Pear bread

This pear bread begs to be underestimated. But I kid you not, I prefer this to any banana bread I have had recently. The butter, almond meal and cinnamon make this one of the tastiest breads I’ve had in ages.

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Raspberry almond cake with mascarpone cream icing

I hate missing out on a party. The idea that all the people I know, or, a whole lot of cool people I don’t know, are having fun somewhere without me drives me batty.

I especially like birthday parties because it combines presents, food and cake. Total win-win.

I like throwing parties too. Especially ones where I make my guests dress up. Then I get to feed them all heaps of colourful punch and food. My favourite trick is to put party food in the oven, then attach the timer to a merry guest, and tell them to come and find me when they start beeping. Simple things…

It’s my friend’s Derek’s 30th and I can’t go to his party.

Derek’s raspberry and almond birthday cake

You see his party is in Melbourne, which I call home. (Quiet in the cheap seats, Perth, it’s not me, it’s you.) But I am currently on an extended holiday – it’s a tough life – and am living and working in London.

So I can’t go.

So this lovely cake, full of raspberries, almond meal and topped with rich mascarpone cream icing, is to say happy birthday. As I am a good friend, I have made you this cake Derek, and eaten it on your behalf. Happy Birthday!

I halved the below recipe, as even sharing it out with the girls at work and an Irish house guest, it was a lot. But don’t worry, I finished if off! No cake goes to waste in my house. The original recipe comes from my friend Felicity, so this was a team effort.

The raspberries in London at the moment are unbelievably lovely, so I used fresh ones. But frozen works just as well with these things.

The cake is rather heavy so you only need to eat a little, but the good thing is it lasts in the fridge for days so you can savour some later.

Preparation time: 20 minutes to prepare
Cooking time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Servings: Serves 10 or more

Ingredients
250 grams butter, softened
2 cups (440g) caster sugar
6 eggs
1 cup (150g) plain flour
½ cup (75g) self raising flour
1 cup (110g) hazelnut meal
2/3 cup (160g) sour cream
300 grams fresh or frozen raspberries
fresh raspberries, extra, for serving

Note: If using frozen raspberries, don’t thaw them; frozen berries are less likely to ‘bleed’ into the cake mixture.

Mascarpone cream icing
1 cup (250g) mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup (80g) icing sugar
2 tablespoons Frangelico (any nut flavoured liquor would work, or maybe just a tablespoon of vanilla essence if it is what you have)
½ cup (120g) sour cream
½ cup slivered almonds, put in the oven for 10 minutes to brown

Note: I upped the amount of icing sugar from the original recipe (1/4 of a cup to 1/2 a cup as above) as it just seemed too runny. Friends have also substituted this icing with lemon butter icing with great success too.

Method
Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan-forced). Grease a deep 22cm-round cake pan; line base and sides with baking paper.

Beat the butter and sugar in medium bowl with an electric mixer (or, as I did, go crazy with a wooden spoon because I refuse to buy an electric beater while living away from home) until light and fluffy; add the eggs, one at a time, beating until just combined between additions. (The mixture will curdle at this stage, but will come together later.)

Transfer mixture to a large bowl, stir in sifted flours, almond meal and sour cream. Fold in raspberries and spread mixture into pan.

Bake for about 1 hour 30 minutes. Stand cake in pan for 10 minutes; turn, top-side up, onto wire rack to cool.

Mascarpone cream
Combine mascarpone, icing sugar, liqueur and sour cream in a medium bowl. Stir until smooth; stir in nuts.

Place cold cake on a serving plate.

Spread cake all over with mascarpone cream. Top and serve with extra fresh raspberries, if desired.

Healthy? Raspberries are healthy? It’s a cake, just enjoy.

Gluten free? I’m pretty confident that switching out the self-raising flour for GF flour would work well. Especially considering how moist it is and all the eggs.

Storage: Icing the night before works well. Store covered, in refrigerator. Unfrosted cake can be frozen for up to 3 months.

This recipe is adapted from a Raspberry hazelnut cake from Australian Woman’s Weekly. I like almonds better.

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Ginger nuts

These are the best dunking biscuits in the world. This recipe makes them just like the ones you get from the packet. But fresher. And it makes your whole kitchen smells like ginger bread men.

This is the required number of ginger nuts for a tea party of one.

Ingredients
60 grams butter, softened
1 ½ cups caster sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup treacle (maple syrup works well too)
1/3 cup golden syrup
2 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon ginger

Method
1. Preheat oven to 200 C. Combine the butter and caster sugar.
2. Mix in the egg, treacle and golden syrup.
3. Add the flour, baking soda and ginger and mix well.
4. Place neatly heaped teaspoons of the mixture on a tray lined with baking paper. I tend to roll them in to balls. Leave plenty of room for them to expand.
5. Press down the balls a bit with the back of floured wooden spoon.

Bake for 12 minutes or until well browned. Leave to cool on a rack. Makes about 40.

Healthy? About 80 calories a cookie.

Gluten free? No. I haven’t tried to adapt this one, not sure if they’d bind.

Storage? In an airtight container. If not airtight the moisture makes them soften and go chewy.

Do: Try these with red wine. It’s amazingly good. If you only take one thing away from this blog, you must try that.

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