Pete Fred

I made the lemon pudding again, this time paying a bit more attention to the depth of the bain-marie and the cooking time... I left this one to chill overnight in the fridge. The sauce was like a lemon curd, and the cake less souffle and more spongey. Henderson says to serve warm or chilled. I'd say chilled is the way to go. The cake texture is better and the lemon sauce is mouth-puckeringly intense when cold.

Double Lemon Pudding by Margot Henderson... I guess it's otherwise known as a self-saucing pudding or a Lemon Surprise/Magic Pudding. It was quite pleasant and very light. I was a little too cautious with my first attempt and cooked too long. She says it will "leave three layers of texture, moving from a gooey bottom to a spongey top". This one had not enough goo and too much sponge (although I'd say it's more soufflé than sponge). The shape of the dish didn't do me any favours either, resulting in the ends being even less saucy than the middle... Next time I'll make a few minor tweaks: use a round dish, bake it with a more pronounced jiggle underneath, and not bother with her pointless suggestion of the cream accompaniment.

Yes. Let the oranges cool to handle then remove. The purée can be made ahead and stored. A similar weight of clementines (400g) is quite nice, but oranges punch more. 👍

I took Claudia Roden's Orange and Almond Cake round to a neighbour's... For anyone who's never come across it before, you boil whole oranges for a couple of hours, blitz to a purée, then mix with eggs, sugar, baking powder and ground almonds. Such a great cake. Light, moist and orangey. Gluten-free, too. Buckwheat is pretty popular here in France. I've never really succumbed to it's charms, but every now and then I give in and have another go. Hence this buckwheat cake... It was OK. One way to make a dent in the bag of flour, I suppose. The addition of some stewed apple and rhubarb, or sour cherries certainly livened things up... One buckwheat dessert that did win me over, though, is a take on rice pudding where the rice is swapped for roasted buckwheat seeds (kasha). I made Sarrasin au Lait last year and was pleasantly surprised... Not the world's most exciting image, admittedly, but it was good. The buckwheat seeds maintain a little more bite than a traditional rice pudding. Must set a reminder to make this again. I also made some Welsh cakes... For anyone not familiar, they are griddle cakes, and often called bakestones in their native Wales. (King Arthur helpfully describe them as "a cross between a pancake and a baking powder biscuit, with elements of cookies and muffins thrown in for good measure". Seems about right.) Another gâteau Breton, this time without a filling... A raid on the cherry tree yielded a tubful just before they were past their best... So I took the opportunity to dial-in the bake for the Cherry Coconut Almond Cake that I had problems with the other week... Yay! No sinking fruit. And one last cherry clafoutis... This time I drizzed the macerating juices over the top, so it didn't pool on the bottom. Weirdly, I preferred it the other way. There must be some magical alchemy from boozy cherry juice bubbling away on the bottom of the dish.

For version two, I pitted and macerated the cherries for a couple of hours in some sugar and kirsch... Not having to worry about the pits meant this was so much more pleasurable to eat, and the slick of boozy cherry juice on the bottom was a total winner.

I checked on one of my cherry trees yesterday and it was absolutely bulging with fruit... Amazingly, the birds don't seem to be taking much of an interest, so half an hour later... 1.8kg (4 lbs) of perfectly ripe cherries. And that was just a fraction of what was left on the tree. Winning! (The fuzzy black dot hovering in the sky, by the way, is not a UFO, just a bit of dirt on the lens. I think.) So today, being in the right part of the world for a clafoutis, I figured it woud be rude not to... The great thing about having a super-abundance of cherries is that you can really load up the dish with them. I used a Guy Savoy recipe and, as is traditional, left the cherries unpitted. It is often claimed that this results in a better flavour, but I'm not convinced. Any potential benefit is far outweighed by the convenience of not having to spit out the stones. I think I'll make another one tomorrow with pitted cherries just to confirm.

I made the cake again using Greek yoghurt... The batter was noticably thicker and did a better job of supporting the fruit. What was a little weird was that the cherries mostly either stayed close to the surface or sank to the bottom; there wasn't much of a middle ground. And it seemed to be a cake of two halves with regard to the distribution... I'm not sure what caused that. My oven is not particularly good; I have to try all kinds of shenanigans to get an even bake. Maybe it runs hotter front-to-back or side-to-side and the batter firms up unequally. The cake was also baked on the lowest shelf. Puzzling. But the cake itself was no different texture-wise to the buttermilk version so that's duly noted for future bakes. (Several reliable online sources advised thinning the Greek yoghurt with milk but that didn't seem a wise move in this instance.) I would also increase the amount of ground almonds for extra insurance. Ahhhh, I got the recipe after writing to a Michelin-starred chef who was generous enough to share it with me. I've had a look around but it doesn't seem to have been published anywhere, so it's not really mine to post here. Apols.

Sticky Ginger Cake... This is an excellent ginger cake, with a real kick from blitzing more than half a pound of stem ginger plus its syrup into a purée. Very moist and, errrr, sticky.

Yes. Love chocolate and cherry. Is Black Forest Cake not a thing in North America? In 1970s Britain, a Sara Lee Black Forest Gateau was the height of decadence and sophistication. I would be handing over my two pounds at this very moment for a blast of nostalgia if I was back home. I've only seen a Forêt Noire in a patisserie once here in France, which is a little surprising. I'll be sure to have a peek in the freezer cabinets next time I go shopping.

I found another jar of cherries lurking at the back of the cupboard so took a run at the Cherry Coconut Almond Cake from Snacking Cakes by Yossy Arefi.... It was ok. The coconut didn't really come through. I've just tasted a spoonful and it could just be second-rate coconut, so maybe that's it. More annoying was that the cherries sank. I knew immediately they would as the batter clearly wasn't thick enough. Buttermilk isn't available in France so I used lait fermenté (fermented milk) instead. (I would ordinarily use kefir as a substitute but that's also rare as hens-teeth.) From what I understand, cartons of buttermilk in the US are just fermented milk, but perhaps it's different enough to account for the sinkage. I've also made the doughnut cake from this book and I like the texture of the cake itself, but until I manage to solve this I won't be adding anything that weighs more than a feather. So, I'll be sticking with the Cherry, Pistachio and Coconut Cake by Honey & Co.... This is an excellent cake. Similar ingredients to the Arefi one but with butter and much more ground almonds, resulting in a moist, dense texture. I made it on New Year's Day and I'll be surprised if I make a better cake this year.

I liked the look of the Mara des Bois strawberries at the market today... They turned out to be pretty much the Platonic ideal of a strawberry, so perfectly ripe that I didn't need to sweeten either them or the accompanying whipped cream. I microplaned a hint of tonka and snipped over some wild mint growing at the side of the track for a memorably simple lunch... On the recommendation of@Darienne and@Kim Shook (notorious shills for Big Tahini, I believe) I finally got round to making the Tahini and Almond Cookies by Natalie Levin... They had a nice sandy texture and good tahini flavour... Perfect for le goûter (afternoon snack). Next time I might sprinkle over a few (toasted) sesame seeds since I liked them so much on the tahini and poppy seed cake from a couple of weeks back. Finally, there was still the matter of half a barquette of strawberries to polish off. So purely to jazz up a quiet afternoon, I macerated them in a little sugar and lime juice, whipped up a vanilla mascarpone chantilly, and plundered the cupboard for the last of my amarena cherries... I'll be honest, I only threw in the cherries for the sake of a nice photo. But I was pleasantly surprised; they worked as a nice contrast to the strawberries. Might have to do that again.

I use Andrew Pern's recipe. (But I omit the milk and double the quantity of egg as it has a tendency to sink.) You'll find discussion of other varieties in this article. (Edit: Oops. Meant as a reply to @TdeV)

Parkin is a type of gingerbread from the north of England whose texture can range from cakey to bready, depending on regional variations. I prefer the more dense, slightly chewy type... Traditionally it's made with oatmeal (groats) but I'm not a fan so use regular rolled oats instead. It looks dry in the photo but is actually very moist due to all the sugar (muscovado, golden syrup, and black treacle). It keeps for weeks in a tin; in fact it gets better. Sadly it rarely lasts that long due to constantly dipping in for one more bite.

How strange. Doesn’t work for me now, either. But this does. 👍

I made this microwave sponge but golden syrup and black treacle may be difficult for you to source. So try the marmalade pudding that's also linked on that page. Anyone interested in traditional methods and recipes should try browsing here and here. There's also a nice selection at BBC Food. BTW, your chocolate cake was most probably Barbara Kafka's Steamed Chocolate Pudding.

Seeing mention of steamed puddings in another thread is all the excuse needed to celebrate these increasingly overlooked delights. I've made a few since the end of summer last year, usually accompanied by a jug of piping hot custard, but occasionally crème fraîche. Brace yourselves for a huge data dump. In no particular order... Lemon sponge. Very lemony. Carrot Cake. I was curious what my regular carrot cake recipe would be like steamed rather than baked. It was a little more moist, but it's already a moist cake and I think better with the baked top and edges. Date pudding. I made a quick toffee sauce to pour over so it was essentially a Sticky Toffee Pudding. Chestnut honey pudding. This was the first time I made it. Made a couple more since. Blueberry pudding. I think the berries were the frozen variety. They go nice and jammy on the top. Chocolate sponge. I find chocolate cakes made with cocoa powder can often be a little dry. But when steamed, they stay soft and moist. Microwave treacle sponge. It's a bit tricky to judge the doneness and not overcook when microwaving, so I prefer to steam. But if you can't be bothered with all the faff, the results are perfectly acceptable and it only takes 5-10 minutes to cook. As well as sponges, I'm also partial to a steamed suet crust pudding... Apple and rhubarb hat. Summer fruit hat. I think this was late season plums, peaches, and necratines. Might be a pear and a few cherries in there, too. I'm not sure why they're called 'hats'. Probably the shape. You slice off the top at the table to reveal the glorious delights within, eliciting ooohs and ahhhhs from the expectant gathered, clutching their spoons, eager to dive in. Brigade pudding. This is apple, raisins, sultanas, treacle, dark sugar, and spices. I happened to make it around Christmas a couple of years ago and it very much reminded me of mince pie filling. So I've now decided to make it a Christmas tradition. Ho ho ho! And finally, possibly the most bonkers of all steamed puddings... Sussex pond pudding. Line a pudding basin with suet pastry then fill it with all the butter and brown sugar within a five mile radius. Poke holes in a lemon and nestle it in the middle. Cover with more pastry and steam for a few hours, during which time the filling transforms into a lemony butterscotch sauce that saturates the suet crust. Serve with more fat in the form of cream (double or, preferably, clotted). Like I said, bonkers.

Today I made macarons au chocolat.... Before getting myself into another fine mess...

Lots of lovely gariguette strawberries at the market this morning so I made a quick almond crumble and some vanilla whipped cream... The only thing missing was sunshine. Summer strawberries seem even more perfect when the sun shines. I waited and waited but it never came. Still tasted great, though.

Agreed. Love poppy seeds. If it's any good I might stash some away in the freezer, but mostly it goes to neighbours. Or sometimes just random people I meet. There's Jean who I pass on the road walking into town and we exchange pleasantries in my ropey French. I saw where he lived one day and now I'll leave an occasional treat on his window ledge if I'm walking by. Another time I got talking to a fella in Aldi who liked my hat; he's sometimes there on a Sunday morning at the same time as me so I'll stick a slice or two in my backpack on the off-chance we cross. There's also the goat cheese lady at the market who used to get a weekly bag of goodies until she went low-carb around Christmas to shed a few pounds. And if I do an odd-job for a friend of a friend then more often than not I'll throw in some cake or cookies just to get shut of the stuff.

Tahini Poppy Seed Pound Cake from King Arthur... It took a long time to bake and was a touch dry but I liked it. There was good sesame flavour from the seed coating. Next time I'll load up the top more with sesame seeds for a bit more of that toasted note.

Access to great butter is not a problem. Brittany, Normandy, and Charentes-Poitou butters are readily available in most supermarkets. For the gâteau breton I used Isigny butter with flaky sea salt crystals (3%). That's really good, especially if you can find the raw cream version. And I use salted butter for pretty much everything, baking included. (Don't get me started on lack of salt in sweet things. I'm gonna get an apron one day that says "Needs More Salt!" 😉) I'm always intrigued when American authors and blogs insist on 'European-style butter' in their recipes. Is the regular stuff over there really noticably inferior? US butter seems to be 80% fat, whereas here it's 82-84%. Or perhaps American dairy cows are grain-fed rather than grass-fed? 🤷‍♂️

Gâteau Breton is easy to throw together. It's just flour, butter, sugar and egg yolks, so it's kinda like a shortbready cake. Obviously the better the butter the better the cake. I've only ever made it with those four ingredients but it's not unusual to have a filling of some kind, most commonly prunes. Aldi had 3% off a bag of Agen prunes (French supermarkets have the weirdest discounts!) so that was excuse enough to give it a try... It was fine but I think it's best when great French salted butter is the star of the show. I'll be going back to basics in future.

I used this Paul Hollywood recipe. You can watch him make it here. I would advise using very soft butter and having all the other ingredients at room temperature so that everything blends well.

I picked up a tin of chestnut purée and tried it a couple of different ways mentioned in David Lebovitz's blog post: paired with some fromage blanc and spread on brioche toast.... It didn't bring much to the cheese party, so I won't bother with that again, but it was nice on toast so I can see myself grabbing another tin at some point. I also made a no-churn ice cream from a Nigella Lawson recipe. It's just the purée mixed with rum (or Armagnac in my case) and folded through sweetened whipped cream. It was OK but nothing special. I tried it with a slice of warm chestnut honey sponge... ...but it was less than the sum of its parts. Away from chestnuts, I made Christina Tosi's Perfect 10 granola bars... These were more of a 5/10 for me. I found them closer to powdery than chewy. But at least I did learn one thing: chocolate chips have no place in this type of confection.

Food of the Gods! Some French supermarkets stock it, but at a considerable mark up. When friends make trips to the UK, I always have them smuggle some back. 🤫 😏