Category Archives: Sweet

Sweet

Apple cheese

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Found on a random website but think this would be good to use for all our windfall apples…

You can use any high pectin fruit to make a fruit ‘cheese’. These go perfectly with a Christmas cheeseboard.

Ingredients

  • 1 kilo of apples, cored
  • 450 g sugar
  • teaspoon cinnamon, ground
  • teaspoon nutmeg, ground
  • A pinch of clove, ground

Instructions

  • Chop up the apples and cook them on a low heat until soft. Process the apples in a blender or Vitamix. add the sugar and the spices and return the apple pulp to the pan. Cook on low, stirring frequently until the mixture is thick.
  • Wash the jelly moulds in very hot water and pour in the spicy apple pulp. Cover with cheesecloth and leave to cool.
  • Leave to dry out for a month at least. Then you can unmould them and keep wrapped in cheesecloth. They will last for years.
Sweet

Nicety cakes

Mix 8oz soft brown sugar with 1/2lb self-raising flour, sifted. Rub in 8oz butter. Stir in 8oz currants, 5floz sweet sherry, a teaspoon of lemon juice and two lightly beaten eggs. Bake in paper cases for fifteen to twenty minutes at 190°C.

This makes around thirty cakes. Or you can halve the quantities:

Mix 4oz soft brown sugar with 8oz self-raising flour, sifted. Rub in 4oz butter. Stir in 4oz currants, 2.5floz (sweet sherry, half a teaspoon lemon juice and a lightly beaten egg. Bake in paper cases for fifteen to twenty minutes at 190°C.

What’s the difference between currants and raisins?

Sweet

Chocolate espresso cake

The pages of our copy are stained with the residue of many cakes.

Nigel says when it comes out of the oven the cake should still be moist in the middle. As it cools it will sink slightly and the crust will crisp.

180g fine dark chocolate, chopped
a small espresso (about three tablespoons of very strong coffee)
140g unsalted butter, diced
five free range eggs, separated
200g golden caster sugar
one teaspoon baking powder
two tablespoons cocoa powder
90g plain flour

Preheat the oven to 180°C.  Line the base of a 21–23cm shallow springform cake tin with silicone baking parchment, buttering the tin lightly to hold it in place.

Melt the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water.  As soon as it starts to soften, add the coffee and leave it for two or three minutes.  Stir very gently, then when the chocolate has melted add the butter.  Stir until it has melted.

Meanwhile beat the egg whites till stiff, then fold in the sugar.  Mix the baking powder with the cocoa powder and flour.  Remove the chocolate from the heat, quickly stir in the egg yolks, then slowly, firmly and gently fold the melted chocolate into the egg whites.  Lastly sift in the flour and cocoa mixture.

Stir the mixture tenderly with a large metal spoon, taking care not to knock out any air.  It should feel light and wobbly.  Do not over mix – just enough to fold in the flour.  Scoop into the lined tin and bake in an oven preheated to 180°C for thirty-five minutes.  Leave to cool in its tin then turn out.

Nigel Slater: Real Food, page 309