Spiced Sour Cream Cake with Apple & Cinnamon

This apple cake was a case of "arghh! what do I make with bramley apples festering in my fridge?" actually, the apples were fine, but I really had a hankering for apple cake and decided to use up some odds and ends from the cupboard and fridge to make this German-style coffee cake. Bramley apples have a mouth-puckering tartness to them so I just sliced them up and added a drizzle of fructose and cinnamon to take the edge off their crisp acidity.

The wholemeal flour gives a lovely nutty flavour, though the cake dried out a bit the following day, so I'd probably modify the recipe slightly next time and leave out the bran after sifting. Otherwise it's a straightforward recipe and the cake's rather delicious if I do say so myself :-)

Ingredients:

• 100g self-raising plain flour
• 100g plain wholemeal flour (will decrease this to 75g next time and leave out the bran)
• 40g ground almonds
• 175g light brown sugar
• 180ml half-fat sour cream
• 70g butter, melted
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp baking bowder
• 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp cardamom
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 large Bramley apple, peeled and sliced into moon-shaped slivers (see photo) I made an apple compote out of the other apple. Next time would probably use 1 1/2 apples in the cake

Method: 

Preheat oven to 180 C

Lightly grease a 22cm cake tin (you could use a 20cm which would make the cake taller)

In a large bowl, whick the eggs with the brown sugar un

til fluffy (5-8 minutes should do it)

Add the sour cream, whisk a bit, then sift in all the dry ingredients. Swirl the melted butter through the mixture, then using a large metal spoon make figure-of-eights in the mixture until all the dry ingredients are incorporated into the liquids (see below)

Pour this gently into the cake tin, and scatter the apple pieces on top - you can make a pattern if you want I just placed them randomly (depends how much of an aesthete you are). Sprinkle a bit more cinnamon over the apples and then place the tin on the middle shelf of the oven.

Bake 40 minutes, or until a skewer comes out dry.

Choccy Muffins

It always surprises me when I meet someone who professes a dislike or indifference to chocolate. Yet they drink coffee which to my simple mind seems much more unpalatable and 'toxic' in flavour. Yes, there is bad coffee, and bad chocolate aplenty, but I'm definitely in the chocoholic camp and would rather have cups of tea than coffee any day. That's not to say coffee can't lift rich chocolate flavours - a shot of espresso in your brownie mix does wonders for the aroma of those little squares of gooey chocolateness. Ditto if you add some coffee to butter icing when decorating a chocolate cake. Not so toxic you say, to which I would counter, "quite right, but that's because all those bitter coffee compounds have been tempered by butter and sugar"!

Anyway, I digress. Few foods - other than fish, cheese, homemade bread, and summer fruits - lift the spirits as much as chocolate. If I were a scientist and looking for a research grant (not difficult, apparently the sciences are awash with money, to the ire of us in the impoverished humanities) I'd definitely choose chocolate as my subject of investigation, and there's already evidence of the beneficial health effects good, dark chocolate confer when eaten in moderation. Therein lies the catch: whilst dark chocolate may be good for you, hoovering an entire 150g bar probably won't be, although I tried it once with a Lindt 70% before an exam and it worked wonders for my concentration before the sugar and caffeine high plummeted to a magnificent low - thankfully towards the end of the exam.

So, these choccy muffins may have health-boosting dark chocolate in them, but the butter and sugar unfortunately somewhat mitigate the health benefits. If you can eat these in moderation you're certainly a more virtuous foodie than this Scandi chocolate fiend...

Makes 12 small muffins

• 125g self-raising flour
• 125g butter, melted
• 125g caster sugar
• 125g sour cream
• 30-40g cocoa (depends how rich you like you're chocolate flavour...)
• 30-40g chopped dark chocolate
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• pinch of salt (up to 1/4 tsp if using unsalted butter)
• 1/8 tsp baking soda (helps lift the muffins)

optional additions: frozen raspberries, walnuts, pecans, macademias, a bit of orange zest, spices such as cinnamon or extracts such as peppermint

First, preheat oven to 180ºC. Lightly grease muffin tins

In a large bowl, sift the flour, cocoa, salt and baking soda. Make a well in the middle and add the liquid ingredients, then using a large metal spoon simply fold the ingredients together to form a moist, but not sloppy mixture. If it's really dense, add a few splashes of milk, water or, ahem, coffee to loosen the mix.

Once it looks even, spoon the mixture into the muffin tins and bake on the mid-top shelf (ie. not near the grill, but not totally in the middle) for 25-30 minutes.

These muffins freeze exceptionally well, and can be tarted up with an icing at a later date...

Sunday Brunch: Mama Johansen's Sour Cream Waffles

Don't you just love Sunday brunch? I could wax lyrical about the joys of lazy brunches - meals that stretch in a languid, leisurely fashion, for those who haven't a care in the world. Brunch, to me, is the most feline (if there is such a thing) of meals: insouciant, with a hint of arrogance. After all, it's a luxury to spend hours on a Sunday morning/afternoon scoffing muffins, eggs benedict, pancakes, et al. followed perhaps by a walk in the park, or even better: a post-brunch afternoon spent reading the Sunday papers... 

Anyway, this is a recipe my Mother and I adapted from a recent article on www.aftenposten.no, the website for one of Norway's bestselling newspapers. Mama J was initially sceptical and reckoned her recipe would be better, but in the spirit of experimentation we decided to give this one a go. Effectively it's a cross between the Aftenposten article's "World's greatest waffles" and her recipe.  By the way, in case you're wondering, Norway is a rather waffle-obsessed country, thereby the assumption goes that the rest of the world must be too, a peculiarly Norwegian logic. Norwegian waffles done properly though, are light and fluffy, with a crisp exterior, but most importantly, they have a distinct tangy flavour thanks to the addition of sour cream. These can be made in any waffle iron, we just happen to have the traditional heart-shaped waffle iron at our house

 

Serves 6

• 350g plain flour
• 1tsp baking powder
• 100g caster sugar
• 100g melted butter
• 100ml water
• 200ml sour cream
• 150ml milk
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla essence (you could also do cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg...)

In a large bowl, sift the flour, baking powder and add the sugar, blending well to distribute the baking powder. Make a well in the centre, adding your liquid ingredients and mixing thoroughly with a large spoon. Cover the bowl with a cloth and set aside for 1/2 hour...

Meanwhile, get your waffle iron ready, and all your accoutrements - I defrosted some sour cherry jam from the Johansen farm for this occasion. Other toppings which work well are greek yoghurt, cinnamon, any fruit, be they fresh or in jam/coulis form. Or if you have some Norwegians coming round, serve a few slices of Geitost, the infamous caramel-flavoured goat's cheese Norwegians know and love (and non-Norwegians apparently find revolting!) If you're making these for lots of people, plug in the iron and place on the table you're eating at, then each of you can make your own waffle...communal cooking at it's best!

When the waffles are done, eat them immediately - they go soggy quite quickly. Otherwise make a huge batch and freeze for future use - simply place in the oven 5-8 minutes at 150ºC and they'll be as good as freshly made ones

Baking with Wine....

Lest you think I'm a dipsomaniac baker capable of whacky 'Swedish Chef' style antics, this feature is about baking cakes with wine, and hilarious as tipsy baking might be, I'd advocate a judicious splash of wine in sweet things to bring a bit of sparkle to your baking sessions - whilst enjoying a heftig glass of the stuff - afterwards, of course. 

Baking with wine is not unheard of, after all Claire Clark, head pastry chef at Napa Valley's French Laundry, has a recipe for chocolate red wine cake in her excellent baking book Indulge: 100 Perfect Desserts (Absolute Press), and there is such a thing as wine flour in Canada which sounds intriguing

This chocolate red wine cake recipe is inspired by one I tasted on a recent press trip to southwest Germany's wine regions - it's a classic buttery, Victoria sponge-style formula. The wine adds depth of flavour to the cake, rather than an overt 'wine' flavour...

Serves 12 

• 125g self-raising flour
• 125g butter, softened
• 125g caster sugar
• 125ml red wine - any will do, although save the good stuff for drinking!
• 125ml sour cream
• 4 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 75g dark chocolate chips (a decadent addition, not obligatory)

Preheat oven 180ºC, lightly oil a scalloped 'bundt cake' tin, or just an ordinary 22cm round cake tin

Cream the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy, add the egg one at a time and beat after each addition. Add the sour cream, then the wine and beat together. This will look like a rather unappetizing mess, persevere though, it will be worth it

To this mauve-ish mixture, add your spices and salt, then sift in the flour and cocoa powder, adding the optional chocolate chips at this stage. Fold through with a large metal spoon until the mixture looks even (it will be quite moist), then spoon into the cake tin and bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 30-35 minutes. It should have risen, be firm to the touch and if in doubt, insert a skewer to check there's no uncooked mixture left - it should come out clean

Allow to cool, dust with icing sugar and serve with redcurrants, chopped peaches and perhaps a glass of Pinot...

Norwegian Cheesecake with Tipsy Strawberries

Not very Norwegian at all, just an eye-catching title for this luscious cheesecake. The tipsy strawberries transform it into a "grown-up" dessert, but obviously you could just serve it with unadulterated berries. It's easier to make the cheesecake if you leave the ingredients out of the fridge before starting - helps to soften the cream cheese

Serves 6 Hungry People (8 restrained ones)

Preheat oven to 160ºC. Lightly oil a 23cm round cake tin

Base

• 200g wholemeal digestive biscuit crumbs
• 50g melted butter
• 50g demerara sugar
• pinch salt
• pinch cinnamon

Mix all these ingredients in a medium bowl, pat down firmly in the base of the cake tin and refrigerate while preparing the cheesecake filling

Filling

• 4 eggs, separated
• 1 pot (think it's 240ml) sour cream - not light!
• 240ml Philadelphia cream cheese - ditto
• 175g caster sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla 
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• pinch salt

In a large bowl, beat the egg yolks with 125g sugar until pale, add the sour cream, vanilla, flour and salt. Beat in the cream cheese a large spoonful at a time

Meanwhile beat the egg whites with the remaining 50g of sugar until stiff peaks form, take one large spoonful of this and add to the egg yolk mixture to loosen it. Then fold through the rest of the egg whites, careful not to knock out all the air

Spoon into the cake tin, bake on middle shelf in the oven for 45-50minutes, or until the surface feels firm. Cheesecake shouldn't take on too much colour, if it is, turn the heat down

a smidgeon

Tipsy strawberries

• 2 punnets strawberries
  
• juice of 2-3 oranges (depends on how juicy they are...)
• zest of 1 orange
• 2-3 tbsp Grand Marnier
• 2-3 tbsp Cognac/Brandy

Quarter the strawberries, if small, chop in half, otherwise, quarter. Allow half the butter to melt in a shallow, large saute pan. Add the strawberries and sear very quickly. Add the cognac/brandy and Grand Marnier, stir and allow to evaporate (flambe if you're feeling brave). Remove the strawberries and set aside, add the orange juice and zest to the saute pn and reduce the liquid by 1/2.  If you happen to be in possession of some arrowroot add a spoonful off the heat (helps to thicken the sauce - not essential but some foodie friends are fussy). Add a few nuggets of cold butter to finish off the sauce, then place the strawberries back in the pan, and drizzle over each slice of cooled cheesecake.

Alternatively if you're a lazy slug, just drizzle these dipsomaniac strawberries over vanilla ice cream, also an excellent match