I simply love Paris and I can’t think of a time when it’s not good to go there. I love the city, its spirit and the colour of the sky in each and every season. Most of all, however, I love how the French create and savour their food.

Très chic! And while we are talking of chic, there surely is nothing more so than these little, sweet mouthful cakes that you can find over there!

Little delicious bonbons, macaroons, friands and, of course, madeleines.

Lemon and Poppy Seed Madeleines

Madeleines are my favorite little cakes. I can’t think of anything more feminine than a pretty escalloped madeleine cake with a light-as-air texture that is so sweet  and perfect.

I love that they’re dipped in a heavenly coat of icing, with a poetic and dreamy scent such as rosewater or orange blossom water. These little mouthfuls can really show you what perfection is all about…

If you enjoy them with a gently-scented tea like jasmine green tea or lady gray, well I think all your problems are going to disappear!  Well, for at least as long as your madeleines last…

As you may know, I love to recreate my favorite recipes without using any gluten or wheat. Sometimes this can be a pretty difficult task that you need to try again and again. But the results, when successful, can also be AMAZING!

Lemon and Poppy Seed Madeleines

That’s why I’m so happy about the recipe that I’m now going to share with you. This recipe is for Lemon and Poppy Seed Madeleines.

The speckled citrus batter has a classically British origin, but who says that you can’t pick the best of French and British cooking and bring them together? I’ve just done  it!

You will soon be able to buy these little beauties in the Del Sole Deli.  So, why not  try the recipe now or come along to the store to buy them!

Lemon and Poppy Seeds Madeleines

Ingredients: (For 2 Dozen)

• 175g unsalted butter 6oz plus 2 melted tbsp
• 4 large free range or organic eggs
• 75g or ½ cup rice flour
• 50g or ½ cup corn flour
• ½ heaped tsp xantham gum
• 150g caster sugar  2/3 cup sugar
• grated zest and juice of 1 untreated lemon
• 1tsp poppy seeds
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• a pinch of salt
• icing sugar

Instructions:

• Preheat the oven to 180°, 350F or gas mark 4.
• With the two tbsp of melted butter grease the madeleines molds.
• In a small heavy-base pan melt the butter over a gentle heat until it’s brown and nutty.
• To remove the solids part in the butter, strain through a fine mesh colander, then set aside and leave to cool.
• In a bowl mix together the rice flour, cornflour and xantham gum.
• Using and electric mixer on high speed, wish the eggs, pinch of salt, vanilla extract, lemon juice, poppy seeds and lemon zest for 7/8 minutes or until tripled in volume.
• Still on high speed, add the sugar in a steady stream. Whip for a further couple of minutes or until mixture is thick and ribbony.
• Sift over the mixed flour and xantham gum, then fold through using a large metal spoon.
• Fold in the melted butter with a large metal spoon but don’t over mix it.
• Leave the batter to rest for ½ hour in the fridge.
• Spoon the batter into the molds filling them up to ¾ full.
• Then bake for 10/15 minutes or until the edges of the madeleines are golden brown.
• Remove from the oven and unmold the madeleines.
• Leave to cool on racks then add a sprinkle of icing sugar.

Bon appetit!

I’m sure that many of you have been in a real rush while making your food shopping. I’m normally rushing even when I do the shopping for the store.

Sometimes I pick up the wrong box or bottle and once this included a double 2 litre pack of Hershey chocolate syrup.

I actually had ketchup not chocolate syrup on my list, but what can you do when you’re in a rush and you try to do too many things at the same time? Answer - you go home with a different product.

For a while I was wondering what to do with the chocolate syrup… then I remembered a Barefoot Contessa recipe that used chocolate syrup.

Apparently this was one of the cakes she used to make for her shop when she first opened and it was one that stuck in the memory of her customers because of its amazing rich flavour.

So here’s my version… and just a word of advice - this is so simple that anybody can bake it!

Be careful, these little cakes are terribly addictive!

Ingredients for the cake batter:

• 125g or 1 stick unsalted butter cubed and at room temperature
• 125g or 1 cup caster sugar
• 5 large eggs
• 450g or 16oz can chocolate syrup
• 175g or 1 cup plain flour sieved
• 1 tsp vanilla extracts
• pinch of fine sea salt

Ingredients for the chocolate ganache glaze:

• 125ml or ½ cup double cream
• 100g or ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (55% dark chocolate)
• ½ tsp vanilla extracts
• ½ shot of espresso coffee or a tbsp of your favorite liqueur (optional)
• pinch fine sea salt
• candied violets for decoration

Instructions:

• Preheat the oven to 180°C, 350°F or gas mark 4.
• Lightly butter 10 mini dariole molds 175ml or 6fluid oz capacity or muffins baking tray.
• With an electric mixer, beat the sugar, vanilla extracts and butter until nice and creamy then add 1 egg at the time at the mixture. Keep beating until each egg is incorporated fully.
• Fold in the the sifted flour and the chocolate syrup.
• Using a small ladle pour the cake batter into the dariole molds.
• Put the dariole molds on a baking tray and bake for 20/25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cakes comes out clean.
• Leave to cool then turn the cakes out from the molds.
• Put on a cooling rack. Prepare the glaze.
• In a double boiler put the chocolate chips and wait until they start to melt. Add the cream and vanilla and with the help of a spatula stir the mixture until nice and smooth.
• Remove from the heath, leave to cool for 5 minutes then spoon on top of the cakes. Leave to set for ½ hour, top with candied violets then serve.
• For a gluten free version of this recipe substitute the flour with:
  • 75g or ½ cup fine polenta or maize flour
  • 75g or ½ cup rice flour
  • 50g or ½ cup cornflour
  • 1 tsp xantham gum
• Mix the flours and the xantham gum together, sieve than proceed as above.

I am a fan of cheesecake, of any kind of cake to be honest, but today I wanted to make a cake that had a soft, crumbling base. Simple but definitely not boring.

Adding almonds and lemon zest is a very Italian thing to do, so sometimes you just shouldn’t fight what your mother taught you about cakes, just embrace it.

I was happy with the base ingredients, but what else?

Ricotta and Almond cake with Vanilla Honey and Very Berry Syrup

Once again I felt like I was like listening to my mum telling me about how wonderful ricotta is for baking cakes. Apparently even my father could easily make such a cake. And that it is a challenge!

However, the idea of my dad trying to cook, let alone bake anything in the kitchen, was really scary.  I struggled to stop myself from imagining the cataclysmic mess he would make …. and then I decided to cut a long story short and stick with a bit of ricotta, but not too much.

But something was missing. The cake needed something else… but what?

While I was engaging in some melodramatic, inspirational and serendipitous moments about my childhood memories, my husband came in with the food shopping. It always seems that the kitchen table is never big enough or has been moved, because he puts the bags so close to the edge that any confused or mesmerized item of food can easily decide to jump to their death by falling to the floor.

And this time, its deja-vu all over again!

I had to quickly rescue the punnets of mixed berries along with a beautiful glass jar of Italian ‘runny’ acacia honey.
While holding the berries and the honey I thought: when life hands you lemons you make lemonade, but when life hands you berries and honey you make syrup!

So here’s my new cake! Great flavour, lots of memories and perhaps expensive therapy… and a very happy husband that keeps coming back for another little slice!

I hope you’ll enjoy it too!

Ingredients - (For an 8” Cake Pan)

• 100g cubed butter at room temperature
• 250g caster sugar + 1 tbsp
• 2 large organic or free range eggs
• 50ml milk
• 100g flour 00 or plain flour
• 100g ground almonds
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp almond essence
• grated zest of 1 untreated lemon
• 400g ricotta
• 2 organic or free range egg yolks
• 250g washed and hulled strawberries
• 150g mixed washed blackberries, raspberry and blueberries
• 100ml running honey
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste

Instructions:

• Preheat the oven to 180°, 350F or gas mark 4.
• Lightly butter a 20cm (8 inch) spring-form cake tin and line the base with baking paper.
• Cream the butter, 200g sugar and the lemon zest with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy.
• Add 1 egg at a time to the mixture and beat well until fully combined.
• Add the milk and the tsp of almond essence, making sure to scrape down the side of the bowl with a spatula. Beat until combined.
• Add the ground almonds and fold in with a spatula. Fold in the sieved flour and baking powder.
• Pour the mixture into the baking pan.
• Beat the ricotta with the 2 egg yolks and the remaining 50g sugar in a food processor. Then gently spread it on top of the almond mixture. With the back of the spatula smooth the ricotta mixture and bake for 45/50 minutes or until a toothpick or skewer withdraws clean from the centre of the cake.
• For the berries syrup, pour the honey in a pan with 1 tbsp sugar and 1 tsp vanilla bean paste.
• Bring the mixture to a gentle simmer and stir to make sure that the sugar is dissolving. If the mixture is too thick, because it may vary according to the texture of the honey, then add 1 or 2 tsp of water.
• When the sugar is fully dissolved, turn the heat down and add the berries.
• To avoid the berries breaking up shake the pan with your hand until they are fully submerged in the syrup and leave to cook for 5 minutes.
• When the cake has cooled down, spoon the berry syrup on top and serve.
• Feel free to sprinkle some icing sugar on top. I took the picture while the cake and syrup were still hot so there wasn’t any point in adding icing sugar at that stage because it would have melted instantly… However, the taste was fantastic!

To all baking goddesses out there, here is my version of a very classic English Easter treat - the Simnel Cake. I have to be honest I found the pronunciation of this cake quite challenging. For some reason my ’s’ sound is always too long and people never quite understand what I am talking about! Go figure!

Marzipan Simnel Cake

However, I wanted to rise to the challenge of baking a more traditional, well we can say it, old-fashioned cake with a pretty as a picture topping! Its a little bit more fiddly but the end result is well worth it!

Remember, patience is a virtue and for sure you can be a patience virtuoso at Easter. Our goal is to impress family and friends with an amazing looking cake with a fruity, zesty, almondy taste! Have a wonderful time!

Marzipan Simnel Cake

Important - The oven temperature MUST be 150°C for this cake - any higher and the cake will burn.

Ingredients:

• 500g golden marzipan, cut in a half, 250g set aside then cubed the other 250g and dust them with a pinch of flour.
  
• 300g flour sifted with 3 teaspoon baking powder
• 6 organic eggs
• 200g soft brown sugar
• 250g butter melted
• 100g chopped pecan nuts roasted for 15 minutes in the oven
• 600g mixed dried fruit marinated for ½ hour with 6 tablespoon of liquor and 2 tablespoon of orange juice
• grated zest of 1 lemon
• grated zest of 1 orange
• 1 teaspoon of mixed spices
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 1 teaspoon almond essence
• 8 pieces of candied ginger from a jar coarsely chopped + 1 tablespoon of the juice
• 250g ready to roll icing
• 2 tablespoon jam
• 1 egg gently beaten with a tablespoon of cream

Instructions:

• Preheat the oven.
• Lightly butter a 23cm (9 inch) spring-form cake tin and line the base and the side with baking paper.
• With an electric mixer, beat the sugar and butter until nice and creamy then add 1 egg at the time at the mixture.
• Add the sifted flour and baking powder.
• Then add the dried fruit, citrus zest, pecan, mixed spices, floured cubed marzipan, vanilla and almond essence, candied ginger and juice. Mix all together with a wooden spoon or spatula.
• Using a rubber spatula, spoon the mixture into the prepared tin, levelling the surface with the back of the spatula.
• Place the cake in the oven and bake for 1¾-2¼ hours at the lower temperature of 150°C
• Start to check the cake after 1½ hours - the cake is cooked when the centre feels springy when lightly pressed.
• When it is cooked, leave it in the tin for 30 minutes before turning it out on to a wire rack to cool or it might crumble.
• For the cake decoration, roll out the icing on a surface gently dusted with icing suagr to avoid sticking.
• The icing must cover the top of the cake so use a same size bottom tin as guideline.
• Then brush the top of the cake with a tablespoon of jam and fit the icing on the top  pressing it down all round with a rolling pin to level it as much as possible. Trim off any overhanging pieces.
• Roll out the reserved marzipan on a surface dusted with icing sugar to a rectangle about 25 x 15 cm, then cut it into 12 long strips about 1 cm wide for the lattice topping.
• When assembling the lattice on top, snip off any overhanging marzipan with scissors making sure that you have pressed the edges down well.
• Brush the egg and cream mixture on the cake and put under the grill at 150° for a few minutes, watching very carefully to ensure that it doesn’t burn but finish off with a nice toasted brown colour.
  
• This last bit is all about timing and gently turning the cake to ensure an even colour result.

Marzipan Simnel Cake

During these dark and cold winter days nothing warms you up like a home made chicken casserole. Especially if the casserole is beautifully enriched by fresh vegetables,  aromatic herbs and hot spices!

The vibrant colours of the dish washes away the grey shades of the shortening daytime and brings instant, fulfilling warmth. The recipe for my spicy chicken casserole however, is incredibly simple and is already established as a firm, winter-warmer favourite with the regulars at Del Sole.

Spicy chicken casserole with peppers and chickpeas

For ideal presentation serve hot with crunchy bread and a generous pinch of TLC…

Ingredients: (Serves 2/3)

• 2 free range or organic chicken breasts, washed, patted dry and trimmed of any fat
• 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
• 50g of unsalted butter
• 1 finely chopped red onion
• 2 finely chopped garlic cloves
• 1 tablespoon of mixed sage, rosemary and thyme - chopped
• 2 tablespoons of flour, I use ‘00′ but plain is fine
• ½ tablespoon paprika
• ¼ tablespoon dry thyme
• ¼ tablespoon dry oregano
• 1 can of good quality chopped tomatoes
• 1 can of organic chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 large red pepper, de-seeded and roughly chopped
• 1 large orange pepper de-seeded and roughly chopped
• 1 large yellow pepper de-seeded and roughly chopped
• 1 finely chopped bird’s-eye chilli pepper
• salt and freshly milled black pepper

Instructions

• Chop the chicken breasts into chunky pieces.
• Mix the paprika, dry thyme, dry oregano, flour with a pinch of salt and pepper into a bowl.
• Toss the chicken into the bowl with the dry herb mixture and coat well.
• Use gentle heat to melt the butter with the extra virgin olive oil.
• Brown the chicken in the pan - doing this in batches if the pan it is not too big.
• Remove the chicken from the pan, set aside and keep warm.
• Cook the onion, garlic and fresh herbs in the pan for a few minutes then add the peppers and the chilli.
• After the peppers have softened put the chicken back in the pan, then add the tomatoes and chickpeas.
• Add 100ml of water to the casserole and let it simmer gently for at least 30 minutes stirring from time to time.
• Add salt and pepper to taste and serve with a warming smile.

Alternative for vegetarians

If you are vegetarian, just substiute the chicken breast with chopped butternut squash.

• Toss the butternut squash chunks into a bowl with the dried herbs, paprika, salt and pepper but omit the flour.
• Cook the onion, garlic and fresh herbs in a pan, then add the butternut squash, peppers and chilli.

Follow the recipe as above and enjoy!