This is a cake inspired by the Italian teacake “Ciambellone” which is made with yoghurt,mascarpone and olive oil and so I used what was to hand and good: lush sour cream and sunflower oil. The beauty of this cake lies in its audacious simplicity: a few local ingredients mixed with a fork together in one bowl; no special equipment or elbow grease needed. If you ever need a cake in a hurry, this may be it.
I give two quantities – 4 eggs if you want to go for the “Ta da” bundt tin number, or two eggs for a standard sandwich tin or loaf tin.
In the cake pictured I used half plain flour and half wholemeal flour – no reason only that I had forgotten to buy white flour!
Purple is the new green/ green is the new purple… something like that…
Ingredients
Pesto recipes are always “to taste” – use a little bit of what you have and work around how pungent the herbs are and what you have in the kitchen. Here is what I did with this really strong, sunny number:
2 large bunches of purple basil, leaves carefully wiped with a damp cloth
200g sunflower seeds (I often use sunflower seeds in pesto as a perfectly good healthy alternative to pine nuts and considerably cheaper)
100g parmesan
200ml extra virgin olive oil
3 fat cloves of garlic
The zest of half a lemon pared
How To
Blend the ingredients all together in a blender into a thick paste. I like to still retain some texture – a little bit like “crunchy” peanut butter.
The uses for pesto are almost too numerous to list but start with the obvious: pasta and gnocchi and then think crusts on chicken and fish and then spread on crackers and fresh bread….
stale bread and croissants get the “ooh-la-la” treatment
This recipe has the double smarts. First to use up left over bread, croissants and wrinkly fruit and second to create a tart without the bother of making pastry. For when you butter the bread and press it outwards in and up the tin it creates a delicious crisp crust. Finally it gets zazzed up by a large slosh of Amaretto .”Voila” – something out of nothing magic.
Ingredients & Gizmos
The quantities are “approximate” – leftovers are. Here is what we had and what worked in a 23cm spring cake form. Allow for tidbits for the helper.
Softened butter – I probably used a generous 100g
Half a stale baguette, 3 croissants, 1 pain aux raisins
2 eggs
500- 750ml creme legere plus some Greek yogurt (I might not use the yoghurt again as a tad too acidic and prone to curdling) or milk
3 tbsp sugar
Quite a lot of apricots and nectarines just past their “eat fresh” days
Generous slug of Amaretto (optional – almond essence would also work)
sugar for dusting
Chopped almonds
How To
Break the bread and croissant into chunks and butter pieces individually
Place each piece butter side down in the tin, smearing the butter around the tin as you go so as to create a lined tin. Pack the pieces in quite tightly. Now fill with a second layer so the tin is roughly 2/3 full
Annoint the bread ensemble with the Amaretto as if making a sherry trifle
In a bowl loosely mix the eggs together with the cream or milk and sugar. Pour 2/3 of the custard mixture over the bread and allow it to soak it up.
Halve the apricots and nectarines and build up a circle starting with the outer circle of apricot pieces on top of the bread. Make a second and central circle until covered.
Pour over the remaining custard mixture
Bake at 180C for 35-45 minutes until the fruit is softly baked and the crust is golden
Sprinkle a little sugar over when warm and the chopped almonds
Serve warm with creme fraiche, a dreamy garden and a best mate.
