Almond Cake with Lemon Syrup

So the weather forecast was not entirely correct. Go figure!!

Saturday was ok, so I managed to ride both of my horses, weed around the fruit trees and give them a little fertiliser. (aka horse poo that I'd picked up.) I then tackled a few of the more mundane household task that I had been putting off. Funny how they don't magically disappear even when you ignore them....

Sunday was cold and raining. Most people would find this depressing but I found it just perfect for relaxing by the fire reading my book, drinking cups of tea and eating cake. Almond cake with lemon syrup to be precise. With lemons from our very own tree! Recipe below. Hope you enjoy.

Cake

4 eggs

1 cup caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

150g melted butter

1 cup almonds- (1 cup almonds blitzed in the food processor)

Lemon Syrup

1 cup caster sugar

1/2 cup water

1 tsp vanilla extract or essence

2 Lemons thinly sliced

Preheat oven to 160C and grease either a large loaf tin or a square cake tin.

Note for young players- a loaf tin works best. The cake takes longer to cook in the square tin and you risk the outer edges drying out.

Lemon syrup; combine the sugar, water and vanilla in a saucepan over medium heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Add the lemon slices and simmer for 15 minutes or until they are completely soft. Arrange the slices on the base of your cake tin and then pour in the syrup.

For the cake batter; combine the eggs, sugar and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer and whisk for 10 minutes, or until the mixture is pale and tripled in volume. Fold in the flour and baking powder. Then gently fold in the butter and almonds.

Spoon batter into the cake tin, smooth over the top and bake for 45 minutes or until cooked through. Let rest for about 5 minutes then turn out onto a platter making sure to collect all of the syrup. Serve as it is or with vanilla ice cream!! 

Another Job for Winter

There is nothing I love more in winter than sitting in front of the fire and gazing into the flames. The  warmth seems to reach into every corner of the room. What I dont love is the extra work that it creates. Aside from the work involved in collecting and stacking the fire wood, there is the monotonous task of cleaning it out each day and re-setting it.
I'm not sure if it's the type of wood that is being burnt or the effect of a slow smouldering fire that causes the glass to turn black. Whatever it is, it's a nightmare to clean. Over the years I've tried many different methods of cleaning it off. Hot soapy water, Gumption, vinegar & bi carb soda. None really worked that well and they all made a huge mess. Then out of the blue my Mum gave me the secret recipe. In my world this is what's known as a "Game Changer".

Take a few pieces of newspaper, scrunch them up then dampen them slightly with plain old water. Dip it into the cold ash at the bottom of the fire. Using a circular motion wipe the inside of the glass. Hey Presto! The ash makes a fine abrasive paste that takes off the burnt on black soot.

 It might take a few pieces of paper to get it totally clean, but I just throw them into the fire and they dry out by the time you need to re light the fire. If you do this at the first sign of discoloration then it's a 2 second job.

 

 

Almond & Pear Tart

I've rolled this dessert out a number of times over the last few months, and it's always gone down a treat. A few people have asked for the recipe so here it is. Enjoy!

Ingredients

  Frozen Sweet Shortcrust Pastry
 50g Soft unsalted butter
 100g castor sugar
  100g Ground Almonds (or Almond Meal)
  2 Eggs
  1 Tablespoon Brandy (or Rum)
  1 Teaspoon Almond extract
  1 Tin of Pear Halves –drained


Method

Defrost pastry and line a 25cm tart tin with a removable base.

Use a fork to prick the base of the pastry.

Refrigerate for 30 minutes (or as long as it take you to make the batter)

Place the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and mix until the butter is light and fluffy. I’ve done this in the large mixer and with a little hand electric beaters. The result is the same.

Stir in the ground almonds. Add the eggs, rum and almond extract and mix to combine.

Pat the drained pear halves dry. You can slice then or cut them into quarters depending on how you want to decorate the tart.

Remove the pastry from the fridge. Pour the batter into the pastry case. Spread the batter evenly over the pastry case. Arrange pears in a circle on top of the batter.

Bake in a moderate oven (160 C) for 30-40 minutes.

The tart is ready when it has a nice golden colour.
Serve warm from the oven or at room temperature.



Tips & Traps for young players

The first few times I made this I sliced the pears thinly and fanned them out in a circle. It looked great but was very fiddly and not really worth the extra effort.

Don’t be tempted to overcook the tart. Once it has a nice golden colour it’s done, even if the batter still looks a bit shiny or soft.

Decorate with toasted almond slivers if you want to be fancy

Serve with ice cream or cream.

The old new stove........

My Nana's stove now takes pride of place in our house. I have many fond memories of standing in front of this stove with my cousins. It was always the central meeting place in winter and the perfect place to warm cold hands & bums!

It's beautiful to cook on and keeps the entire house war. We have a gas stove in the kitchen, but during last winter I took every opportunity to cook on this stove. Whether it was soup slowly bubbling on the stove top or a casseroles in the the oven - it always made the house smell divine.

I'm not sure why, but a kettle boiled on top of this stove always makes the best pot of tea...

Trent did the most amazing job in restoring the stove. The back had completely rusted out, the chimney casing was cracked  and the fire bricks inside had to be replaced. All that and we still had to move it into the house! This solid enamel cast iron stove weigh a tonne. It took 5 men to move it out of her house. We used steel pipes to roll it into place in our new house.