Lemon Poppy Mini Loaves (gf/df)

To say it would be a while since I last blogged would be an understatement. It seems like a lifetime ago (and that's not just the lifetime that seems to have passed between two weeks ago when I had a job and was living a fairly normal life and today when I have no job and most of the world is in quarantine). Since then I started, and finished, a pastry program at culinary school, got my first job as pastry chef at a catering company and cafe, ran two marathons, took a three week holiday,  hosted Christmas in our little falling-apart apartment, found out we'd be moving to DC this summer, and now have lost my job, am not sure when I'll next make it home, live in the time of social-distancing, and try not to think more than half a day ahead of where we currently are to try to maintain some sense of sanity. Exhale. 

I hope you're all coping okay, staying safe, keeping your distance, eating lots of vegetables, and finding new hobbies to keep you sane. Baking during times like these helps. It's become a sort of therapy to me over the last few years, and that has never been truer than right now. So, to try to distract myself and entertain you, I thought I'd start sharing some of the recipes I've been working on over the last many months. First up, these lemon poppy loaves.

Baking in Brooklyn involved trying to create as many gluten-free/dairy-free/vegan/everything-free treats as possible. And while I didn't always stay true to that, sometimes I did. These gluten- and dairy-free lemon poppy loaves were so popular in the six months we sold them at the cafe. Hopefully they can bring a little brightness to you now too. If you don't have a mini loaf pan, a muffin pan would work well too, just be sure to grease it really well. And I know food shopping isn't the easiest, so switches can be made. Any citrus you can find will work, canola oil can be changed to olive or whatever plain-ish oil you have, poppy seeds can be omitted, and the glaze is totally optional. Anything else you need to swap? Let me know. We'll come up with a solution.

Stay safe and strong y'all. Eat a salad as well as cake. Talk to your friends. Post a rainbow in your window. Stay home. Sending virtual hugs. I'll be back soon.

Makes 18 mini loaves

(I use this pan).

Ingredients

for the cakes:

8 eggs, separated
340ml canola oil
300g sugar
4 lemons, zested (keep the rest of the lemons!)
Pinch of salt
200g cornmeal
280g ground almonds
2 teaspoons baking powder
4 tablespoons poppy seeds

for the syrup:

2 lemons, juiced
30g sugar

for the glaze:

3 cups powdered sugar
2 lemons, juiced
Poppy seeds, to decorate

What to do

for the cakes:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and line the base and short sides of a mini loaf pan.

Whisk together (by hand or in a stand mixer) the egg yolks, canola oil, sugar and lemon zest until combined. Make sure the oil is incorporated.

In a stand mixer (if you used it for the yolks mix, be sure to clean and dry it well), whip the egg whites and salt to stiff peaks.

While the egg whites whip, whisk together the cornmeal, ground almonds, baking powder and poppy seeds in a large bowl. Fold in the yolk and oil mixture.

When the whites are ready, add them in three batches to the batter. It will be hard to incorporate at first as the batter will be thick, but the whites will gradually loosen it. Be patient, don't mix too hard, but also don't be scared about knocking some air out of them. It's okay to have streaks of egg whites still visible between adding batches, but before you stop mixing entirely, make sure it is well combined.

Fill the molds in the prepared pan, making sure they're not filled right to the top (roughly three-quarters). Quickly get them in the oven.

Bake for 10 minutes, rotate, and bake for 8 more. When they're done they should be lightly golden brown and beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan. A cake tester should come out clean. Set aside to cool.

When cool, remove from the pan. Place them upside down on a lined tray. Using a cocktail stick (or whatever sharp, small tool you have), prod 3-4 holes in each cake.

for the syrup:

Mix the lemon juice and sugar together in a pan. Place over a medium heat and bring to a boil. Boil for 1 minute. Remove from the heat.

Use a pastry brush to soak the syrup into the cakes. I like to do two rounds of a light soak. (If there is extra syrup left, you can add some seltzer for a homemade lemonade.)

for the glaze:

Sift the powdered sugar over a large bowl. Whisk the sugar as you gradually add the lemon juice until it becomes a think, smooth glaze. If it's too runny, add more sugar, and if it's too dry, add more lemon juice or water.

Using a piping bag or a tablespoon, glaze the lemon cakes, and top with poppy seeds. These will last for 4-5 days in the fridge.

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Grilled Vegetables, Ricotta & Basil

I am embarrassingly aware of how little 'normal' food I talk about on this blog. By 'normal' food I mean food to live on and eat daily i.e. not cake, cookies and coffee. Although thinking about it I do eat most those things daily, just not three times a day. When I saw M on a brief trip to Bristol last month she mentioned that I should write about more day-to-day food, more savoury food, more normal meals. No less cake in this little internet space, but mix up the cake with some savoury too. I need to find that perfect balance between naughty and nice which everyone craves in life.

So after that rather longer than I had planned for ramble, I'm going to tell you what we cobbled together for a late, post-tennis and a little bit too much Pimms Sunday evening supper. It's not really a recipe, lots of you carnivores would say it's not even really a meal. But it was a plate full of food that made me happy, that was simple and healthy, pretty and tasty.

At Broadway Market on Saturday we'd bought some buffalo milk ricotta. As you may have guessed I am in love with ricotta, and there was no way I was leaving that stand without some ricotta in my bag. We dropped by the Turkish shop on the way back from the tennis, picked up a few vegetables, threw them under the grill, chopped some basil into a generous amount of olive oil and bashed it together with a pestle and mortar for a while. When a slight charring smell started wafting from the oven, B flipped the veg over, and returned it to the grill for a little while longer until it was sufficiently dark and soft.

All was thrown into a bowl, the creamy and super-rich ricotta sprinkled over, and the basil oil poured on top. Tossed. Served. Yum. Very little effort, very lot of taste.

FYI veg-wise we used two courgettes, one super long red pepper, one aubergine, a couple of cloves of garlic, and a couple of handfuls of cherry tomatoes. That's as much as a recipe as you need. Promise.

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Orange and Chocolate Polenta Cake

On Wednesday evening B was out at his pottery class in a railway arch, and home alone as I was, I set about on a sporadic baking frenzy. This orange and chocolate polenta cake was the result. A result I was rather pleased with. Store-cupboard staples with lots of fresh oranges and a few chunks of chocolate for good measure ended up with a gluten-free, super moist (sorry!) loaf with a dark crust and lashings of sugary orange syrup. It disappeared pretty fast.

Orange and Chocolate Polenta Cake

For the cake:

4 eggs

170ml olive oil

170g caster sugar

Zest of 2 oranges

100g ground almonds

140g polenta

1 tsp baking powder

100g dark chocolate

For the syrup

150ml orange juice

55g caster sugar

1. Heat the oven to 180°C

2. Grease and line a loaf tin
3. Beat together the egg yolks, oil, 150g caster sugar and orange zest until smooth
4. Mix the dry ingredients together
5. Fold dry ingredients into oil and sugar mixture
6. Whisk egg whites to stiff peaks, then beat in the remaining 20g caster sugar
7. Fold the egg whites into the cake mixture a few tablespoons at a time. Don't worry if this seems tricky at first, the mixture will loosen up as you go
8. Bake for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean

9. While it's baking make the syrup: heat the fruit juice with the caster sugar until the sugar dissolves, then let it boil for 1 minute, before leaving it to cool

10.Pierce the cake with the toothpick

11. When the cake is cool, pour over the syrup and leave to seep through the cake before cutting in!

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