Wednesday, 22 May 2013

Sous Chef Haul

I've been lusting over sous chef for some time now, I have a wish list as long as my arm. 
Up beside me it's pretty hard to get ahold of unusual or hard to find ingredients and sous chef has solved all problems.. Thank goodness. 
They have every cuisine from Mexican to Korean, you can find most of the ingredients you need to create an authentic dish. 

They also do these amazing create your own hampers, cookbook sets, ingredients and tools everything you need to create the perfect dish!!

I accidentally forgot to add in a few things on my first order so I had to order again with a  few sneaky items. Turn around pretty quick I had my order 2 days after placing the order. 






Little Pod: Bourbon Vanilla Extract 
Sous Chef: Sugar Pearls 
Sous Chef: White Chocolate 
Little Pod: Coffee Extract 
Sous Chef: Freeze Dried Strawberries 
Sous Chef: Rose Petals 
Sous Chef: Tonka Beans 

These beauty's will be making an appearance in posts over the coming weeks so keep an eye out. 


LoveLx

Sunday, 19 May 2013

Orange Semolina Cake



For World Baking Day  I decided I would bake something I've never made before inspired by there Bake Brave hashtag.


I first tasted this delicious cake in Valvona and Crolla a few years back during a trip to the other (Edin-) burgh. We stopped for lunch at there restaurant beside Harvey Nichols then we spotted their concession in Jenners department store  and has to stop for a quick fly cup. Along with my usual double shot Americano I had to have a slice of their Orange Semolina Cake. 

I've made a few minor adjustments since I first baked the cake  and its best made the day before to give the flavours time to settle and intensify. 


Makes - 10inch Cake 

Ingredients:

Cake:
2 oranges, flesh and zest peeled into strips only 
185ml Olive Oil, fruity notes
5 Eggs
250grams Semolina 
4teaspoons Baking Powder 
80grams Almonds, chopped or flaked 

Syrup:
125grams Caster Sugar 
Juice of 1/4 lemon 
1 teaspoon Zest, Orange or Lemon 
185ml Water 


Method: 

Boil the orange peel in water for 40minutes or until the peel has softened, this may take longer or shorter depending. 
Preheat the oven to 180c/350f/gas 4. Prepare the cake tin by greasing and lining with baking paper. 
In a pan over medium heat pour in the syrup ingredients and stir continuously until the sugar has dissolved. Bring the syrup to the boil for 7 minutes and set aside. 
Remove the softened peel from the pan and remove any pips from the orange flesh, put everything into a food processor and blitz until a smooth pulp has formed. 
Pour the pulp into a large mixing bowl and stir in the oil, sugar and eggs using a wooden spoon. Now whisk the mixture until it has lightened in colour. 
Fold in the semolina, baking powder and almonds until everything is completely incorporated. Pour the orange batter into the prepared cake tin and place in the oven for 30-40 minutes. 
Once the cake is newly out the oven(still in the pan) you can either just pour the syrup evenly over the top and leave to absorb or do it the traditional way by cutting the cake into diamonds and then pouring over syrup leaving it to absorb before serving. 

LoveLx