Kat lives in Fife and is passionate about seasonality, local produce and home cooking
Balmy autumn
We have been blessed with some beautiful, warm autumn weather in recent weeks, which has allowed us to extend the time our cattle have spent in the field, we will keep them there as long as the ground is firm and there is still grass for them to devour.
Every year, I find myself a little less willing to be plunged into cold, dark wintry evenings. However, in a bid to celebrate rather than dread this, I fervently embrace Bonfire Night– a most welcome celebration of warmth and light. I have a craving for a sweet, sticky, and aromatic cake. In my mind this is a cross between a traditional gingerbread and a spiced fruit cake.
Gingerbread
So, I mix up a batch of my favourite gingerbread recipe, and briefly caramelise some chunks of firm pear in a little butter, sugar and a combination of nutmeg, ginger and cloves. The bottom of the loaf tin is doused with the sticky gingerbread mixture before being studded with the pear pieces – these will sink into the soft dark cake.
Once baked, I decorate the top with slivers of homemade candied orange peel reminiscent of flames and delicate pieces of preserved ginger for warmth. This cake should keep… well, it would, if there weren’t five hungry, sweet-toothed mouths in our house.
Music to cook to
Fall at Your Feet by Crowded House, an old favourite that I have recently rediscovered.
