Tag Archives: cambridge

04/12/2012 · 10:00 am

Plate Lickers Eastern European Christmas…

For our 5th Plate Lickers Supper Club we decided to start Christmas a bit early and bring an Eastern European Christmas inspired menu to the good people of Cambridge. The menu was a lot of fun for Ivana and I to compile and prepare and as you may expect, contained a fair few z’s and (compulsory) cabbage…

We both called on our parents for some help and advice. Me & my Dad spent a Sunday afternoon in a beetroot splattered kitchen as he showed me how to make barszcz (beetroot soup) and Ivana’s Mum treated us to some of her divine homemade baklava. There are quite a few similarities between the Christmas dishes and traditions in many Eastern European countries and we tried to cover as many as possible in our 5 courses. 

We began the evening at Balzano’s Delicatessen by toasting ‘na zdrowie’ with some homemade Wisniowka (cherry vodka), accompanied by these Bosnian cheese and potato filled pita…

Our guests settled down for the first course, my Dad’s jewel coloured barszcz (beetroot soup) and mushroom filled ‘little ears’ (uszka), so called because of their shape and not because they contain any pork, much to our vegetarian guests relief! :)…

The main course was an exciting one for me & Ivana, we’d been dying to try our hand at cooking pigs cheeks and finally got our chance! We allowed for 1 large pigs cheek per guest, which we got from our lovely local butchers Northrops. They were a true labour of love, taking 7 and a half hours to cook! However they were most definitely worth it! The meat was unbelievably tender and the rich sauce, a great accompaniment to the kasza (buckwheat groats) and sauerkraut…

Our usual sorbet course was replaced by an equally refreshing traditional dried fruit salad called Kompot…

The sweet course was the most amazing baklava I’ve ever tasted, made by Ivana’s Mum!..

Thanks to our fabulous guests we had another lovely evening. It was great to be back in the place where Plate Lickers had first begun in May. We’ve come a long way since then and it really felt like we ended the Plate Lickers year in style, with big smiles on our faces!

Thank you to all of our 2012 guests, local suppliers and venue owners who have helped us make Plate Lickers special.

We’ll be back in 2013 with plenty more exciting events, new themes and secret locations! Sign up here to be kept in the loop!

We hope to see you in 2013!

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15/11/2012 · 7:28 pm

My two wheeled cake delivery expedition…

For a couple of months now, I’ve had the pleasure of working with Outspoken Delivery, a local bike courier company. Every Friday, regular as clockwork, they knock on my door to collect my cakes, load them into one of their cool bicycles and pedal them over to Cambridge Folk Museum so they’re ready and waiting for when the tearoom opens on Saturday morning at 10.30am.  

The first time they came to collect the weekly cake order I was extremely nervous about handing them over. Now, I don’t want to sound distrusting but as I usually do all of my own deliveries on foot, it was a real test to hand them over to someone else, a little like waving your child off on their first day at school (perhaps not quite the same ;). To guarantee safe delivery, I decided that bribery was the best option, so I struck Outspoken a deal…if they could deliver 21 cakes unscathed, I would make one especially for them! 

Last week they hit the big 21 with nothing untoward having occurred in the meantime so, as a lady of my word, I made them a cake, a chocolate Guinness cake nonetheless…

and thought it fitting that I should deliver it to them by bike, albeit in the panniers of my beaten up old Raleigh…

I am happy to report that, despite an emergency stop and what felt like 20 million speed bumps, I managed to get it to Outspoken HQ in one piece. Here it is modelled wonderfully by Mr Mark Nash, who is also sporting a fantastic Movember effort on his upper lip (Check out their team page here)…

It was great to meet the whole team, who downed tools to have a brew and some cake…

This week Outspoken launched their campaign to raise money and awareness for the ‘You Can Bike Too’ project, based at Milton Country Park. The group’s aim is to ‘ensure that all members of society can enjoy the benefits afforded by cycling’ by providing specialist bikes, which can be borrowed by anyone and everyone in the community.

Outspoken are asking for donations to this great cause and have pledged to match any donations made by their customers and friends so that they can raise the estimated £1600 to buy this fantastic Circe Cycles Morpheus bike and ensure it (and others) get used by as many people as possible. 

Not only would you get that squishy warm feeling at having contributed to such a great cause, if you make a donation by 28th November, your name will also go into a prize draw to win the ‘Outspoken Advent Calender’! The winner will get a special (Outspoken) delivery of chocolate every single day of Advent, culminating on Christmas Eve with a delivery of 3 cakes baked by me!

For more details of how to donate or about the project take a look at their website here.

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13/11/2012 · 10:51 am

My venture into Mexican baking for Nanna Mexico…

A couple of weeks ago I received a very exciting email asking if I’d be interested in becoming the ‘cake lady’ for a small but well renowned Mexican restaurant in Cambridge…Nanna Mexico.

Since it opened in 2005, Nanna Mexico has built a name for itself amongst Cambridge food lovers and students alike (not that students aren’t food lovers ;). Owner, Luis, has brought the fresh and vibrant flavours of Mexico to the streets of Cambridge and is passionate about providing ‘a healthy, affordable and delicious alternative to traditional fast foods.’ Their Big Ass Burrito is particularly revered! If you’re mouth is watering at the thought, you should check their menu out here.

So, not having yet ventured into the realms of Mexican baking, I set about some serious research and cake trials. I spent a very happy Monday testing a Tres Leches cake…a sponge cake that has a mixture of condensed milk, evaporated milk and double cream drizzled over it as soon as it’s taken out of the oven, so wrong it’s right!…

a densely gooey mango and cardamom cake…

and a traditional Pan de Elote or sweetcorn cake to you and me :)…

I know it sounds a bit strange but believe me, the combo of pureed sweetcorn and condensed milk is a real winner and creates a deliciously sweet, moist cake.

I packed up a sample box of my cakes and took them to Luis for a taste test…

I was really interested to hear his feedback and to find out whether I’d passed the Mexican cake test. I watched nervously as he tried all three cakes and was extremely relieved to see his face break into a smile. I was even happier to hear that the flavours took him right back to his youth and the cakes his Grandma used to make!

The Pan de Elote was his favourite and it’s the first cake that I’ll be supplying to Nanna Mexico, this very afternoon!

It may not be your usual Viccy sponge but why not be adventurous and try a slice of traditional Mexican cake to satisfy that sweet craving after your burrito or quesadilla?

Each week I’ll be making a new cake, some will be traditional Mexican numbers and some will be British classics with a Mexican twist…that’s all I’m going to say for now…it’s good to keep you guessing!

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07/10/2012 · 8:29 pm

Plate Lickers Supper Club #3…childhood memories

Last night saw the third installment of our Plate Lickers Supper Club, this time with the theme ‘childhood memories’. Ivana (Miss Igs) and I had a lot of fun in the run up to this one…finding the perfect venue, trialing dishes for the menu and of course copious amounts of taste testing!

On one of our recent venue trawls around town we paid a visit to Salisbury Conservative Club and decided it was perfect!…

The old skool hall was reminiscent of the disco’s of our youth and much to our delight was equipped with a fully functioning mirror ball, which we (obviously) put to good use! :)…

Here’s our menu for the evening…

We greeted our guests with White Russians served in mini milk bottles, which raised some questions as to the nature of our ‘childhood memories! :)…

along with platters of canapes…

spinach and tomato pinwheel lollipops…

Grown up cheese and pineapple (I’ll be blogging my pineapple chutney recipe very soon)…

and our piece de resistance, homemade pork pies…

Once everyone was seated we set to work on assembling our fishfinger sandwiches…

We coated the fish in a mixture of panko breadcrumbs and grated Grana Padano cheese before oven baking them. We used sourdough from the Earth’s Crust bread stall on Cambridge Market as well as lashings and lashings of homemade tartare sauce…

The main course took us a long time to prepare but was gone in the blink of an eye so I’m afraid my photos are somewhat lacking. We slow roasted a couple of lamb shoulders from our lovely local butcher Andrew Northrop’s, for 6 hours before stripping the meat from the bone and making it  into a rich stew, which we served with gratin dauphinoise potatoes and winter slaw.

We decided to really pay homage to the theme and to serve the main course school dinner style, asking our guests to form an orderly queue to collect their food. I think Ivana and I did a great job of summoning our inner dinner lady :)…

Our ‘secret special surprise’ came in the form of Jack aka @Jackmade_gelato Cambridge’s very own gelato wizard! Anyone who follows me on Twitter will know that I’ve developed a slight addiction for Jack’s wares and so was really excited when he agreed to be part of Plate Lickers for the night. We’d told him the theme but until he served his secret course even Ivana and I had no idea what it would be!

We looked on eagerly as assembling began…

and it wasn’t long before I twigged that our guests were going to be treated to mini cornetto’s complete with the all important chocolate at the bottom of the cone…

and topped with quince sorbet, which held memories from Jack’s own childhood…

I’d like to say a huge thankyou to Jack, who pulled out all the stops for us and our guests…I believe the regular gelato peddling is on hold for the cold winter months but you should keep your eyes peeled for him at Mill Road Winter Fair!

The wine was flowing and waistbands were being loosened as we served up the dessert course…jaffa lamington cakes, our twist on the jaffa cake made by sandwiching my homemade Seville orange marmalade (blogged here) between 2 layers of sponge, dipping it in chocolate sauce and finally coating it in coconut…

and last but not least came our fluffy pink homemade marshmallows, recipe courtesy of Eat Like a Girl…

The buzz of chat was a joy to hear and our evening ended drinking red wine from tea cups (as you do) and chatting to our lovely guests with huge smiles on our faces!

We’ve got another couple of dates in the pipeline so sign up here if you’d like to be amongst the first to here all about them!

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14/09/2012 · 10:48 am

Cambridge Folk Museum Tearoom…

Having grown up in Cambridge I remember visiting the Cambridge Folk Museum on many a school trip and as a treat during the school holidays. It’s a real treasure trove of artifacts from day to day life in the region and was set up in 1936 with the aim ‘to interest the ordinary citizen in aspects of local social life which were fast disappearing in Cambridgeshire’, which still remains their aim today…

I  was very excited to be approached by the lovely people at the Museum as they’ve set up a gorgeous little tea room that opens every Saturday from 10.30am-4.30pm and were in need of a cake supplier. I’m very happy to say that they decided I was just the lady for the job (I’m don’t know if the ‘bribery’ cake that I took to the meeting with me had anything to do with it 🙂 and now my cakes can be found gracing their cake stands every week!

The cake selection will change regularly and could be anything from a lemon drizzle sponge with lemon curd icing…

to a classic Victoria sponge with red cherry jam and buttercream icing…

or a slightly less traditional and totally decadent chocolate Guinness cake with cream cheese icing…

Tea and coffee is served in delicate vintage crockery and if you’re lucky can even be enjoyed out in their lovely sun trap of a courtyard…

I love working with local independents so it’s a real treat to also be working with Outspoken Delivery…

Every Friday my cakes are collected and carefully transported to the Folk Museum. 2 weeks in there haven’t been any mishaps and I am assured that they have lots of cake delivery experience…even wedding cakes have been safely biked across Cambridge in their specially equipped bikes!

All proceeds from the tearoom go straight back into supporting the museum so, why not pop your head in one Saturday, support you local independents and get a slice of the action! (excuse the puns!) 

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19/08/2012 · 7:50 am

Local & handpicked blackberry & apple crumble cake…

Last week I took a rare break in the middle of a busy day of baking, packed my lunch into a bag and ventured into my local graveyard to make the most of the sunshine. Now, you may think it a bit of a strange place to enjoy a picnic but Mill Road cemetery is a stones throw from my house and is a veritable sanctuary away from, well, everything! It’s so beautiful and peaceful and at the moment it’s also chocablock with blackberries…

Unfortunately, on that occasion I didn’t have the time or a suitable receptacle to take any with me but a couple of days later I went on a blackberry picking mission and after pricking myself numerous times and getting well and truly scratched up (I even managed to spike myself in the head, be warned, blackerry bushes are evil buggers) I ended up with a bumper crop…

Just a couple of words of warning…beware of picking from low hanging branches 😉 and before you get baking/eating, make sure you wash them really well to get rid of all of any little friends who may be camping out in your fruit!

I recalled a recipe I’d used a couple of years ago for a blackberry and apple loaf and decided I’d scale it up a bit to make an 8 inch (20cm) cake…

You can either follow the recipe in the link above to make a loaf or use these quantities to make an 8 inch round cake…

375g self raising flour

265g butter

265g light muscovado sugar

3/4 tsp cinnamon

3 rounded tbsp demerara sugar

1 1/2 small eating apple, quartered (not cored or peeled)

3 eggs

1 1/2 oranges, finely grated zest

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

340g blackberries

and then just follow the same recipe (here) to make the most delicious apple & blackberry apple crumble cake, even the better for having picked the blackberries yourself!

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05/08/2012 · 10:57 am

The 3 Horseshoes, Madingley…

As a family who love food, we use every birthday as an excuse to get together and go out for a nice meal together. I’m lucky enough to usually be the decision maker and having heard great things about The Three Horsehoes in Madingley, Cambridge, I was excited to pay them a visit on a lovely Summer’s evening…

We were seated in a lovely light conservatory at the back of the restaurant and presented with this stunning menu…

and here’s some photographic evidence of just how stunning it was. Starting with the cured and cold smoked tuna with truffle-bonito jelly, crumbs, miso, mustard seeds, gherkins & seaweed…

Mackerel roll, elderflower jelly, gooseberry compote, sea herbs and English mustard…

I had real difficulties choosing my main course but finally whittled it down to the chargrilled monkfish, soba noodles, spinach-nori roll, soy, salmon eggs and samphire…

a piece of artwork in itself, very tasty artwork mind you!

My brother had the roast pork belly, apples, onions ‘4 ways’, black pudding and ‘patatas bravas’…

and my Dad chose the roast canon of lamb, fried lamb belly, stuffed vegetables, crunchy provencale crumb, sheep’s cheese, olive, anchovy & red wine sauce…

I was particularly chuffed to see that they also had Little Creatures Pale Ale on the menu…

The portion sizes were very substantial but there’s ALWAYS room for dessert…

and we just couldn’t resist the Momofuku’s crack pie *snigger*, a rich, super sweet condensed milk creation with passion fruit curd & mascarpone…

We practically rolled out of the door, into our awesome ride…

Delicious and extremely interesting food, faultless service and a lovely setting…it’s not a cheap night out but if you fancy a treat then I highly recommend that you get yourself down to the Three Horsehoes tout suite!

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02/08/2012 · 10:55 am

Bakewell puddings…a real 80’s revival!

If you’ve ever visited the lovely little town of Bakewell in the Derbyshire Dales you’ll know all about the humble but delicious Bakewell Pudding! Not to be mistaken with their (somewhat better known) relative the Bakewell Tart. I grew up visiting the Peak District every Autumn half term and a visit to Bakewell was always in the itinerary. Bakewell puddings are basically a puff pastry shell with a dollop of raspberry jam at the bottom, topped with an egg, sugar and almond mixture and although they don’t sound anything special, are absolutely divine!…

Having sadly outgrown my family trips to the Peaks, I thought it was about time to revisit these gorgeous puddings. I had the perfect opportunity last month when my Book & Bake club decided an 80’s revival was in order. We read Jilly Cooper’s ‘Riders’ (which I hasten to say is a brilliant bit of summertime reading 😉 and baked a dish from the Good Housekeeping 80’s edition…

If you own this fantastic, classic cookbook then you are a very lucky person! If not, here’s the recipe…

I decided to make individual bakewell puddings in a cupcake tin. You don’y need to line the tin with greaseproof paper as long as it’s non-stick, I just thought it looked pretty.

Simply put a circle of puff pastry in each hole of the cupcake tin and put a dollop of raspberry jam in the bottom…

Then fill them with the almond and egg mixture before popping them in them in the oven…

and there you have them…

I freestyled a bit by topping them with a few flaked almonds but it’s totally up to you. They’re delicious eaten straight away or if you can resist, leave them to cool and eat them cold. I suggest serving them with some clotted cream and fresh raspberries…

So enamoured was I by these wonderful puddings that I made 130 of them for an event that Carri from Pavitt’s Pie’s had asked me to make desserts for…

I encourage you to don your ski pants and shoulder pads and relive the 80’s, Good Housekeeping style!

The other Book and Bake ladies had excelled with this amazing spread…

Avocado mousse…

viennese fingers…

summer pudding…

and my fave, the black forest gateaux…

with a very ‘80’s’ key ingredient… 

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17/07/2012 · 1:29 pm

Our 2nd Plate Lickers Supper Club…

Three weeks ago we announced the 2nd Plate Lickers Supper Club, this time with a Middle Eastern theme. Places filled fast and before we knew it, our chosen day, Friday 13th July had rolled around and myself and Ivana (Miss Igs) were embarking upon a very busy day of last minute preparation and cooking ready for our full house of 30 hungry Cambridge foodies! We were still buzzing from our first event back in May and although the feedback we’d received from our guests was wonderfully positive we were determined to up our game and push the boat out even more this time! 

We concentrated on using as many local suppliers as possible, one of whom was fruit & veg afficionado, Twitter veteran, Managing Director of Cambridge Fruit Company and serial Foodcycle donator Mr Neil B. Neil was great…he gave us advice on seasonality, price and quantity and then sourced and delivered delicious veggies straight to our door with a huge smile…

We were particularly excited about our secret venue…which we revealed the day before the supper club to be St Paul’s on Hills Road. I’d like to give a big thank you to John, the Centre Manager for all of his help and for allowing us to borrow the church, which we set about dressing in true Plate Lickers style…

and unveiled our Middle Eastern inspired menu…

At 7.30pm our guests arrived…

and were greeted with a pomegranate & vodka cocktail…

and homemade hummus and aubergine dips…

When everyone had settled down at their tables we handed around teacups of our green gazpacho, a refreshing mix of spinach, cucumber, green pepper, chilli, garlic, parsley, yoghurt and ice…

and then it was time for the main event…pork belly, a whopping 8.5kg of Dingley Dell pork belly to be precise… 

I’d like to give a very special shout out to the lovely butchers at Andrew Northrop Butchers on Mill Road. When I popped in to have a chat and order our meat they were so helpful, advising me on quantities, whether to cook it on or off the bone (we opted for on) and more importantly, imparting their wisdom on exactly how to make sure our crackling was awesome! They scored the skin for me and then told me that their top crackling tip was to dampen your hand and lightly wipe the surface of the skin wetting it just enough to give the salt something to stick to without soaking it as this would be detrimental to your crackling! As you can see their advice worked wonders!…

You’ll need to keep your eyes peeled on Miss Igs blog to find out exactly how we cooked this beaut, but I can tell you that we ended up with the most tender, fall off the bone, melt in the mouth pork belly, which we served with a couscous salad and a green bean, sugar snap, orange and hazelnut salad and my homemade gooseberry, ginger and elderflower relish (recipe to follow)…

After a refreshing little course of mint tea and orange blossom sorbet we served up the dessert…nut stuffed baked peaches in cinnamon & rosewater syrup with polenta & almond cake…

By this time the light was fading, the atmospheric church setting was coming into its own…

and the wine and conversations was flowing…

We’ve well and truly caught the supper club bug…watch this space for our next date or if you’d like us to keep you informed sign up to our all new mailing list here.

A final thanks to all of our lovely guests, of whom a nerve wracking majority seemed to be food bloggers and writers! We’ve been bowled over by the lovely write ups, mentions and tweets we’ve been receiving since Friday. Here are the ones we know about so far…

Aoife wrote a lovely post about us on her Gastronomic Girls blog here.

Nora has posted about us on her Nora the kitchen ‘Splorer here.

Ireena wrote this on her blog ‘Oh! Not another food blog’

Heidi wrote this fab review, which is also on Local Secrets here.

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03/07/2012 · 5:34 pm

A new collaboration…get your slice of Afternoon Tease at Hot Numbers!

On a Friday, I can often be found in my second office…an amazing little independent coffee house, also known as Hot Numbers on Gwydir Street. Having moved back to Cambridge from London last year I was worried that the coffee habit that I’d cultivated in the big smoke would be left horribly unsatisfied. However, thanks to Simon and the guys at Hot Numbers, I couldn’t have been more wrong. Their coffee is now roasted by Simon himself in the new Hot Numbers Roastery AKA his garden shed ;). 

Only a year old, they’ve built a very loyal following who visit for the awesome coffee (of course), to watch one of the eclectic live bands on a Thursday night, to meet friends, relax with the papers or like me, to use it as a second office (with much better coffee and background music!). 

It’s pretty obvious that I love the place, which is why I’m so excited to announce that Hot Numbers will now be selling my cakes! If you visit at the weekend you’ll be able to enjoy a naughty but nice slice of one of my creations, whether it’s my chocolate Guinness cake…

or perhaps a wedge of classic Victoria sponge…

or some luscious lemon drizzle cake with lemon buttercream icing…

To me coffee and cake are a match made in heaven…I hope you think so too! Why not pop in and see what’s on offer this week?… 

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