Lemon & yoghurt cake with lemon curd

I’m all for celebrations but that makes me the minority in our small family. I go ahead anyway and hope that people come to the party - literally!  It helps that whilst I may want to jump up and down for the occasion I am definitely not one for large, full blown parties. Intimate gatherings with family and close friends are preferred - something you can look back on with fondness in years to come. A gentle marking of the occasion. This is what I did for my daughter's 21st.  

The cake is from The Best of Annabel Langbein. I added the lemon curd filling as I had reduced the tin size and made a taller cake (the original version is noted below). 

I was pretty pleased with how the cake decoration turned out. My inspiration came from the stunningly pretty cakes from The Caker in Auckland.

Lemon & yoghurt cake with lemon curd

3 cups caster sugar
4 eggs
juice and finely grated rind of 4 lemons
2 cups rice bran oil (or any mild flavoured oil)
1 3/4 cups unsweetened Greek yoghurt
4 cups self-raising flour
a pinch of salt


Lemon Curd filling
about 1/4 cup lemon curd or enough for a 0.4cm layer

Icing

75g butter, softened but not melted
250g cream cheese
juice & finely grated rind of 1 lemon
4 cups icing sugar


Topping (optional - feel free to decorate as you wish). I used the following.

Fresh As freeze dried raspberry powder
Fresh As freeze dried blueberry slices
2 small packets of edible flowers (or pick your own but ensure they are clean and spray/insect free before placing on cake)

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees C. Grease and line the base and sides of a 28-30cm cake tin. 

In a large food processor or cake mixer, blend together the sugar, eggs, lemon juice and zest, oil and yoghurt.  Add flour and salt and blend briefly until just combined. Pour the mix into the prepared tin and bake for 1 1/2 hours or until the cake springs back when pressed lightly and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Cool for 10-20 minutes in the tin before transferring to a wire rack.  Once completely cold, use a large serrated knife to split the cake horizontally through the centre. Spread the lemon curd about 0.4cm thick and replace the top of the cake. 

Icing

Mix icing ingredients until smooth in a large food processor or cake mixer (you may have to split this if your food processing bowl is small). Spread the icing over the entire cake and decorate as desired. I used a palette knife to smooth the top and make angled swoops on the side.

Asparagus Tarts

If it's Spring (in New Zealand anyway), it must be asparagus season. 

Being a semi-reluctant vegetable eater, I like my vegetables adorned with extras (think cauliflower in a cheese sauce), so I usually roast asparagus with olive oil, garlic and lemon zest (see below). Taking this embellishment a (big) step further, I'm delighted to say they taste just wonderful in this creamy filling wrapped in a rich pastry.

These tarts are ideal for lunch (or a simple supper dish). Serve with a lightly dressed salad of bitter greens such as rocket, red leaf lettuce, watercress, radicchio and endive, for contrast.

Asparagus Tarts 

Pastry

350g plain flour

½ tsp salt

200g butter

4-5 tbsp cold water

Filling

1 bunch cooked asparagus*

300ml single cream

2 egg yolks

sea salt & ground pepper

pinch nutmeg or freshly grated nutmeg

* For extra flavour, I roast mine in the oven with a drizzle of olive oil, crushed garlic and lemon zest for 12-15 minutes but you can boil the spears lightly in salted water until tender.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C.

Sift the flour and salt into a mixing bowl.  Add 175g of the butter and rub it into the flour with your fingertips.  Add the water and bind to a dough.

Roll the dough out on to a lightly floured board and cut to the size of your tart tins. I used four mini tart tins with a base diameter of 8.5cm and a top diameter of 11.5cm. 

Line the base of the tins with a circle of baking paper (I do this even though I use non-stick tins - just in case!).  Using a fork, prick the base of each tart then place the tart tins on a baking tray and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.  Remove the tray with the tart tins from the oven while you prepare the filling.  Turn the oven down to 180 degrees C. 

Cut the asparagus to fit and divide between the tins.  Whisk the cream and egg yolks together and season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.  Pour the mix carefully and evenly amongst the tins. Depending on the size of your tins, you may have some left over.

Return the tarts to the oven and bake for 15 minutes until filling has set.  The filling should be just set and no more.

Serve with a lightly dressed salad of bitter greens.

Fudgy Chocolate Macaroons

Not to be confused with the highly popular macarons (although it can be quite confusing as macarons are also known as macaroons), I'm distinguishing them like this - French macarons for coloured meringue discs sandwiched with filling and macaroons for chewy coconut  confections with a crispy outer.

I never took a liking to the plain coconut macaroons which were usually pyramid shaped morsels with toasted coconut on the outside but these ones are on chocolate overload and are really something. If you can imagine a meringue based brownie you'd be close to the taste and texture of these - fudgy, chewy chocolate and coconut covered with a crisp baked outer shell. Highly addictive.

Fudgy Chocolate Macaroons

Makes 16-18

250g good quality dark chocolate (72% or more cocoa)
2 egg whites
a pinch of salt
3/4 cup caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 cups coconut (best with long thread coconut but you can substitute desiccated coconut)

Preheat oven to 150 degrees C.  Line a large tray with baking paper.

Chop or break the chocolate into small chunks and place in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (don't let the water touch the base of the bowl or let it splash onto the chocolate).  Stir frequently until the chocolate is melted.  Put aside to cool.

Place the egg whites, salt and 1/2 cup of the caster sugar into the spotlessly clean (no grease!) mixing bowl of your cake mixer and, using the whisk attachment, whisk until stiff.  Add the remainder of the sugar about a heaped tablespoonful at a time, whisking each addition for a few minutes.

Turn your cake mixer onto lowest setting and briefly mix in the vanilla and melted chocolate. Using a metal spoon, fold in the coconut carefully.

Place small scoops onto the baking tray.   I used a mini ice cream scoop which holds just over a tablespoon of mix, depends on how big you want the macaroons.  I think next time I'd go with just using a spoon to get a more rustic look at these were too rounded for my liking.

Bake for approximately 15-20 minutes until crisp on the outside but soft and chewy in the centre.

I'm sharing these with Sweet New Zealand hosted this month by Frances at Bake Club.

I'm also pleased to be participating in We Should Cocoa as this has been on my food blogging To Do list since, oh I don't know how long.  We Should Cocoa is also a monthly food blogging event all about chocolate and whatever other ingredient the guest hosts come up with.  This month's host I'd Much Rather Bake Than ... has chosen coconut so it seems I am lucky in that all my stars converged (drum roll, please) resulting in my first ever entry.

And if you want more chocolate and coconut loveliness, don't miss this previous post - another favourite of mine!

Chocolate Date Slice

Salmon Quiche

I have this theory that Jamie Oliver is on speed which is why he can claim 15 or 30 minute meals that, in my reality anyway, take far longer. I just can’t get the hang of how he sets out the recipes, so I deconstruct and put it all back together again, but differently.  In spite of the time, I find his recipes extremely tasty and I’ve been using them a lot lately but when I really want something quick this recipe is one I use again and again.

It’s one of those self-crusting tarts that is quick, easy to throw together and open to all sorts of variations - which is always a good thing.  Instead of salmon, substitute cooked chicken or chopped ham or roasted vegetables. Lately I’ve been using Regal salmon which makes for a richer (and more expensive) tart but tinned salmon or tuna will do just fine.

I like to drizzle a teensy drop of balsamic vinegar or vincotto on each tomato (I don’t know why, I just do), then finish it off with a good handful of chopped herbs - coriander, Italian parsley and basil or a little dill are good. 

Serve with pickled pears or chutney and a green salad or vegetable dish such as the sweet stem broccoli recipe below.

Salmon Quiche

Serves 3-4

1 onion                                              

3 eggs                                                

50g/¼ cup melted butter               

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

1 cup milk

½ cup self-raising flour

1 tin 210g red salmon, drained or 200g Regal wood roasted salmon, skin removed

2 tomatoes, sliced or several cherry tomatoes halved

fresh herbs, e.g. basil, Italian parsley or coriander

Heat oven to 180°C.  Grease a flan tin or dish.

Chop onion finely in a food processor.  Add the eggs, cheese, milk and salt and pepper and whizz to combine.

Pour the melted butter and self-raising flour into the mix and whizz briefly to combine.   Pour into the greased flan dish.

Break small chunks of salmon and place evenly around the dish.  Arrange tomato slices or halved tomatoes across the top (and if you want, dot some vincotto or balsamic vinegar on each tomato).  Sprinkle with herbs.

Bake for approximately 45-50 minutes in the oven.

Sweet Stem Broccoli with Zesty Lemon

For me, the hardest thing about broccoli isn’t the spelling of it (and judging by the grocer’s blackboards, I’m not the only one), but the eating.  Apart from a few odd pieces here and there (drowned in cheese sauce or disguised in Asian stir fries), I have avoided broccoli.  So it was nice to discover a younger, sweeter broccoli that I actually liked eating. Bellaverde Sweet Stem Broccoli is from The Fresh Grower and is local (very local to me) – just strange that I always seem to find it in city supermarkets rather than here.  Maybe I could find a field nearby growing it?

There was a nice recipe on the pack so I’m proud to give you the one (and maybe only?) broccoli recipe on this blog.

Sweet Stem Broccoli with Zesty Lemon

1 pack (250g) Sweet Stem Broccoli (or use ordinary broccoli but cook for longer)

salt

2 tbsp butter

½ lemon zested

1 tsp minced garlic

¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper

Sesame seeds or pinenuts

Blanch the broccoli in a large pot of boiling salted water for 2 minutes.  Drain immediately and immerse in a bowl of iced water.

Melt the butter in a pan big enough to hold the stems flat in one layer.  Add the lemon zest (reserve a little to serve) and garlic and stir.

Drain the broccoli and add to the pan.  Stir to coat the broccoli and heat for 2-3 minutes (until heated through).

Toss the broccoli with ½ tsp salt, ½ tsp pepper, sesame seeds or pinenuts and sprinkle the remainder of the lemon zest on top.

Lemon & Raisin Friands

I’ve been a bit of a cake-baking machine recently to the point that I am almost over anything sweet (almost).  

In one weekend of two birthdays, I managed to produce one birthday dinner, three birthday cakes (for two different occasions) and a warm lemon tart.  I’m exhausted just thinking about it again.

It was all a bit stressful but everything turned out well in the end - even after a slight hitch where the top of one of the cakes resembled the gradient of a skate park.  After levelling it off and covering it with chocolate frosting it looked fine.

All that activity pretty much explains the gap between the last post and this one.  However at some stage in the last few weeks I was watching Masterchef Australia (how sad is it that my life was on hold between 4.30 and 5.30pm for two months during this time?) and there was a Masterclass on how to make the perfect friand. Remembering I’d bought a friand tin which had not been christened by actual friands, I decided to give it a go. 

On a side note, I’m thinking there should be a cook along with Masterchef so it becomes more interactive and I don’t feel like a sloth on the couch who, as the credits roll, can’t be bothered thinking what to cook for dinner.  What do you think?

As for the friands, well I don’t normally eat a lot of friands (auto-type keeps trying to correct it to “friends” and I have to say I don’t eat a lot of friends either!) but I can’t help thinking that these definitely tasted more “eggy” in a good way (no surprised there considering the amount of egg whites).  It made me wonder if those I’ve had outside were really muffins in disguise, or maybe they used less eggs?

Apparently, according to Masterchef, friand is French for delicate. In my French dictionary it’s dainty and that’s how I see them – perfect to have with a cup of tea. 

They are quick and easy to produce and I would probably make them more often if I didn’t have to plan what I was going to do with 8 egg yolks.

The original recipe is on the Masterchef website.  I didn’t go down the whole route with the sticky raisin topping so the recipe below is slightly altered.

If you’re really pushed for time, just sprinkle unadulterated raisins (or even sliced, toasted almonds or lemon rind) on top.

Lemon & Raisin Friands

8 egg whites

120g ground almonds

120g standard flour, sifted

250g icing sugar, sifted

a pinch of salt

200g butter, melted

Topping

½ cup raisins

1 fruity flavoured tea bag

a splash of Limoncello

Preheat oven to 180°C. 

Grease or spray a friand tin (use a muffin tin if you do not have a friand tin),

Lightly whisk the egg whites until frothy. 

In another bowl, combine the ground almonds, flour, icing sugar and salt.  Make a well in the centre and pour in the egg whites.  Fold until well combined and the batter is smooth.  Set aside for 10 minutes.

Put raisins, tea bag and a splash of Limoncello in a small saucepan with just enough water to cover and simmer gently for 5-10 minutes until raisins are plump.  Remove from the heat and allow flavours to infuse for 15 minutes then drain the raisins.

Spoon the batter into the friand tin until three quarters full.  Add a teaspoon or two of the raisins on top of each friand. 

Bake for 15 minutes or until cooked through. 

Remove from oven and leave in the tin for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.  Once cold, dust with icing sugar.

Etcetera ... Weekend in Wellington

Almost a year to the date since my last stay, I was back in Wellington for the weekend.  This time it was for a work conference so I stayed on for the weekend and Bill joined me. 

I was happy with whatever weather Wellington was going to throw at me, as long as there were no earthquakes.  So, thank you – the ground stayed still and I got a mixed bag of cold & wet and warm & sunny. 

I also got a cold, starting with a sore throat before I hit the airport for the early morning flight.  I am pleased to say it didn’t affect my tastebuds so I was able to indulge in all things food, starting with chocolate and a visit to the Bohemein chocolate store on Featherston Street.  We saved these until we got home when we realized we’d bought far too few but oh some of those flavours – lemon and thyme ganache (top left) or balsamic vinegar and honey ganache (bottom left), all with silky smooth chocolate.  Good thing one can order online.

Ombra

After a wander around the streets on a cold and wet early Friday evening, we were happy to open the doors to the warmth and conviviality of Ombra.  Lack of sleep and my head cold meant an early dinner which was just fine as 5pm dining means you get a table straight away!

Some wait people you just fall in love with.  Earlier in the day at conference we had a workshop on assertiveness training.  This waitress needed none of that.  Warm and assured she led and cajoled us through the menu.  No, we were not to have that choice, she firmly opined, she would bring us something else. Everything she presented was perfect.  

Polenta chips

We kicked off with the Polenta Chips with fried sage leaves followed by Baccala (salt cod) Crostino and then Beef meatballs with Capers and Chickpea Puree.  A little breather before the San Marzano Tomato, Fior di Latte and Basil pizzette which was so good that we ordered another pizzette - under strict instructions from our waitress that it would be the Coppa, Artichokes and Mint this time.  Bill managed to fit in a chocolate and caramel mousse whilst, in a rare moment, I was no longer Miss Sweet Tooth. Warmed, fed and watered we forsook the rest of Wellington’s nightlife and headed back to the hotel feeling well pleased with our choice.

San Marzano pizzette

Early to bed means (mostly) early to rise and I couldn’t resist a return visit to Floriditas for breakfast where it was eggs all round.  Scrambled eggs on toast with vine tomato salad for me and ham off the bone and poached eggs with hollandaise for Bill.  Personally I prefer my scramblers cooked a little less set than theirs but there was plenty to sustain us for more walking around the city.

Floriditas

Bill's eggs with mine just visible in the background

I was hoping to bump into fellow food blogger, Shirleen and I did at the City Market on Sunday morning.  Whilst I had a craving for a bacon buttie, her recommendation made me opt for dumplings instead.  Dumplings for breakfast is way out of my comfort zone but these were exceptional - only to be expected of course coming from Vicky Ha of The Dumpling House.  

I settled down to a plate of Nepalese Spiced Lamb Five Veges; Korean Sesame Beef Sprouts; Crystal Prawn Garlic Chives and Shanghai Pork Savoy Cabbage topped off with sesame chilli oil and kasundi whilst Bill joined the long queue for the other recommendation - a hearty bowl of ramen noodles from The Ramen Shop.

A young helper making noodles

Ramen noodles

Over the weekend, we shopped (for the record, Bill bought more than me); visited Te Papa; the City Gallery; explored the waterfront; went to Moore Wilson; walked the Botanic Gardens via the Cable Car. I really enjoyed a tour of the Beehive as part of the conference. We caught up with family on Saturday night over dinner at their house, which was lovely.  I didn’t get to all the places I had on my list but there’s always another time, isn’t there?