Taking the cake

MADE WITH LOVE: Vanna's chocolate cake.

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A cake has it all over an anonymous card or a bunch of flowers.

There was a time when getting out the mixing bowl and measuring spoons was the first step of a baking day. When coal ranges were the norm in kitchens it really was a day's work: no point in wasting fuel to get an oven up to cake baking temperature for one item. These days, baking is more about creativity than a chore. It is also an act of friendship or love. Time and money and some skill is involved. And, the baking is (usually) made for others rather than self. Is this the real message behind the cloying commercialisation of love and romance that has sprung up round the 5th-century martyrdom of a Roman priest named Valentine? Maybe, maybe not, but if we're talking about actions being stronger than words, a cake has it all over an anonymous card, or a bunch of flowers. Baking is about making and giving.

The recipes below are simple enough for baking newbies but the flavours and finishes suggest days of thought and hours of work. Don't tell.

Adele's savoury biscuits

100g strong cheddar cheese

100g softened butter

100g flour

A pinch of cayenne pepper

1 egg yolk

1/4 cup pistachio nuts, chopped

Salt crystals

Grate cheese in food processor. Replace grater fitting with blade and add butter, cayenne, and flour. Whiz together until a ball is formed. Knead a little before rolling into a fat sausage. Wrap in cling film and chill until very firm. Cut into slices about the thickness of a wine biscuit. Use a small cookie cutter to cut out the shape - or use a sharp knife and cut freehand shapes. Re- roll the leftover dough into a small sausage and freeze for another day. Line an oven tray with baking paper and place biscuits, leaving plenty of room for them to spread. Whisk egg yolk with a fork, brush as a wash over top of biscuits then sprinkle each with a little chopped pistachios and salt crystals. Feel free to sprinkle a little chilli on top if you fancy it. Bake at 180deg C for 10 to 12 minutes. For the time poor or super- organised, the dough can be made and frozen in sausage form ahead of time.

Vanna's chocolate and raspberry cake

This is an adaptation of a cake my mother made often. The original recipe includes 1 tablespoon of marmalade but Vanna often made a chocolate cake in two sponge tins and filled it with raspberry jam as well as adding a layer of jam before the icing. I think she would approve of this simplified version.

225g butter, softened

225g caster sugar

5 eggs, separated

1 Tbsp raspberry jam

140g baking chocolate, melted

225g plain flour sifted with 2 tsp baking powder

55g ground almonds

Heat oven to 160deg C. Grease and flour the sides and base of a 23cm baking tin and line the base with a circle of baking paper. Cream the butter and sugar. Add the egg yolks one at a time, beating each into the butter mix. Add the jam with the melted chocolate and stir in. Add the sifted flour and baking powder and the ground almonds and stir in. Whip the egg whites into peaks, and carefully fold into the cake mixture. Pour into the baking tin and bake for 1 hour, 15 to 20 minutes. Let the cake cool a little in the tin before turning out. When it is cold spread with raspberry jam, and chocolate-butter icing.

To make icing beat 50g soft butter with 75g icing sugar and 1 Tbsp cocoa powder. Add 1 tsp boiling water a drop at a time until the icing is the right consistency to spread. More water can be added if a light icing is preferred. Spread over the cake with a spatula or knife. Slivers of white chocolate make a pretty decoration.

- © Fairfax NZ News