Spiced Pecan Cake

I thought as the nights draw in and the temperatures drop I would share a bit of a treat - best served slightly warm with custard! It can be made in a traditional cake tin or loaf tin.

14 fl oz water

3 fl oz orange juice (fresh squeezed if poss)

7 oz sultanas

4 oz butter

14 oz plain flour

1/2 tsp fine ground rock salt

1 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

3/4 tsp baking powder

10 oz golden caster sugar

1/2 tsp nutmug

1/2 tsp ground allspice

1 tsp ground cinnamon

2 eggs, beaten

4 oz chopped pecans

Butter and line your cake/loaf tin with baking parchment.

Pre-heat oven to 190C

Put the water, orange juice, butter and sultanas into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Keep on a slow boil for bout 25 minutes to allow the sultanas to swell and the liquid to slightly reduce. When its ready take off the heat and allow to cool for ten minutes before using.

While the sultanas are bubbling away get a large mixing bowl for the dry ingredients. Sift the flour into the bowl, along with the bicarb, baking powder, sugar, salt and spices. Make sure everything is well mixed.

Once the sultana mix is cooled a little pour into the dry mix and mix well. Then add the eggs and pecans. Mix thoroughly before pouring into the cake tins.

Place in the pre-heated oven and cook for up to 55 minutes. Times will vary according to the efficiency of your oven, so check regularly and move around the oven if necessary to cook evenly.

Best served while still a little warm and with custard or double cream :-)

Mini Mince Pies with Frangipane Tops

I tend to make mini mince pies as feel a pile of minis looks somehow more attractive than half a dozen regular ones. It also allows you to have several different variations in the toppings and the possibilities of including ones with apple pie fillings for those that don't like mincemeat.

For this recipe you will need a quantity of Christmas Pastry or plain shortcrust if you prefer.

You will also need a jar of Mincemeat. 

For the Frangipane you will need:

2oz butter, softened

2oz golden caster sugar

2 eggs, lightly beaten

4 oz ground almonds

3 - 4 drops of almond extract (or to taste - I like a lot!)

1 pear

Begin with making your frangipane. Place your butter and sugar into a bowl and beat together. Slowly add the beaten eggs and continue to mix. 

A little at a time mix in the ground almonds and then flavour with the almond extract; make sure it is all thoroughly combined. Set this aside while you line the tins. 

Roll out your pastry on a floured board and cut circles to fit a mini cake tray. Make the pastry as thin as you can without it breaking as it will cook easier. Also with mini pies you will need more room for filling and don't want your pie too full of pastry!

In the bottom of each pie case place a small teaspoon of mincemeat. Now take your frangipane and place a small teaspoon on top. It doesn't have to be too neat as it will puff up under cooking and should sort itself out. 

Pre-heat the oven to 200C.While the oven is pre-heating you can finish off the pies. Take your pear and slice it up into slivers about 1 cm across and maybe 2 mm thick. If possible leave a bit of skin on the outside edge. Push two pieces of pear into the frangipane on each pie. 

Pop into the oven for about half an hour. Timings vary considerably depending on how efficient your oven is, so check the pies often and if necessary turn the trays around half way through. 

Sweet Pickled Onions

Although this recipe is for a quantity of pickled onions, but is equally good for pickled eggs and gherkins! Due to soaking time this needs to be made over two days.

2lb small pickling onions

3 dessert spoons of rock salt (I use Himalayan Pink Salt for everything)

Large bottle of Malt Vinegar (doesn't need to be an expensive or 'pickling' vinegar)

1 tsp dried chilli

1 tsp whole cloves

1 large or 2 small cinnamon sticks

1 inch chunk fresh ginger

2 tsp whole black peppercorns

3 heaped dessertspoons of dark brown sugar

Day One

Place unpeeled onions into a large saucepan or cauldron. Bring a kettle of water to the boil and pour over the onions. Allow to stand in the boiling water for two or three minutes, but no longer. (You don't want the onions to actually start cooking.)

Fill another large bowl with cold water and after the onions have soaked in the hot water for their three minutes use a slotted spoon to transfer them to the cold water. This is to allow them to cool a bit before you peel them.  You will notice that the boiled water has turned yellow and this used to be used as a natural dye! 

In another clean bowl place the salt and fill with fresh water. The water will dissolve as much of the salt as it needs, so don't worry if you still have salt crystals at the bottom of the bowl. Take the onions one at a time to peel, top and tail them. They can be put into the salt water and left at least 12 hours if not overnight.

Day Two

Put the vinegar into a saucepan with the sugar and spices. Bring to the boil, take of the heat and leave to cool some. 

Take your jars (sterilized with hot water or a sterilizing solution accordingly) and place near the sink. Place your salted onions into a sieve and rinse thoroughly under the tap. Drop straight into the jars, leaving a gap of about an inch from the top.

By now your vinegar should have cooled sufficiently not to crack the glass, but still take care with the hot liquid. I also advise you not to be tempted to sniff it as it an be quite potent! Using a ladle, scoop up the spiced vinegar and some of the pickling spices, then poor over the onions in their jars. I don't usually add all the spices as things like the cinnamon sticks can take up quite a lot of room, but certainly a few spoonfuls of the smaller ones and the odd slice of ginger make the finished piece look very appetizing and will continue to add flavour for a little while after. Once the last onion is covered you can seal the lid and leave on a shelf to mature. They are edible immediately, but left for a week they will be richer in taste.