Welcome to my blog all about the things I love to grow and cook. You'll find a collection of seasonal gluten-free, dairy-free and vegan-friendly recipe posts, as well as a round up of my gardening throughout the year. I wish you good reading, happy cooking and perfect planting!
Hello there. So here we are at the end of another month. I hope you have had a good couple of weeks since my last post. I had been intending to show you round my garden at this point in time, but to be honest, there is not a lot to see. Most things are looking rather soggy and bedraggled after recent heavy rain . It feels like Autumn has been cut short this year by the rain washing the leaves from the trees.
No matter, I have some cheery images of my apple and pear harvests earlier in the month. I was able to capture the images under mostly blue skies which should make for better viewing. I hope you enjoy them 🙂
Lord Derby cooking apple harvest 2021. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
The old apple tree in the garden produced a fraction of the apples it provided last year. In 2020, I had at least 4 times the amount. However, I still have a good basketful and have started cooking them down. I think they will last a few weeks yet.
Miniature eating apple trees. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
Harvested eating apples. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
It’s been a bumper year for eating apples. Only a handful from one tree last year and nothing from the other, but this year I have been rewarded with a huge crop by comparison. The very red apples are called Katy but sadly I can’t remember the other variety now, however both varieties are sweet, juicy and very delicious, and they keep well.
Concorde pear tree and fruit. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
And so to the pears trees. They have also had a good year, providing a generous basketful after a very poor crop last year. Both trees are still small although they have been planted in the garden for about a decade now. The pears store well so there will be fruit to enjoy for a while yet.
Homegrown Concorde and Comice pears. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
I have posted many apple and pear recipes over the years, but these are my top 3 which you might like to try – just click on the links for the recipes:
Pear, pecan and maple crostata. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
I hope you are enjoying Autumn/The Fall wherever you are and I look forward to sharing some more recipes and images with you in my next post. My best wishes to you until then.
Homemade plum, sloe and apple cheese. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
Hello again. I have a very seasonal recipe to share with you this week. I have been out and about enjoying the autumnal colours. On one of my walks, I was fortunate enough to find some sloe berries still in situ on a wild blackthorn hedge. They were growing so thickly that they looked like bunches of grapes. I had a small bag with me and was able to fill it with a precious harvest of these dark blue-skinned fruits with their fine silvery bloom.
Scottish sloe foraging. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
Finding the sloes coincided with the last few Victoria plums ripening in the garden, and the beginning of the apple season. What better way to use them all than to combine them in a delicious thick and fruity preserve, the perfect colour to match the season.
End of the season Victoria plums and new season Lord Derby cooking apples. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
I have posted a similar recipe to this one, before using only plums. You can find the recipe here: Plum and bay membrillo (naturally gluten-free and vegan) This year’s version is very fruity and makes a delicious sweet treat on its own or with cream or yogurt. Serve it as an accompaniment to roasted, grilled or barbecued food, and if you eat cheese, it’s good served with just about any variety.
Sugar-coating fruit cheeses. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
I set the fruit cheese in individual silicone moulds and dusted them with more sugar; the remaining cheese went into a ramekin dish. Choose anything heatproof like a tin or ovenproof dish; line the container and then once it is cold you can slice it or turn it out. Keep the cheese wrapped up in the fridge for up to a month or it can be frozen. Set in a pretty little dish, I think it would make a lovely edible gift – if you can bring yourself to hand it over to anyone else!
Sugar-coated fruit cheese. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
Makes: approx. 750g
Ingredients
275g plums, stones removed, chopped
275g sloes, washed
500g cooking apples, cored and chopped
approx. 550g granulated white sugar + extra for dusting (optional)
1. Put all the fruit in a large saucepan and pour over 200ml water. Bring to the boil, cover and then simmer for 15-20 minutes until very soft.
5. Stir the mixture until the sugar dissolves and then bring back to the boil and continue cooking for a further 20 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent the mix sticking on the bottom of the pan, until very thick. If you have a jam thermometer, cook the mixture to 105°C. I use a spatula for the stirring because it gets right into the edges of the pan which helps to prevent the mixture sticking and burning.
6. Working quickly, spoon the mixture into whatever you have chosen to set the cheese. As the mixture cools, it becomes thicker and more solidified making it more challenging to shape. However, you can reheat the mixture gently to soften it if you need to.
7. Allow the cheese to cool and set completely before attempting to turn it out or to slice it. I would suggest chilling it for an hour after cooling if you want to turn it out cleanly.
Moulding and unmoulding the fruit cheese. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
If you are making individual cheeses, you will find that a sugar coating sticks easily to the surface. Simple sprinkle over or gently roll the cheeses in a pile of sugar. The sugar coating does make smaller pieces easier to wrap in waxed paper and helps prevent the cheese sticking to the wrapping.
Fruit cheeses up close. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
I hope you have a good few days ahead and that you are able to get out and about to enjoy the beautiful shades of the season. Until next time, my best wishes to you 🙂
Hello everyone. I hope life is treating you well. Time for a foodie post this week, and something to celebrate the fabulous fruit around at the moment. I picked Victoria plums from the garden last weekend and have been busy making compote and jam, and it won’t be long now until the apples and pears are ripe and ready. One of the most delicious fruits I have eaten recently have been fresh peaches (sadly not homegrown). As well as enjoying them just as they are in all their juicy-sweet deliciousness, I made this bake which I thought to share with you.
Just peaches. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
The bake will work with other seasonal fruits like plums and greengages – you’ll just need to adjust the sweetness accordingly. As well as adding flaked almonds to the topping, I have added my beloved marzipan but this can be left out and sweeten the topping with sugar instead. If you’re not an almond fan, try pecans or toasted hazelnuts and maple syrup, and add finely grated orange rind or vanilla extract for extra flavour.
Preparing fresh peaches. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
I did struggle a bit to remove the stones from the fruit as they were a little bit soft, so slightly less ripe work better for neat slices. I add lemon juice to the slices before sweetening as I find that peaches often discolour when cooked.
Looking peachy. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
Serves: 6
Ingredients
6 firm to ripe peaches
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tbsp caster sugar
1 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch)
For the topping:
150g gluten-free plain flour blend
75g dairy-free block margarine (or butter), cut into pieces
A pinch of salt
75g marzipan, grated
50g toasted flaked almonds
15g chopped pistachios
1. Preheat the oven to 200°C, 180°C fan oven, gas 6. Wash and pat dry the peaches, then cut in half and remove the stones. Cut into thick slices and place in a baking dish. Toss in the lemon juice to help prevent browning. Set aside.
2. For the topping, put the flour in a bowl and add the margarine and salt. Rub the margarine into the flour until well blended. Stir in the marzipan making sure it is well distributed and then stir in the flaked almonds.
3. Mix the sugar and cornflour (cornstarch) into the peaches and sprinkle the topping over the fruit. Put the dish on a baking tray and bake for 30-35 minutes until lightly golden. Best served warm, sprinkled with pistachios.
Peaches and almond topping. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
Inside peach and almond bake. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
That’s all for another week. I hope enjoy the recipe and I look forward to posting again in a few days time. Until then, take care and stay safe 🙂
Hello again. I hope you are keeping well and enjoying the summer. I have made an interesting discovery since my last post. The berries I thought I had growing in my garden (and have been cooking for a few years each Summer) are not Aronia berries after all, they are in fact Salal or Shallon berries. Fortunately for me, they are edible – thank goodness! The shrub, like the blueberry, is part of the heather (Ericaceae) family and is called Gaultheria; it hails from north-west America, and seems very much at home here in central Scotland.
Gaultheria Shallon. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
Starry Salal berries. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
Gaultheria Shallon is evergreen and likes acidic soil. It is pretty invasive and has a tendency to spread all over the place. It throws up suckers which can be quite challenging to restrain. This August the shrubs in my garden have produced a bumper crop of berries which I (and the blackbirds) have been able to enjoy safe in the knowledge that I actually know what I’m cooking this year (!). The berries are deep purple and fleshy when ripe and have a soft bristly skin. They are quite difficult to pick individually so I pick small bundles and then strip the berries off the stalks later on.
Stripping the berries from the stalks. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
When ripe, Salal berries are very soft and squishy. They are attached to the main stalk by tiny woody ends. I have found that using scissors to pull the berries from the stalks is quite successful. If you don’t mind blue-stained fingers, then you can also gently pinch them off. To eat, the skin is very tender and the centre of the berry is very pulpy and full of tiny seeds. The flavour is much like a watery blueberry but without the slight acidity/tannins in the skin. Salal berries have a high Vitamin C content and the leaves have anti-inflammatory properties, although I have yet to try this out.
Washing Salal berries. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
After stripping the berries from the stalks, I put them in a large colander (strainer) and dunk them a few times in a large bowl of cold water. This gets rid of dust and the little bits of leaf and stem which get through your fingers. To cook with them, I treat them as I would blueberries but they do benefit from adding a little acidity such as lemon juice, which gives them a little extra tanginess.
If you are able to find some Salal berries or if you have them growing in your garden and didn’t realise what they were, I have a couple of basic recipes to share with you. The first is a very basic jam recipe (naturally gluten-free and vegan), and the second a gluten-free and vegan sweet muffin recipe; both recipes have been adapted from blueberry versions.
Homemade Salal berry jam. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
Makes about 650g jam
Ingredients
500g washed and prepared ripe Salal berries
450g granulated sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
1. Put the berries in a large saucepan, heat gently until steam rises then cover with a lid and cook for about 10-15 minutes to soften.
2. Add the sugar and lemon juice, and cook gently, stirring, until the sugar dissolves, then raise the heat and boil rapidly for 8-10 minutes until setting point is reached – between 104°C and 105°C.
3. Ladle into clean, hot jam jars and seal well. Cool and label.
Making Salal berry jam. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
Fresh out of the pot, Salal berry jam. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
Salal berry muffins. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
Makes: 12
Ingredients
175g gluten-free plain flour blend
12g gluten-free baking powder
100g ground almonds
100g soft light brown sugar
60g plain plant-based yogurt
115g dairy-free margarine, melted
150ml plant-based milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
165g washed and prepared Salal berries
1. Preheat the oven to 200°C, 180°C fan oven, gas 6. Line 12 muffin tins with paper cases.
2. Put all the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix well, pressing out any lumps in the flour and sugar. Make a well in the centre.
3. Add the yogurt, melted margarine, milk and vanilla and mix into the dry ingredients to make a thick smooth batter. Gently fold in the berries.
4. Divide between the muffin cases and bake for about 25 minutes until risen and lightly golden. Cool on a wire rack and store in an airtight container. They should keep for 3-4 days, and will freeze well.
Making Salal berry muffins. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
Muffins cooling. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
Light, crumbly and very fruity. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
I hope you have a good few days ahead. I look forward to posting again soon. Until then, take care and stay well.
Hello everyone. I hope you are enjoying some sunshine. It’s been incredibly hot here in the UK these past few days, lots of blue sky and high temperatures. I have been outside enjoying the warmth but also seeking the shadier parts of the garden to work in. I have lots of produce to water as well, so I am hoping for some (night-time) rain to refill the water butts again.
Ripe and ready for picking, this year’s homegrown Scottish raspberries. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
My recipe post this week is inspired by one of the best and most successful home-grown Scottish fruits, the raspberry. I have been picking a bowlful a day for the past week or so, enjoying some for breakfast and putting the rest in the freezer, ready for jam making later in the year.
Freshly picked July Scottish raspberries. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
Berry nice shorties. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
This is a very simple recipe. The texture of these little fruity bakes lives up to their name, it is incredibly short, crumbly and melt-in-the-mouth. The Shorties are best eaten from the cases. You could try adding a little xanthan gum to the mixture for a firmer bite, but I love the crumbliness. They are also very moreish – you have been warned.
Pretty pink cake cases. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
I use smaller cake cases for this recipe, so not the large muffin or cup-cake size. These are the cases you would use for fairy cakes or small buns. You can see from the image above that the cases don’t quite fit the depth of the muffin tins. However, I like to use the deeper tins to hold the cases as the deeper sides give support to the cases while the mixture bakes.
Raspberry and beetroot jam. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
You can use any jam you like for the filling. I made some reduced sugar raspberry jam using a recipe I posted last year. It replaces some of the sugar with cooked beetroot. You can find the recipe here if you fancy trying some. One other thing to mention is that most of the jam added before baking will become buried once the mixture cooks, so you might want to add some more on top along with a few more almonds just before serving.
Makes: 12
Ingredients
75g white vegetable fat (such as Trex) or coconut oil, softened
75g dairy-free margarine, softened
1 teasp good quality vanilla extract
100g gluten-free plain flour blend (such as Doves Farm) + extra for dusting
50g ground almonds
25g cornflour (cornstarch)
45g icing sugar + extra for dusting
3g gluten-free baking powder
150g your favourite jam
40g toasted flaked almonds
1. Preheat the oven to 200°C, 180°C fan oven, gas 6. Line 12 muffin tins with paper cake cases (fairy cake size).
2. Mix together all the ingredients except the jam and flaked almonds until smooth and creamy. Spoon into a piping bag fitted with a 1.5cm diameter plain nozzle.
Making the shortie batter. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
3. Pipe an approx. 3cm diameter mound in each paper case. If you don’t want to pipe the mixture, use a teaspoon to spoon the mixture into the cases instead and then smooth the tops.
4. Dust the end of a wooden spoon with more flour and use to make a neat pocket in the centre of each.
Filling the cases. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
5. Spoon about 1 teaspoon of jam into each and sprinkle with a few flaked almonds. Bake for about 20 minutes until lightly golden. Leave to cool for about 20 minutes to firm up before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
6. Just before serving, top with a little more jam and a few more flaked almonds, then dust lightly with icing sugar and serve. The Shorties will keep in a sealed container for 4-5 days but the texture will soften.
Shorties ready to eat. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
Inside a shortie. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
That’s me for another week. I hope you enjoyed my post and I look forward to seeing you again in a couple of weeks. Until then, take care and keep safe.
As I sit down to write my post this week, I am looking out on a sunny garden, with blue sky and fluffy white clouds. This has been a rare sight this month. Here we are in the third week of May and the season feels like it is hardly shifting forward. In fact, at times it has felt that things were moving in retrograde with chilly strong winds, rain and grey skies.
Classic almond-topped Bakewell tart. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
Time to cheer myself up with a spot of baking, and a Bakewell tart always hits the spot. I was spurred on by the sight of newly set cherries on the espaliered Morello cherry tree in the garden. After another bumper blossoming, I was very happy to see lots of fruits forming. All my fussing around with fleece last month to protect the blossom from frost has paid off. Fingers crossed.
This year’s blossom and newly formed fruit. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
I still have some of last year’s precious harvest in the freezer. Morello cherries have a tart, tangy flavour and make an ideal companion for the sweet, rich almondy sponge in a Bakewell tart. This time I kept the tart plain and simple with a classic topping of flaked almonds for a bit of crunch. A few weeks ago I made a slightly more indulgent version with extra cherries and pistachio nuts – options for either version below.
2020 Morello harvest on ice. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
Use whatever cherries you have for this recipe; fresh, canned or frozen will work fine. Other berry fruits will work as well such as blueberries, blackberries or raspberries, or try a layer of cooked apple and pear. The classic version is to spread the pastry base with jam; I find this a little too sweet nowadays, but it’s down to personal taste. If you find almond extract too overpowering, replace it with vanilla for a more subtle flavour. If you don’t want the bother of making your own pastry, use 325g ready-made gluten-free shortcrust.
Serves: 8
Ingredients
For the pastry:
60g white vegetable fat, softened
55g dairy-free margarine, softened
50g caster sugar
230g gluten-free plain flour blend such as Dove’s Farm
1/4 tsp xanthan gum (not essential but it does make the pastry easier to work with and slightly crisper)
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
For the filling and topping:
30g ground linseeds (flax seeds)
125g dairy-free margarine, softened
125g caster sugar
125g ground almonds
25g gluten-free plain flour
1 tsp almond extract (use vanilla for a less almondy flavour)
225g – 300g pitted cherries, thawed if frozen (or other prepared berries)
Flaked almonds or chopped pistachios to sprinkle
First make the pastry. Beat together the fats until smooth and creamy, then whisk in the sugar until well blended. Add the remaining pastry ingredients and carefully stir everything together to make a crumbly mixture.
Bring the crumble together with your hands and knead gently to make a smooth, firm ball of dough. Wrap and chill for at least 1 hour. This pastry doesn’t firm up very much but it is easier to handle if you do refrigerate it before rolling out.
Lightly dust the work surface with more flour and roll out the pastry to a thickness of 1/2 cm – any thinner and the pastry tears easily. Transfer the pastry to a lightly greased 23cm loose-based fluted or plain flan tin, 3-4cm deep. You may find it easier to transfer the pastry in pieces and patch it together in the tin.
Trim the edge to neaten the edge and then chill the pastry for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 190°C, 170°C fan, Gas 5. Line the pastry case with baking parchment and fill with baking beans or raw rice (or dry pulses). Bake for 15 minutes. Stand for 5 minutes, then carefully remove the beans and peel away the paper. Prick the base and return to the oven for a further 15 minutes to set the pastry all over. Reduce the oven temperature to 180°C, 160°C fan, Gas 4.
While the pastry is cooking, make up the filling. Put the ground linseeds in a bowl and stir in 90ml cold water. Leave to stand for about 10 minutes until thickened. Mix together the margarine, sugar, almonds, flour and almond extract until well blended, then stir in the linseed paste, to make a smooth, creamy mixture.
Spread 225g cherries over the base of the pastry case and smooth the almond mixture on top. For a very cherry version, gently push another 75g cherries into the almond mixture. Sprinkle with generously flaked almonds or pistachios and put the tin on a baking tray. Bake for about 1hr until golden and firm to the touch. Leave to cool in the tin before removing.
Making Cherry Bakewell tart. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
Bakewell tart with extra cherries and chopped pistachios. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
Classic Bakewell tart topped with crispy flaked almonds. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
I prefer to serve the tart at room temperature because I think it has more flavour, but it can be served warm as a pudding with cream or custard. I made a cherry sauce with the juices from the thawed cherries and a little fruit juice. Simply heated and thickened with cornflour. Any which way, this is bake is in my top 10 all-time favourite sweet treats.
Bakewell tart with cherry sauce. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
All the best for now. See you again in a couple of weeks. Take care and keep safe 🙂
Spring rhubarb ready for harvest. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
Hello again. I hope you have been enjoying some good weather these past few days. At last we are enjoying frost-free nights and blue-sky days. Long may it last!
My first rhubarb pickings, April 2021. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
I have been able to pick my first few stalks of rhubarb. I didn’t force any plants this year, so I was delighted to find 5 stems ready for picking so early on in the season.
The week before this rhubarb was ready, I used up my last bag of frozen rhubarb from last summer. I combined it with some frozen ripe bananas I keep in the freezer for making loaf cakes and made a compote. It’s not the best-looking mixture you’ll come across but it tasted great. The sweetness of the banana helped to reduce the sugar content.
Preparing frozen rhubarb and banana compote. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
I put 450g frozen rhubarb in a saucepan with 230g frozen very ripe banana and cooked them over a low heat with the lid on for about 30 minutes until they had thawed and become very soft. Mix together until well combined. I added 4 tbsp white sugar gradually. Taste and sweeten in small amounts to keep sugar content to a minimum. Best eaten cold for maximum flavour – it makes a lovely breakfast bowl with homemade coconut granola and coconut yogurt. You could make this with fresh rhubarb and ripe bananas, and simply reduce the cooking time.
Rhubarb and banana compote breakfast bowl. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
My second recipe is something I cooked up using the new season’s rhubarb. It is made from a very simple combination of ingredients I had in the fridge and freezer, and is something I was able to put together quickly.
April rhubarb stems. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
Roll out 300g gluten-free rough puff or puff pastry (or you can use shortcrust if you prefer) to an approximate 25cm square. Trim to neaten the edges, and then keep the trimmings for decoration. Knead and roll 150g natural marzipan to an oblong about 8cm wide and place down the middle of the pastry. Top with 200g chopped fresh rhubarb (cut into 3cm long pieces) and spoon over 100g raspberry jam.
Cut about 10 strips either side of the rhubarb, brush with a little dairy-free milk and fold over the top of the fruit, pressing together gently to seal together. Press the pastry at both ends together in order to seal the marzipan and fruit within.
Transfer to a lined baking tray, brush all over with 1 tbsp dairy-free milk mixed with 1 tbsp maple syrup. Decorate with any trimmings and brush these before baking in a preheated oven at 200°C, 180°C fan oven, gas 6 for about 40 minutes until lightly golden and crisp. Best served warm. Serves: 6
Rhubarb and marzipan plait. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
That’s me for another week. I have a busy few days ahead of me now so it will next month before I get to post again. Until then, take care, keep safe, and enjoy the spring sunshine 🙂
Toffee apple upside-down cake. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
Hello again. How are you? All well I hope. It feels very autumnal now, and with the world seemingly facing a lot of uncertainty again, it feels the right time to publish a heart-warming slice of comfort with this week’s post.
First main harvest of apples. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
I’ve been picking a few cooking apples here and there from the tree in the garden for about a month now. This week, I decided it was time to gather as many as I could reach. The baskets above contain about half the amount the tree has produced this year – I need to call in the cavalry to get the rest!
Solo apple. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
To be honest, the apple variety Lord Derby isn’t the greatest tasting apple out there, but the apples cook very well and reatian their texture if you want them too, so are ideal for baking. They also require little sugar, and can be eaten raw – they are similar to a Granny Smith eating apple.
This week’s recipe is a combination of a cake batter used for sticky toffee pudding along with the delicious sauce – you can find a festive version of the classic comfort pudding by clicking here – baked in a tin lined with fruit as you would for an upside-down cake.
Apples, cake and toffee sauce. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
I hope you enjoy the cake, it really is good, and it is just as delicious served hot as a pudding or cold as a slice to go with a cup of coffee 🙂
Apple cake and apple leaves. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
Serves: 10
Ingredients
225g pitted dates, chopped
25g golden or corn syrup
450g cooking apples
1 lemon
150ml sunflower oil
150g soft light brown sugar
300g gluten-free self raising flour blend (such as Doves Farm)
1 tsp vanilla extract
180ml dairy-free milk (I use oat milk)
For the sauce
100g golden or corn syrup
40g dairy-free margarine
100g soft light brown sugar
100ml single dairy-free cream (such as oat or soya)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1. Put the dates in a saucepan with 225ml cold water, bring to the boil and simmer gently for 5-6 minutes until soft and thick. Remove from the heat and beat until smooth – use a stick blender to obtain a very smooth paste. Leave to cool completely. Transfer to a mixing bowl.
Making date paste. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
2. Grease and line a 23cm round spring-clip cake tin and drizzle the syrup over the base. Put to one side.
Apple cake tin preparation. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
3. Next prepare the apples. Core the apples and peel them thinly. Extract the juice from the lemon, cut the juiced lemon in quarters and place both in a bowl with cold water. Slice the apples thinly into rings and submerge in the water to help prevent discoloration.
Apple preparation. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
4. Preheat the oven to 180°C, 160°C fan oven, gas 4. Mix the oil and sugar into the date paste. Stir in the flour, vanilla and milk to make a thick batter.
5. Drain and pat dry the apple slices on kitchen paper, and arrange sufficient slices to cover the base of the tin. Spoon over half the cake batter. Smooth and then use the remaining apple slices to make a layer on top.
6. Cover with the remaining cake batter, smooth the top and stand the tin on a baking tray. Bake for about 1 1/4 hours until risen and firm to the touch – test with a wooden skewer inserted into the centre to make sure the cake is thoroughly cooked. Leave too cool for 15 minutes before releasing from the tin and turning out on to a serving plate, upside-down.
Making the apple cake. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
7. While the cake is cooking, make the sauce. Put the syrup, margarine and sugar in a small saucepan and heat gently, stirring, until the sugar dissolves and the margarine melts.
8. Raise the heat and bring to the boil. Stop stirring and simmer the mixture for 3-4 minutes until richly golden – take care not too over-boil as the mixture will soon over-caramelise and burn. Turn off the heat and gradually stir in the cream and vanilla. Stir until well blended and leave to cool. Serve hot or cold.
How to make gluten-free and vegan toffee sauce. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
And that’s it, the cake is now ready to eat hot as a dessert with the warm sauce poured over, or let it go cold and drizzle over the sauce to serve.
Inside the cake. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
All my best wishes to you for the days ahead. Take care and keep safe. I look forward to posting again in a few days time.
Combination of fresh raspberries, pistachio nuts and marzipan. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
Hello everyone. I hope you are keeping well. I’ve had a busy few days since my last post. There seems to be lots to do in the garden and kitchen at the moment. Plenty of tidying up (and weeding!) in the garden, and the much anticipated home-grown fruit and veg is ripe and ready so lots to cook up and freeze as well.
This week’s post is an homage to my Glen Ample raspberry canes which have produced a phenomenal 6.3kg of berries this year. Rather forlornly, I picked the last few berries this week.
My 2020 raspberry haul. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
The canes are now having a well-earned rest and enjoying some sunshine – they had been covered with fleece for over a month as the birds took a fancy to the berries early on.
My exhausted raspberry canes. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
As you can imagine, I’ve had a lot of berries to play with but a combination of jam, vinegar, compote and a couple of large bags for the freezer has seen them all used up. By the way, compote makes the dish sound a bit grander, I literally cooked them with a bit of sugar to eat with my morning porridge!
Raspberry compote, jam, freezer packs and vinegar. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
Links to all my other raspberry recipes can be found by clicking on the key-words below:
On with this week’s recipe. Another reinvention of a crumble-topped cake – they are so easy to make, and taste delicious, I just can’t resist making them! Leave out the pistachios or replace with almonds or hazelnuts if you prefer, and the marzipan layer is optional (I realise it’s not to everyone’s taste) but you may want to add some sugar to the raspberry mixture if you don’t use it.
Fruit and nut, a winning flavour combination. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
Serves: 10-12
Ingredients
180g dairy-free margarine, softened
100g vanilla or plain caster sugar
100g ground almonds
260g gluten free plain flour blend (such as Doves Farm)
50g unsalted pistachio nuts, finely chopped + extra pistachios to decorate
150g marzipan, grated (optional)
300g fresh raspberries
1 tbsp cornflour
Icing sugar to dust
Preheat the oven to 180°C, 160°C fan oven, gas 4. Grease and line a deep 20cm round cake tin – I used a spring-clip tin for ease. In a mixing bowl, beat together the margarine and sugar until creamy, then stir in the almonds, flour and pistachios to make a crumbly mixture.
Press half of the mixture into the bottom of the tin, prick with a fork and put the in on a baking tray. Bake for about 20 minutes until lightly golden round the edge. Sprinkle the marzipan all over the cooked base if using and put to one side.
Making the crumble and assembling the cake. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
Mash the raspberries with a fork and add the cornflour – if you are not using marzipan add 2 tbsp caster sugar to the raspberry mix as well. Spoon over the marzipan layer and spread out evenly.
Sprinkle over the remaining crumble mixture, pat down lightly with the back of a spoon and bake for about 40 minutes until lightly golden. Leave to cool in the tin on a wire rack for at least 10 minutes before releasing and transferring to a serving plate to serve warm, or leave to cool completely in the tin to serve cold.
Adding the raspberries and crumble top. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
Serve this cake warm as a dessert with cream, yogurt or custard or cold as a delicious and indulgent slice to accompany a cup of coffee.
I am very much hoping that by publishing this week’s recipe, the weather will become more appropriate for enjoying an icy dessert. It’s been much cooler here these past few days, but the forecast is hotting up again so hopefully my post will be quite timely.
Vegan berry-flavoured ice cream with fresh strawberry sauce and wild strawberries. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
To be perfectly honest, I’m not a huge fan of frozen desserts, but when the heat is on, I can be persuaded by a scoop or two of a good non-dairy ice. I’ve been trying to perfect a recipe of my own for a while, and at last, I think I’ve cracked it.
Cooling, creamy and delicious. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
My recipe is a combination of a thick vegan cream I made a posted a few weeks ago and an uncooked aquafaba meringue mixture. Once the two are combined, the resulting mixture doesn’t require any stirring, you just pop it in the freezer for a few hours until frozen. Easy-peasy.
Homemade vegan cream. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
Bean water (aquafaba) meringue. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
To flavour the ice cream, I added some freeze-dried fruit pieces and a little soft-set blueberry jam I’d made. If you want to experiment with other flavours, I would suggest using dry ingredients like chocolate chips, crushed caramel, small pieces of dried fruit, cocoa powder, etc. Adding anything too sloppy or saucy will water down the mixture; you will lose air, and the resulting ice cream will be solid and icy, rather than soft and creamy.
Freeze-dried berry pieces and soft-set blueberry jam. Image: Kathryn Hawkins
The recipe below makes a small quantity (around 350g) which is enough for 2-3 servings. I have a cute little ice cream scoop which dishes up a perfect 30g scoop. This is just right for me, and is why my bowl is piled high with scoops! You may want to double the quantities in the recipe for more hearty portions.
Serves: 2 to 3
Ingredients
For the cream:
100ml readymade soya pouring cream
40g solid white vegetable fat such as Trex or flavourless coconut oil (or use traditional coconut oil for a coconut flavoured ice cream)
¼ tsp xanthan gum
A few drops vanilla extract or a pinch of salt
For the meringue:
75ml canning liquid from beans or chickpeas (aquafaba)
¼ tsp cream of tartar
60g caster sugar
¼ tsp xanthan gum
To flavour:
A few drops vanilla extract if liked
5g freeze-dried fruit pieces
25g soft-set jam
First make the cream. Pour the soya cream into a small heatproof bowl and add the fat. Place on top of a small saucepan of barely simmering water and leave to melt, stirring occasionally.
Remove from the heat, mix well, then stir in the xanthan gum until completely blended. Leave to cool, stirring occasionally. The mixture thickens on cooling.
When cold, have a taste and see if you like the flavour as it is. Otherwise add a few drops of vanilla extract or you might prefer a pinch of salt. Whisk for about a minute with an electric whisk, then cover and chill the cream for at least 2 hours. After this time, the cream should be the consistency of thick, spoonable yogurt. It will keep covered in the fridge for up to a week.
Making thick vegan cream. Images: Kathryn Hawkins
When the cream is thick and chilled, make the meringue. Pour the aquafaba into a large clean bowl, add the cream of tartar and whisk for a full 2 minutes.
Whisk in the sugar 1 tbsp at a time, whisking well in between additions, and then continue whisking for another full minute.
Add the xanthan gum and whisk for 1 more minute to make a thick meringue.
Gently and gradually mix the meringue into the cream taking care not to lose too much air, then gently stir in more vanilla if liked along with the berries. Lightly stir in the jam to give a rippled effect.
Scrape into a freezer container, seal and freeze for 3-4 hours until solid.
My Virtually Free-from Kitchen 