Much Christmas Baking was Done

There's nothing quite like having a purpose and a plan, and Christmas provided ample opportunity for both. The lists I've made, the recipes I've collated and the baking that my kitchen has seen have filled many an hour.

Mary Berry's Christmas Cakes were handed out amongst friends and family

Work colleagues were treated to the large Christmas cake which I sliced small and topped with icing stars along with a Ginger and Chocolate Bundt Cake from Martha from my new festive tin

There were also tins of Swiss Cinnamon Stars to nibble on with morning coffee

An evening of gin was had at mine where I served the mince pies with the gin mincemeat (the leftovers of which have also been making an appearance in my morning porridge)

Along with Panfote all'Inglese made with gluten free flour and an additional hint of cloves and orange zest

And some spiced, candied nuts, from the ever reliable Smitten Kitchen, to nibble on - these will be making an appearance as gifts next year, the mix and the nuts presented in a festive jar (top tip to be included along with the mix; use baking parchment rather than foil to line the pan)

The day itself was a lovely one, the timings of roasts scare me but a plan was drawn up

The timings adhered to, even through the warm glow of a festive G&T and the end result, on the table at 2pm sharp

I hope everyone had a lovely break, whatever they did, whatever they ate and whoever they shared it with.

Gin in the AM (and another bundt)

Not hair of the dog but an ingredient in the mincemeat I made this morning in preparation for mince pies.

Another Sunday, another 4am start and another few hours spent in the kitchen. The idea for gin and the base recipe I used came from a friend who kindly gave me a taste of her batch earlier in the week. I am a little scared of mince pies as pastry is my baking nemesis. Last year, full of good intentions, with family coming to visit, my Christmas Eve baking session ended up in the bin. Luckily I had some shop bought ones in the cupboard and when people arrived the house at least smelled of fresh, home-baked mince pies (and no, I didn't try and pass them off as my own!).

There was something very therapeutic about chopping the apples whilst listening to yet more torrential rain. The high point of the morning was adding a little of the cooling (pre-gin) mixture to my porridge. The finished product is sat, in jars, maturing and waiting for me to be brave enough to attempt the pastry.

This weekend I also put my Christmas decorations up, fed the Christmas cakes again and had a little slice of the test cake - delicious. I love this time of year.

As the mincemeat didn't call for me to use the kitchenAid I of course had to bake something else too. I went with Dorie Greenspan's 'All-in-One Holiday Bundt' crammed full of cranberries, pumpkin, apple, nuts and spices, it's just delicious.

Mincemeat

Makes about 1 1/2 large kilner jars

200g muscavado sugar

175g butter

Juice and Zest of 3 oranges (approx 200ml)

Zest of 1 lemon

Heaped tsp mixed spice

1 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp cloves

1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg

750g Bramley Apples finely diced (approx 4)

340g currants

340g raisins

200g dried cranberries

Put butter, sugar, orange juice and spices in a pan, heat slowly until smooth, add apple, zests, dried fruits and bring to the boil, reduce to a simmer for 10 - 15 mins or until the apples are soft. Allow to cool then add the gin .... and a bit more ... and go on just a bit more. I added a lot of gin ... I will let you know how it turns out in a few days!

All-in-One Holiday Bundt Cake

from Dorie Greespan's 'Baking, From my Home to Yours'

300g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2tsp bicarb

2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tps freshly grated nutmeg

1 1/2 tsp ground ginger

135g unsalted butter at room temperature

1 cup sugar (I reduced to 3/4's)

1/2 cup (packed) light brown sugar (I used reduced this too, to about 1/3 cup, not packed)

2 large eggs at room temp

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups pumpkin puree

1 large apple, peeled, cored and finely chopped

1 cup cranberries, halved

1 cup pecans roughly chopped (I used walnuts).

Butter and flour your bundt tin and preheat the oven to 175C

Mix flour, spices and raisin agents in bowl

Mix butter and sugars until light and fluffy (approx 5 mins) at medium speed

Add eggs one at a time, beating for 1 min after each addition

Add vanilla

Reduce speed and add pumpkin and apple - Dorie points out at this point not to worry if your mixture looks curdled - mine did!

On low speed add the dry ingredients but do not over mix

using a spatula stir in cranberries and nuts - spoon into pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula.

Bake for 60 - 70 mins, leave to cool in tin for 5 mins before turning out onto a wire rack.

Still Loving the Soup

As I mentioned previously, my trip to Scotland reignited my love for soup and I've made plenty since, adapting the original recipe from the River Cafe quite a bit over the weeks. Then I saw the invitation on What's for Lunch Honey to take part in the 38th Monthly Mingle - Warming Soups for the Happy Soul. Well, I don't really believe in the concept of the soul as such, however if there's something that lifts and warms my heart it's chopping and stirring, creating over a low simmer and then enjoying the fruits of my labour, and this soup has warmed me, both literally and figuratively quite a bit over the past few weeks.

Firstly, the tinned cannelini beans were a bit hit or miss, too often dry and grainy. Textures are always important in food, whether complimentary or contrasting, and I make this soup with plenty of very chunky vegetables in order to provide some bite, the greens added at different times to give variation. The beans are by no means the main ingredient, but there's nothing worse than glancing at the next mouthful on the spoon, spying a bean and feeling a sense of trepidation. I bought some Cerrato 'Organic Minestrone with Kamut' bean mix containing various beans and lentils from Waitrose on a whim, the pre-soaking is a bit of a pain, but worth it as they're just delicious.

I've added a decent amount of tomato puree for some extra depth and a sprinkling of chilli flakes too. I've also, thanks to an excess in a colleagues veg box and their generosity, discovered calvo nero and can't seem to get enough at the moment. I don't know how many the following recipe would feed as it keeps me going for nearly a week, the flavours developing all the time. The great thing is it's infinately adaptable - take out or add as your taste or the seasons dictate.

200g beans pre-soaked for 12 hours

Olive oil

1 large leek

1 large carrot

1 head of celery

Tin of chopped tomatoes

Bunch of parsley

Tomato puree

1/4 tsp chili flakes

large bunch of Calvo Nero or cabbage/greens of your choice, roughly chopped

• Cover the beans with water, cover, bring to the boil and then simmer for 40 minutes.
• Chop the carrots, leeks and celery roughly, I like my veg to still have a bite at the end so keep the pieces quite big.
• Put a dash of olive oil in a large pan, when hot add the chopped veg and cook slowly over a medium heat for 20 mins, stirrring all the time to prevent them browning or sticking.
• Add tomato puree, chopped parsley, chili flakes to your taste and coat the vegetables before adding the tin of tomatoes, simmer for 10 minutes or until the tomatoes are reduced.
• Add the greens - if using a more delicate green reserve half for adding at a later point
• Add the drained beans and pour boiling water over to cover the contents of the pan and simmer for 20 - 30 mins.
• If you've reserved some greens add them 5 mins before the end.
• Serve with some parmesan and fresh bread should you wish.

Shiny New Thing

I've not had a good week. Well, some bits have been fantastic; my birthday was spent with friends, I felt loved and I had lots of fun - along with a fair amount of gin. I've been to the cinema several times; seen good films, bad films, barely watched one film at all because it was too scary and had rather a lot of damn fine popcorn. I have all but finished my Christmas shopping, eaten and baked cakes, drunk good wine and tasted Marmite Truffles for the first (but not the last) time. When I write it out like that it seems wrong to sum up the past seven days as poor, but the things that have gone wrong, whilst not taking away from all the lovely things I've done and shared, still make for a sum total of a pretty bad week.

So I shopped.

And I bought a shiny, new, lovely thing that I have been resisting for so long.

Todays inaugural baking session took place pre-dawn once again and I just can't imagine how I've managed without (a bit like when I finally capitulated and ordered Sky+). I'm not one for the personification of inanimate objects but this may need to have a name as I can see a meaningful relationship developing (not the type to feature on a Channel Five documentary you understand).

To pair with the most American of kitchen equipment I went with the most American of cakes and baked a Pumpkin Spice Bundt Cake with Buttermilk Icing from Epicurious, found via the recent Bundt Fest over at the Food Librarian. She did a recent round up of all the Bundts baked on National Bundt Day and my contribution features. I reduced the sugar slightly, 1 1/4 cups of caster sugar equals about 280g but I used 250g, I read somewhere recently that a lot of US recipes can cope with less sugar so I'll be giving it a try. This also had a sugar and buttermilk glaze which added an great sweet and sour element.

I really enjoyed the finished cake, quite simple in terms of taste but unusual to a palate not raised on the taste of pumpkin. There is a comment section on the Epicurious site and there are plenty of hints and tips about adjusting the spices and ways to get a better glaze. The initial glaze on mine went translucent, but I added more once the cake was cold.

Citrus Cakes for Birthdays

The past week has seen the creation of two citrus themed birthday cakes. The first followed a request for a lemon birthday cake and I went with another Mary Berry Recipe. Her Crunchy Top Lemon Cake is a lemon infused sponge with a sugar and lemon glaze pasted onto the piping hot cake, as usual I substituted the milk in the recipe with buttermilk, I really need to start making comparison cakes to see exactly what difference this makes.

The second was for my 35th Birthday and I recently bookmarked a recipe for a lemon cake with gin drizzle from Madalane of The British Larder (not sure if I was searching for cake or gin at the time - either is likely). I think because this cake was going to be for me I felt able to be more adventurous and decided to play around a little more than I usually do. Having made a fair few lemon cakes over the year I didn't really want one for my birthday but the gin was fitting. My mother had a recipe for a Gin and Grapefruit Sorbet that was part of every Christmas celebration I can remember and one of my favourite party dishes. It's a wonderfully sharp and refreshing way to cut through the richness of any feast, whilst ensuring that your alcohol levels remain topped up - and no feast is complete without gin in my opinion. Deb from Smitten Kitchen has a recipe for a Grapefruit Yoghurt cake so I went about combining the two. I baked it for about 35 mins and this was a little too long, the edges had started to brown so I will check earlier next time. The 'drizzle' is just that, however the original recipe had more icing sugar (100g) and less gin (10ml) so was more of a glaze, it was poured over the cakes after they'd been turned out of their tins (after 5 mins, so while still warm), I may try this next time as the photos of the originals look so pretty.

Gin and Grapefruit Cake

120g butter

170g plain flour

1tsp baking powder

170g caster sugar

2 large eggs

60mk buttermilk

Zest of 2 grapefruit

Juice of half a grapefruit

1/4tsp of salt

Grease and flour a loaf tin and preheat the oven to 180C

Mix butter and sugar until light and creamy, combine buttermilk and eggs in a jug then add to batter in stages.

Add zest and juice then sift in flour, baking powder and salt and combine without over mixing.

Bake for 30 - 35 mins

The Drizzle

Juice of one grapefruit

70g of icing sugar

15ml (ahem) gin, I used Tanqueray of course

Keeps well for a couple of days wrapped in greaseproof paper and stored in an airtight container.

It Must Be Sunday

I know I named this blog Spatulas at Dawn because of my early starts and love of filling the small hours with the smell of baking, but I really think that a 4 am start in November is taking things a little too far. Dawn was still several hours away when sat with coffee and recipe books I tried to decide which cake to bake in honour of National Bundt Day which is celebrated on the 15th November in the US.

I love my Bundt cake tin (and I'm hoping that Father Christmas might be able to fit another in my stocking this year - are you reading this Ces?) and rarely need an excuse to use it. As I mentioned the other day Mary, The Food Librarian, set herself the challenge of baking a bundt cake every day for the month leading up to National Bundt Day and I had a tin of pumpkin puree (thank you Waitrose) set aside for the day itself. After all, what could be a more fitting ingredient for this most American of bakeware than pumpkin? I already had my eye on a recipe for a Pumpkin and Chocolate bundt from the list on The Food Librarian's site and my newest of books Cake Keeper Cakes (as recommended by Nicole at Baking Bites) had an almost identical one for a loaf cake. The average 9" by 5" loaf tin recipe can be doubled to fill a bundt so that's what I did - see below. The original recipe called for milk but I used buttermilk and I also reduced the sugar slightly. Apologies for the mixture of measurments in US cups and metric, with some ingredients it's easier to measure out in the original cups so I didn't bother weighing to get the equivalent measure, sorry if that's irritating, but it was early!

The resulting cake is so moist from the pumpkin and moorish with the differing textures I'm not sure how to do it justice here and hope that you give it a try soon.

Pumpkin-Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake

adapted from Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chatman

• 300g plain flour
• 2 tsp bicarb
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• generous pinch of nutmeg
• 225g unsalted butter
• 200g caster sugar
• 6 large eggs
• one 15oz can of unsweetened pumpkin puree
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup buttermilk
• 2 cups chocolate chips (I used a mixture of milk chocolate chips and chopped 70% Green and Blacks)
• 2 cups of chopped walnuts

• Preheat oven to 180C, grease your bundt tin and dust with flour
• Mix flour, spices, bicarb, baking powder and salt
• Beat sugar and butter until fluffy then add eggs one at a time, scraping the side of the bowl as needed
• Stir in pumpkin and vanilla then the buttermilk
• Add the flour in three batches, scraping the side of the bowl and then finally stir in the chocolate and walnuts
• Pour batter into the bundt tin of your choice and bake for 55 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean, cool in tin for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wore rack. Allow to cool completely before attempting to cut

Should your bundt be reluctant to release itself from the tin (as mine was today as I forgot the all important 'dust with flour' step) pop the tin back into the oven for a few minutes to help release it (you may also require the help of several implements to aid the process, I used a knife, a rolling pin, a plastic spatula and a bit of brute force)

A Win and a Fail

Another gathering for a night of ladyboy poker provided another baking opportunity. In a search for inspiration a brief email poll of participants returned the single word 'chocolate'.

I had recently bookmarked a recipe for Chocolate, Coffee and Cardamon Cake with a view to a dinner party/poker dessert (rather than a bake and take to work kind of cake). I had fresh pods in the cupboard from the gingerbread earlier in the week and the pictures on Spice and More's blog screamed dense richness, just what you need with a good bottle of red to induce a lucky hand. I followed the recipe on the site, using the reduced amount of sugar suggested, with 70% chocolate (I had Green and Blacks in the cupboard). I have a Gaggia coffee machine (possibly my most prized possession) so brewed a double espresso then strained the crushed cardamon pods and seeds which I'd simmered in water into the coffee before adding all the liquid at the point stated. The type of tin wasn't specified but you'll need a deep springform for this one. I didn't bother with a ganache (and this wasn't because of previous disasters, I believe I now have a foolproof recipe) I just didn't think it looked like it needed it, the top of the cake looked so moist and was slightly cracked and I worried about masking the cardamon with more chocolate. When it came to serving, additional chocolate definitely wasn't needed, it was so tasty on it's own.

Along with the cake I also offered to cook the main. I have the Leon book and love it so much that I gave it to several people as Christmas presents last year, my sister is currently spreading the Leon love by giving copies as gifts. I needed a one pot veggie dish and the Egyptian Tamarind stew looked appealing, filled as it is with roasted aubergines, peppers, tomatoes and chickpeas (or fava beans if you can find them). I Googled it for additional hints and tips and discovered that it had been part of the Guardian's cookalong series with the added bonus of a pilaf recipe to accompany it. You can get the transcript and recipes here. I used agave nectar rather than honey, partly to just use it and partly because I'm not a fan of honey and wasn't sure how strong the taste of it would be. I think the agave worked, I added a little more tamarind than suggested and I think that I would split the chillies to get a little bit more of a kick. The smell of the pilaf was amazing as the heat hit the spices and everyone enjoyed it.

So, two wins on the food front were joined by two poker wins - yes I won both games! Unheard of. Only that day I'd been moaning that I was feeling a little despondent as I rarely won a hand never mind games or cold hard cash and was pretty much only going along for the company and baking opportunity. But win I did, and it felt good.

There was a baking fail though, perhaps fail is too strong a word as colleagues at work seemed to enjoy it, but I can't say I was taken with the Cardamon Vanilla Bundt featured on the Food Librarian's 'I Like Big Bundts' series (in the lead up to National Bundt day on November 15th). It was heavier than I expected and whilst it smelt divine whilst baking, the end result didn't have enough vanilla or cardamom for me. Do check out the series though, there are some fantastic looking cakes on there.