3 Melt the butter in a large frying pan or griddle pan over a medium–high heat. Dip each stuffed slice of brioche into the egg mixture and allow to soak briefly until saturated. Fry each slice until browned and caramelised on the bottom, then flip over and cook for a further 1–2 minutes on the other side. Remove from the pan and keep warm while you fry the remaining pieces.
4 Heat the marmalade and orange juice together in the frying pan until bubbling. Allow to bubble for 1–2 minutes, then return the French toast slices to the pan with the marmalade and coat them in the glaze. Serve immediately.
Lime and ginger drizzle cake traybake
Changing the type of drizzle on a cake is now commonplace, but don’t forget that you can change the cake, too – don’t just stick to vanilla sponge! Ginger cake is already deliciously moist, but drenching it in lime juice mixed with demerara sugar only improves it further. Citrus flavours like lemon or lime lighten warm spices like ginger and make each square of this cake really refreshing.
MAKES ABOUT 16 SQUARES
PREP TIME: 15 MINS PLUS COOLING
COOKING TIME: 30–35 MINS
200g butter, plus extra for greasing
250g soft dark brown sugar
50g treacle
100g golden syrup
100ml milk
2 eggs
1 ball stem ginger from a jar in syrup, finely chopped
Grated zest of 1 unwaxed lime
250g plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp ground ginger
DRIZZLE
Juice of 3 limes
100g demerara sugar
25g crystallised ginger, cut into small cubes (optional)
You will also need a 20 × 20cm cake tin.
1 Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/gas 4, grease the cake tin and line it with baking parchment.
2 Place the butter, sugar, treacle and syrup in a large saucepan over a medium heat and stir continuously until the butter has melted and the sugar has completely dissolved.
3 Remove from the heat and pour the milk into the saucepan of hot butter and sugar mixture, whisking until combined. This will cool the mixture down before you add the egg, preventing it from scrambling. Beat the eggs into the mixture one at a time, then stir in the chopped stem ginger and most of the lime zest, reserving some for decoration.
4 Mix together the flour, bicarbonate of soda and ground ginger in a large bowl. Sift the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients in the saucepan and beat until well combined.
5 Pour the batter into the lined tin and bake in the middle of the oven for 30–35 minutes or until risen and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
6 While the cake is baking, prepare the drizzle. Mix the lime juice and demerara sugar together in a small jug. Just 5 minutes after the cake comes out of the oven, while it’s still in the tin, pour over the drizzle and spread it right to the edges of the cake. Sprinkle over the crystallised ginger cubes (if using) and remaining lime zest, then leave to stand for at least 15 minutes so the drizzle can soak into the sponge properly. Remove from the tin and cut the cake into squares. This cake will keep for up to 1 week.
Lemon and poppy seed pancake stack
This is lazy weekend food, for those times when towering stacks of fluffy pancakes dripping in syrup are the only thing worth crawling out from under the duvet for. The lemon juice in the batter serves two functions: it gives the pancakes a beautiful flavour, and its acidity reacts with bicarbonate of soda to make them rise up into soft pillows.
MAKES 8 PANCAKES
PREP TIME: 10 MINS
COOKING TIME: 15–20 MINS
150g plain flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp caster sugar
1 egg
100ml milk
100g natural yoghurt
Grated zest and juice of 1 unwaxed lemon
1 tbsp poppy seeds
25g butter, plus extra for frying (if needed)
Whipped cream or mascarpone cheese, to serve
LEMON SYRUP
100g caster sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
Small knob of butter
1 tbsp double cream
1 In a small bowl, mix together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and sugar. Beat together the egg, milk and yoghurt in a large jug, then pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Stir in the lemon juice, zest and poppy seeds.
2 Melt the butter in a large frying pan over a medium heat, then add it to the pancake batter and mix until smooth.
3 When you’re ready to fry the pancakes, use an ice-cream scoop or simply transfer the batter back into the jug and pour roughly 8cm-diameter discs into the buttered frying pan. Try to make each pancake the same size, so they stack neatly on top of each other. Fry each pancake for about 1 minute on each side over a medium heat, waiting until the top of the pancake is bubbly but feels dry before turning it. Add a very small amount of butter between frying each one if the pancakes start to stick. Put the cooked pancakes on a baking tray in a low oven, covered with a sheet of tin foil, so you can serve all the pancakes warm at the same time.
4 While the pancakes are frying, make the lemon syrup. Place the caster sugar and lemon juice in a small saucepan over a low heat and let it boil until the sugar dissolves. When the syrup is thick and bubbling, stir in the butter and double cream.
5 Stack the pancakes up on a plate, then pour the syrup over the top of the pancakes so it drips down the sides. Top with a little whipped cream or a spoonful of mascarpone cheese, then serve immediately.
EXPRESS
Make the pancake batter in advance and store it in the fridge, covered with a sheet of cling film. Fry the pancakes whenever you get a craving for something light, fluffy and citrusy! The batter will keep for up to 3 days.