Perfect for an apricot tart … or any other sort of fruit tart. Bake blind, add a layer of crème patissière if you want, and then top with fruit of your choice, arranged in a nice pattern and glazed with redcurrant jelly or sieved apricot jam.
Category: Baking
Yoghurt cake
I’m always looking for ways of using up home-made yoghurt so it doesn’t linger in the fridge too long. This cake is a well-known one in France, especially as something that’s easy for children to make (no weighing involved). You measure everything in a yoghurt pot; unfortunately the recipe didn’t specify what size a yoghurt pot is, and since I make my own I didn’t have any to hand. However, I decided it was about 100 ml, used a small jar of that capacity, and the recipe came out OK.
Orange and white chocolate cake
From Good Housekeeping; a lot of work, but worth it for a special occasion, and you can make the cake ahead and freeze it. I think you could use lime instead of orange; I love the combination of lime and white chocolate.
This makes a very large cake — at least a dozen servings. Reduce by half for a 15-cm tin; baking time will be the same.
Simple biscuits
I haven’t made biscuits for years, but today I wanted to make some simple, buttery sultana biscuits, and to my surprise a trawl through the most likely suspects on my bookshelf (Delia, Jane Grigson, Katie Stewart, Georgina Horley) came up blank. I ended up googling, and even that took a while. But eventually I hit lucky, and less than half an hour later I was able to sample the result. Very nice, albeit a bit crumbly; I might add a spot of milk next time, as the dough was very short. I added sultanas, but see suggestions at the end of the recipe for alternative flavourings. This recipe makes about a dozen.
Credit: from tafn.org.uk, but the site was down when I visited so I used Google’s cache.
Petits pains au lait
This recipe makes about 8 soft, slightly sweet brioche-like rolls, which are nice for breakfast or afternoon tea. You can easily make and prove the dough in a bread machine.
Tuiles
This is my favourite way of using up surplus egg whites. They are time-consuming and fiddly to do, but they keep for ages in an airtight tin, and are a way of filling up a rainy Sunday afternoon. They make an elegant accompaniment for ice cream, but they go well with other fruity/creamy desserts too. You can also make little baskets by forming them in cups, or small tart tins, and fill with fruit. This quantity makes about 20-25.
Madeleines au miel
Classic French delicacy — best eaten while still slightly warm. For best results you should start a couple of hours in advance and chill the batter in the fridge before baking. The thermal shock produces a better rise with the characteristic bump.
Guggy cake
Want to make a cake and don’t have any eggs? Here’s the answer! Very easy to make, and delicious. You can serve it spread with butter, but it’s just fine on its own.
A wartime recipe, hence lack of eggs. The original was made with lard, but these days we can use butter.
Citrus pound cake
This can be made with either lemon or orange juice, with equally good results. Very quick to do in a food processor.