Lemon and Pistachio Cake.

When Life Gives You Lemons, Make... Lemon Cake.

Today is of course the 1^st of September and so unfortunately means that our summer, sunshine and days spent lazing on the beach are now over however, Google has assured me that Autumn does not officially begin until September 21^st so, despite the fact that the view out of my window is one of grey clouds and rain and ignoring the fact that I am bundled up in a chunky, over-sized jumper and debating whether to put my electric blanket back on my bed, I will choose to believe that we do still indeed have a few weeks of summer remaining. As such, I thought why not celebrate our remaining few weeks of summer with a few particularly zesty and summery recipes because I know that when Autumn arrives in just a few weeks’ time, it will bring a whole lot of chilly, windy and rainy weather with it and zesty, refreshing summer recipes will be a thing of the past as we tuck into our hearty stews and puddings instead.

For me, nothing is more delightful, vibrant and zesty in the summer than lemons which, just so happen to make some of the most delightful and flavoursome baked goods as well. I have therefore decided to do something a little bit different on the blog for the next few weeks and have created the 'When Life Gives You Lemons, Make...' mini series to share some delicious lemon recipes with you, as I thought that having a theme on the blog for a few weeks would be something new and exciting. So, over the next few weeks I will be making; Lemon and Pistachio Cake, Zesty Lemon Tart and Lemon Curd and Clotted Cream Shortcake and so, hopefully there will be at least one lemon recipe to catch everyone's eye but, if you are a lemon lover like me then I hope you adore them all.

I decided to start with this moist, crumbly lemon and pistachio cake taken from Fay Ripley's, Fay Makes It Easy cookbook and added in my favourite homemade lemon curd. It is the perfect afternoon tea cake, or for me; ‘the whenever I feel like a slice of cake, cake’. Every glorious, soft, sweet bite melts in the mouth and bursts on the tongue with zesty, lemony flavour while, the velvety, tart, river of lemon curd running through the centre is just a heavenly, hidden treasure. Simple and scrumptious, that's what we like to hear. 

Recipe

For the lemon and pistachio cake-

125g shelled pistachios

150g unsalted butter, softened

150g golden caster sugar

150g self-raising flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

50g ground almonds

2 large eggs

juice of 2 lemons

150g-175g lemon curd

For the lemon drizzle icing-

75g icing sugar

2 1/2 tbsp. lemon juice

For the lemon curd-

Grated zest of 1 lemon

juice of 2 lemons

2 eggs, beaten

90g golden caster sugar

55g unsalted butter

Method

1. Start by preparing the lemon curd.  Sit a heatproof bowl over a pan of barely simmering water, but don't let the bowl touch the water. Then place the eggs, sugar, lemon zest and juice in the bowl and whisk together. Now add the butter piece by piece and cook for about 15 minutes, giving it a good whisk from time to time, until the curd has become smooth, glossy and thickened. Allow to cool. You can make this the day before for convenience if you like so just cover with cling film and refrigerate if desired.

2. Next, pre-heat the oven to 180°C and grease and line a 20cm round spring form cake tin with greaseproof paper. Prepare the cake mixture. In a food processor grind 100g of the pistachios to crumbs. Tip into a mixing bowl or the bowl of a freestanding mixer. Add the softened butter, sugar, ground almonds and mix until smooth and combined. 

3. Pop in the eggs and mix again until combined. Add 2 1/2 tbsp. lemon juice and mix. Sieve the flour and baking powder into the mix and fold in gently.

4. Scrape half of the mixture into the cake tin and spread to fill the tin and meet the edges. Smooth the mixture out and then top with the lemon curd. Roughly spread the lemon curd over the top but not quite to the edge.

5. With the remainder of the mixture, drop dollops over the top of the lemon curd layer to cover it and gently spread the mixture to the edge of the cake tin, smoothing with the back of a spoon. 

6. Roughly chop the remaining 25g pistachios with a knife and scatter over the cake. Bake for about 45 minutes until brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely in the tin.

7. For the icing just mix together the icing sugar and 1 1/2 tbsp. lemon juice, stirring into a paste. Drizzle over the top of the cake, creating a criss-cross pattern and leave for a couple of minutes to set before serving.

P.s. if you do happen to have any lemons remaining after baking this cake, then the whole 'When Life Gives You Lemons, Grab Some Vodka And Make Limoncello' sounds like a great idea too. 

Mint Chocolate Cupcakes.

Making a cupcake that tastes just like a Mint Aero could never be a bad thing, right? Well, I've only gone and done it! Yesterday, I decided to whip up a batch of my favourite chocolate cupcakes and then I made half into Chocolate and Peanut Butter Cupcakes and half into these Mint Chocolate Cupcakes. I've got to say I am actually really pleased with them and they taste pretty damn good if I do say so myself! The sweet, fluffy peppermint frosting tastes lovely paired with the soft, chocolatey sponge and rich, dark chocolate ganache and the pastel green frosting also looks really pretty against the deep, decadent, dark chocolate sponge which, I'm really happy about. I love a sweet and simple presentation and I really hope you enjoy these Mint Chocolate Cupcakes too! 

Recipe

For the Chocolate Cupcakes-

110g unsalted butter, softened

220g dark brown sugar

2 eggs

165g self-raising flour

55g cocoa

1/2 tsp. bicarbonate soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

140ml sour cream

For the Chocolate Ganache-

100ml double cream

100g dark chocolate, broken into pieces

For the Peppermint Frosting-

230g unsalted butter, softened

450g icing sugar, sifted

2 tsp. peppermint essence

green food colouring

crumbled chocolate cupcake or cookie to decorate

Method

1. Start by preparing the cupcakes. Line a muffin tin with 12 muffin cases and pre-heat the oven to 180°C.

2. For the chocolate cupcakes, cream together the butter and sugar using an electric whisk. Gradually beat in the eggs and add the sour cream. Sieve together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda and delicately fold into the mixture.

3. Divide the mixture into the 12 cake cases and bake for 15-17 minutes or until the sponge springs back when the surface is pressed lightly.

4. Place the cupcakes on a wire rack and allow to cool.

5. While the cupcakes are cooling, prepare the chocolate ganache. Heat the cream until it simmers and stir in the dark chocolate until it completely melts and produces a glossy, dark chocolate ganache. Allow to cool until it thickens slightly but, not too much as it will be difficult to fill the cupcakes.

6. Once the cupcakes are cool use an apple corer to cut out a dip/hole in the centre of each cupcake and once the ganache is cool fill each dip/hole with 2 tsp. chocolate ganache. Reserve the chocolate cupcake centres ready to crumble over the cupcakes for decoration or alternatively you can use crumbled chocolate cookie.

7. Finally, prepare the peppermint frosting. Beat together the butter, icing sugar and peppermint essence until the frosting is light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add a few drops of green food colouring to the frosting and beat until the frosting is a nice pale, mint green colour. Lastly, pipe a swirl of the frosting onto each cupcake, scatter with a sprinkle of crumbled chocolate cookie or some of the reserved chocolate cupcake crumbs.