A simple life, Mirabelle & almond cake, Bramble ice cream & Autumn layering
Always time for cake
A simple life is the best life. I have been thinking about this a lot lately and wondering what makes me most happy. What I love about cooking is how creative it is and how much joy it brings to others. I cook with the ebb and the flow of the seasons going naturally with what nature has to offer at its best. I know where I am then, there is something grounding and reassuring about each changing season. I could not tell you which season is my favourite but the promise of each one brings its own excitement, evokes different memories and brings different produce into my kitchen. My kitchen is a place that I love to be when I put on my apron it gives me a sense of armour, I can be myself and get lost in the seasons.
Beautiful autumn is a wonderful season with its abundance of produce. Golden light a time for gentler flavours, markets are aglow with pumpkins, apples and pears, damsons, plums and the last of the tomatoes. Narley quinces, brambles, field mushrooms, squashes, cabbages and kales. Autumn days can be warm enough to sit outside yet very chilly by night. Childhood memories, harvest festival at school, bonfire night with sparklers and always trying to write my name in the cold night air, catherine wheels that went bang, sausages and mash with homemade baked beans, oaty flapjacks, hot chocolate and marshmallows by the fire.
This week I thought I would bring you my love of cake with a simple plum cake made with Mirabelles which are abundant at this time of year in the french markets. It works beautiful with any small plums. It freezes well if you make it in advance and I always love to eat it warm with a dollop of crème fraíche.
September days need my bramble ice cream it is dreamy and well worth spending the time to make. I love ice cream in the colder months as much as I love making and eating ice cream in the warmer months.
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Recipe: Mirabelle & Almond Cake
Pretty Mirabelles delicious stone fruit to simple eat as they are or bake in this simple cake with almonds. In every market there is an abundance of these little yellow stone fruit.
Ingredients
200g Mirabelle plums (de stoned)
125g plain flour
100g ground almonds
55ml sunflower oil
125g fromage blanc
3 medium eggs
80g golden caster sugar
1 tsp baking powder
100g flaked almonds, toasted
Method
Pre heat oven 180’C. Line a 20cm cake tin with parchment paper. Wash and de stone the mirabelle plums. Keep a handful to decorate the top of the cake. In a bowl beat together the eggs and sugar until the mixture is thick and doubled in size. Add the oil and fromage blanc and combine together.
Fold in the almonds and sieve in the plain flour and baking powder. Combine together. Fold in the plums. Pour the batter into the cake tin and place the extra mirabelles on top with the flaked almonds.
Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown. Leave to cool for 10 minutes before turning out on a cooling rack.
Always time for cake
For me cake is everything it brings colour to the greyest day and is a kind of therapy for me. There is nothing more loving than baking a cake for someone you love, a thank you to a friend or neighbour, a celebration of simply just because…Here are some of my cake recipes from my archive post which are all good things.
Blackberry ice cream
A must have recipe for this time of year my blackberry ice cream. I made this ice cream when I appeared on Great British Menu in 2019. This is a lesson in simplicity this transports me back to my childhood an ice cream that will fill you with happiness.
Puree
1kg fresh or frozen blackberries
4 tbsp caster sugar
Ice cream base
400g double cream
350ml milk
6 egg yolks
125g caster sugar
2 tbsp creme de cassis
1 vanilla pod
Method
Blackberries place blackberries in a heavy sauce pan with caster sugar gently warm through allowing the sugar to dissolve and fruit to bleed. Process until a smooth puree and then pass through a sieve to remove pips. Set aside.
Ice cream base pour the milk and double cream into a heavy based pan with the split vanilla pod, slowly bring to simmering point. Infuse for 10 minutes. Strain through into a clean pan.
Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together, pour in the warm cream mixture stirring continuously. Heat gently until it begins to thicken or you can run your finger through it on the back of a wooden spoon.
Allow to cool and refrigerate over night.
Fold in the blackberry puree, taste. Churn into an ice cream until thick and creamy according to the ice cream makers instructions.
Love a layer
Although I am a July baby, born into summer days. I love autumn and winter and the change in season. The sense of hunkering down, long walks, cosy evenings by the fire and of course a layer. I love layering up so much and here are some of my favourite pieces I have added to my wardrobe recently. I hope it gives you some inspiration.
From top left: Uniqlo cable crew neck cardigan £34.90, Uniqlo round shoulder bag £19.90, Zara Olive Clogs £49.99, COS White ribbed tank top £17, Uniqlo Wide leg jeans £34.90, Sezane Clyde Trench Coat £275.
The restaurant that I oversee in the Caribbean is Calypso Grill.
Calypso is *famous* for its Sticky Toffee Pudding, so much so, that they’ve named a road after it (really). A forever feature on the menu, and much loved by so many. In celebration of the beloved STP the Calypso Grill newsletter is known as the Sticky Toffee Pudding Club (STP Club). Members of the STP Club are the first to hear about special offers, events and news from Calypso Grill - a place to be part of our Sticky Toffee appreciation community. You can *sign up* to our newsletter on the Calypso Grill website.
For those who would like to know a little more about me, please do head over to my website where you can read my full bio, links to my books, as well as past partnerships and press articles.
Hi Emily! A quick but possibly stupid question, when a recipe says 200g without stones, does that mean weighed after you remove the stones or before? Thanks! x
Delicious! What might an alternative to fromage blanc be?