Gammon Steaks with Sloe Gin Sauce

I'm not a big gin drinker but have occasionally enjoyed a gin and tonic if there's a decent twist of lime, but sloe gin is something I don't really drink - though I do have a bottle of homemade sloe gin in the cupboard that my friend Jane gave me, and it's almost empty, so it obviously got drunk at some point!

The theme for this month's Baking with Spirit is gin, and I knew I'd eaten a few restaurant meals that used sloe gin in a savoury sauce, and decided I wanted to do something similar. My parents were visiting and we'd discussed what they wanted to eat for dinner and settled on gammon steaks, and I decided that a sloe gin sauce would work well with the gammon.

I had a look online for some recipes but ended up not really following one properly and kind of making it up as I went along, though it was pretty simple. Here's what you need to do:
1. Get your mum to cook the gammon steaks and make some mashed potato while you're on your way home from work (!)
2. Pour about 100ml of sloe gin into a pan and add half a beef stock cube and about 100ml of water
3. Bring to the boil and allow to bubble
4. Add about 50 ml double cream
5. Turn down the heat and cook until thickened
6. Serve over gammon, though this would also go well with other meats.

I also got the chance to use a really nifty little gadget my boyfriend bought me for my birthday (or was it last Christmas?). It's an auto-stirrer, so you stand it in a pan of sauce, switch it on and you can go off and do other things without needing to stand over the pan and constantly stir.

It's a great little gadget - it needs four AA batteries and is quite small so will fit even in the smallest pan. It stands upright and has four silicon feet at the bottom so it won't scratch your pan. You switch it on and it rotates and moves around in the pan, to stop your sauce sticking. It's absolutely perfect for anyone who is as impatient as me - I can never be bothered to stand over a pan and stir so often come back to find my sauce has started to stick!

Adding the cream to the sauce

Back in with the auto-stirrer

And here's the sauce poured over the gammon. It was really nice, if you've not had sloe gin before I would liken this more to a red wine sauce than normal gin, and it was nice and creamy and just the right consistency.

I'm sending this to Baking with Spirit, hosted by Janine at Cake of the Week, as the theme this month is gin. Shame I didn't get a chance to make a cake this month - I've made gin and tonic cupcakes before, which had tonic water in the cake and gin in the icing, which were really nice!

Chocolate and Pomegranate Mousse

I only found this recipe as I wanted to use up half a leftover pomegranate, but it's probably the nicest chocolate mousse I've ever made!

The recipe comes from the Good Food Channel and serves 8, but I was only making this for two people so I divided all the ingredients by four. I also left out the recommended Grand Marnier or Cointreau as I didn't have any, though I think it would be a nice addition to the recipe. So for two people you need:

50g white chocolate
50g dark chocolate
2 eggs, separated
2 tbsp Grand Marnier or Cointreau, if using
50ml double cream
15g caster sugar
half a pomegranate

Melt both types of chocolate - it's easier with such a small quantity like this to do it in the microwave.
      

Whisk the egg whites until stiff. If using a liqueur, mix it with the egg yolks in a separate bowl or cup.

Whisk the cream and sugar together until thick.

Divide the cream and sugar mixture into two, so you are mixing half of it with half of the whisked egg whites.

Add half the egg yolks and the white chocolate and mix.

Repeat the same steps with the chocolate to make a chocolate mousse

Pour the chocolate mousse into a serving glass.

Sprinkle pomegranate seeds over the top

Top with the white chocolate mousse and leave to set in the fridge for about an hour - though I foudn the chocolate mousse had already started to set when I poured it into the glass!

You can just see a flash of red from the pomegranates in the middle. This is absolutely delicious - the two types of chocolate mousse are both light and decadent and the pomegranate seeds in the middle give it a wonderful zing and crunch. I would definitely make this again, and I would use the same recipe just to make a plain chocolate mousse.

I am sending this to the One Ingredient Challenge where the ingredient this month is pomegranate, hosted by Laura of How to Cook Good Food.

Pomegranates are in season at the moment so I am also sending this to Simple and In Season, hosted by Ren of Fabulicious Food.

Lamb with pomegranate and mint

When I saw that the One Ingredient Challenge's ingredient this month was the pomegranate, I decided I had to enter, as I've never actually eaten pomegranate, let alone cooked with it! I think I was always slightly put off by the fact that the part you eat is the seeds, whereas with most other fruits I leave the seeds, but I love the way they look and I know you can use pomegranate in both sweet and savoury recipes - so I decided to make one of each.

I knew pomegranate paired well with lamb (I remember for instance a Nigella recipe of a shredded lamb salad with pomegranate) so I bought a couple of lamb chops and browsed online until I found a few recipes which I could adapt.

I started off mixing a couple of tablespoons of oil with some ground cumin, chilli flakes and salt

Spread over the lamb chops and leave to marinate (I only left them about half an hour but if you're organised enough to prepare this in advance I think it would work well marinaded overnight).

Cook the lamb in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Then cut the pomegranate in half. Doesn't it look Christmassy?

I simply squeezed the juice and seeds over the lamb and topped with fresh mint

Dinner!

I am sending this to the One Ingredient Challenge where the ingredient this month is pomegranate, hosted by Laura of How to Cook Good Food.

Pomegranates are in season at the moment so I am also sending this to Simple and In Season, hosted by Ren of Fabulicious Food.

Jap Cakes

When I was a child, my favourite treat from the bakery in the centre of our village was a Jap cake. They were a kind of cylinder shape, made of a chewy meringue, with nuts stuck around the sides, a chocolate button and something green - which I think was a tiny piece of pistachio - on the top. I haven't seen them for years, and have found that most people have never even heard of them, to the extent that I was almost wondering if I had imagined it! But when the letter for this month's Alphabakes turned out to be J, I knew I had to try to recreate the Jap cakes I loved as a child.

This website gives a good description: it says '"Jap cakes' are made from egg whites, corn flour and ground almonds and may also be known as 'jap biscuits'. Though once more widely eaten their popularity seems now to be confined to Scotland." Any Scots out there who can confirm that?

I have no idea why they are called Jap cakes and whether it is a reference to something Japanese (in which case if it is, I hope the abbreviation isn't offensive)... most people seem equally in the dark, as when I was searching on Google I mainly found websites where people had posted a question along the lines of "Does anyone remember Jap cakes, and know where I can find a recipe?" It does seem that they have fallen out of favour somewhat and I wonder why, as they are delicious!

Eventually I found this recipe and set about making them.
This quantity only made me two cakes so scale up the quantities if you need to.
You need:
2 egg whites
4 oz caster sugar
4 oz ground almonds
a few drops of almond essence
a small quantity of buttercream (made the usual way from butter and icing sugar), which the recipe suggests to flavour with coffee but you can do this according to taste, plain vanilla works fine as well.

I began by whisking the egg whites until stiff then whisking in half the sugar.

Fold in the ground almonds, almond essence and rest of the sugar.

The resulting mixture will look quite grainy

Spread in a layer about 1-2cm thick on a greased and lined baking tray. Bake at about 180C for around 10-15 minutes - the recipe just says "bake until almost set" without saying how long that should take, so do keep an eye on them.

Not sure if it is meant to look like this or if mine is overcooked! Tasted nice anyway...

Use a circle cutter to cut out rounds. I only got four out of this. The recipe I used said to return the cakes and the trimmings to the oven until firm but I felt mine were already cooked enough.

The recipe I used also tells you to crush up the trimmings, pass them through a sieve and use them to coat the cakes. I'm sure I remember the ones I ate as a child were coated in nuts though, so I wanted to try this instead.

I sandwiched two of the cakes together with buttercream and spread buttercream around the sides.

I coated the cakes in chopped mixed nuts. They do look a bit messy, don't they!

The recipe I was using suggests decorating the top of the cake with pink glace icing, but I definitely remember the ones I ate from Reeves the Baker having a chocolate button and something green on top. I didn't have any chocolate buttons in the cupboard so used a blog of chocolate fudge icing, with a pistachio nut on top. These definitely look like the ones I remember, and they tasted pretty similar too!

I'd love to know if other people remember eating this and have ever tried making them!

I am sending this to Alphabakes, which I am hosting this month (it's Ros's turn next month) as the letter we have chosen is J.

As I've discovered from the comments below this type of cake appears to be based on a Japanese meringue, I am sending it to Bloggers Around The World, as the theme this month is Japan.

Meal Planning - Week 18

Monday
Breakfast Cereal
Lunch Sweet potato with feta cheese and chilli butter
Dinner Lamb and pomegranate adapted from this recipe http://www.easyliving.co.uk/recipes/main-courses/slow-cooked-lamb-pomegranate - I was going to make this last Sunday and was sure I had lamb in the freezer but it turned out I didn't! I still want to make this though so will buy some lamb today.

Tuesday
Breakfast Cereal
Lunch  Ready-cooked chicken breast and a pasta Mug Shot or couscous
Dinner I'll be spending this evening at a youth club whose annual newsletter I'm putting together; the club's chief executive and I are having a 'working meeting' as she put it, so I'm not sure what will happen about eating - I will probably have to grab whatever I can on the way home.

Wednesday
Breakfast Cereal or toast
Lunch Having lunch with my boyfriend today, as I won't get to see him much this week otherwise - I've chosen a pub half way in between our office where I cab use my Tastecard (for a 2 for 1 offer), but nothing on the menu is massively Slimming World friendly so I will have to be good for the rest of the week!
Dinner Butternut squash risotto

Thursday
Breakfast Cereal or toast
Lunch Leftover butternut squash risotto
Dinner My boyfriend is coming over to dinner and I'll cook something simple so I can spend more time with him and less time in the kitchen: chicken breasts using a jar of Chicken Tonight sauce with mashed potato. For dessert: chocolate mousse with pomegranate seeds
Note to self: need to make sloe gin sauce for tomorrow

Friday
Breakfast Cereal or toast
Lunch Sweet potato with feta cheese and chilli butter
Dinner My parents are coming to stay for the weekend and will be at my house by the time I get home from work; my mum likes to have dinner ready and waiting and I'm not going to complain if someone else wants to do the cooking! She suggested gammon steaks with mashed potato and I think it will need a sauce. There's a blogging challenge this month which centres around gin, so I think a sloe gin sauce based on this recipe would be nice, though I will have to make it the night before: http://www.whattocookblog.com/Pork-Medallions-in-Creamy-Sloe-Gin-Sauce.html

Saturday
Breakfast Probably cereal
Lunch In London with my parents, as I booked my dad on a photography course this morning for his birthday (my boyfriend and I have taken the same course before and it's really good). We will have a pub lunch probably in Wetherspoons as that's actually where the course is taking place (in their back room) and it doesn't finish until 1pm.
Dinner With my parents; we won't get home that early so will want something that doesn't take too long to cook. My mum suggested fishcakes which I will buy rather than attempt to make myself.

Sunday
Breakfast I'm planning to make croissants (for the first time!) for a couple of blogging challenges and thought it would be nice since my parents will still be here
Lunch  Chicken drumsticks in a breadcrumb, lemon and parmesan crust - a recipe I copied out from a magazine ages ago. With mini stuffed jacket potatoes.
Dinner I'll invite my boyfriend and his mum round to dinner with me and my parents and will cook each of us an individual caramelised onion and goats cheese tartlet/ bacon and cheese tartlet for those who don't like onion, and serve it with polenta chips and sweet potato chips. For dessert I'm going to make a Queen of Puddings, which I've never done before, as it's for a particular blogging challenge.

Neapolitan Rose Cake

This pretty three-coloured cake is a Neapolitan- like the ice cream, where you get strawberry, chocolate and vanilla in the same packet. It has roses piped around the side and would make a lovely birthday cake.

I made it for the Children In Need bake sale at work as I had bookmarked it after seeing it on The More Than Occasional Baker. I think Ros did a much better version than mine and I encourage you to check it out! I told Ros - who is a good friend of mine - that I was planning to make this cake and she hopefully won't mind if I reproduce the recipe here. I did tweak it a little as I couldn't get one of the main ingredients I needed!

For the three-layered cake you will need:
375g butter
375g caster sugar
375g self-raising flour
5 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
150g chocolate, melted
2 tablespoons cocoa powder, sifted
450g strawberries, washed and hulled - or a tin of raspberries which I used, as the supermarket was all out of strawberries and any sort of suitable fresh fruit!
red gel colour (optional) - I used a tiny bit of ruby Sugarflair.

For the icing, you will need at least
375g butter
750g icing sugar
4-6 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
melted chocolate and a little of the strawberry puree from cake batter or the red food colouring -
though I found this wasn't quite enough icing for my three 8-inch cakes. As I was making this after work for the bake sale the next day, and it was taking a while (I was still decorating it at 11pm!), I ended up using one of my storecupboard emergency tubs of Betty Crocker chocolate fudge icing as well. The most important thing also is to make sure that your icing is pretty stiff so you may find you need to add more icing sugar depending on how soft it is.

Preheat oven to 180C and grease an 8-inch cake tin. Ideally if you have three tins the same size you can do all three layers at once, though purists may say you should do them one at a time so you can use the middle shelf of your oven. Do whatever you prefer - I didn't have three tins that were exactly the same anyway so I made the layers one by one!

I also decided to experiment with a new product while I was doing this: Stork Easy to Mix Baking Liquid. You use it in place of butter and it gets around the problem of needing your butter to be softened, but not not always having time to take it out of the fridge for a few hours.

It was very cheap - only 39p or 3 for £1, though I'm not sure if it's always that cheap or if that was an introductory offer. I was a bit sceptical that a liquid would work in place of softened butter - especially when it comes to making buttercream, which I didn't try - but it turned out absolutely fine in the cake. And given the price it's also a lot cheaper than butter - though the list of ingredients is quite long and includes colour, preservatives, emulsifiers and so on. But on the plus side, this is dairy free and vegan, which could come in handy when I bake for my vegan friend.

There are instructions on the bottle regarding how to use it; essentially you measure out the qnantity as you would with butter, so if this recipe calls for 375g butter, you just weigh out 375g of this liquid.

Beat the butter with the sugar - it was a cinch using this baking liquid (though my wonderful Kitchenaid also helped!)

Add the eggs one at a time, and beat well.

Add the flour and vanilla extract.

The next stage is to divide the mixture into three equal portions. You don't need to do anything more to the vanilla layer, so this can go straight into a greased baking tin (I used an 8 inch loose-bottomed one) and into the oven for about 20 minutes.

 To make the strawberry layer, Ros's recipe tells you to blend a punnet of strawberries in a food processor and add 250mls to one of your bowls of cake mix. Unfortunately my local Tesco Metro had run out of strawberries, and didn't have any other fresh fruit that looked suitable - and I needed to go home and make this cake for a bake sale the next day so didn't have the option of going to another supermarket. So I found the next best thing - a tin of raspberries. 

 I thought John West only made tuna....?! I didn't need to use a blender, as by the time I had drained the can, the raspberries were quite mushed up. So they went straight into my Kitchenaid with one bowl of the cake mix. 

 The raspberries didn't really change the colour of the mixture though, and I really wanted the cake to be obviously three colours when it was sliced into... 

 ... so I added a tiny bit of Sugarflair ruby red food colouring. That's more like it! 

 This is now ready to go into the pan and into the oven. Now for the chocolate layer: melt 150g chocolate and add it to your remaining bowl of cake mix. Beat in well. 

 Here are the first two layers after they came out of the oven - you can see they are quite different in colour. 

  And here's the chocolate layer: 

 

 

Assembling the cake did take a while. I'm not sure if you are supposed to do the layers in any particular order - Ros's cake had the vanilla layer of buttercream on top which did look nice. But my vanilla layer was thinner than the other two so I wanted to make this the middle layer, and my chocolate layer was the last to cook so hadn't cooled down yet, so I had to leave that until last! So raspberry went first.... you do need to put this cake on a cake board, as once it is decorated you won't be able to pick it up!

 

Make the buttercream by mixing the butter and icing sugar, and divide this into three portions. Keep one as vanilla, mix one with any leftover raspberry/strawberry puree if you have any and add a few drops of the red or pink food colouring; and add some melted chocolate to the third.
I have to admit though that I needed more icing than I thought so by the time I got to the chocolate layer would have had to start all over again and make some buttercream, and as it was already 11pm I opened a tub of Betty Crocker chocolate fudge flavour icing instead. Which worked fine even though it was cheating slightly!

Spread a layer of pink buttercream over the raspberry cake and place the vanilla cake on top

Next comes the hard part... piping buttercream roses. It's not a particularly difficult technique - you need a star nozzle in your piping bag and you just pipe in a circle, starting in the middle and moving outwards. Of course you have to do it sideways as the idea is to pipe roses around the side of the cake, so you need to make sure your buttercream is stiff enough that it won't drop.

I'd never tried to pipe buttercream roses before and my first attempts weren't great; at least the buttercream stayed in place though!

Getting the hang of it a little better now. I realised you have to move the piping bag extremely slowly, as if you go too fast you just get a circle of buttercream without the sharp edges. It's quite a painstaking process! I'm still not entirely sure these look like roses though...

When you've gone all the way around, cover the cake with a layer of buttercream and place the final chocolate layer on top. You could probably do this before you start piping but my chocolate layer was still too warm, and I decided to get started on the piping in the meantime.

I piped chocolate buttercream roses over the top - I think these came out better.

It was hard to make sure there weren't any gaps, since you start piping in the middle of the rose and move outwards; I filled in some of the gaps later with extra buttercream.

Then I piped a final layer of vanilla buttercream roses around the side. These two were a bit of a disaster though!

Holding the piping bag in my hand also softened the buttercream and by this point it was far too soft for the roses to hold their shape, so I returned the buttercream to the bowl and added more icing sugar to make it more stiff, which seemed to do the trick.

The good thing about this cake is that the overall effect is so impressive, it doesn't really matter if one or two roses are a bit wonky! At least I think so anyway...

To fill in some of the small gaps in the chocolate layer, I decided to use this chocolate designer icing I was sent recently by Dr. Oetker. It comes with a choice of nozzles for different piping effects.... but for some reason I couldn't work out how to fit the nozzle on properly! The packet doesn't give any instructions other than telling you to attach the nozzle (i.e. not how to do it) and I was probably being an idiot but I just couldn't get it to stay on, so I ended up piping while holding the nozzle on. Which made it quite difficult to squeeze the pouch - has anyone else used these, and what was I doing wrong?

The nozzles are quite small which made this ideal for filling in the gaps on my cake; I wouldn't use it for icing a whole cake though as it would take ages, so this is much better for cupcakes or, as the picture on the packet suggests, decorating cookies.

So after all that palaver, here is the final cake! Truly a labour of love....

I didn't cut into it at home as I didn't want to ruin the overall look, so I was wondering whether the Neapolitan effect had worked on the inside of the cake. For the bake sale at work, the cakes were loaded onto a trolley and taken around each floor of the office, so I didn't know if there would be any left by the time it got to me. I didn't even realise the trolley had reached my floor until I heard someone exclaim "wow, look at the inside of that cake!"

Pretty cool, huh? The cake went down really well and I had some complete strangers come and tell me how nice it was, which is always a good thing :-)

I am sending this to Tea Time Treats, as their theme for this month's blogging challenge is celebration cakes. I think this would make a lovely birthday cake; in fact when I saw it on Ros's site I earmarked it as a possible birthday cake for my mum, but that isn't until next June and I didn't want to wait that long! Tea Time Treats is hosted by Karen at Lavender and Lovage and Kate at What Kate Baked.

As I bookmarked this when I saw it on The More Than Occasional Baker, I am also sending it to Bookmarked Recipes, hosted by Jacqueline of Tinned Tomatoes.