Those crazy Canadians

Over the Christmas break, Rachel drew my attention to the fact that Heinz publishes a recipe for a tomato ketchup cake. Naturally, I had to give it a go! The recipe is pretty much as published by Heinz, except for the omission of food colouring and substituting the bicarbonate of soda with extra baking powder.

Tomato Ketchup Cake
Ingredients

• 170g Butter
• 125g Soft brown sugar
• 205g Caster sugar
• 2 Eggs
• 250g Plain flour
• 4 tsp Baking powder
• 1 1/2 Teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp Ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp Ground ginger
• 125 ml (185g) Tomato ketchup
• 125 ml Water

Method

1. Cream the butter and sugar together.
2. Beat in the eggs.
3. Incorporate the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, ketchup and water.
4. Pour into two greased 23cm sandwich tins and bake at 180C for ~30 mins.

Looks like any other cake batter. It does smell oddly (though unsurprisingly) ketchupy though...

Whoops. I may have added too much baking powder.

Not perfect, but they look like cakes. It's slightly over-baked on top, but not burnt.

But they were stuck fast to the tins! I really shouldn't have been so lazy - I greased, but didn't flour the tins. Annoyingly, I had thought about it, but decided that it'd probably be okay without it. I was wrong!

Not a terribly pretty result, I'll admit. It looks better if you turn it the other way up though.

So, the important question: How did it taste? First off - disappointingly, the cake really doesn't taste of ketchup at all. (I seem to be in the minority of people in that I think "disappointingly" is the correct word there - a much more commonly held opinion is that "thankfully" would be a better choice...). But it was actually rather good. Nicely spiced, very moist in texture. The over-baked top turned into a wonderful, crunchy, caramelised top somewhat reminiscent of brandy snaps, while the inside was lovely and soft. The non-ketchup flavours (nutmeg, cinnamon and ginger) are a classic combination and that is what really comes through in this cake. The original recipe suggested sandwiching and icing the cakes, but I would suggest that that is neither necessary nor a good idea - the cake is plenty sweet and moist enough on its own.

Overall, it's actually a pretty decent cake - just a little disappointingly normal, that's all!

Verdict: Yorkshire curd tart

Well, overall it was a little disappointing. It came out of the tin easily enough (and surprisingly, intact!) and looked pretty good. It smelt of nutmeg and custard, which all in all is a pretty promising sign too, but in the end it just wasn't quite right. I definitely overcooked it a bit, and overall it was rather reminiscent of scrambled eggs. There was also definitely too much lemon in the filling, so it tasted a little odd too. Not unpleasant, but not nice either. The pastry was pretty good though - nice and crumbly. Having said all that though, we hadn't waited for it to cool fully, so perhaps it will improve when completely cold. An update will follow!

Update: It's much better cold! It still reminds me a little of scrambled eggs, but the resemblance is much less obvious. Definitely overcooked it a bit, but the flavours have mellowed on cooling, and it's significantly better! Still not one of my best, but definitely not as bad as I had initially thought.

Curd cheese != cheese curds

In a moment of idiocy, while out shopping last week, I bought a tub of curd cheese when I really wanted to get some cheese curds (which I still haven't found a source for). Somehow, I managed to do this without registering that it doesn't even remotely resemble cheese curds until I got it home and opened the tub. So I've got a tub of curd cheese that needs to be used, which means that it's time to bake! I've never baked a curd tart before, but I have eaten them and very much enjoyed it before, so time to give it a go. I'm essentially using this Paul Hollywood recipe, with omissions and substitutions as needed such that I don't need to go out to the shops! There were supposed to be sultanas in there (as a substitute for the currants), but I completely forgot to add them :o(.

Yorkshire Curd Tart
Ingredients
For the pastry

• 150g Plain flour
• 2tbsp Caster sugar
• 75g Unsalted butter
• 1 Egg yolk
• 1/2 tsp Lemon juice

For the filling

• 50g Caster sugar
• 225g Curd cheese
• 2 Eggs
• 2 Egg yolks
• 1tsp Lemon juice
• 25g Butter, melted
• 1tsp Vanilla extract
• 1/2tsp Nutmeg

Method

1. Rub the butter with the flour and sugar for the pastry together until it resembles breadcrumbs.
2. Add the egg yolk, lemon juice and a tablespoon of water and form into a dough. Wrap in cling film and rest in the fridge for 15 mins.
3. Roll out to 3mm thick, line a 20cm tin, weigh down with baking beans and bake blind at 200C for ~20-25 mins.
4. Beat the sugar, curd cheese, eggs, egg yolks, lemon juice, melted butter and vanilla extract together.
5. Pour the mixture into the tart case and grate the nutmeg over the top of the tart.
6. Bake at 180C for 20mins until filling is just set.
7. Allow to cool fully in the tin before removing.

Probably one of my better attempts at rolling pastry out. There are a few cracks appearing that will probably need patching, but not too bad overall!

 The filling isn't the most exciting thing to look at, but it does look like it'll be pretty tasty.

The tart case after blind baking. Not too bad, but I think this illustrates quite neatly why I won't be competing in the Great British Bake Off. In fact, the next time one of my friends asks me why I don't enter, I might just direct them to this very photo!

A little bit of patching later, it's not the prettiest tart case in the world, but hopefully it'll hold together well enough...

Ready for the oven! I very nearly lost my fingertips to the grater, as I finished off a nutmeg. I think it looks pretty nice though!

Ready to eat (nearly - it just needs to cool down). I think I may have over baked it slightly, but I decided that having a slightly solid curd tart would be better than a liquid one.