Spiced Lemon Cake

Preparation 20 Minutes

Cook 45 Minutes

Serves 12-16

Method

Pre-heat oven to 180°C (160°C fan-forced).

  1.  Place butter and sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer, beat until pale and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time until well incorporated.

  2. Fold in the sifted flour, almond meal, baking powder and spice alternately with the sour cream, mixing until well combined. Add lemon juice and rind, mixing well.

  3. Spoon batter into a greased and lined 20cm square cake pan. Sprinkle the pine nuts and currants over the top and bake for 40- 45 minutes, or until an inserted skewer comes out clean.

  4. For the syrup: Place sugar, lemon juice and cinnamon in a saucepan. Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer until reduced, thick and syrupy. Remove cinnamon stick.

  5. Drizzle the syrup evenly over the cake, allowing it to be absorbed. Allow to cool in the pan for 1 hour. Serve cake pieces with a dollop of thick cream or yoghurt.

Ingredients

175g butter, diced and softened

1¼ cups caster sugar

3 extra large eggs

1 ½ cups plain flour

½ cup SUNBEAM Almond Meal

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp mixed spice

½ cup sour cream

¼ cup lemon juice

1 tbsp finely grated lemon rind

¼ cup SUNBEAM Currants

¼ cup SUNBEAM Pine Nuts

Spiced Syrup

¼ cup caster sugar

juice of 1 lemon (approx. 60ml)

1 cinnamon stick

Recipe Collection

Chocolate Fruit Truffles

  1. Add chocolate to a food processor and blitz until very finely chopped.
  2. Transfer chocolate to a bowl, pour over the hot thickened cream, add butter, currants and salt and stir to combine. Refrigerate for 3-4 hours until firm but still able to be scooped with a spoon.
  3. To make truffles, scoop 1 heaped tbsp of the mixture and use clean hands to roll into a rough ball. Repeat with remaining mixture (you should make about 24)
  4. Arrange crushed nuts, desiccated coconut and cacao powder in separate bowls. Roll each of the truffles into different coatings to decorate.*to make coloured coconut we combined desiccated coconut with a few drops of food colouring

Sunbeam White Christmas

Line a 30cm x 20cm (base) baking pan with baking paper.

Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (don’t let bowl touch water).

Fold in the remaining ingredients.

Pour mixture into the prepared pan, pressing down with a large metal spoon.

Refrigerate for 4 hours or until set.

To Serve:

Turn slice onto a chopping board. Using a knife that has been dipped in hot water, cut into squares.

Asparagus Pastries

Preheat oven to 180°C.

  1. Cut each pastry sheets into 4 squares. Mark 1cm in from the edge of pastry to resemble a photo frame. Place on paper lined baking trays.
  2. Panfry onions in oil for 5 minutes stirring occasionally. Pour in wine and brown sugar and cook for a further 5 minutes stirring continuously. Stir in pine nuts and cool.
  3. Place heaped spoonfuls of onion mixture into the centre of each pastry square. Arrange mushrooms and asparagus on top. Sprinkle with feta and brush edges with egg. Bake for 15 – 20 minutes. Serve.

Spiced Currant Biscuits

  1. Sift the flour and spices into a bowl. In a separate bowl, beat butter and sugar with electric beaters until thick and pale, then add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Fold ii the flour mixture slowly, then stir in currants and lemon zest. Wrap in plastic and chill for at least 2 hours.
  2. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Roll out dough 4-5mm thick then cut with a round biscuit cutter and place on the trays. Repeat with remaining dough, re-rolling the trimmings.
  3. Sprinkle biscuits with extra sugar. Bake for 10 minutes until firm to touch but still pale. Cool on trays for 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

White Christmas Tree Bites

  1. Line the inside of 12 ice-cream cones with baking paper, using a stapler or sticky tape to secure paper.
  2. Place white chocolate in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (ensuring bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water) and stir until the chocolate has melted and is smooth. Remove from heat.
  3. Allow to cool then add all the other ingredients and stir to coat. Spoon into the prepared lined cones Refrigerate for at least 2 hours to set before serving.

Beef & Apricot Tagine

1. Heat half of the oil in a large frying pan, add onion and garlic and cook for 3-4 minutes until tender. Add spices and cook a further minute until fragrant. Add to the pot of a slow cooker.

2. Using the remaining oil, sear beef in batches until well browned. Add to the slow cooker with the stock, tomatoes, cinnamon and orange peel. Cook on low heat for 8 hours.

3. Add the apricots and chickpeas in the last 30 minutes of cooking time. Season well. Serve beef with almonds and coriander and accompany with rice and yoghurt.

*For a faster cooking time, cook on High heat for 4 hours.

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