Banana and chocolate cake

Ingredients

250 grams plain flour

2 teaspoons baking powder
125 grams unsalted butter (softened)
250 grams caster sugar
4 bananas (ripe and mashed)
2 eggs (lightly beaten)
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
175 grams dark chocolate (good quality or milk chocolate)

Method

Preheat the oven to 160°C. Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl.

Mix the butter, sugar, banana, eggs, vanilla extract and chocolate chips in a separate bowl.

Add to the dry ingredients and stir to combine, being careful not to over mix.

Pour the batter into a non-stick, or lightly greased and floured, 19 x 11 cm (7 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch) loaf tin and bake for 1 hour, or until the bread is cooked when tested with a skewer.

Leave the cake to cool for 5-10 minutes, and then turn the cake out onto wire rack. When the cake is cooled all the way through, slice the cake thinly, serve and enjoy

Bon Appétit

White chocolate and raspberry marquise

Ingredients

175g unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing

175g self-raising flour
1 rounded tsp baking powder
3 large eggs, at room temperature
175g golden caster sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

For the raspberry filling

250g mascarpone
284ml carton whipping cream
1 tbsp caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
300g raspberries
8 tbsp raspberry jam

To decorate

White chocolate shavings
Dark chocolate shavings
Mixed fruit (we used passion fruit cut into wedges, blueberries, raspberries, redcurrants and canned apricots, quartered)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/ fan160°C/gas 4 and lightly grease and base line 2 x 20cm round x 4cm deep loose-bottomed cake tins with baking paper. Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl. Add all the other cake ingredients and mix with an electric hand whisk until the mixture is a smooth, dropping consistency. If a little stiff, mix in a dash of water to loosen.

2. Divide the mixture equally between the tins and level. Bake for 25 minutes, until well risen, springy and golden. Cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Using a serrated bread knife, slice each cake horizontally into 3 thin discs, to give 6 in total.

3. Put the mascarpone, cream, sugar and vanilla in a large bowl and mix with an electric hand whisk until smooth and thickened.

4. Put 1 disc, cut-side up, on a plate or cake stand. Spread over a little of the filling (about a fifth) and scatter with half the raspberries. Place a second disc on top and spread with a little more filling, then top with a third disc and spread with half the jam. Put a fourth disc on top and spread with a little filling, scatter with the rest of the raspberries and sit the fifth disc on top. Spread with the remaining jam and more filling, then sit the final disc on top. Press so the filling oozes out a little. Spread the remaining filling on top. Chill to firm up.

5. Smooth the sides with a palette knife and stick the chocolate shavings all round the cake. Secure with a piece of wide ribbon. Push more of the chocolate shavings gently into the filling all around the top edge of the cake. Pile the mixed fruit into the centre of the cake, arranging if you like, to serve.

Bon Appétit

*In the picture about, the cake is wrapped in a white chocolate collar and not the chocolate shavings*

Tea Soaked Figs

Ingredients

125g sugar

½ a lemon
2 whole cloves
½ a cinnamon stick
2 vanilla pods, split and scraped
10 figs cut in half
500ml water
3 sachets of earl grey tea
150ml strega liquor (Italian digestive liquor)

Method

Mix the sugar, lemon, cloves, cinnamon and vanilla into the water and bring to the boil.  Remove from the heat and infuse the tea for 30 minutes.  Pour the strega liquor onto the figs, remove the tea bags from the syrup and pour onto the figs. Soak the figs for 3 days in the liquid, and store them in the fridge. These can be served with either a sweet or savoury dish, but I personally recommend serving these delights with something sweet. Maybe even something as simple as clotted cream, or a vanilla bean ice cream.

For those who have never come across strega liquor before, here are some interesting facts about it. The recipe is a mix of 70 herbs and spices which include Samnite mint, Ceylon cinnamon, Florentine iris, Italian Apennine juniper, fennel, and saffron. The saffron is the key to Strega's signature yellow color and the mint and juniper are two of the most pronounced flavors within the herbal mixture. It is aged in ash barrels which allow the flavors and aromas to develop.

Bon Appétit