Coffee Walnut Cake

My husband is not generally much a sweet tooth, so he generally isn't very interested in seeing what I am baking. There is one cake, however, that always gets a positive reaction, a cake that we make for all special daddy occasions: coffee walnut cake.

But this time, it was my son who requested I make this cake for church. The men's group were in charge of doing the teas, coffees, and cakes after mass this past weekend, so naturally a lot of women were busy in various kitchens making cakes. 

Well...one woman: me. 

To be fair, some men in the group have attempted to make and bring cakes in the past. One fell short in that there was a large, unmixed ball of flour in the middle of the cake. And others were made, but went so badly wrong they were never even brought in to be seen by the critical eye of the coffee crowd. Others have simply bought Tesco Value tray bakes. Most of the time, though, if you see a man bringing in a bit of home baking there, it is his wife who has actually made it. Although thousands of men all over the country have followed Paul Hollywood's example and taken up baking as a hobby, none of them are apparently members of our local church's men's group. 

This week it was up to me to make all the treats, so I set to work and got out the ingredients for my Delia Smith recipe:

I went ahead and did the fine chopping of the walnuts first. You could, of course, do this by hand, but I happened to have a child on my right hip and was looking for one handed ways to make this cake.

Since said child was still attached to my hip, I decided to have a go at using my vintage mixer. It gives off kind of a funny smell, but seems to work fine, and my mechanically minded husband seems to think it's ok. There wasn't any smoke, anyway. Delia instructs you to just throw everything in together at once and mix, but I prefer to do the older method of creaming the butter and sugar first...

Then adding eggs and the dissolved instant coffee (I used espresso).

Then the flour. She recommends adding extra baking powder to the self raising flour, but I forgot to. Oops. However, since I'd added air in by creaming the butter first, it turned out ok.

Last of all I stirred in the walnuts. I then smoothed the batter out into two 7 inch lined round pans, but I didn't get a photo cause baby was freaking out at this stage.

Delia recommended 30 minutes, but I found that after 20 minutes mine were actually slightly overdone.

I let them cool then started on the icing: a coffee mousseline. This is, by far, the trickiest part of making the cake, as it involves making a sugar syrup. I usually do this when kids are in in bed as it involves watching the stove constantly and hot burning sugar, two things that don't turn out well when kids are in the room...or even awake in a fifty yard radius.

First I put a couple of egg yolks into a bowl.

And whisked them.

Then in a small milk pan went some sugar.

And some water

Then I heated it, swirling until the sugar was dissolved.

Then I brought it up to a simmering temperature for about 10 minutes, at which time I started testing it to see if it was the right temperature (I don't like sugar thermometers). You take a bit on a spoon, wait a couple seconds, then lightly burn your fingers testing to see if when you pinch a bit off it will make a thread kind of like this:

Then I steadily poured the syrup on the egg yolks while whisking. And taking a photo. I have three hands, you see.

Ok, maybe I paused briefly. Then I added butter a wee blob at a time, whisking it in.

It's a nice, gloopy icing. Cakes containing nuts tend to be a bit on the drier side so this icing really balances out textures better than buttercream icing does, in my humble opinion.

Then I added some instant espresso dissolved in some water.

Oh, yum. Now this is the point where you have to control yourself and not eat it all. PUT THE WHISK DOWN. At least put it on the cake first before stuffing it down your neck.

First I put a blob into the middle of my Poundland cake carrying case. This helps prevent the cake from sliding around.

On went layer number one.

And then just under half the icing.

I put it to within about a half inch of the edge, but not quite there as a bit is inevitably going to splodge out when the top layer goes on.

On went layer number two.

Then the rest of the icing.

And last but not least, some walnuts I lazily crushed in my hand so that people know the cake has walnuts in it.

There were three other options available to the Sunday crowd, but this cake was the most popular choice. And you will always find it at our place on Fathers Day and on my husband's birthday. If you don't want to gate crash one of our parties, here is the recipe adapted from Delia Smith's Complete Cookery Course

Coffee Walnut Cake

4 oz (110g) self raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

4 oz (110g) butter at room temperature

4 oz (110g) caster sugar

2 large eggs
50g walnuts
1 Tbsp instant coffee dissolved in 2 tsp hot water

Grease and line two 7 inch rounds. Preheat oven to 325F/170F.
Finely chop walnuts and set aside.
Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and dissolved coffee and mix until well blended. Mix in flour and baking powder. Fold in walnuts. Split between two cake tins and spread mixture out evenly, then place in oven. Start checking after 15 minutes.
Let cool before icing

Coffee Cream Mousseline

60g caster sugar
4 Tbsp water
2 large egg yolks
150g butter at room temperature
1 Tbsp instant coffee dissolved in 1 Tbsp hot water

Place the sugar and water together in a small saucepan and slowly bring to the bowl, making sure to dissolve the sugar before letting it boil. Let it simmer for 10 minutes, then keep testing it to see if it will make a "thread" when pressed between thumb and forefinger. Once you have done this, pour the syrup in a steady stream on the egg yolks, whisking the whole time. Then whisk the butter in a small globule at a time until you have a smooth gloopy cream. Then whisk in the coffee and ice your cake, dotting the top with as many or as few walnuts as you like.

Slow Cooker Porridge with Apples

So winter has arrived, I think we all can agree. Time for soups, stews, and the favourite of all three bears: porridge. Or "oatmeal" if you are in America somewhere.

I love a good bowl of porridge, but the measuring and cooking are just too much for me to tackle on a school morning, particularly since no one else in my household seems to like eating oatmeal at the moment. When I microwave it, I inevitably flood the dish no matter how high-sided a bowl I choose, and when I cook it on the stove I get a superior product, but the porridge always cooks faster than my favourite topping: apples. I lack the patience to stew them in advance, so they always end up with too much bite left in them. So usually I just settle for muesli mixed with yogurt, as it is quick and has oats too.

But everything has changed now, because at Christmas we were given a new toy: a slow cooker. Yes, everyone I know has raved about them for years, but fearing the clutter one would add to my kitchen, I never felt strongly enough to go and purchase one myself. So I was joyful indeed when the wrapping paper was pulled back to reveal one of these babies on Christmas day. Now I could finally start pinning slow-cooker recipes I would never actually try!

A recipe I had spotted a while back was for steel cut (or "pinhead") oats and apples cooked overnight to make a luxurious porridge. I didn't have any steel cut oats, nor could I find any in my local shops after a quick look around, but I did have rolled oats in my cupboard. I decided these would do, and got together a few things last night:

I still had these cooking apples left from a friend's tree, so I decided to use them for the most flavour. Into the bottom of the slow cooker they went. I was kind of excited about using huge chunks of apple and knowing they would be cooked until they were gorgeously soft.

Then I sprinkled some cinnamon on top.

Then went some brown sugar. I used around 1/4 cup, but could easily have done with less, as there was a lot of sweetness in the apples.

Then on went the rolled oats and a wee bit of salt.

Then a cup of water and a cup of milk.

I switched on the slow cooker to "low" and hoped for the best as I went off to read some Diana Wynne Jones before turning in for the night. So it was just before 10pm when I switched the crock pot on, and around 7am when I returned to its side.

When I first opened the lid in the morning, I panicked. It looked brown and burnt, and was bubbling in a ferocious manner at the edge. In my disappointed state, I took a disappointing photo.

But then I scooped some of it out. Wow. It was amazing. Kind of like a breakfast apple crumble. The top was oaty and chewy, but the apples at the bottom were moist and tender, with normal porridge sandwiched in the middle. Breakfast bliss, I tell you.

So if you do have a slow cooker gathering dust in a corner, I highly recommend you start your mornings this way. I certainly will be doing so again in the future.

Slow Cooker Apple Porridge

2 apples, chopped & peeled (though you don't have to peel them if you aren't up to it last thing at night)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2-4 Tbsp brown sugar
1 cup rolled oats
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1 cup water

Layer ingredients in slow cooker in order listed. Turn on slow cooker to "low" just before you hit the hay and enjoy your winter feast in the morning!

Chicken Fajitas

"Hmmm...what should we make for dinner?" I asked my children.

"Thai wraps...NO...FAJITA WRAPS!!!" my son shouted out.

Ohhhh...yes...wise boy. This we shall make. I think this might even be my favourite meal.  It certainly makes the top ten. It has spice, contains a respectable number of vegetables, and does not require my children to use cutlery (that's silverware to you yankees). It is a bit shopping heavy (ripe avocados, I am looking at you), but so worthwhile. I also love ordering it at restaurants; I get so excited to hear the sizzling plate as it travels from the kitchen to my table, causing heads to turn as it does. And there's the fun of assembly - a dose of the still hot pepper mix, a spoonful of guacamole, a dollop of sour cream, a dash of salsa, all added together in your own preferred proportions, each texture and flavour balancing out another. Heaven, I tell you.

We have been making this meal for many years, so we don't really follow a recipe as such any more, we just do a rough mix of the same things each time. Starting with this stuff. 

Above are the basic ingredients for the chicken, pepper, and onion mix.  If you want to be really clever, you prep all the spicy meat marinade the day before and let the flavours soak in. In all the 10 or so years I've been making this, I think I've done that all of one time. Occasionally I manage to do it on the morning of the day I'm making it, but usually it's just the first thing I do on the evening we're eating it. I've never noticed much of a difference. I mean, the spice packets you get at the supermarket are great, and you don't have to marinate the meat in those, do you?

So first, I put in some coriander seed for grinding up in my mortar and pestle.

Then in went cumin. Plenty of cumin.

Then just a hint of star anise. This much is usually enough - a little carries a long way.

I then add some paprika, oregano, and lots of garlic. I usually put as many as 10 cloves in, certainly no fewer than 6. I used to put in chilli peppers, but now with three little kids I just use paprika to add similar flavour without the heat of chilli, and thus avoid my children wiping their tongues on paper towels in an effort to lesson the effects of those burning oils in their mouths. We've been known to stick hot sauce on the table for the adults. If you think I'm missing a crucial spice, though, let me know.

Then in goes juice from a couple of limes - this time I used three as I had a big bag of them, but I've been known to just use one.

All that, with a bit of salt and a dash of vegetable oil, gets mixed up with the sliced chicken breast and put in the fridge to marinate. Oh, and some onion too.

I sliced it fairly thick so that it was easy for my daughter to pick it out of hers. And we had a guest coming, and I didn't know if he was an onion hater, so I thought I'd make it easy for him if he was.

But he wasn't.

Anyway, it's how they chop them in restaurants too.

And in a separate bowl, I sliced up some pepper. I always make sure to "accidentally" leave this bowl within reach of my kids, because they both love raw pepper. My daughter avoids eating cooked pepper, but she'll eat a whole raw pepper by herself quite easily. So I leave this out for a while and they "steal" slices (their giggling and crunching give them away), and this way I get my kids to eat the peppers, if not necessarily inside their wraps.

So while those slowly disappeared at the side, I made the dough for the tortilla wraps. Just like I did for Thai wraps (http://calwellcooking.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/stephs-thai-wraps.html), only this time I just used white bread flour.

And no, I don't know how to do fancy links. All this blogging is still new to me.

While those rested, I made the guacamole. Now I know a lot of people swear by specific recipes and methods for their guacamole. I can't promise mine is the best, but we like it. A lot. One of the best things about it is how easy it is generally to make. I do mine partially in the food processor, but it really isn't necessary - up until last year I just did it by hand.

So you just need onion, avocados, lime, fresh coriander/cilantro, and tomatoes. Chilli is optional, but, you know. Kids. Sheesh.

I don't particularly like the texture of raw onion, so I blitzed mine with some avocado and the coriander/cilantro in the food processor with the juice of a lime.

This gave me a nice base for the rest of it and prevented any huge clumps of leafy greens too.

Then I just mashed in the rest of the avocado with some salt. This helps keep it all a nice texture - not too smooth like a puree, and not too lumpy either.

And I stirred in some chopped tomatoes too.

Once this was all done, I put on clingfilm right on the surface to prevent browning and stuck it in the fridge.

Then I rolled out and cooked the tortillas.

Using the same frying pan, I cleaned out the flour and then dumped in my chicken marinade. Then a baby started squawking and my husband took over.

On top of the cooked chicken went the peppers.

And once that was done, we set in on the table with the tortillas, the guacamole, some sour cream, and some salsa from a shop across town that specialises in spicy Central American food. I have never made a salsa that I thought comparable to a good shop-bought jar, so I leave that condiment to the experts. I am, of course, willing to try any recipe you have for salsa if you think you have a good one. Oh, and you may just notice that bag of crisps sneaking in the shot too - my husband and my kids like the crunch they add to the wraps and put these inside, but I prefer them on the side.

Everyone assembled their own wraps and all were happy with clean plates at the end of dinner. I don't have a recipe to post, really, as it is so variable, so just go try it yourself with your own spices!

Have a good Hogmanay, everyone! If you are looking for me on New Year's Eve, hopefully I'll be sleeping my way into 2014.