Get baking
Fresh from the festival circuit, I’m proud to present three wonderful recipes with which I’ve been wowing audiences in Torquay and Dartmouth.
OLD-FASHIONED SEED CAKE
Seed cake was hugely popular throughout the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries, but has been more or less forgotten. I can think of several reasons for this. Although reputed to freshen the breath and aid digestion, caraway seeds – which give the cake its aniseed flavour - are not to everyone’s taste. Also, it’s a simple cake, and as more exciting ingredients became available and affordable – chocolate and nuts, not least – it must have seemed rather dull.
I suspect it wasn’t always very well made, or particularly fresh: the sort of thing that would languish in a tin and be brought out for unimportant guests. The very name sounds a bit dry, as if it’s something for parrots and budgies to peck at.
My version is, by contrast, full of good things: a buttery madeira cake, flavoured generously with lemon zest and caraway seeds, topped with demerara sugar and flaked almonds. It’s time this cake made a comeback – let’s spread the word.
Photograph by Janet Brinkworth at the Dartmouth Food Festival.
Cuts into 8-10 slices
To prepare – half an hour
To bake – about 50 minutes
You will need a 2lb/900g loaf tin, buttered and base-lined with baking parchment
Can be frozen
INGREDIENTS
175g softened butter
175g golden caster sugar
grated zest of 1 lemon
3 eggs, beaten with a few drops of vanilla extract
200g self-raising flour
50g ground almonds
3-4 teaspoons caraway seeds
3-4 tablespoons milk, as necessary
FOR THE TOPPING
1 heaped tablespoon flaked almonds
1 heaped tablespoon demerara sugar
1 Beat butter, caster sugar and lemon zest till fluffy. Gradually beat in the egg-vanilla mixture. Fold in the flour, ground almonds and seeds, then add enough milk to make a soft dropping consistency and transfer to the tin.
2 Smooth the top and sprinkle evenly with the flaked almonds and demerara.
3 Bake at 180C/160 fan for 45-50 minutes, till risen and golden and a toothpick inserted into the centre emerges clean, not sticky.
4 Allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes then turn out and cool completely before serving in slices.
DELICIOUS DEATH
For the 120th anniversary of Agatha Christie’s birth, an official recipe for Delicious Death, the rich chocolate and raisin cake made by Mitzi in A Murder Is Announced (1950), was commissioned from Jane Asher; you’ll find the recipe here, in all its magnificence, topped with edible gold leaf and crystallised flower petals: https://www.scribd.com/document/37472244.
This is my own version, considerably simpler, and adapted (with her permission) from The Ultimate Cookbook by Angela Nilsen. In case you don’t know it, this book is a cult classic from 2007, and if you’re lucky you can pick a copy up second-hand. I swear you’ll want to make every recipe in it.
Photograph by Appleton Event Photography at the International Agatha Christie Festival.
Cuts into 12 or 14 slices
Start a day or two ahead
To prepare – an hour
To bake – about an hour and a half
You will need a deep 20cm cake tin, buttered and base lined with baking parchment
Cake can be frozen (without icing)
INGREDIENTS
FOR THE CAKE
50ml brandy, plus a little more if necessary
150g raisins
200g dark chocolate or chocolate drops, about 60% cocoa solids
200g butter
1 tablespoon instant coffee granules, dissolved in 100ml cold water
170g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
200g light muscovado sugar
200g golden caster sugar
25g cocoa powder
3 eggs
75ml buttermilk
grated chocolate, or chocolate curls, to decorate
FOR THE GANACHE
200g dark chocolate, or chocolate drops
300ml double cream (not extra thick)
2 tablespoons caster sugar
1 Warm the brandy till hand-hot, pour over the raisins and cover. Leave to steep for 24-48 hours, shaking occasionally. If the raisins absorb all the brandy, add another splash.
2 Melt 200g chocolate with 200g butter and the coffee mixture in the microwave or a pan, stirring till smooth, and allow to cool slightly.
3 Put the flour, baking powder, bicarb, muscovado, caster sugar and cocoa powder into a large bowl and use your fingertips to break up any lumps in the sugar and cocoa.
4 Beat the eggs with the buttermilk.
5 Add the cooled chocolate mixture and the egg mixture to the flour mixture along with the raisins and any remaining soaking liquid. Stir till just combined, aiming for a smooth, quite runny consistency. Pour into the prepared tin.
6 Bake at 160C/140C fan for 1 hour 25-30 minutes, till firm to the touch, a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean and the cake has started to shrink from the sides. Leave to cool in the tin for 15 minutes – don’t worry if it cracks or sinks slightly – then turn out onto a rack and cool completely.
7 When the cake is cold, cut it horizontally into three layers, selecting the neatest for the top.
8 Make the ganache: chop the chocolate and put in a bowl. Bring the cream and sugar just to the boil and pour over the chocolate, then stir till smooth. Leave at room temperature till beginning to thicken – 45-60 minutes (you can speed this up by putting in the fridge, stirring occasionally).
9 Sandwich the cake layers together with a little ganache, then spread the rest over the top and allow it to fall down the sides, smoothing with a palette knife. Sprinkle with grated chocolate or curls to finish.
FORGOTTEN COOKIES
This recipe was shared many years ago by my Bostonian friend David Oppedisano. It remains my favourite cookie recipe, not just because they are featherlight and delicious but because of the super-easy baking technique… which is one of the very, very few occasions when you absolutely must preheat your oven.
Photograph by Janet Brinkworth at the Dartmouth Food Festival.
Makes about 30 cookies
To prepare – 15 minutes
Bake overnight (in switched-off oven)
You will need two baking sheets, lined with baking paper or foil
Cookies keep for a week in a plastic box
INGREDIENTS
2 egg whites
pinch of salt
120g golden caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or paste
120g walnuts or pecans, chopped
150g plain chocolate drops (about 70% cocoa solids) or dark chocolate, chopped
1 Preheat your oven thoroughly to 180C; if using a fan oven, same temperature - because you won’t be getting any benefit from the fan.
2 Whisk the egg whites with the salt until beginning to stiffen, then continue to whisk, gradually adding the sugar, until stiff, shiny and glossy.
3 Fold in the vanilla, walnuts and chocolate and spoon onto the baking sheets using a dessert spoon.
4 Place in the hot oven and turn it off. Leave overnight. In the morning, remove the cookies carefully using a small spatula and serve, or transfer to a plastic box. They will be softly crunchy – and utterly irresistible.
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