Pistachio and Lime Cake

Hello again! I thought it was about time I shared another recipe, because it has been OVER A YEAR since I last blogged!! How has that happened?! Time flies...! It's been a busy year though: moving to London and training to be a Speech and Language Therapist has meant that blogging has not been my top priority. Of course, those of you that know me will know that I have not stopped baking - it would take a lot for that to happen...but London life can be a little hectic and I don't seem to have a lot of free time at the moment. Not that I'm complaining...I love being busy! Anyway, a couple of weeks ago I finished for summer, so I might have a little more time to bake and blog over the next couple of months.... We'll see! I'm promising nothing...!

The cake I'm sharing with you today comes from the lovely Kate over at The Little Loaf. I can't remember when I first came across Kate's blog, but I was instantly hooked and have been following it ever since. I want to make EVERYTHING she posts and when she announced she was publishing a book full of her fabulous recipes I knew I had to buy it as soon as it came out. So I did exactly that and I would urge any other baking fans out there to do the same! It's called Homemade Memories and contains the most delicious bakes all photographed so beautifully - when I got it I didn't know where to start...! Gradually, I WILL make my way through it. So far I've made the mini milk lollies (when it was a bit more summery than today!), the nectarine upside down cake and now this divine pistachio and lime cake. Which was actually meant to be a loaf, but I improvised and used a square baking tin due to my limited equipment!! And actually, it meant it didn't need to bake for quite as long, which is always a bonus, as it means less time to wait until you get to eat what you've made! 

If I make this again though, I will endeavour to buy shelled pistachios, because 65g of pistachios means A LOT of shelling and I ended up with shells and pistachios all over the kitchen and a broken nail. Not that I'm complaining...it was definitely worth it, but it was very fiddly! A wise owl has since told me though that using another shell to de-shell is the way forward, which would hopefully limit any future nail injuries!! 

I was saying to a friend today, when I was younger I would have always thought that chocolate cake was my favourite, but really a cake with fruit in is a hands down winner in my eyes. Banana, carrot, blueberry, raspberry, pear...I could go on - whatever the fruit, put it in a cake and it's bound to work out! The fruit makes it extra moist and kind of makes you think you're eating something a little bit healthier (although I'm 99% certain it's not!). This cake is really a variation on the lemon drizzle - but perhaps a little more sophisticated and a little zingier (is that a word?!).  Actually, I've decided in fact that this cake may have beaten the lemon drizzle. Limes seem to have a much stronger flavour than lemons and the pistachios not only add a deeper flavour, but they give it a beautiful colour too. My Grannie's lemon drizzle cake is a regular request in the Goodhand family, but if I request one any time soon, I might point her in the direction of The Little Loaf and ask her to use limes instead...! 

Pistachio and Lime Cake (barely adapted from The Little Loaf's Homemade Memories)  

Ingredients:

For the Cake:

60g Shelled Pistachios

180g Self-raising Flour

Pinch Salt

175g Softened Butter

175g Caster Sugar

Finely Grated Zest of 3 Limes

3 Eggs, lightly beaten

1-2tbsp Milk

For the Glaze:

65g Dried Apricots, roughly chopped

2tbsp Honey

Juice of 3 Limes

30g Pistachios, roughly chopped

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 150 degrees (fan, 170 degrees without fan).
2. Grease a square baking tin and line with baking paper.
3. Put the shelled nuts in a food processor and blitz to a fine powder. 
4. Place in bowl and stir in flour and salt.
5. Cream together butter and sugar in separate bowl.
6. Add lime zest and cream until pale and fluffy.
7. Gradually beat in eggs with a bit of flour mixture with each addition.
8. Fold in remaining flour mixture until just combined.
9. Fold in the milk until it drops gently off spoon (you might not need to use it all).
10. Put batter in tin and smooth top.
11. Bake for 30-40 mins until risen, golden and firm to touch (a skewer inserted should come out fairly clean).
12. Remove from oven and leave to cool in tin for 10 mins,
13. Make syrup by combining apricots, honey and lime juice in a saucepan. 
14. Bring to a simmer then cook for 3-4 mins until apricots have softened and mixture is syrupy.
15. Stir in pistachios.
16. Transfer cake to wire rack.
17. Poke holes in top (not all the way through) and pour over the warm syrup.
18. Make sure pistachios and apricots are evenly distributed.
19. Leave to cool and cut into 12 pieces.

A breakfast crumble with a secret ingredient...

I can't seem to stay away from breakfast recipes at the moment, but this one has to be my favourite yet! It tastes so good that I'd even go as far to say I'd have it as a dessert. In fact, if I had to live on only this for the rest of my life I'd be quite happy with that. But what is it I hear you ask? Well, I'm going to call it a sweet potato breakfast crumble. And yes I did just say sweet potato. For breakfast. Now this may sound a little strange, but please, give it a chance, because it really does taste incredible! Just look at it...my mouth's watering just thinking about it!

Bascially, I had some leftover sweet potato and I've always wondered what it would be like in a sweet recipe. Usually, I just bung it in a Thai curry or roast it with various other veg for dinner, but I wanted to try something a little different. When I came across this recipe I just had to give it a go! Now I am a massive fan of crumbles (served with copious amounts of custard, of course!), so seeing this recipe made me quite excited! And oh my gosh was I happy with the result! I made it the night before (but didn't put the topping on til the morning), so all I had to do was put it in the oven when I woke up. And what a wonderful start to the morning it was. The filling was deliciously sweet and creamy with a beautiful cinnamon flavour, whilst the topping had the perfect crunchy bite to it. Have it straight from the oven and you will understand what I mean when I say I could eat it forever! Full of fruit (definitely at least one of your five-a-day) and nourishing enough to last you til lunchtime (it kept me going through a good 30 minutes of swimming!), this certainly is a breakfast worth waking up for! 

Sweet Potato Breakfast Crumble    makes 3 servings

Ingredients:

Filling:

1/2 Cup Porridge Oats

1/2 Cup Coconut Milk 

1/2 Cup Milk (plus extra if needed)

1 Small Sweet Potato

1 Large Ripe Banana

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

1 tsp Cinnamon

2 tsp Runny Honey

4 tbsp Raisins

Topping:

1/3 Cup Chopped Walnuts

2 tbsp Butter

2 tbsp Plain Flour

1/2 Cup Brown Sugar

Method: 

1.  Peel and chop the sweet potato and boil for about 5 minutes until tender.
2. Drain and set aside.
3. Put the oats and milk into a pan.
4. Whisk and bring to the boil.
5. Turn down the heat and cook for about 5-7 minutes, stirring regularly. If it gets too dry, you may need to add more milk.
6. Add the sweet potato and banana to the porridge and mash until there are just some larger chunks.
7. Add the vanilla extract, cinnamon and honey and cook for a few more minutes.
8. To make the topping mix all the ingredients together with a fork until they are combined.
9. Put the porridge mixture in a large ovenproof dish and spread out evenly.
10. Sprinkle the raisins on top.
11. Put the topping on and cook for about 20 minutes, until the topping is golden.
12. Remove from the oven and enjoy!

   

A sweet burst of energy to start your morning...try these Banana and Honey Muffins

There are two reasons why I decided to make these yummy muffins:

i) I've just bought these cute little silicone cake cases on a recent excursion to Ikea and I couldn't wait to try them out. Just look at them, how could anyone resist?

ii) I LOVE breakfast! But cereal everyday gets a bit boring after a while and I wanted to experiment with something different. If you make these muffins in advance, you can just heat them up in the microwave in seconds..and voilà, a quick (fairly) nutritious breakfast that fills you up. A perfect start to the day in my opinion!

Another great thing about these is that they're not dry at all. Perhaps it was the honey addition which made them more gooey than usual, but whatever it was, they have just the right texture you want from a muffin. I also added a drizzle of extra honey on them just before serving. Pop it in the microwave for about 30 seconds and then the honey will soak into the muffin, giving you that extra burst of sweetness you need in the morning. They're only small (and I tend to be quite a hungry person when I first wake up!), so have two. You can make yourself feel less guilty by telling yourself that they're healthy - I mean, they have banana in them! Of course, I had the usual problem with the oven (I'm sorry, this is getting boring now, but it's just SO frustrating). Normally, muffins take about 20 minutes to cook, but realistically, with my extremely outdated oven, they had to be in for about 45 minutes. What I thought was going to be a quick bake stretched out into the night - who needs to go out partying when you can stay in and bake all night?! Their smell and beautiful taste afterwards made it all worth it though...who says that these breakfast muffins have to be eaten for breakfast? They taste just as good (if not better) straight from the oven at 11.30pm at night. Just keep reminding yourself they're healthy and you won't feel so bad when they're gone in days!

Banana and Honey Breakfast Muffins makes 12

Ingredients:

225g Self Raising Flour
125g Butter
100g Caster Sugar 
1 Egg, beaten
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
300ml Milk
1 Banana (mashed)
1 1/2 tbsp Runny Honey (plus extra for drizzling when serving)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Line cake tray with cases or grease individual silicone ones.
2. Cream together butter and sugar.
3. Beat in the egg.
4. Add flour, baking powder, cinnamon, milk and honey. Stir gently until all ingredients are combined.
5. Stir in mashed banana, but be careful to not over stir.
6. Spoon into cases, so they're about 2/3 full.
7. Bake in the oven for about 15 to 20 minutes. A knife should come out clean when inserted into one of the muffins. 
8. Enjoy...straight out of the oven as a late night snack or a burst of energy in the morning!