Hummingbird Cake

For Mary

A variation on the carrot cake them- but with no carrot! This recipe is the Hummingbird Bakery's signature cake, hence the recipe, but they have 3 times the sugar in the icing (it must be terrifyingly sweet). I have also added some brown flour to the mix to add nutrition. In my dear friend Mary's words: "OMG that is like the BEST cake I have ever tasted!" Personally I wouldn't go THAT far... but it does look mighty impressive. Try it and see for yourself.

Raspberry almond pudding cake

I had frozen raspberries and wanted to make a pudding for our roast chicken dinner. But didn't want crumble. So improvised this - a mix between my all time favourite River Cafe Plum and Orange cake with almonds, another fav, Nigella Lawson's Easy Almond Cake, and a remembered cake that my step mother brought over to celebrate the birth of my first daughter. We liked it, a lot. 3 adults ate 3/4 of it!

So what's it like? A damp, sweet, buttery, crumbly almond and citrus scented cake with a crisp caramelised crunchy almond topping and tart raspberries at the bottom.

Luscious lemon squares

These are light and lemony. and super quick to throw together - under half an hour from start to eat. And eat them we did. They may look simple, and are certainly a classic, I claim no great surprises here, certainly no fancy icing... but boy are they good...myself and three kiddies (5,3, and 1) wolfed down half a pan of still warm squares in less than 10 minutes. So panic not about them being too sharp-tasting for kids. They would be great for a school bake sale or unexpected guests for tea.

I made them because we had a big batch of lemons to use up, and hundreds of our yummy yellow yolked free range eggs from our dear chooks who live under the kids' trampoline. Good eggs make all the difference.

Banana Loaf Cake

For Amy, Loo and Caragh who all love this cake.

A homely cake which fills the house with a wonderful cakey fug which seductively lets everyone who enters know that you are truly a domestic goddess. A crisp crust and moist springy sponge. Kids love it. And the adults do too! It's perfect for using up those deep brown spotted bananas that populate the fruit bowl.

We eat it plain. You can butter it. Or ice it, with a cream cheese icing, a la carrot cake, or a lemony butter or even lemony water icing. All are divine. Or how about a chocolate butter icing for a kiddies birthday cake (just bake it in a round tin).

It is divine still warm from the oven, but keeps well a few days too as the banana adds moisture. Ring the changes and cater to your individual crowd's needs: add 100 g sultanas (soaked in rum or orange juice to make them extra plump), 100g chocolate chips or chunks, and/ or 60 g chopped pecans or walnuts.

With thanks to Nigella Lawson's How to be a Domestic Goddess and Rose Levy Beranbaum's  The Cake Bible for their combined techniques!

All American Blueberry Muffins

For Gill

For me America is the land of baking. Pancakes, brownies, cookies, whoopie pies. They are the stuff of dreams to an Anglo-Irish girl brought up on lardy cake, scones, crumpets and victoria sponge. The summit of America's baking achievements for me is the blueberry muffin. The ease of making, the simplicity of method, the crazy indigo of the vibrant berries in the light crumbed cake. Blueberries in Europe are never as good as American ones: ours are meaner and less flavoursome. But still each time I eat one I feel I am transported back to my first bite, in America, aged nine.

Secret Brownies

Brownies... the ultimate gooey, gunky chocolate sensation. But definitely NOT good for you.

Well not any more. These secret brownies are super-chocolatey yet light, gooey and cakey...and nutritious. The secret? Tofu! It replaces some of the eggs, sugar and butter. And you would NEVER know it was there! Tofu is a great low fat protein source. As well as containing all sorts of cancer protecting isoflavins and the like. I also find for some reason that they don't give me a nasty sugar high like other brownies.

You'll have to trust  me on this one. I do not do worthy bakery. But I may, in this recipe, just have found a perfect compromise. I ate six today...I'm not sure if they're THAT healthy... ah well!

Hotcakes

My kids know that Saturday morning means one thing, and one thing only: pancakes! They can choose between crepes (pancakes) or these classic American pancakes which we call "hotcakes". They differ from the English drop scones that I grew up with which are slightly floppier and more rubbery. The combination of buttermilk instead of milk, oil instead of butter and a dash of cornflour makes these so light and airy they could float off by themselves.

Toppings depend on the person. For me it has to be Vermont maple syrup, salty butter and if available hickory smoked American style (streaky) bacon fried till crisp. And they have to be stacked up. My children love strawberry jam or Nutella as well.

Florentine Crispies

Dear friends, brace yourselves to reach heaven. Well, that is if you like white chocolate, and if you don't we may need to reassess this friendship thing. You also need to be a little nutty... (if you know what I mean!) And yes you need to like candied peel. Now I know that this seems to disqualify most of my close friends. But their loss. Myself, my husband, sister and step mother sit and gorge on these. There is a reason that I only cook them once or twice a year! that and the ingredients aren't that cheap. But boy are they a good grown up treat. Gorgeous as a snack, or an after dinner snapple.

These are grown up chocolate crispy cakes with a florentine vibe going on. Regular readers know that contains nuts= a health food in my book and it cancels out the less wholesome nature of any other ingredients contained therein!

With credit to Andrew Garrison Shot's divine book Making Fine Chocolates for the original version of this recipe.

Peanut Butter Blondies

With thanks to Rachel Allen from whose book Bake I got the original, even sweeter, version. I know, because I know her, that she makes these for her school bake sale. Easy as pie to make, easy as sin to devour: blink and they're gone. Ditch the guilt and (like me) persuade yourself they're a health food because they've got nuts in! I nearly didn't make them. Cooked peanut butter, I thought, yuck, how American! But take it from me, if you like peanut butter these are all good!

Like brownies in texture and more-ishness, but not, obviously, in colour - hence blondies. Cunning!

Cranberry mincemeat

Pure and simple: the smell of Christmas.
And no suet!

1 bag of fresh cranberries (about 250 g)
1 tsp each ground cinnamon and mixed spice
100 g chopped mixed peel
50g flaked almonds, crushed in your hand
100 ml port
120 g light brown sugar
juice of 1 orange
100g sultanas
100g raisins

Bubble it all over a medium heat, stirring to prevent it sticking, until all the cranberries have exploded and it's syrupy - about 15 mins. Test for sweetness. Take off the heat and add...

A generous slosh of brandy/ grand marnier
1tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp almond essence

Keep in a jar in the fridge and use to fill mince pies.

Honey Cake

The sort of thing that Pooh Bear would eat, me-thinks! what is great about this one is that you can tell yourself that you can have another slice, because it's SO healthy! It has honey, unrefined nuts and brown flour. Except it doesn't taste worthy at all, it is buttery and with a light crumb and a praline nuttiness. Hidden under the guise of a boring looking, almost burnt crust. This is one that whispers seductively "never judge a book by its cover!" I dare you not to have a second slice, and maybe even a third.

With thanks to Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall for the original recipe (in his River Cottage Everyday  [GREAT book]) which of course I have tweaked!

Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes

These are the love child of Nigella's Choc Cherry Cupcakes from Domestic Goddess and Bill Granger's Easy Mix Chocolate Cake, perfected, if that is not too strong a word, by me. So they are naughty but nice, cheeky and sexy, and bound to add to your wobbly bits! They take after Nigella more in the looks department - dark, sexy, sultry and very yummy mummy! They are deeply delicious with a hint of sweet, rich, mellow cherry. Just cook 'em and see. And then thank me!