Showing posts with label Kent produce. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kent produce. Show all posts

Friday, 13 July 2012

Rhubarb Upside-down Cake

It looks as though anaemia has lazily raised its head and decided, since it's too knackered to go anywhere else, to stay. I'm exhausted! While living on the border of two different health authorities has its benefits - two stoma nurses, for example - it causes problems with blood tests. I had my blood tests done through my GP surgery who send the samples to a hospital in one Trust for testing, but my consultant is based at a hospital in the other Trust!! Needless to say, I'm still waiting to find out if I'm anaemic enough to need more iron injections. In the meantime, I'm feeling rather sleepy!

I'm trying to keep up with everything that's been going on in my life, but (yet again) it is you, my patient readers, who are neglected. I'm sorry. To make up for it, I have baked you a cake, so good that I ate most of it before remembering that I needed to photograph it for you! (I've got to keep my energy levels up somehow...)


After cream tea at the Oad Street Craft Centre a couple of weeks ago, I bought some rhubarb from a local grower with the intention of making rhubarb and strawberry jam. Instead, I ate all the strawberries and made this upside-down cake.

Rhubarb and Almond Upside-down Cake
Almond is a great taste combination with rhubarb and it keeps the cake moist but if you can't eat them, replace them with the same weight of  gluten free flour, or polenta instead.

300g rhubarb, peeled and cut into 7.5cm pieces
4 tbsp light brown sugar
1 tbsp butter, for greasing the tin
100g margarine (I have also used that new Stork baking liquid, which works, too)
100g golden caster sugar
2 eggs
75g ground almonds
50g gluten free plain flour mix
1/2 rounded tsp baking powder

  • Put the rhubarb in a sauce pan with 3 tbsp light brown sugar and about 3 tbsp water and bring to the boil. Simmer for about 20-30 minutes until just tender. Allow to cool.
  • Grease a 20cm cake tin with the butter and sprinkle with the remaining light brown sugar. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
  • Cream the margarine and caster sugar together until light and add the eggs, one at a time, whisking all the time.
  • Fold in the ground almonds, gluten free flour and baking powder until smooth.
  • Arrange the now cool pieces of rhubarb over the base of the cake tin and spoon cake batter over the top.
  • Bake for about 30 minutes, until golden brown and spring to the touch.
  • Allow to cool in the tin until the cake pulls away rom the edges of the tin, then turn out on to a cooling rack.
This is delicious served still warm with cream or custard.

Thursday, 28 June 2012

Garden of England Loaf Cake

It's been a busy few weeks (aren't they all?) and I have neglected the blog as a result.  I'm ok, but all the activity in my life has left me exhausted.  I have to remember that I'm not even 6 months on from major surgery and that tiredness is to be expected.  The problem is, I'm just too impatient, I want all the energy I need, now!

I love recipe development.  I could spend all day experimenting in the kitchen (and often do) and I can only think of two drawbacks; washing up and wasting food when experiments fail.  Fortunately, the Husband is a bit of a human waste disposal unit and, assuming it's still edible, he'll often eat my failures anyway.  As for the washing up, I am growing to accept it as a necessary evil (and when I just can't face it, I throw everything in the dishwasher!).  From today, I am officially emerging from a work induced blog-hibernation.  If you count all the writing and recipe development I've been doing over the past few weeks, on top of my day job, I must be working about 100 hours a week!  Fortunately, I've found the time to have a wee break and, to celebrate this time off, I have baked a cake...



Spiced Apple and Pear Cake
I called this 'Garden of England Loaf Cake' in the title, because that's what this is, a celebration of the abundant produce that I am fortunate enough to find on my doorstep in Kent.  I realise that these fruits aren't quite in season yet, but there are some fanastic juice producers here whose juices are available year round.  I used Clearly Juice, but Moor Organic and Owl House Fruit Farm are also made in Kent, while many orchards make and sell their own juices in farm shops around the county.


125ml pressed apple juice
125ml pressed pear juice
1/2 cup golden caster sugar
1 tbsp molasses sugar, or molasses syrup
1 star anise
1/2 cinnamon stick
120g margarine
2 large eggs
115g natural yoghurt
240g gluten free plain flour mix
1 tsp baking powder

  • Pour the juices, caster sugar, molasses, star anise and cinnamon stick into a saucepan and bring to the boil, do not stir.  Allow to bubble gently until the sugar has dissolved, then boil rapidly for 5 minutes to reduce by about half.  Take off the heat and leave to cool.
  • Remove the star anise and cinnamon stick (or strain, if the spices have broken up) and measure 125ml of the cooled syrup and  pour into a large bowl.  
  • Add the margarine, eggs, yoghurt, gf flour mix and baking powder and beat with a wooden spoon until smooth.
  • Pour into a greased and lined 2lb/900g loaf tin, and bake in a pre-heated oven at 180°C, for 40 minutes, until a skewer come out of the middle cleanly.
  • Turn out and cool on a cake rack.

If you have any leftover syrup, it will keep for about 5 days in the fridge (or pour into an ice cube tray and freeze) and is great added to a hot toddy or ginger tea!