Cherry, Chocolate Chip & Hazelnut Cake

I am still on a bit of a cherry crusade at the moment, using these beautiful little stone fruits in as many recipes as I can. When deciding how to use a particular ingredient in my cooking or baking, I think it is important that the essential characteristics of the particular ingredient shine through. Cherries have such a beautiful juicy flavour and this should be retained irrespective of the cooking technique or treatment they undergo.

My face seems permanently speckled with a fine spray of cherry juice these days; produced when I enthusiastically extract the stones with my cherry pitter but I’m not complaining because I absolutely love cherries and don’t think that I could ever tire of them.

This cake is so delicious and because of the inclusion of the ground hazelnuts and almonds, beautifully moist to eat. I had toyed with the idea of baking a chocolate sponge hazelnut cake and adding the cherries, but I am delighted that I instead opted to make a cake with little chocolate chunks running through it. In this way the individual flavours of all the ingredients really came through in their own right, yet really complemented each other.

Chocolate goes so well with cherries and both these ingredients bring out the best in hazelnuts. Baking the fresh cherries in the cake really enhanced their juiciness and made the cake totally addictive to eat. I would recommend eating this cake at room temperature, before the chocolate chunks harden. There is something so inviting about eating slightly melted chocolate in a warm cake… you feel like you are doing something completely self-indulgent, forbidden and completely naughty.

In some of the photos you will see that I have served the cake with a scoop of cherry sorbet. This was delicious with the warm cake and I would thoroughly recommend making it. I will post the recipe for that separately, as it is SO good and deserves a post in its own right. In the meantime, do have a go at baking this cake. It’s incredibly tasty and relatively easy to make.

Ingredients:

150g butter softened
150g caster sugar

3 large eggs

150g self-raising flour, sifted

30g ground almonds

100g ground hazelnuts

100g dark chocolate cut into 1cm chunks

150g cherries, pitted

To finish:

2tblsp apricot jam

2tblsp water
 

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180C/Fan Oven 160/Gas Mark 4. Line a 22cm cake tin with non-stick baking parchment and set aside.

2. Place the butter and sugar into a large mixing bowl and using a hand-held electric mixer, cream together until light and fluffy. Gradually, add the eggs, making sure that they are well mixed in before adding more.

3. Add the flour and fold in using a large metal spoon. Next, add the ground almonds, ground hazelnuts and chocolate chunks and fold these in so that they are evenly dispersed.

4. Spoon the mixture into the prepared cake tin and level the surface with a spatula or the back of a metal spoon. Finally press the cherries evenly into the top of the cake, but just enough so that most of each cherry is still visible. Bake in the preheated oven for 40-45 minutes until the cake is well risen, golden brown and a thin skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

5. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes while you make the apricot glaze.

To finish:

6. Place the apricot jam and water in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Allow to bubble for about 2 minutes and then remove from the heat. Pass through a fine sieve so that and chunks of apricot are collected. These can be discarded. Use a pastry brush to brush the apricot glaze on top of the cake while it is still warm. Remove from the tin and place on a wire rack to finish cooling completely. the cake can also be served still slightly warm.
 

Serves 8-10.
 

Florentines

Biscuit week on the Great British Bake Off and the contestants were challenged to bake a batch of savoury biscuits for their signature bake; a three dimensional biscuit scene for the showstopper challenge and florentines for the technical challenge.

On the face of it baking a batch of biscuits seems like a fairly easy task, but whilst variations within a baked batch of biscuits are tolerated and often welcomed for their home-spun charm in the home kitchen, they most certainly aren’t in the GBBO tent! Here, in addition to the biscuits tasting delicious, uniformity is the order of the day.

Once again this week, I have decided to try my hand at attempting my version of the bake that was set to the contestants in the technical challenge. Although florentines seem quite easy to make there are a few pitfalls along the way to look out for. Even slightly over-baking can result in biscuits that taste very burnt whilst under-baking can result in a biscuit that is too chewy. Coating the underside of the baked biscuits in chocolate is also a little tricky as you have to wait until the chocolate has cooled as is on the verge of setting again before attempting to apply it and create the wavy pattern that is so characteristic of traditional florentines.

Florentines should be crunchy on the outside but only very slightly chewy nearer the centre. They should also taste sweetly nutty in every bite. The addition of chocolate adds a little taste of luxury and textural contrast. I favour the use of dark chocolate when coating the florentines because I think it strikes the right balance against the sweetness contained in the biscuits, but you can use white or milk chocolate if you prefer.

Florentines, along with shortbread are biscuits that I very much associate with Christmas and the New Year, but after having made them here and knowing now how relatively simple they are to make, I will definitely be making them again and not keeping them confined to the festive season only.

Many versions of florentines, including the one that Mary Berry gave on this week’s programme include dried fruit or mixed peel along with the nuts. I have decided to keep it very simple here and have made an almond and ginger version of florentines, which I have coated in dark chocolate. I love the spicy warmth that the ginger gives the florentines and think that this goes so well with the almonds and chocolate. I have also added a little hint of fruitiness with the addition of some finely grated orange zest, but you can leave this out, if you prefer.

Ingredients:

25g butter
75g caster sugar
3tblsp double cream
1 heaped tblsp plain flour
65g flaked almonds
50g preserved stem ginger in syrup, drained and finely diced

Finely grated zest of 1 orange

125g dark chocolate, melted
 

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180C/Fan Oven 160C/Gas Mark 4. Line a large baking tray with non-stick baking parchment and set aside.

2. Place the butter, sugar and cream in a medium sized saucepan over a moderate heat and stir continuously until the sugar has dissolved.

3. Stir in the flour and mix through using a wooden spoon. Add the almonds, stem ginger and orange zest and mix these through until thoroughly combined.

4. Drop teaspoons of the mixture on the prepared baking sheet, spacing them well apart, leaving about 6cms between each. Bake in the preheated oven for about 7-8 minutes or until golden brown. Remove them from the oven and whilst they are still hot, neaten the edges. When cool enough to handle remove to a wire rack to finish cooling completely before decorating with the melted chocolate.

To finish:
5. Using a small palette knife spread cooled melted chocolate over the underside of the biscuits and then run a fork through the chocolate ion a wavy pattern. Return to the cooling rack with the chocolate side facing upwards, to allow the chocolate to harden.
 

Serves 4.
 

Pear & Double Ginger Upside-down Cake

Ginger in all its forms is one of the most amazing ingredients. It can be used fresh; dried and ground or preserved and crystallised in sugar. I also love to use stem ginger preserved in syrup in my cooking. The great thing about ginger is that it imparts a spicy warmth to those dishes in which it is used and has something to contribute to both sweet and savoury recipes. Ginger is frequently used in Chinese, Indian and Thai cookery where achieving a balance of flavours is so important; but it frequently crops up elsewhere. I find that ginger helps achieve a balance between the sweet, salty, hot and sour elements of a dish and when used in its fresh form adds a zingy freshness which really excites the taste buds.

For me, I think that ginger in all its forms is the perfect ingredient for autumn. There is something warm and comforting about eating foods which contain it but because it has a lively character, it excites the palate.

In Ireland and the British Isles, ginger has long been used as an ingredient in baked goods. Historic cookbooks give many recipes for biscuits, breads and cake which include ginger mainly ground as a spice. I think my first experience of eating ginger was in highly flavoured and very hard to bite into commercially made Gingernut biscuits. For those so inclined, I think that there is nothing better to dunk in a cup of tea than a hard Gingernut, because they can withstand a certain amount of added moisture without crumbling into a soggy mess. Whilst I have made my own version of Gingernuts, I still have a deep love for the commercially made variety and often buy a packet or two to enjoy with a cuppa. In recent years, since I became the mother of three children, I have become particularly adept at quickly mixing up some gingerbread dough which I then stamp into various fantastical shapes using the embarrassingly large cookie cutter collection which I own. After baking, I sometimes decorate these with melted chocolate or a little royal icing; my children absolutely adore them. That recipe can be accessed here

I have always been partial to any cake that includes ginger and sticky ginger cake (thickly sliced and liberally spread with butter) takes some beating on the comfort food front.

Another great thing about ginger is that it complements and goes with so many other flavours and ingredients. Favourites of mine include ginger paired with lemon or pears. This recipe is for a fresh pear and ginger cake. It is a staple bake in my house coming into autumn and is perfect served as a dessert.
 

Ingredients:

250g self-raising flour
3tsp ground ginger
1tsp bicarbonate of soda

150g golden syrup

50g treacle

1tblsp syrup from jar of stem ginger

125g butter

4 balls of ginger preserved in syrup drained and chopped into small pieces

125g dark muscovado sugar

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

240ml milk

4 pears, peeled, cored and cut in half
 

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180C/Fan Oven 160C/Gas Mark 4. Line a 22cm square cake tin with non-stick baking parchment and set aside. Sift the flour, ground ginger and bicarbonate of soda into a large mixing bowl and set aside.
2. Place the golden syrup, the treacle, the syrup from the jar of stem ginger, the butter and sugar into a medium sized saucepan over a moderate heat. Once the butter and sugar have melted add the chopped stem ginger and bring the mixture up to the boil. Reduce heat and allow to simmer for one minute, stirring all the time. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 5 minutes.
3. Whilst the syrup mixture is cooling, arrange the pears cut-side down in the prepared baking tin.
4. Pour the syrup mixture into the dried ingredients along with the beaten eggs and the milk and using a wooden spoon mix everything together, making sure that there are no little pockets of the dry ingredients remaining. Pour this mixture on top of the pears and bake in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes, until well risen and a thin skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Allow to cool completely in tin before upturning on your serving plate.

NOTE: due to the large proportion of syrup in the cake batter, the cake may dip a little in the middle, but don’t worry about this as you will be turning it upside-down.
 

Serves 8-10.

Chicken in a Sherry, Mushroom & Green Peppercorn Cream Sauce

Although many of my recipes and blog posts seem to involve desserts or baking, I also love experimenting with and cooking savoury dishes. Like most people I tend to cook food and recipes that are proven favourites with my family, but recently I made a conscious decision to start producing meals that are a little different and to be a little more adventurous in my flavour combinations.

Like many children, my three are a little fussy when it comes to trying new foods; but they are improving as they get older. Without a doubt their favourite meat has to be chicken and we would eat it regularly in our house. Their all-time favourite meal would have to be roast chicken with all the trimmings. When I appeared as a contestant on MasterChef Ireland earlier this year one of the invention challenges involved chicken. Rather than over-complicate things I decided that I would cook a roast chicken dinner inspired by my children’s favourite meal. Luckily the judges loved it! The roast chicken dinner that I cooked on the programme was prepared in a more ‘fine dining’ style than that which I would normally produce at home but the essential flavours were all there. If you want to see the recipe, click here

I was really pleased with the sherry braised chicken that I blogged about and gave the recipe for a few weeks back and decided that I wanted to do another dish that included sherry. However, this time, rather than heavily Spanish influenced flavours and treatment, I have opted for a dish that, I suppose, has more of a French feel as it includes a rich sauce of sherry, mushrooms, garlic and cream as well as some green peppercorns to give a little fiery heat when eaten.

I love dishes that have a bit of added heat in them. The most usual way of introducing spicy heat into recipes is to include chilli pepper, but I find that dishes that include chilli often need some added sweetening in order to create a dish that is balanced. I didn’t want this dish to include any added sweetening and was quite happy for a hint of sweetness to be provided by the sweated onions only. Green peppercorns give a warm spicy heat which I felt worked well with the creamy richness of the sherry based sauce. For the reasons that I have just given, make sure that you use a dry sherry such as a fino and not a sweet sherry.

This is a seriously tasty dish, which I served simply with some steamed green beans and slices of baguette to mop up the sauce. This dish would also work beautifully with some silky pomme purée or mashed spuds as we affectionately and less pretentiously call them in my house. I have used un-boned chicken breasts with the skin still on in this recipe, but you could also use a whole jointed chicken.

Ingredients:

25g butter
6 chicken breasts, bone in, skin still on
1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

150g button mushrooms, finely sliced

150ml fino sherry

500ml light chicken stock

1tblsp green peppercorns in brine, drained

200ml double cream

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
 

Method:

1. Heat the butter in a large sauté pan over a moderate heat. Once the butter begins to sizzle, add the chicken breasts skin side down. Season the chicken generously with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Allow to fry gently for 5-7 minutes until the skin in a deep golden brown and then turn the chicken breasts over and cook for 3-4 minutes on the other side.

2. Remove the chicken breasts to a dish while you prepare the rest of the dish. Add the onion, garlic and mushrooms to the sauté pan and fry over a gently heat for 5 minutes until the onions are softened and the mushrooms have begun to gently colour. Increase the heat under the pan and pour in the sherry. Allow to bubble for 2 minutes and then add the chicken stock and peppercorns.

3. Place the chicken breasts back in the sauté pan, put the lid on the pan and allow to simmer over a gentle heat for 5-7 minutes. Remove the chicken to a clean dish, cover, keep somewhere warm and allow to rest.

4. Increase the heat under the pan so that the sauce is bubbling away. Taste, adjust seasoning as necessary and reduce the sauce by two thirds. Next add the cream and taste again, adjusting seasoning again, if necessary. Allow to reduce slightly to a coating sauce consistency (i.e. reduce by about a third). The sauce is now ready.

5. Serve the chicken (one breast per portion) with the sauce spooned over.
 

Serves 6.