Nigella's Christmas-Spiced Chocolate Cake

I love chocolate and I love spices, so what's not to love about this cake?  And of course it's from one of Nigella Lawson's cookbooks Nigella Christmas so a winner for me!  Do I have all her books?  Mm, I think so.  I love her prose voice, though I was amazed to find that one of my (male) friends dislikes her heartily (from seeing her on the telly I guess).  He thinks she's a bit snooty.  But he's jealous of her charm, I reckon :=)

Some of my fave Nigella tricks are: using scissors for cutting herbs, melting chocolate in the microwave, baking rather than frying, and ... well, there are heaps more.  I have made so many recipes from Feast for instance, and they have always worked.  And this one is a beauty!  I tried a small piece, but couldn't stay away and kept grabbing another wee piece and another ...  

caramelised almonds on top!

Gives you 10-12 slices:

ingredients:

For the Cake:

150g./5+ oz dark chocolate, chopped

150g./5+ oz butter, at room temp.

6 large eggs

250g./9 oz caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

100g./3.5 oz almond meal/ground almonds

1 tsp ground cinnamon

pinch of ground cloves

zest of an orange or similar fruit (we don't have her suggested clementine/satsuma stuff here in Aus, plus it's Summer here!)

4 tsp instant espresso powder (I used Lavazza Prontissimo Espresso)

For the Topping:

juice of the zested fruit

15g./1 (U.K.) Tbs butter

1 Tbs caster sugar

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

50g./1.8 oz flaked almonds

Top with: 300 mL/10 oz of double cream, or whipped cream, to which you add 2-3 Tbs of your fave liqueur, stirred in

Method:

Have everything at room temp. before you start making the cake (says Nigella)

Whack on your oven to 180C/350F to heat up

Grab your 23 cm./9 inch springform tin, butter the sides, and line the bottom with baking paper

The chocolate and butter go into a heatproof bowl in the microwave - watch carefully so it doesn't burn - try 30 second bursts till melted

Let it cool for a few minutes, while you beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla till thick, pale and mousse-like - till doubled or even tripled

Now fold in the almond meal, spices, zest and espresso powder - gently!

And then fold in the chocolate/butter mixture (also gently) into the batter

Pour/spoon into your cake tin, and bake for 35-40 minutes - you want a firm top, and a slightly! gooey interior

Sit the tin on a cake rack, with a tea towel over it, and let it cool right down

In the meantime, you make the topping by putting the juice, butter, sugar and cinnamon into a small non-stick frying pan, melt together, and let sizzle for a minute or two, before adding the almonds

Nigella says to tip the pan to keep it moving, so that you end up with the liquid gone and you have shiny, thinly-coated, fragrant nuts

Let 'em cool, put the cake on a serving platter, and spread the flavoured cream over the cake.  I stirred some roast coffee spiced-rum into double cream, whacked it into the freezer for 20 minutes to firm up ('cos this is Queensland, and it's hot and it's humid), then I spread it all over the cake, and topped with the orangey, spicy nuts

Mr P. buttered and lined this tin for me, as I don't have a 23cm springform pan

ingredients gathered

beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla together

gather your dry ingredients 

fold everything in - gently!

pour the batter into the cake tin

it's baked!

make your nuts!

my nuts are done

wanna try a piece? :=)

(Joining in with Jo from the Brookford Kitchen Diaries (BKD) Cookbook Club this month!)

c. Sherry M.

Pickled Beetroot AKA Beetroot for Salads

I have turned into a pickle fiend lately.  Don't know why, but there it is.  I pickled some chillies that I snipped off a bush outside Reception at some holiday apartments, and I finally got around to pickling some beetroot.  There was actually a beetroot shortage last Christmas, and you just could not buy them - the ones in tins and jars, I mean.  So now I am prepared!  And they are delicious!

This is a recipe from the PWMU cookbook, first published in 1904!  That is the Presbyterian Women's Missionary Union, in case you are not familiar with the acronym - 'cos I wasn't :=)  And it's such a fab cookbook.  I made half the amount so just double it if you are really keen.  They just blithely say you need a bunch of beetroot; so I figured that might be about 1 kilo, so I halved it for my recipe.

c. Sherry M.

Makes 1 x 680g./24 oz jar:

ingredients:

1/2 bunch of beetroot - around 500g./1.1 lb  see Notes

for the brine:

1-2 cm/half an inch or so of fresh ginger, grated or finely chopped

300 mL vinegar (I used white wine and apple cider vinegars)

100g./3.5 oz sugar (I used caster sugar)

1 tsp sea salt flakes

1 tsp black peppercorns

1 tsp yellow mustard seeds

1/4-1/2 tsp of mountainpepper berries (optional) and of 

coriander seeds and of allspice berries   see Notes

Method:

Chop up the beetroot and pile into your clean, sterilised jar

Place the ginger, vinegar, sugar, salt, and all the other spices into a small saucepan

Bring to the boil, turn down and simmer for 5 minutes

Let the mixture cool down a bit, strain it over a bowl, and MAKE SURE you collect the vinegar mixture

Pour the liquid over the beetroot in the jar, whack on the lid and into the fridge it goes!

Notes:

You can buy raw beetroot, boil it for an hour, cool it and peel it OR be sensible - just buy the vacuum-packed, cooked, and peeled stuff

The extra spices are my idea; they just went for salt, pepper and mustard - probs not easy to get mountainpepper berries and coriander seeds back in 1904 :=)

c. Sherry M.

And for those of you who don't come from Australia, I have to tell you about our iconic Aussie hamburger 'with the lot', as it's known here.  You add a fried egg, and a slice of pineapple, the meat pattie of course, plus fried onion, and a thick slice of beetroot!  It ain't a burger with the lot without the beetroot!

ingredients gathered

simmer your brine

chop up the beetroot and into the jar(s)

the (mostly) strained brine ready for the jar  (I do love me some mustard seeds)

and ready for the fridge

all done!

c.  Sherry M.

In My Kitchen - December 2024

'Hello friends', as Cherry the English YouTuber I watch now and then, always says at the start of her videos.  Well, here we are - the last In My Kitchen for 2024.  Mm, did someone wave a magic wand and cast a spell on me?  It simply cannot be December!  But it is, so on we go.

I know we are all a bit overwhelmed this time of year, so I hope all goes well for you.  Enjoy the Christmas rush, my friends.  Take care, and see you over the hump!  Watch out 2025!

    

c. Sherry M.

Santa wishes everyone a very merry Christmas and whatever else you do or do not celebrate this time of year, dear friends.  And many thanks to all of you who have followed along contributing your posts to In My Kitchen.  We appreciate you! :=)  Hee hee hee ...

In My Kitchen:

I made more tomato relish!   (And it's all gone already!) Gotta make more.

and lemon cordial with Meyer lemons from our Tassie mates

and rice pudding with rose petals

I pickled some red and green chillies

We stayed up at Hervey Bay for a few nights recently; the kindly manager of the holiday apartments let me pick the chillies from the bush outside Reception.  So they came home with us, and I pickled 'em.  We actually got a self-tapping roofing screw in our back tyre on the way home (on a Sunday lunchtime), so had to find a motel and stay the night till the tyre shop (?) was open Monday morning.  We stayed in an 'interesting' part of town; there were people living on spare blocks of land with tarpaulins as their home.  Heaven knows how they showered or went to the loo!  Strange times we are living in.

I ordered these online from Mingle - delish!

I bought this cute little cup for my morning coffee

and this book by the cook, and cookbook writer Nigel Slater

Santa is looking a bit worried; maybe he thinks Nigel doesn't believe in him?!  Nevermind Santa; WE believe in you.

the curveball! The cutest wee vase made by our friend Nat

She sells her ceramics under the name Austin Flowers.  I have quite a few of her works, including a print which is a stylised portrait of our mate Chainsaw Newton - he of Gelato Bob fame (she is a painter mostly).

Well, that's it for this year's IMK.  See you in January!  Take care, have fun, eat well and give out lots of hugs!

c. Sherry M.

Be a part of our friendly IMK community by adding your post here too - everybody welcome!  We'd love to have you visit.  Tell us about your kitchen (and kitchen garden) happenings over the past month.  Dishes you've cooked, preserves you've made, herbs and veg. in your garden, kitchen gadgets, and goings-on.  And one curveball is welcome - whatever you fancy; no need to be kitchen-related.  

The link is open from the first of the month to midnight on the thirteenth of the month, every month.

Options for adding your post to IMK:

1. Add via the Add Link button at the bottom of this post.  Instructions can be found on the sidebar of this page, under the Add your IMK link OR:

2. Comment on this post, providing a link to your post so I can add it manually to the list below OR:

3. Email me: sherrym1au@gmail.com, with your link or any queries about the link process, or if you would like it to be added after the 13th ('cos I'm happy to add it for you later)

https://spadesspatulasandspoons.com/2024/12/13/in-my-kitchen-december-2024/

(Sorry - had probs. trying to add Liz's link!  Just key it into your search engine to find her post.))

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter