Weekend Cooking: The Magic of Lemon Drop Pie by Rachel Linden

 

Sometimes you can look at a book cover and title and think yes, that sounds like my kind of book. If you are super lucky, you then read the first few pages and know that you are going to love it, and this was one of those books for me!

When Lolly was in her early teens she wrote down 5 goals for her life. They were:

Live in another country

Own my own restaurant somewhere amazing

Fall in love

Help my family be happy together 4 ever

Get my own horse

Now in her early thirties, Lolly finds the diary and she is somewhat disappointed with her life in comparison to her younger self's dreams.

Lolly feels like she lives a life driven by her obligations and duty. Ten years earlier, her mother had died leaving Lolly, her dad and her younger sister behind. Every day Lolly rises early, bakes lemon drop pies (even though she doesn't even like them herself) for the family diner where her dad dutifully cooks each day. The reality is that the restaurant is not really viable any more no matter how much her family and their regular customers wish it was. To make things worse, her younger sister seems to be moving in a different direction to the one that Lolly imagined for her when she gave up her own dreams to help her sister through college.

When she looks back, Lolly only sees failure. She did spend a few months in England and fell in love with the town of Brighton, but there's no way she can open a restaurant there now. Her family is as together as it can be given the tragic death of her mother and the pressures of running a failing business. As for falling love, Lolly lost the only man she ever loved when she had to choose between supporting her family or moving away to support his career. Rory and Lolly had been inseparable since they were teenagers but there is no chance for them to ever be together again but she can't see herself meeting anyone else.

The only thing on her list that she doesn't feel like she is missing out on is the horse!

One day her eccentric Aunt Gert gives her an extraordinary chance to see what her life would be like if things would be different. Aunt Gert has a hidden supply of Lemon Drops which, if you suck them and think of where you want to go, give you the ability to have just one day in another version of your own life. Lolly finds herself running a successful business, or married to the man of her dreams or having just one more day with her mother. What soon becomes clear is in every version of her life, there are things that are great, but there is a cost for the different turns that life has taken.

Through these various experiences and the things that are happening in real life, Lolly begins to realise that it is still possible for her to live her dreams. It just might look a little different than it did in her imagination all those years before. 

I do enjoy books with this kind of magical realism, where everything looks normal with just that element of a magical twist. This is a really good example of a feel good read, with loads of delicious sounding food, and an inspiring message. And there is also a recipe for Lemon Drop Pie in the back of the book.

This was my first Rachel Linden book and I can't wait to read more. If her other books are as good as this one then she now has a new fan!

I am sharing this review with Foodies Read hosted at Based on a True Story. 

Rating 4.5/5

Weekly meals

Saturday - Nasi Goreng
Sunday -  Chicken Kebabs, baked potato and coleslaw
Monday - Honey Pepper Chicken
Tuesday - Out for dinner
Wednesday - Pork Chops, mash, broccoli and gravy
Thursday - Creamy sausage pasta
Friday -

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Weekend Cooking: Lemon Cheesecake Mousse

 

I have mentioned before that we have recently been gifted a lot of lemons, and so I needed to come up with some ways of using it! I ended up making another batch of lemon curd. Of course, then I needed to figure out what to do with all the lemon curd.

I therefore went searching and I found a recipe to make Lemon Cheesecake Mousse. It is super simple, so I am going to share the recipe here.  I didn't do the fancy piping suggested. I just put some curd in, piped the mousse, repeated, and then sprinkled some biscuits on the top for some crunch. I also spread the mixture over 3 glasses not 8 as I didn't have any tiny glasses! 

I ended up making this twice. The first time it was just for us, but the second time I took it to a friend's place where she was making the main meal and we were providing dessert! She agreed it is a winner, especially when it is so simple to make.

Lemon Cheesecake Mousse

250g cream cheese, at room temperature, chopped
220g (2/3 cup) bought lemon curd
300ml thickened cream

Use electric beaters to beat the cream cheese in a bowl until almost smooth. Add half the lemon curd and beat until smooth and combined. Beat the cream in a separate bowl until firm peaks form, then use a spatula to fold into the cream cheese mixture until combined.

Spoon 2 tbsp of the remaining lemon curd into one side of a piping bag fitted with a 1.5cm plain nozzle (see tip). Spoon half of the cream cheese mixture down the other side of the piping bag. Twist top of bag to seal. Pipe among four small serving glasses. Repeat with remaining curd and cream cheese mixture and pipe among four small serving glasses (eight glasses in total).

Place in the fridge for at least 1 hour (or up to 4 hours) or until mixture firms slightly. Serve.

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Weekend Cooking: What I Baked In My Kitchen in January

Welcome to the first Saturday of the month where I usually share everything I have made over the previous month. Here's what I made

Pineapple Fridge Tart - We had some friends around for a (mostly) South African themed barbecue. We served up pork ribs and boerwoers, a dish called pap which is a maize based staple, plus some potato salad. We have made Peppermint Crisp Tart for these people a few times now, so I wanted to serve up something different so I said to my husband what about Pineapple Fridge Tart. He looked at me very strangely and said I don't remember making that for you. I had to go and find my post from 7 years ago for him to read about the first time we had it!

Japanese Strawberry Shortcake - This was what I had decided to make for my Cook the Books post. I made it for the same dinner I mentioned above, but we didn't even touch it because the Pineapple Fridge Tart was such a hit, and also because we were all too full!

Lemon Poppyseed Crinkle Cookies - Every time we see these particular friends they always bring us some lemons from their trees, which is lovely of them. We don't always get to use them before they rot, so this time I was determined to make something. I ended up deciding on making these Lemon Poppyseed Crinkle Cookies from Emelia Jackson's book Some of my Best Friends Are Cookie. 

Lemon Curd - Because I still had lemons left over, I decided to make lemon curd. I have made curd before a few times but this time I used the recipe from Bake with Brooki.

Lemon Mousse Cake - A bit later in the month, I made a lemon mousse cake. This was a bit of a mash up cake. I used a lemon cake from RecipeTin Eats website, and then made a lemon mousse (which I have previously shared here) using the lemon curd from Bake with Brooki. The end result though - delicious! It may not have looked super pretty but it tasted super delicious! And I had a small ramekin of mousse left which was also fab by itself.

In Sherry's January In My Kitchen post she mentioned getting knives from Coles, which reminded me that we had points to cash in. Turns out, we had enough for three knives made by Smeg! Lucky we got them when we did as a couple of weeks later the campaign was withdrawn.

I went up to Yarrawonga a couple of weeks ago to visit some other friends, and had a lovely meal at one of the wineries up there. We sat outside in then courtyard and we were the only ones there. There were other people inside, but it felt like our own personal restaurant. I had rolled lamb shoulder with a pistachio and apricot crumb and malted honey carrots. Everything was good, but the carrots were amazing.

I have tasked my friend with finding all the wineries which have good food (not just tastings because she doesn't like wine at all) so that we can then mark them off one by one each time we visit!

52 Recipes Challenge

Here are the new recipes we tried this month.

White Vinegar Vinaigrette - I know this is super simple but we don't really make our own vinaigrettes. I will make this one again.

Air Fryer Poached Eggs - I am determined that we are going to use our Air Fryer more given that we bought a new one last week. This, however, is not a recipe we will be making again. It was a disaster!

Air Fryer Baked Potatoes - This one worked out much better!

Japanese Strawberry Shortcake - Made for Cook the Books

Lemon Salmon with Potato Gratin  - This is a recipe from Nagi Mahaeshi's latest book Tonight. We loved it.

Lemon Poppyseed Crinkle Cookies - Used a recipe from Emelia Jackson's latest book.

Lemon Curd - From Bake with Brooki

Weekend Cooking posts from the last month

Best of 2024

What We Ate on Holidays - South Australia

Cook the Books - A Land of Milk and Honey by C Pam Zhang

Weekly Meals

Saturday - Ham and Cheese Toastie
Sunday - Smash Burgers
Monday - Baked Tuscan Chicken and Rice
Tuesday - Pork Chops, mash, beans and gravy
Wednesday -Hunters Chicken (Chicken Cacciatore) - new
Thursday - Italian Meatballs
Friday - Out for dinner

I am sharing this post with In My Kitchen hosted at Sherry's Pickings.

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Weekend Cooking: A Tale of Two Cheesecakes

Cheesecake is one of my favourite things to eat and I have shared lots of cheesecakes over the years, but is that going to stop me from talking about two recent cheesecakes I have made? Well, of course not.

But first lets take a look at just some of the cheesecakes I have shared on the blog over the last 14 years! Some of them are straight cheesecake, others incorporate cheesecake elements.



Creamy Ginger Nut Cheesecake (recipe)

Burnt Basque Cheesecake (recipe)

Cheesecake Brownies

Japanese Jiggle Cheesecake

Jelly Slice (recipe) 

Salted Caramel and Vanilla Cheesecake (recipe)

Classic Baked Cheesecake (recipe)

White Chocolate Cheesecake (recipe)

And now I am going to talk about two very different cheesecakes that I have made over the last month or so.

The first was an Amalfi Lemon Cheesecake from Theo Randall's magnificent cookbook, The Italian Pantry. I have previously posted about how much I enjoyed this book and we continue to enjoy cooking from it, especially the meatball recipe.

I was keen to try this cheesecake recipe as it is different from any cheesecake recipe I have ever tried before. Firstly, the base is made from cantuccini biscuits, which are a type of almond biscotti. The second thing that is different is that it uses a combination of ricotta and mascarpone instead of cream cheese. I was also not able to get Amalfi lemons, so I just used normal lemons. Having talked about the differences, I would like to stress how easy this was to make.

I took this to friends house for a very pleasant Sunday afternoon tea, and it was a hit!

Amalfi Lemon Cheesecake

200g (7oz) cantuccini biscuits
75g (2¾oz) unsalted butter
50g (2oz) light brown sugar
500g (1lb 2oz) ricotta, drained
100g (3½oz) mascarpone
zest and juice of 2 Amalfi lemons, plus extra zest to serve
125g (4½oz) icing (confectioner's) sugar, sifted
Method

Tip the cantuccini into a food processor and blitz them to a fine crumb. Alternatively, place them in a Ziplock bag and bash them with a rolling pin or saucepan. Set aside.


Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over a low heat, then add the blitzed cantuccini biscuits and the sugar. Cook, stirring, for 1 minute, then take the pan off the heat.


Tip the mixture into a 22cm (8½in) non-stick springform cake tin, pressing the buttery crumbled biscuits over the base to create a biscuit base. Transfer the tin to the fridge while you make the ricotta filling.


Using a hand-held electric whisk or a wooden spoon, beat together the ricotta, mascarpone, lemon zest and juice and icing (confectioner’s) sugar in a large mixing bowl for 4 minutes, until the mixture is creamy and light.


Spoon the ricotta mixture into the springform tin and spread it out into an even layer over the base.


Refrigerate to set for a minimum of 3 hours, but preferably overnight, before releasing the cheesecake from the tin. Transfer it to a serving plate and top with extra lemon zest before slicing

The second cheesecake that I tried was a Lemon Cheesecake recipe from Jamie Oliver's cookbook One. The idea of the book is that you only use one pan to cook the meal, or in this case the cheesecake.

The idea of this one is that you cook this in a frying pan, starting from the biscuit base, through to the cheesecake mixture. To be honest, I am really not sure how this saves anything because you would still be using just one cooking implement if you did in the normal cake tin that I used. You would have gotten a better base in the cake tin as well.

Another reason to not use the frying pan. It really, really hurts when you forget to use the oven mitt when you go to put the frying pan back in the fridge. Trust me on this!

One thing I did like about this recipe was the idea of using a food processor to do the biscuit base and then just doing the cream cheese part in the same food processor without worrying about washing the bowl out. Normally I would use the food processor to do the tin and then the stand mixer to do the cream cheese part. I will definitely do that in future.

The title of the recipe is a bit misleading as I do feel as though the raspberries should at least get a shout at.

Lemon Cheesecake 

100 g unsalted butter
250 g Lotus Biscoff or ginger nut biscuits
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
100 g icing sugar , plus extra for dusting
680 g cream cheese
1 lemon

Preheat the oven to 160°C. Melt the butter in a 28cm ovenproof frying pan over a low heat, while you blitz the biscuits until fine in a food processor. Turn the heat off, tip the biscuit crumbs into the pan and mix well, then spread and pat out in an even layer, going slightly up the sides. Bake for 5 minutes, then remove. Crack the eggs into the processor (there’s no need to clean it), with the vanilla and most of the icing sugar and blitz for 2 minutes, until pale. Blitz in the cream cheese and lemon juice, then pour evenly over the biscuit base. Mash half the raspberries and the remaining icing sugar with a fork, swirl through the top, then bake for 15 minutes.

Pull out the pan and scatter over the rest of the raspberries, dust with a little extra icing sugar, then pop back in for another 10 minutes. At this point, switch from the oven to the grill on full whack, until the top is beautifully golden and just starting to catch. Remove and leave to cool, then chill in the fridge for 2 hours before serving. The texture won’t be completely smooth but boy will it be delicious.

Weekly meals

Saturday - Chilli, rice and broccoli

Sunday -  Leftover chilli

Monday - pork chops, mash and broccolie

Tuesday - steak, mushroom and broccoline

Wednesday - takeaway

Thursday - chicken katsu curry, rice, broccoli

Friday -

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Weekend Cooking: Platinum Jubilee Pudding

This year is the platinum jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II becoming queen of both the UK as well as the Commonwealth of which Australia is a part. What does that mean? Well, it means that she has been doing the same job for 70 years! 

In the UK, next weekend is the big celebration. There is a long weekend in the UK and people are being encouraged to get together to hold Jubilee parties. Think street parties, bunting everywhere and more.  Here there are some official events, but I am not aware of anything that is being done community wise. When Princess Elizabeth became queen, there was an official dish that was created with the idea that no matter where they were in the UK, people could celebrate and many of them would be eating the same dish. That dish was coronation chicken, a cold chicken salad with curry cream sauce.

This year, there was a nationwide competition to come up with a celebration  dish, but this time it was a pudding. There was,of course, a TV show during which the winner was chosen. The winner was an amateur baker, Jemma Melvin, whose recipe was a Lemon Swiss Roll and Amaretti trifle. One of the inspirations was the lemon posset which formed part of then Princess Elizabeth's wedding feast. Here she talks about the recipe and how it honours three women, one of whom is the Queen.

Whilst we won't be necessarily doing anything to celebrate the jubilee, I did think I would have a go at making the pudding. 

If you choose to make every element from scratch, there is a fair bit of work involved, especially since the recipe apparently feeds 20 people. However, there are various points where you can take shortcuts (or as in my case where you are forced to take shortcuts), and it didn't take long for cheaper and easier versions of the recipe to start to emerge.

The elements in the official version are:

Swiss rolls

Lemon curd

St Clements Jelly

Amaretti Biscuits

Custard

Chunky Mandarin coulis

Jewelled chocolate shards

Whipped cream

I was keen to make the major elements in my version, but I did make some changes and this is where I ended up

I started with making the swiss rolls. My husband did suggest that I could just buy a pre-made swiss roll (and I have seen this in some of the easier versions of the recipe too), but that really was the element that I definitely wanted to make because it has been a while since I made a swiss roll, even though they are pretty easy to make. I was really happy with how this turned out, so first element done.

The next thing to be made was lemon curd, which is gets spread inside the swiss roll. It just so happened that I already had some homemade curd in the fridge, so I used that instead of making a new batch. Second element done.

The next element was supposed to be St Clements Jelly, made from scratch using lemon and orange peel and gelatin leaves. I knew that this was one area where I was going to adapt because I did have some time constraints today. Instead I used lemon flavoured jelly crystals to make the jelly.  Third element done.

The fourth element of the recipe was the one that I struggled with the most, and that was the lemon custard. I have made custard numerous times, including for custard tarts and milk tarts and for vanilla slices but the recipe just did not work for me. I usually use milk to make custard but this recipe called for cream rather than milk. The first time I made it, the custard split with the oil from the cream left creating pools of oil throughout. I figured I must have done it incorrectly, and I had all the ingredients so I thought I would try again, only to have the same thing happen again. Luckily I had a box of long life custard in the cupboard so I ended up using that instead. However, I think when you look at the finished result, I probably should only have used part of the box so that it was a bit prettier!

Next up was supposed to be amaretti biscuits. I have made amaretti biscuits before and my husband loves them, but I needed to take into consideration that my son has an allergy to tree nuts so we couldn't really put these into a dessert that he might eat at a family dinner. I therefore decided to just use shop bought ladyfinger biscuits. In the end, I could have used amaretti because he didn't even taste what I made! Oh well. It's not the first time he wouldn't try something I have made, and it won't be the last time. The idea is that you put a layer of amaretti in the trifle, but also crumble some over the top of the cream. I did crumble the ladyfingers as well.

I do have several egg whites left from my two attempts at custard, so I am thinking that I might make some amaretti later in the week, just for Robert and I.

Until I started looking at this recipe, I don't think I ever knew that you could buy tinned mandarin segments, but you can. And you can create a chunky coulis without too much effort.

The jewelled chocolate shards involve melting white chocolate and then sprinkling it with mixed peel. However, I couldn't find any mixed peel when I was at the shops today so I ended up deciding not make these at all. Instead I offered my guests some shop made mini meringues if they wanted to.

Whipped cream should have been the easiest part of this, but unfortunately because I had unsuccessfully made two lots of custard I didn't have as much cream left as I should have.

So what was the verdict? I served this up at a family dinner. As usual my bakes don't look as pretty as they should, but they do generally taste good! Most people enjoyed it and went for seconds, but my nephew wasn't super keen because he "hates" mandarins. Note to self, don't use mandarins in anything in future.

Weekly meals

Saturday - 

Sunday - 

Monday - 

Tuesday - Steak, egg and chips

Wednesday - Pork nachos

Thursday - Pork chop, mash, broccoli and mushroom sauce

Friday - Takeaway Friday

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Weekend Cooking: What I Baked in February

Normally I share what I have baked at the beginning of each month, but we are away this week and so I have decided to share it this week instead. I did have something else planned for today but I haven't made it yet so hopefully I will get around to making it in order to post about it next week!

In the end I only made one thing in February, but it was a big hit so we will definitely be making it again and it looked so good in the bundt tin that I bought recently. I can really see myelf getting addicted to buying new bundt tins. I am currently contemplating two different designs to be my next purchase. And maybe I should get some mini bundt tins whiile I am at it You know, just so I can save on postage.

I used this recipe for a Lemon Cream Cheese Pound Cake from Cupcake Jemma and I loved how light and lemony this was, and my husband loved it, to the point that he didn't even want to have cream on it, which is saying a lot in his case.

This is definitely on the favourites list and I will be making it again.

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Weekend Cooking: When Life Gives You Lemon Curd

 Normally on the last Saturday of the month, I would be sharing the bakes that I made, but I have decided to move that from the last Saturday of each month to the beginning of the next month.There are a couple of reasons. One is that I often find myself making something on the last weekend of the month thinking it is a bit silly that I will have to post about it in a month's time. The other reason is because I want to link up my post with In My Kitchen, hosted at Sherry's Pickings, and you can only link up to that in the first two weeks of each month.

This leads me with a dilemna about what to post today!

If you recall, last week I shared a recipe for Lemon Angel Food Cake, which is a recipe by Mary Berry. One of the components of that cake, is a lemon curd. The recipe makes a lot more than you need which means that I have leftover curd.

This week, I am therefore going to share a recipe for lemon mousse. I originally learned this recipe when I was make an amazing Lemon Mousse Cake through Bake-it Box a few years ago. In that recipe, you make the curd which is one component in the construction of the cake, but then you use the curd as the basis of mousse which is another component in the cake. 

The first time I made the Lemon Angel Food Cake, I used the curd to make the mousse as a mid week dessert, and it was delicious, so now I want to share that recipe so that I can find it next time I want to make it. 

My intention is to take this to the kids house for dinner on Tuesday afternoon (we have a public holiday on Tuesday) but I am trying to figure out what to do with the lemon mousse. Do I just make individual servings, or one big serve. Do I make some biscuits to have with it? Do I make a biscuit base and then pour the mousse over the top to try and make a different version of lemon mousse cake. So many options!

Lemon Mousse

240ml cold thickened cream

2 tbspn icing sugar

1 tspn vanilla extract

45 ml cold water

1 1/2 tspn gelatine powder

1 1/4 cup (360g) lemon curd

1 tspn lemon extract (optional)

Sprinkle the gelatine powder over the cold water. Whisk to combine and set aside to bloom for 5 minutes.

Beat together the cold cream and icing sugar until medium stiffness. Folder 1/3 of the whipped cream into the lemon curd. Add the vanilla extract and pour the mixture bck into the remaining cream. Mix until halfway incorporated.

Microwave the bloomed gelatine at 10 seecond intervales until it's hot to the touch.

Add a few spoonfuls of the mousse into the hot gelatine and quickly whisk until completely incorporated. Pour the gelatine mixture back into the mousse and whisk

Add a few drops of lemon extract, according to taste and mix (optional)

Pour or pipe into individual ramekins, or one large serving dish.

What would you do with leftover lemon curd?

Weekly Meals

Saturday - Dinner with family

Sunday - Dinner with family

Monday - Steak, egg and chips

Tuesday - Teriyaki Salmon Stir Fry

Wednesday  - Spaghetti Bolognaise

Thursday - Chicken Kiev tray bake

Friday - Takeaway

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Weekend Cooking: When Life Give You Lemons

We are all familiar with the old saying about when life gives you lemons make lemonade but I am here to suggest that there are so many other options. In fact, I think I have only attempted to make lemonade once, because to me, 

I have had this post in mind for quite some time because when I look out at my garden there is a tree with a profusion of lemons on it. We weren't always sure that would be the case, because a few years ago now we did a very, very hard prune. There were quite a few occasions where we stood on the deck and looked at the stump and contemplated whether we had gone too hard. Here is the evidence:

I do love lemon as a flavour. It is up there with chocolate as a favourite. Another favourite is white chocolate and raspberry, but that, and other flavours, aren't as accessible to me as chocolate and lemon are.  

Over the years I have made a lot of different lemon flavoured treats

Lemon Syrup Cakes - This is a firm favourite in our house, and I have made them many, many times, most recently a couple of weeks ago. 

Lemon Thins  - I have made these once, but I do often think about making them again.

Lemon delicious - Last year I went through a phase of making self saucing puddings, so it was only natural that I made a lemon version.

Lemon Crunch Cake  - I made this Hawaiian cake after reading about it in the Lost Pearl by Emily Madden.

Lemon Mousse Cake - I have made this a couple of times, but I have also used the mousse that is one of the components of this cake.

Lemon tart - I've made this a couple of times. Most recently I added meringue kisses to the top to make a fancy lemon meringue pie

Lemon meringue pie-  I have also made the more traditional version of lemon meringue pie.

There are more, but I think the above represent how much we enjoy lemon in our house.

Today, I am sharing the recipe for the Lemon Angel Food Cake, which is a Mary Berry recipe. I have made this before, and ended up giving part of the cake away before I tasted it, which I realised as soon as we did taste it, because it was so light and airy and so delicious.

I am making it again today to take to a family dinner tonight, our first opportunity to come together as a family since July since our lockdown has finally been removed. There are still some restrictions for those who are not double vaxxed.

Last time I made this, I used the lemon curd to make a delicious lemon mousse, and I will be doing the same again today. What I don't include is passionfruit as this is a flavour that I do not like.

Lemon Angel Food Cake - Mary Berry 

For the cake

125g/4½oz plain flour
300g/10½oz caster sugar
10 large free-range egg whites
2 large lemons, grated zest only
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp cream of tartar
½ tsp salt

For the lemon curd (this recipe makes more lemon curd than you need)

10 large free-range egg yolks
400g/14oz caster sugar
4 large lemons, juice only (approximately 200ml/7fl oz)
2 large lemons, grated zest only
175g/6oz unsalted butter, cubed
2 passion fruit

For the topping
300ml/10fl oz whipping cream
½ tsp vanilla extract




Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4 (fan 160C) and arrange an oven shelf in the bottom third of the oven. Sift the flour and 100g/3½oz of the caster sugar together in a bowl and set aside.


Whisk the egg whites in a large bowl with an electric hand whisk or mixer on a high speed for one minute until frothy. Add the lemon zest, lemon juice, cream of tartar and salt and continue whisking for 2-3 minutes, or until soft peaks form when the whisk is removed from the bowl. Increase the speed and add the remaining 200g/7oz of caster sugar, one tablespoon at a time to form firm, but not stiff peaks.


Sprinkle over one-third of the flour mixture and fold gently to combine. Repeat with the remaining two-thirds of the flour mixture folding gently to keep as much air in the mixture as possible.


Transfer the batter to a 25cm/10in angel food cake pan. Gently run a knife through the centre of the batter to remove any pockets of air. Cook for 45-50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.


Remove from the oven and immediately turn upside down onto the tin’s cooling legs, or place over the neck of a wine bottle. Leave to cool for at least one hour.


Run a knife around the inner and outer edges of cake to remove it from the pan. Invert onto a plate. Carefully use a palette knife to separate the cake from the base of the pan. Leave to cool on a wire rack.


For the lemon curd, mix the egg yolks, sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest together in a large pan. Cook over a low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, making sure to stir the sides and base of the pan. Cook for 5-7 minutes, or until the mixture coats the back of a spoon. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter. Pass through a sieve into a large jug. Fill two 350g/12oz glass jars with the lemon curd and seal with lids. Cover the remaining curd with cling film and leave to cool.


For the topping, whisk the cream and vanilla extract in a bowl until soft peaks form when the whisk is removed. Spoon the topping over the angel food cake and, using a palette knife, coat the top and sides of the cake, smoothing as you go.


Cut the passion fruit in half and scoop out the seeds. Stir the passion fruit into the reserved, cooled lemon curd and drizzle over the angel food cake before serving. You may want to use just one of the jars of lemon curd to serve with the cake and save the other to eat separately.

Weekly Meals

Saturday - Pork chops with potatoe and cauliflower bake

Sunday - Roast beef rolls with gravy

Monday - Zucchini, tomato risotto

Tuesday - Lasagne

Wednesday  - Pork Nachos

Thursday - Chicken kebabs, baked potato, salad

Friday - Takeaway

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Weekend Cooking: What I Baked in August

It's the last Saturday of the month and that means it is time to share what I have baked during the month of August.

It has actually been a busy baking month this month, and I have a very long list of things I want to try making so it might well be in September too. It's not like I dont have the time given that we have been in lockdown for a few weeks now, and I think it is unlikely that those restrictions  will be lifted this week either.

Mini Jam Tarts  - I made these specifically to be able to include a photo in my post about the book The Jam Queens which I shared a few weeks ago. I have shared the recipe for these previously here.

Lemon Angel Food Cake - When watching the Great Canadian Baking Show, one of the bakes that caught my eye was an Orange Chiffon Cake. I went and bought the specific tin and everything but then I realised I have a profusion of lemons on my tree at the moment so instead I made Lemon Angel Food Cake. It was oh my goodness level of delicious. I did make a bit of a mistake though, if that is the right word. When I decided to make the cake I decided that I was going to send some of it around to my sister's house, which I was more than happy to do, as they had been ordered to isolate due to a positive case at my nephew's school. One bite of the cake though, we realised that it ws so light, so fluffy and so delicious that we should have kept it for ourselves! Oh well, I have the tin so I can make it again at some point. Luckily, they enjoyed it too!

Lemon Mousse - In the recipe for the cake it suggests you can buy lemon curd, but I decided to make my own which I then used as part of the topping for the cake. I did, however, have quite a bit leftover, so I decided to make individual pots of lemon mousse! So good.

Filo Cream Parcels - I have watched Nadiya Hussain's Netflix series Nadiya Bakes a couple of times now. One of the first things I decided to make out of the book when I read it was the Filo Cream Parcels. I shared the recipe for this last week as part of the joint review I did with BethFish Reads.

Japanese Jiggle Cheesecake - I first heard of this recipe on Great British Bake Off and have had it on my list to make ever since then.  Again, light, fluffy and jiggly. I think now I need to have a cheesecake month where I can decide whether I like this, the Basque Cheesecake I made a few months ago or a New York style baked cheesecake. 

Weekly Meals

Saturday - 

Sunday - Bangers and Mash Pie

Monday - Chicken Burrito Bowls

Tuesday - Beef Stroganoff

Wednesday - Green Curry Chicken Pie

Thursday - Steak, Baked Potato and Vegetables

Friday - Takeaway

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Weekend Cooking: Lemon Poppyseed Bundt cake

On the odd occasion that I get the opportunity, I will buy a muffin for breakfast. While I like blueberry muffins, and raspberry and white chocolate muffins,really, my favourite is orange poppyseed. The reality is though, that it is a very specific type I like. Ideally it has to have a cream cheese topping. the problem with buying muffins from the shops though is that sometimes they are a bit dry, or a bit too moist, but when you get one that is just right....perfection. Funnily enough, the best ones locally are available at the local petrol station (or gas station).

While I have tried to make orange poppyseed cake, but it has been a long time! I did think that I still had poppyseed in the cupboard but I must have thrown it them out because I couldn't find them. Poppyseed is one of these ingredients that I buy for very specific recipes, and then never use it for anything else. 

I guess the key to avoiding that kind of waste, is to find a recipe that you like so much, that you can make it several time, therefore not wasting so much.

Recently in a Facebook group, someone posted what they said was a family favourite, so I grabbed a snip of it so I could try it.. Unfortunately I haven't been able to find who shared the recipe again, but I thank them for it.  I did also love the opportunity to pull out the bundt tin which in my opinion I don't get to use often enough.

The recipe was quite easy to do and it was very tasty, so I do have every intention that I will make it again before this lot of poppyseeds have to be thrown away! Next time I will remember to try and take a photo of a slice of the cake!

Lemon Poppyseed Bundt Cake

250 grams pure butter
I cup castor sugar
4 eggs.
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup poppy seeds
1/3 cup lemon juice
The lemon zest of a whole lemon
1 teaspoon pure vanilla essence
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups self raising flour.

Cream butter amd sugar
Add eggs one at a time. Mix well
Add milk, lemon juice and vanilla essence
Add poppyseeds and lemon zest
Then add flour and baking slowly .
Bake in the oven at 180 c for 40 minutes
Decorate with icing sugar and lemon zest.

Weekly Menu

Saturday: Leftover pizza
Sunday: 
Monday: Out for dinner
Tuesday: Peri Peri Checken with mashed sweet potato
Wednesday: Boerwors with chakalaka sauch and bobotie rice

Thursday: Chargrilled stake with guacamole, salsa and tortillas
Friday: Out for dinner.

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page.