While eating dinner with friends a couple of weeks ago, I was trying to describe the sort of recipes that I create, and one person perked up and told me she had a cookbook that I needed to borrow. She brought in 'Red Velvet & Chocolate Heartache' by Harry Eastwood (Harry being a woman's name in this case). The book features 80 vegetable-based gluten-free baked goods recipes, the majority of them desserts, with a few savoury biscuit and scone recipes. Parsnip fudge, dense chocolate cake made with aubergine (aka eggplant), orange and butternut squash cupcakes. Harry uses finely grated vegetables, and sometimes finely ground nuts, in place of butter. It's my kind of cooking.
There are a number of recipes that I want to try at some point (particularly the Red Velvet cake, when I have enough beetroot), and I thought these cakes would be the ideal kind to keep in the freezer. You know, just in case. I don't really keep snack or junk food around the house, so sometimes I open the cupboard and all I see are ingredients: soy sauce, bags of lentils, balsamic vinegar, tahini, sea salt, basmati rice, honey, bay leaves, gram flour, cream of tartar, tamarind paste, black beans. Not exactly appetizing fare! And sometimes it's 3:25 pm and you want something with your cup of Earl Grey but you want it to be healthy-ish. And there's nothing prettier than a home-made cake sitting on the counter, flecked with sliced green pistachios. So I made her Chocolate Pistachio Cake with courgette (aka zucchini). Mmm.
The trick, if you're baking for vegetable skeptics, is to make this when they're not around so they can't see what you're doing. Then, after they've eaten a piece and told you how good it was, break the news that there was green plant matter in their cake. Okay, courgettes are totally harmless and on the tame side of vegetable baking, but in many people's minds, vegetables live in one field, sweet things live in another and they should never cross-pollinate. But c'mon, people, it's 2011. Modern technology. Innovative thinking. Turnips in your Steamed Golden Syrup Sponge Pudding. It's a brave new world.
This recipe is a modification of the one in Harry's book. The icing recipe is mine, in the sense that I just threw it together with coconut milk instead of butter. I've added cinnamon because I like that spice with chocolate and with courgettes (just like zucchini bread), and because it helps balance blood sugar levels. This cake is fast to make. It bakes in only 30 minutes, and doesn't require too many ingredients. Don't be put off by having to grate the zucchini/courgette: trust me, it grates very quickly. You have to do these things for the sake of good food. And the pistachios grind down to a powder in just a few minutes.
The original recipe seemed to imply that this would provide enough batter to make two layers. I prepared two spring-form pans but half the batter didn't even cover the bottom of one (unless spread ridiculously thin), so I scraped it all into one and ended up with a perfect, 1 1/2 - 2 inch high cake. Works for me.
A note about lining a spring-form pan with greaseproof baking paper: it's a pain in the arse if you try to fit the paper in perfectly with it going up the sides and all of that. So just do this: open and remove the sides (ring) of the pan; lay a piece of paper over the circular base; push the ring down around the base and lock it into place, securing the paper over the base like a drum. Trim away the excess paper and lightly grease the sides and base of the pan with oil or butter. You can easily run a knife around the sides after baking if you have to. Having paper over the base is sufficient.
A note to American readers about the measurements in 'grams': this sort of thing happens when you live in England. But having a kitchen scale is extremely handy, so this is your excuse to get one. And while we're on the topic of measurements, if you don't have an oven thermometer, please get one when you can. They're cheap and many ovens vary widely in temperature. If I set my oven to 150C, it shoots up above 200C (hotter than hell, in other words) for some odd reason. I guess it's not a great oven. So unless you have a fabulous oven, an oven thermometer will serve you well.
There are a number of recipes that I want to try at some point (particularly the Red Velvet cake, when I have enough beetroot), and I thought these cakes would be the ideal kind to keep in the freezer. You know, just in case. I don't really keep snack or junk food around the house, so sometimes I open the cupboard and all I see are ingredients: soy sauce, bags of lentils, balsamic vinegar, tahini, sea salt, basmati rice, honey, bay leaves, gram flour, cream of tartar, tamarind paste, black beans. Not exactly appetizing fare! And sometimes it's 3:25 pm and you want something with your cup of Earl Grey but you want it to be healthy-ish. And there's nothing prettier than a home-made cake sitting on the counter, flecked with sliced green pistachios. So I made her Chocolate Pistachio Cake with courgette (aka zucchini). Mmm.
The trick, if you're baking for vegetable skeptics, is to make this when they're not around so they can't see what you're doing. Then, after they've eaten a piece and told you how good it was, break the news that there was green plant matter in their cake. Okay, courgettes are totally harmless and on the tame side of vegetable baking, but in many people's minds, vegetables live in one field, sweet things live in another and they should never cross-pollinate. But c'mon, people, it's 2011. Modern technology. Innovative thinking. Turnips in your Steamed Golden Syrup Sponge Pudding. It's a brave new world.
This recipe is a modification of the one in Harry's book. The icing recipe is mine, in the sense that I just threw it together with coconut milk instead of butter. I've added cinnamon because I like that spice with chocolate and with courgettes (just like zucchini bread), and because it helps balance blood sugar levels. This cake is fast to make. It bakes in only 30 minutes, and doesn't require too many ingredients. Don't be put off by having to grate the zucchini/courgette: trust me, it grates very quickly. You have to do these things for the sake of good food. And the pistachios grind down to a powder in just a few minutes.
The original recipe seemed to imply that this would provide enough batter to make two layers. I prepared two spring-form pans but half the batter didn't even cover the bottom of one (unless spread ridiculously thin), so I scraped it all into one and ended up with a perfect, 1 1/2 - 2 inch high cake. Works for me.
A note about lining a spring-form pan with greaseproof baking paper: it's a pain in the arse if you try to fit the paper in perfectly with it going up the sides and all of that. So just do this: open and remove the sides (ring) of the pan; lay a piece of paper over the circular base; push the ring down around the base and lock it into place, securing the paper over the base like a drum. Trim away the excess paper and lightly grease the sides and base of the pan with oil or butter. You can easily run a knife around the sides after baking if you have to. Having paper over the base is sufficient.
A note to American readers about the measurements in 'grams': this sort of thing happens when you live in England. But having a kitchen scale is extremely handy, so this is your excuse to get one. And while we're on the topic of measurements, if you don't have an oven thermometer, please get one when you can. They're cheap and many ovens vary widely in temperature. If I set my oven to 150C, it shoots up above 200C (hotter than hell, in other words) for some odd reason. I guess it's not a great oven. So unless you have a fabulous oven, an oven thermometer will serve you well.
Chocolate Pistachio Cake
Adapted from 'Red Velvet & Chocolate Heartache' by Harry Eastwood
Dairy and gluten free.
FOR THE CAKE
100 grams shelled pistachios
3 medium organic eggs
180 grams demerara sugar
300 grams topped, tailed, peeled and very finely grated courgette (zucchini in the US) (about 3 medium courgettes)
120 grams self-raising gluten free flour blend
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
60 grams good quality cocoa powder
optional pinch of salt unless the pistachios you buy happen to have a bit of salt on them
FOR THE ICING
60 grams icing sugar
20-25 grams good quality cocoa powder
3-4 tablespoons coconut milk (full fat - I open a can of the stuff, then keep what I don't use in a glass jar in the fridge and put it into oatmeal or curries)
1 handful roughly chopped pistachios
METHOD
-Line the base of a spring-form cake pan with parchment or baking paper and lightly oil the base and sides of the pan.
-In the bowl of a food processor, grind the pistachios into a fine powder. This takes several minutes. A good idea is to add a tablespoon of the flour to the pistachios after an initial period of grinding: this helps them 'skate around the bowl' instead of clumping and turning into pistachio butter. Which sounds nice, but won't work here. Make sure you really do grind them to a powder: the texture of your cake depends on it.
-Start heating the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4.
-In a large mixing bowl, with electric beaters, beat the eggs with the sugar for two full minutes, until pale and fluffy. Beat in the grated courgette and pistachio dust.
-Using a sieve (the kind you'd wash lentils in), sieve the flour, cinnamon and cocoa powder in to the courgette mix. Cocoa powder tends to have lumps in it. You can push it through the holes of the sieve with a spatula to break up the lumps. Before you turn the beaters on again, swirl it all together to moisten the dry ingredients so that when you turn on the beaters, you don't create a cloud of cocoa. Now beat again to incorporate everything really well, pausing to scrape down the sides of the bowl once or twice. Pour into the prepared pan and place in the oven. Bake for 30 - 40 minutes (the book says 30, mine took nearly 40, probably because I had all of the batter in one pan).
-Meanwhile, to prepare the icing: in a medium mixing bowl, sieve in the icing sugar and cocoa powder using the spatula method above. Add two tablespoons of coconut milk and mix with a spatula to smoosh out any clumps. Continue to add coconut milk, 1/2 or 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing until you have a nice, thick, spreadable consistency. Set aside.
-When the cake is done (test it by inserting a thin knife into the centre, making sure it comes out clean), remove the sides of the pan. Allow it to cool for fifteen minutes or so, then turn it out onto a plate and allow the other side to cool. At this point, you may want to pop it in the fridge for 20 minutes. You want it to come down to room temp or a bit lower, otherwise the heat in the cake (there's a lot of it in there!) will totally melt your icing.
-When the cake has cooled, ice it. Sprinkle roughly chopped pistachios on top. Serve. Feeds 12 health nuts with sweet tooths.
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