Cardomom, Saffron & Lemon Yogurt Cake

Ok - so this involved some playing around.... with a couple of new mould designs (due for release in March), a sponge cake recipe and then the cakes themselves.

Well - with small castle cakes, playing with the actual cakes became irresistible and simply had to be done ! From the minute I saw these, I was intent on making a cake to be played with and destroyed. Yes.... like most kids I was told not to play with my food, and have often found myself saying the same to Oliver. For once however, playing with food was actually encouraged !

The cake recipe should fill a large bundt / tube ring form. I used it to make 6 x round turret style cakes (like the one above) and 4 x more typical castle style ones that you can see further below. Each cake was probably plenty for 2 > 3 people to share and we had plenty fun reducing a few to crumbs.

It's lovely and moist and a rather delicate sponge. It could stand up well to some glace icing or buttercream perhaps. It managed to stand up to some rigorous play and destruction ! The saffron didn't do much. I hoped it would add another little twist of interest and perhaps a good injection of colour - but I don't think I used enough of it for that. I'll give you the recipe as I used it - but this cake was more about the annihalation !

225g butter

1.1/2 cups of sugar (my cup was 250ml volume)

6 eggs

4 tsp ground cardamom

1 tsp lemon extract

juice of 1/2 a lemon

1 cup of plain yogurt

pinch of saffron infused in a tablespoon of boiling water

1 tsp of salt

3 cups of self raising flour

Crack eggs and separate yolks and whites.

Cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in egg yolks. Alternately add 1/3 of sifted self raising flour, yogurt and egg whites until all incorporated. Add lemon juice, lemon extract and the saffron strands plus liquid they have infused in.

Grease and flour a large bundt ring mould (or two small castle / turret moulds) with a hard fat such as butter and tap out any excess flour. Put on a baking tray for support.

Small castle cakes baked at 170deg C Fan (about 190deg C normal) for approx 30 mins.

Allow to cool until just warm before carefully turning out.

Let your battle commence !

The two new moulds for these round turret and castle cakes will be available around the end of March.

Sarah-Jane Nash, www.siliconemmoulds.com - January, 2012

Tzatziki - Greek Style Dip

Tzatziki is a Greek dish - typically served as a dip with crudites or tortilla chips. Alternatively to accompany a meal.

Unlike the watery stuff you buy in little tubs in the supermarket, the real thing should be rich and creamy and cooling. It's very simple and cheap to make. A simple tub of Greek yoghurt in the fridge only takes a few minutes to turn into something with plenty of flavour and a joy to have alongside some salad.

There is no official recipe as such - much of it has to be to eye and taste

250g tub of Greek Yoghurt

3" long piece of cucumber

lemon juice

mint leaves

2 x large cloves of garlic

Tip the greek yoghurt into a bowl.

Peel the cucumber. Cut in half and scoop out the seeds. Cut each half into half again (lengthways) and finely slice. Add this to the bowl.

Take a good few mint leaves and finely chop. I like about 2 tablespoons in volume.

Press or finely mince the garlic and add to the yoghurt with the mint. Mix these in well. Add lemon and seasoning to taste - 2 > 3 teaspoons of lemon is about right...

So very simple !

Sarah-Jane Nash, http://www.siliconemoulds.com/ - flexible silicone bakeware moulds. April 2010