pear and polenta cake with lemon syrup

most of my kitchen adventures involve chocolate, so using pears and polenta in this recipe was a new experience for me! i was quite pleased with it- for a relatively minimal effort, this recipe produces a rather impressive result. the caramelised brown sugar glaze on the pears is delicious, and the cake itself is really rich and moist. served warm, it's dense texture makes it a decadent desert- just top with double cream. or serve it chilled with coffee for afternoon tea.

cake
3 pears
4 eggs
380g brown sugar
2tsp vanilla essence
250mls white wine
250mls sunflower oil
310g plain flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
120g fine polenta

syrup
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup water
120mls lemon juice

method
prepare the tin by buttering it generously and dusting with brown sugar

peel, core and slice pears. arrange in a circular pattern on the base of the tin.

beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla until light and creamy. add the wine and oil and mix in gently. sift together the flour and baking powder, then fold in gently. then add the polenta and mix gently again.

pour the cake mix carefully over the pears and bake in a 160C oven for about 80 minutes or until the cake is firm in the middle.

while the cake is baking bring syrup ingredients to boil then allow to cool.

when the cake comes out of the oven tip it upside down onto a serving plate, lightly prick the cake and pour over the warm syrup.

red velvet cupcakes

my first ever red velvet cupcake was an embarrassingly touristy and nutritionally questionable breakfast at the magnolia bakery in new york city. (which I sneakily tried to photograph under the table, away from the withering glance of a local drinking her morning latte) their fame had preceded them, and they certainly lived up to the promise. i bought the magnolia bakery cookbook that day, but for the past few months it has been sitting prettily on my bookshelf, the pressure to replicate cupcake perfection seeming too great. but one night last week, when the usual hankering for something sweet hit, i decided to have a stab at the recipe. here is a video about how to make them right from the source, bobbie lloyd of magnolia bakery:

(if you don't have buttermilk in the fridge you can substitute regular milk mixed with an extra splash of vinegar- leave it on the bench for a few moments to thicken.)

i also devised a far more basic recipe for buttercream icing, which is quite a breakthrough for me. my freestyle icing attempts usually involve seemingly endless amounts of icing mixture, sticky fingers and a crappy result. this time, however, i did this:

you will need

• 1.5 cups icing sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 2 tablespoons milk/ (or whipping cream for those people who have it on hand)

method
mix together sugar and butter on low speed until well blended and then increase speed to medium and beat for another 3 minutes.

add vanilla and milk/cream and continue to beat on medium speed for 1 minute more, adding more milk/cream if needed for spreading consistency.

those more ambitious types can follow bobbie's fancy recipe for more involved, complicated, and probably superior icing:

enjoy!