MARTHA COLLISON, the youngest ever contestant on the BBC's
Great British Bake Off, whom I interviewed (
Interview, 14 November), inspired me to think about puddings
this Christmas. Not the pudding, but some Christmassy
cakes and puddings for all the other days of Christmas. A
seasonable one is Lemon, honey, and whisky
cake.
175g (6 oz) self-raising
wholewheat flour, sifted
100g (4 oz) honey
175g (6 oz) butter
2 eggs, beaten
4 tablespoons whisky
zest and juice of a lemon
Rolled cream frosting:
500ml (¾ pt) double cream
juice and a little rind of 1 lemon
honey to taste
optional edible gold glitter,
candied lemon, etc., for
decoration
Make the lemon cream by bringing the double cream, in a pan that
is big enough, to a rolling boil. Remove it from the heat and
flavour it with lemon juice, rind, and honey. Allow it to cool, and
thicken in the fridge.
Heat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas 4 and butter two round 6-inch
sandwich tins. Cream the honey and sugar together until light, and
then add the flour. Add the egg mixture slowly, and finally the
whisky and lemon zest. Put the mixture in the tins and bake for 20
minutes, or until the cake is done. Cool and turn out and sprinkle
the lemon juice over the top. Spread the rolled cream over both
cakes, stack one on top of the other, and decorate with a little
edible gold glitter, or candied lemon slices.
Another standard favourite at Christmas is the Yule log, but
since my daughter Trinity won all hearts with her meringue
Roulade recently, I'm going to do one for Boxing
Day, with chestnut stuffing.
4 egg whites
225g (8 oz) caster sugar
a pinch of cream of tartar
300ml (½ pt) whipping cream
small tin of chestnut purée
honey to taste
toasted chopped hazelnuts or
flaked almonds and melted
chocolate for decoration
Heat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas 6. Line a baking sheet with
baking paper. Whisk the egg whites and cream of tartar until stiff.
Whisk in one teaspoon of sugar, and keep whisking for two minutes.
Then fold in the rest of the sugar with a metal spoon. Spread the
meringue mixture on the baking sheet, and bake for 10 minutes.
Allow it to cool on a wire rack.
Turn the meringue out on to another sheet of baking paper, and
peel away the base sheet. Whip the cream. Stir most of it into the
chestnut purée, and a little honey. Spread the chestnut cream and
the plain cream over the meringue, and then roll it up carefully.
Decorate the roulade with toasted nuts, and drizzled melted
chocolate.
Lemon fruit tarts make a change from mince
pies.
shortcrust pastry or vol-au-vent
cases
lemon cream
a selection of jewel-coloured fruit
cut into small shapes
Bake some little pastry cases. Make the lemon cream by bringing
double cream (as above) to a rolling boil. Remove it from the heat,
and flavour it with lemon juice and honey. Allow it to cool and
spoon into the pastry cases. Decorate with fruit.