Weekend Cooking/Cook the Books: A Land of Milk and Honey by C Pam Zhang

The current selection for Cook the Books is a book that is a bit outside my comfort zone, A Land of Milk and Honey by C Pam Zhang is a science fiction novel which was nominated for the best book in that category in the Goodreads Choice awards in 2023.

Our unnamed main character is an American chef of Asian heritage who finds herself outside of the US when all the borders close off around the world thanks to a worldwide food crisis. There is an intense, acidic fog that has spread around the globe which has the effect of destroying all the crops in the world. There is therefore no food for animals and so they have perished too, so there is no meat.  All that is left to eat is a high protein mung powder - gray and tasteless. It's not a good time to be a chef. The chef has applied to return to America, but is languishing on a list where she doesn't meet the most desirable requirements, and therefore never gets any closer to the point where she will be allowed to returned.

She applies for a new role which is advertised as a private chef for an "elite research community" which is on a mountain top near the Italian and French border. The research community is privately funded and is very exclusive. You have to be prepared to invest heavily to be invited to be part of the community. On the top of that mountain, they have worked out how to bio engineer the food that no longer exists anywhere else, both in recent history, and from the distant past.  In theory, they will be sharing their findings with the world. In reality, this is an enclave for only the chosen few, and the weekly feasts are ever more outlandish and extravagant.

The community is run by a reclusive man and his beautiful, very intelligent, driven daughter, Aida, who are always racing against time to try and develop the food that is lost for their use only. But there is so much more going on here as well.  Whilst this is a foodie book exploring the idea of what would happen if food shortages became world wide, it is also looking at the ultimate haves vs the have nots. It is a very sensual book. Here is a passage from very early in the book where she has just arrived at the mountain top.

On my second pass, I spotted a box behind the door. Impress me, this note said. Inside were flour, vanilla, eggs.

I'd expected a test, of course: a textbook omelet, or a flawless consomme to prove the French training the job demanded. Pastry, no. Giddiness abandoned me as I unpacked baking soda, sugar, milk. Even the voluptuousness of the butter couldn't distract from thoughts of my spotty experience in patisserie, and the precarity of my visa, and what would happen were I turned away - and then I was no longer at the bottom of the box I touched something as warm as skin, as yielding as a woman's inner thigh: strawberries.

The sensuousness is not limited to the description of food. There is also an LGBQ+ element to the story when our chef and Aida begin a relationship. But it is complicated because the boss has a very specific role that he is expecting our chef to play, the stakes are high, and so is the tension.

This book was a reminder to me that it is important not to take food for granted. It doesn't take much for there to be food shortages, even here in Australia, where we recently have had egg shortages due to bird illnesses. Our farmland is also shrinking due to the ever increasing size of our cities, and many of our farms are now owned by huge multinational companies. We are lucky that we are able to just go to the supermarket but the food chain is probably more fragile than we realise. Obviously there are also lots of places around the world, where you don't necessarily know where your next meal is coming from on a daily basis.

It's fair to say I didn't love this book, and I was glad when it was done, but sometimes that is what being in a book club is about right? You read the selection knowing that it might not be the kind of book that you would normally read. I did appreciate the way that the author wrote about food and I marked numerous passages.

I did find it interesting to see the intersection between the last three Cook the Books selections. Two books ago we read Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees, so lots of honey, and then we read Crying in H Mart which is about Korean food, and this book talked about quite a bit of Korean food.

When deciding what to make I did ponder a number of options. Would it be Souffle Cheesecake,     something Korean or some woolly mammoth that I picked up from the supermarket? In the end I was inspired by the very start of the book where our unnamed cook was asked to impress their new employer, using the ingredients described in the passage above.

In the end I decided on Japanese Strawberry Shortcake because I had recently read The Restaurant of Lost Recipes by Hisashi Kashiwai, which is the second book in the Kamogawa Food Detectives series. One of the stories in that book was where the food detectives were asked to recreate a Christmas Cake, which in Japan is Strawberry Shortcake. Between the description in the book and that story, I knew that was what I would make.

I am not sure that my cake was fluffy enough, and I ended up doubling this recipe to give it enough height, but my husband and I really enjoyed it!

A couple of other comments about the recipe. We can't buy cake flour here, so I made my own by mixing plain flour with cornflour. There are instructions on the internet on how to do this. I also just whipped the cream normally in my stand mixer.

Japanese Strawberry Shortcake

Cake

2 egg whites
2 egg yolks
60 g white caster sugar
½ tsp lemon juice
60 g cake flour sifted
20 g unsalted butter melted + extra to grease the cake pan
1 tbsp milk

Syrup

20 g white caster sugar
40 ml water
1 tbsp your chosen liqueur (optional) 

For assembly

300 g cold thickened cream
3 tbsp icing sugar
3 drops vanilla essence of half the amount of vanilla extract
12 medium strawberries
mint leaves (optional)

Measure out the sponge ingredients, separate the eggs and leave everything out to reach room temperature for about 20-30 minutes. (Cover the eggs to stop them from drying out).

Grease the cake tin with a thin layer of butter over the base and sides and line it with parchment paper. Start preheating your oven to 180 °C (356 °F) (170 °C (338 °F) for fan assisted).

In a clean, dry glass mixing bowl, add 2 egg whites and ½ tsp lemon juice. Set your electric mixer to a medium-high setting and whisk until foamy and doubled in size.

Add the caster sugar one third at a time, making sure it's fully incorporated before adding the next third.

Continue to whisk on a medium speed until the meringue is smooth and glossy with stable, stiff peaks.
Add the egg yolks one at a time, whip using the electric mixer for about 10-15 seconds for each yolk and stop as soon as they're incorporated into the meringue.

Sift cake flour twice into a separate bowl. Sift once more, this time into the egg mixture, adding it one-third at a time and folding it gently with a silicone spatula. Repeat until all of the flour is incorporated into the mixture, being careful not to over-mix.

Mix 20 g unsalted butter (melted) and 1 tbsp milk in a small bowl. Add about 2 tbsp of the sponge batter and whisk them together to temper them. Pour the tempered mixture into the cake batter and fold in gently with the spatula. Once combined, pour the mixture into the lined cake tin and smooth the top and drop the cake tin twice onto a hard surface from about 10cm (4 inches) high.

Place on the middle shelf of the oven and bake for 20-30 minutes. (Check the cake after 20 minutes and remove once it's golden brown.)

Once the sponge is fully cooked, take it out from the oven and drop it on a hard surface from about 20cm high (8 inches). This will help prevent sinking and shrinking.

Turn upside down onto a wire rack and remove the cake tin. Leave to cool for about 1 hour.

For the syrup, in a small pan, add the caster sugar, 40 ml water and the liqueur if using. Bring to a boil over a medium heat while stirring continuously. Once it starts bubbling, stop stirring and boil for 1 minute before removing it from the heat.

Once the cake has cooled, cut off the top (as thinly as possible to not waste too much) and then cut in half horizontally.

 
Brush the top of each half generously with syrup and save any leftovers for later.

Prepare the strawberries by washing and then dry them thoroughly with kitchen paper and remove the stems. Save 7-9 of the most beautiful ones for decorating and slice the rest for the filling.

To make the whipping cream take a large bowl and add a few handfuls of ice, then take a smaller glass or steel bowl (preferably chilled) and place it on top of the ice. Pour in the cream and add icing sugar and vanilla essence or extract.

Use an electric whisk (or balloon whisk if you’re whisking by hand) and whip until the cream has peaks and becomes spreadable.

To assemble, place 2-3 spoonfuls of whipped cream in the centre of each half of the sponge. Spread it out to the edges until even and arrange the strawberries on one half.

Flip one half onto the other so that the strawberries are sandwiched between two layers of cream. Brush any leftover syrup on the top of the cake and place it on a easy-to-turn surface (e.g. cake board, paper plate etc.)

Add about 4-5 scoops of whipped cream to the middle and spread it out thinly over the edges. This is a crumb coat (to smooth down crumbs) so scrape off any excess into a separate bowl so that crumbs don’t mix in with the rest of the cream.

Whip up the cream a little bit more to make it a bit thicker and then add 3/4 of it to the top of the sponge and the other 1/4 to a piping bag. Place the piping bag in the refrigerator while you're icing the cake.

Spread out the cream using an icing spatula, making sure the whole cake is smoothly and evenly covered on the top and sides.

Finish the cake by piping swirls around the edge and placing the strawberries in the center. Decorate with mint leaves if using.

The next Cook the Books selection is Be Ready When the Luck Happens by Ina Garten. This isn't available for me to buy at a reasonable price or in my local libraries so I will probably sit it out, but I will be back for the April/May selection. Maybe I will try one of her recipes in lieu of reading her book.

I am also sharing this post with Foodies Read hosted at Based on a True Story

Weekly meals

Saturday - Pork ribs, coleslaw, potato salad
Sunday - Beef and Broccoli Noodles
Monday - Away
Tuesday - Away 
Wednesday - Away
Thursday - Pressure Cooker Spaghetti Bolognaise
Friday - Out for dinner

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Weekend Cooking: A Christmas Tree cake

Last weekend my friend and I did a cake decorating class. We have been talking about doing one of these classes for a couple of years so it was exciting to finally be there. 

Here's a summary of the process that we went through.

The cakes, which are white chocolate mud cakes, had already been made. This is because it is best for the cakes to be cold when you are decorating them so there wouldn't be time, in what was scheduled to be a 3 hour class, to cook, cool and decorate the cake. As it was, the class went long.

The first thing that we did was to make fondant decorations. Whilst we only needed one for a cake there were a variety of different shapes. They had a special dehydrator in the classroom, but at home you would let them dry out on the bench overnight. 

Next, we needed to slice the cakes  in half using a cake wire cutter. This was one of the first pieces of equipment I ever bought, and yet I never really got the hang of using it, so there were a couple of handy hints about how to measure and then slice to get even sizes and using the wire to level the top of the cake. Normally I would try to do this with a knife.

We could then begin to build the cake, laying with the provided buttercream. We each were given around 900 grams of buttercream, which is a lot! This was then followed by a crumb coat, which is a very thin layer of buttercream which catches any crumbs so that the final finish on the cake is very clean. Once you have done the crumb coat, the cake needs to go in the fridge for around 20 minutes. Because the crumb coat is cold, it will help the final frosting layer.

Then it was time to do the outer layer of frosting.  I like making cakes, but I do get impatient when it comes to decorating, so this was a good lesson for me. When I normally use buttercream, I tend to slap it on the outside and spread it using a spatula, but this time we were encouraged to pipe the icing around the side and then use the cake scraper to smooth it. I will definitely use this technique going forward. 

You can hopefully see that the design was for a ragged top lip rather than a very smooth edge, and then also the swirl design on the top which was created by dragging the spatula as it is digging into the buttercream and you are turning the turntable.

Once again the cake needs to go back in the fridge to set before we add the final decorations. While we waited we got to practice piping the design using some of the leftover buttercream.  Now it is fair to say, I need lots of practice when it comes to piping!

In order to create the variations in colour in the tree, we took two different shades of green and put them on clingwrap and then created a sausage with the two colours merged together.

And finally, it is time to decorate. The first thing we did was add some texture to the side of the cake. This was achieved by using a gloved hand with a little buttercream on it and then gently dab on the side of the cake. 

We can then add some small sprinkles to the top, and then pipe the tree onto the side of the cake, add the sprinkles so that they look like Christmas bauble, add the fondant star and spray with glitter. I can't take the credit for how good the piping looks on my tree. I had some help from the teacher. And then it was done! All that was left to do was to try to transport it home without doing too much damage.

Originally I was thinking that Robert and I would just eat this, but in the end, it looks too good, so it is now going to be part of our family Christmas lunch which is on today. It's been in the fridge, so I just had to take it out this morning so that it comes back to room temperature. If we needed it to last a bit longer, it could be frozen without the fondant decoration. I suspect there might be leftovers, so maybe I will freeze those for when we are back from our trip

This is the first time I have done such a hands-on cake decorating class, but I already know I will be going back at some point in the future. They also do cookie decorating so maybe we will try one of those classes next time.

Have you ever done a decorating class similar to this?

To those of you who are celebrating Merry Christmas! 

Weekly meals

Saturday - Out for dinner
Sunday - Baked tuscan chicken
Monday - Smash burgers
Tuesday - Indian prawn curry
Wednesday - Swedish Meatballs and mash
Thursday - One Pot Pastitsio
Friday - Pizza

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Weekend Cooking: What I Baked (In My Kitchen) in September

The first Saturday of the month is when I share all the things that I baked in the previous month. This month, I am not sure I really need to use the word all, because I actually only baked two items, and they were both exactly the same recipe. There will be even less this month because we are away for most of the month.

I have been making my go-to chocolate cake for years. Every now and again I try a new one but I hadn't found one that replace it....until now.

This month I thought I would try making the chocolate cake from Nagi Maehashi's cookbook RecipeTinEats: Dinner. Like most of the recipes I have tried from this cookbook it was another really successful bake. I then topped it with her recipe for chocolate buttercream frosting.

First, I made the cake just for fun, and then I made it for my son's birthday and everyone who was at dinner loved it. I like to think that I had ALMOST convinced my 16 year old nephew that it was so simple that even he could make it. I say almost because I don't think he ended up trying, but he definitely could. So here are the two versions that I made:

I did offer people sprinkles which they could add themselves if they wanted!

I thought I would share the video from the Recipetineats website for this cake.  The recipe in the book is ever so slightly different in that you add some coffee but other than that it is fundamentally the same:

Each month I link up with In My Kitchen hosted at Sherry's Pickings. It is an opportunity to share anything new in your kitchen.

The only major new thing for us is that we bought a barbecue this month!! It is un-Australian not to have some sort of barbecue in the backyard but when we were moving house over a year ago we had to throw ours out as it had definitely seen better days! Now, we have a nice shiny new one which we have used a couple of times already! It's just a middle of the range barbie, not really fancy but it does have a sideburner which I have never had before. No idea what we will use it for but we will figure it out I am sure!

One of the reasons why we didn't make much is that I went to Perth to see my dad who isn't well, and then we went to Adelaide for my mum's 75th birthday dinner. Every time I go to Perth I make sure that I get some Spearmint Milk which is something we can't get here! This month I'll be baking even less as we are about to go on holidays for 3 weeks.

We did visit the fabulous LaManna supermarket this morning and I was finally able to track down an ingredient I have been looking for for months. It took four staff members to help me find it but I finally got hold of some Nduja paste which is a Sicilian ingredient. Now I have to remember which recipes I needed it for. One of them was a recipe for Broken Eggs from Rice Table, but at this particular moment in time I can't remember what the other one was.

I also bought one new cook book. This was the Jamie Oliver cookbook of the month for September and I wasn't going to buy it but succumbed at the last minute as there were some delicious sounding recipes being cooked!

Weekly meals

Saturday -  Out for dinner

Sunday -  Roast pork rolls

Monday - Steak and salad

Tuesday - Pork chops, mash and gravy

Wednesday - Zucchini Risotto

Thursday - Cheese on toast

Friday - Takeaway

Weekend Cooking: First, Cream the Butter and Sugar by Emelia Jackson

Tomorrow is World Baking Day, so it is only right that I should talk about a book about baking today.

Emelia Jackson first rose to prominence in Masterchef Australia back in 2014 when she came third in the season. At that time she became known as the "Queen of Choux". She returned in 2020 to win the Back to Win season. Since then, she has gone on to be an ambassador with one of our baking companies, online and more.

Late last year, Jackson released her first cook book which is called First, Cream the Butter and Sugar and it is amazing! As I have mentioned previously, I tend to try to borrow cookbooks from the library before buying them which I did with this week. I then sat and went through the book highlighting all the recipes that I wanted to try. It didn't take long to realise that this was a book that I needed to own! And that it is a book that I am going to be able to use as a baking guide for many years to come. In fact, the other day I was thinking about how many recipes I have bookmarked. If I make one recipe a week, I think it will take me at least 3 or 4 years to get through them.

The book is broken in to six sections - cookies, cakes (both everyday cakes and celebration cakes), tarts, choux, yeasty bakes and finally fillings, sauces and toppings. Each section is comprehensive. For example in the cookie section alone there are more than 25 different recipes. More, if you count that there are seven different variations on macaron flavours. Each recipe in the book includes both metric and imperial measurements and using alternate names of ingredients. For example, where the recipe below calls for caster sugar it also says superfine in the book, making it accessible no matter where you live.

The recipes vary in complexity from easy to much more complicated. For example, the recipe I am sharing today is called a Lazy Apple Pie Cake, also known as Lenja Pita. This is a cake of Serbian origin. The idea is that there is a layer of butter cake, topped with a layer of apples, and then another layer of cake. It's a very simple idea and it is definitely a winner. And it doesn't only work for apples. The author suggest that you can use the same technique for pears, apricots, peaches, berries and cherries. T/he hardest thing about this particular cake is peeling and slicing all the apples!

To give you an idea of the variation in the complexity, here is another option for an apple cake. I haven't yet made spiced apple layer cake with brown butter cream cheese icing, but it is on my list. 

I can't wait to continue to explore all the recipes in this book. I am sure that you will hear more about this book over the coming months! The next recipe I will be making is banana bread. The plan is to combine it with a cheesecake cream cheese frosting which comes from the red velvet recipe in the book.

Lazy Apple Pie Cake (Lenja Pita)

200g caster sugar

150g unsalted butter, softened

2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste or extract

2 eggs

300g plain flour

200ml full-cream milk

icing sugar for dusting

750g green apples, peeled and sliced

120g caster sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or extract.

Preheat the oven to 160C. Line a 23cm spring-form cake tin with baking paper.

To make the apple filling, combine the apple slices, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla in a large bowl and toss together.

Using an electronic mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the caster sugar, butter and vanilla until light, creamy and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix until completely combined.

Whisk the flour and baking powder in a separate bowl to remove any lumps. Add the flour and the milk alternately to the butter mixture, stirring until completely combined but being careful not to overwork the butter.

Spread half of the batter in an even layer over the base of the cake tin and top with the filling (it will look like a lot of apple, but it will cook down and balance the sweetness of the cake). Gently spread the rest of the batter over the apple. The batter will be quite thick so it will some gentle guidance to spread it in an even layer. Bake the cake for 1-1 1/4 hours or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean and the apple is soft. All the cake to cook completely in the tin.

Liberally dust the cake with icing sugar to serve.

Weekly meals

Saturday - Pork chops, mash, broccoli

Sunday -  

Monday - 

Tuesday - Birthday dinner (meatballs)

Wednesday - Takeaway

Thursday - Steak, broccolini, mushrooms and potato

Friday - Takeaway

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Weekend Cooking/Cook the Books: The Kitchen Front by Jennifer Ryan

When I saw the current list of selections for Cook the Books, I knew that this book was definitely going to be a must read. I mean, it's a foodie novel set in WWII. And yet, if you think about it, that can't be that easy to write, given that there were strict rations in place. However, that is really what this book is about. How to eat well when you have such limited access to ingredients.

The story revolves around four women who find themselves competing against each other in a cooking competition in order to win a coveted role as a co-presenter in a radio show called The Kitchen Front. The show exists to provide information and inspiration to women, talking about creative ways to cook taking into consideration the limited food resources that they currently have.

Two of the women are sisters but Audrey and Gwendoline are estranged. Audrey's husband has been killed in the war and she is barely managing to keep her family house from falling down around her. She needs to keep things going in order to look after her sons.

Gwendoline married well and is now a titled Lady living in the big house. Everything she does is designed to ensure that her position in the community is enhanced and maintained. Gwendoline also has a massive chip on her shoulder about Audrey being their mother's favourite, and it has lead to the sisters being alienated from each other. However, for all that Gwendoline is meant to be living the dream, it isn't all sunshine and roses. She has secrets that really need to stay secret.

Nell works in the kitchen of the big house alongside the cook who is almost her substitute mother. Nell is a shy young woman, but she  is a very talented cook. She sees that she is assisting Mrs Quince but really Mrs Quince knows that winning this competition is going to give Nell the opportunity she needs to get away from working in the big house and making her way into the world.

The final contestant is Zelda. She currently works as a cook in the pie factory which is owned by Lady Gwendoline's husband. She has her own secret, one that isn't going to be able to keep a secret for too much longer. She needs to win this competition so that she can get back to her real life being a chef in London.

As the competition continues, we get insights into each contestants thinking about each of the 3 dishes that they need to make, where they get their inspiration from\, and how they manage their day to day lives in the midst of the turmoil and challenges of life in WWII. The unexpected outcome of competing against each other, is that they actually started to become closer to each other

I enjoyed watching the relationships betwen the women evolve and another highlight for me was the fact that there really was a show called The Kitchen Front on the radio in WWII, and there really were cooking competitions which were designed to help lift morale

As you would expect, there are many food references in the book and there were even some recipes. Some of the recipes are not recipes that we would want to eat now. An example of this would be the Sardine tart in which the pastry is made using the oil from the sardine tin - ugh!. But there are definitely some that would definitely still be tasty! As soon as I saw it mentioned, I had a penchant to cook Chicken Cacciatore, and there is a recipe included in the book so that was my plan to cook, but then I saw that Amy from Amy's Cooking Adventures had already made it, so I have ended up sticking in my swim lane and making an Eggless Chocolate Sponge Cake.  

I have had an idea to make a WWII cake since I first read about a one agg cake in a Viola Shipman book a few years ago, but I hadn't been able to find a recipe for that cake so instead this was a good substitute.

Now, I wouldn't call this an unqualified success! I ended up making the recipe twice because the first time my cakes came out looking very much like giant cookies! They tasted fine, especially when I dished them up broken into pieces with lashes of cream and berries,  but I was wondering if maybe I didn't measure it properly as I am not used to cooking in pounds and ounces. The second time I made the recipe, it was better, mainly because I only cooked it in one cake tin. I also added a bit more milk to the mixture. It still wasn't pourable but it was better. Texturally it still looked a bit like a giant cookie from the top, but it was at least a giant cookie that had depth and was spongy like cake should be!

Gwendoline’s Eggless Chocolate Sponge Cake 

Serves 4 to 6 

For the cake 

1¾ ounces sugar 

½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda 

4 fluid ounces milk and water mixed 

3 ounces butter or margarine 

1 tablespoon golden syrup or treacle 

6½ ounces flour 1½ ounces cocoa 

½ teaspoon salt 

1 teaspoon baking powder 

For the icing 

2 ounces butter or margarine 

1 tablespoon cocoa powder

1 ounce powdered milk 2 tablespoons sugar 

½ teaspoon vanilla essence 

Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C. In a saucepan, dissolve the sugar and bicarbonate of soda in the milk and water. Add the butter or margarine and syrup or treacle and mix slowly but well. 

Sieve the flour, cocoa, salt, and baking powder into a mixing bowl. Add the mixed ingredients from the saucepan and mix well, again slowly. Pour into two cake tins and bake for 20 to 25 minutes. When cooked, leave the cakes in their pans until cool. 

Next, make the icing. Melt the butter or margarine, then mix with the cocoa powder, powdered milk, sugar, and vanilla essence until soft and shiny.

The next Cook the Books selection is Lessons in Chemisty by Bonnie Garmus which I am very much looking forward to reading!

I have also linked this post up with Foodies Read hosted at Based an a True Story, British Isles Friday (hosted at Joy's Book Blog) and for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge hosted here at The Intrepid Reader!

Important note:



l am away this week and can't access Mr Linky so for this week only, please add your links in the comment!

Weekly meals

Saturday - Out for dinner

Sunday -  Out for dinner

Monday -  Out for dinner

Tuesday - Out for dinner

Wednesday - Butter chicken and rice

Thursday - Meatballs

Friday - on holiday

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Weekend Cooking: Granny's Fruit Cake

I can't remember where I came across this book, but I do know that as soon as I saw it, I wanted to read it. I was not disappointed.

This book is actually a very simple in its idea and execution. The artist, Alice Oehr, has chosen 50 different cakes from around the world, illustrated them and then added no more than a couple of paragraphs to describe their importance and history as well as regional variations that may be found in other countries as well. 

In her introduction, Oehr says "My own love for cakes isn't founded in baking, nor even simply in their eating. Luscious flavours aside, it's the flamboyant decoration of the patisserie  cabinet - each minature creation a monument to pleasure - that never fails to lift my spirits"

And so it was for me reading this book as I turned each page to see the illustration and then read through the description. For the most part I recognised most of them, either having made them (lemon tart, pavlova, chocolate cake, cheesecake) or at least seen them on Bake Off or another baking show (crouenbouche. There were a couple though which were new to me. For example, I am pretty sure I have never heard of Punschkrapfen from Austria which are cubes consisting of "layers of rum-soaked nougat, chocolate, apricot jame and cake crumbs" all covered in thick pink icing.

At the end of the book, Oehr has included a handful of recipes for carrot cake, chocolate cake, lemon tart, pavlova, sponge cake and tiramisu.

I thought that I might share an example of the book, and had thought about maybe doing angel food cake, but instead I bring you the page on Fruit Cake and then talk about fruit cake in general.

I love a good fruit cake at Christmas time, especially one that is covered with pristine white icing, and maybe a touch of decoration. It is one of the few recipes that my my mother cooked that I have always wanted the recipe for, so 18 months or so I asked her for it.

Eventually, she sent over two recipes and she did say that one of them was my grandmother's recipe. However, I happened to be talking to one of my aunties and she was pretty sure it wasn't and so she sent me a third recipe. And then I found a recipe for a 4 ingredient fruit cake that has chocolate milk as one of the four ingredients! So now I have four recipes to try. I did have intention of trying this Christmas, but I am fast running out of time, so it might be next year.

Whilst the two recipes from my mum are still packed up in a box somewhere, I do have the recipe that my aunt said is my grandmothers so I thought I would share it here.

Granny's Boiled Fruit Cake

2 cups dried mixed fruit

1 cup sugar (preferably brown

1/4 lb butter

1 tspn carbon soda

1 cup water 

Place in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Simmer for one minute only then cool and add 1/2 cup plain flour and 1and a 1/2 cups self raising flour and 2 eggs. Bake in a moderate oven for 1 and a half hours.

You'll notice in the image from the book that the first line talks about how fruit cake is described as a "sturdy combination of very little cake and an awful lot of dried fruit all generously soused in alcohol" and yet there is no mention of alcohol in the recipe. Neither my mum or my grandmother used alcohol but I am assured that it can be added.

I mentioned above I am going to run out of time to actually make a fruit cake myself. We are away for the weekend this weekend so I was very pleased when our host offered us fruit cake with custard and cream. Yummy!

Weekly meals

Saturday - Out for dinner

Sunday -  Burgers

Monday - Pork nachos

Tuesday - Massaman curry pie

Wednesday - Butter chicken and rice

Thursday - Takeaway

Friday -Dinner with friends

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Weekend Cooking/Cook the Books: Alice in Wonderland

This month's choice for Cook the Books is Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. It is such an interesting choice for Cook the Books as it isn't necessarily a book that you would consider foodie, but it is absolutely full of food references. It was also a fun read to revisit as an adult, especially when you consider that the book itself is over 150 years old, and yet it is timeless.

Reading this again reminded me of the White Night event that was held in Melbourne back in 2015. In honour of the 150th anniversary of the book being published, one of the themes for the event was Alice in Wonderland, with many of Melbourne's building being transformed into giant canvasses for projections. Here are a few of the Alice related pictures I took that night.

The adventures that Alice has after she follows the white rabbit down the rabbit hole are zany, and yet apart from the fact that the game of croquet is something that kids today might not be familiar with, pretty much everything else is still easy for us to understand. Although, I did tend to skip through the poetry but I do that in books like The Lord of the Rings too.

The most well known food reference is probably the mad hatter's tea party, but there were so many others, and I had several ideas of what to make.  I  ended going with something that wasn't directly related to the story. If you google for ideas there are so many elaborately decorated items - topsy turvy cakes, giant tea pots etc. Unfortunately my decorative skills do not extend to such skilled designs. I do taste good, not necessarily looks amazing!

Some of the ideas I considered were a big cake surrounded by small cakes to represent the food that Alice ate that had the effect of either making her grow big or small. I also thought about making a treacle tart or an onion tart. There were so many options.

So what did I make? We were having our first guests here for dinner at the new house, so I wanted to make something dessert worthy. I also love making chiffon cakes, so once I found my tin in one of the still packed boxes, I decided to make an Earl Grey Chiffon Cake, inspired by all the tea references in the book.

I ended up adapting a recipe which was made with French Earl Grey tea. I only had a couple of bags of French Earl Grey, and I really wanted to use just normal Earl Grey (British I guess) tea instead. The original recipe also called for orange to be included but I didn't have any. I also took some inspiration from a couple of other recipes that I found online by including some of the tea leaves in the cake mixture.

I do love making chiffon cakes (also known as angel food cake). I have made a lemon flavoured one before and a coffee cream cake that isn't called chiffon cake but uses exactly the same techniques. I might try to make a chai flavoured one next. (editted to say....the next one will be a vanilla one as per my husband's request)

The flavour might have been stronger had I used more teabags, but you could definitely taste it, particularly on the second day. There wasn't a lot left for the second day as all the family loved it, especially my nephews who both came back for seconds!

A couple of important things to note when making these kinds of cakes. Firstly, you do not butter the cake tin. You want the cake mixture to stick. It is important that the cake is left to completely cool whilst still upside down. This prevents the cake from collapsing in on itself and ensures that the texture is extremely light.

Earl Grey Tea Chiffon Cake

4 Earl Grey teabags
160ml ( ⅔ cup) boiling water
185g (1¼ cups) self-raising flour
30g (¼ cup) cornflour
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
½ teaspoon salt
6 eggs, separated
200g caster sugar, plus 110g (½ cup) extra
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
100ml vegetable oil
Icing sugar, to dust


Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan-forced). Place an ungreased 21cm angel food cake tin on an oven tray. You can also use a bundt tin.

Place the tea bags in a small jug, pour the boiling water over and set aside to infuse until the water is warm.

Sift the flour, cornflour, cream of tartar and salt.

Whisk the egg yolks and 200g caster sugar on high speed until thick and pale then whisk in the vanilla.

Squeeze the tea bags so that you get as much flavour as possible into the water. 

Cut one of the teabags and add the leaves to the egg and sugar mixture.

Add 125ml ( ½ cup) of the tea to the oil. The tea should still be warm but not hot. Add the oil mixture to the egg mixture and whisk on low speed until well combined. 

With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture and whisk until just combined. Set aside. 

In a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites on medium-high speed until soft peaks form. Add the remaining caster sugar and whisk until thick and glossy and the sugar has dissolved. Add about a third of the egg whites to the yolk mixture and use a large metal spoon or spatula to fold through until well combined. Add the remaining egg white mixture and fold until just combined.

Spoon the mixture into the ungreased tin and gently smooth the surface with the back of a metal spoon. Bake in the preheated oven for 45-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Immediately turn the cake upside down still in the tin so it is suspended, for a minimum of 2 hours. If you are using a bundt tin for this, you can invert the cake over the top of a bottle to have the same effect.

When the cake is completely cool, run a small knife around the side of the tin to release. 

Dust with icing sugar and serve with whipped cream and strawberries. 

I have also linked this post up with Foodies Read hosted at 

 Weekly meals

Saturday - Out for dinner

Sunday -  Roast Pork

Monday - Beef Chilli with sweet potato wedges

Tuesday - Hainanese Chicken with bok choy and rice

Wednesday - Chicken enchiladas with rice and beans

Thursday - Out for dinner

Friday - Prawn Paella

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Weekend Cooking: When Life Give You Lemons

We are all familiar with the old saying about when life gives you lemons make lemonade but I am here to suggest that there are so many other options. In fact, I think I have only attempted to make lemonade once, because to me, 

I have had this post in mind for quite some time because when I look out at my garden there is a tree with a profusion of lemons on it. We weren't always sure that would be the case, because a few years ago now we did a very, very hard prune. There were quite a few occasions where we stood on the deck and looked at the stump and contemplated whether we had gone too hard. Here is the evidence:

I do love lemon as a flavour. It is up there with chocolate as a favourite. Another favourite is white chocolate and raspberry, but that, and other flavours, aren't as accessible to me as chocolate and lemon are.  

Over the years I have made a lot of different lemon flavoured treats

Lemon Syrup Cakes - This is a firm favourite in our house, and I have made them many, many times, most recently a couple of weeks ago. 

Lemon Thins  - I have made these once, but I do often think about making them again.

Lemon delicious - Last year I went through a phase of making self saucing puddings, so it was only natural that I made a lemon version.

Lemon Crunch Cake  - I made this Hawaiian cake after reading about it in the Lost Pearl by Emily Madden.

Lemon Mousse Cake - I have made this a couple of times, but I have also used the mousse that is one of the components of this cake.

Lemon tart - I've made this a couple of times. Most recently I added meringue kisses to the top to make a fancy lemon meringue pie

Lemon meringue pie-  I have also made the more traditional version of lemon meringue pie.

There are more, but I think the above represent how much we enjoy lemon in our house.

Today, I am sharing the recipe for the Lemon Angel Food Cake, which is a Mary Berry recipe. I have made this before, and ended up giving part of the cake away before I tasted it, which I realised as soon as we did taste it, because it was so light and airy and so delicious.

I am making it again today to take to a family dinner tonight, our first opportunity to come together as a family since July since our lockdown has finally been removed. There are still some restrictions for those who are not double vaxxed.

Last time I made this, I used the lemon curd to make a delicious lemon mousse, and I will be doing the same again today. What I don't include is passionfruit as this is a flavour that I do not like.

Lemon Angel Food Cake - Mary Berry 

For the cake

125g/4½oz plain flour
300g/10½oz caster sugar
10 large free-range egg whites
2 large lemons, grated zest only
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp cream of tartar
½ tsp salt

For the lemon curd (this recipe makes more lemon curd than you need)

10 large free-range egg yolks
400g/14oz caster sugar
4 large lemons, juice only (approximately 200ml/7fl oz)
2 large lemons, grated zest only
175g/6oz unsalted butter, cubed
2 passion fruit

For the topping
300ml/10fl oz whipping cream
½ tsp vanilla extract




Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4 (fan 160C) and arrange an oven shelf in the bottom third of the oven. Sift the flour and 100g/3½oz of the caster sugar together in a bowl and set aside.


Whisk the egg whites in a large bowl with an electric hand whisk or mixer on a high speed for one minute until frothy. Add the lemon zest, lemon juice, cream of tartar and salt and continue whisking for 2-3 minutes, or until soft peaks form when the whisk is removed from the bowl. Increase the speed and add the remaining 200g/7oz of caster sugar, one tablespoon at a time to form firm, but not stiff peaks.


Sprinkle over one-third of the flour mixture and fold gently to combine. Repeat with the remaining two-thirds of the flour mixture folding gently to keep as much air in the mixture as possible.


Transfer the batter to a 25cm/10in angel food cake pan. Gently run a knife through the centre of the batter to remove any pockets of air. Cook for 45-50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.


Remove from the oven and immediately turn upside down onto the tin’s cooling legs, or place over the neck of a wine bottle. Leave to cool for at least one hour.


Run a knife around the inner and outer edges of cake to remove it from the pan. Invert onto a plate. Carefully use a palette knife to separate the cake from the base of the pan. Leave to cool on a wire rack.


For the lemon curd, mix the egg yolks, sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest together in a large pan. Cook over a low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, making sure to stir the sides and base of the pan. Cook for 5-7 minutes, or until the mixture coats the back of a spoon. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter. Pass through a sieve into a large jug. Fill two 350g/12oz glass jars with the lemon curd and seal with lids. Cover the remaining curd with cling film and leave to cool.


For the topping, whisk the cream and vanilla extract in a bowl until soft peaks form when the whisk is removed. Spoon the topping over the angel food cake and, using a palette knife, coat the top and sides of the cake, smoothing as you go.


Cut the passion fruit in half and scoop out the seeds. Stir the passion fruit into the reserved, cooled lemon curd and drizzle over the angel food cake before serving. You may want to use just one of the jars of lemon curd to serve with the cake and save the other to eat separately.

Weekly Meals

Saturday - Pork chops with potatoe and cauliflower bake

Sunday - Roast beef rolls with gravy

Monday - Zucchini, tomato risotto

Tuesday - Lasagne

Wednesday  - Pork Nachos

Thursday - Chicken kebabs, baked potato, salad

Friday - Takeaway

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page