notes: You can use pistachios from supermarkets but the colour won't be as vibrant and as they are roasted the cake won't be quite as moist - green pistachios available here) 

Pistachio and Chocolate Shortbread

Sometimes it’s the simple things that satisfy the most. A couple weeks back, I was doing some work for Kitchenaid and I needed to whip up 5 recipes, all simple enough to demo in a short amount of time. I had only a couple hours to prep but I still wanted the recipes to be delicious and attractive and really it’s hard to think of anything easier than shortbread. It is one of those wonderful recipes that relies on the easiest of ratios, simply 1-2-3, one part sugar, two parts butter and three parts flour, easy. All I’ve done differently is add lots of beautiful green pistachios (available here) and a little salt and lemon zest to boost the flavour. Whilst that would be tasty enough as it is I am prone to gilding the lilly, so to add a little extra luxury these humble biscuits were dipped in tempered chocolate, and trust me it is so well worth the effort, the prep kitchen was swarming with people who munched there way through these, which I took as a firm sign of approval.

Classically shortbread is made by rubbing cold butter into flour and sugar, almost like making pastry and that makes a fine biscuit but I make mine by beating the butter and sugar until fluffy then gently mixing in the flour, simply because this makes the biscuits a little lighter and I prefer the texture this way, but really it is up to you this recipe will happily work either way, the only thing I would say is don’t skip the salt with such simple ingredients a little bit of salt really helps to lift the flavour and it works wonders with the pistachios, lemon zest and chocolate.

Pistachio and Chocolate Shortbread

100g unrefined golden caster sugar
200g unsalted butter, room temperature
Zest of 1 lemon
275g plain flour
Large pinch flaked sea salt
75g pistachios, roughly chopped, plus extra for decoration
200g dark chocolate

To make the shortbread place the butter, sugar and lemon zest into a large bowl and using an electric mixer beat together for about 5 minutes or until light and fluffy. Scrape the bowl down and add the flour, salt and pistachios, mixing together briefly until it comes together as a dough. Tip the dough out onto the work surface and bring together into a ball and divide into two equal pieces. Place each piece of dough between sheets of clingfilm or parchment paper and rollout into 1cm thick rectangles, about 10 inches long, wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate until firm. 

Preheat the oven to 170C (150C fan) and line two baking trays with parchment paper. Cut the dough into 1-inch thick fingers and dock with a fork. Place the biscuits onto the prepared baking trays and bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from the oven and allow to cool fully. 

For the chocolate place into a heatproof bowl and microwave in 30 second bursts until about three quarters of the chocolate has melted, remove the bowl and mix vigorously with a spatula until fully melted (this is a quick method of tempering the chocolate). Dip the shortbread halfway into the chocolate, allow the excess to drip off then set onto a clean sheet of parchment, decorating with a few extra chopped pistachios. Once the chocolate has set, devour! (If you really have to, the biscuits will keep for 3-4 days in a sealed container.)

Blood Orange Jaffa Cakes

Do you ever get cravings for things you loved as a kid? For me it is butterscotch Angel Delight (which of course is the best flavour), Jaffa Cakes and Custard Creams. When I was younger, actually who am I kidding still now, I had a very specific way of eating a Jaffa Cake. You nibble the cake around the edge avoiding the jelly, gently peel the sponge from the back and then place the chocolate coated jelly into your mouth, sucking off the chocolate. Weird? A little! Delicious, Absolutely! You can of course make these with regular oranges but I have a slight obsession with blood oranges. I have a wonderful greengrocers near my house and at the moment I seem unable to buy any other fruits or vegetables without also buying a glut of beautiful blood oranges. I maybe obsessed but when blood oranges come into season I have to get my fill, it's a long wait for them to come back into season, so whilst I can get them they're a constant presence in my kitchen.

The idea of Jaffa Cakes is simple enough - a spongy base topped with orange jelly and coated in chocolate, seems straightforward? Thankfully they're actually as simple as you would hope. I used a genoise sponge as the base, a simple blood orange jelly, topped with melted chocolate. So far so easy but there is one slightly tricky part, adding the chocolate. You cant dip them, so you have to gently tease the chocolate with a spoon, its not difficult just fiddly. 

Blood Orange Jaffa Cakes

Sponge Base
2 large eggs
60g golden caster sugar
60g plain flour
30g unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled

Blood Orange Jelly
160ml blood orange juice
1 tbsp golden caster sugar
2 sheets of gelatine
150g dark chocolate
 

To make the jelly place the blood orange juice and the sugar into a saucepan and bring to a simmer, dissolving the sugar. Meanwhile, place the gelatine into a bowl of cold water, setting aside until softened. Once the sugar has dissolved remove the gelatine from the water, squeezing off any excess water and add to the juice mixture, stirring together until full dissolved. 

Line a 9-inch round cake pan with clingfilm and pour in the jelly mixture, chilling in the fridge for a few hours until set.

Preheat the oven to 180C (160C Fan) and lightly grease two 12-hole muffin pans. 

To make the sponge bases place the eggs and sugar into a large bowl and using an electric mixer whisk together for about 5 minutes until pale and thickened. In two additions sieve over the flour and gently fold together. Pour in the butter and fold together until fully combined. Divide the batter between the prepared pans, about 1 tbsp of batter per base and bake in the preheated oven for 7-10 minutes or until lightly browned. Allow to cool for a couple of minutes before carefully teasing the cakes out of the pans (they tend to stick a little bit but with a little teasing they pop right out).

Remove the jelly from the fridge and using a 4cm cut out 24 disc of jelly and place on the middle of each sponge base. For the topping place the chocolate into a microwave safe bowl and in 30 second bursts heat until about 3/4 of the chocolate is melted, remove from the microwave and stir until fully melted (this is a quick simple way of tempering chocolate, great when using small amounts).

To decorate the cakes use a teaspoon to spread chocolate over the top of the jelly, gently teasing it to the edges of the cakes. To give the classic Jaffa Cake look use a fork and gently press the tines onto the chocolate and lift up, do this after coating each cake as the chocolate needs to be fluid to achieve this look. 

These cakes will keep for up to two days. 

Pecan Sticky Buns

I know it is January and everyone is eating clean or on some vibrant green juice cleanse but you know what? Sometimes life is too short so why not enjoy a little of what you fancy every now and then? I'm being flippant, of course health is important but as someone who has spent many many years on diets, losing 10 stone, putting some back on and going back on the diets I came to the realisation that the old adage, everything in moderation is the common sense answer and what works for me. Bearing all of that in mind I should preface this recipe by saying these are huge, like feed two people huge. I have baked them in jumbo muffin pans to give them that bakery style look but if you want to make them a little smaller then by all means  cut the recipe in half and bake in normal muffin pans.

Brioche Dough
300g plain flour
300g strong white bread flour
2 tsp salt
140ml whole milk, lukewarm
2 tbsp honey
14g fast-action dried yeast
6 large eggs
250g unsalted butter, diced and at room temperature

FIlling
150g light brown muscavado sugar
3 tbsp ground cinnamon
60g unsalted butter, melted
 

Topping
150g roughly chopped pecans
150g unsalted butter
200g light brown muscavado sugar
pinch of flaked sea salt
150ml double cream
50ml water

To make the brioche dough place the flours into the bowl of a stand mixer and mix to combine. Mix the milk, honey and the yeast together in jug, mixing until the yeast has dissolved. Pour into the flour mixture, along with the eggs and mix together with a wooden spoon to form a shaggy dough, attach to the mixer fitted with he dough hook and knead on medium/low speed for 10-15 minutes or until the dough is smooth and elastic. 

With the mixer still running, add the butter a couple pieces at a time, mixing until the butter has been fully incorporated. Continue kneading the dough for a further 10 minutes or until the dough is elastic, and pulling away from the sides of the bowl. Tip the dough into a large, lightly greased bowl. Cover with clingfilm and refrigerate overnight. 

To make the topping place the butter and sugar into a medium saucepan and cook over medium heat until the sugar and butter have melted and combined. Add the salt and cream and bring to a simmer. Remove from the heat and add the water, set this aside to cool for half an hour. 

Tip the chilled dough out onto a well floured work surface and pat into a rectangle. Lightly flour the dough and roll out into a roughly 40x50cm rectangle. Mix the sugar and the cinnamon together and then brush the dough with the melted butter, sprinkling the sugar mix evenly over the dough. Working along the long edge roll the dough into a large sausage, trying to keep the roll nice and tight. Using a sharp knife cut the sausage into 12 equal slices. Divide the caramel between two 6-hole jumbo muffin pans (you can also use brownie pans if you don't have these) and top with the pecans. Place the buns into the muffin pans, on top of the caramel and lightly cover with clingfilm. Set the buns aside for 1-2 hours or until they have almost doubled in size. Whilst the dough is proving preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan).

The caramel in this recipe tends to bubble up and drip over the side of the pans so to prevent caramel from burning onto the bottom of your oven line two baking trays with foil ,this way you can just throw away the foil after baking. Place the risen buns onto the prepared baking trays and bake for 35-45 minutes or until a deep golden brown. Allow to cool in the muffin pans for 5 minutes before tipping out onto a serving plate, make sure this is big enough to catch all the buns and the caramel as it will drip. 

Best served warm and within 3 days of baking.