Cushions and Coffee Cream

We’ve had a lot of rain recently. The garden was dripping, raindrops were glistening and the windowpanes were being hammered. I managed to catch a few glimpses of how it fell on leaves, twigs and other surfaces.

The fruit trees are bare now but beautiful, silhouetted against the sky and revealing the many lovely birds visiting the garden.

Christmas preparations were going on indoors. The family were coming for our pre-Christmas celebration and gifts needed to be wrapped. I was looking forward to giving my daughter and daughter-in-law the cat cushions I knitted weeks ago. I didn’t put photos on until now because family read my blog and I wanted them to be a surprise. I’m pleased to say they were very happy to have them.

Cuddly and cute and easy to knit. The pattern was in Landscape magazine, a useful source for craft ideas. I customised them with a few touches of my own.

I always do plenty of mince pies and little sponge cakes for Christmas. The cakes are so simple. Throw all the ingredients in a bowl, beat and bake. A bit of glace icing on top with some edible silver balls gives them a festive look. Not sophisticated, a la Nigella, but tasty and always enjoyed. You will find my recipe in a previous post with the title, “Cakes and Cashews”.

I promised a recipe this week for my walnut roulade with coffee cream, so here it is. You will need a swiss roll tin, greaseproof paper and an electric hand mixer.

Walnut and Coffee Roulade

2 large Eggs
65g Caster Sugar
50g Walnuts plus a few for decoration
50g Plain Flour
300ml Whipping Cream
1-2 tablespoons Icing Sugar
Coffee

Grease the tin very lightly and fit a piece of greaseproof paper inside and up the sides. The grease will enable it to cling to the tin. No need to grease the upper surface of the paper but put the shiny surface uppermost.

Grind or finely chop the walnuts.
Heat the oven to 200C/180C Fan Oven.
Put eggs, sugar and walnuts in a bowl and beat for about 5 minutes until the volume has increased substantially. ( Until a trail is visible in the mixture.)
Sift the flour in, a little at a time, and gently fold in with a metal spoon until incorporated. Don't beat at this stage. The idea is to retain as much air as possible.
Gently spread in the lined tin and bake for about 8 minutes.
While it bakes place another strip of greaseproof paper on the work surface and sprinkle with caster sugar.
Remove the baked cake from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes.
Tip the cake onto the sugared paper and gently peel off the baking paper.
Using the paper against the cake roll up from the narrow end with the paper inside and leave to go cold.
Meanwhile make a small amount of very strong coffee and leave to cool. Sieve it finely if using ground coffee.
When the cake and coffee are completely cold whip the cream with the icing sugar. Be careful not to overbeat and curdle it. Just nice soft peaks.
Gently stir about a tablespoon of the coffee into the cream.
Carefully unroll the cake. Don't worry too much if it splits. You can cover it with cream.
Spread about a third onto the cake and roll up again. Leave it on the paper and spread the remaining cream on the outside of the cake.
Decorate the top with walnut halves.
To freeze it for another day:
Slide a baking tray under the paper and place it, with the cake on top, in the freezer to open-freeze it. When it's frozen, wrap and store.
To thaw: Remove the wrapping first and place on a plate. Allow to thaw in the fridge, never at room temperature.

If you’re a whiz with an icing kit you could make it look really posh. I’m not too good at that so I just rough it up with a fork. Easy and quick. There’s enough to do at Christmas.

Not long now but I confess I celebrate a bit throughout December. What I call “cook’s privilege”. A warm mince pie and a small glass of sherry are little treats on these winter days and get me in the mood.

I hope your own preparations are going to plan and giving you pleasure. Wishing all my readers a very Happy Christmas and a healthy, wonderful year ahead.