Guest Baker - Surprise Rainbow Cake

My sister made this wonderful cake for her friend at work and I just had to share it as a guest post. 

I know rainbow cakes have become quite popular, particularly after the Great British Bake Off did their episode on surprise cakes and there are tons of recipes for them on the Internet, however I still thought I'd share this. I first came across a rainbow cake at a meeting of the Clandestine Cake Club at Ms Marmite Lovers in London. MsMarmite had brought it along as her creation. They tend to look unassuming from the outside - plain white buttercream, which I guess makes the novelty of the rainbow of colours inside even more appealing. 

I've never made one as I'm not keen on using lots of food colouring, but I have to say the final result looks amazing! 

I don't have any photos of the step by step but my sister used this Mary Berry recipe for the cake and this recipe without the addition of white chocolate for the buttercream. The buttercream and piped on the outside in a rose pattern like in this and this cake. 

I have seen varying degrees of success with rainbow cakes on the internet so i asked her to share her tips with me and they are as follows: 

- make at least a 6oz mixture for EACH layer 

- use good quality gel or powder food colouring. I prefer gel. 

- unfortunately natural food colourings are probably a no go as they don't tend to be as deep in colour.

- add the food colouring a very small amount at a time, mixing well between additions to make sure you don't overdo the colours. My mum says 'you can always add more but you can't take it out'

- once the cakes are baked use a cake leveller to remove the top of each cake and ensure they are the same height (make sure you don't move the wire on the cake cutter between cutting each cake!

- put quite thick layers of butter cream between each layer to ensure there are clear divisions. 

- decorate the cake quite plainly. 

- use a better knife than this to cut it if you want really clean layers! She was at work and hence didnt have a great knife. 

Enjoy! 

Ayurveda and Kerala, India

I've recently got back from an Ayurvedic and yoga retreat in Kerala, South India. For anyone who doesn't know what Ayurveda is there is more information here, but basically it is an ancient form of wellbeing and health which focuses on prevention rather than cure and if medicine is necessary using natural herbal options. The doctors train for longer than Western doctors and there seems to be growing research based evidence supporting this and similar approaches (unsurprisingly as much research is funded by drug companies there is tends to be more focus on chemical medicine). A large element of this is the way you eat with a focus on certain food suiting different types of people. The food is mainly vegetarian.

Whilst I was away I had a cooking course into how to make an Ayurvedic meal. The course was taken by the chefs from the hotels kitchen.





Apologies in advance for the quality of the photos but I didn't take my proper camera with me as I was packing light and it was pretty dark in the room we were in.

Dhal Maharajah

We started by making a Dhal Maharajah, which was a yellow lentil dish.

Pre-cook 100g of yellow lentils according to the instructions on the packet.

Then you need to add 1/2 tsp of cumin seeds to a little oil, add three cloves of crushed garlic, an equal quantity of grated gingered one large onion very finely diced. Sauté until golden brown and soft. Add 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp turmeric, 1/2 tsp cumin powder, 1/2 tsp chilli powder and one tomato chopped finely. Cook the spices in for a few minutes.


Add the pre-cooked lentils along with a little of their cooking water. Put the lid on the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until the lentils are thick.


Stir though some chopped coriander and serve.



Vegetable Thoram

Next we made a Vegetable Thoram. A Thoram means a dry dish which often has coconut in it.

Start by heating a little coconut oil in a pan and add to it 1tsp mustard seeds, 5-10 curry leaves. Cook until the mustard seeds start to pop and add 1/2 tsp grated ginger, 1 crushed garlic clove, a very finely chopped onion, 1/2tsp salt, 1/2tsp chilli powder and 1/2 tsp turmeric. Cook until the onion is soft.



Very chop finely chopping your vegetables, we used carrots, green beans, cauliflower and cabbage and add to the pan with a little water. Cook, stirring occasionally to ensure they don't burn until the vegetables are cooked through and soft. Stir in 2 tbsps of grated dried coconut (unsweetened desiccated coconut) and serve.




Lemon Rice

Finally we made a lemon rice. Pre-cook 100g of basmati rice.

Start by adding 1/2 tbsp if cashew nuts and 1/2 tbsp of raisins to a little oil. Add 5-10 curry leaves and 1/2 tsp turmeric powder and cook the spices in.





Stir in the pre-cooked basmati rice, along with the juice of a lime and 1/2 tsp salt and serve.




Here are some of the pictures of the buffet that the chefs prepared each day

One day I also went on a trip out to a local food market. I think my taxi driver thought I was mad, but as I've probably mentioned before I think going to a food market really gives you a feel of a places food and culture. It was only small but there were still many fascinating things. As I didn't have anywhere to cook I couldn't buy much but I did buy some mango for me and the driver. 

Simple Pleasures. - Three Cornered Leek and Wild Fennel

There is something very pleasing about picking food from the wild (or foraging as it now seems to have become trendy to call it) and making it into something delicious. Recently I was visiting my parents and on a walk came across not one, but two wild treats. the first was some beautiful three cornered leek and the second some wild fennel. I've spoken before about this before after picking blackberries and wild apples. Sometimes the simple pleasures really are the best...

Wild fennel tends to have less of a bulb than cultivated fennel but the stalks and the lovely fronds were delicious paired with lemon, Parmesan and chicken in this simple recipe.

Three cornered leek really is a beautiful vegetable, from the triangular stem it gets its name from to the pretty little white flowers. It has a very delicate flavour, similar to wild garlic but milder, so be careful not to over cook it and destroy the flavour. Here is the recipe.

Now to find some wild garlic before the season is over...

Homemade Sausage Roll and Rum Chocolate Cake, Treat Night

I was really looking forwards to this Saturday night Treat Night as recently every treat night I've been out so have only cooked healthy food for a while.

I decided I wanted to make a sausage roll and try a recipe my friend had given me after I licked the plate clean when she'd make this chocolate cake for a friends birthday!

In the past I've made sausage rolls with a variety of fillings, adding apple, spices, even cheese, but I fancied a really simple sausage roll so just stuck to good quality sausage meat. Feel free to experiment with your own flavour choices though.

I was having these for dinner so made them large but you can make them bite sized for picnics or parties. Much better than the shop bought ones and very easy to make.

I used shop bought puff pastry as I almost always do. I don't think life is long enough to make your own regularly ;)


Take one sheet of puff pastry and cut off about a third. Split 2-3 good quality sausages and remove the meat from the skins. Shape it into one large sausage and lay on the pastry. I used Waitrose Free Range Lincolnshire Sausages.



Break an egg into a little bowl to use as an egg wash.


Paint the egg around each egg as it will act as 'glue' holding your sausage roll shut.




Flip over the pastry so the sausage is enclosed.





Use your finger and thumb to press the two edges together making a pretty crimped effect




Bake at 220C for about 25 mins depending on how thick the meat is.





The finished result. I served it with lots of salad and copious amounts of ketchup. Delicious!





This chocolate cake has a hint of the Caribbean and is fab. Moist, rich and dark - just as chocolate cake should be! The original chocolate cake recipe was in cups so I converted it into grams as I prefer the accuracy for baking. I also only baked quarter of the recipe as I didn't want any leftovers and there were only two of us. The original recipe had Jack Daniels in it, which I think gave a better flavour but I didn't have any in so I substituted it for dark rum.

I started by weighing 64g plain flour into a bowl


Adding 64g caster sugar


And 32g cocoa powder


I then took one egg and 28g of butter and added the dry ingredients



Add 4tbsp of strong coffee and 4 tbsp of your chosen spirit.



Add 1/4 chopped ripe banana




Beat well.




Place in a 4'' cake tin or muffin cases and top with a few chunks of chocolate




Bake at 180C for about 20 mins (it will take longer if you make the mixture 4 times larger and you will need a pan 9x13 inches)





I served it warm with ice cream. A real treat!

New York City - restaurants, cafes and eating in

I don't think I've ever wrote about any of the places I've visited or eaten in unless I've had a cooking lesson there. Over Easter I visited my friends in New York City and whilst this wasn't exactly a food focused holiday me being me meant that a few interesting places were visited. I'm fortunate enough to have been to the city quite a few times, either through work or on holiday, and so know it reasonably well. I always said that I didn't like to go back to the same place on holiday even if I'd had a really good time, largely as there are so many places to visit and my list seems to get longer every time I read a travel magazine or talk to someone who has been away. Also, I sometimes find its risky to try and recreate something like an amazing holiday as often it won't live up to expectation. In recent years though, I've had to eat my words, well some of them! I've actually found it quite liberating to visit somewhere I have been several times, IF (and this is the critical part,) it's a city. I don't think it'd work the same way with somewhere with less of a focus on site-seeing. For me I quite like going to a city I've been before and have 'done' the key sites as the pressure is off and I can just enjoy the city for what it is and maybe act a little more like a local which results in a different experience.

I was lucky enough to be staying with some close friends who live in Midtown, Manhattan not far from central park. You couldn't really get more central if you tried!

One of the first things I did on arrival was to go and stock up on some food for the week so that I could stick to my clean eating (most of the time). They live a stones throw from a Whole Food Market which is always a treat for me. I love going to supermarkets in other countries to see what sort of foods they have, even in the US which in many ways eat a similar sort of food to the UK I find this interesting. I spent a good while exclaiming over how large some of the potions/packs were. How big are US chickens?! Judging on the size of the chicken breasts on sale I'd say about as large as a turkey! On my next visit I said I wanted to go to a chicken farm and I was only half joking.

One of the first places my friend took me to was Chelsea Market for lunch. I'd been meaning to visit it the last time I was in NYC but ran out of time. It's an indoor food 'market' although most of the places are cafes/restaurants rather than market stalls. In some ways it reminded me of a cross between Maltby Market and Brixton Market in London, but slightly more formal and polished. There were plenty of places to try and most looked fantastic. As it wasn't my treat meal I wanted to eat as cleanly as possible so decided to eat in Dickson's Farmstead and went for the half roast chicken with brussel sprouts and lardons. The chicken was well roasted and deliciously moist but was probably the fattiest chicken I have ever eaten! The Sarabeth bakery looked amazing and One Lucky Duck must be a vegan's dream



In the evening I went to a friends for dinner and she cooked Tessa Kiros' moussaka and as I've mentioned before Tessa is one of my favourite food writers so this was a real treat for me. We took around cupcakes from Crumbs which were traditional American flavours. They looked good but I didn't try one so couldn't comment on the taste.

The following morning I got up early for a run in Central Park and afterward breakfast I went to Alice's Tea Cup. I was recommended Alice's by a friend one of the first times I went to NYC. It's a wonderful tea shop which is Alice in Wonderland themed. They even sprinkle children with magic dust (glitter) and get them to make a wish when they enter, just wonderful! As I'd eaten I only had a cup of tea but it was a lovely start to the day.

I was meeting a friend I used to work with for lunch and she suggested we went to a cute little place by her work called Mangia. They have quite a few places like this around the city. You could describe them as a canteen or buffet or food hall and this was a reasonably upmarket version. They basically have different stations which might serve salads, sandwiches, hot food, baked goods, smoothies, coffees and so forth and then in the centre there was a cold salad buffet which was sold by weight. The quality was excellent and it was pretty good value as well. Great for a quick lunch hour bite to eat.

In the evening a group of us went to Harlem to try out Sylvia's This is a soul food restaurant and Sylvia is dubbed the Queen of Soul Food. To be honest I wasn't that impressed. The service was terrible - we waited the best part of an hour for our table despite the fact we'd booked and although the food was ok I didn't think it was anything special. Maybe it wasn't my kind of thing though. Despite that we had a great evening and ended the night in a Dive bar close to where some of my friends live.

My dinner was roast chicken with green beans and okra gumbo.




This was the signature fried southern chicken and rib combo with mash and mac and cheese. The macaroni had quite a lot of egg in it and reminded me of an egg custard.




The next morning was a beautiful day and we decided to head to Coney Island.



I expected a terrible choice of food but as it turned out we found Tom's Coney Island. This was effectively the equivalent of a greasy spoon in the UK but really well run. I chose am omelette and my friends had a burger and pancakes. The choices were basic but well cooked and good value and the service was fantastic.



On the way back we decided to have a walk through Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Brooklyn has a feel of East London to it and we stopped for a coffee in the Black Brick coffee shop. It was cosy and really looked the part but sadly was the classic case of style over substance as coffee was ok but not brilliant. They need Monmouth!



For dinner my friend fancied a crepe so she took us to a little place called The Crooked Tree. It was very small and had a lovely atmosphere. The service was good and the food was reasonable value and very tasty. I had a chicken, cheese and sundried tomato buckwheat crepe.






It was great to see I cold stay pretty much on track with my fit lifestyle even when on holiday. I pretty much stayed on plan with my clean eating and two treat meals, walked loads and worked out all but one day. I then really enjoyed my treat meals, guilt free.

For the first of my two treat meals in the week I was there I wanted to go for brunch. My normal brunch spot in NYC is Cafeteria, famous for being used to film some of the brunch scenes in Sex and the City. They have the most wonderful lemon ricotta pancakes with berries. However I felt like trying somewhere new and after a bit of research we decided to try Kitchenette. It hadn't occurred to us to book but we really needed to. Fortunately they managed to squeeze us in. I went for a fruit cup and freshly squeezed orange juice to start followed by baked cinnamon French roast with maple syrup. It was very similar to a bread and butter pudding and very good. They also made their own strawberry flavoured butter which you can see in the shot.







My final treat was somewhere I have been looking forwards to for a long time. We had to wait rather a long time for a table at the wonderful Spotted Pig but it was well worth the wait! The burger and fries was tasty, particular the rosemary and garlic string fries but the real show stopped were the ricotta gnudi. They were little balls of cheese heaven enveloped in more cheese heaven and drizzled with wonderfully nutty brown butter and scattered with crispy sage leaves and Parmesan. To die for!











What a great way to end a fantastic holiday! I'll be back for more gnudi on my next trip without a doubt.

The best sticky toffee pudding ever?

My dad rarely cooks anything, not even a boiled egg, however when I was young he and I decided we wanted to find the best bread and butter pudding recipe and we took it in turns to chose and make them. We must have made 7+ over one winter. He liked a Robert Carrier one best, whereas my favourite was a Gary Rhodes recipe, probably as it was sweeter.

A few months ago we were away for the weekend and the deal included dinner at the hotel. After dinner we split a sticky toffee pudding, which we both fought over the last scraps and agreed it was one of the best we'd tried.

The next night my other half disappeared downstairs, leaving me in the hotel room. I wondered what he was up to until he returned with two dishes of the sticky toffee pudding (he had leant from the night before that one wasn't enough!).

The taste stayed with me and since I have been thinking that I should try and make the best ever sticky toffee pudding. When my Saturday treat night landed on a weekend where we were doing major landscaping to the garden and lots of physical effort I decided it was time to give the first recipe a go. Unlike the 7+ attempts last time, I think this time the first recipe I chose might well be The One! Sticky and toffee, rich and sweet without being cloying. We all agreed it was one to have again.

It was from a Simon Hopkinson recipe. I did 1.5 times the recipe and used a 9'' cake tin.


I started by lining a tin. I used two strips and over lapped the edge to make it easy to lift the sponge out after baking.


I then finely chopping the dates and then soaking them in boiling water until the water was lukewarm



I then place the sugar, eggs and butter (as ever I used Stork margarine rather than butter) in the bowl of my food processor, followed by the flour and some Ndali vanilla powder (my new go to rather than vanilla bean paste).




Once the dates were lukewarm I also added them


And blended thoroughly




I poured the mixture into the tin and baked for about 45 mins




The next step was to make not one but two sauces.

Both were the same method - butter, dark brown sugar and double cream in a pan, stirred and heating and allowed it to come to the boil for a few minutes.







However, one was darker with more sugar and less cream which was poured over the top of the baked cake.







Once on top I popped it under the grill until it bubbled - and left it a bit too long as I got distracted!




The second sauce was lighter and had less sugar in and was used to pour around the pudding when it was served.




The recipe suggested serving it with double cream but I think a sticky toffee pudding is only a sticky toffee pudding if its served with custard!

I absolutely recommend you all try this recipe next time you want a treat.