Sticky toffee pear cake

325g (11oz) caster sugar (you’ll need 150g of this for the toffee, the rest for the cake mixture)

4 medium pears, peeled, cored and sliced into quarters

175g (6oz) self-raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

125g (4½oz) butter, melted

2 free-range eggs

50ml (2fl oz) semi-skimmed milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

Thick double cream

1. Preheat your oven to 180oC (160oC fan) gas mark 4.

2. Line an 8in loose-bottomed round cake tin with baking paper.

3. Put 150g (5oz) sugar in a heavy-based saucepan and add 3 tablespoons of water. Dissolve the sugar over a gentle heat, then turn up the heat and boil until the sugar turns a rich amber colour. Don't stir the mixture! Simply swirl the pan to distribute the heat evenly.

4. As soon as it turns to toffee, remove the pan from the heat and pour the mixture into the base of your prepared tin (it’s a good idea to put your cake tin on a baking tray in case any of the mixture leaks out)

5. Allow the toffee mixture to cool, then arrange the pear slices in a neat circular pattern on top.

6. Next, sift the flour and baking powder together. Add the remaining sugar, and stir until well-blended. Add the melted butter, eggs, milk and vanilla, then mix at high speed for 1 minute to form a smooth batter.

7. Pour into the cake tin and bake for 40 minutes to 1 hour, or until the cake springs back when pressed in the centre.

8. Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the tin, then invert on a wire rack and serve warm with a generous spoonful of thick cream and a dusting of icing sugar.

Roasted parsnip and chestnut soup

This delicious thick soup is a combination of seasonal ingredients, perfect for those crisp autumnal days. 

25/30 chestnuts

750ml of vegetable stock

5 medium sized parsnips, peeled and cut into rounds

50 ml pouring cream

1 tbsp olive oil or a knob of butter

1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped

1 medium sized potato, peeled and cut into chunks

Salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat your oven to 2200C.

2. Put the parsnip rounds into and roasting tray, top with tbsp of the olive oil or butter and then pop the tray into the oven and roast for 30 minutes until softened.

3. Next, score the chestnuts with a little cross, put them onto a baking tray and roast for 20 minutes. When the chestnuts are done, remove them from the oven and allow them to cool for a moment. The shells retain a lot of heat from the oven so if you don’t leave them to cool you risk burning your fingers! However, it is much easier to get the shells off while they're still warm)

4. Carefully shell the chestnuts, cover them with foil to keep warm and moist and set aside.

5. In a large saucepan, warm a tsp of olive oil (or butter). Sauté the onion and garlic until soft and add your parsnips and potatoes, gently mix all the ingredients together.

6. Pour the stock over the mixture and leave the saucepan (with its lid on) to gently simmer for 15/20 minutes or until the potatoes begin to soften and fall apart in the liquid.

7. Remove the saucepan from the heat and add the cream a bit at a time, stirring after each addition.

8. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve with chunky granary bread.

Click here for a printable version of this recipe

Tip 1: If you want your soup to be silky smooth then push the mixture through a sieve to get rid of any small lumps – I favor rustic soups so I personally never bother with the sieving.

Tip 2: It’s important to score fresh chestnuts them before putting them in the oven or they are likely to explode when cooked!

Autumn in Sussex

There is a harmony in autumn, and a luster in its sky, which through the summer is not heard or seen, as if it could not be, as if it had not been! 

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Greek yogurt and warm berries

The weather was beautiful here in Brighton today, the sun was shining and the sky was a clear pale blue. Being in the warm sun made me pine for summer fruit, and then I remembered that I’d stashed away a bag of mixed berries in the freezer back in August. To impatient to wait until they had thawed out, I decided to warm them on the stove and then pour them over a bowl of creamy greek yogurt. An absolutely divine breakfast!

What's good to eat this month: November