spicy delights

Chilli, ginger and chamomile semifreddo 

330ml double cream
6 egg yolks
80g caster sugar
200ml syrup (see below)


For the syrup:

200ml water
175g caster sugar
130g root ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
½ fresh red chilli, deseeded and roughly chopped
2 chamomile tea bags

Make the syrup by placing all the ingredients in a heavy-bottomed pan over a medium heat, stirring occasionally until all the sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil for 2 minutes, then turn off the heat and leave to cool for 1-2 hours. Strain off the ginger, chilli and tea bags

Whisk the cream until it forms thick ribbons. Place the egg yolks and sugar in a bain-marie over a low heat and whisk until the mixture is pale and thick - about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and continue to whisk until the mixture is cool - approx. 5 minutes. Stir in 200ml of the cooled syrup one tablespoon at a time. Now fold in the whisked cream

Pour the mixture into your prepared loaf tin and freeze overnight. Remove from the freezer 30 minutes before serving

Quince tart with star anise 

For the sweet shortcrust pastry

250g wholegrain spelt flour
100g icing sugar
Pinch of salt
150g unsalted butter, cubed or grated and refrigerated
2 egg yolks
1 egg
Optional flavourings: zest of 1 orange, lemon or grapefruit, finely grated, or 1tsp freshly grated nutmeg, or 15g ground almonds

For the tart filling

1 litre water
4 large quinces (about 300g each) peeled, cored and quartered
1 lemon, sliced
1 orange, sliced
220g light brown sugar
½ vanilla pod, split lengthways
5 or 6 star anise
1 cinnamon stick

To make the pastry:

Chill the mixing bowl and correct pastry attachment in the fridge for 30 minutes

Sift the flour, icing sugar and salt into a large bowl, add the butter, then cover with a plate and transfer to the freezer for 10 minutes

Transfer to your food processor or stand mixer and combine in quick pules to just bring it to the breadcrumbs stage

Combine the eggs and your flavouring using and add gradually to the mixture until it comes together as a dough

Refrigerate overnight if possible, or for a minimum of an hour. Take the dough out of the fridge an hour before you need to roll it

To make the tart:

Put the water into a heavy-bottomed pan and set it on the stove. Add the quinces, lemon and orange slices, sugar and spices and turn the heat to medium. Stir to dissolve the sugar, then cover and leave to simmer in the syrup, stirring occasionally, until the quinces are cooked through but still firm (you can test for doneness with a fork) - depending on their ripeness and how thick the slices are they make take anything from 40 minutes to 1 hour. Make sure you check them from time to time. When they are done, drain and reserve the poaching liquid.

Preheat the oven to 180C (fan assisted), gas mark 6

Make the glaze. Put the lemon zest and juice, the honey, the strained poaching liquid and star anise into a seperate pan and reduce over a high heat for 10-15 minutes, until slightly thickened and starting to brown. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Roll out the pastry to 5mm thick, place in your prepared tart tin and refrigerate for around 30 minutes. Line, weigh down with baking beads and blind bake on a baking tray for 15 minutes. Remove the beans, prick the base with a fork and bake for a further 10 minutes, or until browning and starting to crisp. Brush the pastry with a thin layer of glaze and return to the oven for 2 minutes. Remove and allow to cool.

Drain the cooled quine quarters, slice each one into four, and assemble the slices however you like in the baked tart case. Pour the remaining glaze over the top, and return to the oven for 15 minutes. Remove and place on a wire rack to cool completely.

Cardamom cake with whole pears and white chocolate 

For the pears:
3 medium-sized crisp, firm pears (such as Bosc), peeled but whole, with the stem left on
1 (750-ml) bottle dry white wine
1¼ cups (250 g) sugar
4 cloves
3 star anise
8 cardamom pods
2 cinnamon sticks

For the cake:

1½ cups plus 2 tbsp (200 g) butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
1 cup (200 g) sugar
4 eggs
1½ cups (200 g) self-rising flour
1 generous tbsp ground cardamom
Pinch of salt
3 oz (90 g) white chocolate, in chunks

Poach the pears: In a large saucepan, combine the pears, wine, sugar, cloves, star anise, cardamom, and cinnamon and poach for 30 minutes over low heat

Take the pears out of the liquid and set aside to cool. Add 2 ½ cups (500 ml) water to the poaching liquid and boil to reduce the liquid by half. Let cool

Make the cake: Preheat the oven to 350°F (170°C)

Using a hand mixer, beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl until creamy. Beat in the eggs one at the time. Don’t add a new egg until the previous one is incorporated

Sift the flour, cardamom, and salt over the batter and fold it in

Grease a 9-by-5-inch (1.5 l) loaf pan and line it with parchment paper. Grease the parchment paper

Spoon the batter into the pan. Press the pears in, stem end up. Bake for 40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the cake part comes out clean

Allow to cool in the pan, then gently remove the cake from the pan to a rack to cool completely

Very carefully melt the chocolate: Set a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water, making sure the bowl doesn’t touch the water. Stir the chocolate in the bowl until melted. Using a spoon, drizzle the chocolate over the cake and create nice stripes on top

Let the chocolate dry for a bit and serve the cake in thick slices, with the reduced pear syrup poured on top

Carrot and ginger cupcakes 

100g (4oz) butter, softened
100g (4oz) soft light brown sugar
2 large free-range eggs, beaten
125g (4½oz) plain flour
1 level tsp baking powder
¾tsp ground cinnamon
85g (3½oz) grated carrot
2 whole stem ginger, finely chopped, plus 2tbsp syrup from the jar of 
stem ginger
25ml (1fl oz) whole milk or yogurt

for the topping

100g (4oz) cream cheese
50g (2oz) butter
250g (9oz) icing sugar
zest ½ orange
1tsp orange extract
few drops orange food colouring

Heat the oven to 180C, 160C fan, 350F, gas 4. To make the cupcakes, beat the butter and sugar until pale, light and fluffy, then gradually beat in the eggs. Sift in the flour, baking powder and cinnamon, and fold into the mix. Now fold in the carrot, stem ginger and syrup, and milk. Bake in the oven for 12 to 15 minutes, until springy and lightly golden. Leave on a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the topping, briefly whisk the cream cheese and butter in a bowl until just combined. Add the icing sugar, orange zest and orange extract, and whisk to combine. Once the cupcakes have completely cooled, remove the cases, if you like. To decorate, you can either pipe the icing on using a star nozzle or spread on with a knife. 

Mini cinnamon doughnuts 

110g plain flour
½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
Pinch of salt
65g caster sugar
25g light brown sugar
1 medium egg
45g whole milk
40g buttermilk
½ tsp vanilla extract
15g unsalted butter, melted
600g liquid fondant (also called fondant patissiere)
1 tsp glucose
A small amount of simple sugar syrup
A selection of liquid food colours
50g plain chocolate, melted

Preheat the oven to 160°C/gas mark 3. Prepare the mini doughnut oven trays by greasing each mould with spray oil.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, salt and sugars into a mixing bowl. In a separate bowl whisk together the egg, milk, buttermilk, vanilla extract and melted butter.

Pour the liquid ingredients onto the dry ingredients, mixing briefly until just combined.

Pipe or pour the mix into the prepared trays, filling only just halfway.

Bake for 10?12 minutes or until the tops spring back to the touch and have lightly browned.

Melt the fondant in the microwave on a medium heat until runny. Make sure that it does not boil as the fondant will lose its shine. Stir in the glucose and add some sugar syrup to adjust the consistency, if required. You want it to be a thick pouring consistency. The temperature of the fondant must be about 48?52°C: this ensures that the fondant sets immediately after dipping.

Divide the fondant equally between small, deep bowls and mix with your chosen food colours.

Dip each doughnut upside down into the fondant until half coated. Leave to set slightly then drizzle with the melted chocolate using a teaspoon or fork. Leave to set.

Spiced beetroot cake with mascarpone 

375g (13oz) unsalted butter
375g (13oz) self-raising flour
2tsp ground cinnamon
2tsp mixed spice
350g (12oz) brown sugar
6 large free-range eggs
600g (1lb 5oz) cooked beetroot, coarsely grated
ground cinnamon, to decorate

for the mascarpone filling

250g tub mascarpone cheese
150ml (¼pt) double cream
4tbsp icing sugar, sifted

Heat the oven to 180 C, 160 C fan, 350 F, gas 4. In a pan, melt the butter and leave it to cool. Sift the flour and spices into a large bowl then stir through the sugar. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs and cooled butter, mix in the grated beetroot and then add this to the dry ingredients.

Stir until well combined, spoon into the cake tins and bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool completely in the tins.

To make the mascarpone icing, beat all the ingredients until smooth. Spread over both cake layers before sandwiching them together and dusting the top with the ground cinnamon.

Ginger and pecan cake

375g (13oz) unsalted butter, softened
375g (13oz) soft light brown sugar
6 large free-range eggs, beaten
150g (5oz) pecans, toasted and chopped
300g (10oz) self-raising flour
1tsp baking powder
50g (2oz) stem ginger in syrup, chopped, plus 2tbsp syrup

for the filling

500ml (18fl oz) crème fraîche
3-4tbsp golden rum, to taste
3-4tbsp icing sugar, to taste

for the salted caramel topping

300g (10oz) dulce de leche
juice ½ lemon
1tsp sea salt, roughly crushed

Heat the oven to 170 C, 150 C fan, 325 F, gas 3. Cream the butter and sugar. Gradually add the eggs, then fold in the pecans, flour, baking powder, and ginger with syrup. Pour into tins and bake for 30 minutes, until risen and springy. Remove from oven, cool in the tin for 2 minutes, then cool on a wire rack.

For the filling, whisk the ingredients until soft peaks form. Chill. For the topping, mix the ingredients, and set aside.

Spread 2 cakes with the crème fraîche; place one on a plate and top with the second. Place the third cake on top and spread with the dulce de leche, letting it drip. Top, if you like, with pecan brittle.

Orange cake with orange flower syrup and cardamom 

150g (5oz) butter, softened

200g (7oz) caster sugar

zest and juice 1 orange
4 large free-range eggs, beaten

150g (5oz) self-raising flour

125g (4½oz) ground almonds

1tsp baking powder

4tbsp orange curd


for the orange syrup
85g (3½oz) caster sugar

juice 3 oranges 

1½tsp orange flower water

for the decoration

100g (4oz) caster sugar
6 to 8 cardamom pods
1 large orange, sliced very thinly
50g (2oz) shelled unsalted pistachios

Heat the oven to 170 C, 150 C fan, 325 F, gas 3. Cream the butter and sugar. Add the orange to the eggs, then beat into the butter mixture. Fold in the flour, almonds and baking powder until you have a smooth mixture.


Transfer to the cake tin, drizzle the orange curd over and drag it into the mixture using a knife. Make sure the orange curd is covered by cake mix, or it will burn. Bake on the middle shelf for about 50 minutes, covering with foil after the first 20 minutes or when the cake is golden.


For the syrup, heat the sugar, orange juice and flower water until the sugar has dissolved. When the cake is cooked, spear it with a skewer and pour the syrup over. Cool completely in the tin, run a knife round the edges, release the cake tin and transfer to a plate.

For the decoration, place the sugar in a pan with the cardamom pods and 100 ml (4 fl oz) boiling water. Heat gently until the sugar dissolves, add the orange slices and pistachios, and cook without simmering for 10 to 15 minutes. When the cake is cool, remove the orange, cardamom and pistachios from the syrup and arrange in the center of the cake.

Enjoy and remember to use organic ingredients :)