Honey and almond tart

Honey and almonds are 2 of my favourite flavours, so both in the same recipe makes it a 'must bake'. The 2 flavours make me think of a trip we had to Morocco and Moorish baking, which I love.

The base is shortcrust pastry and I use double Delia's recipe from her 'Complete Cookery Course' so I use  220g plain flour, 50g each of soft butter and lard, a pinch of salt and enough water to bind together. This makes 250g pastry.

You also need:

150g apricot puree [I used apricot preserve]
125g butter
50g caster sugar
75g honey
3 eggs + little beaten egg
50g ground almonds
100g sr flour

Preheat oven 180C/gas4

Grease a 35x12cm loose base tart tin [I bought one from Lakeland].

Roll pastry out on floured surface and line the tart tin.

Spread a layer of apricot puree/preserve over the pastry - it's easier if you use the back of a spoon.
Cream the butter, sugar, honey and eggs together, then add the ground almonds and flour and mix gently.
Spoon into the pastry case and smooth the top.

Bake in centre of oven for about 30 mins, then lower temperature to 160C/gas 3 and cook for another 20 mins till golden.

My friend served it with cream to which she'd added a few drops of almond essence and a little bit of honey - heavenly!

Chocolate cake (Schokogugelhupf]

My lovely dil bought me a silicone kugelhopf mould and I've been looking for a good recipe to use it. This is the Hairy Biker's chocolate cake recipe from their 'Bakeation' programmes. I presume 'gugelhupf'' [Austrian] uses the same mould as a 'kugelhopf' [German]! Here's their recipe from the Beeb - it's also in their 'HB big book of Baking'.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/chocolate_cake_20610

I didn't put any ground almonds in the mould before putting the mixture in, and I didn't decorate the cake with almonds or sugar, but otherwise I followwed their recipe.The cake has a lovely firm but moist texture, and a good chocolate flavour, slightly nutty. The icing holds its shape well as you spoon it over the cake.