Enjoy our selection of recipes.
Christmas from The Still Room E Cook Book
Christmas from The Still Room is a collection of all of my favourite Family recipes for Christmas.
35 pages of recipes, tips and tricks so that your Christmas Day will be relaxing and delicious. My favourites are all here: My Christmas Tree Pavlova, The Perfect Christmas Glazed Ham, Christmas Sugar cookies, salads, and many more.
Download your copy here
Emma Jane x
Vanilla Butter Cake
This is a foolproof, classic butter cake.
It is delicious.
Ingredients
250g Unsalted Butter, softened
1 cup caster sugar
2 tsp vanilla essence
3 eggs
2 1/2 cups self-raising flour
2/3 cup milk
Method
Preheat oven to 180°C/160°C fan-forced. Grease and line an 8cm-deep, 19cm cake pan with baking paper.
Using an electric mixer, cream butter, caster sugar and vanilla in a medium bowl on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, around five minutes.
Add eggs, one at a time, beating to combine. Add half the flour. Stir to combine. Add half the milk. Stir to combine. Repeat with remaining flour and milk.
Spread mixture into prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Stand in pan for 10 minutes.
Turn out onto a wire rack to cool.
Ice with icing of your choice, a simple dusting of icing sugar, buttercream or a lemon drizzle.
Tilly chose buttercream and decorated it with nasturtium flowers and flowering rosemary from the garden.
Emma Jane x
Chicken Liver Parfait with Pedro Ximenez
I love having pots of parfait in the fridge when friends are visiting. A delicious addition to charcuterie or cheese platters.
Simply served on its own accompanied by cornichons, spiced fruit paste & crunchy toast. Fireside with a glass of red. Perfection.
Ingredients
500 g chicken livers
2 shallots
1 clove garlic minced
200 g butter
10 g thyme fresh
1 bay leaf
100 ml Pedro Ximenez
2 tbls of thickened cream
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
Gee or clarified butter
Method
Trim any membranes from the livers. Cut the pieces into an even size and leave to drain on kitchen paper.
Melt 50g of the butter in a large frying pan and add the shallot over a medium heat for about 3 minutes until softened and transparent.
Add the clove of garlic along with the bay leaves and thyme for 1 minute.
Cook the livers in batches for 2-3 minutes. The chicken livers should still be pink inside but not bloody.
Once all the livers have been cooked off, pour in the sherry and cook for a couple of minutes more until the liquid has almost evaporated.
Add the thickened cream and stir.
Remove the herbs and season with salt and pepper.
Put everything in a food processor and blend together.
Pour the parfait into your pots.
For the clarified butter
Put the butter in a small saucepan and heat gently until it melts.
Use a spoon to skim off any foam or bits that rise to the surface and discard.
Pour the liquid butter into another container, being careful not to let any of the sediment at the bottom go with it.
If you have gee in your fridge or pantry simply warm it up in a pot on the stove.
Pour the clear butter/gee over the parfait pots.
Drop a sprig of thyme in the butter.
Refrigerate for one hour before serving.
Chefs tips
Don’t overcook the livers - they should still be pink on the inside. Liver has a tendency to become dry and tough if they are cooked for too long.
Take the parfait out of the fridge for 30 minutes before serving to get the full flavour.
Enjoy with the people you love.
Emma Jane x
Tea Cake with seasonal fruit
Ingredients
3/4 cup plain wholemeal flour
3/4 cup self raising flour
3/4 cup caster sugar
1 egg (at room temperature)
125gms melted butter
1 tspn vanilla extract
2400gms pear, apple plum, sour cherry diced
2 tblsp cinnamon sugar or vanilla sugar
METHOD
Pre-heat oven to 170-180C (150-160C fan-forced).
Line a 20cm spring form tin with baking paper .
Mix the two flours, sugar, melted butter, egg and vanilla in a bowl and combine thoroughly.
Press three quarters of the mixture into the base of your tin. It will be the consistency of sticky buttery cookie dough.
Scatter your fruit on top.
Then place small pieces of the remaining dough in a patchwork pattern over the fruit so that the fruit is not entirely covered.
Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar or vanilla sugar.
Bake for 40-50 minutes.
Allow the tea cake to cool before slicing as it will be very fragile.
*Based on a recipe by Not Quite Nigella
Italian Braised Short Ribs
Ingredients
3 Tbs. plain flour
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2.75 to 3 kg bone-in beef short ribs
1/4 cup olive oil
60 g pancetta, chopped
2 brown onions, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp. chili flakes
2 carrots, finely chopped
2 Tbs. tomato paste
1 Tbs. sugar
1 cup dry red wine
1 can (455 g) diced tomatoes
1 cup (250 ml) beef broth
1/4 cup (60 ml) balsamic vinegar
2 bay leaves
2 fresh rosemary sprigs
2 fresh thyme sprigs
1 Tbs. dried oregano
METHOD
Preheat an oven to 350°F (180°C).
On a plate, stir together the flour, 1 tsp. salt and 1/2 tsp. pepper. Turn the ribs in the seasoned flour, shaking off any excess.
In a large, heavy pot, over medium-high heat, warm the olive oil. Working in batches, sear the ribs, turning occasionally, until evenly browned, about 10 minutes per batch. Transfer to a plate.
Add the pancetta to the pot and sauté until mostly crisp, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the onions and sauté until beginning to soften, about 3 minutes.
Stir in the garlic and chili flakes and sauté until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the carrots, tomato paste and sugar and cook, stirring often, until well blended, about 1 minute. Add the wine, bring to a boil and stir to scrape up any browned bits on the pan bottom. Stir in the tomatoes and their juices, the broth and vinegar and bring to a boil.
Return the ribs to the pot with the tomato mixture. Add the bay leaves, rosemary and thyme sprigs, and oregano. Cover, transfer to the oven and cook until the ribs are very tender, about 2 hours.
Skim as much fat as possible from the cooking liquid and discard the bay leaves. Season with salt and pepper and serve.
Serves 6 to 8.
Adapted from Williams-Sonoma One Pot of the Day, by Kate McMillan (Weldon Owen, 2012)
Ingredients
1 knob of fresh ginger, you can peel it if you like
6 cloves of garlic
3 bulbs of fresh turmeric, you can peel it if you like
2 lemons, whole - skin and all
To serve
1 tablespoon of honey
Method
Place all ingredients into a blender or food processor and blend, pulsing at first and then blend on full.
Place into ice cube trays and freeze overnight.
If you can find silicon based ice cube trays they are best, as they are easier to remove once frozen. Once frozen transfer the ice cubes to a freezer safe container and place back in your freezer.
To make tea, place one ice cube into a cup of hot water and stir in a tablespoon of honey.
Immune boost ice cubes
Hot Toddy...purely medicinal
Ingredients
1 cup water
1 tea bag black or green tea, or 1 teaspoon loose leaf tea
1 tablespoon raw honey (try to fond a local beekeeper in your area and by directly from them)
30ml whiskey, brandy, bourbon or rum
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice, or to taste
Lemon slice, for garnish
Cinnamon stick, for garnish
Method
Heat the water in a kettle. Once warm, add a tea bag to your chosen glass and allow to steep for about 3 to 5 minutes or brew your favourite tea in a teapot and pour into your favourite glasses.
Stir in the honey and lemon juice until honey completely dissolves.
Add your choice of whiskey, brandy, bourbon or rum
Add a slice of lemon to each glass and stir with a cinnamon stick.
This is the tomato passata recipe based on the one from Cornersmith, that I do every year when we have a glut of tomatoes. We use it throughout the year on pizza bases, as a pasta sauce base and any other way I can think of using it! The recipe calls for roasting the tomatoes, which adds sweetness and a depth of flavour.
Ingredients
5kg ripe red tomatoes, washed, halved
500g onions, chopped
1 garlic bulb, cloves separated, peeled, bruised
1/2 cup (125ml) olive oil
1 bunch basil, leaves torn
method
Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease 2 baking trays and line with baking paper.
Spread tomatoes, onion and garlic evenly across prepared trays, then season with 1 tbs salt flakes and 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper. Divide oil evenly between trays and toss to combine.
Roast, swapping trays halfway, for 45 minutes or until tomatoes are blistered and onion has softened. Set aside to cool for 30 minutes, then stir through basil.
Place the roasted tomato, onion and garlic in a food processor and blitz to a smooth consistency. I leave the skin and seeds in. If you prefer to remove them - pass tomato mixture through a mouli or nylon sieve into a bowl and extract as much juice as possible. Reserve any remaining seeds and skins to make tomato conserva. (see recipe)
Sterilise bottles and lids and pour passata into hot jars. Tap jars on a work surface and run a clean knife around the inside to remove any air bubbles. Wipe the rim of the jars with paper towel and seal.
Line the base of a large stockpot (it should be deep enough to submerge the jars under water) with a tea towel and, working in batches if necessary, add jars, making sure they don’t touch the sides of the pot or one another.
Roughly matching the water temperature to the temperature of the jars (this prevents the jars breaking when the water is added), pour in enough water to completely cover the jars. Slowly bring to the boil over medium heat. Boil for 40 minutes, adding more boiling water when necessary so the jars are completely submerged at all times, or until the jar lids are puffed up and convex. Using a heatproof jug, carefully remove enough water from the pot to allow you to carefully remove jars from water using oven gloves or a thick tea towel. Set aside at room temperature overnight.
The next day, the jar lids should be concave, confirming they are vacuum sealed. If lids are not concave, passata should be stored chilled and used within 2 weeks. Sealed jars can be stored in a cool, dark place for up to 1 year.
Tomato Passata
Tomato Conserva - using seeds and skins from the Tomato Passata recipe
For the conserva bruschetta, preheat oven to 100°C. Grease a large baking tray and line with baking paper.
Spread tomato seeds and skin mixture over prepared tray and roast for 1 hour 45 minutes or until slightly charred around the edges.
Transfer roasted seeds and skin to a bowl and, using a stick blender, whiz until smooth, then tightly pack into a sterilised jar. Cover with a 1cm-deep layer of oil and store, chilled, for up to 1 month.
To make bruschetta, spread tomato conserva onto grilled sourdough and drizzle with extra oil. Scatter with chilli flakes, oregano and thyme to serve.
Cauliflower, Leek and Cheddar soup.
Ingredients
600 gm cauliflower (about 1 small), coarsely chopped
1 potato, coarsely chopped
1 leek, coarsely chopped
2 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
70 gm butter, diced
50 ml olive oil
1 tsp coarsely chopped thyme, plus extra to serve
Finely grated rind and juice of ½ lemon
500 ml chicken or vegetable stock (2 cups)
300 gm sour cream
60 gm cheddar, finely grated
Method
Process cauliflower, potato, leek and garlic in batches in a food processor until finely chopped.
Heat butter and oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat until butter foams, add cauliflower mixture, thyme and lemon rind, and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly caramelised (8-10 minutes).
Add stock and 250ml water, bring to the boil, season generously and simmer for 5-6 minutes.
Add sour cream, cheddar and lemon juice to taste, blend with a hand-held blender until smooth.
Serve scattered with freshly ground black pepper and extra thyme.
ANZAC Biscuits from the CWA
Ingredients
125 gms melted butter
1 tablespoon Golden syrup
2 tablespoons boiling water
1 teasppoon bicarb soda
100 gms (1 cup) rolled oats
90 gms (1 cup) desiccated coconut
220 gms raw sugar
150 gms (1 cup) plain flour
METHOD
Makes approximately 30 biscuits.
Pre-heat oven to 170-180C (150-160C fan-forced).
Line two oven trays with baking paper .
Pour flour, coconut, sugar and oats in bowl and combine thoroughly.
Melt the butter and Golden syrup in a saucepan.
In a little cup combine the boiling water and bicarb soda – mix well and add to the butter and syrup.
Stir well until combined and frothy and pour into the mixing bowl with the dry ingredients.
Mix well to combine.
Roll the mixture into walnut size balls and place on tray and flatten gently with fingertips or more firmly with fork if you want a crunchier biscuit.
Make sure you allow room between the biscuits for them to spread when cooking.
Cooking time: 15 - 20 mins for chewy biscuits or 20-25 minutes for crunchy biscuits.
Allow cooked biscuits to cool on tray for five minutes before using an egg slice to move them to the wire rack to finish cooling.
Biscuits can be stored in airtight container for several days but also freeze really well.
CWA
Ingredients
3 cups all purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
250 gms unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
4 large eggs
1 cup apple butter
1/2 cup milk
For the brown sugar buttercream
375 gms unsalted butter, room temperature
5 cups icing sugar, sifted
1/4 tsp salt
3 Tbsp molasses
4 Tbsp thickened cream
For the cake
Preheat oven to 180C and butter and line two 8-inch cake pans.
Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg and set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and 2 sugars together about 5 minutes, until very light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and beat well after each addition.
Add the apple butter and the milk, and mix briefly to combine.
Add the flour mixture, about 1/3 at a time, and mix briefly to combine but don't over mix.
Give the batter a final stir by hand to make sure there aren't any pockets of unmixed ingredients, and then divide the batter into the two prepared baking pans.
Bake for about 25-35 minutes until risen and a toothpick inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes in the pan before turning out on to a cooling rack to continue cooling. Allow the cake layers to cool completely before icing with brown sugar buttercream or dusting with icing sugar.
For the brown sugar buttercream (optional, also lovely just dusted with icing sugar).
In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, add the butter and salt and beat for a minute or so until very smooth.
Add the icing sugar, about a cup at a time, beating between each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to get everything fully incorporated.
Add the molasses and cream and continue to beat until everything is smooth and well mixed.
Note: if your icing seems a little too thick, add a touch more cream or molasses, but go slowly. If your icing is a little loose, blend in a little more sifted icing sugar.
Apple Butter Cake
Grilled Cos (or Baby Gem) lettuce with Anchovy and Rosemary dressing
Ingredients
8 baby cos or little gem lettuces, halved
olive oil
For the anchovy butter
80 gm butter, coarsely chopped
2 anchovy fillets, finely chopped
2 tbsp rosemary, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely grated
Finely grated rind and juice of 1 lemon
Method
Heat a chargrill pan or BBQ over medium heat.
Brush cos or baby gem with olive oil and grill cut-side down until charred (2-3 minutes). Turn and grill other side (2-3 minutes), then transfer to a large serving dish.
For anchovy butter dressing, stir butter, anchovies and rosemary in a small saucepan over medium heat until butter melts, season to taste, add remaining ingredients and stir to combine.
Drizzle warm dressing over lettuce and serve.
This works brilliantly with crispy skinned salmon.
Dandelion Flower Tea
Ingredients
1/2 Cup Dandelion Petals, loosely packed
1 Cup Boiling Water
Method
The green bits of the flower head are not poisonous by any means just bitter and less palatable overall.
This means cutting the entire head from the plant. Bring the flower heads inside and cut or pull the petals from the green base.
Be sure to rinse the petals in cool water to remove any dirt or insects.
You want about 1/2 cup, loosely packed, of dandelion petals for every cup of dandelion tea.
Place your petals into a tea ball and place into your tea cup.
Pour 200ml of boiling water over the tea ball and let steep for about 10 minutes.
Add some honey or your sweetener of choice, if desired and enjoy.
Make a large batch by infusing 2 cups of dandelion petals in one litre of boiling water. Let steep about 20 minutes and strain.
Refrigerate the dandelion tea and drink as desired. Use up within 3 days.
Pickled Rhubarb
Ingredients
1/2 kg rhubarb stalks, trimmed to fit easily into your jars
1 1/2 cups water
3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 tablespoon salt
Method
Sterilise a large jar by washing it in hot soapy water, rinsing and putting it in an oven heated to 160C/fan 140C for 10 minutes.
Tightly arrange rhubarb in resealable jars.
In a medium saucepan, bring water, vinegar, sugar and salt to boil.
Cook 1 to 2 minutes, stirring until sugar and salt is dissolved.
Pour water-vinegar mixture over rhubarb in jars, leaving about 1/2-inch headspace at top of each jar (there may be leftover water-vinegar mixture).
Seal your jars.
Chill 48 hours in refrigerator.
Store in fridge up to 1 month.
Zucchini and Cheese Fritters
Ingredients
1 large courgette (or two small-medium ones)
1 shallot, finely diced
1 clove garlic, crushed
3 heaped tbsps plain flour
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp baking powder
1 egg
40-50g Grana Padano or Manchego coarsely grated
salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tbsps olive oil
Method
Grate the courgette into a large bowl, sprinkle with salt, toss to mix and then leave for about 10 minutes.
Squeeze handfuls of the grated courgette to remove as much water as possible.
Add the diced shallot, crushed garlic, flour, fennel seeds, baking powder and egg and stir well to combine. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and add the cheese and stir again to mix through.
Heat a heavy based frying pan over medium heat, pour in the olive oil and heat until the oil is slightly shimmering. Place heaped tablespoons of the courgette mixture into the hot pan, flattening them to about 1 cm thickness with the back of the spoon.
Flip when the bottoms are golden brown and continue frying on the other side. Drain on kitchen paper when fully cooked.
This should make about 8 fritters in total.
Torta Caprese - flourless chocolate cake
Ingredients
170 gm unsalted butter, coarsely chopped
225 gm dark chocolate (55% cocoa solids), finely chopped
170 gm (¾ cup) caster sugar
110 gm (½ cup) brown sugar
6 eggs
130 gm almond meal
2 tbsp Dutch-process cocoa, sieved, plus extra for dusting
To serve: whipped mascarpone
METHOD
Preheat oven to 180C and line a 22cm-diameter springform cake tin with baking paper.
Combine butter and chocolate in a bowl, place over a saucepan of simmering water and stir until melted (2-3 minutes). Set aside.
Whisk sugar and eggs in an electric mixer until light and fluffy (3-4 minutes). Add almond meal and cocoa, fold to combine, then fold in chocolate.
Pour into tin and bake until cooked through (45-50 minutes). Cool in tin, then remove, dust with cocoa and serve with whipped mascarpone.
Whipped mascarpone: combine 300ml thickened cream and 250ml mascarpone and whip with a hand beater or in a stand mixer.
Pasta dough recipe (the kids will love this)
Ingredients
1 cup of flour (plain flour is fine but if you have Tipo 00 that is even better)
2 large eggs
water
METHOD
Place the flour on a board or in a bowl.
Make a low, wide well in the centre.
Crack the eggs into it.
Beat the eggs with a fork until smooth.
Using the tips of your fingers, mix the eggs with the flour, incorporating a little at a time, until everything is combined.
Knead the pieces of dough together – with a bit of work they’ll all bind together to give you one big, smooth lump of dough, if the dough is a little dry add some water. If it’s too wet add a little more flour.
Once you’ve made your dough you need to knead and work it with your hands to develop the gluten in the flour, otherwise your pasta will be flabby and soft when you cook it, instead of springy and al dente.
There’s no secret to kneading. You just have to bash the dough about a bit with your hands, squashing it into the table, reshaping it, pulling it, stretching it, squashing it again.
When your pasta starts to feel smooth and silky instead of rough and floury, it’s ready.
Wrap the dough in reusable plastic wrap and put it in the fridge to rest for at least 30 minutes.
All the mammas in Italy roll pasta with their trusty rolling pins When it comes to rolling, the main problem you'll have is getting the pasta thin enough to work with.
It's quite difficult to get a big lump of dough rolled out in one piece, and you need a very long rolling pin to do the job properly. The way around this is to roll lots of small pieces of pasta rather than a few big ones. You'll be rolling your pasta into a more circular shape than the long rectangular shapes you'll get from a machine.
Once you've rolled your pasta the way you want it, you need to shape or cut it straight away. Pasta dries much quicker than you think, so whatever recipe you're doing, don't leave it more than a minute or two before cutting or shaping it. You can lay over a damp clean tea towel which will stop it from drying out.
Dutch Oven Roast Chicken
(and Chicken noodle soup)
Hopefully I'm not alone here, but I very often go to put a chicken in the oven for dinner, only to realise that I have forgotten to thaw it.
But after about the 47th time this happened (a slight exaggeration) I knew I needed to figure something out. So I did some experimenting to figure out how to cook a frozen chicken.
This recipe works with either a fresh or frozen chicken. The long slow cooking makes for the most tender chicken and the broth left in the bottom of the pot makes the most delicious chicken noodle soup. (Recipe below).
Ingredients
1 large whole chicken, yes it can be frozen
1 large onion
3-4 carrots (I have used purple carrots here)
2-3 celery ribs (I didn’t have any celery today so I left it out)
4-5 garlic cloves
herbs from the garden - sage, thyme and rosemary
salt, pepper and olive oil, to taste
METHOD
Preheat your oven to 160°C
Take your frozen chicken and run it under hot water. Normally this is a no-no when dealing with chicken, but you will only be doing this long enough for the packaging to give way. If your chicken is not plastic wrapped, then skip this step.
Dry your chicken skin with paper towel.
Slice the onion and cut the carrots and celery ribs into 2 to 3 cm pieces. Smash the garlic cloves with the side of a knife.
Don't bother peeling the vegetables, and if you don’t have a specific vegetable switch it out for something else. Lemon is delicious, I mostly only use onion, garlic and carrots as my family love the slow roasted carrots from the bottom of the pan.
Sprinkle a little bit of salt and pepper in the chicken's cavity, then stuff it with the onions, about half the carrots, celery and garlic.
Arrange the rest of the carrots, celery and garlic at the bottom of your dutch oven. Place your chicken over those vegetables and then sprinkle it generously with more salt, pepper and drizzle with olive oil.
Add half a cup of water to the bottom of the pan.
Put the lid on and place your chicken in the oven for 4 to 5 hours, basting it every hour or so, until it's fall-off-the-bone tender and displays a nice golden skin.
My family love the slow cooked vegetables, particularly the carrots from the bottom of the pot, so serve them up with your chicken if you would like.
If you would like to make Chicken noodle soup the next day, reserve the broth, bones, vegetables and left over chicken and refrigerate.
Chicken noodle soup
Ingredients
reserved broth, bones, vegetables and left over chicken
1.5 ltrs water
pasta or noodles of your choice
carrots or corn kernels (or whatever vegetables your family likes to eat)
salt and pepper
METHOD
Pick and shred your leftover chicken and set aside.
With your reserved broth, bones, vegetables in your pot add the water (ensure that everything is covered) and simmer for half an hour, at the twenty five minute mark, turn the soup off and strain it through a sieve, press the bones and vegetables firmly in the bottom of the sieve to extract as much liquid as possible.
Add your vegetables of choice and your shredded chicken to the soup and heat on medium for 8 minutes or until the chicken is heated through and your vegetables are cooked to your liking.
In a seperate pot boil water and cook your pasta or noodles according to the packet.
When the pasta or noodles are cooked at them to the soup.
Season to taste.
I usually serve the soup with bread and butter.
The best Banana Cake
Ingredients
150g butter, softened
1 1/2 cups caster sugar (raw caster sugar is lovely too)
11/2 very full cups of very ripe, mashed banana
1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste
2 large eggs
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp lemon juice
1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
1/2 teaspoon bi-carb soda
This is a brilliant way to use up old bananas (but new ones work well too), my ideal banana situation would be that you left your bananas out until they were almost black then froze them and defrosted them the day before you were going to bake. But that is an ideal and reality is a very different beast. If you are using fresh bananas make sure you wiz them up well before adding the rest of the ingredients.
METHOD
Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius.
Grease with butter the side and base of a 20cm round cake tin (or two 14cm round cake tins). Line the base with greaseproof paper and butter the top of the paper.
In a bowl or food processor place the butter, sugar, banana, eggs and vanilla. Blend or process for 2 minutes. If you own a food processor or blender, you can prepare the cake in that or you can prepare it in a bowl and blend with a stick blender. I also make the cake in my Kitchen Aid with the scrape-a-bowl attachment and it works perfectly.
Add milk and lemon, and blend until combined.
Add flour and bicarb soda. Blend or process until just combined. The batter should be light and airy. Pour batter into your tin.
Place into your oven and bake for 50-60 minutes (30-40 mins for two 14cm tins). Leave to cool on a wire rack.
CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
250g cream cheese, at room temperature
45g butter, softened
300g icing sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste
Using the beater attachment of your stand mixer blend all the ingredients together for 3 minutes until light and fluffy.
I usually serve the cake with toasted coconut shards and dried pineapple rings.
Apple Tarte Tatin
Ingredients
65 gm caster sugar
40 gm butter, coarsely chopped
2 Granny Smith apples, cored and quartered
375 gm sheet (Carême is great cheat) puff pastry, cut to a 23cm round
Preheat oven to 190C. Scatter sugar over the base of a 20cm-diameter cast-iron or heavy-based stainless-steel frying pan.
Cook over high heat until sugar begins to dissolve and caramelise around the edges (1-2 minutes), then swirl pan occasionally (do not stir) until sugar is caramelised (1-2 minutes).
Add butter and swirl to combine (20-30 seconds).
Turn off heat, arrange apples over caramel.
Cover with puff pastry, then quickly tuck edges into side of pan with a spoon.
Score 2-3 times in the centre for steam to escape. Transfer to oven and bake until pastry is dark golden and puffed (20-25 minutes).
Remove from oven, stand for 2 minutes, place a plate on top and shake to loosen tart. Working quickly and very carefully, protecting yourself from the hot handle and the hot caramel, invert tart onto plate. Cut into pieces and serve hot with vanilla ice cream.
Above is my favourite Apple Tarte Tatin recipe when cooking a whole tart.
For something unique try this recipe based on Fleet’s individual fruit Tarte Tatin.
Individual Apple Tarte Tatin with vanilla and lemon thyme
Ingredients
50 gm unsalted butter, at room temperature
150 gm caster sugar
2 sheets butter puff pastry (Careme is a great cheat), each cut into 6 squares
6 apples, halved and cored
12 lemon thyme sprigs, plus extra to serve
3 vanilla beans, split lengthways, then halved
Juice of 2 lemons
Preheat oven to 180°C.
Divide butter and sugar between 2 large ovenproof frying pans, rubbing together with fingers until combined.
Wrap puff pastry squares around the round sides of apple halves, tucking excess into the holes in the centre, then place cut-side down on top of butter mixture in pans, tucking a sprig of thyme and a piece of vanilla underneath each.
Add a splash of water to the base of each pan – this will create a delicious caramel to spoon over while baking.
Heat pans over medium heat until liquid starts to boil, then reduce heat to medium and cook until liquid just starts to turn golden (3-4 minutes).
Transfer pans to oven and bake, basting occasionally, until pastry is dark golden (22-25 minutes).
Cool briefly, then serve, cut-side up, topped with a sprig of thyme and thickened cream.