Now we’re truly in the season of home baking, it’s time to turn the oven on for a cosy supper.
There are hazelnuts toasting in a cast-iron pan on the hob. They rattle as I shake the black pan back and forth in an attempt to get them to colour evenly. The only other sound in the kitchen is the purring of the food mixer bringing butter and sugar to soft peaks for a cake that will, I hope, taste and smell of autumn.
I spend a good 10 minutes cutting dried figs into small nuggets, then letting them steep with a few glugs of brandy — nothing special, just something to give a backnote to my cake. Every cake is a celebration. Slices of sweetness to pass around among friends and family, to welcome a guest to the kitchen or even just to treat oneself. This one is to celebrate autumn and the return to home baking, to the season of deep orange-fleshed sweet potatoes, a fire and something in the oven.
While the oven is on, I bake the first sweet potatoes of the autumn. I grill some peppers to mash with olive oil and ground chilli to make a spicy accompaniment. (I actually make twice the quantity in the recipe so I have some for tomorrow.)
Those who don’t like the heat of the red pepper rouille can use maple syrup and crisp snippets of bacon to crumble over the top.
Sweet potatoes, rouille
The sugary flesh of a sweet potato responds rather well to the vibrant, spicy notes of a red pepper rouille. I use garlic, ground chilli (in the form of Aleppo pepper, but use whatever ground chilli you have) and a little red wine vinegar. It’s a simple dressing that works just as well with grilled steak or aubergine, too.
Makes 4, serves 2
400g red peppers
olive oil
2 cloves of garlic
75g skinned almonds
1 tsp Aleppo pepper
1 tsp paprika
juice of half a lemon
2 tsp red wine vinegar
4 medium-sized sweet potatoes
Method
You will need a grill pan or baking tray with a shallow rim. Brush the peppers with a little oil, then grill them, turning occasionally, until their skins are blackened here and there, and the peppers have started to collapse. This may take 10-20 minutes or so.
Heat the oven to 200°C, wipe the potatoes and place them on a baking sheet. Bake for about 45 minutes until soft to the touch and have started to leak, their sugars caramelising on the baking sheet.
While the potatoes bake, make the pepper sauce.
Place the blackened peppers in a sealable plastic bag or plastic box with a tight lid. This will loosen their skins. After 20 minutes, remove the peppers and peel their skins. Discard the stems and seeds and put the flesh in a food processor bowl.
Peel and add the garlic, almonds, Aleppo pepper, salt, paprika and some lemon juice. Process to a rough-ish puree, then add the vinegar. Taste and add more lemon juice, if needed.
Split the baked potatoes, squeeze them to form a deep hollow, then drop in a spoonful of the pepper sauce.
Fig and hazelnut cake, orange curd cream
A good, nubbly textured cake, it’s not too sweet, and will will keep for a day or two.
Serves 8
250g dried figs
3 Tbsp brandy
250g butter
125g light muscovado sugar, plus extra
125g golden caster sugar
200g shelled hazelnuts
3 eggs
70g self-raising flour
For the cream:
250ml double cream
orange or lemon curd
You will also need:
a deep, 20cm cake tin, preferably springform, with a loose bottom.
Method
Roughly chop the figs — I like them about the size of a hazelnut in its shell — then put them in a bowl with the brandy and set aside.
Cut the butter into small pieces and beat together with the sugars until light and fluffy. Even using a food mixer, this will take a good 5 minutes. You want a smooth mixture, the colour of a latte.
Tip half the nuts into a food processor and process to a fine crumb — the same texture as ground almonds, then set aside. Add the remaining nuts and grind them less, to retain a crunchy quality.
Break the eggs in a small bowl and beat lightly with a fork, then introduce them a little at a time to the creamed butter and sugar, beating thoroughly between each addition. Tip in all the hazelnuts and mix lightly.
Gently add the flour to the creamed mixture, incorporating it thoroughly but lightly, then transfer to the lined cake tin using a rubber spatula. Smooth the top gently so it doesn’t form a peak during cooking. Bake for about 50 minutes until lightly firm in the centre, covering the top of the tin with tinfoil for the last 10 minutes. Remove from the oven, then leave for 20 minutes to settle before running a palette knife around the edge and unlocking the springclip. Leave to cool on a wire rack.
To make the curd cream, pour the cream in a mixing bowl and beat with a whisk until it starts to thicken (but not so thick it will stand in peaks). Stir in the orange or lemon curd, just enough to marble the cream. Don’t overmix.
