Date & Walnut Loaf

I love family time. I think most of us do.

The moments when we sit with our loved ones, -the old and the young- laughing, talking, sharing anecdotes and advice are without a doubt the most precious to me. There were times back home when we were a 'proper nuclear family'- Parents and kids. We used to do everything together. Wake up in the morning and share breakfast as one, have lunch together in the afternoons and of course dinner at night. The moments when we all used to 'chill out' in the evenings and the weekends, collectively sitting in the living room and sharing the stories of our days or even just watching television- these are all my most treasured memories. Often we used to get together with our grandparents and extended family and let our hours pass by whilst we spent time together.

Of course life moves on. 

Some of us got married, the others went off to university and everyone created a life for themselves. And now I appreciate and realise the beauty that we had been granted. There is NOTHING like family. The love that you feel when you're with them is incomparable. The security, the warmth and the happiness is unprecedented.

It happens every now and then though- we all do gather together- albeit a bigger group. Now its married couples instead of single kids, small children everywhere and - A WHOLE LOAD OF MORE LOVE :-)

Recently my grandparents had come over from Africa. I only got a couple of days to spend with them but savoured those few moments. Since they watch the amount of sugar that they have and usually avoid the ready made available snacks from the supermarkets, I really really wanted to make something that they would enjoy when they would settle in the evenings with their cups of tea.

Something wholesome and enjoyable.

I chose Date and Walnut Loaf.

Since this takes a long time in the oven, I had to get up quite early on a Sunday morning to make it, but it was totally worth it.

They really REALLY enjoyed it!!! 

Since there's a lot of dates in this loaf, I just cut down the amount of sugar I put in by a third or a half and it still tasted pretty good.

Although when I make it otherwise, I follow the recipe properly.

I find this considerably more time and energy consuming than the other things that I bake, mainly because of it being a dough and also because of all the chopping required.

But its worth it :-)

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

8oz Plain flour

8 oz chopped Dates

4oz Margarine

4oz Brown Sugar

3oz chopped Walnuts

1tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Soda Bicarbonate

1 egg

6tbsp milk

Method:

Rub in flour, baking powder and margarine.

Add in Sugar, walnuts, dates and mix it all together.

Add in the egg lightly beaten.

Mix the Soda bicarb with the milk and use this mixture to bind the dough together.

Place the mixture in a 1lb loaf tin and bake at 160c for 11/4 hours.

Once it is done, let it cool in its tin for around 5 minutes and then transfer it on to a cooling rack. Let it cool completely before slicing.

Make yourself a cuppa and enjoy :-)

-S

Salted Caramel Sauce

Salted caramel is my new favourite thing right now.

Its amazingly thick creaminess with a slight crunch of saltiness is divine.

I know I always go back to mentioning my childhood memories, but those memories are the driving force of my passion.

I love capturing the tastes and smells from my childhood. Trying to bring back all the memories that made me who I am today.
The happy, carefree days, spent with family, enjoying different foods and the endless hours of playing with friends and siblings in the dusty streets of our nieghbourhood in Africa.

On the weekends, I mostly remember us having our treats. We used to go out for picnics with family and friends or to restaurants where we used to run around the tables playing or sit and listen to my parents talking, filling our minds with vivid imaginations of the past whilst we waited for our food.

I remember we once were on our drive back from one of our outings when we passed an ice cream place called Dairy Inn. Of course with three noisy kids in the back seat, the right thing for my parents to do was to give in and take us there for our treat :-)

It was so exciting!!!...I had never before seen the yumminess that I saw that day.

After choosing the ice cream of our choice, it would be dipped in to a caramel or chocolate sauce that would immediately harden into a crunchy shell, encasing the ice cream. I think a reason why my parents didn't mind us having them was that they didn't have to worry about us having ice cream running down our arms whilst we tried to eat it because it was protected in the shell.

Of course me being the chocoholic that I always have been, I went for the chocolate option. Not that once but every single time we went to Dairy Inn!!

Once to my utter horror and distress they had run out of my chocolate dip. I was so upset, but after reassurances that the caramel flavour would be just as good, I agreed to have it.

That was the point.

I fell in love with caramel.

There was something about the flavour that I absolutely loved and that is what I tried to capture when I tried to make my caramel sauce.

Of course now being an adult, I don't mind variations. Its fun to try out different things!!

This caramel sauce does not harden but is delightfully sticky and the occasional crunch you get from the sea salt flakes enhances the flavour and makes it all the more delicious!! You can pour it over your ice cream or have it with fruit or brownies or any other sweet or not sweet treat!!

I have two recipes, one that is ridiculously easy that I just tried out myself, and of course Nigella Lawsons'.


Both turn out amazing
Both are yummy.
I want some.


NOW!! :-)

My recipe: (I didn't really use any measurements for this but will try and put it here in its numbers)

Half or 3/4 can of sweetened condensed milk

A heaped tablespoon of golden syrup OR if you don't have that, then you can use any toffee flavoured icecream/cake sprinkles or chunks

Half a teaspoon of good quality sea salt flakes (you can use as much as you'd like)

75ml double cream

All you have to do is put the condensed milk and golden syrup into a small pan and place it on a low heat and keep stirring until it becomes a thick consistency. Pour in the cream to dilute it slightly and keep stirring. Finally sprinkle in the salt flakes.

It takes a while, but the patience is well worth the effort.

(Also, while making this, you WILL be tempted to taste. Be careful, it can burn you very easily )

Nigella's recipe:

75g salted butter, best quality

50g soft light brown sugar

50g caster sugar

50g golden syrup

125ml double cream

½-1½ teaspoons finest salt, to taste

Melt the butter, sugars and golden syrup in a small, heavy-based saucepan and let it simmer for 3 minutes, swirling and stirring every now and again.
The sauce should turn from gold to dark amber as it cooks.
Add the cream carefully, then half a teaspoon of salt, and swirl again. 
Give it a stir with a wooden spoon and taste – go cautiously so that you don’t burn your tongue – to see if you want more salt, before letting it cook for another minute, then pour into a jug for serving.
Both recipes make enough to serve 5-6 people.


Enjoy the yumminess :-)


-S

Chocolate Orange cake

Every time we open a box of cadburys Milk Tray, I always pick the orange flavoured chocolate. There's something about the orange flavour that cuts through the extreme creamy taste of chocolate. Its fantastic. It also smells gorgeous!..

Seriously, open up a box of Terry's chocolate orange and just smell it. You won't be able to resist picking up a piece and popping it in to your mouth.

I have loved orange flavoured chocolate as long as I can remember. Many years back in Africa, Cadbury's used to make something called 'Supa Snack'. I LOVED it!!! It was layers of wafer covered in an orange flavoured cream and coated in milk chocolate. Infact, I have a picture of myself as a complete baby holding a half eaten bar and chocolate smeared all over my face.

I don't think they make it anymore :-( I have searched high and low for it the last few times we went back home, but never found it.

Anyway, now that you all know how amazing I find orange flavoured chocolate, you will understand why this is without a doubt my favouritest cake ever!!!

I found the recipe for Dark chocolate and orange cake online on the GoodFood website and was so excited to make it.

This recipe doesn't use only the zest of the orange- oh no!! You have to use the entire orange so you get the lovely bang of flavour when you dig into this cake.

Not only are the results of baking this cake amazing, but the actual process is really fun too.
I'm not one who licks the spoon after mixing up the ingredients of a cake, but this one- I can't resist..it even tastes amazing uncooked!!!!

There's something really satisfying blitzing up a whole orange in the food processor. It may sound crazy but you would know what I mean if you try it yourself :-)

The results?? A moist, fluffy, ultra chocolatey, amazingly orange-y cake filled with tiny chewy bits of orange. 

The recipe includes a chocolate ganache to pour over the cake. It's gorgeous, but that's only if you don't mind the extra intensity of chocolate on top. I found making a milk chocolate ganache or whipping it into a mousse much yummier. I also added some extra orange chocolateyness by chopping up some Orange flavoured chocolate and sprinkling it over the top of the cake.

Also, you don't really have to follow the exact measurements of the ganache, make it according to the consistency that you enjoy.

Hate to break it to the rest of the world, but I ain't sharing this cake with anybody!!! :-P

Try baking it...you'll totally get what I mean!

Ingredients

1 Orange

100g plain chocolate

3 eggs

280g caster sugar

240ml sunflower oil

25g cocoa powder

250g plain flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

For the chocolate ganache:

200g plain chocolate

225 ml double cream

Method

Pierce the orange with a skewer (right through). Cook in boiling water for 30 minutes until soft. Whizz the whole orange in a food processor until smooth; let it cool.

Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4/fan 160C.Grease and line the base of a 23cm/9in round cake tin. Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water or in the microwave for 2 minutes on High, stirring after 1 minute. Let it cool.

In a large bowl, lightly beat the eggs, sugar and oil. Gradually beat in the puréed orange, discarding any pips, then stir in the cooled melted chocolate. Sift in the cocoa, flour and baking powder. Mix well and pour into the tin. Bake in the centre of the oven for 55 minutes, or until the cake springs back when lightly pressed in the middle. (Check after 45 minutes and cover with foil if it is browning too much.) Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the tin, then turn out on to a wire rack to cool completely.

Make the chocolate ganache: put the chocolate into a heatproof bowl. Bring the cream to the boil and pour over the chocolate. Leave for 2 minutes, then stir until smooth. Set aside until firm enough to spread over the cake - up to 1½ hours.

Transfer the cake to a serving plate. Using a palette knife, swirl the ganache over the top.

Have fun :-)

-S

Strawberry picking!!

This weekend was something I was really looking forward to. As much as a little kid looks forward to going to the funfair.. as much as a shopaholic looks forward to going to the mall..or maybe more?

We were going strawberry picking!!!!

I have never gone strawberry picking before and was really really excited. I've already professed my intense love for strawberries in a previous post and I wasn't exaggerating!! In anticipation, I googled strawberry picking and looked at the pictures of the rows of little plants hiding the gorgeous red fruit underneath their leaves- so so exciting!!! 

I have picked fruit myself when I was little- back in Africa, but never strawberries. I had picked 'Zambarau'- a small, intensely purple fruit that tastes sweet but then leaves a bitter aftertaste- from the tree outside school. I had picked bananas from the banana trees outside our home, Loquats (a sweet, orange coloured- plum like fruit) from the tree in our garden, guavas from another tree in our garden and even a mango!! I say 'A' mango because it was the lone mango that our mango tree bore before it had to be chopped off! :-(

Before I actually googled strawberry picking, I had visions of tall trees bearing the fruit, but no..the little plants are so tiny and make the strawberries so readily available for us to pick!!

Anyway, on Friday evening we got into the car and drove to the farm where there were hundreds of rows of strawberry plants. After choosing the biggest basket available, we made our way to the biggest rows of plants and began picking. The fruits had such a beautiful, fragrant aroma, that after being given the go ahead from the owners of the farm, we were so glad to be able to taste the intensely sweet and flavoursome strawberries just as we were picking them!!...I have never tasted strawberries so sweet and fresh before!!! Soon it was a pick one strawberry for the basket and pick another for me to eat situation!!!

Finally, when we had heaped up our basket of strawberries, we had to make our way back. I was so filled up, I looked at the basket and thought that there's no way we would be able to eat any more!!!

With my fingers stained red with strawberry juice, I sat in the car on the ride back home, clutching the loaded basket of berries with a big grin on my face.

I know I said I couldn't possibly eat any more- but seeing them there..all red and juicy and smelling gorgeous..I had to pick one and eat it...

and another..

and another..

until we reached home :-)

I WAS planning on making something with these strawberries...muffins perhaps?? cheesecake?? A strawberry crumble?

It's too late now, the basket is practically empty.

This calls for another trip to the farm I think!!!

Apparently the season's almost out folks, if you can..go strawberry picking before that!!! its totally worth it :-)

-S

Peanut butter and Snickers muffins

Caution: You have to be a peanut lover for this one :-)

Snickers is without a doubt one of the best non-cadbury chocolates that's ever existed.

When I was little, whenever we were told to pick a bar of chocolate from the store, my little hands reached out to the Snickers bar.

Theres something about the chunky peanuts in caramel and yummy nougat that I simply adored.

I used to take home my chocolate bar and gobble it up greedily. That was always what I chose as my treat.

That's until I reached my mid-teens and started to get aware of calories and fat content. I remember the first time I looked at the back of the wrapper and my eyes popping out when I saw numbers. 

Heartbroken. Devastated. Mortified!!!!

NOOOOO!!! my precious snickers bars were actually pretty evil. I think since it was one of the first things that I ever checked the labels of, I became highly traumatised and since then, I don't remember ever eating an entire bar on my own. 
Yes, its a sad sad story.

Make no mistake that ONE day, I shall have one all by myself. I don't know when, but it will happen!!

Anyway, I recently saw a recipe of Peanut butter and Snickers muffins by Nigella and knew I had to try it out. The ingredients speak for themselves but I think these are bound to be delightful and definitely worth the treat. 

The recipe calls for a load of crunchy peanut butter and chopped up snickers bars. The crunchy peanut butter fills the cake with bits of chopped up peanuts and the saltiness makes sure the muffins aren't too sickly sweet.

Its one of those excessively indulgent recipes that comes up with the seriously good results that majority will love- not to mention, the house smells amazing when these are in the oven!!

Ingredients: (Makes 12)

250g plain flour

6 tbsp (85g) golden caster sugar

1 1/2 tbsps baking powder

Pinch of salt

6 tbsps (160g) crunchy peanut butter

60g soft butter, melted

1 egg, beaten

175ml milk

3 Snickers bars (65g each), chopped

You will need a 12 bun muffin tin with paper cases

Method:

Preheat the oven to 200c/400f

Stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add the peanut butter and mix until you have a bowl of course crumbs.

Add the melted butter and egg to the milk, and then stir this gently into the bowl.

Mix in the Snickers pieces and dollop into the muffin cases

Cook for 20-25 minutes, when the tops should be risen, golden and firm to the (light) touch.

Sit the tin on a wire rack for 5-10 minutes before taking out each muffin in its case and leaving them on the wire rack to cool.

Happy Baking :-)
-S

Cappuccino cake

I've really been wanting to bake something for the past few days. It was one of those urges that needed to be satisfied, but I needed to find a good recipe that everyone would like to taste. There's no point making something that the folks at home wouldn't be interested in.

Usually, most of the things that I bake have an element of chocolate in them...chocolate orange cake, chocolate desserts, brownies..you get the idea..

So after searching for something that was flavoured differently, I came across the perfect recipe for Cappuccino cake.

I have made coffee cake in the past, but this one was entirely different and after looking at the ingredients which included yoghurt, I knew it would be really really moist- which is quite dangerous because that means I would eat a lot of it :-/

Anyway, the recipe is really simple. Its one of those cakes which you throw all the ingredients in to a bowl and whisk them together. Easy. No mess. Yummy results.

The frosting was made out of cream cheese, which gives the perfect balance to the cake. Almost like Tiramisu but I don't think as rich.

I found the recipe in the BBC Good Food magazine.Try giving it a go, you'll love it! I'm looking forward to having people over so I can bake it again :-)

Pure Yumminess :-)

Ingredients:

250 grams softened butter/margarine plus extra for greasing

280 grams self-raising flour

250 grams golden caster sugar

1/2 tsp baking powder

4 eggs

150ml natural yogurt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp cocoa powder

100ml strong coffee (made with 2 tbsp coffee granules)

Icing:

140 grams icing sugar

350 grams soft cream cheese or mascarpone

chocolate shavings or chocolate covered coffee beans

Method:

Heat the oven to 160C/ gas 4.

Grease a 20x30cm baking tin and line it with baking parchment

In a large bowl, beat the butter, flour, sugar, baking powder, eggs, yogurt, vanilla, cocoa and half of the coffee for the sponge batter.

Whisk it with an electric hand-held mixer.

Pour it into the baking tin and bake for about 35-40 minutes until its risen and a skewer poked in comes out clean.

As soon as its out of the oven, evenly pour out the rest of the coffee on to the cake.

Cool in the tin while making the Icing.

Just mix together the icing sugar and the cheese and then spread on to the cooled cake.

You could dust it with a little cocoa powder or use chocolate shavings or scatter with chocolate coated coffee beans.

Its really easy and the whole cake can be done in just under an hour.

Well worth the little effort put in to it.

-S

Black forest gateau

Whenever my mum used to make Black Forest gateau when I was a kid, there was a buzz of excitement around us siblings.

Just the thought of the light, fluffy chocolate cake with slathers of whipped cream and loaded with strawberries and shavings of chocolate made us jump with excitement!...we would stand next to mum in the kitchen when she made the beautiful creation, gazing at her assembling the cake, our mouths watering. 

Once it was ready and put in to the fridge for chilling, we used to sneakily open the refrigerator door just so that we could get the aroma of strawberries and chocolate and cream.

When it was finally ready for us to dig into, I remember savouring each and every bite of the cake set before me.

The joy was really something else.

Once we moved out of Africa, we never had Black Forest again for atleast 8 years, but the memories were intact. 

I don't really know why that happened, we all loved it, but for some reason, it never occurred to us to make it again.

A couple of years ago, I decided its high time we experienced the magic of it again. Also, the Taste Tester had to taste my 'favouritest thing in the world'. Thats when my mum and I decided to try making it again. I was SO excited. We made the batter and stuck the cake into the oven.

Thats the time when I finally understood the saying 'A watched kettle never boils'. I waited impatiently for the cake to bake.  I wanted it NOW!!!!

Finally, when it was ready, we let it cool in the fridge (so that the cream wouldn't melt when it was being iced) for a little while and then assembled the scrumptious creation. 

Without waiting for it to be chilled before digging in, I cut out a big chunk of the cake and greedily gobbled it. It tasted amazing even when it wasn't cold!

Anyway, a big thing happened that day. A major, momentous, life altering thing.

(Drum roll)

The Taste Tester tasted THE Black Forest Gateau for the first time.

Yes. This was actually life changing, because after THAT fateful day, I haven't actually ever made something before as many times as I have made this cake.

He wanted it. He LOVED it. He never got tired of it. 

Seriously- when I say he NEVER gets tired of it, I mean it!!

I know that the typical Black Forest Gateau has cherries on top and in the filling- and I don't really know why we use strawberries.

Maybe cos we're from Africa? 

or Maybe because Strawberries are without a doubt the best, most delicious, amazing fruits ever created.

No exaggeration here from me. I have strawberries with EVERYTHING.

On my cereal every morning, on my toast, with pancakes, with ANY dessert that I make, I have them for my lunch with bananas, and I would even have them for dinner if I had to. No problemo!!

Anyway, back to the cake.

The sponge is really really easy to make, and the rest is a piece of cake :-P (lame I know, but I had to put that in!)

I actually made Black Forest the day before yesterday- at night.

I was planning to write a blog entry about it, and was looking at the pictures that I had taken of it from the last time I made it, when I felt the Taste Tester hovering behind me.

I knew it was coming.

"I feel like having some of that".

I could have waited, but I love this cake too, and any opportunity to bake it should be grabbed.

I quickly went down to my kitchen and began baking.

There's really very little of that cake left in the fridge. I mean really, really little.

It is VERY good.

Try it.

Just cos I love Strawberries <3

Ingredients for the cake:

6 oz sugar

4 oz plain flour

2 oz cocoa

2tbsp baking powder

6 eggs

The rest of the ingredients:

1 carton 375ml double cream

Grated chocolate/ flake chocolate crumbled

Strawberries (The more, the better)

Sugar for macerating

Method:

All you have to do is mix sugar and eggs with a hand held electric mixer till the mixture is white and fluffy and then add in flour, baking powder and cocoa and fold in the mixture with a spoon until just combined. Don't use an electric whisk for this because you don't want to lose any of the air in the mixture.

Bake it on 180 for anywhere between 25-35 minutes until it is JUST done. Be very careful not to over bake it as the sponge needs to be light and soft and fluffy for best results! As soon as a skewer pierced in to the cake comes out clean, it is ready.

In the mean time, chop up some strawberries (around a quarter of your quantity) and sprinkle some sugar over them. Leave them to macerate. The longer, the better. The more juice it produces, the better the result because theres nothing better than the strawberry syrup soaking in to the chocolate sponge!!

When the cake is done, slice it in the middle while it is still warm (like a sandwich) and pour the macerated strawberries and syrup and spread them out on the bottom half. 

Whip some Double cream till it reaches firm peaks and spread it out on top of the strawberries. Sprinkle lots of chocolate on top to make it chocolatier :-)

Place the top layer of the cake onto the cream and spread lots whipped cream around it generously, covering the entire cake.

Sprinkle lots of grated chocolate on top and cover the entire cake with strawberries.

Let it chill in fridge for about an hour before you serve. (That is- if you can wait that long :-) )

-S