Cold Dogs!

Many of you will be familiar with my two dogs, Bilbo and Lady and we’ve been following their intrepid adventures going sailing, kayaking, trying to rescue lost tennis balls from raging seas.

While not quite as exciting or newsworthy as their adventures on high and low tides, the dogs have been chasing the heat lately as Winter sets in.

As you can see from the photograph, Bilbo is hardly a small dog but try telling him he’s too big to be a lap dog. Oh no! My husband and I will be tapping away on our respective lap tops after the kids have gone to bed, and then we feel this white paw reach up and another. Before we know it, the dog has parked on our laps and we’ve juggling cables and laptop to make room before they inadvertently send dreadful messages to all my recipients at once.

Anyway, once the temperature plunges to 15° Celsius around here, it’s deemed “freezing” and even the dogs agree. Bilbo not only snuggled into Geoff’s lap but really dug in the other night:

Cold Dog.

Not sure how she usurped Bilbo, but Lady also welcomed a warm lap.

Complaints to management! Bilbo’s not happy about being rendered a floor dog!

Actually, Bilbo also seems to find a spot near the heater! Funny that!

Meanwhile, my cries of “freezing” have been met with derision on Facebook. You call that cold?

These were some of my responses:

“-5 overnight here in Orange and still -3.3 coming to work at 7 this morning. Now that’s chilly”.

“Northern New England is -6°C at the time of this post.” (This is NW NSW near Armadale).

My husband, Geoff, grew up in rural Tasmania where you had to board in Launceston to complete your last two years of school. He tells great stories of sticking a  glass of water on the window sill overnight where it would turn into a freezing slushie and you really had to be on your guard. Not my idea of a shower on an icy Winter’s morning!

So, what’s your weather doing today? I must say that it looks like our cold snap has eased today and it’s bright and sunny outside today and about 16-18°C. I know that’s “Summer” in other parts of the world and I’m feeling so much better!

Take care!

xx Rowena’

Weekend Coffee Share 25th June, 2016.

Welcome to Another Weekend Coffee Share!

If you’re joining me for coffee today, you’d better forget having anything iced or frozen today and instead warm your frozen fingers around a coffee or join me in a mug of Hot Chocolate. I like my hot chocolate with whipped cream, a sprinkling of cocoa and marshmallows to dunk. Indulgent I know but I don’t have one very often so they’re quite a treat. I had my first one of these back in Koln or Cologne back in 1992. Another time…another place but still delicious!

My daughter playing her violin.

By the way, I had the Hot Chocolate featured here on Tuesday My daughter was performing with the school choir and the string group at a lunchtime concert and as her school is a good 45 minutes drive from home, I just had to go out for lunch, a Hot chocolate and follow it up with tastings at the neihbouring cheese and chocolate factories. As much as Mum’s Taxi might cry “abuse” and “exploitation”, there are also benefits. By the way, after indulging on pork pie swimming in gravy with hot crunchy chips, my Hot Chocolate, cheeses and chocolate, I topped my splurge by visiting a huge charity shop “The Vinnies Warehouse” where I picked up a fabulous red Oroton handbag and knee-length black boots for a steal. The boots are a little tight but for $25.00, I’ll make them fit.

Ever considered going swimming in gravy?

I needed a huge pick-me-up this week. Awful things have been happening to good people I know and then I can extend those sentiments out to Beautiful British MP Jo Cox who was brutally shot and stabbed in the UK. She was a wife, a mum of two, a daughter, a sister.

However, it was matters closer to home that really rattled me. A family friend’s daughter lost her husband suddenly fa heart attack. He was only 45 and they had a 12 year old son…the same age as ours. As much as we’ve lived with my volatile health for the last 10 years, I can’t imagine what it would be like to lose your husband and Dad suddenly like that.  Steve Gee was a much loved and respected Sports Journalist and my heartfelt sympathies go out to his family and friends. Speaking of which, I need to write a card and think of what to say, which I’m finding challenging. Perhaps, “thinking of you” is enough but when we’ve come so close to experiencing a similar loss, I expect more from myself. What have I picked up from along the road? Hence, I have written nothing…other thasn sharing his memory with you.

This week, also saw our local Paralympic Gold Medallist, Liesl Tesch attacked and robbed at gun point while training for the Paralympics in Rio. I’ve met Liesl a few times and I actually wore her gold medal down the main street of Gosford during the International Women’s Day March a few years ago, when she was our Keynote Speaker and I was on the Status of Women Committee. I also met Liesl again when she spoke to members of the kids scout troop. They’re Sea Scouts and Liesl and her husband contribute behind the scenes. What helped me at the time, was seeing how she juggled her mobility so she used a wheelchair to conserve energy but rode her bike to and from work. This made me realise that using equipment didn’t make me it’s slave and I could use it to extend myself, rather than narrowing my options. I can’t tell you how much I appreciated that at the time and since then, my health has improved significantly and I’m getting around quite well almost all of the time.

So, to hear about what happened to Liesl and  a team official, really rattled me and I did manage to get a card off to her.

I understand that bad things happen to good people and that our lives need a balance of flavours like a good dish…a bit of saltiness, sweetness, acidity, creativity, following the recipe and not just having everything sweet and sugar-coated all the time. I understand that in many instances, adversity is good for us and makes us stronger, more resourceful, compassionate and loving but at the same time adversity breaks, leaves our heroes fighting debilitating PTSD and loving people somehow consumed with hate. It’s not a predictable equation where you can put adversity in and know the person’s going to emerge like a beautifully wrapped package with a bow on top when it reaches the end of the production line.

While I haven’t been so bold as to go up to God and ask him what on earth he’s doing, I have been wondering whether he might have pressed a few of the wrong buttons. We all know someone mean, nasty and despicable who lives a comfortable life well into old age and karma never catches up with them. Case in point being Jack the Ripper. I guess the argument goes that they’ll be judged by their maker but even so, am I the only one who wants to see justice on earth and not only for eternity? I don’t think so.

So, you can see I’m a bit fired up this week but it’s doing me good venting my thoughts here and I know many of you have experienced tragedy and heartbreak and know these feelings much better than I.

Speaking of stress, last night we heard that Britain is Brexiting the EU. I don’t know what all this means and I guess it remains to be seen. I’m Australian and going back, there was some tension about what Britain was doing joining the EU and what that meant for the Commonwealth. I guess those questions will resurface to some degree. Our current Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is an outspoken Republican and we have a Federal election on July 2. There have to be some local ramifications and I don’t know what Brexit means for Australian exports to Europe. It seems the stock market isn’t happy at the moment but hopefully it will bounce back. That obviously has global ramifications.

Anyway, I wrote a post about Brexit last night: The Brexit: Britains Favourite Biscuit. It’s not intended to be a funny piece and falls more into the realms of satire.

Roald Dahl at work in his Hut.

After dealing with the heaviness of the last week,I’ll move onto what I’ve been reading and ask if any of you are huge Roald Dahl fans? You might recall that for the A-Z Challenge I wrote a letter to Roald Dahl as part of my series of Letters to Dead Poets. This has triggered a Dahlfest in my own bookshelf and I’m currently making my way through his biography while reading through his children’s books. I have already read Matilda, James & The Giant Peach and this week I finished off Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and I’m now reading Charlie and The Great Glass Elevator. I’m pretty sure that I read both Charlie books as a child but my memories are very dim. I certainly loved the movie starring Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka, although there are some obvious discrepancies with the book. Who hasn’t wanted to find their own golden ticket and tour Wonka’s factory and own it at the end?!!

So, travelling along a chocolate river in my dreams has paralleled those more intense questions this week and we’re having a quiet weekend with the kids off at Gang Show rehearsal for Scouts. Performance are only a few weeks away. This means that I’m still rugged up in my winter PJs and dressing gown and I have no intention of going anywhere today. At a chilling 12.9 °C, it’s almost too cold to breathe! (Okay! You can start playing your violins for me now!)

So, how has your week been? I hope it’s been good and look forward to catching up!

Thanks for popping by! This has been part of the Weekend Coffee Share hosted by Diana at Part-Time Monster. You can click  for the Linky to read the other posts.

xx Rowena

The Brexit… Britain’s Latest Biscuit!

New from UK Biscuit manufacturer McDunk’s comes :”The Brexit”. The Brexit is a plain biscuit designed for biscuit lovers with a less sophisticated palate, who are sick of  Nice and having their biscuits sugar-coated.

Designed to be dunked in either tea or coffee, the Brexit can also be pulverized to make that most English of desserts, Apple Crumble and is versatile enough to use for crumbing meat and makes a flavoursome stuffing for roast chicken.

The Brexit is perfect for dunking in tea.

Since leaving the EU, the British Government has banned all foreign biscuit imports and Britons have been asked to do their bit to salvage the national economy by buying Brexits. Indeed, they’ve been implored to eat Brexits for breakfast, lunch and dinner and the Prime Minister has engaged Master Chef Heston Blumenthal from the famed Fat Duck Restaurant to produce a cookbook to teach the British public creative ways of cooking with Brexits.

So popular….the Brexit is gone in a flash!

In recent polls, the majority of Britons voted for the Brexit as Britain’s favourite biscuit, although the Scottish voted overwhelmingly against. They like their oats.

So Britain, enjoy your Brexit but be careful while your dunking it, to ensure that it doesn’t fall in! You wouldn’t want it to drown, would you?!!

Do you have any views on Britain’s exit from the EU? I haven’t been following the debate but I’m certainly interested in the aftermath and am looking to buy a few things from the UK while the exchange rate is good. I’d be interested to hear your thoughts and get a bit of discussion going. 

xx Rowena

 

Lessons from a real and metaphorical mountain climb

As a survivor of a metaphorical mountain and my own challenges, I really appreciated this. You’ve captured the journey so well! xx Rowena

Weekend Coffee Share 18th June, 2016

If we were having coffee today, I’d be offering you a Cornish Pasty to go with your beverage of choice. Given the number of guests I usually have for my weekend coffee shares, I might have to make them a bit smaller so there’s enough to go around.

Have you ever tried Cornish Pasties? I must admit that I had to tell both my kids that they don’t contain corn and hail from Cornwell in England. However, our Cornish Pasty is better known as the “Curley” and hails from Scottsdale in NE Tasmania where my husband grew up.

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We’re still fully engrossed in Masterchef here and after hearing so much about recreating your childhood memories on the plate, I decided to try to make Geoff his much loved Curley. This act of love was by no means an easy feat because I only tried the Curley a couple of times 10 years ago so I have no idea what it was like. Moreover, unlike my husband, I’m not a Cornish Pasty connoisseur and fusspot of the highest order, which made recreating the Curley pretty difficult. So, after reading a few recipes and seeing Jamie Oliver shot up in flames for not sticking to the original ingredients, I opted to go with this Traditional Cornish Pasty Recipe All went well aside from being ready at 10pm and needing to cook a quick second dinner. I also ended up with a lot of extra filling and still had some left over after making a second batch of pastry. Despite the late finish time, my husband gave my Curley his royal seal of approval, although the original had more pepper and a soft pastry. This pastry had a lovely crunch. Our daughter loved hers the next night, which is a serious endorsement as she is the fussiest eater I’ve ever met. Our son found his pastry too salty. When it comes to food, my kids have incredibly sensitive palates reminding me of The Princess and the Pea!

Needless to say, Curley will be back on the menu very soon and I’m looking at making an authentic Australian Pasty…especially as anything made outside Cornwell isn’t supposed to be a Cornish Pasty, even if it’s made by people of Cornish descent. I suspect there was an influx of Cornish immigrants into NE Tasmania looking at place names such as Launceston, Devonport and the River Tamar. Indeed, my husband’s grandmother had Cornish ancestry and was descended from Francis French from Pelynt, Cornwall who arrived in Hobart Town  on the 23 August 1831.That family was huge and populated much of Northern Tasmania.

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Last Monday, was a Public Holiday in Australia celebrating the Queen’s Birthday. While she didn’t invite us to cross the high seas and join her at Buckingham Palace for High Tea, Geoff and the kids had a day off. Well, our son had a sort of day off. A friend of ours is going through her psychology registration and needed a guinea pig to sit through a supervised IQ test. These tests can be very helpful so I jumped at the opportunity which found his sister and I checking out a nearby surf beach and going out for a scrumptious lunch of corn fritters and fresh Belgian Waffles with caramel syrup and ice cream while he toiled away indoors. Meanwhile, Geoff caught up with her husband, who is his best mate, best man at our wedding. So, you have to agree, our son drew the short straw which enabled the rest of us to have a great day. We will be making it up to him.

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I was really stoked with the photos I was taking of the roaring surf crashing into the beach with such vengeance. It’s been awhile since I’ve been to Wamberal Beach near Terrigal on the NSW Central Coast but we’d had nasty storms and reports of dangerous surf. Indeed, like Colloroy Beach in Sydney which saw a backyard swimming pool fall into the waves, a strip of homes in Wamberal is also seriously under threat. While I was taking the photos, I turned on the flash to freeze the waves in their tracks and captured some really dramatic effects. I was stoked…especially with my best ever photograph of a surfer.

Winter Surfing, Wamberal, Australia…..Photo: Rowena Newton

However, while it’s all very well sharing about what’s been going on in my own little bubble, the Orlando Massacre is on my mind. Firstly, I’d like to express my heartfelt condolences to their families and loved ones and then I’d like to express my anger and wrath towards the gunman and the US gun laws. I’ve never been to America but I certainly get the impression that guns are everywhere and that it’s almost a case of getting a gun thrown in with your McHappy Meal.

I would like to urge Americans to finally take a stand against such prolific gun ownership and learn from our Australian experience.

Australia dramatically tightened our gun laws following the heinous 1996 Port Arthur massacre where the gunman brutally and rapidly murdered 35 people and injured 23 others using semi-automatic rifles. Prime Minister John Howard, supported by Walter Mikac who’d lost his wife and two young daughters in the attack, crusaded to get all the Australian states onboard and heavily restrict the legal ownership and use of self-loading rifles, self-loading shotguns, and heavily tightened controls on their legal use by recreational shooters. The government initiated a “buy-back” scheme and some 643,000 firearms were handed in at a cost of $350 million.

I really admire then Prime Minister John Howard for taking this stand, which wasn’t without serious risks. He received death threats and faced intense hostility.  Meanwhile, Walter Mikac founded  The Alannah and Madeline Foundation which supports child victims of violence and runs a national anti-bullying programme.It was launched by the Prime Minister on the first anniversary of the massacre.

The Australian experience shows that it can be done. Indeed, this story from NBC News written a year ago in 2015,  turns to the Australian response for inspiration. Australia too has it’s gun lobby but politicians and the community need to decide what is more important…the right to bear arms or the right to life. For me, it’s a no brainer.

So, while I enjoy catching up for a good social chit chat, getting together for coffee has also been about reflecting on the state of our world, the need for change and somehow turning thought into action. That’s a challenge for me personally but I do hope that through writing and raising awareness, that can somehow become a form of action.

I hope you have personally had a good week and that the week ahead goes well for you too. After researching the Port Arthur Massacre and the news from Orlando, I’m reminded how fragile life is and that we need to hold our loved ones close and never allow water to flow under the bridge, building division, fracturing relationships and bringing hurt. We need to love.

Love & blessings to you all!

xx Rowena

 

Australian Pastry… including Tasmania!

Rolling out pastry and dough, can be a bit like watching the clouds drift by. You never know what shapes and intriguing characters you’re going to find.

Yet, I was still surprised  to find Australia perfectly rolled out on the bench, while I was rolling out my pastry for the Cornish Pasties last night. I haven’t changed the shape at all. The kids simply added Tasmania because with their Dad being from Tasmania, they’re not allowed to leave Tasmania off the map.

By the way, this accidental Australia was way better than my botched efforts at trying to draw Australia at school. There’s a sort of cheat’s method where you draw a framework up with your pencil and ruler and then fill in the wiggly bits. Unfortunately, my Australia looked more like Antarctica and I must confess that I left Tassie off the map. Please don’t tell Geoff. That could be grounds for divorce!

Indeed, leaving Tasmania off the Australian map, is so commonplace that it’s even warranted it’s own Wiki page: Omission of Tasmania From Maps Of Australia  It mentions how performers who created a map of Australia during the 1982 Commonwealth Games opening ceremony, even omitted Tasmania. This prompted English-born Tasmanian poet Andrew Sant to write:

Identity deleted,
Close to the Continent
Who wouldn’t make a fuss?
There have been wars for less…

Andrew Sant, Off The Map

Being from Tasmania, of course, isn’t like being from Sydney, Brisbane or Dubbo. It’s special. Almost like being from overseas but not quite. Jokes abound about Tasmanians being inbred and backward such as having scar tissue on the shoulder from where the second head was surgically removed. Then there’s the response…”two heads are better than one!”

 

Coles Bay, Tasmania

However, these days Tasmania is touted as a fabulous travel destination what with it’s unspoilt wilderness, convict ruins, gourmet food trails and stunning coastline. Oh yes! How could I forget! The grass is also greener in Tasmania…much greener! After being with my husband for almost 20 years, how could I forget?!!

Have you ever been to Tasmania? What did you enjoy most about the trip? Or, what would you like to see there?

 

Five Ways To Be More Likeable.

“Hold faithfulness and sincerity as first principles.” ~Confucious 1. Pay attention to detail Let’s face it, people love to be noticed. Whenever you meet someone new, take a moment to identify what makes them unique. Make sure to look for positive attributes so you don’t end up pointing out that someone has poor posture or dirty shoes. Maybe they have a nice […]

via 5 Easy Ways To Be More Likable — MakeItUltra™

Making “Curleys”…The Cornish Pasty.

You’ve got to wonder whether we procrastinating writers with our elaborate pieces outlining our “gunna do’s”, ever get anything DONE!

Well, occasionally we actually do get to ring the brass bell and shout: “I did it!” Better still, this time I can also cheer “and it worked!”

That is, as long as you don’t mind dinner at 10.00 PM!

Better late than never!

If you’re going to make Cornish Pasties, you probably need to start making the dough about 5 hours before serving, as the dough needs to rest in the fridge for 3 hours and they take almost an hour to bake in the oven because the filling is raw and needs to cook.

 

After reading my preamble in my previous post, you’d know that I was making the Cornish Pasties for my husband. He grew up in Scottsdale in NE Tasmania where they were “curleys” at the school canteen, contrasting to the standard meat pies. He moved to the mainland in his 20s as “an economic refugee” and has never found Cornish Pasties anywhere near as good as Poole’s.

So, wanting to treat my husband, I set out in my usual intrepid manner barging in where angels fear to tread, to recreate a Poole’s Cornish Pasty, even though I only tried one once 10 years ago.

Well, the verdict was “pretty good”. My Cornish Pasty has a crunchy pastry, where the Poole’s Curley was soft. The filing was spot on, although he recommended a bit more pepper. I was wary of overdoing the pepper and being a raw meat mix, I wasn’t able to taste it.

A look inside our “Curley” Aussie Cornish Pasty.

Moreover, chatting to a friend this morning while dropping our daughters off at the station at the ungodly hour of 7.45AM, she also recommended a dob of butter and a sprinkling of flour to get a gravy. That would be a great addition because I couldn’t find skirt steak and it seems rump steak wasn’t quite as juicy. Our pasties weren’t dry but a bit of gravy would take it up a notch.

My Daughter enjoys rolling out the pastry.

While the kids went to bed before the pasties were ready, my daughter helped put them together and of course, loved rolled out the pastry and assembling the pasties. While she was doing this, she kept asking me about the “corn” and said something about “Ah! The corn goes on the plate”. Finally, the penny dropped. She thought Cornish Pasties had corn in them. Yay! Another opportunity for geography and history lessons although the map had to wait for tonight. Our daughter is a master of extending and extending bedtime and my husband appeared and she was off.

Somehow, we ended up with only four pasties from our recommended six from the pastry and enough filling left over to make another 4 I reckon. So, at 2.45PM, I’m quickly heading off to make my pastry and get it into the fridge to rest.

My Assistant Pastry Cook.

As they endlessly repeat in the Masterchef Kitchen, “Time is not your friend”.

I will be back with my revised recipe.

xx Rowena

 

 

Desperately Seeking “Curley”…Our Tasmanian Cornish Pasty.

Pasty rolled out like a plate,
Piled with “turmut, tates and mate.”
Doubled up, and baked like fate,
That’s a “Cornish Pasty.”
(An old rhyme originating around Breage, Cornwell)

What with all the discussion on Masterchef about recreating your childhood memories on the plate, my thoughts crossed Bass Strait venturing into the Apple Isle where my husband grew up eating Cornish Pasties. Geoff used to buy Cornish Pasties at the school canteen where they were affectionately known as “Curlies”. He loves Cornish Pasties and as much as he loves the taste, they also evoke memories of lush green, rolling hills and being back home on the farm with Mum and Dad.

Geoff’s Childhood Home.

 

Whenever we’ve gone back to Tasmania, we’ve had to stop off at Poole’s Milk bar in his home town of Scottsdale to buy Cornish Pasties, including a stash to take home. As much as we’ve tried to find a local equivalent, nothing has ever matched up. They weren’t “the same”.

Knowing how much Geoff loves Cornish Pasties, I thought I should try making them. Looking for inspiration,  I Googled Poole’s Milk Bar last night. It wasn’t good news. Unfortunately, it has closed down and the building is up for sale. So, it seems that the great, inimitable Curley has joined the ranks of the  Tasmanian Tiger in reported extinction. Perhaps, like reported sightings of the tiger, it’s still out there somewhere but it’s going to be hard to track down, particularly from “the mainland”.

This now leaves me trying to recreate what my husband knows as the Cornish Pasty without really knowing what it was like. Hedging my debts, I’ve opted to make the traditional Cornish Pasty. Scottsdale was a very traditional, country farming area settled in part by Cornish immigrants. Indeed, Geoff’s grandmother was descended from Francis French from Pelynt, Cornwall who arrived in Hobart Town  on the 23 August 1831.

Also, when we’re talking about my husband’s childhood, we’re winding back the clock 40 years and food was very different then.

Geoff left with his BIG Brother.

So, after checking out a few recipes, I found a recipe put out by the Cornish Pasty Association, which you can check out here: Traditional Cornish Pasty Recipe

Trying to replicate a traditional recipe poses its own challenges.  While I’m creative and inventive, the skill here lies in replicating the original in the same way a concert pianist reproduces Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata and doesn’t fuse it with chop sticks, their own composition or even Fur Elise. This means easing yourself inside Beethoven’s skin and reproducing his work with as much heart, empathy and sensitivity as you can muster. Otherwise, you can go write your own piece of music and call it what you like.It’s the same with the Cornish Pasty. You replicate the original in all its glory, or you call it something else.

However, replicating a traditional dish, is not without its challenges. Just like I can feel baffled by unknown “modern” or exotic ingredients, with the traditional Cornish Pasty, I am feeling equally bamboozled by the old. The pasty calls for dripping, which I haven’t seen since I was a kid. It also uses a Swede. I have used Swedes once before but they’re what I’d call “cow food” or at best “old school”, which I guess is part and parcel of recreating a traditional dish.

Making the pasty seems straight forward enough and the recipe comes with good, detailed instructions suited to the uninitiated or “virgin” Cornish Pasty maker. I appreciate this because too many recipes assume too much, preempting your inevitable “disaster”.

Yet, there’s one part that has me quietly shaking in my boots and that’s making the curly top.  Apparently, “a good hand crimp is usually a sign of a good handmade pasty.”

Note that it says “good hand crimp”, not slap-dash, sloppy or completely messed up. Knowing my luck, my “curley” will end up with straight hair looking in need of a perm!

However, what am I thinking expecting perfection on my first attempt? It takes practice to make perfect and indeed, it’s almost arrogant to think I could produce a professional quality Cornish Pasty on my first attempt… especially as a novice! I need to stop expecting too much of myself.

It’s okay to make mistakes and certainly not the end of the world.

Oh dear! While I’ve been writing about making my Cornish Pasties, time’s completely runaway from me. The pastry needs to rest for 3 hours and the pasties take around 50 minutes to cook and then dashing off for school pick-up before I can even think of getting started. . This means I need to run or these pasties will be a midnight snack and we’ll have no dinner.

Heading out incognito to buy dripping, swedes and skirt steak.

This leaves me heading out to the shops looking for dripping, skirt steak and swedes. I might need to find myself a huge pair of sunglasses. After all, there’s retro and there’s retro… Soon, I’ll be wearing a scarf!

Have you even made Cornish Pasties or have any memories of them? Have you been to Cornwell and tried the real deal? I’d love to hear your tales.

xx Rowena

PS I’ll be back to report on the results.

Nigella’s Nutella Cake with Rowena’s Raspberry Cream

After a very extensive preamble, here is my revised version of Nigella’s Nutella Cake. The ingredients are the same but I’ve added more detail to the directions after I encountered difficulties.

If you check out Nigella’s recipe online, she writes: “Not only is this one of the easiest cakes to make, it happens – joyously – to be one of the most delicious. My household is totally addicted!”

Yum! Just check out all that Nutella and melted chocolate.

To be perfectly honest with you, this cake is NOT easy to make. You have to separate eggs and whisking the egg whites by hand, is open to disaster and exhaustion and after two attempts, we’re still fine tuning the cooking time. It also generates a lot of washing up.

However, there’s something about this cake that encourages me to persevere. It definitely improves after a night to set in the fridge and I love it served with fresh raspberries and cream and I needed a good coverage of roasted hazelnuts on top to break up the richness of the cake. They also provided that much sought after “crunch”.

So, I would consider this a special occasion cake for adults.While my kids do have a very sensitive palate and don’t like dark chocolate, they found the cake “too bitter” and really didn’t like it.

As I found Nigella’s icing too runny after two attempts, I have included an alternative recipe for dark chocolate ganache, which has worked for me in the past.

Nutella Cake

Ingredients

For the Cake

6 large eggs (separated)

1 pinch of salt

125 grams soft unsalted butter

400 grams nutella (1 large jar..NOT the jumbo size)

1 tablespoon frangelico (or rum or water)

100 grams ground hazelnuts

100 grams dark chocolate (melted)

Dark Chocolate Ganache

• 250g dark cooking chocolate, chopped
• 1/3 cup double cream

100 grams hazelnuts (peeled weight)

Raspberry Cream

Double Cream

1 punnet fresh raspberries

Sifted icing sugar to taste.

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC/gas mark 4/350ºF.
2. Melt chocolate in the microwave, following packet instructions. Put aside to cool slightly.
3. In a large bowl 1: whisk the egg whites and salt by hand until stiff but not dry. This means soft peaks but not until the foam starts to ball up. Put aside but you need to move quickly or the foam will liquefy.
4. In Mix Master bowl 2: Beat the butter and Nutella together, and then add the Frangelico (or whatever you’re using), egg yolks and ground hazelnuts.
5. Into Bowl 2: Fold in cooled, melted chocolate, then lighten the mixture with a large dollop of egg white, which you can beat in as roughly as you want.
6. Bowl 2: Fold in remaining egg white a third at a time.
7. Pour into a 23cm/9 inch round greased and lined springform tin and cook for 40 minutes or until the cake’s beginning to come away at the sides, then let cool on a rack. The cake will still be moist and wet inside, so do not overcook.
8. Hazlenuts: Toast the hazelnuts either in a moderate oven or in a dry frying pan until the aroma wafts upwards and the nuts are golden-brown in parts: keep shaking the pan so that they don’t burn on one side and stay too pallid on others. Transfer to a plate and let cool. It’s imperative that they’re cold they go on the ganache while If your hazelnuts have skins on then after toasting in the frying pan transfer them to a slightly dampened tea towel and rub them while they are still warm to remove the skins.

To Make The Icing

9. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, add the cream, liqueur or water and chopped chocolate, and heat gently. Once the chocolate’s melted, take the pan off the heat and whisk until it reaches the right consistency to ice the top of the cake

Assembling The Cake

Unmould the cooled cake carefully, leaving it on the base as it will be too difficult to get such a damp cake off in one piece.

Ice the top of the cake with ganache, and cover with whole, toasted hazelnuts.

Slice cake into small portions, as it is quite rich and plate up with a generous scoop of raspberry cream.

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Enjoy and if you do make the cake, please let me know how it goes. I’m rather curious.