Nigella's Lemon Polenta Cake

INGREDIENTS Serves: 16 (Hah!)

FOR THE CAKE

• 200 grams soft unsalted butter (plus some for greasing) 
• 200 grams caster sugar 
• 200 grams ground almonds 
• 100 grams fine polenta (or cornmeal) 
• 1½ teaspoons baking powder 
• 3 large eggs 
• zest of 2 lemons (save juice for syrup) 

 FOR THE SYRUP

•  juice of 2 lemons 
• 125 grams icing sugar 

 METHOD

1.  Line the base of a 23cm / 9inch springform cake tin with baking parchment and grease its sides lightly with butter. 
2. Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4/ 350°F. 
3. Beat the butter and sugar till pale and whipped, either by hand in a bowl with a wooden spoon, or using a freestanding mixer. 
4. Mix together the almonds, polenta and baking powder, and beat some of this into the butter-sugar mixture, followed by 1 egg, then alternate dry ingredients and eggs, beating all the while. 
5. Finally, beat in the lemon zest and pour, spoon or scrape the mixture into your prepared tin and bake in the oven for about 40 minutes. 
6. It may seem wibbly but, if the cake is cooked, a cake tester should come out cleanish and, most significantly, the edges of the cake will have begun to shrink away from the sides of the tin. 
7. Remove from the oven to a wire cooling rack, but leave in its tin. 
8. Make the syrup by boiling together the lemon juice and icing sugar in a smallish saucepan. Once the icing sugar’s dissolved into the juice, you’re done. 
9. Prick the top of the cake all over with a cake tester (a skewer would be too destructive), pour the warm syrup over the cake, and leave to cool before taking it out of its tin.

Gerda's Poppy Seed Cake

Made for Gumboot Girls September 2016

Adapted from Robert’s birthday 2006

5 eggs, separated

1 cup sugar

1 cup melted butter / oil

2 cooking apples peeled and grated / cooked quinces

125g ground poppy seeds

1 teaspoons vanilla

20g baking powder

40g self-raising flour (rice or buckwheat + baking powder)

125g coarsely chopped walnuts

Icing sugar, for dusting

Preheat oven to 180°C.

Grease and line 20cm cake tin.

Beat egg whites until stiff.

Beat the egg yolks and sugar until pale.

Add remaining ingredients to the yolks, except the whites. Mix well.

Fold in the whites.

Pour mixture into prepared tin and bake for about 1 hour or until cooked when tested with a wooden skewer.

Cool then turn out onto a serving plate.

Dust with icing sugar.

Serve with yoghurt and more of the quinces.

Rock Buns

We had a fabulous afternoon at the Cygnet Community Garden on Oct. 11th, with Costa, from Gardening Australia and about 60 people from all over the place. The Cygnet Community Gardeners cooked up a feast. Here’s my rock buns recipe. It is such an old recipe it is in ounces and I like to leave it that way.

It can easily be made gluten free by using half nut meal and half quinoa flour or buckwheat flour.

180°C fan forced

Makes 15 or so

Instructions	Ingredients
rub in	4 oz. butter 8 oz. plain flour 2 level tsp. baking powder 1 tsp mixed spice
add	4 oz. castor sugar grated rind 1/2 large lemon 4 oz. mixed dried fruit including some mixed peel /crushed nuts /ginger if you like
add	1 beaten egg 1-2 Tbl. milk and the juice of the lemon to make a stiff, crumbly mixture

Place spoonsful on a greased baking tray and cook 10-15 mins.

Leave 5 minutes before removing from the tray.

Crunchy Apple Crumble

Ingredients
7 apples, stewed lightly
1 cup plain flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup coconut
1 dessert spoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
2/3 cup melted butter

Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl and then mix in melted butter. Ensure all ingredients are moist and mixture has a crumbly texture.
Place apples in a oven proof dish and sprinkle crumble mix over evenly.
Bake at 180C for 30-40 mins. Or until crumble is lightly browned.

Gerda's Redcurrant Flan

RIBISEL KUCHEN

This recipe is from a dear, elderly, Austrian woman named Gerda. Measurements and wording are all her own….. I can hear her reciting it to me, in the beautiful way she spoke….

Prepare a pastry with two ounces sugar, four ounces butter and six ounces flour, a few drops of lemon juice and line a buttered and floured flan tin with this. Bake 'blind'.

When baked, but still hot, cover thickly with red-currants, sprinkle with a little sugar.

Whisk two egg whites until stiff, whisk in two ounces sugar, fold in another two ounces sugar.

Pile the whipped egg white over redcurrants.

Bake in cool oven until meringue top has set. Cut into slices when cool.

Gerda's Notes:

This simple pastry is ideal for any fruit you have that does not need precooking, such as berries.

Finely ground almonds or hazelnuts may be substituted for some of the flour. Toasting them in a dry pan first adds extra flavour.

Armenian Coffee Cake

Yummy for morning tea, or as a dessert with cream and ice-cream

Ingredients:

2 cups SR flour

2 cups brown sugar

1 cup milk

1 tsp. bicarb soda

1 egg

1 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

4 oz butter

Method:

Combine sifted flour and sugar, rub in butter

Press just less than half of mixture into the base of a greased tin

Dissolve soda in milk, add egg and nutmeg and beat well

Pour this into remaining mixture and beat again

Pour all ingredients over base in tin (will be runny)

Bake in moderate oven for about 45 minutes

Simple Carrot and Ginger Soup

This recipe is a very simple carrot and ginger soup from the great vegetarian cook Kurma Dasa.  It has a fresh, cleansing taste, and I love to make it if I feel a cold coming on.
Yellow acefoetida powder is available from asian grocers - it's a great, simple substitute for onions and garlic in many dishes - but very much has its own flavour.  Fantastic in dahl.

Ingredients:
2 tabsp. butter
1/2 teasp. yellow asafoetida powder
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
700g topped, scraped and sliced carrots, about 4 1/2 cups
1 cup potatoes, diced
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
at least 4 cups light vegetable stock or water
chopped continental parsley leaves for garnish

1. Melt the butter in a 3 litre saucepan over moderate heat.  Sprinkle in the yellow acefoetida power and ginger, stirring briefly.  Add the sliced carrots, potatoes, salt and pepper and sauté for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the stock or water, and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer the vegetables, covered, for 15 minutes, or until the vegetables are very tender
2. Remove the pan from the heat, transfer the contents to a blender or food processor and process to a smooth puree
3. Rinse the saucepan, return the soup to the pan, and gently reheat over moderate heat.  For a thinner soup, add extra stock at this stage.  Serve the soup hot with a sprinkle of freshly chopped continental parsley leaves.