Nigella's Chocolate Honey Bee Cake

Prep Time: 30 minutes
Inactive Prep Time: 3 hours
Cook Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Makes 12 serves



Cake:
4 ounces semisweet chocolate, broken into pieces
1 1/3 cups soft light brown sugar
2 sticks soft butter (1 stick = 113g so about 230g)
1/2 cup honey
2 eggs
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate soda (baking soda)
1 tablespoon cocoa
1 cup boiling water

Sticky Honey Glaze:
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup honey
6 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar

Bees:
1 ounce yellow marzipan
12 flaked almonds

Special equipment: 9-inch springform tin

Take whatever you need out of the refrigerator so that all ingredients can come to room temperature, and while that’s happening, melt the chocolate from the cake part of the ingredients list in a good-sized bowl, either in the microwave or suspended over a pan of simmering water. Set aside to cool slightly.
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees (350 degrees F), and butter and line a 9-inch (23 cm) springform tin.

Beat together the sugar and soft butter until airy and creamy, and then add the honey.
Add 1 of the eggs, beating it in with a tablespoon of the flour, and then the other egg with another tablespoon of flour. Fold in the melted chocolate, and then the rest of the flour and baking soda. Add the cocoa pushed through a tea strainer to ensure you have no lumps, and last of all, beat in the boiling water. Mix everything well to make a smooth batter and pour into the prepared tin. Cook for up to 1 1/2 hours, though check the cake after 45 minutes and if it is getting too dark, cover the top lightly with aluminium foil and keep checking every 15 minutes.

Let the cake cool completely in the tin on a rack.

To make the glaze, bring the water and honey to a boil in a saucepan, then turn off the heat and add the finely chopped chocolate, swirling it around to melt in the hot liquid. Leave it for a few minutes, then whisk together. Add the sugar through a sieve and whisk again until smooth.

Choose your plate or stand, and cut out 4 strips of baking paper and form a square outline on the plate. This is so that when you sit the cake on and ice it, the icing will not run out all over the plate. Unclip the tin and set the thoroughly cooled cake on the prepared plate. Pour the glaze over the cold honey bee cake; it might dribble a bit down the edges, but don’t worry too much about that. The glaze stays tacky for ages (this is what gives it its lovely melting gooiness) so ice in time for the glaze to harden a little, say at least an hour before you want to serve it. Keep the pan of glaze, (don’t wash it up), as you will need it to make the stripes on the bees.

Divide the marzipan into 6 even pieces and shape them into fat, sausage-like bees’ bodies, slightly tapered at the ends.

Using a wooden skewer, paint stripes with the sticky honey glaze left in the pan from icing the cake. About 3 stripes look best, and then very carefully attach the flaked almonds at an angle to make the bees’ wings, 2 on each one. They might snap as you dig them into the marzipan bodies, so have some spare. I’m afraid to admit, I also like to give them eyes by dipping the point of the skewer in the glaze and thence on the bees: they look more loveable with an expression, which is somehow what the eyes give them, but then this is where the Disney effect comes in. If a more imperial dignity is required, forgo the dotting of the eyes and present this as your Napoleonic Chocolate Cake.

Grublover comment:
I made this cake for my friends birthday on the weekend and it was easy and an absolute winner. The bees are so much fun to make and not too difficult. I made it on Sunday and it stored really well - birthday was not until tuesday and it was rich and delicious and moist. I didn’t put the bees on until the last minute in case they sunk in or got discoloured. Serve with some cream or icecream. It would be really nice to make them as cupcakes too.

Classic Apple Tarte Tatin with Vanilla Ice Cream

Makes 2 Tartlets, to serve 4

7/8 cup butter
7/8 cup caster sugar
4 apples, peeled, cored and cut into halves
1 cinnamon stick, broken in half
2 vanilla pods, split lengthways
2 x 18 cm puff pastry discs rolled to a thickness of 3 mm

For the caramel sauce
7/8 cup caster sugar
generous 5/8 cup double cream

vanilla ice cream, to serve

Using 2 x 15 cm high-sided copper pans or high-sided saucepans, spread about 3/8 cup of the butter over the base of each pan. Sprinkle about 3/8 cup sugar over the butter in each pan, then place 4 apple halves, core-side facing up, on top of the butter and sugar in each pan. Place a cinnamon stick piece and vanilla pod in between the apple halves in the shape of a cross.

Stretch the pastry over the apples pushing the pastry down between the apples and the sides of the pans. Prick the pastry 4-5 times with a fork, and then leave the tarte tatins to rest for 1 hour in the refrigerator.

Preheat the oven to 180C. To cook the tarte tatins, begin to caramelize the sugar and the butter over a medium-high heat, on preferably an electric hob or barbecue. You won’t be able to see the full extent of the sugar colouring but if you gently swirl the pan, you will get glimpses down the side of the pastry - it should take 4-5 minutes. Transfer to the hot oven and cook until the pastry is golden brown, about 18-22 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to stand 1 hour to allow the flavours to amalgamate.

To make the caramel sauce:
Heat the sugar in a saucepan over a medium-high heat until it has dissolved. Once the sugar has melted and begins to change colour, you will need to keep a careful eye on it as it will change colour and burn quickly. As soon as the sugar turns golden brown, add the cream. Remove the saucepan from the heat and leave to cool slightly.

To serve:
Place the tarte tatins over a high heat and heat until the caramel in the base begins to bubble. In one swift movement, turn the tarte tatins over onto a serving plate, discarding the vanilla and the cinnamon stick. If the plate is messy, it may be easier to transfer to a clean plate to serve. Drizzle the caramel sauce around the tarte tatins and serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Porterhouse pot-roasted with bay, garlic and red wine vinegar

Serves 4-6

1 kg/2 lb 4 oz whole porterhouse (sirloin) beef
salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil, for browning
55 g/2 oz butter
10 fresh bay leaves
4 garlic cloves, peeled and halved
375 mL/13 fl oz Cabernet Sauvignon vinegar


Trim the fat on the piece of beef to about 2 cm/1 in thick. Using a sharp knife, cut a crisscross pattern at 1 cm/1/2 in intervals across the fat. Season lightly with salt, but add plenty of pepper. Heat oil in a large heavy-based flameproof pot. Add the beef and brown on all sides, leaving the fatty side until last. Reduce the heat and slowly brown the fat; at the same time you will be rendering it (reducing the fat content). Remove the beef from the pot and drain off the fat.

Melt the butter in the pot until foaming, then add the beef. Add the bay leaves, garlic and 5 tablespoons of the vinegar. Moisten a piece of baking paper large enough to cover the pot. Push the damp paper down into the pot to rest on and cover the beef entirely. Simmer over a low heat until the vinegar reduces by half. Add a little more vinegar and when that reduces, add some more. Continue in this way until the beef is cooked to medium, 50–70 minutes. The sauce should never completely reduce because you are trying to create an emulsion (a creamy mixture of the beef fat and the vinegar). Add water, if necessary.

Turn off the heat and rest for 10 minutes. Slice the beef and serve. Spoon a little of the sauce over the beef and garnish with the bay leaves and garlic.

Grublover comment
This dish would be lovely with a creamy puree of parsnips or some braised silver beet or Swiss chard.

Sour Lemon Cake

Serves 8-10

125g (4 oz) butter
3/4 cup caster sugar
1.5 Tb grated lemon rind
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1.5 cups SR flour
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup lemon juice

Place butter, sugar and lemon rind in bowl of an electric mixer and beat until light and creamy.
Add eggs to mixer and beat well.

Fold flour, sour cream and lemon juice through mixture.

Immediatley place mixture in a greased and lined 20cm (8 inch) square cake tin and bake in a preheated oven 180 degrees (350 F) oven for 40 minutes or until cake is cooked when tested with a skewer.

Cut cake into wedges and serve warm with cream.

Grublover comment
This is one of my favourite cakes, it is so deliciously tart and the sour cream adds a nice errr sour element...mmmm

White Chocolate and Macadamia Cookies

Makes 30 cookies

150g butter, softened
¾ cup (165g) firmly packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla essence
1 cup (150g) plain flour
1½ cups (200g) chopped macadamias
180g white chocolate, chopped
½ cup (40g) shredded coconut
½ cup (45g) rolled oats

Preheat the oven to moderate (180°C/160°C fan-forced). Lightly grease two oven trays.

Beat butter, sugar and essence in a bowl with an electric mixer until smooth.

Stir in the remaining ingredients until combined.

Roll the mixture into balls and place on prepared oven trays. Bake for about 15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on trays.

Grublover comment
Suitable to freeze. Not suitable to microwave.
You can mix this dish up a bit if you like - change the white chocolate for milk or dark chocolate if you prefer.

Caramel Melting Moments

These are delicious served with a short black coffee.
Makes 30

Ingredients
250g (8 oz) butter
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 cups plain flour
filling
90g (3 oz) butter
200g (6.5oz) brown sugar
2 Tb golden syrup
1/3 cup thickened cream

Place butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until light and creamy. Add flour and mix until combined.

Place tablespoons of biscuit mixture on lined baking trays.

Beat in preheated 160 degree (315 F) oven for 15 minutes or until golden, and allow to cool on a wire rack.

To make filling, place butter, sugar, golden syrup and cream in a saucepan over low heat and mix until smooth.

Allow caramel to simmer for 5 minutes or until it has thickened slightly.
Cool caramel in fridge until it is firm. Spread it over half the biscuits and sandwich together with remaining biscuits.

Balsamic marinated steak

Serves 4

4 steaks (fillet, new york or scotch fillet)
salad greens
Marinade
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup olive oil
2 Tb shredded basil
1 tsp cracked black pepper
2 pieces lemon rind
2 cloves garlic, sliced

Trim steak of excess fat. To make marinade, combine marinade ingredients. Place steak in marinade and allow to marinade for at least 30 minutes.
To cook steak, preheat a char grill, bbq or frypan over very high heat. Cook steaks, ensuring they are sealed well until cooked to your liking. To serve, pile salad greens onto serving plates and top with grilled steaks.

Antipasto Picnic Bread

Serves 8

1 large round loaf crusty bread
Filling
3 onions, sliced
2 Tb olive oil
12 slices char-grilled marinated eggplant
1/2 cup mint leaves
20 slices char-grilled marinated zucchini
1 cup rocket leaves
20 oven-roasted tomato halves
1/2 cup basil leaves
250g goats cheese or fresh ricotta or fetta
20 slices char-grilled capsicum (pepper) pieces

Cut the top from the bread and scoop out the soft insides leaving a 4cm (1.5 inch thick) crust.

Place onions and oil in frypan over medium heat and cook for 6 minutes or until well browned.

To layer bread, place onions, eggplant, mint, zucchini, rocket, tomatoes, basil, cheese and capsicum inside the bread cavity in layer.

Repeat layers and replace top of the bread.

Wrap loaf in cloth to transport and cut into wedges to serve.

If you prefer, you can put the loaf in a moderate oven (180 degrees C) for about 10-15 minutes to heat it up and melt the cheese. Mmm.

Grublover comment
This recipe is quick, easy and will win lots of praise at a picnic. The best thing about it is you can chop and change it to include the antipasto ingredients you love best. I love adding in artichoke hearts, and sundried tomatoes. Yum!

Lamb cutlets with garlic mash

Serves 4

8 double lamb cutlets, trimmed
1 tsp cracked black pepper
3 Tb chopped mint
1/2 cup red wine
1 Tb seeded mustard
1/4 tsp ground cumin
garlic mash
6 cloves garlic, unpeeled
6 mashing potatoes, peeled and chopped
2 Tb butter
1-1.25 cups hot milk
pinch sea salt

Place lamb cutlets in a shallow dish. Combine pepper, mint, wine, mustard and cumin, and pour over lam. Allow cutlets to marinate for at least 30 minutes, preferably 2 hours.

To make mash, place unpeeled garlic in dry frypan over medium heat. Allow to cook, turning occasionally, for 10 minutes or until garlic skins are golden brown, then cool. Squeeze garlic from skins and mash with a fork.

Place potatoes in saucepan of boiling water and simmer for 6 minutes or until tender.

While potatoes are cooking, drain marinade from lamb and place marinade in a small saucepan. Allow marinade to simmer over low heat until it is syrupy.
Heat a frypan over high heat. Add lamb to pan and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side or until it is cooked to your liking.

To finish mash, drain potatoes, return them to warm pan with butter, and mash with a whisk while slowly adding milk until potatoes are thick and creamy. Stir through salt and mashed garlic.

To serve, place a pile of mash on plates with lamb and spoon over the sauce. Serve with a salad of rocket and balsamic vinegar or baby spinach leaves.

Easy peasy spaghetti wtih lemon, chilli, garlic and rocket

Serves 4

750g fresh spaghetti, linguini or fettucini
3-4 Tb olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
4 Tb baby capers
1.5 tsp dried chilli flakes or 3 fresh red chillies, seeded and sliced (alter to taste)
2 tsp finely grated lemon rind
3 Tb lemon juice
3-4 cups roughly torn rocket leaves (or basil)
3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
cracked black pepper

Cook spaghetti in a saucepan of rapidly boiling water until it is al dente.
While pasta is cooking, heat oil in a large pan over high heat. Add the garlic and capers and saute for 1 minute.
Add chillies, lemon rind and juice and cook for another minute.
Drain pasta and add it to the pan with rocket and parmesan. Toss to combine and serve with a generous sprinkling of black peppper and a glass of wine.

Grublovers comment
Danny and I make this all the time. Whenever we don’t know what to make and we don’t want to go shopping, this is the answer. You can tailor it to your ingredients on hand - substitute spinach for the rocket, add anchovies, capers, olives. You can also add some spicy sausage e.g. chorizo, if you feel like some meat. Use your imagination and come up with any fantastic dish. As long as you have that basic oil, chilli and garlic combination it will be a winner.
I like to use a full flavoured olive oil - like Jingili of Western Australia.

Autumn plum and strawberry crumbles

Makes 4

3 cups chopped ripe autumn plums
1 cup halves and hulled strawberries
2-3 Tb white sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 Tb lemon juice
topping
1/2 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup plain flour
90g butter, softened
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Combine fruit with sugar, cinnamon and lemon juice. Divide mixture between 4 ramekins (or small china bowls).
To make topping, combine sugar, oats, flour, butter and extra cinnamon. Pile oat mixture on top of fruit. Place ramekins in a preheated 180 degree (350 F) oven and bake for 25 minutes or until topping is golden and crisp and fruit is soft.
Serve crumbles warm with vanilla bean ice cream.

Grublover comment
The best thing about this dish is it is so easy and adaptable! I have cooked it in the microwave before. You can also do it in a large baking dish, and then serve, or in individual serves as above. Use any fruit you have on hand - berries, apple, rhubarb, peaches, whatever is nice and in season.

Graduation chocolate rasberry dessert cake

Serves 8-10

185g (6 oz) butter
185g (6 oz) dark chocolate, chopped
3 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1.5 cups caster sugar
1 cup plain flour
2/3 cup self-raising flour
1/2 cup almond meal
1 cup rasberries

Place butter and chocolate in a saucepan over low heat and stir until melted, then cool slightly.
Place eggs, vanilla extract and sugar in a bowl and beat until mixture is light and thick. Fold through flours, almond meal, chocolate mixture and half the rasberries.
Pour mixture in a 20cm (8 inch) round cake tin lined with baking paper. Sprinkle over remaining rasberries.
Cook for 180 degrees (350 F) oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until top of cake is firm to touch. Cool cake before cutting, and serve with strong espresso, extra rasberries and thick cream.

Grublover comment
The rasberries give a delicious moistness and flavour to chocolate cakes. Divinely decadent. One of the girls made it on our graduation vacation and I had to have the recipe.

Little Lemon Curd Tarts

Serves 6

1 quantity (350g or 12 oz) sweet shortcrust pastry
filling
3/4 cup caster sugar
3 eggs
3/4 cup cream
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 tsp grated lemon rind

Roll out pastry on a lightly floured surface until it is 2mm (1/8 inch) thick. Cut pastry into 6 circles to fit six 1-cup capacity muffin tins.

Prick pastry, line with non stick baking paper and fill with rice or baking weights. Bake pastry in preheated 200 degree (400 F) oven for 5 minutes.

Remove rice or weights and paper, and bake pastry for a further 4 minutes or until golden.

To make filling, place sugar, eggs, cream, lmeon juice and rind in a bowl and mix to combine.

Pour filling into tart shells and bake in a 160 degree (315 F) oven for 20 minutes or until filling is just set.

Cool tarts and serve with thick cream and berries.

Sweet Shortcrust Pastry

2 cups plain flour
3 Tb caster sugar
155 g (5 oz) butter, chopped
iced water

Place flour, sugar and butter in a food processor and process until mixture has formed fine crumbs.

Add enough iced water to form a soft dough. Remove dough from food processor and knead lightly.

Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes before rolling to prevent dough shrinking when baked. Makes 1 quantity.

The Best Rendang Curry

Serves 4

250ml coconut cream
1/3 cup shredded cocounut
50ml coconut milk
4 kaffir lime leaves, shredded
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon ground tumeric
800g chicken thigh fillets, cut into 5cm pieces
1 Tb shaved palm sugar
2 Tb fish saucepinch salt

Curry paste
8 dried long red chillies
4 cloves garlic
8 thai shallots
1 lemon grass stalk, white only, sliced
30g chopped fresh ginger
25g sliced fresh galangal
pinch salt

To make paste:
Soak chillies in hot water until just softened; remove stem and seeds; roughly chop.
Place all curry paste ingredients in a mortar and pestle or food processor and blend to a smooth paste; add a little water if necessary.

To make curry:
Pour coconut cream into saucepan and bring to the boil.
Boil for 5 minutes or until oil separates from solids.
Add curry paste and cook, stirring, for about 7 minutes or until fragrant.
Add the coconut, coconut milk, lime leaves and spices; simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add remaining ingredients and simmer for about 30 minutes or until the liquid has reduced to a third and chicken is tender.
Rendang should be quite dry, but if it becomes too dry, add a little water.
Sprinkle with extra toasted coconut. Serve with steamed rice.

Easy and Delicious Fairy Cupcakes

This cupcakes are really easy and can be decorated many different ways to suit different occasions…

Ingredients
125g butter, softened
3 eggs
1 and 1/2 cups SR flour
2/3 cup caster sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Method
Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
Place all the ingredients in a bowl and beat with an electric mixer until smooth.
Spoon into 12 paper cases inside a cupcake tin.
Bake for 20 minutes or until cooked through.
Decorate when cool.

Icing
125g butter, softened
1 cup icing sugar
1 Tbsp milk
splash vanilla extract
2 drops food colouring

Beat the butter with the sifted icing sugar and milk, add the vanilla and food colouring.
Spread over the cupcakes.

Decorating…
You can do all sorts of decorations.
Use your imagination…

Cutting Dried Chillies

Dried chillies are often leathery and can be difficult to cut with a knife. A pair of scissors does the job with ease. To begin, snip off and discard the stem. Beginning at the stem end, cut chile lengthwise in half. Use your fingers to brush out seeds from inside chile halves. Cut seeded halves into thin stripes that can be toasted, stir-fried, or added to sauces and salsas.

In fact, I find my kitchen scissors really handy and use them to cut many things from herbs, to pizza. Try them out.

No more sticky rice

Wash the rice a few times until the water runs clear. Remove all the water until no water remains. Let it sit for 20 minutes. This will remove all the starch and help the rice to remain separate.

Also adding a few drops of lemon juice to the rice while cooking, you will find that the grains of rice will tend to remain separate and the rice stays white.

Juicing Lemons and Limes

Buy large lemons and limes, they tend to be much sweeter. Make sure that the skin is thin, those are much juicer. To obtain more of the juice from lemons, limes or oranges, microwave on high for 30 seconds and then let stand for a couple of minutes before cutting and squeezing. Rolling them between your hand and the counter will also help release more juice.

Quick Curries

Curries requires a lot of pre-preparation. Make wet and or dry pastes ahead of time, making extra portions. Divide the pastes into the desired portions according to the recipe. Place the portions in Ziploc Freezer bags and freeze till the next time. A great time saver and I’ve found the flavour appreciates in the freezer and is even better the next time.

Marinating Meat

Sugar, honey, or preserves can cause a sauce to burn on the meat’s exterior before the meat is fully cooked.

To avoid burning the meat, wait until the last 5 or 10 minutes of grilling to brush on sweet sauces.

If you wish to serve a sauce at the table, divide it before you brush part of it onto raw meat. Or, if you’ve brushed on a sauce, boil the remainder in a pan before passing.

I like to marinate my meat in a bag - you can buy these from any supermarket - it works so well. You can fill the bag with all of the marinade, add the meat, and then massage the marinade into the meat before putting it in the fridge.

Massaging the marinade into the meat makes it absorb the flavours better.

Purchasing Kitchen Equipment

Purchasing kitchen equipment is really expensive. Winsome and I discovered a great way to stock up the kitchen. Go to the local op-shop! You can purchase everything here - pots, pans, graters, casserole dishes, muffin tins, baking racks. You name is, someone has thrown it out and the samaritans collected it. Winsome purchased an equivalent baking equipment selection that would put Betty Crocker to shame for $23.

The local fete is also a great place for stocking up.