Clementine and Clove Pudding Cake

I didn't quite manage stir up Sunday but felt a real baking urge this morning. We had mountain of clementines that proved to be my catalyst and got my little cooking brain thinking... I’ve made a whole orange cake before (a simple method of boiling a orange, skin and all and then blitzing to pulp and incorporating into a gorgeous almond mixture) but never with clementines. A little digging and I found Mrs Nigella has already thought ahead.

So this is her recipe with a tweak here and there (and the addition of a tiny bit of ground cloves). Its perfectly ‘puddingy’, all squidgy and dense.

So simple, you should try.

Clementine and Clove Pudding Cake

375 grams clementines (approx. 3 medium-sized ones)

6 medium eggs

225 grams caster sugar

250 grams ground almonds

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon ground cloves

Method

1.    Put the clementines in a pan with some cold water, bring to the boil and cook for 1 to 2 hours. Drain and, when cool, cut each clementine in half and remove the pips. Dump the clementines - skins, pith, fruit and all - and give a quick blitz in a food processor (or by hand, of course). Preheat the oven to gas mark 5/190ºC/375ºF. Butter and line a 21cm / 8 inch Springform tin.

2.    You can then add all the other ingredients to the food processor and mix. Or, you can beat the eggs by hand adding the sugar, almonds, baking powder and ground cloves, mixing well, then finally adding the pulped clementines.

3.    Pour the cake mixture into the prepared tin and bake for an hour, when a skewer will come out clean; you'll probably have to cover with foil or greaseproof after about 40 minutes to stop the top burning. Remove from the oven and leave to cool, on a rack, but in the tin. When the cake's cold, you can take it out of the tin. I think this is better a day after it's made, but I don't complain about eating it at any time.

Little By Little

My beautiful friend Annabel (v good at designing jewellery), my stylish friend Calandre (v good with numbers) and I set ourselves a little challenge. Could we create a collection of jewellery based around food? Could we have them made out recycled silver? Could they be made in the UK? Could we give a percentage of profits to underprivileged women who would love to be able to afford a necklace or two? The answer was yes, yes, yes. 

May I present our beautiful spice necklaces; Elle Star Anise & Elle Cardamom. 

With nerves flying and worries creeping, we stood behind our first stall last week, our sign hung behind our heads. Familiar adrenalin pushed out confidence and kick started 'Little by Little'. We sold, packaged and wrapped boxes in black ribbon before congratulating ourselves with a glass of mulled wine. 

 Message me if you might like to buy one for Christmas (RRP £60) and I can pop the jewels in the post!

Copenhagen

A mini break to Copenhagen; the city of super cycle highways and prestigious pastries. Those Scandi's sure have style; even the streetlights seemed somehow beautiful. We sauntered down streets, bought a lion mask, tried on fabulous clothes and fought crowds of food lovers for a local smorgasbord.

It was three days of heaven and I couldn’t recommend it more. Take a short fight, kick back and enjoy the design.

It's a wrap - H&F on Brighton Beach

A week of popping up on the the beach is over and life returns to normality. My body still aches a little but I'm a sucker for punishment and wouldn't want it any other way. Our Lebanese feast triumphed, guests left smiling, more prosecco was drunk than we expected and we were full every night. It must have been the sea air.