An intense discussion has been ongoing between friends recently about different approach to healthy eating/fitness/weight loss and stuff.  Most of us, good food lovers would benefit from losing a kilo or two, I, for one, have a stomach that is far from flat. Florek could shed a good 10 kg.

Jana, fitness queen among us, who’s always done some sort of sport for most of her life and now enjoys great body and feels great for it, has suggested somebody’s recipe for an apple tart made of millet, instead of flour.  The idea Jana found interesting I found revolting. I’m all for health, but I refuse to compromise on taste and flavour, so instead of using freaky ingredients, I make half a portion of cake, but a good cake it is. Full of flavour.  Made with butter and flour.

Yesterday Florek treated me to a few pieces of nice baking equipment in Lakeland, including 2 new baking trays. The small square one is perfect for a midweek cake for 3 of us, I tested it today with a lemon drizzle cake, Mary Berry’s. If someone knows how to bake, it’s Mary.

Easy- all the ingredients into the bowl of the Kitchen Aid, worked a couple of minutes- into the oven. The ingredients are; 112 g of butter and caster sugar, 137 ish g of self raising flour, 1 tsp of baking powder, 2 whole eggs, 2 tbsps of milk and a zest of one lemon. That’s all. Into the prepared, lined tin and into the oven for 35 minutes in 180 degrees.

Once baked and slightly cooled, I made lots of little holes with a skewer, so that the lemon syrup went all the way down. The syrup is simply a juice of 1 lemon and about 80 g of sugar- yes, sounds mental, but it tastes great. Citrusy, light, flavoursome.

Another round of macaroons, this time with blackcurrants, which were not too easy to obtain in January. But I asked Robert, who grows them in his garden and then freezes them. He gave me some in summer, Izzie enjoyed vitamic C packet compots made of them. I offered to buy some off Rob, but he said I could have some and he’d just like some of whatever I’ll be baking with them. Pleasure doing business with this man!

Usual recipe for the macaroons, but they haven’t risen as much as I’d have liked. The curd however is freaking sensational.  250 g of frozen blackcurrants cooked quickly with 70 g of sugar, then sieved for smoothness. 2 egg yolks +2 eggs, lightly beaten added, 2 tbsps of creme de cassis, bought especially for this purpose from Ocado and 80 g of butter.  All this heated up slowly, stirred until thickened. Luckily it made more than I needed, I’m planning on baking more macaroons with this curd, it’s that good. Florian had about 5 after dinner, that’s before the dessert. 🙂

What a lovely way to finish the first dinner in New Year, in nice company ( Jimbo and Louise came over).

I saw it on telly, some Christmassy special with Mary Berry, saw it and I knew I’d have to try it. Bought a bottle of Grand Marnier, which won’t be wasted, as this cake will be done again.

First job, a large orange gets thinly sliced and then cooked for nearly 2 hours in a sugar syrup- 400 ml of water, 400 g of caster sugar, slowly and gently. After 2 hours the oranges are out and drained, 50 ml of Grand Marnier goes in and it’s set aside.

Next creme pat. 600 ml of milk warmed up with lots of vanilla paste. 4 eggs whipped with 100 g of sugar, then 60 g of flour added. Almost boiling milk goes into the eggs, lightly whipped, back onto the heat and constantly stirred, while it thickens. Transferred into a clean bowl and covered with cling film, cooled, chilled.

First time ever for me and a genoise sponge;50 g of melted butter, 4 eggs, 100 g of sugar, 100 g of plain flour. Eggs and sugar lovingly whipped till pale and fluffy, flour goes in, melted, cooled butter goes in. And then it bakes for about 25 minutes in 180 degrees.  I think the sponge is the only thing in the whole cake I could have done better, it could have risen a bit more.  When cooled I sliced it horizontally and cut round with the help of a plate.

300 ml of whipped cream is the next thing, whipped and happy to proceed, creme pat mixed in bit by bit.

Finally, the pretty bit. A large bowl lined with 2 layers of cling film, the sliced oranges arranged in a pretty way- this will be the top of the dome, when ready to serve. Onto the oranges goes half of the creme pat, nicely smoothed, then half of the sponge. The sponge then gets soaked with boozy sugar syrup. The other half of creme pat will have the remaining oranges, chopped finely and mixed in. I’m thinking maybe even an extra splash of Grand Marnier would not be a bad idea. That onto the sponge, the other half of the sponge on, syrup and then a heavy plate on top and to the fridge overnight.

It came out of the bowl without effort. Tastes rich, light, orangey and luxurious. Super pleased. 🙂