Biscuit Roulé

A biscuit roulé (literally meaning rolled biscuit) is very similar to a swiss roll and particularly popular at this time of year as a base for a christmas log cake, called a bûche de Noel in french.

The actual base for the cake is called a ‘genoise’ which is a sponge cake that uses whole eggs and is a basic building block of much French patisserie and is used for making several different types of cake.

Ingredients :

4 eggs
150 g caster sugar
1 tablespoon of vanilla sugar
125g self-raising flour
1 pinch of salt
Jam or nutella

Method :

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C
Beat the eggs, sugar (caster sugar and vanilla sugar) and the salt well with an electric mixer until pale, light and fluffy
Fold in the flour gently
Pour the mixture onto an oven tray that you have lined with greaseproof paper
Bake for 12 minutes
Prepare a clean, damp tea-towel and place it on top of the oven tray and flip it over so that your cake is on the damp tea-towel
Roll the cake with the tea-towel and leave to cool
When the cake is cold gently unroll and spread with jam or nutella, re-roll it and sprinkle with a bit of icing sugar et voilà!

*Make sure to roll the cake when it is just out of the oven and still pliable

*You can make a chocolate base by substituting 25g of cocoa for 25g of flour

Tarte Tatin

Tarte Tatin is a well known french apple tart. Research shows that it is called after two sisters, Stéphanie and Caroline Tatin who ran a hotel, Hotel Tatin, in Sologne (region about 100km south of Paris).

The most well known story is that one of the sisters dropped the tart after taking it out of the oven and it fell upside down, but she decided to pick it up and serve it anyway with the apples on top and the pastry on the bottom. Apparently on the sisters menu the tart was called a Tarte Solognote after the region they were living in but when the tart became well known and made it to Paris the name was changed to Tarte Tatin after the sisters.

Ingredients :

1 short cut pastry – recipe here (add a tablespoon of sugar to the recipe for a sweet pastry)
4-6 apples
100g sugar
50g soft brown sugar
50g butter
Juice of 1 lemon

Method :

Pre-heat oven to 180°C
Peel and cut apples into quarters and sprinkle the juice of half a lemon over them
Take 100g of the sugar and add in an even layer to a heavy-bottomed saucepan or an oven proof dish suitable for the tart
Heat the sugar over a moderate heat.
Use a silicone spatula or a wooden spoon to move the liquefied sugar from the edges of the saucepan to the center.
Carefully watch the sugar until it reaches exactly the right amber color
Add half the juice to the caramel
If your pan isn’t oven proof and not suitable to use for the tart pour the caramel into the tart dish (otherwise use the same dish)
Place the apples on the caramel (rounded side down), trying to completely cover the base. Add any remaining apples on top of the base layer
Cube the 50g of butter and place on apples
Sprinkle the soft brown sugar over the apples
Cover the apples with the short-cut pastry taking care to press down around the sides of the pan
Sprinkle some sugar over the pastry (this will help prevent the pastry from getting too wet from the apples)
Bake for 30 minutes at 180°C
Remove from oven and using a plate turn the tart upside down but leave in tin/pan for a good 10 minutes before removing (this will avoid any apples sticking to the pan)
Serve warm with some ice-cream

The tarte tatin before cooking

Orange Loaf Cake “Cake à l’Orange”

Another loaf cake – this one is perfect for gouter but is also a nice breakfast cake!

Ingredients :

125g butter
100g sugar
3 eggs
Zest and juice of two oranges
125g self-raising flour
Icing sugar

Method :

Pre-heat oven to 180°C
Cream the butter and half the sugar (50g) together
Separate the egg whites and yolks
Add the egg yolks, zest from two oranges and the juice of one orange to the butter and sugar and mix well
Slowly mix in the sieved flour
Brat the egg whites with the remaining half of the sugar (50g) until stiff
Gently mix the egg whites into the cake batter
Pour into a greased loaf tin and bake for 30 minutes in pre-heated oven at 180°C
Use the juice of the second orange to make a glaçage, mixing it with icing sugar until you get a sweet slightly thick sirop
Place loaf on cooling tray and, while it is still warm, pour the orange glaçage over the cake

Pear and Chocolate Loaf

Yet another loaf cake – my most used tin in the kitchen! Pears are in season at the moment, for this recipe just make sure they are nice and soft before using.

Ingredients :

3 pears
150g self-raising flour
80g sugar
3 eggs
90g butter (melted)
50 g dark chocolate

Method :

Pre-heat oven to 180°C
Mix the flour, sugar, eggs and melted butter together
Peel and chop pears in small cubes
Break the chocolate into small pieces (or use ready made chocolate chips)
Add the pear and chocolate into the cake mixture and pour into loaf tin
Sprinkle some sliced almonds and chocolate on top of the cake
Bake in oven for 40-45 minutes at 180°C

Marble Cake or Gateau Marbré

This is another traditional french cake that is very popular at goûter time and is a real favourite with french kids.

Ingredients :

125g butter
200g self-raising flour
3 eggs
6 tablespoons of milk
200g sugar
Vanilla essence
25g cocoa powder

Method :

Pre-heat oven to 180°C
Cream the butter and the sugar together
Add the eggs, milk and flour and mix well
Separate the mixture in two halves
Add a few drops of vanilla essence to one half
Add the 25g of drinking chocolate to the other
Grease and flour your loaf tin
Pour in some of the vanilla mixture, followed by the chocolate mixture and repeat
Bake in pre-heated oven for 40 minutes

Financiers with Raspberries

Financiers are a french pâtisserie made with ground almonds. In 1890 the pâtissier Lasne re-visited an old recipe from the 17th century for a small oval cake called visitandines (called after the religious order of sisters who created the cake), using the same ingredients but changing the shape. As his shop was situated in the financial district in Paris and almost all his clients worked there, he called his cake a “financier” and gave it the shape of a gold bar.

Financiers are light and spongey and are a perfect accompaniment for afternoon tea. I have added raspberries to the recipe but you can make them without or juggle around with other flavours!

They are traditionally rectangular shape but if you don’t have this type of tin you can use a mini-muffin tin or a small bun tin instead.

Ingredients :

140g icing sugar
125g ground almonds
50g flour
150g butter (beurre noisette)
3 egg whites
Raspberries
Salt

Method :

Pre-heat oven to 180°C
Make a “beurre noisette” by melting the butter over a low heat until it turns golden brown (and gives off a nutty aroma hence the name) and leave to cool
In a bowl mix the sugar, flour, ground almonds and a pinch of salt
Add a pinch of salt to the egg whites and beat to a soft peak
Fold the egg whites into the dry ingredients
Mix in the cooled, melted butter
Spoon the mixture into the financier tin and place 2 or 3 raspberries on top, pressing down slightly
Bake in oven for 15 minutes

Quatre-Quarts

The quatre-quarts is a classic recipe from the french repertoire. Directly translated into english it means “four-quarters”. It originated in Brittany and its name comes from the fact that it is made up of 4 ingredients in equal quantities, each representing a quarter of the cake.

This is the traditional quatre-quarts recipe but you can then add different flavours etc – lemon, vanilla, apples

Ingredients :

4 eggs
Same weight in flour
Same weight in sugar
Same weight in salted butter
I heaped teaspoon of baking powder

Method :

Crack your eggs into a bowl and weigh them. 4 eggs weighs around 180g – 200g.
Use the weight of your eggs and weigh the exact same amount of flour, butter and sugar.
Melt butter and allow to cool
Beat the eggs with the sugar
In another bowl mix the flour and baking powder
Make a well in the flour and pour in the egg and sugar mixture and beat gently with a whisk
Add the melted butter and mix well
Pour batter into a greased loaf tin and bake for 50 minutes

Coconut Cake

Another simple, easy to make cake that is a tried and tested goûter time staple here 🙂

Ingredients :

4 eggs
180g sugar
120g flour
150g salted butter melted (if you use unsalted add a good pinch of salt to the ingredients)
1 teaspoon of baking powder
100g grated coconut

Method :

Pre-heat oven to 180°C
Beat the eggs with the sugar
Add the other flour, baking powder and melted butter and mix well with a whisk
Mix in the coconut
Pour into greased cake tin and bake in oven for 25-30 minutes

French Apple Tart

There is nothing nicer than a good old apple tart – plenty of apples around this time of year and as per usual this is a very simple recipe with a minimum of ingredients but with a great result!

The main difference between apples in France and in Ireland and the UK is that cooking apples don’t exist – eating apples are used which I prefer anyway as you don’t need to add any (or very little) sugar that way.

Ingredients :

1 short-cut pastry
4-6 eating apples
Vanilla Sugar
Butter

Method :

Pre-heat oven to 180°C
Chop 2 apples into small cubes and place in a saucepan with approximately 2 tablespoons of water
Leave to simmer until the apple softens and then mash or use a hand mixer to make a compote
Roll out pastry into your tart tin and prick the base with a fork
Spread the compote onto the tart base
Peel, core and cut your apples into quarters and then slice each quarter3 or 4 times
Place the apple slices on the compote, arranging them around in a circle – or anyway you like!
Sprinkle some vanilla sugar over the apples and add 3 or 4 small knobs of butter
Bake in oven for 30 minutes
Enjoy on its own or with some freshly whipped cream or ice-cream

Lemon Cake

I love lemon flavoured cakes and desserts but I like them to have a really strong lemon flavour so this lemon cake is only going to be the one for you if you really appreciate the tangy fruit too!

The icing is optional as even without, the cake is very lemon-y!

The temperature for the cake is 170°C and it really needs to be no higher, as you can see from the picture my cake got slightly too done on the outside because I wanted to double up and bake it at the same time as a brown bread loaf so everything went in at 180°C – I won’t be making that mistake again!

Ingredients :

175g sugar
120g melted butter
zest of two lemons
3 eggs
150g flour
Juice of two lemons (approx 80g)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

For the icing :

125g icing sugar
25g lemon juice

Method :

Pre-heat oven to 170°C
Melt the butter in the microwave
Mix the butter and sugar together
Add the lemon zest and then the eggs, one by one mixing well after each one
Mix in the flour and baking powder
Pour in the lemon juice and mix well
Pour the mixture into a greased 1lb loaf tin and bake for 40 mins at 170°C (it may need 5 minutes more or less depending on your oven)
When the cake is cooked remove from the tin and wrap immediately in clingfilm while waiting for it to cool, this will keep the cake lovely and moist!
Whisk the icing sugar with the lemon juice
Remove the cake from the clingfilm and place on a grill
Cover the cake with the icing and leave for a few moments for the icing to harden
Eat!