Ottolenghi Apple & Olive Oil Cake

For me this cake is all about the icing, I could eat it by the bowlful or spread on toast. It is a caramel toffee version of the classic cream cheese icing and is simply divine. The original recipe uses maple syrup but I've always substituted it for golden syrup, which works just as well and is cheaper. Ottolenghi's on Upper Street in Islington is my favourite cafe in London and it feels like an accomplishment and a treat to be able to recreate one of their delicacies at home.

Ingredients

1/2 cup sultanas

4 tablespoons water or booze (dark rum or sherry)

2 & 1/4 cups plain flour

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 & 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

120 ml extra virgin olive oil - using quality extra virgin olive oil is a must

3/4 caster sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

2 eggs, lightly beaten

3 Bramley/Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and chopped into 1 cm cubes

Grated zest of 1 lemon

2 egg whites

for the icing

100 grams unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup soft brown sugar
85 ml golden syrup (or maple syrup for the original recipe)
220 grams cream cheese, at room temperature

Method
Grease and line a 20-24 cm spring form tin.

Place the sultanas and water (or booze) in a small saucepan and simmer over a low heat until the liquid has completely absorbed. Set aside to cool.

Preheat the oven 170 degrees C.

Sift the flour, cinnamon, salt, baking power and baking soda into a bowl.

In another bigger bowl, put the oil, sugar and vanilla and with an electric hand mixer beat together and slowing add the 2 eggs, combine well until smooth and thick. Switch to a wooden spoon or spatula and add the diced apples, sultanas and the lemon zest, then gently fold in the dry ingredients.

Whisk the egg whites in a separate bowl until they form soft peaks. Carefully fold them into the cake mix in 2 batches, preserving as much air as possible. Pour the batter into the cake tin, level the surface and bake for 1 and 1/2 hours (check after 1 hour depending on the hotness of your oven)  or until a skewer comes out clean. Cool in the tin. Once cool, remove the cake and cut horizontally in half using a serrated knife. This Jamie Oliver video shows you how to cut a cake in half.

To make the gorgeous icing, beat together the butter, sugar and golden syrup. Add the cream cheese and keep beating until smooth with no lumps.

Using a little over half of the icing mix, spread it over the bottom cake layer, to form the sandwich filling. Place the upper cake half on top and lusciously smooth on the remaining icing.

Beetroot Love Muffins

My favourite part of this recipe is when you add the grated beetroot to the other ingredients and the mixture changes to a vibrant popping dark pink, like a mad chemistry experiment. The colour is slightly muted after baking of course, but you're still left with spectacular muffins which are light, moist and have a similar texture to carrot cake.

A good dollop of cream cheese icing

Ingredients

2 cups plain flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

2/3 cup caster sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

generous 2/3 cup milk

2 large eggs, beaten

1/2 vegetable oil

largish beetroot, grated (about 100 grams)

for the icing

150 grams cream cheese

4 1/2 tablespoons icing sugar

1 teaspoon lemon juice

pink food colouring

Method

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Grease or line a 12 hole muffin tin, I use paper muffin/cupcake cases.

Sift and combine into a large bowl the flour, baking powder, sugar, cinnamon and ginger.

In a separate bowl, mix the milk, eggs and oil and then stir in the beetroot so that the mixture turns bright pink.

Pour the wet mixture into the bowl with the dry ingredients and stir together until just combined. Then spoon large dollops of the mixture into the prepared muffin pan.

Bake for about 20 minutes (or 11 minutes for mini muffins) until risen and springy to the touch. Leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.

In the mean time, prepare the icing, beat together the cream cheese, icing sugar and lemon juice until smooth and creamy. Add a few drops of colouring.

Eggplant Parmigiana

This dish makes me think of the blissful Il Fornillo beach (a small pebbly bay before the main beach of Positano, in the Campania region of Italy) and its orange and green striped sun loungers, where I ate parmigiana melanzana between two slabs of bread at the beach side cafe, after a morning rotation of swimming, sunbathing and reading. I have since discovered that eggplant/aubergine/melanzana (mad apple) is originally from South Asia and was brought to Europe by the Arabs from Persia and first to Moorish Spain.

Il Fornillo, 500+ steps down, only accessible on foot or by boat

Spiaggia del Fornillo, Saracen Tower of Clavel

Ingredients
2 medium eggplant, cut into 1 centimetre rounds
2- 3 tablespoons olive oil
1 jar passatta
Fresh mozzarella
Freshly ground black pepper and sea salt
Basil leaves
Grated parmesan or emmental (optional)

Method
Heat a large frying pan on medium, add the olive oil, then lower the temperature and cook the first batch of eggplant in one layer. After a few minutes turn the eggplant over and place a raw slice on top of the cooked side, allowing the olive oil to be absorbed on to the upper round. This will avoid the dish being too greasy and you can use less oil. The eggplant initially sponges up the olive oil but releases it once it is cooked.

Cook until translucent and brown speckled.

Once all the eggplant discs are translucent and lightly browned, remove from the pan on to a plate. Return to the frying pan and add the passata. When the sauce is rich and bubbling, arrange the eggplant in layers to cover the surface of the skillet. Gently push the eggplant into the tomato so that it coats the slices.

Break the Mozzarella cheese into segments and arrange in a spiral over the top. Season with freshly ground black pepper and sea salt and add the optional small handful of grated parmesan or emmental. Cover the pan and allow to simmer until the cheese has melted.

To serve, scatter over the freshly torn basil leaves and devour with warm crusty bread.