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Tiger Cake

January 11, 2012 by Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

♥ A recipe for Aunty Robbie ♥

. . . . .

I recently came across this intriguing recipe in Alice Medrich’s Bittersweet.

It’s a self-marbling cake, made with extra virgin olive oil, cold eggs and a little white pepper, and it’s surprisingly good.  The layers swirl together in a tie-dye fashion, giving the cake a lovely retro feel.

I baked it in a 10-cup bundt pan as instructed, but found that there was far more batter than needed.  Despite making two extra muffins, the cake still  burgeoned over the top of the pan, and I had to slice the bottom off to get it to sit flat.  If you decide to bake this, make sure you have an extra loaf tin or muffin pan on standby to take the excess batter – it’s too good to waste!

Here's the bottom of the cake that I cut off - love the 70's swirls!

This recipe had me so fascinated that I went out and bought natural cocoa. I normally only keep Dutch-process cocoa in the pantry, but Ms Medrich was adamant that it wouldn’t work in this cake!

Chocolate mixture:

  • 50g (½ cup) natural cocoa powder, sifted (I used Cadbury’s)
  • 110g (½ cup) sugar
  • 85ml (¹/3 cup) water

Cake batter:

  • 450g (3 cups) plain (AP) flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 440g (2 cups) sugar
  • 250ml (1 cup) extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I used homemade)
  • ½ teaspoon finely ground white pepper
  • 5 cold large (59g) eggs
  • 250ml (1 cup) cold milk

1. Preheat the oven to 175C (350F) or 160C (320F) with fan. Grease a 10 or 12 cup bundt tin, or two 6 cup loaf tins. Line the base of the loaf tins with parchment paper.

2.In a large bowl, whisk together the chocolate ingredients – cocoa (make sure you sift it first), water and 110g sugar.  Whisk until well blended and smooth.

3. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.

4. In a large mixing bowl using an electric mixer with a whisk attachment, beat the 440g sugar, olive oil, vanilla and pepper until well blended.  Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition, and then beat for a few more minutes until the batter is thick and pale.

5. Beat in a cup of flour, then half a cup of milk, then the second cup of flour, then the rest of the milk, and finally the rest of the flour.  After each addition, beat just enough to combine.

6. Using a cup measure, scoop 3 cups of the batter into the bowl with the chocolate mixture, and whisk or stir to combine.

7. Pour the two batters into the bundt pan (or loaf pans) in six alternating layers (three of each), starting with the plain batter.  Don’t overfill the bundt pan.  Any surplus mixture can ladled into muffin pans or a small loaf tin (reduce the baking time accordingly).  The batter will swirl into the most gorgeous patterns as it bakes, there’s no need to do anything further to it.

8. Bake the cake until a skewer comes out clean, which should take 60 – 70 minutes.  Ms Medrich recommends the same baking time for both the bundt pan or loaf tins, but so far I’ve only baked this cake in my Wilton Belle pan. Allow the cake to rest in the pan for 15 minutes before turning it out carefully onto a wire rack to finish cooling.

Suelle at Mainly Baking makes a very similar Alice Medrich recipe – she recently posted her mocha version here.

This cake keeps well, and is better eaten on the second day.  It slices cleanly and presents beautifully, and has a gentle, old-fashioned feel to it, despite the olive oil and white pepper.   Definitely one I’ll be baking again!

Posted in Recipes | Tagged , | 68 Comments »

Feasting

January 9, 2012 by Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

The last of our Apollo tomatoes, grown indoors!

Over the past three years, we’ve completely changed the way we eat.

We used to be avid restaurant goers, dining at flashy hatted restaurants and exploring the local food scene.  These days, we don’t eat out much at all.

It’s not because we can’t afford to, but rather that the food we’re now eating at home is so joyously fresh, so sublime in its simplicity, that a restaurant meal just doesn’t appeal like it used to. Since we’ve started growing our own vegetables, choosing our meat carefully and enjoying eggs from our chooks, every meal feels like a feast.

I often remind our sons how truly blessed we are – where else could we eat organically grown cucumbers ten minutes after they’ve been harvested,  or ripe tomatoes grown to perfection without derris dust?

This week we were thrilled to finally bring in our first ever zucchinis, after last year’s failed attempts…

We’ve planted an assortment of dwarf bean seeds (Jade, Beanette, Royal Burgundy, Majestic, Plazza and Windsor Long Pod) and now harvest a bowlful every night for dinner.  Each is subtly different in taste and appearance…

We continue to experiment and learn – the big lesson this season has been that sadly, potatoes in hessian sacks don’t work (at least not in our backyard).  We were only able to grow a small quantity of tiny new potatoes – the photo below is of the entire crop from one of the sacks.  Mind you, they were absolutely delicious, gently boiled and then tossed in a little butter, salt and chopped sorrel from the garden…

The beans and zucchini were stir-fried quickly with garlic, olive oil and butter – it’s always fun to watch the purple beans turn green as they cook…

Here was our meal – a thinly sliced Cape Grim scotch fillet steak, griddled rare, accompanied by our homegrown veg.  A simple, everyday, feast.

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Posted in Frugal Living | 80 Comments »

Anarel Garlic

January 7, 2012 by Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

Our friends Ian and Diana Ditchfield are small scale garlic growers based in the NSW Central Tablelands.  Their crops are grown chemical free, and lovingly tended by hand.

This year they’ve grown Australian White Garlic ($25/kg or $15/500g)…

…Australian Red Garlic ($25/kg or $15/500g), my new favourite…

The cloves have a gorgeous reddish tinge...

…and Purple Stripe Garlic ($30/kg or $18/500g).

If you’re based in Australia and would like to purchase from the Ditchfields, please drop them an email at anarelfarm(at)gmail.com.  Due to quarantine restrictions, they’re unable to ship to South Australia, Tasmania or Western Australia, and their minimum order is 500g, although they’re happy to sell in mixed lots (postage will be extra).

I’ve bought a kilo of each variety!  As I do every year, I’ve broken two-thirds of the bulbs up and frozen the cloves for use over the next 12 months.  With all the recent concerns about imported garlic, it’s nice to know that we’ll have a plentiful supply for the upcoming year!

Garlic cloves, separated but unpeeled, vacuum-sealed ready for freezing.

. . . . .

Addendum: Here’s a photo of last year’s frozen garlic, which I’ve pulled out to use up now that the new season crop has arrived.  It’s been in our stand-alone freezer for a full year, and is still perfect for cooking!

Posted in Food & Friends | Tagged , , | 50 Comments »

New Year’s Resolutions 2012

January 5, 2012 by Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

1. In 2012, I resolve not to put a knife in the sink ever again.  I am too old to be sitting in Casualty, waiting to be stitched.

2. In 2012, I resolve to do 20 sit-ups a day, and to walk on the treadmill or workout on the rowing machine at least three times a week.  Exceptions will be made for illness (hangovers don’t count).

3. In 2012, I resolve to make major decisions based on one primary consideration: “Will this make our lives better?”  Surprisingly, things which promise more money will often do the exact opposite.  “All that glistens isn’t gold”, my father used to say.

4. In 2012, I resolve to try at least one new recipe a week.  Sometimes it’s easy to fall into a rut.  Thankfully I have this blog, and all of you, to keep me on track with this one!

5. In 2012, I resolve to listen to more old music, because I’ve finally realised that the stuff I was listening to in my teens and early twenties is what really makes me happy.  To that end, The Ultimate Bee Gees Collection, The Very Best of Dolly Parton and Bob Seger’s Stranger in Town have just arrived in the mail from Amazon. I’m anticipating a collective eye-roll from all of you, and a rude phone call from Davey.

That’s pretty much it for me.  Did you make any New Year’s Resolutions this year?

Posted in Musings | 74 Comments »

Baked Chicken Curry

January 4, 2012 by Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

Sometimes, our curries are complicated concoctions involving a wide range of spices and condiments, blended together in carefully measured quantities.

Other times, they’re all-in-one stews that are quick to prepare with minimal washing up at the end of the meal.  This is the one I make during holidays, when I’m feeling particularly lazy.

It begins with a good Malaysian curry powder – I use either Lingam’s or the classic Ayam Brand curry powder that my mother always kept in her pantry…

  • 1-2 large onion, peeled and quartered
  • 4 cloves garlic, peeled
  • 3 – 4 rounded dessertspoons of curry powder
  • 1 teaspoon of sweet soy
  • juice of half a lemon
  • salt to taste
  • curry leaves (optional)
  • 1.5kg chicken pieces (I used drumsticks)
  • potatoes, peeled if necessary and cut into chunks
  • 1 tin coconut cream
  • water
  • oil for frying

1. Preheat the oven to 175C (350F) with fan. In a small food processor, blitz the onion, garlic, curry powder, soy sauce, salt and lemon juice to form a thick paste.

2. Heat a little oil in a large pot (I used my Emile Henry Risotto Pot) and fry off the paste for a minute or so until pungent.  Add the curry leaves and coconut cream and stir to combine.  Then add the chicken pieces and turn them in the sauce to coat.  Add a little more water if required to ensure that the chicken pieces are mostly submerged.

3. Put the lid on the pot and bake in the oven for an hour.  After that time, remove the pot from the oven and add the potatoes, gently working them into the sauce.  Replace the lid and return to the oven for 45 minutes, then remove the lid and bake uncovered for a further 15 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened. Serve with steamed or boiled rice.

I’ve also made this curry in our Römertopf Baker, and the method is even easier.

Rub the onion/garlic/curry powder mixture over the chicken pieces, and then lay them out, with all the residual paste, in the presoaked Römertopf.  Pour over the coconut milk and a little water, stir gently to mix the sauce up a bit, then cover the pot and place it in a cold oven.  Turn the temperature up to 200C with fan and bake for two hours, adding the chopped potatoes halfway through the cooking time.  Remove the lid near the end if necessary to thicken up the sauce.  Enjoy!

Posted in Recipes | Tagged , , , | 48 Comments »

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