NIGELLA LAWSON'S FLOURLESS CHOCOLATE OLIVE OIL CAKE

INTRODUCTION

Although I first came up with this recipe because I had someone coming for supper who - genuinely - couldn't eat wheat or dairy, it is so meltingly good, I now make it all the time for those whose life and diet are not so unfairly constrained, myself included.
It is slightly heavier with the almonds - though not in a bad way - so if you want a lighter crumb, rather than a squidgy interior, and are not making the cake for the gluten-intolerant, then replace the 150g ground almonds / 1½ cups almond meal with 125g plain flour / ¾ cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour. This has the built-in bonus of making it perhaps more suitable for an everyday cake.
Made with the almonds, it has more of supper-party pudding feel about it and I love it still a bit warm, with some raspberries or some such on the side, as well as a dollop of mascarpone or ice cream.

INGREDIENTS

150 millilitres regular olive oil (plus more for greasing)
50 grams good-quality cocoa powder (sifted)
125 millilitres boiling water
2 teaspoons best vanilla extract
150 grams ground almonds (or 125g plain flour / 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour)
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 pinch of salt
200 grams caster sugar
3 large eggs

METHOD

 Preheat your oven to 170°C/150°C Fan/gas mark 3/325ºF. Grease a 22 or 23 cm/ 9inch springform tin with a little oil and line the base with baking parchment.

 Measure and sift the cocoa powder into a bowl or jug and whisk in the boiling water until you have a smooth, chocolatey, still runny (but only just) paste. Whisk in the vanilla extract, then set aside to cool a little.

 In another smallish bowl, combine the ground almonds (or flour) with the bicarbonate of soda and pinch of salt.

 Put the sugar, olive oil and eggs into the bowl of a freestanding mixer with the paddle attachment (or other bowl and whisk arrangement of your choice) and beat together vigorously for about 3 minutes until you have a pale-primrose, aerated and thickened cream.

 Turn the speed down a little and pour in the cocoa mixture, beating as you go, and when all is scraped in you can slowly tip in the ground almond (or flour) mixture.

 Scrape down, and stir a little with a spatula, then pour this dark, liquid batter into the prepared tin. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until the sides are set and the very centre, on top, still looks slightly damp. A cake tester should come up mainly clean but with a few sticky chocolate crumbs clinging to it.

 Let it cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack, still in its tin, and then ease the sides of the cake with a small metal spatula and spring it out of the tin. Leave to cool completely or eat while still warm with some ice cream, as a pudding.

NIGELLA LAWSON'S PINEAPPLE UPSIDE DOWN CAKE

 This is a bit before my time, but I have vague nursery memories of a friend of my grandmother's making a version of this, which she would serve with a warm sauce made of pineapple juice thickened with - I imagine - cornflour. That I can do without, but I am still of the mind that it is perfectly all right to make this with canned pineapple rings. I feel it is slightly bad sport to start peeling and slicing your own pineapple.
Anyway, canned pineapple is just fine, though I advise going for the one in its own juice rather than in syrup, and I add some of the juice to the sponge, too. This seems to make it light and fluffy.

INGREDIENTS

butter (for greasing)

2 tablespoons sugar

6 slices canned pineapple in juice (plus 3 tablespoons of the juice)

11 glace cherries (approx. 75g total weight)

100 grams plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

100 grams soft butter

100 grams caster sugar

2 large eggs

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C Fan/gas mark 6/400ºF. Butter a tarte Tatin tin (24cm/9 inches wide at the top and 20cm/8 inches diameter at the bottom) or use a 23cm / 8-9 inch cake tin (neither loose-bottomed nor springform).
2. Sprinkle the 2 tablespoons of sugar on top of the buttered base, and then arrange the pineapple slices to make a circular pattern as in the picture.
3. Fill each pineapple ring with a glace cherry, and then dot one in each of the spaces in between.
4. Put the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, butter, caster sugar and eggs into a food processor and run the motor until the batter is smooth. Then pour in the 3 tablespoons of pineapple juice to thin it a little.
5. Pour this mixture carefully over the cherry-studded pineapple rings; it will only just cover it, so spread it out gently.
6. Bake for 30 minutes, then ease a spatula around the edge of the tin, place a plate on top and, with one deft - ha! - move, turn it upside-down.

DELIA SMITH'S BAKED APPLE AND ALMOND PUDDING

• INGREDIENTS
•  
• 1 lb cooking apples, peeled and sliced
• 2 oz soft brown sugar
• 4 oz ground almonds
• 4 oz butter at room temperature
• 4 oz castor sugar
• 2 large eggs, beaten

METHOD

 Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 4, 350°F (180°C).

 You will need a round, ovenproof baking dish with a diameter of 8 inches (20 cm), 1¾ inches (4.5 cm) deep, buttered.

Place the apples in a saucepan with the brown sugar and approximately 2 tablespoons of water, simmer gently until soft, and then arrange them in the bottom of the prepared baking dish.

In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and caster sugar until pale and fluffy and then beat in the eggs a little at a time.

When all the egg is in, carefully and lightly fold in the ground almonds.

Now spread this mixture over the apples, and even out the surface with the back of a tablespoon.

Then bake on a highish shelf in the oven for exactly 1 hour.

This pudding is equally good served warm or cold – either way, it's nice with some chilled pouring cream.  Once cooled, it will keep in the fridge for 3 or 4 days.

SPELT SCONES

INGREDIENTS

250g spelt flour

2 tbsp baking powder

1 pinch salt

2 tbsp runny honey

2 tbsp olive oil

125 milk 

METHOD

1. Line a baking tray with parchment and pre-heat the oven.
2. Put the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl and blend together well.
3. Sprinkle the honey and oil over the flour and use a fork to blend them until the mixtures looks like breadcrumbs.
4. Stir in the milk and bring everything together to form a soft slightly sticky dough.
5. Turn out the dough onto a flour dusted surface and gently press into a 25x12cm/10x5” rectangle.
6. Cut this into two 12cm/5”squares, then cut each square into triangles.
7. Transfer the triangles to the prepared baking tray.
8. Bake for 12-15 minutes at 220˚C, Fan 200˚C, 425˚F, Gas 7

RYE SCONES

INGREDIENTS

200g rye flour

4 tsp baking powder  

1 tbsp sugar 

3 tbsp oil  

125ml water 

flour for dusting 

 METHOD

 Dust a large baking tray with a little flour and pre-heat the oven.

Sieve the flour and baking powder into a bowl, add the sugar and salt and blend together well.

Add the oil to the bowl and using a fork, blend everything together until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Stir in the water then use your hands to bring everything together to form a soft mass of dough.

Dust the worktop with flour, place the dough in the middle and flatten it, with floured hands, until 2cm/¾” thick.

Using a 5cm/2” round cookie cutter, cut out circles of dough and lift them on to the prepared baking tray.

Gather the off-cuts into a ball, flatten the dough, cut further circles of dough and put these on the baking tray.

Bake for 15 - 18 minutes at 220˚C, Fan 200˚C, 425˚F, Gas 7

DOVE'S FARM WHOLEMEAL SCONES

INGREDIENTS

200g wholemeal self raising flour  
1 tbsp brown sugar 
50g butter 
150ml milk
 flour for dusting 

METHOD 

Dust a large baking tray with a little flour and pre-heat the oven.

Sieve the flour into a bowl, add the sugar and blend together well.

Add the butter to the bowl and using a fork, blend everything together until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Stir in the milk then use your hands to bring together a soft mass of dough.

Lightly dust the worktop with flour, place the dough in the middle and flatten it to 3cm/1” with your hands.

Press a round pastry cutter or upturned coffee cup into the dough to cut out circles.

Lift the dough circles onto the prepared baking tray.

Bake for 15-18 minutes at

220˚C, Fan 200˚C, 425˚F, Gas 7 until golden brown

LEMON PAVLOVA FROM NIGELLA LAWSON

 LEMON PAVLOVA FROM NIGELLA LAWSON

Ever since my first pav in How To Eat, I have been something of a pavaholic. For me, acidity is key. I never understood why anyone would pile sweet fruit on top of something that is essentially – and dreamily – a cross between a marshmallow and a meringue. So naturally, a lemon pavlova made perfect sense. I had the idea – yes, really – from the actor Michael Sheen. This didn’t come in the form of a personal tip, I should admit. I saw him create a great pile of lemony pavs on the British TV show The Great Comic Relief Bake Off, and it inspired me. Diolch Michael (if I may). And that’s “Thank You” in Welsh by the way.)

You will note there are a lot of sliced almonds required: that is because they are the topping of the pav and not mere decoration; the crunch they offer is essential.

I make this with a jar of shop-bought lemon curd, but obviously I wouldn’t stop you from making your own. Should you want, proceed as follows: whisk together 2 extra large eggs, the yolks from 2 more extra large eggs, and ¾ cup superfine sugar in a heavy-based saucepan (off the heat). Add the finely grated zest and juice of 2 unwaxed lemons and 7 tablespoons soft unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch cubes or teaspooned out into similar-sized blobs, and put the pan over a medium heat, stirring constantly with a little flat whisk, until thickened. This will take around 5–7 minutes, but keep taking it off the heat – stirring or whisking all the while – at regular intervals during this time. When thickened, pour and scrape into a cold bowl and let it cool, stirring occasionally.

I am childishly excited about this pavlova: a reminder that good ideas come unbidden, much as happiness does.

Ingredients

6 egg whites (feel free to use unseasoned egg whites from a carton, if wished)
1 ¾ cups plus 1 tablespoon superfine sugar
2½ teaspoons cornstarch
2 unwaxed lemons
½ cup sliced almonds
1 ¼ cups heavy cream
1 1/3 cups jar lemon curd (see Intro)

Method

Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Beat the egg whites until satiny peaks form, then beat in the sugar a spoonful at a time until the meringue is stiff and shiny.

Sprinkle the cornstarch over the meringue, then grate in the zest – a fine microplane is best for this  - of 1 lemon and add 2 teaspoons of lemon juice.

Gently fold until everything is thoroughly mixed in.

 Mound onto the lined baking tray in a fat circle approximately 10 inches in diameter, smoothing the sides and the top with a knife or spatula.

Place in the oven, then immediately turn the temperature down to 300°F, and cook for 1 hour.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool, but don’t leave it anywhere cold as this will make it crack too quickly.

 If you think your kitchen is too cool, then leave the pavlova inside the oven with the door completely open. 

When you’re ready to eat, turn the pavlova onto a large flat plate or board with the underside uppermost – I do this before I sit down to the meal in question and let it stand till dessert time. This is so the tender marshmallow belly of the pav melds with the soft topping.