Mughlai Chicken - Creamy Almond Chicken

This delicately spiced meal is visually reminiscent of a korma, but it's got a huge depth of flavour that I'm obsessed with. It's borrowed from my ride-or-die Nigella, with a few little tweaks.

It's one of those brilliant meals that's even better re-heated the next day and it's quick and easy enough to whip up after work! If I'm willing to make that effort on a weeknight then it must be easy, I swear. The whole spices make it taste like a meal that takes a lot more effort than it actually does. 

Speaking of the spices, I'll admit that there are a fair few ingredients. Having said that, the whole spices don't really go off and I find myself reaching for them often - it's worth having them in your cupboard!

Apple Toscakaka

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope everyone is having a lovely day with their families. I had an early mother's day two weekends ago with mine where we hit up fabulous London.

Posting a recipe today that reminds me of my nanny, who makes a mean apple pie. I decided to take those flavours and play with them a little (because apart from nanny's apple pie - I don't really eat pie!).

Toscakaka is something I've made before, a classic Swedish almond caramel cake. I had some cooking apples hanging around and some slivered almonds, so I decided to experiment!

One thing I love about cooking is the endless substitutions and possibilities to change up, tweak, and play around with favourite recipes. I love that you can substitute something like butter for stewed apples (which is a delicious and dairy free alternative!).

This is the appropriate amount of custard

So here, I substituted the melted butter for stewed apple, which gives it this beautiful hint of fruity tart sweetness to cut through the rich caramel topping. And it works! It's gorgeous. I served it with custard and I'll dream about that combo for weeks.

Toscakaka

Or, Swedish Almond Caramel Crunch Delight Cake.

.. I'm still not great at names.

This is one of the nicest and most surprising cakes I've made in a while. I was a little skeptical about adding the topping midway through cooking, but I was so wrong. It was amazing. I'm kind of annoyed at my Swedish boyfriend for keeping the fact that this cake existed from me.

In making this cake I realised I don't have a larger cake tin, so mine is a little taller than traditional. I think it's supposed to be closer to the depth of a tart. I am going to have to hunt for a 9 inch loose bottomed cake tin now, but it was still very delicious.

I made this for my continental table of treats for Eurovision and it was a hit! It's really quite good as it is, but it would be delightful slightly warm with a little vanilla ice cream on the side. Or smothered in custard. Everything is better with custard.

Cherry Bakewell Loaf

It's the week after a Bank Holiday weekend, so I think we all need a little pick me up to get you through it.

And I have just the thing. This is a delightful little loaf. Perfect for an afternoon tea tray. It’s dense and nutty and not too sweet. I adapted this from a Nigella recipe, and I added a little extra sweetness (as is my wont) by drizzling some icing sugar on top to recreate the Bakewell Tart flavours I wanted.

I adore the individual components in a bakewell tart- the flaky pastry, nutty almonds, zingy cherries and sweet white icing, but they really sing when they’re all together.

But making a tart is kind of time consuming. And making a loaf cake is not. And sometimes you want (NEED!) something quick and sweet, but also homemade and lovely.

Zimtsterne – German Cinammon Stars

IT’S BEGINNING TO FEEL A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS.

Just back from an amazing holiday to Hong Kong and China – they really have taken to Christmas there but it’s just not the same. They have spectacular trees and light displays, and I’ve never heard so many “modern” remixes of Christmas songs. Fabulous but not quite Christmas.

But if you want to look to a country that can really do Christmas, look no further than Germany. This is a traditional German Christmas cookie – they are a big fan of cooking huge batches of cookies in the weeks leading up to Christmas. A nation after my own heart. That means that these stay fresh for up to a month! Another bonus – no gluten or dairy! The cookies are bound with whipped egg white instead of (the more traditional) dairy.

I had a lot of fun making these cookies, they are perfect for a Christmas snack – or to give as presents!

Makes approx. 3 dozen cookies

Bakewell Crumble Muffins

On a cold wintery Sunday, these are just the ticket.

I am particularly proud of these bad boys. I was feeling in the mood for something a little almond-y, a little sweet, a little fruity.. And well hello here is something to tick all the boxes.

Crumble is the best invention. It’s amazing with custard, but that’s not an “on the go” snack. This is my version of a portable crumble with a bakewell twist and I’m rather pleased with myself for having concocted it.

Yummy surprise jammy centre!

Strawberry Cinnamon Birthday Cake

I am post nights, so my sweet tooth is appearing! That kind of thing tends to happen when you've been awake for 24 hours. Restraint becomes.. difficult and cake becomes ambrosia!

My boyfriend is very patient. I was really sick during his birthday. Really, really sick. So the cake that I had planned carefully to make him didn’t happen. And he got no cake on his birthday at all. It’s pretty much the worst case of me dropping the ball.

But this story has a happy ending.. One week later, I was all better, and there was cake!

So, I could make the cake I’d been planning. My boyfriend loves fruity cakes, and my strawberry crumble is his absolute fave. But it is FAR too hot for crumble. Since summer is a cake season, I decided to reprise an old favourite- the strawberry rosette cake, giving it a twist from my crumble flavours. I added a little twist of cinnamon, some ground almonds, and played around with the decoration. I really love decorating cakes, but I’m working on it. I wanted to do like a cascade of roses, and little mini rosettes, but it wasn’t the effect I quite wanted. Maybe I should have added glitter. Glitter always helps.

Strawberry Bakewell Tarts

Drizzled with icing goodness

Something sweet!

The blog has been depressingly savoury lately. I mean, I know we need to cook “real” food to survive and be healthy and everything.. But sweet treats are so much more fun to make than savoury dinners!

So, seeing as we are coming into summer and I live in England now, I had a go at something which I think of as a quintessentially English dessert –Bakewell tart! I came over all “Mary Berry” for a moment. I did a mini version because they look cuter and I use any excuse to pull out my small pastry tins! You could easily halve this and make a full sized tart.

Practically naked!

I really liked the way this turned out. As I’ve grown older (sob!) I find my tastes changing, and I really like the almondy/frangipane/marzipan flavour. This is a perfect combination – crisp pastry, fruity jam, light nutty filling and sweet sugary topping. Feel free to top with a glace cherry (as is tradition) if you like. 

Delish!