Pig-in-cake (Hogweed Gingerbread)

Pig-in-cake (Hogweed Bread)

Despite calling myself a forager for over a decade, this is the first year that I have felt confident in my ability to identify Common Hogweed. Like any good forager I have been wary that I might pick a deadly lookalike and I wouldn't pick Hogweed until I was sure what I was picking.

The seeds can be dried and ground to make a spice that has an orangey-ginger flavour. I used it to make a Gingerbread without the ginger. I'm lactose intolerant but feel free to substitute the margarine for butter and the soya milk for any other milk (hazelnut milk might be nice too).

Wet ingredients:
250g margarine
250g dark muscovado sugar
100g black treacle
2 eggs, beaten
300ml unsweetened soya milk

Dry ingredients:
375g wholemeal plain flour
5 tsp ground Hogweed seeds
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Method:

Preheat oven to 160°C

Grease and line a 23cm baking tin.

Heat the margarine, sugar and treacle until saucy and combined.

Add the milk and eggs and mix well.

Add the dry ingredients and mix together.

Pour mixture into baking tin.

Bake for 50mins -1 hour (check readiness with a skewer - prod into the centre of the cake and the skewer should come out clean).

Eat.

Chanterelle Cake

Here we are again in the midst of foraging season and the weather has been perfect... for mushrooms! Lots of rain = lots of delightful goodies to be found.

I've been finding hordes of Chanterelles over the last few weeks and I decided to hide them in cakes. This was today's recipe. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

Chanterelle Cake 

(I can't believe it's not Carrot Cake)

Cake Ingredients:

275g sugar
200g butter, melted
4 medium eggs
300g Chanterelles, grated
Candied lemon and orange peel
225g wholemeal plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp vanilla extract (I make my own by steeping vanilla in rum and it's less concentrated than shop-bought versions, so you may only need 1 tsp)

Topping Ingredients:

125g unsalted butter, melted
125g cream cheese
275g icing sugar
Candied lemon peel to decorate

Method:

Preheat oven to 180°C

Grease mini loaf or muffin tin

Mix together the sugar, butter, vanilla and eggs.

Add the grated Chanterelle and candied peel.

Then add the flour and baking powder and mix well.

Fill the loaf/muffin tins about half-full.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a skewer poked in comes out almost clean.

Whisk together the cream cheese and butter.

Add the icing sugar and stir together.

Finally whisk to remove any lumps.

Spread some topping on each (cooled) cake and decorate with candied peel.

Try not to eat them all.

Until next time... Good Foraging.