Cardamom (Elaichi in Hindi) is the third most expensive spice by weight [after saffron and vanilla], but luckily a little goes a long way and gives a beautiful perfume to chilli, curries, biscuits and all manner of good things.

It can be quite a tricky balance to get the cardamom levels right in this recipe - too little and you might as well not bother, too much and it’s like eating a bar of soap [as I found out when the first batch ended up in the bin and husband described the second as ‘strange’]. The strength can be affected by how old your pods are – if they’ve started to lose their bright green colour, it’s definitely time to bin them and get a new batch.

If you’re not sure how strong you want it, I’d add half the ground cardamom to the chocolate mixture, taste, then decide if you want to add the rest; you don’t want it to overpower the other flavours. And don’t be tempted to substitute black cardamom, as the more woody flavour wouldn’t be right here.

I’ve listed the recipe with raspberries, but I’ve also made it with blackberries. I prefer the raspberries, as the flavour stands out more against the chocolate and cardamom but they do tend to be juicer, which makes the texture wetter. The blackberries give a more cake like texture but are a softer fruity note. You could of course leave the fruit out completely - substitute the cardamom for some ground ginger or just go for a pure chocolate hit.

Ingredients:

150g 70% dark chocolate
150g salted butter
6 medium eggs
250g golden caster sugar
100g ground almond
4 tsp cocoa powder
½ tsp vanilla extract
2-3 green cardamom
300g raspberries

How to make it:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/Gas 4, and line a traybake tin with grease proof paper.

2. Remove the cardamom seeds from their pods and grind to a fine powder. I've got a Jamie Oliver Flavour Shaker which I find invaluable for small amounts of spice but you could use a pestle and mortar.

3. Melt the chocolate and butter together in the microwave for about 1min 40secs, stopping every 30secs to stir. Eventually the remaining chocolate will melt in the residual heat of the liquid.

4. Add the ground cardamom and vanilla extract to the chocolate mix, then set aside to cool.

5. Beat the eggs and sugar together with a hand whisk or mixer until very fluffy and pale.

6. Mix the ground almonds with the cocoa powder and beat into the egg and sugar mixture.

7. Briefly beat the chocolate mixture into the mix.

8. Carefully fold in the raspberries with a spatula or big metal spoon.

9. Pour the batter into the tin and bake for 35-40 minutes. The cake will be set on the top and have a bit of jiggle below. It does have a tendency to catch, so if that starts to happen, cover it lightly with some scrunched up greaseproof paper.

10. Remove from the oven and leave in the tin on a wire rack to cool.

11. Make sure it's completely cool before you try to slice it - the top will still crack a bit anyway but you should stop the underneath from crumbling.

I don't think there's anything I like making more than cake. If it comes to that, there's nothing I like to eat more than cake. There's something so satisfying about food that is unashamedly about enjoying it with no pretence of nutritional value.

I was stuck in the house for the day looking after our 10 month old border terrier who had been neutered the day before (ouch). It seemed a good opportunity to do some baking, but not having planned it, ingredients were thin on the ground.

Having a root around the fridge, I found a half-full jar of homemade marmalade that someone had given us. Score! These came out a treat. Ah, the serendipity of cake.

You can also use this recipe to make invidual cakes using rectangular mini loaf cases from ASDA.

Ingredients:

The cake:
170g room temp butter
170g caster sugar
6 tbs thick cut marmalade
2 medium beaten eggs
225g self raising flour

The topping:
225g icing sugar
5-6 tbs lemon juice
About 50g candied peel

How to make it:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4.

2. Grease and line a shallow traybake tin with grease proof paper.

3. Cream the butter and sugar until pale and smooth with an electric whisk or mixer (or by hand if you're a masochist).

4. Add the marmalade and mix in thoroughly.

5. Beat in the flour a third at a time.

6. Slowly beat in the eggs until the mixture becomes a smooth batter.

7. Spread the mixture evenly into the tin and bake for about 20-25mins, until the top is golden and a cocktail stick comes out clean.

8. Let it cool in the tin for 10mins then move to a baking rack to cool completely.

9. Whisk the icing sugar, adding the lemon juice a tablespoon at a time, until you get a smooth paste.

10. When the cake is completely cool, spread the icing evenly over the top.

11. Sprinkle with the candied peel as generously as you like.

12. Allow the icing to firm up a bit, then cut into squares.

There is nothing more satisfying than making cake. Well, maybe eating cake, but making it comes a close second.

For my birthday I asked my  husband to buy me a food mixer – beautiful metallic red and shiny. As always, he didn’t disappoint me and I couldn’t wait to try it out. 

This recipe was originally for gooseberries but the supermarket didn’t have any. They did however have some lovely plump blackberries and they worked a treat.

It did turn out a bit too moist, which made it tricky to eat, so I’ve also cut down the amount of drizzle – I guess it depends on how juicy your oranges are though!

Ingredients:

225g softened butter, plus extra for the tin
225g caster sugar
225g self-raising flour
4 large eggs
Grated zest of an orange
The juice of half the orange
200g blackberries
70g caster sugar

How to make it:


1. Heat the oven to 180C or gas 4. 

2. Butter and line a 20 x 30cm traybake tin with baking parchment. 

3. Put the butter, larger amount of caster sugar, flour, eggs and orange zest in a bowl. 

4. Beat thoroughly with an electric whisk or mixer until creamy and smooth. 

5. Stir in the blackberries, then spoon into the tin and level  the surface. 

6. Bake for 35mins until a cocktail stick inserted into the cake comes out clean. 

7. Prick the cake all over with the cocktail stick to allow the drizzle to drip through.

8. Stir the juice of half the orange into the smaller amount of castor sugar.

9. Spoon the liquid over the surface of the warm cake and leave to cool for 10mins in the tin. 

10. Take the cake out of the tin by the parchment and allow to  cool on a cooling rack.

11. Cut into squares once properly cool.


Recipe from Good Food

So, husband was away camping with the boys (in the rain) and it would have been very easy to sit on the sofa all day with the dog and tv. Well, actually that's what I did for most of it until springing into action to make these little beauties. 

I added the raspberries to the recipe because they give a good tang to offset  the sweetness - but avoid if you're dieting. AVOID. To be honest, it's probably  better to get someone else to make them for you so you're ignorant of the butter and sugar content.






Ingredients:

200g unsalted butter

275g plain flour

200g castor sugar 

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

300g lemon curd

300g fresh raspberries

50g desiccated coconut


How to make it:


1. Pre-heat the oven to 190 C or gas mark 5.

2. Cream the sugar and butter with a wooden spoon until pale and smooth.

3. Add the flour and bicarbonate - mix until you get coarse crumbs.

4. Pat 2/3 of the mixture into a 22x33cm tin.

5. Bake for 10 minutes, then remove and allow to cool slightly.

6. Spread the lemon curd over the base, then evenly dot the raspberries.

7. Add the coconut to the remaining 1/3 of the crumbs, then sprinkle over the raspberries and lemon curd.

8. Lower the oven temp to 180 C or gas mark 4 and bake for about 30mins or until
lightly browned.

9. Try not to eat them all straight out of the tin.
 
 
Recipe thanks to Allrecipes.