Alfajores de Maizena

Chocolate & Banana Cake

Hot Cross Buns

Traditional Easter buns.

Apple & Mascarpone Muffins

The use of mascarpone in this recipe is a bit of a revelation, to me at least. You’d think adding any kind of cream cheese to batter would make it heavy and dense, but the opposite is the case here. The mascarpone causes the cupcakes to become extremely soft and light and crumbly. Whipping the egg whites separately before adding them makes the cakes even more airy and wonderful. These are the kind of cupcakes that make a fantastic dessert, but can just as well be eaten for breakfast seeing as they’re not sickly sweet.

1 large apple
100 grams of flour
150 grams of mascarpone
40 grams of butter, melted
5 tablespoons of (vanilla) sugar
2 eggs
5 grams of baking powder
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
½ teaspoon of cardamom
a pinch of salt

First cut the apple into small cubes and set aside. Separate the eggs and beat the whites, with a pinch of salt until white and fairly stiff, don’t beat it to within an inch of its life though, you don’t want it too dry. Set those aside too.

Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and spices. Add the egg yolks, butter and mascarpone. Give this a stir. It will probably offer quite a bit of resistance, but don’t give way! A little hand cramp is but a small price to pay. Once its combined add the apple and a small scoop of the egg whites. This should make the stirring much easier. Gradually add the rest of the whites, folding them in delicately (but not timidly). The mixture has to be thoroughly combined.
Spoon into a muffin pan either greased or lined with paper muffin cups. They won’t rise a crazy amount, so filling the forms about two thirds of the way will be fine. Bake in a preheated oven, 180 degrees, for about 25 minutes. They should be golden brown and an inserted strand of uncooked spaghetti should come out clean.
Commence swooning.

"Donut" Peaches

Lemony Cupcakes

These are basic cupcakes with some lemon zest and juice added. They’re great as they are, but it’s the icing that really sets them apart. Slightly sweet, slightly tart, slightly clinging to the roof of your mouth… Good stuff.

So that’s 200 grams selfraising flour/200 grams butter/200 grams sugar/3 eggs/1 heaped teaspoon baking powder. Simply combine this in a food processor, leaving you with a sticky batter. Add zest of 1 lemon and 2 tablespoons of juice.
Bake in a pre-heated oven, 190 degrees, for 15 to 20 minutes, until risen and golden.

For the icing: combine 250 grams of icing sugar with a tiny pinch of salt. Add two tablespoons of lemon juice and stir with a whisk. At first nothing happens. Then it becomes a mess. Then in becomes a thick paste, that’s the moment you start to worry. But never fear! All of a sudden Something happens, call it a chemical reaction, call it magic, call it what you will, but behold! Suddenly it’s silky smooth, halfway between a liquid and a solid and whiter than freshly fallen snow. A white that is dull and glossy at the same time. It’s awesome. Dollop this on top of the cakes and allow to set.

Pizza

Basic pizza dough:
250 grams flour
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon dried yeast
125-145 millilitre warm water
2 tablespoons olive oil

Mix the flour with the salt and yeast and make a well in the centre. Add the oil and a slosh of the water, be prepared to add more. Start combining and kneading with your hands. It will start off a shaggy mess, but keep going, it will come together. You want it to feel extremely soft and slightly moist, but not sticky.
Knead on a floured surface for about ten minutes. Form into a ball and place in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with cling film. My trick is to place that bowl in a one size larger bowl with a layer of hot water in it. When using dried yeast, you really need that boost of heat to get it going. Leave for about an hour or until doubled in size. Remover from the bowl and work it with your hands. It should be incredibly smooth and elastic and you should easily be able to form it into a circle as think or thin as you want it.

Classic Pumpkin Pie

Imagine yourself in a roadside diner with red booths and waitresses called Wilma and Gertie.
This is pure Americana.

Ragù alla Bolognese

This Bolognese is the Original, the Definitive, the Ultimate... It's just really really awesome. Using only the bare essentials and a few wise words from the great Antonio Carluccio, this sauce is little effort & great reward.

Fry beef and pork mince (half and half) in some butter until brown. Add chopped onion and garlic and season generously. Once the onion is translucent, add a glass of white wine (if you don't feel like opening a bottle for just a glass, use white vermouth, which I always keep beside the stove for such occasions). Stir in a few tablespoons of tomato paste and a bottle of sieved tomatoes (feel free to haughtily call this "Passata di Pomodoro", I always do). Bring to a boil and move to the lowest flame you've got. Leave to simmer gently for three hours. No, really.
Stir occasionally and finally add some dried oregano, if you feel like it.

Now for a major revalation: originally Bolognese is supposed to be eaten with fresh tagliatelle, not spaghetti. I know! End of the world, right? But it actually makes sense; this is such a thick, strong, dense sauce that only the broad strands of tagliatelle can really stand up to it. Now, the pasta doesn't necessarily need to be made fresh, I'm a great fan of dried pasta and could not imagine my life without it. But just do me a favour and use tagliatelle. It may sound wrong, but it's oh so very right.

Insert joke about getting caught in the rain [ here ]

Piña Colada Cake

Whisk together 250 gr of flour, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, 3/4 teaspoon bicarb and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.
In another bowl cream 115 gr of soft butter with 55 gr of light brown sugar. When pale and fluffy, beat in two eggs, one at a time. Add 240 ml cream of coconut (which is different from coconut milk!) and a generous tablespoon of dark rum.
Whisk in the dry ingredients (gradually) and stop whisking as soon as the flour is incorporated. Using a spatula, stir in 90 gr of finely chopped fresh pineapple. Spread batter evenly in a prepared 24 cm spring form and bake for 35 - 40 minutes in a 180 C oven, until a skewer (use a piece of uncooked spaghetti!) inserted in the centre comes out clean.
Let it cool, then using that same piece of spaghetti, prick little holes in the cake and drizzle over some more (a tablespoon or two) pineapple juice, or rum... or both.

Make some icing by whisking together 100 gr of icing sugar with a pinch of salt and 2 tablespoons of pineapple juice and spread this over the cake. Allow the icing to set, if you can, and consume with inappropriate relish. This really is something else.