T.I.L

This is a typical Southern Portugal cake that I tried two Christmas and quite liked as looks simple and tasty. So finally this weekend was the time to try this recipe.

Ingredients:

• 2 medium eggs
• 100g sugar
• 100g honey
• 75ml olive oil
• 150g plain flour
• 1/2 tbs cinnamon
• 1/2 tbs baking powder
• 1/2 ground anise grains.
• A bit of butter

Process:

• Pre-heat oven at 180C
• Whisk eggs and sugar until double in volume. It takes time doing it by hand!
• Add honey and oil, bit a bit and keep whisking.
• Add flour, cinnamon, baking powder and anise. Mix all well
• Pour the mix in a greased tin.
• Bake for 45 minutes aprox. Use a tooth stick or similar to check the inside is cook before removing from oven.

Result:

It raised more than I expected. It wasn’t as moist as I remember but it was tasty. Based on the ingredients reminded me of a olive-Greek cake I did some months ago.

I checked other recipes like this so maybe I will try again at some point.

Lemon zest garnish ingredients:

• 1/2 lemon skin cut at julienne (long and narrow stripes)
• 50ml water
• 50g caster sugar
• 1/2 lemon juice

Process:

• Mix water and sugar in a pan. Heat up to boil water.
• Add the lemon zest and mix for 10 sec, while water is boiling
• Add lemon juice and keep mixing for another 10 sec.
• Check the mix is getting some consistency then remove from heat
• Let it cool down for later. It should be like a syrup and solidify while cooling down. You can heat it up in microware for 10-15s to make it liquid again.

Lemon Pudding souffle ingredients:

• 125ml milk
• 35g butter
• 70g caster sugar
• 70g plain flour
• 2 eggs yolks
• 4 eggs whites
• 1/2 tsp vanilla paste
• 1/2 lemon zest
• butter and sugar for greasing

Process:

• Pre-heat oven at 180C
• Grease (solid butter and sugar) 4 dariole moulds. Be sure there is no shiny parts! Cut a small square of baking paper and put in the bottom of the mould.
• Make a “beurre manie” that is mixing the butter and flour by hand in a bowl.
• Scold the milk with the vanilla (just hit the boiling point). Then at medium heat, add pieces of the “beurre manie” and whisk non stop with the milk. It is like doing “bechamel” sauce. Once the whisk is not useful, move to a wooden spoon and keep mixing.
• At the end you will have kind off a ball, keep cooking for 1-2 minutes to be sure the flour is properly cooked.
• Remove from heat and let it cool down
• Add the 2 egg yolks one at each time to the “ball”. It should become like a thick cream.
• Whisk the egg whites until snow peak. Then add the sugar and lemon zest and whisk again until snow peak. This is the meringe
• Now fold a 1/3 of the meringe into the pudding butter. Keep doing the same 1/3 at the time.
• Once you have all mixed, pour the butter into the moulds up to 3/4.
• Using a deep tray, put the moulds and fill it with water (hot if possible). Be careful the moulds dont float!
• Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden on top and risen.
• Prepare the egg custard while waiting

Fresh egg custard sauce ingredients:

• 75ml double cream
• 75ml milk
• 35g egg yolk
• 25g caster sugar
• 1/2 tbs vanilla paste

Process:

• In a glass, mix egg yolks and sugar.
• Mix double cream, milk and vanilla in a sauce pan. Add a bit of the sugar and put to the boil.
• Add the egg mix to the liquid and mix with a wooden spoon.
• Keep mixing until the liquid thick up a bit! Dont over do it! If you ran a finger in the back of the spoon when covered with the custard, it should keep apart.
• Remove from heat and pour it in a container. Cover with cling film

Presentation:

• Once the pudding moulds are ready, remove the mould, be sure you take off the paper too!
• Put each pudding in the middle of a dish.
• Pour the custard around the pudding
• Put a spoon of the lemon syrup on top of the pudding (put in microware if solid)

This is it!

It was actually quite nice. Spongy and lemony.

This is a typical Scottish cake and I learned today via an e-course.

Ingredients

• 180g softened butter
• 90g caster sugar
• 90g dark brown sugar
• 115g plan flour
• 110g self-raising flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 300g dry mixed fruit
• 1 tbsp of fresh grated ginger
• 1 orange: juice + zest
• coconut flakes for decoration
• 50ml Scotch whiskey (optional)
• 1 tsp grated nutmeg
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• optional: whiskey butter: 75g softened butter + 75g icing sugar + 1 tbsp whiskey

Process:

• Pre-heat oven at 150C. Grease and line a baking tin 20x30cm aprox
• Soak the dried fruit with the whiskey, orange juice, orange zest and fresh grated ginger.
• In a bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy
• Add the eggs one by one to the butter mix. Keep mixing
• Sift the flour, spices and baking powder on the butter mix. Fold everything with a wooden spoon or spatula.
• Drain the soaked fruit, reserve the liquid for later! Add the fruit into the dough, folding it.
• Pour the mixture into the tin and smooth the surface.
• Bake at 150C for 1h 20-30m aprox. Until golden and springy to touch.
• While baking, prepare the whiskey butter. Whip the butter and icing sugar. Add the tbsp of whiskey. Whip and done.
• Once the cake is out of the oven, immediately, brush the top with the liquid leftover (add one tsp of sugar) and then add the coconut flakes.
• Leave it cool down

It taste a bit like a Christmas pudding but lighter. I liked it!

This recipe makes:

2x chelsea buns tins of 22cm diameter

6x swiss buns

Ingredients for the dough:

• 850g strong white flour, plus extra for dusting
• 25g dry yeast
• 100g caster sugar
• 475ml warm milk
• 2 egg beaten
• 100g unsalted butter, melted, plus extra for greasing
• oil for greasing
• 1 tsp sea salt

Filling ingredients:

• 25g melted butter
• 100g currants, chopped
• 50g sultanas, chopped
• 2 tsp mixed spice
• 25g caster sugar

Glaze:

• 200ml water
• 200g caster sugar

Process:

• Mix together the flour, yeast, sugar and salt. Make a well in the center.
• Warm the milk at body temperature
• Pour milk, melted butter and beaten eggs into the flour. Mix all together and then knead for 10 minutes until you have a smooth and elastic dough. It will be a bit sticky at the very beginning but dont add any flour.
• Shape the dough into a ball, add a bit of oil into the bowl, put the dough, cover with clean film and let it prove until double in size (1h?)
• Pre-heat oven at 180C
• Prepare a tray with butter and a coating of flour to make it anti-sticky.
• Prepare the chelsea buns tins. Put a layer of melted butter, then add a piece of baking paper of the same diameter to cover the bottom. Cover again with a bit of melted butter. Tray to cut another piece of baking paper for the side of the tin. Add a bit of butter again.

Swiss Buns:

• Once the dough has double in size, put it on a lightly flour surface and knock the air out.
• Cut 6 pieces of 80gr aprox. Cover the pieces and the big dough with the bowl and a towel so they dont dry out.
• For each piece, make a ball, flat it with your palm, put pressure and make circules with your hand, remove pressure gradually and until you have a ball again.
• Then roll it as it were a “cigar”. Put it in the tray. Leave around 3cm distance between each “cigar”.
• Prove again until double in size (25-30m). Move to the Chelsea Buns.
• Then bake for 6 minutes aprox or until golden light brown.
• Let it cool down before adding the sugar coating.
• Optional: make white fondant icing. For each Swiss bun, dip only the top, the lift it, let the fondant to drip by one side and then with a finger, clean the fondant drip without leaving the finger mark.

Chelsea Buns:

• With the left-over dough and using a rolling-pin, spread the dough into a big rectangle. At least 42x25cm.
• With a brush, cover the dough with the melted butter.
• Mix sugar and spice, then spread it over the dough.
• Spread evenly the chopped currants and sultanas.
• With the roll, push a bit the dry fruit.
• Make a roll with the dough, start by the “long” side. Be sure it is tight but dont break it.
• With a sharp knife, cut both end until you have an even form. Then cut 12-14 pieces from the roll.
• Put one piece in the middle, then put another at 5 or 6 other pieces around as it were a flower. Be sure the end of each piece points to the middle.
• Put for tins to prove again. Aprox 25 minutes. They should grow until there is no space between each piece and raise a bit too.
• Bake until the top is golden brown. At 180C, aprox 15-20 minutes.
• Glaze with the sugar syrup as soon as the tins are removed from the oven. Remove the buns from the tin!

This is the result!