Cookbook Challenge 2013 - Week 39

Continuing with my fondness for my latest cookbook acquisition, my first culinary adventure this week was to make Spigola in Padella con Couscous alle Erbe (Crispy Fillet of Sea Bass with Herby Couscous) from Gino’s Italian Escape. Apart from adding my finger to the hot oil along with the fish the cooking was very straightforward, with the couscous taking care of itself. The fish was perfectly cooked with lovely crispy skin which made a nice contrast to the zingy couscous, and the salsa added a much-needed bit of acidity and some extra texture that worked really well here. This is a real winner for a weekday meal as it’s quick to prepare and a nice treat after a day at work.

This week was a special week because it was hubby’s birthday, and no birthday is complete without cake so I made a Blue Velvet Cake from The Clandestine Cake Club’s Cookbook, I figured that it was suitably manly what with it being blue and all! I managed to get the cake made without making myself, or the kitchen, look like we’d been attacked by a smurf for which I was very grateful. I was slightly concerned when I took the cake out because on the surface the cakes had a slight green tinge, but I figured that green would still be acceptable colour so what the hell – I had accounted for the fact that blue colouring into a chocolate mix would turn green by adding some purple colouring too. The night before the big day I mixed the cream cheese frosting and plastered it all over the cake; I always get nervous during the crumb layer when it still looks all messy, so when I put the final layer on I was pleased that you could no longer see the fantastically dark cake underneath. The moment of truth came the following morning when the birthday boy blew out his candles and cut into the cake…it was blue!!

Now as if one cake wasn’t enough in between making and icing a birthday cake I also had to make a cake for my Clandestine Cake Club meeting, the theme being ‘autumn’. I settled upon making a Spiced Toffee Apple Cake I’d see in BBC Good Food Magazine last year as it summoned up images of autumnal leaves and bonfire night. The cake mix was rich with pureed dates and smelt wonderfully spiced as it cooked, and I was pleased with the concentric circles of apple that adorned the top (I’d made it in a round tin, not the square one specified). The toffee sauce for the top was very simple to make and with a light dusting of icing sugar it looked really quite inviting. At the meeting itself we discovered that cake and wine are great bedfellows, and with three magnificent cakes to try it was a super evening.

Recipe Count: 127
New Target: 156