Red Hot Chilli Peppers

We grew chillies for the first time this year which was fun and very useful to have lovely fresh chillies on tap through the summer months. In the end though we grew way more than we could use so I kept the surplus chillies in a bowl on the windowsill in the kitchen and let them dry out naturally. I harvested the last of them in early October so they've had a good 8 weeks drying out. 

I cut the stalks off and blitzed them in my magimix to create chilli flakes - perfect for curries, soups, stir-fries, chill - anything that needs a bit of a kick.

Quick tip: do not inhale freshly ground chilli flakes, it feels like your nose and eyes are literally burning. Really really unpleasant. Anyway, that aside it was very quick and once they were suitably flaked I put them in a jar in the pantry. Simples.

How to make a Festive Wreath

I had a go at making a festive wreath last week with my amazingly talented mother who is a trained florist (and wedding cake designer) - check out her work here: www.egglestoncakesandflowers.co.uk. It has never really occurred to me before to get her to show me how to do this myself and I was surprised how straightforward it all was. 

The design of the wreath can be as simple or complicated as you like and just using bits and pieces pruned from your garden you can put together a really lovely Christmas wreath decoration. I wanted a classic design and everything we used we found in the garden so apart from the oasis foam wreath there were no other costs which was brilliant especially at this time of year when everyone is saving up for christmas etc. 

What you need:

• Secateurs
• Oasis wreath (10 inch)
• Collection of seasonal foliage and berries from the garden - use whatever you like!
• Thin floristry wire or ribbon if you don't have wire

This is the assortment of foliage, holly and berries we picked in the garden. The oasis we used was an old one hence the holes. 

We started by tying a thin piece of wire around so we knew which was the top. You can just see it in the photo above, so fine and yet very very strong.

Stage 1

We started by adding the ruscus leaves in a circular clockwise fashion, always following the curve of the wreath. 

And then, group by group, add in your different piece of winter foliage and berries. I can't 100% remember which bit was which so I'm just going to run through the photos and you can see how it starts to bulk out.

Stage 2

Stage 3

Stage 4

Step 5

One of my favourite additions to this wreath was the fresh sprigs of rosemary we threaded through at the end so the wreath smells really fragrant.

See - so simple using what we found in the garden. Also, one last tip - because the wreath is put together using oasis - you can soak the oasis in water every 3-4 days which will ensure the wreath stays fresh for up to 4 weeks. 

And talking of the upcoming festivities, would you like the chance to win a £50 gift voucher for West Egg? Simply fill out this survey (10 questions, less than 5 minutes) to enter or click here for more info! 

Close to the best banana cake in the world

Many years ago when my friend and I were about 15 years old, we went into Nottingham to do some shopping and stopped to have tea and cake at a place called the Townhouse. We had banana cake and it was the best cake we had ever had. Ever. 

My friend and I lost touch as we went off to different schools, university etc but at the beginning of this year we got in touch via the wonders of Facebook and met up. I guess when old friends meet up after many years they talk about families, boyfriends/husbands, careers, major events - that kind of thing. We talked about that banana cake. 

So I've tried to re-create it and this version is very very close but I don't think I'll ever get it spot on unless I somehow get hold of the original recipe. 

Anyway, if you've got some ripe bananas give this recipe a try, it is one hundred million times more exciting than banana bread (which is nice but sometimes you just want to go to town) and absolutely delicious. 

SERVES: 8-10 (depending how big the slices are)
TIME: 1 hour

For the cake:
170g butter
170g maple sugar (golden caster sugar if you can't get maple sugar)
225g self-raising flour, sifted
2 large eggs / 3 medium eggs
3½ tbsp vanilla yoghurt
3 large ripe bananas, mashed with a fork

For the icing and decoration:
250g butter, very soft (room temperature)
500g icing sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 ripe bananas
60g blanched hazelnuts

Pre-heat the oven to 180C and have ready an 8" cake tin (or you could use 2 x slim 8" sandwich tins). Then lightly grease and line the base of the tin with greaseproof paper. 

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar with an electric whisk if you have one, together until it's soft and fluffy. In a separate bowl whisk the eggs with a fork and then add slowly to the creamed mixture a little bit at a time. 

Mash the bananas in a separate bowl if you haven't already done so. The bananas do need to be ripe otherwise they won't mash properly. With a large metal spoon, add the bananas and yoghurt to the mixture and stir in well. Don't worry if the mixture starts to look like it's curdled - it's just the bananas and yoghurt mixing in. 

Finally, add the sifted flour and mix in well. Pour the cake mixture into your tin and bake for 40-45 minutes or until the skewer comes out clean.

Turn the cake out onto a wire rack and leave to cool. 

To make the icing, cream the butter alone with an electric whisk until it's really light and fluffy. Add the icing sugar a bit at a time - the icing sugar will cloud up but you can use a tea towel to partially cover the bowl which will help to reduce the dust cloud.

Once all the icing sugar is incorporated, add the vanilla extract and whisk together really well.

Put the icing to one side to prepare your hazelnut topping. In a dry frying pan over a medium heat, gently toast the hazelnuts until brown - be really careful they don't catch and burn. This should take about 4-5 minutes. Then in either a food processor or a plastic bag with a rolling pin, crush the hazelnuts until broken down - not too much otherwise it will turn to dust. 

Once the cake has cooled, slice it in half - I find a serrated bread knife works best. Use half the icing on the middle of the cake. Then slice up the bananas into strips and arrange on top of the icing. Then arrange the top half of the cake and spread over the remaining icing. Finally, use a fork to fluff up the icing a little for texture and sprinkle the toasted hazelnuts over the top. 

Because this cake has fresh bananas in it, it won't last that long - 2 days tops. The good news is it won't hang around so you don't need to worry too much! I think technically it could count as 1 of your 5 a day too...