Moist Chocolate Cake

This is the easiest recipe I've ever used to make a really moist chocolate cake. This recipe has a jam filling and buttercream topping, but its equally good with buttercream inside and out! You could also try buttercream middle and chocolate icing topping if that's your thing. 

Cake Ingredients

3oz good quality Cocoa Powder, sieved

8oz Plain Flour, sieved

1 1/2 tsp Bicarb of Soda

1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder

12 oz Golden Caster Sugar

2 Medium Eggs

4 1/4 fl oz Sunflower Oil

9 fl oz Semi-skimmed Milk

2 tsp Vanilla Extract (note extract, not essence)

9 fl oz Water, boiling from the kettle

For the topping and filling:

Icing sugar (quantity depends on how thick you want your buttercream

2 heaped tbsp cocoa powder

75g unsalted butter, softened

Raspberry Jam (you don't have to use raspberry, but the tartness of it cuts through the chocolate quite nicely)

Before you start baking you need to prepare your tins. You'll need two eight inch sandwich tins, which have been greased with butter. On a piece of greaseproof paper, draw around the bottoms of your tins. Cut out and use to line the bottom of the greased tin. Put to one side and prepare to pre-heat your oven to 180C

Method

In a large mixing bowl add all the cake ingredients except the boiling water.Using a hand whisk, thoroughly mix the ingredients until you have a very thick, smooth mixture. Start carefully adding the boiling water a little at a time and whisking as you go. Continue until all the boiling water is mixed in. The mix will be extremely runny by now. 

Pour the mixture into the two tins. They will probably be filled to the brim! Carefully place these into the middle of your pre-heated oven for at least 30 minutes. Ovens vary and they may take up to 50 minutes. Although the centre of these cakes remains moist when cooked, you can still check they're cooked with a skewer. It should come out clean of cake mix when it comes out. Don't worry about them sinking.

When you're happy they're cooked, take them out and leave them somewhere to cool. When they have cooled a little run a knife around the edge and turn out onto a cooling rack or plates. Peel off the paper from the bottom and allow to cool completely.

While they're cooling off you can start making the topping. Start by beating the softened butter until its creamy and smooth. A little at a time start sieving in a mixture of cocoa and icing sugar. At this point you need to decide if you want a think heavy buttercream or something lighter and spreadable. I like a thick buttercream so I keep adding icing sugar after many people would stop! As you're mixing it in a little at a time you can just stop when the consistency is right for you.

Once your cakes are cooled place one upside down on a serving plate. Spread a healthy layer of raspberry jam over the sponge. Carefully place the other half of the cake on top, with the raised side upwards.

Spread over a layer of buttercream as thick as you like. If you prefer, you can make extra buttercream and do the sides too! 

Tomato and Stilton Soup

As always, remember that the smaller you chop your ingredients the quicker they will cook! Keep chunks to less than 1/2 inch whenever possible. With the exclusion of the cheese garnish you could easily make this a vegan dish.

Ingredients

2oz butter

2 tbsp rape seed oil

2 medium onions, chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

2 celery sticks, chopped

1 carrot, chopped

1 lb tomatoes, peeled and chopped

1 400g tin (= 14oz) of plum tomatoes

1 1/2 pints of water

2 tbsp tomato puree

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp dried oregano

1/4 pint red wine

4oz Stilton cheese, crumbled

Heat the butter and oil in a good size saucepan and over a gentle heat soften the onion, garlic and celery. Add the carrots and the fresh tomatoes. Cook on for a further 10 minutes and occasionally give it a stir to avoid sticking and cool spots. 

Add the canned tomatoes and boiling water, followed by the tomato puree, sugar oregano and wine. Bring to the boil and then reduce the heat to allow the soup to simmer for up to an hour while the vegetables cook. Once they are soft and cooked through take the soup off the heat and allow to cool some. 

Transfer soup to a blender and whiz until the texture is smooth and lump free. (If you do not have a blender you can push it through a sieve by hand). 

Pour the soup back into the pan and re-heat before serving. Pour into bowls and garnish with the crumbled Stilton cheese.  

The Only Soup Recipe You'll Ever Need!

Well, that title may not appeal to everyone, but for me it is true. This is the ONLY soup recipe I ever use! Using basic quantities, you can make a creamy soup, using whatever vegetables you have to hand. It doesn't matter what you put in, so long as the overall weight to fluid ratio is about right. It doesn't really matter if you use slightly more or less vegetables to fluid, as it just means your overall soup will be thicker or thinner, which is largely down to personal taste anyway. It freezes well, so you can make up a cauldron full and have some on hand for lazy days.

Ingredients

16oz diced vegetables (It doesn't matter how much of each, or what selection use use) I use potato, sweet potato, leek, onion, cauliflower, parsnip and brocolli. Generally speaking, the more parsnip use put in the sweeter it will be; the more potato and cauliflower the creamier it will be. I like to have a good variety if I have it. This is especially useful for using up all those veg that are starting to get a bit rubbery in the bottom of the fridge :-)

2 vegetable stock cubes dissolved in 2 pints of boiling water (I use Tesco Value ones, 10p for 10 cubes!)

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp dried sage

Olive Oil

Make sure you weigh the diced vegetables, not the natural weight and remember that the smaller you dice, the quicker your vegetables will cook.

Put the vegetables into a large saucepan and add enough olive oil to  lightly coat the vegetables (usually a couple of tablespoons). Turn up the heat and sear the vegetables without burning. Once all the vegetables are coated and have had a go at the bottom of the pan, add the boiling stock water. Add the herbs. Give the pan a stir and bring to the boil, then simmer with the lid on until the vegetables are cooked through.

Pour the vegetables and the cooking liquid into a blender and blitz until smooth. Return to the pan and reheat if necessary. This can be cooked in advance and left in the pan for re-heating later.

Serve with bread.

If you make too much then leave it to cool and freeze.

Tin Can Stew

This is a bit of a kitchen cheat recipe, but its a great back-up meal if you haven't fresh food in the house. This is a vegetarian stew made out of my can cupboard... mainly non-perishables and a few herbs. Using whole cans, it make a cauldron full and will last two or three people a couple of days. You can add or take away any of the ingredients so its real easy going! Of course if you have fresh veg you can use those instead, but I will stick to the tin-can recipe as an example.


Ingredients:


2 stock cubes
1 can new potatoes
1 can baked beans
1 can button mushrooms
1 can red kidney beans
1 can peas
1 can carrots
a handful of pearl barley
3 cloves garlic, sliced
a healthy pinch of herbs - I like rosemary, thyme and corriander but it doesn't matter


to these if I have them I may also add:
two small onions, cut in half
a handful of frozen mince
a spoonful of gravy granules if it seems too watery


Because of the amount of the ingredients, you'll need to start out with a large and deep saucepan.


Dissolve the stock cubes in a little under 2 pints of boiling water, then add to the pan. Put this over a hot temperature while you add the ingredients. Add all the cans, pouring away about half of the liquid in the can first. Add the barley, mince and garlic before giving it all a good stir. Turn the heat down to a simmer and leave for about half an hour, or whenever it looks cooked - especially if you decide to use fresh veg.


Right at the end stir in your herbs. If it still looks to liquid then stir in some gravey granules and likewise if it has gone too thick (this will depend on things like the quantity of barley and mince used) then add a little more stock.


This is great served with fresh bread and will sit quite happily on the hob til the next day when it just needs reheating.