Bonjours mes amis encore! I know this is The English Kitchen, but it's Friday and that means it's French Fridays with Dorie day! That fun cooking club created around the release of Dorie Greenspan's newest book, entitled Around My French Table. Each Friday we all cook the same recipe from the book!

I was really pleased that this week's recipe was an apple cake, Marie Helene's Apple Cake to be specific!



Oh what a lovely cake this was . . . and so very easy to make. It went together lickety split.



The end result being a deliciously buttery cake which was more apple than cake, and oh so scrummy!!



With the first mouthful I was 6 years old and sitting in my Canadian Grandmaman's kitchen again . . . very nostalgic.



I used a variety of apples . . . Golden Russet, Crispin, Granny Smith and Pink Lady, which Dorie had suggested as the different apples would give different textures with every mouthful. I loved that the apple was left quite chunky in this as well.



I already had something cooking in my teensy weensy gas oven so I ended up cooking this cake in my microwave/convection oven on the convection setting and it turned out perfect! I didn't have a spring form pan, so I baked it in a 9 inch cake tin with a removeable bottom with no problems at all.



This went down a real treat, warm and with a dollop of clotted cream gilding the top. To quote Todd . . . "This is nice . . . very nice."



Thanks Dorie for another brilliant recipe. If you'd like to see how the rest turned out, pop on over to French Fridays with Dorie. This was fabulous, but don't take my word for it. Buy the book and find out for yourselves! It's worth every penny! Trust me on this!

Not sure what next week's recipe is, but it's bound to be tres tres delicious!

This weekend is the Canadian Thanksgiving celebrations. I know I write from a terraced brick house on the edge of Chester . . . and I adore my adopted country and everything about it . . .



But when Thanksgiving rolls around I do get a bit homesick for family and friends back home. My eldest son said to me the other day that I had a knack for making all the holidays fun. Those words meant an awful lot to me!



When I was working at Brenchley Manor, I was never able to celebrate Thanksgiving really. I was usually working up at the Manor and come American Thanksgiving, especially, I would be working as well, cooking up a veritable feast. (That being their big holiday!)



This year I am quite happily cooking my own little place and cooking up my own Thanksgiving Dinner. We've got it all . . . turkey, stuffing, mash, swede, squash, carrots, brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes . . . cranberry sauce and gravy!



I'm breaking a little bit from tradition though . . . there is no pie, not pumpkin or otherwise. I am not really that fond of pumpkin pie actually . . . never have been. Instead I have made this Spicy Pumpkin Tray Bake! (which is basically just a fancy schmancy name for a cake baked in a large flat cake tin)



A deliciously moist pumpkin cake, all spicy with warm flavours and topped with a smooth and creamy vanilla buttercream frosting.

mmm . . . mmm . . . good!



*Spicy Pumpkin Tray Bake*
Makes 12 servings
Printable Recipe

A moist spicy tray bake with lovely autumnal flavours. Mmmm . . . pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves . . . ginger. Topped with a tasty buttercream frosting.

350g of plain flour, sifted (2 1/2 cups)
332g of caster sugar (1 2/3 cups)
6 ounces of butter, softened (3/4 cup)
70ml of milk (approximately 1/3 cup)
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves
2 large free range eggs
1 (15-ounce) tin of pureed pumpkin

For the frosting:
560g of sifted icing sugar (4 cups)
4 ounces butter, softened (1/2 cup)
2 tsp vanilla
3 to 4 TBS milk

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark4. Butter a 15 by 10 inch tray bake pan, or jelly roll pan. Line with parchment paper, leaving an overhang to ease removal.

Combine all the bar ingredients in a large bowl. Beat well with an electric whisk on medium speed, until well mixed and fluffy, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl occasionally. Spread the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing over the top. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until it tests done. A toothpick inserted in the centre should come otu clean and the top should spring back when lightly touched.

Remove from the oven to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

Combine the icing sugar, butter and vanilla in a large bowl. Beat at medium speed, gradually adding the milk and scraping the bowl often, until you get the right consistency for spreading. Spread over the cooled cake. Cut into bars to serve.

Ginger and pears are a beautiful combination . . . the pears sweet and lucious, the ginger fiery and hot . . .



I found this scrummy old fashioned pudding recipe in one of my cookbooks the other day, Good Old Fashioned Puddings, by Sarah Paston Williams and published by the National Trust.



It is chock filled with beautiful old fashioned recipes for delicious desserts and teatime treats, guaranteed to please most people! This tasty gingerbread like pudding recipe called out to me from the start!



I am an old fashioned gal with an old fashioned husband, so you just know that this tasty delight went down a real treat with us.



So perfectly autumnal . . . with fresh pears and warm spices . . . toasty walnuts, cherries and sweet sugar and treacle . . . both kinds golden and dark . . . the end result more like a cake than a pudding, with a rich toffee topping pooled around the fruit and nuts . . . the cake all rich and gingerbready beneath that fruity decadence.



Lashings of custard or cream are a must! We chose to have extra thick double spooning cream with ours.



Oh my . . . but it was some good . . . three hours later, and I am finding the leftover's hard to resist . . . I keep going into the kitchen and cutting off tiny slivers . . .

Oh I am a glutton . . .



*Gingerbread and Pear Upside-down Pudding*
Serves 6
Printable Recipe

I am told this was very popular in Victorian days. I don't know about that, but I can tell you that it's very, very good!

1 3/4 ounces of butter (scant 1/4 cup)
70g of soft light brown sugar (about 1/3 cup packed)
3 firm pears
6 glace cherries
walnut halves

For the cake:
4 ounces butter (1/2 cup)
70g of slft light brown sugar (about 1/3 cup packed)
4 ounces black treacle (1/2 cup)
4 ounces golden syrup (1/2 cup)
(You can use 1 cup of mild molasses)
225g of plain flour (a generous 2 cups)
1/4 tsp salt
pinch of ground cloves
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 level teaspoon of baking soda
150ml of warm full fat milk (scant 2/3 cup)
2 large free range eggs

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Butter a 9 inch round deep baking tin. Line the bottom and sides with greaseproof paper. Melt the butter for the topping in a saucepan along with the brown sugar and stir for a few minutes to dissolve. Pour into the bottom of the tin. Peel, halve and core the pears. Put a glace cherry in the middle of each and then place cut side down into the brown sugar mixture in the baking pan, with stalk ends facing the centre. Place walnut halves in between the pears.

Put the butter for the cake bit in a larger saucepan. Melt together with the brown sugar, treacle and syrup. Whisk in the salt, cloves, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and soda. Whisk in the eggs and milk and then the flour until you get a smooth batter. Pour this batter carefully over top of the pears in the tin. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until well risen and firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and allow to shrink a little before turning out onto a warm serving plate. Carefully remove the paper. Serve warm with custard, or cream.

I make no secret of the fact that I love blueberries. I hold up my hand and confess . . . it's true, true, TRUE! I DO LOVE BLUEBERRIES!



When I first moved over here to the UK ten years ago, blueberries were really, really hard to find. I remember being out for a walk with Todd one day, and finding a bush covered with tons of what looked like dusky blue berries and thinking that they were real Blueberries! I was so excited about my find! Poor Todd I made him eat one so that he could taste what a blueberry tastes like before I realized that they weren't blueberries at all!



He must really, really, REALLY love me, eh?



Anyways, over the past few years blueberries have become increasingly easier to find and sometimes they are even quite affordable. When I find them on special, I buy up lots of them and freeze them so that I can have blueberries almost whenever I want them! They freeze really, really well.



I do miss the wild blueberries of back home, where they grew in abundance, but hey . . . when it comes right down to it, I'll take what I can get! Better these than none at all!



This delicious cake is one of my favourite ways to use them. (Next to blueberry pancakes, pie and muffins of course!)



Tender and fluffy, it literally melts in the mouth, and has a scrummy crunchy sugar topping. You don't need to make the Blueberry Cream to go with it . . . but really, it's not that hard and is so very delicious. They go perfectly together . . . jes like peaches and cream! Sho nuff!




*Melt-In-Your-Mouth Blueberry Cake, with a Lemon Cream*
Serves 6
Printable Recipe

Easy and delicious. The Lemon Cream makes this one extra special!

2 large free range eggs, separated
7 ounces granulated sugar, plus 1 dessertspoonful
8 TBS unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp baking powder
210g of plain flour (1 1/2 cups)
80ml of milk (1/3 cup)
8 ounces fresh or frozen blueberries (about 1 1/2 cups)

For the Lemon Cream:
250ml of double cream
80ml of good quality or homemade lemon curd

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ Gas mark 4. Butter a deep 8-inch square pan and line with parchment paper. Butter again. Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in 2 ounces of the sugar and continue to beat until stiff and glossy. Set aside.

Cream together the butter and 5 ounces of the sugar, until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks and vanilla. Remove 2 TBS of flour and toss with the blueberries. Set aside. Whisk together the rest of the flour, salt and baking powder. Alternately mix the dry ingredients into the butter mixture with the milk, beginning and ending with dry, blending in each addition well. Stir in 1/4 of the beaten egg whites to lighten the batter and then genly fold in the remainder. Fold in the flour tossed blueberries. Turn into the prepared pan. Level off and then dust with the dessertspoonful of sugar.

Bake for 50 to 55 minutes until lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Place on a wire rack and let cool completely before serving.

To make the Lemon Cream, whip the double cream together with the lemon curd until soft peaks form.

When ready to serve cut into squares and place on a plate. Top each with a dollop of Lemon Cream.

I've been wanting to make this cake for awhile now . . . but for some reason there have been no ground almonds to be found in any of the stores locally. Perhaps there is a shortage or some such. Most annoying as they are an ingredient I use fairly often!



I decided to take the bull by the horns today and make my own.



I have always been a bit leery of grinding my own, because if you take it just that little bit too far . . . nuts can become a bit oily . . . and I didn't want that to happen.



I read somewhere recently though, that . . . if you add a bit of the sugar from the recipe to the nuts as you are grinding them, this can help to prevent that from happening . . . so this I tried . . . and with great success I might add!




We are having company tonight for a small group scripture study and then a time of fellowship and refreshments afterwards. I thought this cake would go down a real treat.





It's dense and rich and oh so buttery and delicious. It's one of those cakes that actually gets better tasting as the days go on . . .

Not that you will have it around that long. It's really that good that it will disappear . . .

lickety split!!



*Almond and Orange Syrup Cake*
Serves 8
Printable Recipe

A beautifully dense and delicious cake, with a sticky orange topping.

250g blanched almonds (about 2 cups)
225g of caster sugar (1 1/4 cups)
50g of self raising flour (1/3 cup plus 1 TBS)
250g of unsalted butter at room temperature (1 generous cup)
the grated orange zest of 2 large oranges
4 large free range eggs
60g of flaked almonds (about 1//2 to 3/4 cup)

Orange Syrup:
the freshly squeezed juice of two large oranges
55g of caster sugar (a heaped quarter cup)

To serve:
Creme fraiche or extra thick double cream

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/gas mark 4. Butter a 9 inch springform pan and set aside.

Put the almonds into the food processor along with 1/4 of the sugar. Process until finely chopped. Transfer them to a bowl. Rub the orange zest into the sugar with your fingertips until it gets very fragrant. (my favourite part of this and a tip I learned from Dorie Greenspan.) Tip the sugar and flour into the bowl containing the almonds.

Beat the butter until fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition to mix in well. Add the flour mixture in two batches, beating again after each addition until well combined. Scrape the mixture into the prepared pan. Level off. Sprinkle with the flaked almonds.

Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, until golden on top and set. If you think it is browning too quickly, then cover with foil, shiny side up.

While the cake is baking make the orange syrup. Place the orange juice and sugar into a small saucepan. Bring to the boil, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat and keep warm.

Once the cake is done remove it from the oven and poke it all over with a skewer. Spoon the orange syrup over the top of the hot cake, allowing it to soak in.

Let the cake cool before cutting into slices to serve. Pass the creme fraiche or cream.

Note - a spring of rosemary simmered in with the orange syrup gives it an elusive and wonderful flavour addition! Discard the rosemary before spooning the syrup over the cake.





I chose a random numbers generator to pick a winner of the Kellogg's Family Breakfast Hamper and guess what, it chose Number 1! I wish I could have one of these sent to each of you. Heck I wish I could have one of these myself! Angie, you are the winner. Let me know your details and I'll arrange to have it sent to you as soon as! Take heart the rest of you. I'll be hosting another giveaway soon and I think the next one is going to be kitchenware!