For late-night pudding or with morning coffee, spread with cream cheese or plain; however you like it, eat this.

Nigella Lawson's Dense Chocolate Loaf Cake

225g soft unsalted butter
375g dark muscovado sugar
2 large eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
100g best chocolate, melted
200g plain flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
250ml boiling water

Preheat the oven to 190ºC, put in a baking sheet to catch the drips (it will drip, if not flood) and line a loaf tin (23 x 13 x 7cm).

I find muscovado sugar can have persistent lumps - beat it first to break it up well. Then add butter and cream well, followed by eggs and vanilla.









I love to see beaten butter.

Fold in the melted and slightly cooled chocolate - don't over beat, then gently fold in the flour, to which you have added the bicarb, alternately spoon by spoon, with the boiling water until you have a smooth and loose batter.

Pour the mocca river into the lined tin and bake for 30 minutes. Turn the oven down to 170ºC and continue to cook for another 15 minutes. It may need a little longer if the batter still wobbles in the tin. Check with a skewer but it should be squidgy inside.

Allow to cool completely before turning out of the tin. It will have sunk slightly in the middle.

A cake! How long has it been since I baked a cake? too long .. and this week is not getting me any closer as it is too cold in my kitchen to spend time there for long. I have no heating and naked windows (i like the view from my sink) but in this weather i am retreating to the inner house instead. I've been making lots of quick soup instead.

This is one i made a few weeks ago. I want to make it again, soon. Very soon. It is a rich almond torte, reminisent of marzipan and egg custard, with a delicately light crumb. I served mine with a raspberry coulis (frozen berries, heated gently and blended with a little icing sugar) but Nigella recommends fresh mango and lime. I can't wait to try this with a ripe and fragrant alphonso.



Nigella Lawson's White Chocolate Almond Cake

175g white chocolate
150g soft butter
100g caster sugar
6 large eggs, separated
150g ground almonds
a drop of almond extract


Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Grease (with almond oil or butter) and line a 23cm springform tin.

Melt the chocolate very gently - it needs a careful touch and will just collapse rather than turn molten as dark chocolate does. Set aside.

Beat the butter until very soft, add 50g of sugar and beat again, adding egg yolks one by one. Continue beating and add the cooled chocolate, then the almonds and extract, mixing well.

In a clean bowl beat the 6 egg whites until peaks form, then add remaining 50g sugar and whip until glossy and firm.

Add a spoonful of white fluff to the cake mix, fold carefully to lighten the batter and then add the rest of the egg white in 3 or 4 spoonfuls, with careful but firm foldings.

Bake for 45-50 minutes or until cooked through. Be careful .. check after 20 minutes and cover with foil so the top doesn't go too brown. It may only need 35 minutes cook time - mine didn't need any longer. Allow to cool for 20 minutes before removing from the tin.

Late at night, drunk, and i ran out of dark chocolate, so the latest log has a white chocolate buttercream. Lush.

My new Kenwood mixer makes the best buttercream, effortless beating butter to a light cloud of fluff. Mix with melted chocolate for a denser, richer cocoa hit. The sponge is almost a soft meringue, sweet and moist. I want to try this next with a thin layer of vanilla buttercream and the same of raspberry jam as the interior swirl for a fancy effect beneath the chocolate frosting.

Recipe here

Have you ever wondered what to do with lamb breast? They sit there on the shelf, so very very cheaply, little rolled blankets of fat and sweet meat (at least, i imagine lamb as always sweet), mysterious in their trusses and, well, cheapness.

Place rolled meat of a breast in an ovenproof dish (cut to fit, if necessary) with 2 sliced carrots, 2 sliced onions, a sprig of rosemary and a little dried thyme. Go for a snug fit. Pour over a glass of white wine and a glass of water. It is quite possible that i used a cup of chicken stock instead, depending on what i had in the fridge. Season, cover with lid or a close cap of foil and bake in a low oven (140ºC) for 3 hours, basting every 45 minutes, until meat is tender.





It smells very good at this point.

Leave to cool, removing any ribs still attached. Unroll and unfold the leaves of meat and press between two chopping boards, weighted by plates or tins. Don't be overly concerned by the fat in evidence - it will be cooked off again, under a hot grill. Leave overnight in the fridge.



To serve: slice the meat into double-finger width, single-finger length pieces. Brush with a little mustard (dijon or english), dip into beaten egg (you will need 2 eggs) and press firmly into a plate of dried breadcrumbs. This is messy, but relatively quick, and, as most of the work was done yesterday, it still seems like a very quick supper dish.

Arrange on a wire rack in a roasting pan, brush with melted butter if you wish for crispy brown crumb. I didn't bother with this adding-butter stage, feeling that there was quite enough fat in the dish already, so my fingers weren't evenly toasted, but i suspect just as delicious. Put dish in a moderate over for 15 minutes, (180ºC), then toast under a super hot grill until suitably blackened, to taste, turning once.

Serve with tartare sauce and mashed potato. And perhaps green beans.

"Com'on boys" i said, dragging them, whinging, from sacrosanct afternoon play time and persuading them to don shoes and coats for a trip to the supermarket.

"I need to buy a new iron" i explain, to the grumbles.

"I know" says the eldest, unable to resist showing off his ultimate knowledge. "The old iron probably broke when it fell of the table".

"Ahh" i say, with new understanding.



Buttery, lemon-scented Maderia Cake. It won't knock your socks off, but will melt your heart.

400g soft butter
400g caster sugar
7 eggs
450g self-raising flour
4 tablespoons lemon juice

1. Line a 23cm round tin (or 20 cm square tin) with greased, greaseproof paper - base and sides. Pre-heat oven to 160ºC.

2. Place all ingredients in a large bow and beat well until creamy.

3. Pour into the tin, level the surface.

4. Bake until firm to the touch and pulling away from the sides of the tin - about 1 3/4 - 2 hours. Cool in the tin for a short while and remove to a wire rack. Slaver with butter icing or fondant. Will keep well for a week or more, if iced.

The only cooking reference i have for these are some brief notes copied from a book read at a friend's kitchen table - i don't remember which book, or even the name of the cupcakes. I changed the principle flavour from orange to lemon, and swopped a flaked almond topping for a juicier icing.



2 eggs
90g caster sugar
grated zest of 1 lemon
80g gluten-free flour
80g ground almonds

Heat oven to 170ºC.

Whisk the eggs and sugar for 15 minutes (seriously), until thick and foamy.

Add the zest, ground almonds and flour and blend briefly.

Spoon into paper cases, and bake for 22 minutes precisely.

For the icing i added 2 heaped tablespoons of Very Ginger Curd to a batch of plain buttercream. The flavour is citrus with small delicate flashes of heat from stem ginger. The entire batch lasted about 20 minutes from oven to belly.