Ladysmith Cake

Ladysmith Cake is apparently a Kiwi invention, and it appears in so many vintage recipe books so I assume it is (or at least was) rather popular, but to be honest I had never had it until this year. Here's a great version that was taken from a recipe book published way back in 1940; (credit for the recipe goes to Mrs Hugh Carswell).

edit: I've recently discovered it was named to celebrate the lifting of a four-month siege of the South African town of Ladysmith in February 1900, during the Boer War.

The cake itself has a yummy subtle spiciness to it, and is so light and soft. I also love how the walnuts become lovely and toasted at the top, combined with the jam in the centre, this is a beautiful combination of textures and flavours. It has now become one of my "go-to" cake recipes, an awesome addition to any afternoon tea.


Ingredients:

185g butter
185g sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
3 eggs
185 g flour
1 Tbsp cornflour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp mixed spice
4 Tbsp jam (any berry jam is ideal, raspberry, strawberry, or my favourite; blackcurrant)
1/4 cup (50g) chopped walnuts

Method:

Preheat your oven to 180 Celsius and grease or line a cake tin (the original recipe refers to an 18cm square cake tin as being ideal, but I use a 20cm round tin.)

Cream the butter and sugar, beat in the vanilla, then add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Fold in the flour, cornflour and baking powder. Scoop half the mixture into a separate bowl, sift the spices on top, fold them through, then spread evenly into the cake tin.

Spoon the jam onto the spicy cake mixture and carefully spread as evenly as possible, then top with remaining plain cake mixture.

Sprinkle with walnuts.

Bake for 50-60 minutes.

Kheema Bhurjee

Kheema Bhurjee roughly translates to "mince fry-up", but as it is an Indian dish you know it's going to pack more punch than the simple name may imply. Btw fresh coriander would also be a great addition along with the mint. So chuck some in if you have it. Coriander is out of season here at the mo, and I refuse to pay ridiculous prices for it so I skip it. Still tastes awesome.

Ingredients:

1 onion, chopped
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
2 bay leaves
1 Tablespoon garlic, crushed/finely chopped
1 Tablespoon ginger, crushed/grated
3/4 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
2 tsp ground coriander
100g (about 3/4 cup) peas, thawed if frozen
200g (about 3) tomatoes, chopped
350g minced lamb
1 Tablespoon fresh mint
1 red chilli, chopped
salt, to taste

Method:

Heat a couple of tablespoons of oil in a pan, add the onions and fry on moderate heat for about 10 minutes until they are golden brown.

Add the cumin seeds and bay leaves, fry for a minute 'til the seeds are toasted.

Add the ginger, garlic, chilli powder, turmeric, ground coriander, peas and tomatoes. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.

Add the lamb, stir-fry for 10-15 minutes.

Stir in the mint and red chilli. Season with salt. Stir-fry for a couple minutes more.

Traditionally this is served with sliced bread or soft bread rolls, however it's still nice with rice.

Peachee Scones

Recently my friend got me hooked on a carbonated peach drink called Peachee, made by Bundaberg. Now while it's best to drink the stuff to get the full force of flavour, I started to toy with the idea of using it in a scone mixture. I'd always heard about using lemonade in a scone mix but had never bothered with it, but my bottle of Peachee was calling me to try it out. Verdict: great success. Instead of using cream I decided to use a half half mixture of yoghurt and buttermilk. The resulting dough was very sticky, but I was still able to work with it, so if you try this recipe don't be too alarmed by the seemingly sloppy mess, it will reward you with delightfully soft scones.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups self-raising flour
• 1/2 cup peach yoghurt (or nectarine or anything in a similar vein)
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 cup Peachee
• Lemon curd for filling

Method:

Preheat your oven to 220 Celsius.

Sift the flour into a large bowl then add the wet ingredients. Mix briefly to form a dough. Don't worry if it's a bit sticky, but if you are really worried just add more flour.

Tip out onto a floured bench and roll or pat it out til dough is 2-3cm thick. Cut with a floured cutter or cut into squares.

Place the scones on a prepared tray, be sure to place them close together to help them rise.

Brush the tops with milk and bake for 10-15 minutes. Split them and spread with lashings of lemon curd.