I can’t get enough of fresh cherries this summer. And ever since I got my new cherry pitter, there really is no stopping me. This cherry and almond muffin recipe is so simple to make. In fact they were ready to come out of the oven by the time I had washed up all the dirty dishes. Then, I got to sit down and enjoy these warm nutty buttery cherry muffins with dollop of crème fraiche and a nice cup of tea. Sometimes the simplest things in life really are the best. Cherries in season are so sweet and go so well with almonds. I am a crazy about nuts so I kind of went a bit mad with the flaked almonds on top:) Continue Reading…
Update: On July 14th, two days after posting I received an email from Ernő Rubik himself saying that he liked my cake. I guess the world is really a very small place.
‘ Thanks for the nice birthday surprise which sweetens the bitterness of passing time.’
Hungarian Ernő Rubik invented the Rubik’s cube in 1974. He was born on the 13th of July, 1944. Myself and my other half set about making a birthday cake, worthy of the great man himself. Battenberg cakes are constructed of rectangular pieces of alternatively coloured Victoria sponge cake, sandwiched together by jam and held together with walls of marzipan. We decided that the different pieces of cake could by dyed the traditional six colours of the Rubik’s cube – white, red, blue, orange, green and yellow. Then to make the cake a little more Rubik’s like, we decided to have each slice of the cake reveal a different combination of coloured squares, just like a Rubik’s cube. To achieve this, we cut the coloured rectangles of sponge into different lengths. This was definitely a case where I needed the engineering mind of my other half to figure out the maths of this cake. It took a little planning to get it right, however I think it might just be a worthy birthday treat. I’m not sure if Ernő has a sweet tooth but hopefully he might enjoy this puzzling cake.
This week I am still dreaming about the past and cooking from my lovely old antiquated cookery books. The latest grand dame of the kitchen is Maura Laverty and her book ‘Full and Plenty’, which was fondly known as a doorstopper due to it’s hefty size and weight. This book was first published in 1960 and was the first ‘real’ Irish cookbook. Before that, the only cookbook Irish people owned, was the one you got free with the cooker! Maura was quite the character and her cook book is filled with funny little anecdotes. She was something of a Renaissance lady with a talent for writing and broadcasting as well as cookery. She was a woman before her time and if she was still around today she would most likely be a millionaire. Maura initially started writing pieces for the paper, and then progressed to writing novels (some of which were banned) and plays. Her cookbook came about from her love of food which was shaped by the time she spent in Spain working as a governess. Her first cookbook was commissioned by the government and its intention was to show Irish housewives how to make do with what little food they had at their disposal. Continue Reading…
My dear departed granddad used to love cherry cake with lashings of real butter and a cup of hot sweet tea. For years my gran used to make these delicious cherry cakes and it’s something that always brings me back to my childhood at home on a Sunday. Lately I have been feeling very nostalgic so I decided to give this cake a go for myself. To be honest I was really proud of my efforts and the rest of the family loved it too. However, my gran had the final word – she liked the taste but deemed it unworthy of the blog! Continue Reading…
I have just noticed that I have a lot of banana recipes in my blog. (Note to self -must diversify and buy some different fruit.) I think the reason I have so many banana recipes is because I always have a couple left in the fruit bowl and never manage to eat them all on time. I had seen this recipe before in Darina Allen’s Ballymaloe cookbook and the picture alone made me drool. The good thing about this recipe is that it uses 5/6 bananas so it’s great if you have loads to use up. Also this recipe really works with overripe bananas. Its pretty yum and it’s nice straight out of the oven with a cool yoghurt /crème fraîche or butterscotch ice-cream if you’re feeling bold.
It was a Friday evening after work. It had been a long day and I was tired and cranky. I had come home to find lots of stuff in the fridge well past it’s sell by date. I hate throwing stuff out. I feel like I have let myself down and not followed up on all my foody plans. In the fruit bowl, there was a gaggle of bananas just about ready to walk themselves out the door. It became my mission to save them from leading a fruitless life. Continue Reading…
