18/10/2010 · 11:48 am

Autumnal baking…

I feel like I’ve neglected my blog a bit in the last week. The annoying thing is that I’ve actually been super busy cooking and trying out recipes but have either forgotten to take photo’s or have lacked time to blog my latest kitchen exploits. My main aim for last week was to test out some of the recipes that I plan to use for a catering job that I’m taking on in a couple of weeks time…canapes and fork buffet for 40 people at a Ruby Wedding Anniversary celebration. On Monday I made courgette, chicken and pistachio couscous with an orange and harissa dressing which I managed to snap (badly) before me and Marky devoured it (I hasten to add…it was very yummy)…

Later in the week I also made pear and gorgonzola wrapped in parma ham (along these lines), sweetcorn fritters with a cucumber, tomato and avocado salsa, an all in one roasted sausage, butternut squash, new potato and beetroot bake with a dill and caper dressing and a pasta dish with pesto, garlic chestnut mushrooms and wilted spinach stirred through…sometimes the simplest of dishes are the best. Thankfully everything went really well and as true testament to the fact, my friends who I’d called upon to be guinea pigs wolfed down every last morsel with no complaints. 

I’ve just spent the weekend with an old University friend and her gorgeous 4 month old daughter. She happened to have the November Sainsbury’s magazine lying around, I’m such a sucker for a good food magazine or cook book that I took it with me for bit of bedtime reading…I was amazed at just how many amazing recipes it had packed into it! So after a lazy brunch of bagels topped with sliced avocado, smoked salmon and creamy scrambled eggs *drool* I set off back up to North London with a recipe scribbled on a scrap of paper stuffed into my handbag. I made a quick pitstop at the supermarket and when I got home I set about making…

spiced parsnip and apricot loaf with maple frosting…

I’d never heard of a cake containing parsnip before but am a great lover of carrot cakes so thought it was definitely worth a try! Here’s the recipe…

150g plain flour

50g wholemeal spelt flour

1tsp baking powder

1tbsp ground cinnamon

1 slightly rounded tsp ground cloves (I omitted this)

1tsp ground ginger

10 cardamom pods, seeds removed and crushed

4 eggs, lightly beaten

225g caster sugar

225ml groundnut oil

2 medium parsnips, peeled and grated (200g grated weight)

100g pecan halves, chopped

100g ready to eat dried apricots, chopped

For the maple frosting – 

75g soft unsalted butter

200g light cream cheese, chilled

100g greek yoghurt, chilled

1 1/2tbsp maple syrup

1tsp ground cinnamon

50g icing sugar

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and line a 9 x 20cm loaf tin.

Sift the flours (I used self raising wholemeal flour so I only added 3/4 tsp baking powder) and baking powder into the bowl of an electric mixer (or use a handheld mixer). Tip any bran left in the sieve into the bowl too. Add the spices, eggs, sugar and oil and beat together. Fold in the grated parsnips, pecans and apricots and pour into the tin.

Bake for 1 hour 15 – 1 hour 30 minutes until golden and risen. Leave it to cool in the tin.

For the frosting whisk together the butter and cream cheese. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix together. Put in the fridge to chill until later when the cake is fully cooled. Turn it out of the tin and  slather the frosting over the top.

For some reason my frosting turned out to be far too runny. It tasted good but was more pouring than spreading consistency. The cake was lovely and moist, rather like a carrot cake but with a gorgeous sweetness provided by the parsnip and nuttiness from the pecans. The edges had kind of caramelised (and no that’s not just code for burnt) which added a really lovely texture and flavour. I still, for the life of me, can’t work out what went wrong with my frosting but the fact that it was runny wasn’t detrimental to the overall taste of the cake and I guess that’s what really matters. 

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10/10/2010 · 12:11 pm

The trauma of competitive baking…

A few weeks ago in a moment of spotaneous madness I entered myself into a Great Brownie Bake Off being organised by Louise from the Chocolate Consulltancy. I’d recently made a successful batch of brownie’s as blogged here and was feeling confident. I took the competition very seriously and spent Friday night diligently baking what I hoped would be my winning brownie’s (wishful thinking maybe). On Saturday morning I transported them to Look Mum No Hands in time for the 1pm deadline.

The place was packed and at this point my nerves really kicked in. But luckily Louise had lined up a whole day of chocolate based baking demonstrations, which took my mind off the competition. I watched Fred Ponnavoy, Head Chef at GU…

whip up an amazing banoffee style chocolate desert…

and then a GU Pear Belle Helene, which was made up of pear poached in vanilla, layered with mascarpone cream with green cardamom, GU chocolate ganache and topped with caramelised puffed rice mmm…

At this point there was a break in demonstrations whilst the judging commenced. There were 25 brownie entrants and 11 judges…

It was all very official and the judges took it very seriously. I was intrigued by the whole process so got closer to get a better look. I made the mistake of watching the panel taste my entry…

I’d taken a bit of a risk by submitting a brownie containing pear and brazil nuts and hoped that the judges wouldn’t be brownie purists. It was a totally nerve wracking experience watching the judges cogitate and deliberate over my humble brownie and if I’m honest I don’t think my gamble paid off.

I backed off, left them to it and watched some more demonstrations including one by Edd Kimber, winner of the Great British Bake Off who made Chocolate and Banana Whoopie Pies…

I also drank copious amounts of coffee and Suki Tea…

At 5.45pm the winner was announced…Louise M’s brownie’s were apparently the best by far! It was a real shame that she wasn’t there to collect her prize, she’d gone home early, convinced that her brownie’s were underbaked! Unfortunately, I wasn’t lucky enough to have tasted the winning entry.

In my quest to constantly improve my baking skills I was interested to find out the feedback that my brownie’s had received from the judges so I collected my score cards and read their comments. I kind of wish I hadn’t…’cloying’, ‘too loose’, ‘textures didn’t quite work together’, ‘dominant vanilla note’ but…I’m clinging to the fact that the most common observation was along the lines that it was ‘a nice cake but not a brownie’ so I guess it’s not all bad. It was a fun day but I left feeling a little deflated and now have a renewed respect for all the entrants in my Birthday Cake Bake Off…competitive baking is a pretty traumatic experience!

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I’m armed and dangerous…a bag of Caravan’s freshly ground espresso blend coffee and my new Aeropress…I’m going to be so wired this weekend!

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08/10/2010 · 12:29 pm
06/10/2010 · 3:45 pm

The taste of victory!

At long last Saturday 2nd October, the day I’d been eagerly awaiting since February when I started organising my birthday party, finally dawned and brought with it the most awful weather and rain of monsoon-like proportions. This most inauspicious of days saw my friends battling the elements clutching cake tins, tupperware and highly inventive home styled cake carrying devices from far and wide on public transport to take part in…

I don’t do anything by halves and with the help of my glamorous, graphic design assistant, Hannah we were all set with posters stating the rules and even official voting slips!…

You may recall that the original rules stated all entries had to be at the venue by 8pm but I started receiving panic stricken calls and texts begging for an extension due to inclement weather. So the deadline went out the window and a steady stream of entries arrived…better late than never I say…

Entry number 1 was my friend Marky’s Lemon and Sour Cream Cake (A Godfrey Family Recipe), which was essentially a shed load of sugar, some flour, 6 eggs, rind of one lemon and some sour cream, mixed up and baked slowly for 1.5 hrs. A simple, classic but perfectly formed creation I’m sure you’ll agree…

Entrant number 2 was Zannah with her star spangled hummingbird cake with vanilla bean icing…

Number 3 was from Han, graphics whizz…chocolate chip cupcakes with an espresso baileys cream cheese topping and there sure was a definite Baileys kick going on! And…she had a double tier cupcake carrier…this lady means business!…

Number 4, from Jennie and Mark, arrived looking like a clingfilm wrapped space ship but when unveiled was in fact a gorgeous sticky toffee banoffee cake, consisting of a banana sponge with a caramel banana whipped cream and mascarpone filling, topped with more caramel whipped cream and mascarpone and finished off with chocolate sprinkles and special happy birthday icing…

And entrant number 5 was my housemate Patti with her trademark coca cola chocolate cake…it’s so wrong that it’s right!…

Number 6, baked by my oldest friend Clare, was a plum, hazelnut and chocolate creation…

Cam baked entry 7, a gorgeously classy looking lemon afternoon tea cake, with lemon icing (my photo does it no justice at all sorry Cam!)…

Number 8 was a batch of Jellyberryfish cupcakes made by Dr Tan…

I thought they definitely deserved a close up…

Next up was Georgie’s entry…in her own words ‘hummingbird stuffed marshmallow cupcakes with vanilla and minimarsh glittery goodness… Fit for a birthday princess!’, which actually had a whole marshmallow hidden in the middle mmm…

Entry number 10 defied the laws of gravity and was iced in situ by Span. It was a delectable maple syrup and pecan nut floating autumn birthday cake…

Lianna had baked some perfect Hummingbird strawberry cheescake cupcakes…

and her housemate Laura had made pineapple and coconut cupcakes…

In all of the excitement, I’m very ashamed to admit that I don’t have a photo of entry number 13, the handiwork of my friend Simon! But I can describe it as the naughtiest looking chocolate cake known to man!…

??

So, 13 entries in and voting on appearance commenced…after everyone had had a chance to take a look and cast their votes me and my mum took to the floor and judged them for ourselves. Then came the moment that everyone had been waiting for and salivating over…the taste test…

I was in heaven…13 cakes and I HAD to taste them all! I was cursing the limitations of my posh frock but at the same time blessing he invention of control pants!

I never thought it would so hard to judge a cake competiton but the standard was so high! The effort that had been put into the competition blew me off my feet and the decision was definitely a toughy! We counted up the voting slips, then me and my mum (baking oracle and cake appreciator extraordinaire) chose the winners from those that had received the most public votes.

I have great pleasure in announcing that the winner in the appearance category of the 1st Official Afternoon Tease’s Birthday Cake Bake Off was…

Hannah with her uber professional looking chocolate chip cupcakes with an espresso baileys cream cheese topping…

and the winner in the taste category of the 1st Official Afternoon Tease’s Birthday Cake Bake Off was…Simon with his ‘Ultimate Chocolate Cake’!

As a consolation for not having any photographic evidence of Simon’s immensely naughty creation, I have managed to prise the recipe from him for you here. I highly recommend giving it a try just make sure you have an elasticated waistband 😉

Thank you to all entrants, voters, friends and family…you’re amazing!…I had the best party and 13 whole birthday cakes…that surely must be a world record?!

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01/10/2010 · 9:12 am

Birthday baking

I am now the very proud owner of a gorgeous, sexy, empire red, shiny new KitchenAid Artisan Stand Mixer. I have been dying to get my hands on this little beauty for a while so when I finally unwrapped it on my birthday it was only a matter of minutes before I’d donned my apron and was whipping up a batch of raspberry cheesecake brownies from the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook. I chose this particular recipe, not only because it looks amazing but because it has 3 layers, for which the recipe tells you to use a ‘freestanding electric mixer’ woop!

But don’t despair…you can still make it by using a handheld mixer or even good old fashioned elbow grease!

I’ve written out the recipe below if you fancy giving it a go…how can you resist when faced with brownie porn like this??…

Raspberry cheesecake brownie – 

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees and prepare a 33 x 23 x 5cm baking tray by lining it with baking parchment.

brownie layer – 

200g dark chocolate roughly chopped

200g unsalted butter

250g icing sugar

3 eggs

110g plain flour

Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water until smooth. Mix the butter and sugar (in my case I used the paddle attachment and my spanky new KitchenAid…sorry to brag!) until well incorporated. Add the eggs one at a time and mix well before adding the flour. The turn up the speed on your mixer and beat away until the mixture is smooth. Finally pour in the melted chocolate , give it a final mix and pour into the baking tray. Smooth this layer with a palette knife and put aside for the time being.

cheesecake layer – 

400g cream cheese

150g icing sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

Mix the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla extract together slowly until smooth and thick. Add one egg at a time. The mixture should be smooth and creamy, at which point you can increase the speed of mixing to make it light and fluffy but be careful not to overmix as it will split. Spoon the cheesecake mixture on top of the brownie layer, smooth it out and put in the oven for 30-40 minutes until the cheesecake layer is firm and golden around the edges. Leave to cool completely and then cover and put in the fridge for 2 hours or overnight if possible.

cream topping – 

300ml whipping cream

100g icing sugar

150g raspberries plus extra to decorate

Whisk up the cream, sugar and raspberries until firm but not stiff. 

Remove the brownie from the tin, spread the raspberry cream mixture on  and decorate with the extra raspberries.

Then put the kettle on, make a cuppa, sit back, relax and savour….

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My new baby!

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30/09/2010 · 2:11 pm
26/09/2010 · 5:29 pm

I heart the gherkin!

I know ladies aren’t meant to divulge their age but…I’m celebrating a big birthday later this week, one that’ll make me older than 29 but younger than 31. A few weeks ago my friend Han asked me to keep Friday 24 September free and then said no more on the subject. I realised there was some form of birthday surprise plan being hatched but had no clue what until last weekend, when I was treated to a few tip tit bits…it was something that not everyone can do, involved all the things I love and required me to dress up smart…to be honest I was none the wiser! Now, I don’t think I’ve ever had a proper surprise, so until now I didn’t realise that I’m not very good at them…I’m far too much of a control freak. The only way to not drive myself insane was to force it to the back of my mind until the morning of Friday 24th, when I received a text from Han, telling me to meet her at a City bar at 6.15pm. I obeyed, put on my poshest frock and headed on down to Aldgate. I was greeted by 2 friends, which soon grew to a gang of 8! After a couple of drinks and some red herrings to try and throw me off the scent we left the bar. A few steps down the street they stopped and blindfolded me. I was led uncertainly, via a revolving door into a building, where we had to show ID, walk through a security arch and go up in 2 lifts! I still didn’t have any clue as to where I was but I was finally freed from my blindfold and this was the view that met me…

I was only in the bloody gherkin!

I absolutely love the gherkin and since moving to London have been dreaming of visiting the restaurant and bar at the very top! Unfortunately this was hampered by the fact that it’s private members only…but somehow my lovely friends made it possible for me! It felt like all of my Christmases had come at once! 

We drank champagne in the bar at the very top to begin with…I was in awe, as you can imagine the view was immense. My photo’s really don’t do it justice but I’ve safely stored it all in my memory banks!

If you look closely you can see St Pauls in the very centre…

Once my heart had stopped racing we were shown to our table on the floor below and given gorgeously fresh veggies and olive tapenade to nibble on whilst we perused the menu’s…

Han is our resident wine expert and together with the sommelier we were presented with the most perfect complimentary wine for each and every course!

Before the main event we were given a goats cheese and pea pre-starter …

I chose carpaccio and tartar of beef with aged balsamic and horseradish bavaroise for my starter…

I’d never had beef tartare but figured that if I was going to eat raw meat topped with a raw egg I’d rather do it in a smart restaurant. I was amazed! it was so well seasoned and tender, it just melted in my mouth!

For main I had pan roasted fillet of cod with chorizo, feta stuffed squid and roasted fennel…

it was divine and came with roasted new potatoes and runner beans…

The portions weren’t at all stingy and I savoured every mouthful!

Next up was a pre desert, which involved (green!) white chocolate mousse…

which was followed by a special birthday cold chocolate fondant with apricot, black pepper and blood orange sorbet…

I had to take this photo upside down and rotate it on the computer so as not to obscure the message with my shadow, a bit strange I know…but you get the idea…

and last but not least an array of petit fours…

The food alone was amazing, so the fact that every time I looked across the table and was subjected to the truly most amazing view over London and I realised I was dining in my favourite building and realising my dream, things couldn’t get any better! I felt like I was dreaming! I officially have the best friends ever and am feeling extremely special right now!

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19/09/2010 · 3:54 pm

Tea at Bea’s

Bea’s of Bloomsbury has been on my list of ‘must visit’ café’s for ages so when my friend’s Japanese girlfriend mentioned that she’d love to experience a traditional English afternoon tea I knew exactly where to take her. I gathered together a motley, cake eating crew and we headed on down to Bloomsbury to the cake haven that is Bea’s…

The shop front is quite understated and if I hadn’t been purposefully going there I think I would have walked straight past completely oblivious to the amazing cake-like goodies awaiting me inside…

We had to wait a few minutes for our table to be vacated and relaid, which wasn’t a problem as I had the cake display to keep me occupied…

The staff were really friendly and very accommodating when 2 extra friends came along as late entries to join our table. 

Once settled, we were asked to choose from the tea menu…

I went for the vanilla black, which was delicious and fragrant and the perfect accompaniment to the afternoon tea, which consisted of a scone with jam and clotted cream, a cupcake, a mini valrhona brownie, a mini belgian blondie, a mini meringue and a home made marshmallow…

The scones were my favourite part, they were so moist, light and mouthwatering-ly delicious (even more so when piled high with strawberry jam and lashings of clotted cream)…

There were a few varieties of cupcakes on our stand, the choice was tough but in the end I opted for this one…

I didn’t sample them all but I was reliably informed by my friends that they were all delicious. Both the sponge and the frosting were extremely light and I loved the fact that although sweet they weren’t too sickly, plus they were beautiful…

We made a valiant effort to do as we were instructed on the cake stand…

but in the end we were beaten by cake (I never thought I would see the day) and had to leave a few lonely morsels amongst out afternoon tea aftermath…

Our Bea’s experience was lovely…totally unpretentious, delicious and such a bargain at only £9.90!

I was very excited to read on my way out that a second Bea’s is due to open at the end of October in St Pauls…

Right around the corner from where I work…danger danger!

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13/09/2010 · 8:42 pm

Foraging in the fens

I decided this weekend that it was high time I escaped London and visited my friends and family back in Cambridge. There’s something about going home to the flat, open fenlands that gives me an enormous sense of wellbeing and calm. However by Sunday I was having severe baking withdrawal symptoms so I started trawling my Mums vast cookery book collection and came across a book called ‘101 cakes and bakes’. I discovered a recipe for blackberry and apple loaf, which I have also found on the Good Food website here.

Now is the season for both blackberries…

and apples…

so I had the perfect chance to make the most of the fruits growing on my doorstep and in my parents garden. After a yummy homemade Sunday lunch me and my brother went foraging for blackberries straight from the hedgerow…it felt extremely wholesome and we managed to collect a bumper crop…

enough for my cake, with some left over to put in the freezer for another day.

Here’s the recipe I followed for blackberry and apple loaf –

250g self raising flour

175g butter

175g light muscovado sugar

1/2tsp cinnamon

2 rounded tbsp demerara sugar

1 small eating apple, quartered (not cored or peeled)

2 large eggs, beaten

1 orange, finely grated zest

1tsp baking powder

225g blackberries

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Grease and line a (1.7 litre) loaf tin.

This recipe uses a bit of a different method…you rub the flour, butter and muscovado sugar together with your fingertips to make fine crumbs. Measure out 5 tbsp of this mixture in a separate bowl, mix with the demerara sugar and cinnamon and set aside to use later as the topping for the loaf.

Coarsely grate the apple and mix with the eggs and the zest. 

Stir the baking powder into the rubbed-in mixture in the large bowl and then quickly stir in the egg mixture until incorporated but be careful not to overmix.

Carefully fold in 3/4 of the berries trying not to break them up. Spoon the mixture into the tin and level it out. Scatter the remaining berries on top and sprinkle over the topping mix.

Bake for 50 minutes, remove from the oven and cover it loosely with tin foil to stop it browning too much. Then return it to the oven for 20-30 minutes until firm. Insert a sharp knife or skewer, if it comes out clean the cake is ready!

Leave in the tin for 30 minutes…

 before turning it out onto a wire rack to cool…

then slice and revel in it’s beauty…

The recipe says that it will keep for up to 2 days in a tin, however it’s so delicious and moreish, that if you’re anything like me and my family, it probably won’t last longer than a couple of hours let alone days.

The blackberries are tangy, the cake is rich and extremely moist and the topping adds a gorgeous crunchy texture…

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09/09/2010 · 8:39 pm

WARNING! not for the faint hearted…

I’m a sucker for chocolate, along with the majority of the females of the species but I’m also an absolute salt fiend and have been known to snack on slices of cheese topped with freshly ground sea salt…mmmm! So imagine my delight when, on reading The Sweetest Kitchen, a blog I follow, I learnt that Lindt have introduced a bar of dark chocolate with a touch of sea salt!

Jamieanne, the blog author also shared a recipe that she had found for Salted Chocolate Shortbread. I couldn’t get it out of my head and spent the rest of the afternoon at work daydreaming about salty chocolate creations. I decided to bite the bullet, did a pit stop at Waitrose, who stock the aforementioned magic chocolate and headed home for some baking.

Surprisingly I don’t think I’ve ever made shortbread before. There’s a first time for everything and without further ado here is the recipe I used to make my salted chocolate shortbread…

300g unsalted butter

220g caster sugar

375g plain flour

5tbsp good-quality cocoa powder

1/4tsp bicarbonate of soda

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Grease and line a 18 x 28cm shallow baking tray.

Beat the butter and sugar in a bowl with a handheld whisk until pale. Sift in the flour, cocoa powder and soda and beat slowly until just combined. Spread into the tray and smooth over. I used my hands to push it into the corners but was careful not to compact it or overwork it too much. I then put my shortbread straight in the oven, only realising once I’d done so that I was meant to have pricked it all over with a fork and chilled it for 15 minutes beforehand…oops!

It needs baking for 25 minutes or until firm to the touch. Then should be left to cool completely.

I can report that my shortbread was pretty darn perfect and didn’t seem to suffer from my forgetfulness. Maybe next time I’ll make sure I do the pricking and chilling and try to spot the difference.

While your shortbread is cooling you can crack on with the salty ganache topping…

2 x 100g bars of Lindt touch of salt, finely chopped

2/3 cup of heavy whipping cream

2 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into small cubes

sea salt flakes

Place the chopped chocolate in a bowl. Heat the cream until it’s just about to simmer (do not boil), then pour it over the chocolate and leave for about a minute. Stir it until smooth and all of the chocolate has melted. Add the butter and stir until combined. 

Put the bowl in the fridge for approx 20-30 minutes to set. Every 5-10 minutes get it out and give it a good stir/whisk. Once the ganache is of spreadable consistency smooth it over the cooled shortbread with a spatula and then let it set for 30 minutes until it’s firm to the touch. Cut the shortbread into squares, wiping the knife clean after every cut to keep the ganache crumb free and vice versa. Sprinkle a few sea salt flakes onto each square and hey presto you have the most amazing chocolatey, salty delicacies…

Now, brace yourselves and behold, what I believe are the best baking porn photo’s I’ve taken to date…

I was really happy with how these turned out…they were delicious and were a huge hit with my colleagues! The flavours really balanced themselves out, the overriding taste was definitely the chocolate but the salt worked to cut through the sweetness and helped ensure that they weren’t too sickly and the sudden salty hit that you get from the flakes of sea salt was a pure delight.

Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it…and I highly recommend that you do!


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