alice’s posterous

First you need about 140g hazelnuts. I didn't toast them but I finely chopped them in a food processor.

I then added 140g self-raising flour and 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (and I completely forgot to add 140g sugar!).

I whisked 3 egg whites until stiff, then I quickly stirred 140g butter melted, 75ml milk and the 3 egg yolks into the dry ingredients.
When the mixture was smooth, I stirred in one-third of the egg whites, then I gently folded in the rest. My son wanted to give me a hand :)

I poured the mixture into a tin,  and baked it for 40-50 mins until the cake was golden and springy to touch.

Whilst the cake was baking, I prepared the dark chocolate filling. I microwaved 100g dark chocolate with a bit of water and 1 tbsp clear honey and mixed it well to obtain a smooth consistency.
When the cake was out of the oven and had cooled down a bit, I splitted the sponge in half. I gently spooned the chocolate filling over the first half.

To finish, I put the other half of the cake back on top to obtain this delicious torte (even without sugar!).

In my previous post, I mentioned that pumpkins were in season (well, at least on the stalls on the market place next to where I live!). So I bought half of an enormous pumpkin and of course I had to carve it, cut it and peel it! I used part of it in small chunks for my creamy mushroomy chicken casserole. The easiest was for me to first scoop out the stringy insides and seeds, then cut the pumpkin into medium chunks and to peel each chunk. The outer skin is so though, I think it is too difficult to peel everything at once.

With the other part of half of my pumpkin (which results to a quarter of a pumpkin!), I decided to go for a pumpkin pie without the crust, so this basically became a pumpkin flan! It was a bit flat but still very tasty!

For the recipe, I more or less followed the guidelines from the video below, except I added a bit of ginger and vanilla essence and instead of the milk or cream, I added quark (cream cheese). You can find more details about the ingredients and how to carve a pumpkin here.

What about you? What is your favourite pumpkin recipe?

I had a few ripe nectarines so I decided to bake this yummy cake for dessert.
I followed this recipe but took a shortcut: instead of melting the butter and the brown sugar in a pan, I greased a tin with the butter and sprinkled it with the brown sugar. I then layered the nectarines on top of it and finally added the batter. It was quicker and saved me on cleaning a pan!
My one year old son loved it and had a quarter of the cake! He loves his food so much!

June means strawberry time!!! They are delicious eaten on their own but also in cakes and tarts.
This recipe is good when you have strawberries that are past their best.

Enjoy ;)

I looove blueberries!!!
My favourite recipe is blueberry pancakes with lot of marple syrup on top!

But I also like this recipe with soured cream or yogurt for the healthier version. It is simply delicious! I tried with and without the cheesecake frosting and both are good, although being French I prefer the one without the frosting ;)

 

My dad (@jfayel on Twitter) bought a huge box of strawberries so me and my mum ( @nanouk on Twitter) decided to make a strawberry tart using mascarpone as the filling.

Until I came to live in England, I didn't know this tradition: during Easter, on Good Friday, hot cross buns, a type of sweet spiced bun made with currants or raisins and leavened with yeast, are eaten in remembrance of Jesus crucifixion. They have a cross marked on the top which can be done in one of a variety of ways including: pastry, flour and water mixture or even icing.

I decided to try and bake them as they looked quite appetising! So I chose an easy recipe on
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/10119/easy-hot-cross-buns
and baked them with my 3 years old son and my sister-in-law who is also French and didn't know them.
It was easy to make and delicious warmed from the oven for breakfast.
If you want to find out more about the history and superstitions about them, have a look at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_Cross_Bun

And remember to share a hot cross bun with another to ensure friendship throughout the coming year, particularly if "Half for you and half for me, Between us two shall goodwill be" is said at the time!

   

Click here to download:

Hot_cross_buns..zip (4696 KB)

This dish is a typical Italian dish and is great to use aubergines
I found the recipe on the BBC Good Food website
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/10033/aubergine-tomato-and-parmesan-bake-melanzane-alla-

 The aubergine is in fact a fruit and is a good source of fibre and
folic acid. The colour of the skin is a result of the presence of
anthocyanins - compounds with antioxidant properties.
In Italy, aubergines are know as "la piccolo scarpetta" translated in
English as "the little shoe". They are also considered as the poor
man's meat because of their texture.
That is why I prepared this dish for my family as a main course and
everybody enjoyed it, including my 1 year old boy!
As they say in Italy, buon appetito tutti!

I received this recipe with my weekly fruit and veg box from http://www.abelandcole.co.uk
Clementines are in season so this is a great recipe if you had too many at the bottom of your stocking ;)

For the topping:
20g butter
1 tbsp clementine juice
3 tbsp sugar
8-10 clementines cut into thick slices

For the cake:
10 g butter softened
2 clementines juiced and zest finely grated
150g sugar
2 eggs
150g self-raising flour
150ml yogurt
1 tbsp ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 180 degres.
Butter a round cake tin.
Melt 3 tbsp of sugar with the butter and clementine juice over a high heat in a heavy frying pan, stirring in the edges as they caramelise to make a thick fudge sauce.
Lay in the clementine slices and cook for 1-2 minutes on each side, till brown and release their juices.
Transfer the clementines onto the tin.

Beat the butter and sugar until light and white.
Add the eggs one by one.
Fold in the flour, yogurt, ginger, cinnamon and clementine zest.
Add enough clementine juice for the mixture to drop softly from the spoon.
Spread the mixture over the fruit.

Bake for 40 minutes, covering loosely with foil for the last 15 minutes.
Wait till the cake cools a litlle, then tip onto a plate. It should look fab!

   

Click here to download:

Clementine_upside-down_cake..zip (13 KB)

I baked those delicious Christmas biscuits. They are very easy to make
and you can add any dried fruits. They are perfect with an espresso or
a cup of tea (if you live in England :))
The recipe is on the BBC GoodFood website
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/8022/fruity-christmas-biscotti?binderbox=showlogin