COOKBOOKS GALORE

                 There was a special offer on British blueberries at my local supermarket, so I bought several punnets.  I love them for breakfast, in muffins and in one of my favourite cakes, blueberry lemon yoghurt cake. Watching Monty last week, he said to pick any lemons that were ripe, so this gave me the lemon for  my cake. It's an easy cake to make too.   Preheat oven 180C/gas4                     Grease and line 20cm springform tin you need: 125g softened butter,150g caster sugar, 175g sr flour, 100g Greek yoghurt, 3 eggs, grated zest of 1  large lemon,  130g blueberries For the icing: 100g icing sugar, juice of the lemon   Cream the butter and sugar till pale and fluffy. Add the flour, yoghurt and eggs and beat together. Stir in the lemon zest. Spoon half of the batter into the tin. Mix most of the blueberries into t...

I love rhubarb, but sadly can't seem to find any in my local supermarkets. However, I did find some this weekend at a local market. This cake is so easy to make, and it's a change from the usual rhubarb crumble or tart. 150g rhubarb, 70g Greek yoghurt, 60g ground almonds, 190g sr flour, 2 eggs, 130g margarine or butter and 130g caster sugar. Preheat oven 180C/gas4           Grease and line a 20cm cake tin Put all the ingredients in a food processor and blitz till smooth. Wash and chop the rhubarb into chunks, then add to the batter with a spatula. Bake for 35-40 mins till golden and firm. A simple cake with a soft, moist texture. Good contrast between the cake and the tart rhubarb. It makes a good dessert too with some cream or vanilla ice cream.

            I like recipes that are quick and easy to make, and this is one of those. I always think   of  it  as'healthy' because it's made with oil and yoghurt!  I suppose the amount of            sugar  makes it unhealthy nowadays!  There always seems to be a lime or lemon or 2 in my  fridge  and this is a good way to use them up.  You need: 250g Greek yoghurt, 80ml sunflower or rapeseed oil, 200g caster sugar ,4 tbspn lime juice and the zest of the lime, 250g plain flour with 11/2 tspn baking powder and a pinch of salt. For the topping – 1 tbspn lime zest and 2 tbspns sugar [so 2 limes altogether]          Preheat oven 180C/gas4 Grease a 22cm cake tin and line the base. Mix the yoghurt, oil , sugar, lime juice and zest together in a bowl. In another bowl mix the flour,   baking po...

Another easy to make, no icing cake. I had to make a quick cake for unexpected  guests, so found a lime in the fridge and remembered this recipe. There is no creaming of butter and sugar -  just mix dry ingredients with wet, bake and sprinkle with sugar. Quick and easy. It uses oil and yoghurt, so must be healthy! 250g whole full fat Greek yoghurt 80ml olive oil 200g caster sugar zest of one lime 4 tbspn lime juice 2 eggs 210g plain flour 1 1/2 tspn baking powder 1/2 tspn salt Topping 1 tbspn lime zest 2 tblspn sugar Pre-heat oven to 180C/gas4 and grease a 22cm baking tin. Mix yoghurt, oil, lime juice, zest and eggs in a bowl till well combined.  In another bowl, mix the sugar, flour, baking powder and salt together.  Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix with a wooden spoon till just combined [don't over mix]  Pour into the tin and bake for 45-50 minutes,till  the cake is lightly browned o...

At long last our rhubarb plants in the garden have got their act together and produced a decent amount of fruit. I made a crumble and a cake, both of which I put in the freezer, and wanted to use up the last pieces. This is my dil's favourite muffin recipe - not with rhubarb and chocolate, but she loves blueberries and raspberries. I found the addition of Greek yoghurt rather unusual, as I usually use milk. I was going to just make rhubarb muffins, then found I had some white chocolate to use up; it's a good combination. 80g butter 150g sugar 1 tspn vanilla extract 2 large eggs, beaten 100ml Greek yoghurt 225g flour + 1 tspn baking powder 400g rhubarb chopped into small pieces 150g white chocolate, chopped Preheat oven 200C/gas6 Filla 12 hole muffin tin with paper cases Beat butter and sugar together. Add the beaten eggs, vanilla extract and yoghurt and gently combine. Fold in the flour and then add the rhubarb and chocolate. Blend together thoroughly, but do...