Category: No Refined Sugar

Sticky chocolate orange cake

have your cake….

This simple little cake is big on pleasure and has the texture of a French “moelleux au chocolat” but instead of butter ricotta creates the smoothness. I took my lead from an Italian nonna classic: “torta di ricotta e cioccolato senza farina” and tweaked it just a little.

The enjoyment starts with the childish pleasure of  melting chocolate in a bowl over hot water, the conjuring up of the magic that is meringue, the pop of pungent  orange oil on the grater,  the crunch of the toasted pistachios and then the kitchen filled with the overpowering aroma of chocolate and orange, so strong that for a few moments the world is softer, brighter, happier.

This little cake is winter comfort eaten warm with vanilla custard,  a pick-me-up breakfast with a cappuccino or an elegant dessert with some fruit and mascarpone. Choose your favourite and make this clever treat a firm (but squidgy) kitchen friend!

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Cherry Negroni soft set jam

take one part VBF (Very Best Friend), one part FCB (Favourite Cocktail Bar – and I have one downtown Bucharest replete with home-made syrups, fresh herbs and burly bartenders) , add two Negronis and mix gently with the latest gossip – Voila! “Negroni Night”!

Cherry Negroni jam may just be the pick-me-up you need after such a soirée; spread on toast and butter with a restorative coffee it is just perfect.

Ingredients for 5-6 200ml jars

  • 1.0kgs de-stoned sour cherries ( buy 1.2 kgs)
  • 300g thinly sliced oranges (approx 1 large orange) A food processor is useful for this
  • 450ml water to boil the orange slices in
  • 1 .0 kg fructose (regular sugar also works fine)
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 200ml bitters/ vermouth such as Cinzano Rosso or Ramazotti

How To

  • The night before, macerate the cherries in the fructose and refrigerate. A minimum of 8 hours is good. If time is short then bring to a low boil and switch the heat off – leave to macerate 2 hours. This allows the sugar to permeate the fruit and prevent “floating fruit” in the finished jam.
  • Boil the orange slices in the water with the lid on (you need that cooking liquid)
  • Day two: Combine all ingredients in your jam pan and bring the fruit to a boil starting at a low heat first.
  • Large bubble stage: Boil at a medium heat – the fructose has a lower melting point than regular sugar so it can burn on the bottom of the pan. At first it will froth and the pectin will create a scum – skim off as much of the scum as you can. Let it boil away because magical things are happening as well as some evaporation of liquids. Approx 30-40 mins
  • Small bubble stage: Boil at the highest heat until the bubbles are smaller and the jam has changed in appearance and looks “glassy” (in fact its refractive index has changed! as has it’s moisture content) Approx 10-15 mins
  • Test the jam for a soft set: on a plate in the freezer – remember this is a soft set jam.. If you have a jam thermometer , the jam should reach 102C (104-105C for a hard set)
  • Now add the bitters and turn down to the lowest setting. Cook for 2-3 minutes just so any harshness from the alcohol disappears.
  • Pot it into hot jars sterilised in a solution of bicarbonate of soda, the lids too.
  • Turn the jars upside down to sterilise the airspace or water bath them or process them in your dishwasher on the hottest setting – as you prefer.

Soft set Apricot, lime and vanilla jam


I grew up of course with very rigid jam making rules and chasing the holy grail of a “perfect set” jam every time. And certainly a solid “set” jam has it’s advantages not sliding off that carefully buttered slice of toast. Now I like to “follow the fruit” and let it gel the way it wants, just naturally and according to how much pectin it contains.

This makes for more soft set dribbly jams – in the style of Turkish or Transilvanian jam making – but retains the true flavour of the fruit far better.

Being somewhere between a classic jam and a “compote” they lend themselves to all manner of culinary uses and are perhaps more suited to how we eat today? Use them to dribble over granola and yoghurt , over plainer cakes and best of all…spoon over porridge!

And the best thing of all? It is far far easier to make this kind of jam and makes for a relaxed jam making session without frantic setting tests and jam thermometers and all that paraphernalia.

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