Recipe: Italian Mimosa cake

Just in time for Women’s day – here is a classic recipe for the delicious Italian mimosa cake.
It is usually prepared for Women’s day on 8th of March

The name of the cake is due to its shape resembling the flowers of the mimonsa plant

Level of recipe difficulty: medium

Ingredients:
For the cake base:

• 2 eggs
• 4 egg yolks
• 110 g sugar
• 100 g flour
• 20 g potato flour (fecola di patate – sold in Italian delis)

For the custard:

• 150 ml milk
• 150 ml double cream
• 100 g sugar
• 4 egg yolks
• 27 g flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla flavour

For the dip:

• 50 ml water
• 1 table spoon orange blossom water
• 25 g sugar

For the cream with sugar:

• 100 ml double cream
• 10 g icing sugar

Method:
First prepare the cake base:

Mix the eggs and sugar in a bowl, using an electric whisk for 10 – 15 minutes at high speed. This is an important step to ensure the cake base is light and full of air bubbles.
Then add the egg yolks and continue mixing for another 6 minutes. 

Once the eggs have been incorporated, add the flour and potato flour through a sieve, folding the flour in delicately by hand to add even more air into the mix.

Butter and flour a round baking tin, add the cake mix and bake at 180°C for circa 30 minutes. 

While the cake bakes, prepare the custard:
In a small pan mix the milk, double cream and vanilla flavour.
In another small pan mix the egg yolks and sugar.
Heat both pans up, stirring constantly, but do not boil.
Stir the egg and sugar mix with a wooden spoon. Then add the flour and stir it until smooth.
Now add the warm milk and cream into the egg-sugar-flour mix and stir at medium temperature until the custard starts to set.
Ensure the flour in the custard cooks. Once the custard starts to bubble, remove it from the heat and pour it into a flat pyrex ramekin.

Cover the custard with cling film. The cling film needs to touch the custard. Then place it in the fridge to cool. 

Prepare the dip:
In a small pan, mix the water, sugar and orange blossom water. Heat it up to let the sugar melt. Then put to one side to cool.

Assembling the cake: 
When the cake base is baked through and a skewer comes out clean, remove it from the oven and let it cool on a flat surface , turning the cake base upside down.

Once the cake base has cooled completely, cut off the brown crust all around the cake to reveal the yellow cake. Now cut it into half.
Then with a long-bladed knife, cut one of these cake halfs carefully into three even layers. These will form the layers of the cake.
Cut the other half of the cake base into small cubes. These will be used to decorate the top and sides of the cake.

Whip the cream and caster sugar. Keep two table spoons of cream to one side
Place the first cake layer on a plate or cake stand.
With a table spoon drizzle a third of the dip onto the layer. Then spread some cream on top and then some custard.
Cover with another layer of cake. and repeat.
Then cover with the third cake layer.

Once you have assembled the three cake layers with the dip, cream and custard, cover the entire cake with custard and do the same with the sides of the cake. 

Then cover the top and sides of the cake with the yellow cake cubes you have cut. The custard will act as ‘glue’. 

Ensure the cake is covered with cubes from all sides, place in the fridge and voilà your mimosa cake is ready!

I hope you enjoyed. Happy Women’s day!

My favourite buildings in London: The house overgrown by ivy in De Beauvoir, Hackney

One of my favourite buildings in London is in Southgate Grove (N1)

A Hackney garden in summer – part 5

In August the runner beans were ready for harvesting:

and had developed what I didn’t expect: pink beans 

 

 By September the sunflowers were more than 2 metres high:

 

A Hackney garden in summer – part 4

A closer look at the garden in July and August.
First year Hollyhock plants grown from seeds, on a fresh summer morning. These plants only flower starting in their second year. 

Pink and White Dwarf Godetia:

A wild star-shaped flower:

Floor covering Five Spot Nemophila:

Plants in our staircase garden:

Delicate, silky Ipomoea flowers growing through our Star Jasmine terrace railing:

Double African Marigold:

A Hackney garden in summer – part 3

Mornings in our garden in June and July are wonderful.
At the back you can see that the runner beans grew a meter tall and started to flower.

 Runner bean blossoms:

 A few wild flowers blossomed in the ‘meadow’ section of our flower bed: 

 A detail from our staircase garden:

Another wild flower, Borage:

 

Hosta flower:

 

 Star Jasmine:

 And our friendly visitor, the neighbours’ cat Stanley, who comes round every morning

A Hackney garden in summer – part 2

My second update on gardening progress this summer.
I finally found the best suited space for an ivy plant I had for the last four years – it is now on the terrace, facing North-East and finally doing very well:

 I love spring and summer in London

In June it was time to come up with some new decoration outside the front door:

And see the runner beans grow taller

A Hackney garden in summer – part 1

It has been a long time since I last updated you on my garden here in Hackney in London. The last you probably know, is that in April I decided to take part in the National Gardening Week. I cleared out the entire shared garden and started to plant seeds.
I can now tell you that the whole project was a success! Over the course of the summer the garden has gone through several stages , which I have recorded whenever I had a moment to take a picture. Observing the different plants develop was very fulfilling. Here is the first of a few updates : )

Step one, seedlings growing in a propagator:

 

My home-grown runner bean seedlings ready to be planted outside:

 

 

 

Three rows of freshly planted sunflower seedlings:

At the back, runner beans and marigold; at the front, dwarf godetia and five spot nemophila;
at the centre, nectar rich wild flowers to attract butterflies:

  A few weeks later: 

Lavender:

 Lavender, herbs and the flowerbed in the background:

 

Everyone can be an urban gardener! – Examples from London (Hackney)

Here are two examples of urban gardening I came across recently when walking around Hackney. I thought they are definitely worth sharing as part of the blog post series ‘Everyone can be an urban gardener‘. The pictures are not photoshopped – the blossoms were as immaculate as you see them below

 

 

 

Urban gardening: Paris

A trip to Paris, on a summer day with unfortunately less than great weather.
However it still showcases great architecture and window ornaments as well as the clear difference between English gardens which tend to let plants to some extend free to grow, compared to French gardens which are much more manicured, with gardeners cutting plants into symmetric shapes. 

How to make Elderflower Cordial

A delicious and easy Elderflower Cordial recipe

Ingredients:

• 30 fresh Elderflower heads with trimmed stalks (it’s best to pick blossoms that don’t grow near a motorway)
• 2 unwaxed lemons, zest grated and fruit cut into rounds
• 1.5 kg granulated sugar
• 85g citric acid
• 1.5 litres of water
• sterilized glass bottles with a firm lid

Method:

Place the sugar into a large sauce pan, add the water and heat up until the sugar dissolves, without bringing it to the boil.
Once the sugar has dissolved, bring the liquid to the boil, then switch off the heat.
Add the grated lemon zest, elderflower blossoms, lemon rounds and citric acid.
Cover with a clean cloth and leave to infuse for 48 hours.

Place a fresh, finely woven tea towel over a colander and pour the syrup through it into a pan.
With a funnel, fill the sterilized bottles, seal and store in a cool dry place.
The cordial is great with both still or sparkling water. Once opened, store it in the fridge.

 

 

 

 

The Palm House at Kew Gardens

On the same day we visited the Orchid exhibition at Kew Gardens, we also strolled around the Kew Garden Palm House.  A lush selection of plants from all over the world awaited us. I must say, the interior of the palm house itself is in need of renovation, as the colour is chipping off the metal frame and in places the glass is heavily stained with patches of moss.
Nevertheless, we enjoyed the super-sized plants, some of which clearly recalled the presence of dinosaurs and prehistoric times.

 

 

 

For more information about the Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, visit:
http://www.kew.org

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Orchids Exhibition at Kew Gardens

A few months ago, we went to see the Orchids exhibition at Kew Gardens. The dedicated greenhouse was filled with tropical mist, and water sprinklers filled the air with warm water droplets. It was heaven.

 

For more information about the Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, visit:
http://www.kew.org

 

 

 

 

 

London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in May

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Urban gardening in Philadelphia

On my travels through the US in 2006, I took this picture which shows what I mean when I say ‘everyone can be an urban gardener’, or at least that ‘urban gardening is everywhere!’.
I love Philadelphia and its skyline and even more, that nature is amidst it all. 

How tomatoes grow from seeds to bearing fruit

Hi everyone,
I hope your garden is doing well!
My tomato plants have grown so much, I thought you might want an update.
I find growing plants from seeds, the most satisfying way of gardening; having seen the plants develop out of tiny seeds, with a bit of soil and little water, makes one feel much more responsible for them then for plants bought already fully grown.

Last winter I won a package of tomato seeds in an online competition run by Woolly Green. The package arrived in the post just before Christmas and, as I had never grown tomatoes before, I followed their development every step along the way. Here is how the seeds turned into tomatoes:

28th of April 2013: 
Grown from a package, the tomato seedlings  indoors:

12th of May 2013: 
Seedlings moved onto the window ledge

31st of May 2013:

6th of June 2013:  
Seedlings re-potted into tomato cage pots

As their new position was less protected than the window ledge, a transparent plastic sheet at the back helps to keep draughts away:

And wow, look how much they’ve grown since then:
23rd of June 2013:

29th of  June 2013:

10th of  July 2013:

10th of July 2013, the first flowers started to appear:

14th of July 2013:

16th of  July 2013, I bought some organic seaweed tomato fertilizer:
As I’m hoping to eat the tomatoes, I didn’t want any chemical fertilizer. I asked around, and the best one to me seemed this Maxicrop organic fertilizer, made from plant extracts and seaweed. I mix half a cup of Maxicrop with two liters of water every seven days.

20 July 2013:

21st of  July 2013: 

21st of July 2013, the first tomato fruit:

11th of August 2013: 

31st of  August 2013:

2nd of September 2013:

If you haven’t grown tomatoes before, I hope the pictures encourage you to try it yourself.
It would be nice hearing about your success stories!
Thanks for watching

And p.s. compared to July 2013:

 this is what remains of the tomato plants, now in October 2013: 

Time to clear up the garden…

Taking you on an exploratory trip around the garden

The deep red freesias, need quite a bit of support through canes. this might however be due to the fact that I did not plant the bulbs very deeply into the soil. They are beautiful though, don’t you think?

As expected, the freesia stems have started to bend so that the five flowers on each stem face upwards.

Below is a lovely white flowering climber which no-one has planted, but it is very welcome in our garden.
The blossoms open only in the morning.

A yellow climber hanging over the fence from our neighbours’ garden:

This year there is a darker purple lupin than last year.
Last year:

This year:

My flatmate is successfully growing pumpkins from seeds:

There’s also a Star Jasmine  in a large pot, climbing up a trellis:

Pink sweet peas:

White and dark purple marmorised sweet peas:

Purple sweet peas:

and much more to be shared soon, because this blog post won’t let me add more pictures.
In the meantime, I hope your garden is doing well too and thanks very much for watching!

Gardening Project – Step 4: Finally it’s summer!

This year my big garden project was to transform our metal staircase that leads from the terrace into the garden, into a staircase covered by colourful climbers.
You can read how I went about this, in the posts called Gardening project: step 1, step 2 and step 3 on this blog.

After some re-planting in recent months, due to the fact that initially I had packed too many plants into one pot when the seedling were still small,
it is now June and finally all is coming together – the first blossoms have appeared, there is a wonderful scent emanating from the sweet peas and the staircase has, more or less, turned out how I envisaged it:

March: 

May: 

June: 

Hackney’s biggest ever wild flower meadow

Yes, this is what the council has planned, and it is right here were I live!

The area that has been dug up is extensive. Chances are it will look lovely. Apparently the fence should come down in July – I am surprised how quickly this meadow is expected to grow.
Will keep you posted!

Update, October 2013:
In the end it took a bit longer than July for the fence to come down, but when the meadow was ready, at the beginning of September it was stunning!

Related articles:

• Plan to revive UK wildflower meadows (bbc.co.uk)
• Olympic park will blossom with more meadows of wild flowers (standard.co.uk)
• ‘Coronation Meadows’ could save wild flowers (telegraph.co.uk)

Hydrangeas – and the essence of being uncomplicated

If there is a plant that sums up the essence of being uncomplicated, it is the hydrangea – also known as hortensia.
Proof for this, is the resilience of a hydrangea shrub growing in our shared garden.
Before we moved into this house, no one had taken care of our hydrangea plant for years; still the plant was producing plenty of flowers.
Being the urban gardener I am, I trimmed it from being this wild, untamed plant, left to its own devices amongst leaves and forgotten children’s toys of families that no longer live here, from this:

to this more ‘clean-cut’ smaller version of itself:

And here you go, this summer the hydrangea came back more vigorously than before. It has even changed in colour from last year’s pink to this year’s white-lilac:

Besides trimming the plant, I have not watered it a single time in a whole year – the rain was enough. So I’m convinced this truly is the most uncomplicated flowering plant I’ve ever seen.
It is also such a marvellous feature of hydrangeas, that the plant changes its colour. All depends on the soil’s ph level and thus, you can influence which colour the hydrangea will turn into, the main colours being white, pink or blue.

As you might have guessed, after having had the pink hydrangea turn white, my goal for next summer is to turn it blue. Some gardeners claim it’s not possible to change a white hydrangea into a different colour, but I’m determined to proof them wrong.
For now, here are some further pictures to show that the plant definitely changed from pink to white, whether it will change from white to blue, is another story.
Here is a cutting from our hydrangea plant, last year:

and the same plant this year:

Some more hydrangea facts:

• the plant likes well drained soil
• does very well in partial shade and under tress
• it produces flowers from spring into late autumn
• should be pruned in autumn
• cut the green part of the plant, keeping at least one or two brown rings along the green stem, which is where the plant will grow new branches next year. Don’t cut into the wooden stems.

 

How to change a hydrangea’s colour (begin this process before the plant starts to bloom): 

From pink to blue:
Add one table spoon of aluminium sulfate to 4.5 litres of water, stir well and water the plant with this mixture every four to six weeks during the growing season. The plant will gradually turn blue.

From blue to pink: 
Sprinkle a cup of lime around the roots. This impedes the plant from absorbing the soil’s aluminium and it will gradually turn pink. Continue to add lime in spring, summer and autumn, to ensure the ph level does not regress.

Light shining through blossoms – Ipomoea plants

In case you were sitting on the edge of your seat wondering what happened to the other seeds I planted this spring, here is an update.
The plants here below are Ipomoeas, a species of self-supporting climbers with heart-shaped leaves. The trumpeting flowers open only in the morning.
This particular type of Ipomoea grows well in the shade and can climb up a trellis or through other plants. They really are gorgeous with the light shining through their petals.

I can confirm that all the photos are mine, I did not use any photo editing programme (I merely cropped the picture to the right size) and this is how the flowers really look.

Italian filled artichoke recipe from the Lake Garda region

This family recipe has been passed through generations until it reached me. It comes from the Lake Garda region and I hope you try it out.
Ingredients (per person)
•  1 large globe artichoke
•  50g /1¾oz breadcrumbs
•  20g/ ¾oz finely grated Parmesan
•  finely chopped parsley
•  a pinch of salt (not too much as the Parmesan is already salty)
•  freshly ground black pepper
•  2 pressed garlic cloves
•  extra virgin olive oil

Method
Wash the artichoke, cut off the stem and slice off the top third of the artichoke with a knife.

In a bowl, mix together the breadcrumbs, parmesan, chopped parsley, salt, pepper and pressed garlic cloves.
Then slowly add the olive oil trickling it into the bowl, until you have a lightly brown, unctuous mixture.

With a teaspoon, fill the mixture into the space at the base of each leaf, starting from the outside working towards the centre. Artichokes can be a bit sturdy, so you might need to apply some force at the beginning to create space between the leaves to spoon in the mixture.

Now that the artichoke is filled, prepare a pan with ca. 5cm (2 inches) of water, add a pinch of salt and place the artichoke into the pan. Also add the stem, which can be eaten too. The water should just come up to half the height of the artichoke.
Bring the water to the boil, then lower the heat, cover with a lid and simmer for ca. 30 – 40 minutes. The artichoke is ready when you can pull a leaf from the outside without resistance.

If you like, you can then put the artichoke into the oven for 3 to 4 minutes, to achieve browned tops and dry the mixture if necessary, but it can also be eaten right after the 30-40 minutes of cooking on the hob.

To eat the artichoke, start from the outside, remove each leaf with your fingers and eat them using your hands. You can eat the bottom two-thirds of the leaf and the filling. The further inside the artichoke, the more of each leaf is edible, as the inner leaves are softer than the ones on the outside.

Then you will reach the artichoke heart (or ‘fond’), which as you can see in the picture below, contains the ‘choke’ which resembles hay (and should not be eaten).

Remove the artichoke hay with a spoon and eat the whole artichoke heart that remains. The fond can be eaten plain, or dressed with a little olive oil.

P.s. while eating, your hands will be covered in food, so best to have a bowl of water ready on the table with disposable napkins. Happy cooking!

Edible flower review

Hi everyone!
I recently found out that my friend Adam sells edible flowers on his market stall. So, of course, I was intrigued by the idea and wanted to taste and possibly review these flowers myself.
I bought two boxes of flowers from him and started my tasting session. And I must say, I was swept away!  These edible flowers were truly amazing!
[this is the dinner I prepared: roast chicken with a flower and tomato salad]

To be honest, I was expecting to eat something which would taste blandly green, but how wrong was I! I ended up trying each flower individually [see photos and taste description further below] and was so impressed by the variety of flavours these plants have.
The flowers come in a transparent plastic box. For this review I tried the ‘Chick bag’ and the ‘Bull bag’.

[The Bull bag]

Before trying the flowers, I drafted a few review questions – and here are my answers:
Smell the flowers don’t have a strong fragrance. Some of them don’t have a scent at all.
Taste Each box contains a variety of different flowers and impressively each flower has three to four different flavours. The flavour changes from when you start eating, to a different flavour while you chew, to yet another flavour that is left as an aftertaste.
Overall impression Great. I can’t believe I waited so long to try this. It was a wonderful experience.
Price £4.50 per box. I think it’s a fair price, given that the box provides enough for two people, if you use the flowers for a side dish. If you only use a few flowers as decoration for a desert or a cake, the box contains enough for several decoration projects. So all in all a very good price. Of course, I wouldn’t eat this all the time, and consider it more as something to eat for a special occasion.
What do you think is the best way to use them I would eat them with meat. The Cornish Food Club has matched the flowers so well to the different types of meat, that I think eating them with a well cooked, good cut of meat is how you get the most out of these flower boxes. As you can see further below, I used the blossoms also in a fruit salad, but it did not taste that nice and I felt the flowers were almost wasted, as their flavour could not develop, as it did with the chicken.
I have taken a picture of each flower contained in the two boxes with a description of the taste for almost all of them:
The Chick bag:

I did not know what these flowers were, but thought they tasted a bit bitter like rocket salad. Later I found out that they are indeed rocket flowers.

Cornshoots these were interesting and I wanted to eat more of them. They have a light, zingy, fresh flavour with a sweet aftertaste.

Rocket leaf this has a more mossy, ‘grown-up’ aroma. It tastes a bit like whisky, compared to beer.

Tagetes leaf  is lemony combined with a flavour I had never tried before. It is difficult to describe, but a truly inspiring combination of flavours.

Fine peashoots I don’t know how to describe this. Again, it tastes different from the others and I liked it.
Purple viola [sorry no close-up picture] tastes of violet, which you might remember from bonbons, but less sweet.  However, there  is not only the taste of the viola – while you eat, you can also smell the flower in your month: the scent moves from inside your mouth internally through your sinuses into your nose. A strange, but wonderful sensation.

Yellow viola is similar to the purple viola, but has a less strong, more suttle aroma.

Pink daisy [no close-up photo] it is beautiful to look at, but has a neutral taste.

Overall, when you eat the whole salad, it matches perfectly with the chicken and the salad has a real gourmet feel to it.

The Bull bag:
Unfortunately I didn’t write down what I thought of each single one of the plants in the bull bag, but I have taken pictures of all of them.

Red amaranth 

Dittander  

Radish flower 

Red mustard  

Fennel fronds

Marigold flowers these don’t have a strong flavour. They are more pretty than tasty.

Overall, when you eat the whole bull bag salad, it has a more ‘robust’ flavour than the chick bag and a cumin-like taste comes through as well.

[The Chick bag]

My verdict: Eating the edible flowers has been an all-round good experience for me. I can only recommend it!

If you would like to buy the edible flowers that feature in this post, the Cornish Food Club market stall is open every Saturday on Maltby Street Market, in Bermondsey, London.
They sell five mixed boxes, each picked to match the flavour profiles of different meat. I have asked them what exactly you can find in each flower box:

• ‘Chick bag’– fine peashoots, cornshoots, rocket flower, viola, rocket leaf, and tagetes leaf.
• ‘Bambi bag’ – nasturtium flower, tagetes flower, blackcurrant sage flower, parsley and carrot tops.
• ‘Bull bag’ – fennel fronds, radish flower, marigold, dittander, red mustard, cornshoots, red amaranth and carrot tops.
• ‘Ham bag’ – borage flower, bubbles cress, radish pods, red lion mustard and red amaranth.
• ‘Baa bag’ – blackcurrant sage, nasturtium, watercress, celery, and pink stemmed ice plant.

A package of flowers costs £4.50 and stays fresh for ca. a week in the fridge. The flowers come from Cornwall from The Modern Salad Grower in Looe and also go to some of the country’s top restaurants, including Heston Blumenthal’s The Fat Duck in Bray. So that’s an option to consider if you don’t want to cook the flowers yourself, but fancy a professionally cooked flower-meal.

My favourite buildings in London: The house with a roof terrace in Hackney

One of my favourite buildings in London is at 63A Fremont Street in Hackney

It has an unusual triangular shape, that’s simply fascinating. On one side it is so thin, it almost looks like a theatrical scenery

and it is wonderful to look at it from a distance imagining how perhaps one day you could have an urban garden on a terrace like that yourself.

My low cost flower bed

Hello! Today I woke up early and worked on a small flower bed that was overgrowing with weeds.

The great thing is that before I started to add potted plants, almost nothing had been planted on purpose in our garden. The only plants that grow in the ground have deposited themselves in this flower bed. So today I removed the weeds that did not look good, and left the weeds that did. I also added some fresh soil, to create the impression that the flower bed was ‘planned’.

In reality I simply removed the weeds that looked conspicuous, and left the ones that looked pretty. At the very end I added a few sunflower seedlings and tada! my low-cost no frills flower bed was ready.

To conclude the whole experience our neighbours’ dog ‘Bruno’ came into the garden and inspected everything I’d done with interest. I hope Bruno does not step on the sunflowers, but hey, he lives here too.

13 days later…

Hello!

Just to keep you up to date, here are the same plants photographed today. I think the Indian cress is doing well and the lupine has also grown:

In fact, the lupine is starting to flower! Yesterday I thought the colour was blue, but this morning in the sun it turned out to be a light purple:

Those of you have looked very closely at the photos will have noticed that I’ve taken the two flower bulbs next to the lupine, out of the pot this week. This is because my mum gave me te following tip for flower bulbs: 

Once the blossoms of your flower bulbs have faded (in the UK this is around mid-May), take the bulbs carefully out of the soil without damaging the roots, and put them into a shoe box. Place the box with no lid, into a dark, dry but not too hot place until October. (You can keep the soil that sticks to the roots on the bulb).

Over the course of the summer while lying in the box, the plant will retract all the energy from the green leaves back into the bulb. The leaves will dry.

Then, in October, you can plant the bulbs out into the soil again, and they will blossom during the following spring.