The Family Cook Book

My role as a carer meant that I had plenty of time on my hands this weekend. So, very unusually for me I decided to make a cake, and as I was on a Dhruv Baker cook-athon I decided to cook Lemon drizzle cake from his excellent book Spice. The cake was delicious ... I made a one big error, one small one and I have one observation. My big error was forgetting to line the tin with greaseproof paper which made extracting the cake without any damage impossible! my small one was not making enough holes in the top to let the syrup in ... my wives tip was to use a fork rather than a skewer My observation, I didn't really get any coriander coming through. However the cake was bloody delicious, really light with a lovely lemon flavour. Ingredients 180g unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing 250g caster sugar 3 eggs Zest of 3 lemons and juice of 2 lemons 250g self-raising flour 1 tsp baking powder 120ml whole milk 100g granulated sugar, plus extra to sprink...

I spent most of S unday morning  making cakes for cake club on Monday. Unlike most of the contestants on great British bake off, I do not find baking as relaxing as say cooking the Sunday lunch. I chose to make carrot cakes with sultanas soaked in Cointreau from 'what Katie ate'. Despite having the book right in front of me I still managed to make a few mistakes ... Particularly annoying as I was trying to double up the recipe. There was the usual stress as I put them in the oven and within minutes they looked giant compared with the pictures in the book, but then again Katie Quinn Davies is a food stylist ... It probably wasn't her first attempt. Piping the frosting on was also a bit of a mess as I hadn't done it before. However I can see that it could be quite addictive. In the end I thought the cakes came out ok but if I do them again I would put more fruit and carrots in. Sadly I also managed to bash them up a bit on the way to work so I'm not sur...

I made this recipe for cake club. The results aren't in yet so I have no idea if I have beaten Hollie and her apple and walnut cake. The recipe went pretty well aside from the final glazing where I think i must have got the sugar too hot as it didn't seem to end up looking quite like Raymonds. However the texture of the cake was pretty good, even though I do say so myself The recipe This lemon drizzle loaf cake is a French teatime favourite that Raymond Blanc has served at his restaurant for the past 25 years. Equipment and preparation: You will need a 26cm x 9cm x 8cm/10in x 3½in x 3in loaf tin. Ingredients For the cake 5 free-range  eggs 300g/11oz  caster sugar 140ml/5fl oz  double cream 3  lemons , zest only 1½ tbsp dark  rum 1 pinch  salt 80g/3oz unsalted  butter , melted 240g/8½oz  plain flour ½ tsp  baking powder For the apricot jam glaze 3...

After my Plum and orange cake last week (I went through by the way) it was Mr Quarrey's turn to compete in Cake club. I think its fair to say that he has kept the founders end up rather well, his Sticky pear and ginger cake may not have risen to the greatest of heights but on the flavour front it was positively Shard like.  Heres the recipe This is a cross between a sticky toffee pudding and a ginger cake. Serve warm with ice cream or cream as a dessert Serves   8 - 10 Ingredients ·       250g stoned  dates   , finely chopped ·       300ml milk ·       100g butter , plus extra for the tin ·       140g ginger preserve (you'll find this with the jams) ·       140g dark muscovado sugar ·       3 large ripe  pears   (we used Conference) · ...

So here it is, my entry. It doesn't look that brilliant but hopefully it will do well on the taste front. c'mon Chris lets see what you've got!

Yes its back, krow's Cake club; Goswell Road's most fiercely contested culinary competition. I know I'm breaking the first rule of cake club but it's me versus new boy, Chris Hurdiss. Something tells me the boy can bake, so instead of the usual 'go for it with no test' approach, this time I am using a cold Saturday to give the River Cafe plum and orange cake a dry run. Its just out of the oven ... too hot to try but looking ok .... we'll see. Anyway here's the recipe from River cafe Easy Plum filling: 500 g ripe plums 50 g caster sugar juice and zest of one orange 1 vanilla pod Cake: 150 g unsalted butter 150 g caster sugar 2 eggs 85 g self raising flour 1/2 tsp baking powder 100 g almonds, finely ground Almond topping: 30 g unsalted butter 25 g demerara sugar zest of one orange 50 g flaked almonds Preheat the oven to 180C / Gas 4 Halve and stone the plums and put in an ovenproof dish with the sugar, the orange juice an...

For the very few of you who are interested (Peter and Lulu) I lost. It was close but I blew it I did lose to the doyenne of cake club the very talented Tanya who came in with an incredible confection of chocolate cake and frilly knicker type icing in pink and white. It was amazing but I did have a few people tell me that whilst mine was a bit 'rustic' looking it tasted pretty good .... maybe if the balance of voters had been a bit more biased towards blokes I might have fared better. Still it means that I can now focus on tasting and voting rather than cooking and sweating about getting it to the office in one piece!

Ingredients 2 1/4 sticks Unsalted butter 1 Lemon 1 Vanilla bean 2/3 cup Blanched almonds 3/4 cup Pistachios 1 1/4 cups Superfine sugar 4 Eggs, organic 1/2 cup All-purpose flour Topping 1 Lemon 1/2 cup Pistachios 1/4 cup Superfine sugar Heat the oven to 300 degrees. Grease a 12 x 4 1/2 x 2 3/4-inch loaf pan with 4 tsp of the butter and line with baking parchment. Soften the remaining butter. Finely grate the lemon peel. Split the vanilla bean and scrape out the seeds. Finely grind the almonds and pistachios together. Beat the butter and the sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Add the lemon peel and vanilla seeds, then fold in the nuts and sift in the flour. Spoon the batter into the pan and bake for 45-60 minutes. The cake is ready when a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool in the pan, then turn out. For the topping, grate the lemon peel and squeeze the juice. Halve the pistachios. Mix the lemon juice with the sugar, boil until reduced to a syrup, then add t...

These brownies aren't just brownies. They are food porn. They are culinary corruption. In the wrong hands they could be dangerous. This recipe should come with a coronary advisory. We here at krow believe that they may just be our finest new business tool. Make them and judge for yourself. The recipe is an adaptation of one by the buttoxsome Nigella .... Thank you Mrs. Saatchi Ingredients 375 g soft unsalted butter 300 g lindt 70% cocoa dark chocolate 6 large eggs 1-tablespoon vanilla extract 500 g caster sugar 225 g plain flour 1-teaspoon salt Directions Preheat the oven to 180C. Line your approximately 33 x 23 x 5 1/2cm brownie pan with baking paper. Melt the butter and chocolate together in a large heavy based saucepan. In a bowl beat the eggs with the sugar and vanilla. Measure the flour into another bowl and add the salt. When the chocolate mixture has melted, let it cool a bit before beating in the eggs and sugar mixture, and then the flour. Beat to combine and then scrape ou...