dulcis in fundo

Although I never was a big fan of bananas as a fruit on its own, there's something about the combination of banana and cinnamon that just says "yuuummmm..." to me. My partner also loves banana bread and banana cake, so much that if I ever ask him "I'll make cake, what kind do you want?" the only thing he will say is "banaaaaaaaaaana cake". I've tried many recipes in the past, both my own inventions and other people's with varying levels of success. Usually it either doesn't taste enough like banana, or stops being moist after a couple of days, or becomes really stodgy and not so light (depending on the density of the banana pulp and the amount used).

From previous posts you will have noticed my recent obsession with Harry Eastwood's Red Velvet Chocolate Heartache, and this is one more recipe from this inventive book, this time using courgette as the vegetable of choice. The cake came out great, very light and fluffy, and of course (as with all the other vegetable-based cakes in the book) it didn't taste at all like courgette! And it also stayed moist for quite a while (although it disappeared so quickly I can't really say how long it would have potentially stayed moist for...).

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Brush the inside of a 19cm x 12cm x 8 cm loaf tin with a little vegetable oil or butter.

Mash the banana thoroughly with a fork or potato masher.

In a large mixing bowl whisk the eggs and sugar for a full 3 minutes until pale and light. Whisk in the mashed-up banana until completely incorporated and then add the grated courgette and beat again. Add the flour, baking powder, salt, vanilla extract, cinnamon and mixed spice, and whisk again until completely blended.

Finally, mix in most of the brazil nuts and pecans with a spatula and pour the mixture into the prepared tin. Sprinkle the remaining nuts over the top and bake in the middle of the oven for 45 minutes.

Remove the cake from the oven and leave it to cool in the tin for 10 minutes.

Butternut squash risotto
Source: delicious magazine (May 2010)

Serves 4-6

• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 2 onions, finely chopped (I used 1 tsp of onion powder)
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped (I used 1 tsp of garlic powder)
• 1 small butternut squash, peeled and chopped into 2cm cubes
• 1 litre vegetable stock (I used chicken stock)
• 350g risotto rice (I used arborio)
• 200ml dry white wine
• 4 tbsp grated Parmesan (I buy the best parmesan in London from Elliott of the Ham and Cheese Co. stand at the Borough market*, it's even better than many I've tried in Italy)
• Extra parmesan to serve (If you're like me, count another half a block in shavings, I like my parmiggiano!)
• 20g butter
• 1 tbsp hazelnut or walnut oil

As I have mentioned in a previous post, I have been recently introduced to the world of butterless cake-making, via some photocopies from a borrowed copy of Harry Eastwood's much-blogged Red Velvet Chocolate Heartache. Being a butter and flour hardcore traditionalist (and not much of a vegetable fan), I have been slowly converted to the dark side of vegetable cakemaking, finding that not only you can not taste the veggies contained within, but also being charmed by that most obvious law of physics that Eastwood explains in her book, and which could be summarised thus: Butter when cold=solid. Butter melts while cake is baking, cake cools down, butter becomes solid again. Hence rock cake after a couple of days.

Now these cakes, apart from being pretty yummy, actually stay moist (I could say for a week, but none of the ones I've tried have lasted that long!) for much longer than your usual kind of cake. After my initial success with the Lemon and lavender drizzle cake, the next one I ventured into was the famous titular Chocolate heartache cake. While I've made flourless chocolate creations before, one of my favourites being Allegra McEvedy's Flourless chocolate brownies, I had never made anything flourless AND butterless in my life. Although this cake was nice, it turned out a bit too bitter for my taste, and I'm guessing this was either due to me not weighing my aubergines carefully, or maybe the bitterness levels of the specific aubergines I used were uncommonly high. To play it on the safe side, I would suggest to err on the side of caution, and use rather less than more aubergine if you're in doubt. The cake was moist and chocolatey, but for me couldn't be eaten without being warmed up, and accompanied with some nice vanilla ice-cream. My boyfriend and his sister, however, devoured it in all ways, hot, cold, with or without ice-cream, and couldn't have praised it more. So one not so much for those with a huge sweet tooth, but nevertheless one for chocaholics.

Source: Red Velvet Chocolate Heartache

Cook the aubergines by puncturing their skins here and there with a skewer, then placing them in a bowl covered with cling film. Microwave on high for 8 minutes until the vegetables are cooked and limp. Discard any water at the bottom. Leave the aubergines to stand in the bowl until they are cool enough to handle.

Next, skin the aubergines with the tip of a knife and purée them in a blender. Once the warm aubergine is puréed and smooth, add the chocolate, which will mingle and melt slowly. Set aside, covered once again in cling film, until all the chocolate has melted.

In a large bowl, whisk up all the other ingredients for a minute until well introduced to each other and slightly bubbly. Fold the melted chocolate and aubergine mixture into the bowl with all the other ingredients.

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and place it in the bottom of the oven for 30 minutes. Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool in its tin for 15 minutes before turning it out to to a wire rack and peeling off the parchment. Quickly turn it the right way up again and put it on a plate. Decorate with cocoa powder.