COOKBOOKS GALORE

Honey and almonds are 2 of my favourite flavours, so both in the same recipe makes it a 'must bake'. The 2 flavours make me think of a trip we had to Morocco and Moorish baking, which I love. The base is shortcrust pastry and I use double Delia's recipe from her 'Complete Cookery Course' so I use  220g plain flour, 50g each of soft butter and lard, a pinch of salt and enough water to bind together. This makes 250g pastry. You also need: 150g apricot puree [I used apricot preserve] 125g butter 50g caster sugar 75g honey 3 eggs + little beaten egg 50g ground almonds 100g sr flour Preheat oven 180C/gas4 Grease a 35x12cm loose base tart tin [I bought one from Lakeland]. Roll pastry out on floured surface and line the tart tin. Spread a layer of apricot puree/preserve over the pastry - it's easier if you use the back of a spoon. Cream the butter, sugar, honey and eggs together, then add the ground almonds and flour and mix gently. Spoon into t...

My lovely dil bought me a silicone kugelhopf mould and I've been looking for a good recipe to use it. This is the Hairy Biker's chocolate cake recipe from their 'Bakeation' programmes. I presume 'gugelhupf'' [Austrian] uses the same mould as a 'kugelhopf' [German]! Here's their recipe from the Beeb - it's also in their 'HB big book of Baking'. http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/chocolate_cake_20610 I didn't put any ground almonds in the mould before putting the mixture in, and I didn't decorate the cake with almonds or sugar, but otherwise I followed their recipe. The cake has a lovely firm but moist texture, and a good chocolate flavour, slightly nutty. The icing holds its shape well as you spoon it over the cake.