Gooseberry Flapjacks

I've had this bake and news ready for a while now, I just haven't blogged because I didn't know how to say it. Which is silly really, because its good and exciting news. To cut the waffle: I've won a competition! It was the Guild of Food Writers WriteIt! Competition, a food writing competition with a fab prize of 14 amazing cookbooks, publication on delicious magazine's website and a trip to delicious magazine HQ! I'm super excited and honoured to have won - you can read my piece here if you like. Now for cheesy photo alert...Look at my prize books! I won a copy of each book shortlisted for the Guild of Food Writers Awards which I’ve been working my way through and they’re all so interesting and varied – my favourites so far have been Street Food Revolution for being inspiring and making me want to start up my own food company, and Peyton & Byrne British Baking for being full of delicious classic bakes with little twists. Rest assured my baking in the near future will be heavily influenced by these and all the others. The President of the Guild of Food Writers came for brunch to bring that massive pile of books you see there and I made these gooseberry flapjacks for us to munch as we chatted. I love flapjacks for the way a good one can taste so caramelly and delightfully chewy, yet you can still claim some element of health due to the oats… although I'm pretty sure the golden syrup goodness cancels any nutritional value out...which is why you add fruit! The gooseberries keep the flapjacks moist for longer than they may last otherwise, and also add a sharp element to stop the treat becoming too sickly. The recipe comes from the British Larder, a great restaurant in Suffolk which has had a blog long before the restaurant opened in August 2010. I tweaked the recipe only by taking out the seeds and nuts – a virtuous addition I’m sure but I’m still yet to develop a liking for seeds of any kind other than poppy. Gooseberries have such a short season we need to take advantage of them while you can and this recipe appealed because to me it was original - previously it has always been so easy to simply pair the fruit with some elderflower in a crumble or pie and have a winner so I was interested to try something new. The end result was crumbly and delicious, perfect for afternoon tea or elevenses. Enjoy!

Gooseberry Crumble Cake

Yes, I know this is another cake. Which means that three out of my last four posts have been cakes. But hey, who turns down cake? Not me. Especially when it tastes so summery and pretty like this one… Before this cake I had never cooked with gooseberries, despite them being such a classic British summer fruit. They’re pretty much impossible to eat raw – they’re furry and super sour – but when baked they’re so pretty. I don’t often bake with fresh summer fruit (like strawberries) because they are so good fresh on their own (plus a little expensive) that it sometimes seems like a waste to bake them. Obviously with gooseberries, it’s a different story, and so this cake was made.I don’t think that I have made a crumble cake before but I love it. The moist dark layer of almond cake, the soft sweet-tart layer of gooseberries and the crisp and crunchy crumble? Everything is covered! This cake is best eaten on the first day because the crumble will have the nicest crisp texture. However, we saved this cake for a few days to take with us on a weekend trip and it was still perfectly delicious – just a little softer on top. The cake is a Nigel Slater recipe and he calls it a ‘cut and come again cake’ which is exactly right – it is very moreish! And as it contains fruit it really cannot be that bad for you...right?! Enjoy!