Moist Orange & Lemon Marble Cake

I have been sitting here for a few minutes now, wondering what on earth to call this cake.  I settled on "Orange & Lemon Marble Cake" some time ago - but it was finding a word to describe the end result after you've drizzled it with the syrup that was the difficult bit.

I felt that simply "Orange & Lemon Marble Cake" seemed as though it could convey itself as being rather dry - which this cake just isn't.  Having consulted the online thesaurus, however, I'm very definitely not going to use the majority of its "moist" alternatives.  Words like "drippy" (well, it did, for a bit!), "oozy" (hmmn, nope), "muggy" (hardly!), "dank" (ewww!), "muculent" (even ewwww-er!), "saturated", "dripping" and "sodden" (oooh, missus!).  The description of a "Drizzle Cake" isn't even right here, as for all that you drizzle syrup over it, there is no real evidence of it having been drizzled at the end of the process.  Well, not until you bite into it.

So "Moist Orange & Lemon Marble Cake" it is going to have to stay.

The marbling was there - but without food colour, it's difficult to see

My parents were coming over for a cup of tea and a chat, which provided the motivation to make the cake.  Not that I need a lot of motivation to make cake, you understand - but for the sake of all our waistlines, it's probably better that I leave cake baking until I've got someone else to help eat it up!

Film star cake shot - posing in a sunbeam

I had pondered for a while as to what to make.  I didn't want a cake that would need lots of decoration and icing etc., as that just adds to the calorific value and time spent in the kitchen.  I have to bear the length of time something takes to make in mind, because I only have so long that I can spend up on my legs, even if I am perched on the stool during most of it.  So it's no good baking a cake that requires lengthy decoration, only to find that I have no energy left in my legs with which to do it.

Marble cakes always go down well and I considered making a chocolate and orange marble cake.  So many of my cakes seem to involve chocolate somewhere along the line, that I was reluctant to go down that route.  The orange bit interested me, though.  I considered doing an Orange Drizzle Cake - in the same way as a Lemon version.  I wasn't sure that it would pack the same zap! as the lemon version though.

Then it occurred to me to do an Orange & Lemon Marble Cake.  It was very experimental at this stage and I pondered whether to colour the cake mixes so as to make the marbling more effective.  Having decided against it - on the grounds that if I can get away without using food colouring, so much the better - I can say that I would very definitely colour at least one - probably the orange - cake mix and have reflected that in the recipe below.  For all that you could taste the difference in flavours as they swirled through the cake, you couldn't see the difference other than the change in the colour of the fruit zest.

I'm not sure what clever cake fairy whispered in my ear about drizzling the citrus syrup over the cake, but I'm jolly glad she did.  It made the end result so deliciously moist, sticky and moreish.

The cake got the thumbs up from my parents, with murmurs of appreciation for its fine texture and lovely flavours - and best of all, they helped to eat a good percentage of it.  There was just enough left for son & heir to have a second go at it, which made him happy too.

Serving up a home made cake seems to me to mean so much more to your guests, than just breaking out a bought offering.  It's all cake - but home made is cake made with love more often than not.  "Love" is like "umami" - it's very difficult to quantify and describe, but it makes all the difference when it's in the recipe.

MOIST ORANGE & LEMON MARBLE CAKE   (serves 8-10)

Ingredients :

225g softened butter
225g caster sugar
4 eggs
225g self-raising flour
1 tbsp juice & 1 tbsp zest of a lemon
1 tbsp juice & 1 tbsp zest of an orange
Orange food colour

For the syrup :
1 tbsp shredless orange marmalade
1 tbsp caster sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp water.

Method :

1.  Pre-heat your oven to 180degC/340degF/gas 4.

2.  Line the bottom of a 20cm cake tin with baking parchment.

3.  Place the butter, caster sugar, eggs and flour into a food processor and whizz until smooth.

4.  Divide the mixture between two bowls and add the lemon zest & juice to one bowl and the orange zest, juice & two drops of food colour, to the other bowl.  Stir to combine, using a different spoon for each bowl.

5.  Dollop alternately into the cake tin, making sure to divide the flavours as much as possible.

6.  Using the handle of the spoon, run it lightly through the mixture - which will create the swirly pattern.  Don't overdo this bit, or you'll mix it in too much.

7.  Level the surface and tap the tin on the work surface to expel any large air bubbles.

8.  Put into the oven and bake in the centre of the oven for 45-55 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

9.  Turn out onto a cooling rack.

10.  In a small saucepan, place all the syrup ingredients and heat gently, stirring, until the marmalade has dissolved.

11.  Taking a fine skewer, pierce the cake repeatedly all over the top surface.

12.  Paint on the syrup liberally, ensuring that it runs into the skewer holes and not down the sides of the cake, until the syrup is all gone.

13.  Cool completely.

Serve

Printable version

Oranges, almonds (and a whole heap of eggs!)

That James Martin's a clever old stick when it comes to anything sweet, don't you think?

Of course, he's quite probably a clever old stick when it comes to anything savoury, too - but the desserts and cakes are what I know him for.

I was lucky enough to receive a copy of his book "Desserts" from my brother's family for Christmas and I'm fairly sure I put on at least four pounds, just looking at the photographs.

However, I spotted this recipe for his Orange & Almond Cake in a magazine (I forget which, now!) and cut it out to keep.  Hence, when I found I had a number of oranges backing up in the fridge it occurred to me that here was a great way of using them.

Just out of the oven

It wasn't until I was getting the ingredients out of the cupboards, that I realised that this is a flourless cake - and it takes six eggs!  A quick count-up of the egg supplies showed that I did indeed have enough to cope, and so the plan continued.

I hadn't ever made a flourless cake before, so was suddenly a tad nervous - as this cake was intended to form part of a High Tea to be consumed that night.  High risk cakes tend not to be a good strategy - not when you're relying on them to feed the five thousand.

The preparation of the cake batter was simplicity itself, involving a saucepan and a food processor - and that was it.  The saucepan is required to poach the oranges (whole) until they are soft and the inherent bitterness of their skin has reduced.  Then, once cooled, they go into a food processor (chop them up a bit first, to remove the pips) and get blitzed until completely "mullered".  (What IS the origin of the term "mullered", I wonder?).

Love flaked almonds!

Next, add ground almonds, sugar and six eggs and blitz again - then hey presto, your cake batter has miraculously appeared.  Decant into a springform tin, sprinkle with flaked almonds and into the oven for 25mins, then another 25mins with a silver foil hat on to prevent the almonds burning.

There really couldn't be an easier way of making a cake.  Well, not unless someone has invented a cooker that you just throw all the naked ingredients into.

The resultant cake was light, frothy almost.  The orange was tempered by the cooking it had received and although full-bodied in flavour, was only slightly bitter.  That bitterness was enough to scare son & heir away, regrettably, but hubby and I both thought that the cake was gorgeous.

The original recipe included instructions for making a Basil cream, which although it sounded extremely likely as a lovely accompaniment, I didn't indulge in.  Well, it was just more cream - which none of our waistlines could do with.  If, however, you're interested in this, you can see the whole recipe here.

As a cake for someone who is attempting to reduce the occurrence of inflammation in their body, you really couldn't ask for better.  After all, oranges are mildly anti-inflammatory and almonds are moderately anti-inflammatory.  I suppose you do have to balance them against the inflammatory properties of the sugar and eggs - but I doubt you'd do better with many recipes!

Interestingly, with Mr Martin's emphasis being on desserts, we both thought that the cake was rather more a dessert and rather less a cake - but even so, I'd be happy to eat it at any time of the day!

ORANGE & ALMOND CAKE

Ingredients :

2 oranges

225g caster sugar 

6 free-range eggs 

250g ground almonds 

4 tbsp flaked almonds.

Method : 

 

1.  Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.  Line and butter a 23cm/9in springform cake tin.

 

2.  Simmer the orange in a saucepan of simmering water for 45-60 minutes, or until very soft.  Remove the pan from the heat and leave the oranges to cool in the water.

 

3.  Drain the oranges and roughly chop, discarding the pips.

 

4.  Blend 450g/1lb of chopped orange in a food processor to a purée.  Add the sugar, eggs and ground almonds and blend until smooth.  

 

5.  Pour the mixture into the cake tin and sprinkle over the flaked almonds.

 

6.  Bake in the oven for 25 minutes, then cover loosely with aluminium foil and bake for a further 25-35 minutes, or until cooked through (a skewer inserted in the middle should come out clean).

 

7.  Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.

 

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Cinnamon Plums with Cranberries - light and delicious!

You might recall that I'd been pondering what to do with the punnet and a half of large purple plums that were roosting malevolently in the fridge.

I'd originally bought these plums for Son & heir to take to school for a break time snack (one at a time - not all at once!), however he'd neatly circumvented this well-intentioned idea by taking a chocolate biscuit instead.  By the time we'd worked out that this was going on, we had a surfeit of plums that were past their best and had to devise a new home for the chocolate biscuits.

As for what to use the plums for, well, that was easy.  There were obvious choices such as plum crumble, or plum pie, or even a plum cobbler.  All very delicious - right up until you remember that I'm supposed to be off carbs as much as is humanly possible.  Now I do try to not be selfish, but I'll be blowed if I'm going to spend my time cooking a lovely dessert and not be able to eat any of it!

Now my Mum had prepared a lovely light dessert for when we visited last weekend.  She'd baked halved nectarines with honey and bay leaves, together with raspberries and blueberries - which was completely gorgeous and perfect for anyone conscious of what they're eating.  It was even suitable for diabetics, so long as the honeyed juices were left in the serving dish.

So that got me to pondering on my plums.  I'd bought a punnet of cranberries to use in Red Cabbage with Cranberries (due for dinner tomorrow, with the Corned Beef Pie) but it was obvious that I had way too many cranberries for just that recipe, so I could afford to use a few with the plums.

Bearing in mind the time of year - just coming up to Christmas, when I considered what flavourings to put with the plums, cinnamon sprang immediately to mind quickly followed by a pinch of mace for that sharper note.  I pondered for a moment or two on using a little spiced rum as well, but in the end, opted for taking a little zest from an orange and using the juice as the moisture base.  I thought that the citrus would match up well with the mace - and indeed I was right.  However, if you don't have any mace but do have some spiced rum - go ahead and use it, because I'm sure it would be fab.

The next problem was what to sweeten the whole with.  Bearing in mind the diabetes, I was loath to use plain old granulated sugar.  Remembering my Mum's recipe, I opted for honey.  Yes, it's all sugar - but honey is (apparently) better for diabetics and considering hubby is only just diabetic, as I say, so long as he keeps the sugary juices in the serving dish, he'd be fine.

Well, what a triumph this was.  Incredibly simple to prepare, lavish to look at and gorgeous on the palate - especially with a spoonful of creme fraiche.  I'll very definitely be making this - and ones like it with different fruit - again.  Better than a pot of (albeit very nice) yoghurt for dessert!

CINNAMON PLUMS WITH CRANBERRIES  (feeds 3-4)

Ingredients :

6 big fat purple plums
a handful of cranberries
half a tsp of ground cinnamon
a pinch of mace
zest & juice of one orange
3-4 tsp runny honey.

Method :


1.  Pre-heat your oven to 180deg C/350deg F/Gas 4.


2.  Slice and remove the stone from the plums.  Place the slices, cut side up, into a baking dish.  Add the cranberries randomly around the dish.


3.  Sprinkle the fruit with the cinnamon & mace, then grate the orange zest over.


4.  Juice the orange into the dish - it doesn't matter if it washes some of the spices off - it will all add to the flavours.


5.  Drizzle the lot with the honey, then place into the oven for 30-40 minutes.


6.  When the time is up, check that the plums are soft but whole.  Remove and allow to cool slightly, then serve with a spoonful of creme fraiche.


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Slow Cooked Pork with Celeriac and Orange

I seem, purely by chance, to have come up with a selection of dishes that have either divided the audience or just plain old repelled them.  Well, all except for me, that is.  I've liked and enjoyed the majority!

One such is the Slow Cooked Pork with Celeriac and Orange, which I found on the BBC's Good Food website and is by Barney Desmazery.

This is a simple dish, to be eaten with crusty bread.  The problem with it - from the chaps' point of view, was two-fold.

Firstly (and I agree with them, but it didn't affect my enjoyment of it) was that it had too much orange.  The zest from an entire orange goes in (and I'm glad I didn't zest the entire orange - I left out its top and tail) plus orange juice.  If I were to do this one again (which I won't, because of the chaps' reactions), I'd just put two or three strips of orange zest into the mix.  I've reflected that in the recipe - but if you like orange, then go ahead and put more.

Secondly (and this was just hubby's preference), if a dish has a gravy or sauce or broth that's thinner than double cream consistency, then he doesn't want to know.  As this dish's broth is very much just that - a broth - he didn't like it.  In fact, I believe it was dubbed "pond water".  *sigh*  I liked it - but then I'm quite happy with broth-like gravies and sauces, so long as they're full of flavour.  Which this one was - but it was largely orange!

I loved the texture of the leek, the sweetness of the carrots and the flavour of the celeriac.  The pork had a tendency to be a tiny bit dry though, which I put down to my conversion from an oven-baked dish to a slow cooker dish, in that I just plain old cooked it a bit too long.  I've reflected that aspect in the recipe, too - so you shouldn't have any problem with that now.

As I'm watching my intake of carbohydrates, I didn't indulge in the accompanying bread and have to say that I didn't miss it.  If you felt that the dish was a little light on vegetables, you could easily add mushroom, parsnip, peas or shredded cabbage (at the last minute, with the peas and cabbage!) without compromising the flavours at all.

SLOW COOKED PORK WITH CELERIAC & ORANGE  (serves 3)
 
Ingredients :

2-3 leeks (depending on size) washed & trimmed, each cut into 5 pieces
a handful of Chantenay carrots top & tailed, or 2 carrots peeled and cut to match the size of the leeks
2 tbsp olive oil
600g boneless pork (I used pork loin steaks) cut into decent sized pieces
1 small celeriac, peeled and diced into large chunks
1 garlic clove, chopped
150ml dry white wine
150ml chicken stock
juice of 1 orange
3 strips of orange zest, cut with a peeler
2 tsp soy sauce
a large sprig of rosemary.

Method :

1.  In a large frying pan, heat the oil and once it's hot add the pork and leave it to brown.

2.  Once the pork has browned, using a slotted spoon, decant it into the slow cooker and turn it on to low.

3.  Add the leeks, carrots and celeriac to the frying pan (you may need to do this in batches, in which case add a little more oil) and cook until they start to show browning.  Add each batch to the slow cooker.

4.  Add the garlic to the last batch of vegetables and cook for a minute or so, then add it to the slow cooker.

5.  Into the frying pan, to deglaze it and make the most of the lovely flavours, add the wine, stock, orange juice, orange zest, and soy sauce.  Bring to the boil and cook for 2-3 minutes.

6.  Then season with salt & pepper, add the rosemary sprig and decant into the slow cooker.

7.  Give the contents of the slow cooker a stir to settle everything in together, then replace the lid and cook on high for 3 hours.

Serve with crusty bread, for mopping up the lovely juices.

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Pepperpot Beef & Orange Stew

We had this for dinner on Sunday last.  As you'll know if you've been reading along for a while, I got bored with doing the same old roasts on a Sunday and went looking for more interesting recipes to try.

However, I think I'm going to have to ban myself from buying Brisket of beef for a while, as that seems to wind up being the meat of choice for a Sunday - and that's getting just as boring as doing the same old roast chicken!  In fact, I found myself hankering for a lovely pot-roast chicken, but that may also have something to do with the fact that my reservoir of chicken stock is running low!

Anyway, the reasons I chose to do this Pepperpot Beef & Orange Stew are as follows.  For starters, it's beef and oranges.  Now you don't often find those two in the same cooking dish.  Secondly, it involved mashed red kidney beans being used as a method of thickening the gravy.  An interesting idea and one which I was keen to try out.  Lastly, it had Caribbean overtones and I'm very interested in Caribbean cooking, as I really like the combination of meat and fruit which they are very good at.

So that all amounted to an interested "I'll give that a try!".

As a first go, it didn't turn out too badly.  I made one or two mistakes which I would remedy the second time around - and which have been incorporated into the recipe below.  For example, I used the aforesaid Brisket of beef rather than the braising steak that was originally suggested.  Do you blame me? There's a whole heap of difference in the price of the two!  However, that meant that the dish would require a minimum of 2 hours cooking and a maximum of 3 hours.  Regrettably, it never occurred to me that in that time the red and yellow peppers would have been cooked away to nothing more than an ingredient in the gravy/sauce, which was a shame.  It would have been nice to have had them more prominently in the dish.  As such, I have suggested adding them a lot later into the cooking process.


I was also a little leery of putting too much chilli in - and as it happened, I would have been absolutely fine to have included the seeds, rather than binning them.  I did test the chilli on my tongue (for heat), but couldn't have paid much attention to the result, as a) I don't remember it and b) if I had have done, I'd have included the seeds!


What you wind up with, is a casserole dish full of lovely tender beef in a thick pinky-brown gravy (that's the red kidney beans) that is multi-faceted in flavour and well worth the effort of making it.


PEPPERPOT BEEF & ORANGE STEW ( serves 3-4)


Ingredients :


700g brisket of beef, trimmed and cut into small cubes
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp plain flour
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 red onion, peeled and chopped
25g fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1 small red chilli, de-seeded (if it's a hot one!) and chopped
400ml beef stock
410g can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 small orange, cut into six wedges
1 red pepper, de-seeded and chopped
1 yellow pepper, de-seeded and chopped
2 tbsp roughly chopped coriander leaves.


Method :


1.  Pre-heat the oven to 180deg C/Gas 4.


2.  Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a non-stick frying pan and add half the meat, browning all over.  Decant into a warmed casserole dish.


3.  Repeat the process with the second batch of meat, but when browned, sprinkle with the flour and add the tomato puree.  Mix well and cook for a couple of minutes without burning.  Decant the lot into the casserole dish.


4.  Give the frying pan a wipe out, then add the remainder of the oil and the onion,  ginger and chilli.  Cook gently until softened and golden brown - around 10 minutes.

5.  Take one half of the red kidney beans and mash them with a potato masher, then add them to the casserole dish, along with the whole beans.

6.  Add the stock and tip into the casserole dish, add the orange and stir to ensure everything is amalgamated.


7.  Cover the casserole dish and place into the oven for 1 hour.


8.  In the meantime, add the peppers to the frying pan and fry them lightly until just beginning to soften.


9.  At the end of the first hour, remove the casserole dish from the oven and give the contents a good stir.  Add the peppers and stir again.  Season, cover and replace into the oven for another hour and a half.


10.  Remove from the oven and test the beef.  If not tender enough, return to the oven for another half an hour.  You may need to add a little water at this stage, if the gravy/sauce has reduced too much.


11.  Once the beef is tender, remove and serve with rice and green peas with a blob of sour cream on the side.


Delicious!

Sweetbird Smoothies : another product review!

There’s going to be a little rush on product reviews, as the lovely people at Beyond the Bean sent us a job lot to try out!

The next yummy thing we sampled, were the new Smoothies from Sweetbird.

Unlike a lot of Smoothies out there, Sweetbird make theirs completely from fruit, the whole fruit and nothing but the fruit.  There is no dairy involvement at all, which is nice if you’re dairy intolerant and also nice because it results in a gorgeously tangy smoothie.  Of course, it would also mean they are attractive to vegetarians and vegans alike.

I prefer to drink my smoothies at breakfast time, my son would have had a smoothie at any old time of day, but wound up using them as an after-school snack, which is something of which I approved wholeheartedly.  Seemed to me to be a great improvement on a packet of crisps.  Hubby, unfortunately, couldn’t cope with the sharpness and after a magnificent bout of face pulling, opted out of this taste testing.  So, from that, I’d say it’s probably best to just try one and see what you think!

By far and away the favourite of the bunch, for me, was the Blackcurrant and Apple.  I was intrigued to note the inclusion of Black Carrot juice and felt it would have been good to have included a black carrot in the fruit that was grouped together for the packaging pictures (which seemed a little bit dull, to me).  After all, there can’t be that many things that include Black carrot juice!

Son’s favourite was the Orange and Mango version (which isn’t surprising, considering the other version was a Pineapple and Passionfruit one – and we’ve already discovered he’s not that keen on Passionfruit!).  In truth, I’d have been as happy with one as with the other, as you could almost feel them doing you good as they went down.

At £1.79 per bottle, they aren’t the cheapest things in the world – especially when you’re counting the pennies.  However, if you have problems getting fruit into your children, or don’t enjoy chomping your way through several items of fruit in a day, then these little lovelies are your answer.  Of course, if money is no object, then I’d have one with breakfast every day, as I think they are a great way to wake up your tastebuds!

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Thyme & Mustard Gammon - quick and so tasty!

Photograph care of BBC Good Food,
where the original recipe came from

The son and heir had decided to go around to one of his friends' houses after school, which left hubby and I in something of a quandary as to what to do about dinner.

Fortunately, I'd planned to have Thyme & Mustard Gammon for dinner.  This is one of those "quick as a flash" sorts of dinners (well, once you've got the potatoes and carrots peeled, anyway!).

Being mid-week, we'd bought the common-as-muck munched-up-and-stuck-back-together-again Gammon steaks (£1 for 2), which would do fine for this meal as the meat is fried, then braised and any toughness would be cooked out of it.

So, as it was, it worked perfectly as a "quick, get dinner early, we need to go and collect son & heir" meal, which is also the reason why I forgot to take a photograph of it.  In fact, it even left us with some 20 minutes to fall asleep in front of the t.v. before sallying forth into the night.  However, aside from all that, this really is an extremely tasty dish.  The Gammon lends itself to sweetness in whatever form, and the orange zest and juice combined with the thyme really is a very good marriage that even goes deliciously well with mashed potato.

It proved a hit on all fronts.  Cheap, quick and tasty - can't ask for more than that!

THYME & MUSTARD GAMMON (feeds 3)

Ingredients :

4 Gammon steaks
1 tsp olive oil
knob of butter
1 large onion, thinly sliced
1 tsp thyme leaves
zest of 1 orange
juice of 2 oranges
2 tsp wholegrain mustard
300ml chicken stock
Ground black pepper

Method :
1.  Melt half the butter in a frying pan and add the oil.

2.  Season the bacon with pepper (no need to add extra salt). Then sizzle and brown the meat over a medium heat for 5 mins, turning once. Cook in batches, rather than overcrowd the pan, then lift onto a plate.

3.  Add the remainder of the butter to the pan. Once it looks foamy, stir in the onion and thyme, and fry very gently for 15 mins until the onion is soft and golden.

4.  Stir in the orange zest, juice, mustard and stock, return the gammon to the pan then simmer for 5 mins until it starts to thicken to a sauce.

Serve with mashed potatoes, together with peas and carrots.
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