Clementine Cake - my Christmas tradition

You can't read this Nigella Lawson recipe without falling in love with it! What's not to love about clementine puree and almonds?! I made this last December when clementines were aplenty in the market, now have decided to make this an annual Christmas tradition!

This is my modified version of Nigella's recipe

4-5 clementines (any other small orange like satsuma, tangerine should also do)

1 1/2 cups ground almonds (I used almond meal)

3/4 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

3 eggs

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp almond extract (optional)*

Put the clementines into a pot of cold water, bring to a boil and cook on medium heat for 2 hours. When cooked, the clementines will be soft. Cut open and check to make sure there are no seeds. Put the cooked clementines into a blender, with pith and outside skin, and puree to a smooth paste.

In a bowl, combine all the remaining ingredients. Add the clementine puree and stir to make a smooth batter. Now grease a 9" baking tin well (make sure it is really greased well to avoid sticking) and pour in the cake batter. Cook at 375F for 30-35 mins.

The cake was moist and had the texture of chewy brownies.

* I prefer to put in some essence into cake to remove some of the "eggy" smell.

Upside-down mixed berries cake

Serves 6

1 stick of salted butter

3/4 cup of sugar

pinch of salt

1 tbsp baking powder

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 eggs

1/2 cup cream

1/2 cup milk - I used 1% lactose free milk

1/2 cup frozen mixed berried - do NOT defrost before use

1. Preheat oven to 350 deg.
2. In a small bowl mix flour, salt and baking powder.
3. In a larger bowl, beat sugar and butter at medium speed until it forms a granular mix. Add one egg at a time and beat it in until mixed.
4. Add 1/3 cup of the flour mix and beat it a low speed, enough to incorporate it completely.
5. Add cream and continue beating. Next add flour mix, beat it, followed by milk. Add the rest of the flour. With every ingredient added make sure you beat it to incorporate it completely.
6. Fold in the frozen berries.
7. Transfer to a buttered baking dish (8"x8") and sprinkle some sugar on the top. Bake for 45 mins until its brown on the top and an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Vanilla Hazelnut Cake

Had some interesting escapades while making this cake (namely, had to send H running out for yoghurt and then realized I had run out of vanilla essence), but it turned out quite yummy! A little drier than I like, but I think that might be because I ran out of yoghurt.

Recipe originally from Nigella Lawson's website

INGREDIENTS
3 eggs
1/2 cup of sugar

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup yogurt (you can use vanilla flavored yogurt)
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract (i used a vanilla bean)
1/2 cup of hazelnuts, chopped (I ground these roughly using a mortar and pestle)

Serving Size : 8-10

Preheat oven to 350OF. In a bowl beat together the eggs and sugar for 5 minutes until it is light and creamy.

Add progressively flour and baking powder. Then add the butter and mix.
Add yoghurt and vanilla extract. Mix.
And finally add hazelnuts. Mix well.
Grease a cake pan. Spread the batter into the greased pan.
Bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Celebrating as Fall bullies its way through

Well ofcourse, where there is cake there is a celebration. I went to the farmer's market on way from work and picked up some raspberries and beautiful peppers. The peppers survived the transit but the raspberries caved in and mushed up. Normally, I prefer to have fruit as is. In this case I had to figure out what to do...so I made cake.

Source: Everybody likes sandwiches

Makes a 8" cake

1 cup of any soft berry - strawberries, raspberries, black berries, etc.

1 cup of flour

1 tsp of baking powder

3/4 cup sugar + 1 tbsp to sprinkle on the top

zest of 1 lemon

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup peanut oil

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

In a bowl, mix flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and lemon zest. Add eggs, vanilla extract and mix until its roughly incorporated. Now add oil and mix until its absorbed. Pour the batter into a buttered cake pan. The batter will be quite thick so smooth it into the pan evenly. Gently press the berries on the surface and sprinkle sugar. Bake at 350 deg for 50 - 60 mins, until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.

If the berries are just right, the cake will be sweet and tart. It works well with vanilla ice cream.

B'day special - Pluot kuchen (coffee cake)

We found some pluots at the Farmer's market and curious to try the plum-apricot > plumcot > pluot hybrid, we bought them home for cake. It was a treat! and they acquired a mild rose essency flavor the next day. My senses might have been effected by the ginormous roses Dad sent :)

Lessons learnt - Next time i make this, I will combine dark skinned plums as well to add more color into the cake like Deb does in her successful attempt. My cake, even though delicious, turned quite pale on the top.

Warning - With prep and rising times, it takes about 4 hours to make this cake.

Makes 9 servings - I cut mine into 9 squares

1 (1/4-ounce) package active dry yeast

1/4 cup warm water (105-110 deg. F)

2 cups of all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar > I don't like my desserts too sweet so this was perfect. V would have liked to add more sugar.

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup whole milk yogurt

1 egg at room temperature

1 1/2 tsp lime zest

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 1/4 sticks of butter at room temperature

2 medium sized pluots

Stir yeast into warm water and let sit for 5 minutes until it turns foamy. Mine turned foamy on the third try. First time, water was too hot and the second time yeast was dead. Apparently, its fairly common to get dead yeast in dry packets. So have extra packets on hand.

Mix together flour, 2/3 cups of sugar, salt, yogurt, egg, zest, vanilla and yeast solution at a medium-low speed (1-2 level on the kitchenaid hand mixer) until incorporated. Takes about a minute. Now add in 1 stick of butter, 1 tbsp at a time until each tbsp is completely mixed in. The flour mixture begin to become shiny and very sticky. This will take about 5 mins. Now sprinkle the dough with 2 tbsps of flour. Cover the bowl loosely with a kitchen towel/plastic wrap and let the dough rise until it doubles in a draft free, warm room for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. I left mine in the microwave - enclosed and safe from bugs.

Spread 2 tbsps of butter in a 8" square baking pan and sprink with 1/3 cups of sugar. Cut each pluot into 6-7 slices and arrange in one layer in the pan.

Stir dough to incorporate the flour and then spread evenly over the pluots. Loosely cover with a buttered wax paper (or plastic wrap), then kitchen towel. Again, let rise for another 1 1/2 hours until dough has almost doubled.

Preheat oven to 375 deg. with rack in the middle. Bake until kuchen is golden-brown and a wooden pick insterted in the cake comes out clean. About 30 - 35 mins. Cool pan for about 5 minutes, then invert cake into a plate and let cool completely.

Serve with additional yogurt.

Source: Smitten kitchen