Why I will not ever be "Baking Off" by Sam

It's the same every year when that season rolls round - you know the one.

"Don't you watch it? I would have thought you'd be entering!"

No and NO. I enjoy baking as a creative activity. I wouldn't if I were being filmed and standing in front of judges.

Perhaps my dyslexic childhood is at the root of this. The only competition I ever won in school was one for having a nice smile. Usually, competitions were entered in a grim spirit of I-know-I-won't-win, I'll-be-last-again, but they're-making-me-play kind of wartime grit - one must soldier on*.

Hobbies are for fun. I don't go to them to be judged. I bake in the sure knowledge that as long as I put in butter, sugar, flour and eggs, that whatever I make - as long as I don't absolutely burn it - will be tasty. Under-baking things is a pardonable sin: you can put it back in the oven to fix that. Things I make may have a soggy bottom. Perhaps my cake'll be lopsided.  It may not rise. Icing sugar is a great help to the mis-shaped cake, and lest we forget: this is HOME-MADE.  Imperfection is a sign of authenticity. I expect that the friends and family I feed my cooking to will go "Cor! Thanks!" in the manner of Enid Blyton characters.

GBBO and its ilk, to me, act to take yet another area of human endeavor and apply a lens of perfectionism to magnify flaws. WHY? Average people suddenly decide it'd be fun to jump over crazy technical hurdles in the name of gaining five minutes of fame. It's not my idea of entertainment, no matter how nice Mel, Sue, Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood** are.

The other thing I despise about the show is the aura of kitsch "Kath Kidson" everything baking has been cloaked in as part of the show branding and thus in cookware shops up & down the land. I'm sure this series is why, in recent years, I've received a plethora of china bake wear from family and friends. Hand-painted polka-dot ceramic tablespoon measures are all well and good, but I know damn nicely I'll break them on the first outing. I have kept my stalwart plastic companions and passed on the ceramic variants. The single use pastel-covered cupcake boxes are still in their packaging: I think they're above the microwave. I gave most of the biscuit cutters to my sister, her kids may get a kick out of high-heeled shoe cookies?

I even received a "GBBO Decorating Masterclass" book as a gift (I think that one was December 2013).
Perhaps someone has the time and patience to make a 'four and twenty blackbirds' themed cake, but it's not me. The book is on a friends' shelf now - and whilst I'm sure it looks good, I highly doubt it's the book she turns to for a last minute birthday cake (let's be honest - this is the type we usually make).

I'm happy to applaud GBBO for bringing baking back into people' front rooms, but I don't think that the technical challenges they present are inspiring for the average home cook. They're a sugar-turret iced-castle dream, one for women (or men) who want to be grown-up princesses, living in aprons, singing as they bake, churning out home-made cakes which can compete with Harrods.



I have never seen a full episode of GBBO. I know I'm being harsh. I know perfectly nice, clever people who enjoy the show and perhaps even aspire to be on it. That's fine. Just don't make me watch it. It's like seeing my favorite childhood story turned into a three-hour opera, sung in Italian.


And lastly, a plea: please, whoever you are and whenever you read this: don't buy me any more silicone muffin cases. Ever.




*If I were a religious woman, I'd praise the lord daily that I will never, ever have to go through another day as a primary school pupil.

**I know that's not his real surname. With his fake tan and baking superstar tours, it seems apt

Tea for Geeks? Tea for Me!

So, we got offered some tea to taste by a company called 'Tea geeks'.

Tea Geeks!!!

How could we say no?

They kindly send through two packages. Let's start with the packaging: it's a small brown padded envelope with foil inner and one of those high-end plastic bag closings. Do you know the kind I mean? Not quite a zip lock, but the next best thing.  Anyway... I like it. It keeps the tea nice and fresh and is easy to store. Possible getting-lost-in-back-of-cupboard potential, but more efficient than a big box for my tiny cupboards. My packs are 100g which might be tea-taster-sized rather than a commercially purchasable quantity. Still, I think this would do a good few cups.

So I'd give the packaging 8/10 overall. I'm deducting two point because I know that foil-plastic-metal laminates are a bugger to recycle (I'm afraid it's not just tea I am geeky about).

On to the beverages in question!

1. St Margaret's Hope

A black tea. I brewed it lightly. The flavor is nice and deep. It has a bitter edge: I think in one mood I'd find this pleasantly astringent. In another I might call it unpleasantly medicinal. What can I say - I'm just fickle. I think this tea would work well to cut through something like a sticky and overeager Christmas cake. Drinking it with something light like a meringue or violet scented cupcakes might be a mistake as it would overpower subtle flavors.

I'd give it an 8/10 or a 4/10 depending on my mood. Fickle. I am so fickle.

2. Ginger and Lemongrass

This is one of those herbal mixtures which looks brilliant when you open the packet. Because it's loose leaf the chunks are nice and large and you can actually TELL that you have real dried lemongrass, ginger and (I suspect though I am not 100% sure) chamomile in your cup. The smell is lovely - it's like one of those lemon-scented soaps or candles you always want to eat. Or I do. But I don't. Anyway... it brews to a pale lemony-green infusion. The balance of flavors is good: the ginger is warming without being overpowering and the lemon is light and refreshing. This is another one I could see myself drinking this winter: it seems the perfect thing to come home to when it's cold. It tastes like it should be full of Vitamin C and the fragrant fumes feel like they would soothe sore sinuses. I was too lazy to brew this properly.

I'd give this a 10/10. I sometimes find that ginger teas can be over-eager- this one is just right.

Thanks for the tea, www.teageeks.com. I appear to be all set for Winter. :)

Ringtons Tea Tests

Ringtons Tea contacted teaandcake.co.uk to test a few of their teas. I invited a couple of friends around for tea and cake to put these teas to the test. Here are our thoughts:-

Decaffeinated Black Tea

Janine: "I made this tea in a teapot and left it to brew for 3 mins as instructed on the packet. We all drank the tea with milk. It tastes very light and is easy drinking with no bitter after taste. A very smooth brew. As I am pregnant this would be a perfect tea for everyday. For a stronger taste you would need to leave it to brew for a few more mins. I'll try this next time."

Beth: "Refreshing, perfect for any time of day but especially before bed. I would be happy to buy this tea."

Helen: "A very nice tea, not too strongly flavoured so easy to drink. Nicer than some other decafe teas I've tried."

Earl Grey

Janine: "I brewed the tea for 3 mins in a teapot as instructed. We all drank the tea with milk. I'm not usually a fan of Earl Grey and would never choose to drink this tea as I usually find it to be over powering. However this one was again easy to drink, not over perfumed/strong in taste. It had a light taste with no after taste. Again worth trying with a longer time to brew. Not one I'd buy buy but one I'd happy to drink again."

Beth: "Mild, calming and not overly perfumed. Ideal for afternoon tea. Tried with milk but it may be a stronger taste if drank black with lemon."

Helen: "Not my favourite type of tea generally but this one is not too over powering. An almost smokey flavour."

English Breakfast Tea

Janine: "I brewed the tea in a teapot for 5 mins to allow for a stronger taste. We all drank the tea with milk. It is again a very refreshing taste with no bitter after taste. I would be happy to buy this tea and drink as an everyday tea."

Beth: "Similar taste to the decaffeinated tea. Fresh tasting, ideal for breakfast or tea and cake occasions. Very drinkable.

Helen: " Pleasant tasting, nothing too remarkable but easy to drink any time."

Peppermint Tea

Janine: "I brewed the tea for 2-3mins in a mug. As you don't add milk to peppermint tea we drank this just as it comes. It has a lovely mint aroma to begin with and tastes as good as it smells. Refreshing and mild in taste. Great as a digestive after a large meal or just as a refreshing drink if you fancied something different and naturally decaffeinated. "

Beth: "I found to be crisp, refreshing and energising. Again, good at any time of day but especially early morning or mid afternoon when in need of a pick-me-up! I'd happily buy this tea!"

Barry: "Nice, pleasant peppermint tea!"

Green Tea with Citrus

Janine: "I brewed this tea for 4 mins in a mug! As you don't add milk to green tea we drank this just as it comes. Without drinking it I first thought the tea would taste too over powering due to the strong citrus smell. I was however pleasantly surprised to find it had a mild taste, just right in fact. I haven't drank green tea for a while due to the bitter taste you often find a lot of them have yet this tea again is very mild and smooth, easy drinking and one I'd be happy to buy and drink often. A true surprise to find another green tea I like (the other one is Rooibos Tick Tock Green Tea). "


Barry: "On first impression there is a very strong smell of lemon. On tasting you can mainly taste the lemon flavor but not in an unpleasant way. It reminds me of drinkable lemsip."

Mmm Flapjacks 

Baking Mad recently contacted teaandcake to tell us about the Baking Mad website which has lots of yummy looking recipies. I decided to taste test their flapjack recipe for an afternoon tea I was having with friends.

Flapjack Ingredients 

226 grams Butter or margarine
170 grams Golden Caster Sugar (Billington's)
340 grams Porridge Oats
0.25 tsp Salt
3 tbsp Golden Syrup (Silver Spoon) large

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F or gas 4. Line a tin with baking paper, the tin should approx measure 28cm x 18cm x 3cm or 11in x 7in x 1.2in method tip

In a large pan gently heat the butter or margarine and golden syrup. Heat until the butter is all melted, do not boil. (Using a wooden spoon is advised)

Remove pan from the heat and add in the oats, sugar and salt. Mix very well until all the oats are covered.

Put the mixture into the prepared tin and smooth evenly into the corners.

Bake in the oven for approximatly 15minutes, then turn the tin around and bake for a further 5 minutes. Bake until golden brown. method tip

Remove the tin from the oven and allow to cool for a short while. With a palette knife lightly mark out into 18 pieces before it sets. Cut up when cold.



.....................................................................................

Result

Despite having to pop to the shops for more porridge oats when I needed to add them, and forgetting to take them out the oven on time (ooops!)... they still tasted really good and went down well with friends. They even improved with age as they got a little softer (may have been due to being slightly over baked in the first place!).

I'd like to bake them again - but next time I'd try adding a little more butter and golden syrup just to see the difference!

Guilt

Guilt is a nasty thing. And I have been suffering.

Late last year, the nice folks at Whittard sent us some teas to test. But I was busy, then I got a stomach bug, then I had a Christmas shopping panic, flu, a holiday...

 The tea has been waiting in my Kitchen. Chastising me. Every time I stepped in there.

 NO MORE! New year, new start. I've got the kettle on and I've brewed up three mugs at once to show you how serious I am.  Here we go.

1. Whittard Assam
I'm a big fan of Assam. Did Whittard know this? Anyway - the nice, round teabag brews up well and goes a good malty brown colour. It's got a really smooth taste with quite a strong (but not unpleasant) tannin-y aftertaste - a bit of sharpness. I think this would be a good staple cup to get you through the working day. Yes - I like it. I've just drained the cup.

2. Whittard Orange Blossom Tea A loose leaf tea! This stuff was a pleasure to open & smell (even if I split the package & spilled tea everywhere). The black tea is in quite large ebony coloured flakes and there are big bits of dried, zesty peel. I liked this - it's very reassuring in a world of chemically-derived flavor additives to see that an orange has really been involved. I brewed this tea in a hurry and didn't warm my pot - so the resulting tea is a bit pale. The orange scent comes through. And the flavors pair well together. I added my usual spoon of sugar - this may have been a bit of an error. It enhances the orange and makes it taste a bit like you're drinking tea whilst eating orange jelly. Next time I think I'd cut my usual sugar & be happier with the cup. The tea doesn't seem to be bitter so I think that would be safe enough. I imagine this would be a good tea to drink black, if your proclivities run in that direction. it's quite a refreshing cup - I can imagine it going well with a weekend breakfast of pancakes.

3. Whittard Green Tea
A confession - I don't like green tea. So I packaged this one off to Janine. However, since she has a baby to look after and has moved house and I haven't reminded her, the results are not back in yet. We'll update this post when we have her feedback.

4. Betty's Spiced Christmas Blend
Obviously this one didn't come from Whittard - but since I'm in a rare reviewing mood, I thought I'd add it on. It was a Christmas present from the lovely Janine (T&C's resident Queen of Tea). It smells like your average Chai - I'm getting cloves from the scent. And maybe Cardamom and Ginger? The spices are so well balanced it's hard to pick out exactly what's involved. The tea is mellow and not bitter at all - so the main feeling you get when drinking this is comforting and mellow. I think there's something fruity in here, too. Orange? Or bergamont? I could check the packaging but I think that might spoil the fun. I'm not sure how different this is from a normal Chai (there could be a tea test in that!) but it's an enjoyable and relaxing cup. I'm struggling to finish it - but that has more to do with the fact that I've just downed three cups in a row than being any comment on the tea.

So! That's it. Tea is nice in all its many forms.

One item is now ticked off my guilt list. Next up: laundry pile. Watch out world, I'm on a roll...

Big thanks to Whittard for the tea samples and to Janine for being my tea-themed Christmas fairy.

teapigs tea tests

We were very excited to be asked by teapigs to test some of their teas. Their carefully packaged offerings are usually seen in higher-end tea shops & we have often wondered what some of their more exciting creations tasted like. When we review tea we usually get a whole box of each variety, and involve friends & family via a gathering of some kind or via Royal Mail to participate. As well as being lots of fun, this give us a cross section of views & palettes to base reviews on. Teapigs obviously do things a bit differently as they sent us just 2 tea bag samples of each variety. So we gave the job of writing the reviews to our most trusted tasters, Janine (Tea) and Barry (Brew). Here's what they thought....

The teapigs packaging is very quirky and fun and on opening each packet you are presented with a beautiful silk pyramid that contains all the tea leaves to make the brew. Its a beautiful thing. An object of quali-tea!

teapigs 'morning glory' tea everyday brew
On reading the instructions it says to allow at least 3 mins to brew. I made the tea in a mug, allowed 4 mins to brew and added milk once the teabag was out. The colour was just right a mid brown colour just as I like it. Its made of 3 varieties of tea, Assam, Ceylon and Rwandan. I've not had the Rwandan tea in a mix before and I have to say the mix is lovely. There is a mild malty taste, which gives it a lovely flavor without being over powering. I can imagine if you over brew this one it would be too strong for me, but 4 mins was just right. I would recommend this tea as an everyday brew if you like a taste to your tea.

teapigs 'chocolate flake' tea
Again I made the tea in a mug and allowed 4 mins to brew. I then decided to taste the tea without milk and it tasted nice this way. It was quite a delicate flavor at this strength so if you like your tea with milk every time it may be better to brew for longer (I will do for the 2nd tea bag). It is very refreshing without milk though so would probably buy this and drink it black for a change!
The second bag I allowed 6 mins to brew and added milk. The extra 2 mins made all the difference. The chocolate flavor comes through more and it is lovely with milk too. So depending on mood I'd drink this both with and without milk.

Sam's extra comment: Janine was really kind and sent me some of these teabags. I brewed one. Whilst the chocolate came though in the smell, and the taste was sweet & rounded, I was a bit disappointed.  I said so to my boyfriend. He said: "you wanted it to taste like you were drinking a cup of tea through a chocolate flake, didn't you?". As usual where I am concerned, he hit the nail on the head. This is a very nice chocolate-scented tea. For my daydream creation of a tea-mocha, I'm going to have to get creative with a pan and a whisk. I'll let you know how that goes.

teapigs 'peppermint' tea
I made the tea in a mug and allowed 3 mins to brew. I usually drink peppermint tea after dinner or if I have an upset tummy. This was very pleasant tasting tea. A good flavor of peppermint, a slight tang, not too much or bitter. I would recommend this tea to peppermint lovers. A lovely refreshing tonic of a tea if you fancy a brew without milk.

teapigs 'rooibos crème caramel' tea
Brew drinks rooibos tea all the time... but straight - no added flavoring or milk. So he tested this tea 1st. Now he wasn't so keen on it but thought it may be better with milk! I made this according to the instruction - 3 mins brewing time and added some milk once brewed. Much like the chocolate flake tea the taste is very delicate. I think if we had more tea bags I'd like to try it again with a longer brewing time to see if I could get a stronger taste or I'd like to have tried it without milk. I think the taste would come through more that way. So the jury is out on this one – best to give it a go for yourself!

teapigs 'tung ting oolong' tea
I made this according to the instruction (3 mins brewing) then tasted and popped the tea bag back in for a min or 2 for a fuller flavor - no milk required! I have to say it's a lovely brew. No bitter taste at all (which you can get with green tea especially if brewed for a while). If you don't have milk with your tea or fancy a brew without milk from time to time its very easy drinking. I would strongly recommend this one if you fancy something a bit different!

teapigs 'pure mao feng green' tea
Again I brewed the tea for about 3 mins then tasted it. This is a very nice delicate green tea... its not bitter like a lot of green teas. I then popped the tea bag back in and forgot about it for about a further 5 mins! Ooops! I found timing is of the essence as it did become too strong and a little bitter!. It is a lovely brew though if you follow the instructions and brew for 3 mins!

15% OFF*!!!

teapigs have offered 15% off* at www.teapigs.co.uk using the code BLOGGERS12 (*enter code at checkout. discount does not apply to gifts and cheeky deals as these are already discounted)

Hampstead Tea Tests

The folks over at Hampstead Tea were kind enough to send us a selection of their finest for us to sample. Overall, the teas were all of an excellent qualitea. A couple appealed to some testers' tastebuds more than others....

Hampstead Assam

A popular tea with all our reviewers. Strong and malty with a mellow flavour and no hint of bitterness.

3 reviewers rated this tea at 4/4
All said they would buy again

"Very nice – a mellow tea. Lovely with a drop of milk, made a good strong cup."
J9

"Really tasty & malty. Good follow-through taste, with or without milk"
Mike

"A good, flavourful Assam – this is a really great cup"
Sam

Hampstead White Tea

This tea split our reviews – it’s delicate and light. Fans of green tea will probably enjoy a cup.

Most people rated the tea highly and would buy again, with one dissenter.

"Very nice and smooth with no bitter aftertaste."
Cathy R

"It’s very light – almost too light."
Adam W

"I don’t seem to like white teas – just tastes like a bitter, pale green tea to me."
Sam

Hampstead Rosehip

Another tea which split our reviews. Those who enjoyed herbal or fruit teas really loved it. Others just couldn’t see what all the fuss was about.

The people who liked it gave it full points & would buy again, the others said 'no way!'.

"Quite fruity and has a refreshing depth of flavour (I left the teabag in for maximum steepage").
Sam

"Lovely refreshing fruity flavour"
J Whelan

"Bleurgh!"
Richard

Hampstead Darjeeling

Overall this was the reviewers’ second favourite tea. Darjeeling’s got less punch than our favourite (the Assam) but it’s still tasty – reviewers described it as refreshing, smooth and lovely.

People rated this tea highly overall, and most would buy again.

"Doesn’t taste of the Himalayas nor does it remind me of the B class of the DHR but it is refreshing and I would drink it again."
Richard

"This has a lovely delicate flavour."
J Whelan

"Very light, delicate taste. Good without milk. Smooth, easy to drink."
J9

"I’m not normally a fan of darjeling tea, t’s often a bit insipid. This one is more robust, it can take a bit of milk & still has a reasonable flavour. Makes a nice cuppa."
Sam

Hampstead Oolong & Elderflower Iced Tea

Another tea which scored well with our testers. It’s a grown up elderflower cordial with a tea-y aftertaste which would suit genteel summer picnics.

Most people enjoyed this & would consider buying it again.

"I mainly go for hot drinks, so I’m unsure if I would buy this. But it had a very nice taste and served cold it is very refreshing."
J9

"I really enjoyed this – adding the tea to the sweet elderflowers gave it a bit of body and nice contrast. It’s a very elegant drink, would be good for a genteel picnic."
Sam

Hampstead Ginger Green Tea

You’ll either love or hate this one – it split our tasters right down the middle. Some thought it smooth, refreshing and easy to drink. Others labelled it as bitter and were under whelmed by the ginger content. You’ll have to try it yourself to decide if it’s for you!

"Meh. I’d rather drink Crabbies ginger beer."
Richard

"Nice ginger smell but couldn’t taste it. Bitter aftertaste."
Cathy R

"Very light but with a ginger taste, refreshing. Very easy to drink – light tasting and not bitter like many green teas can be."
Barry & J9

"I enjoyed this – I was careful to not let the tea over-steep (as I find that green tea can go bitter if you stew it too long). I usually think of ginger as an autumn flavour but this was refreshing and surprisingly enjoyable on a warm summer day."
Sam

Hotel Chocolat Review

When teaandcake got offered some free Hotel Chocolat goodies to review, there was only ever going to be one answer to the question of ‘what would you like’. ANYTHING AT ALL as it all looks divine.

Here’s what the nice folks sent us.

Peepster Box – White Adventure

£14.50 for 4 bars
This multi-pack comes in luxurious packaging – thick, glossy cardboard with a neat silky cord carrying handle (the handle is very pretty, but we’re not sure it’s terribly recyclable). Each bar comes wrapped in a plasticy cellophane – a bit cheap looking but it does showcase the pretty swirls and top-quality finishing touches on the chocolate bars.

The first thing to say about Hotel Chocolat’s products is that the bars are shaped like small slices of toast, or ingots. They seem precious and at the same time happily domestic and informal. We like them.

You probably wouldn’t get something this well packaged just for personal consumption whilst Eastenders is on. It’s a gift pack from heaven for your favourite chocoholic.


Caramel Road
One solid, chunky bar – ½ caramel chocolate, ½ white chocolate. Caramel buttons, cinder toffee pieces and one little chunk of florantine.

What We Thought
Good chunks of caramel (not really like cinder toffee, but probably nicer overall) – they had just the right amount of resistance in the chewing texture

The caramelly chocolate was very nice – possibly one of our overall favourites of the day.

The white chocoalate was really nice – really creamy rather than sugary, and had a really nice texture as ir melted. It’s not too sweet for a white chocolate, very vanillar-y.

The caramel buttons nice, and the Florentine chunk was lovely (thought there was only one, making it look more decorative than deliberately part of the bar’s taste experience). We’d quite happily buy this one & take it home.


Strawberry Fusion
Two thinner slabs of chocolate – ½ white, ½ strawberry (real strawberries used in the flavouring).

What We Thought
The two halves of the bar are swirled together appealingly. It’s a very pretty effect. The strawberry half tastes like strawberry icecream or strawberry milkshake (a good quality strawberry icecream). It had a really good depth of strawberry flavour and a slightly grainier texture, due to the fruit used.

The white chocolate was as above – really lovely. The two halves complimented each other well.


Cookies Crème
One solid, thick bar of white chocolate. Generously peppered with small milk, dark and shortbread biscuit pieces.

What We Thought
First impression – it’s clearly inspired by Hersheys. That said, the chocolate is (as above) gorgeously smooth and creamy, with a good distribution of crunchy biscuitty bits. Lots of these escaped when the bar was broken into pieces, so this is one to probably eat over a plate, or you’d loose the cruncy spheres.

The textural combination is really great, but there is less of a flavour hit than the other bars – it’s your classic white chocolate with a different density. It’s more about ‘mouthfeel’ sensations than taste sensations.

Think a very high-class nestle’s crunch bar, or yorkie with biscuits, and you’re imagining this.

We might sound underimpressed, but it was our second favourite overall. It’s a classic combination done really well.


Classic White
Two thinner bars of white chocolate. No decorative touches, but patterened (looks a bit like it’s embossed with mini Union Jacks).

What We ThoughtReally tasty. As above, this is top quality white chocolate. It melts better for being a thinner bar. It’s smooth and luscious and unadulterated. there’s not much more to say.

If you like white chocolate, you’ll love this.


Our overall comments on the Hotel Chocolat Experience
We all agreed we couldn’t eat an entire bar (or even half a bar) in one sitting. Barry (a dark chocolate fan) found all chocolates in this pack too sweet - so you'll denfinately select to pick chocolates to suit your particular chocoholic.

All chocolates were quite rich – this is quality chocolate you have a bit of rather than pigging out on. You’d want it to last at this price – and it would. We thought that one bar would probably be about 4 portions.

This might be partly due to it being white chocolate, which feels sweeter and creamier than the bog standard milk chocolate we’re used to guzzling on the way home to stave off hunger cravings.

Our overall favourite was the caramel chocolate, but in fairness we happily sampled them all and what’s left will not be going to waste.

Thanks for the samples, Hotel Chocolat.

We’ll be drooling over the rest of your wares online and wondering what we should buy next. We were all left very curious as to what the rest of the Hotel Chocolat ranges tasted like, so you can count us as three customers who’ll be back soon.

Muffins!

Gosh, it's been a while since I've posted stuff here. That is not because I've not been baking, I should point out. I've been baking. Oh, yes. I've been doing my usual cake and whatnot, but also kicked off a sourdough starter and made a loaf from it; this is quite exciting and will take up a post all of its own, but for now I want to talk about muffins.

Y'see, I had a quiet weekend planned. I was going to go to a brunch event on Sunday organised by Culture Vultures, called (in it's shortened form) Platespinning. Held at Armley Mills it was a discussion about how to keep as many projects going for as long as you can without them all coming crashing down amongst your ears. Sounds like fun, so I signed up.

On Friday I got a message from the delightful Bake Lady asking if I wouldn't mind doing some muffins for the event, for various reasons. The main catering was being done by Fish&, so I didn't mind pitching in. And, yanno, I like baking.

So I made three batches of muffins (actually four, but that was because one batch was so good I didn't get to try any of them!): some Raspberry & White Chocolate, something I made up on the spur of the moment, Bakewell, and something else I made up on the spot, Carrot & Ginger.



The raspberry & white choc ones are a staple repertoire muffin - I make them a *lot* - but they're delightful. If you use chunks of chocolate instead of drops they're even better, but sometimes it's just easier to open a bag of drops and pour them into the bowl.

Recipe
Oven to GM5, or 190°C-ish. Use a muffin tin, line with muffin cases (that fit!) and this will make 12 muffins.

Ingredients are; 250g self-raising flour, 200g caster sugar, 100g white chocolate drops, 150g frozen raspberries (or fresh, but they're out of season at time of writing and frozen are perfectly acceptable), 2 medium eggs, 100g milk and 100g sunflower oil.

Note: yes, that's 100g there on the liquids. 100g milk is 100ml of milk, but 100g of oil (because it's less dense) is 125ml of oil. I like to use digital scales for weighing stuff out and because I can't be bothered trying to read those tiny, raised numbers on plastic jugs I'll just read the scales.

First, in a jug, whisk together the eggs, milk and oil. Next, in a bowl put together all the dry ingredients and mix well. Add the raspberries and mix them in too. Then add the liquid, pour it all in and with a metal spoon fold the liquid into the flour until just mixed. Don't worry about lumps, and don't over mix otherwise the muffin will go chewy and the razzies will break up too much. Just get the flour combined, and you'll be fine.

Pour into the cases, put in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes, or until golden on top and not wobbly if you tap the tin. DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN FOR AT LEAST 15 MINUTES. Really, don't, they'll collapse and be awful.

Easy peasy!



The other two follow the same basic principles but use slightly different ingredients. Let's do the bakewells first.

Same oven, muffin tin and liquid rules as before (ie, 100g milk, 100g oil, 2 eggs). In a bowl mix 150g self-raising, a half-teaspoon of baking powder, 100g ground almonds, 175g caster sugar. Add a big handful of frozen cherries (cf what I said about razzies above) and mix as before. After putting the mix in the cases dab a half-teaspoon of cherry jam on top, and then top with some flaked almonds. Bake as before.

The carrot & ginger ones are just as simple. Same liquids, and the dry ingredients are 250g self-raising, 150g caster sugar, 1tsp ground ginger, 100g grated carrots (from the bag in my fridge that's about two medium carrots, peeled, topped & tailed) and 50g mixed dried fruit, and four chunks of stem ginger that have been finely diced. Add a couple of tablespoons of the syrup from the stem ginger to the oil/milk mix. Bake as before.

See? Muffins are easy, and coming up with ideas for them are, if you follow the right basic guidelines, almost as simple.

Anyway: in addition to my muffins were some superb examples from Lynn (some chocolate chip ones, and a batch of apple & cinnamon) and the food done by Andrew & Debs was excellent: kedgeree, smoked salmon blinis and sausage-in-a-bun. Top marks all round, I think!

And the event was enormous fun, with conversations from the Queen of the UK Supper Club Scene amongst many other plate-spinning luminaries, artists and clever people. My photos from the event are on Flickr; I had fun, and I hope everybody else did too. (And that they liked my muffins!)

Rhubarb & Egg Custard tarts

You know how I have a bad recipe book habit? I bought a copy of Peyton and Byrne.

Don't get me wrong; this is a lovely book. Great photos, clear text, sensible design. But I wonder about the recipes; Peyton & Byrne has a recipe for egg custards that I looked at and thought "what?" as it required 2 whole eggs, 4 yolks, and only 60ml of cream. No, no, no. It'll make the custard very eggy and have a strange, bouncy texture. Way too much egg to cream. A proper egg custard is one of the prerequisites for a good recipe book but I couldn't imagine this working tremendously well. Still, there's no reason why I couldn't tweak the recipe a little...

So I doubled the cream with the same amount of egg. So far, so normal; but I'd had a thought about some rhubarb that I'd bought that morning. A blob of stewed rhubarb in the bottom of an egg custard. Could that work? Rhubarb and custard is a time-honoured traditional dish, of course.

Next I made some ginger shortcrust; normal 2:1 shortcrust with a teaspoon of ginger added to it, and (after chilling) rolled out on icing sugar for (i) crispness and (ii) a tiny touch of sweetness.

For pastry novices; two parts flour (200g) to one part butter (100g). Rub together to a sandy texture, no big lumps, then sprinkle a tablespoon of water over it and mix in using a flat, rounded knife. Add a bit more water and carry on mixing, and it'll come together in a soft ball; overdo the water and it'll turn to mush, underdo and it'll be too stiff. Wrap in cling, fridge for 30 minutes, then roll out to desired thickness; in this case, 2mm thick, and cut into 10 circles to fit my (buttered) muffin tin.

Into the muffin tin, into the oven for blind baking, there we are.

Except everybody has an off day. It didn't work, for two reasons: I didn't fill the shells with baking beans/rice whatever and I didn't chill the pastry before putting it in the oven. I could have got away with either, but not both; in the end my pastry shells started sliding down the sides of the tins like Nora Batty's tights, and ended up looking very flat, wrinkled and sad.

After a tiny amount of swearing I redid the pastry and using fairy cake cakes as liners inside the tart shells I filled them with rice to support the structure. This time it worked; 15 minutes at GM4 and the shells had picked up some colour. Picked out the rice, filled with custard, blobbed in a teaspoon of stewed rhubarb with honey, and BAM; ended up with these little bundles of joy:



These are so good. Faint ginger notes, crisp pastry, zingy rhubarb and slightly bouncy custard. Bloody lovely stuff. Made ten, there were five left when we went to bed, I expect there will be two left by the time I get home tonight. The thing to note here is: pastry is capricious, but simple enough so that if you cock it up you can re-do it without too much faff. And making pastry interesting is not difficult.

I'd better write an article on pastry, I suppose; it isn't as scary as people so often think, but at the same time you need to treat it with respect.

Also, the book has some great looking recipes in that I have no doubt will work superbly. And - oh, such an important point - it is all about British Baking. There is much to be said for proper patisserie, but I think there is much to be said for picking a Chelsea bun over a Danish.

Minor edit to add: the non-rhubarb egg custards look like this:


Interesting bubble structure and this doesn't have the sense of fragility that a great egg custard often has. But it is still very, very tasty.

Talking about Cake (again)

In other news, my cake talk to the WI is available!
Cake talk to WI by nalsa

I had *enormous* fun doing it.

Review: Hotel Chocolat "Your Eggselency" Easter egg

Full disclosure: I was sent an egg by Hotel Chocolat via Beth from Jam & Cream PR, in exchange for a review. One thing I learned during writing this review is that if you type the word "egg" often enough it ceases to look like a real word. "Chocolate", however, always remains real.

When I was a kid the most important thing about Easter was the chocolate. Quantity was far more important than quality, and with care I could get it to last until Whitsun, although this was entirely down to getting a mountain of cheap eggs from many different relatives. But, as a kid the only eggs that were generally available were ones that these days are two for a fiver in the cheap supermarket of your choice. Thornton's might have done eggs, but they were far too expensive for the likes of us.

As an adult I don't have hordes of family members giving me Easter eggs any more. Thank goodness; the chocolate on your average egg is often only distinguishable from grouting by the colour, is as thin as cardboard and contains the tiniest of sample packs of chocolate bars you could get every day in the newsagent. But these days there is an alternative; boutique chocolatiers have been springing up and the one that seems to have become most widespread is Hotel Chocolat.

Now, I like Hotel Choc stuff, as a rule. The chocolate is great quality and the fillings are fun and flavoursome. I've been getting TCTC boxes for about five years now, but not really thought about getting an egg; these days I don't go through chocolate as much as when I was a lad and keeping chocolate through to Whit is less of a priority. But! An egg! Can I feel like that kid again?

So, a sucker for a bad pun, I opened up "Your Eggselency"; first impressions were

• this feels heavy
  
• ooh! silver paper
  
• where's the stuff?
  

Because eggs contain stuff, don't they? These days the stuff is rarely inside the egg, it's in vacformed plastic holders hidden beneath the egg. Not in this egg, though. Inside each silver foil-wrapped half were tissue-wrapped five miniature eggs, each with a different filling. I shall come to them in a second.




No, the first thing is the chocolate. This is thick chocolate, and it's so thick that it is quite hard to break through; no bad thing, in my opinion. Each half-egg is a different chocolate, one milk, the other dark and so in Chez Nous this saves arguments; the Lady of the House prefers milk, and I'm fine with either but like the complexity of dark. And so to the taste; this is quality chocolate, the milk rich and sweet and with perfect melt-in-the-mouth consistency, the dark slightly bitter and complex with a faint lemony tone to it. They both taste of chocolate (unlike cheap eggs which tastes of slightly rancid sweetened fat). It smells right, it sounds and feels right when you do manage to snap it, but above all it tastes like chocolate ought to taste.



If I have one complaint it is of the texture of the dark chocolate; it is ever so slightly gritty at the start of the taste, like there is too much cocoa in it (if you can have such a thing). I've been making chocolates with some 80% Callebaut recently and it feels a bit like that in the mouth; don't get be wrong, this is exceptional chocolate, but sometimes the higher percentage ones can do that.

No complaints about the milk, though; I barely got a look-in. I like Hotel Choc's lower sugar, higher percentage milk chocolate bars and would love to see an egg made from that, but in the meantime this is some tasty chocolate to be getting on with.



As to the miniature filled eggs; these are truffles in a crisp shell, and enormous compared to normal truffles! Five flavours with varying degrees of success; some of them tasted just like alcohol with little to make it stand out from the rest (still tasty, mind you). But the orange and vanilla was sublime and could stand on its own merits. A box of them would certainly keep me going 'til Whit. Well, maybe.

But, this egg is not cheap; you get what you pay for, of course, but this is not an egg aimed at children. There is an interesting nostalgia thing here, where the target audience are people like me who enjoyed easter eggs as a kid and then grew up into an adult with a little disposable income and a hankering for the joy of being a child again. I'm a big fan of this sort of thing and it is with no small measure of enjoyment that for a moment, I felt like that kid again.

Clandestine Cake & Buns and Roses

You know that life has taken an odd turn when you find yourself in front of an organisation known for home baking (as well as jam, crafting, nude calendars and a quietly social, lefty agenda) about cake.

Before that, though, I had to run the gauntlet that is the Clandestine Cake Club. My word; the biggest yet, we had at least 16 cakes and about 36 people turn up to pack out Primo's in the Corn Exchange. Theme was savoury and "saucy sweet" so I eschewed savoury and came along with a new cake of my own invention; apple and fennel seed crumble cake with toffee sauce. The apple cake was one thing (standard cake mix + 2 chopped apples + crushed fennel seeds + crumble topping sprinkled on before going in the oven); the toffee sauce was a joy of melted butter, cream, milk, sugar, vanilla and lemon zest that I brought along in a jar and warmed through as we were setting up.

The cakes we had were of the usual great home baking quality. Of the savoury cakes my favourite was a basil & parmesan loaf cake that tasted like pesto; brilliant stuff (I had two half-slices). The sweet cakes were great, with a sachertorte and the instantly recognisable Raymond Blanc's lemon tea loaf making an appearance. We had a couple of fruit loaves that were lovely and an apple and cheddar cake that was intriguing, and an interesting marmite and chocolate cake that seemed to polarise opinion. A chocolate and aubergine torte was fun (and not at all auberginey), and the last cake I was capable of trying was an apple & maple syrup cake made with olive oil; lovely, rich and it finished me off.

After much tea I gathered together a small group who were being as nuts as I was and attending both events, and we wandered up to Buns & Roses.

Ok, so B&R isn't your stereotypical WI; the average age sems to be "early thirtysomething", tattoos and interesting piercings are common enough to be almost de rigeur, and these guys go through great amounts of booze, but it is still the organisation that kept the tradition of home baking alove as much as it were able in the age of convenience food and supermarkets. If there is one group of people in less need of a lecture about cake it would be a bunch of artisan patissiers.

My talk kicked off as it has done for a while, by referencing Allie Brosh, and then it was off; from neolithic lake villages in Switzerland, taking in classical civilisations, etymology, middle ages, Chaucer, Alfred Bird, hippies, Belle Lowe (and swearing about Ferran Adria), Lemon Curd and Caramel, personal philosophy, SCIENCE and the future, and how important it is to experiment once you've got the basics down pat. I ended up talking for at least 90 minutes, probably a bit longer (certainly longer than the minidisc recorder was capable of - 75 minutes - which I'm a little annoyed at as I was hoping to podcast it). Marie Antoinette was mentioned, because it's probably her fault that croissants are the universal breakfast item they are today instead of an extinct pastry from a Viennoise baker.

People asked questions. I attempted to answer them.

Links, then:

• Allie Brosh (again)
  
• Tea & Cake and the associated blog, Teas & Cakes (soon to be incorporated into the main website)
  
• My basic cake recipe and some of the wittering alongside it is also on T&C (but not the science, and not my "for the love of whatever deity you hold dear, don't open the oven door every ten minutes" shouting.)
  
• The science comes from a combination of my own experimentation, Belle Lowe and Harold McGee. History partially from Nicola Humble and Andrew Dalby.
  
• Caramel comes from my blog post about Millionaire's Shortbread; to make caramel sweeties boil the mixture for maybe another three minutes - to the soft crack stage - and add half a teaspoon of sea salt. Leave to cool on a lined baking tray - don't leave it longer than an hour or so, otherwise it'll start to absorb atmospheric moisture and go gooey again - then cut into squares and dip in chocolate.
  
• The Lemon & Poppyseed cake (including a "I dropped it" story I'd forgotten to tell, with is a shame because I do pathos really well) is also on the blog.
  
• Bakewell slices are also on the blog.
  
• The Tea Loaf recipe; blog.
  
• Lemon curd is not on the blog:
  
  

  Whisk together 3 eggs, 100g sugar, 3tbsp honey, then zest and juice 3 lemons and whisk thm in too, so it's a nice smooth mixture. Melt 75g butter to foaming in a heavy bottomed saucepan, pour over the whisked together eggs & juice, and stir until well combined. Pour back into the pan and stir over a gentle heat until it thickens, which happens very suddenly. Don't overcook, or it turns into scrambled eggs. Makes enough for a 1lb jamjar. Takes longer to measure out the ingredients than it does to cook.

  
  
• I think that's it.
  

Particular highlights: mentioning Alf Bird inventing a culinary industry by accident because he wanted his wife to be able to enjoy custard and bread, despite being allergic to eggs and yeast, raised an "aww!" from the audience. Someone coming up to me at the end and offering cake to try (great texture and good ganache topping). Being informed that I'd forgotten the most important part of cake making; licking the bowl. Someone audibly slapping their forehead when I was talking about caramels.

I hope that I wasn't patronising, accidentally sexist or offensive, and that everybody took something away with them that was useful. I had a whale of a time talking to the WI, and am grateful for the opportunity to do so.

Next Leeds Clandestine Cake is on April 14th at Harvey Nicks. This one promises to be something else.

T&C goes to B&R

Hello!

This is just a quick note to mention that I'll be talking at Buns & Roses on Thursday 17th March.

Buns & Roses is also known as "Leeds City WI". Let me make this clear, because it's freaking me out a little: I shall be talking to the Women's Institute about Cake, and if there are a body of people who know cake, these are them. So: a wodge of history, some science, some philosophising, and at least one disaster. Maybe some decorating, but only a little bit. For a change I'm not constrained by a 5 or 20 minute time slot, so I can expand a bit, talk slightly less manically (yeah, that might not happen) and go into the two main digressions I never have time to do; Caramel, and Lemon Curd.

Come along! All welcome; free for the WI, £3 for non members. Details of location & other relevant contact info are on the B&R website.

(If you've not seen it before, the somewhat manic, five minute version of this talk is here on Youtube)

Pancake day!

Gosh, pancake day has come upon us again! It seems to turn up with alarming regularity these days, which is probably another sign that I'm getting older. Anyway, my impeding decrepitude is not the point of this particular blog entry.

The point of shrove tuesday is that we use up the rich, expensive and perishable ingredients we have kicking about the place, and no matter how glossy your pancake recipe is, the point is that it should be all about the fillings, not the pancakes themselves. Which doesn't mean to say that you can't have a great pancake recipe, of course, but to be a bit more adventurous with the fillings.

Pancakes themselves are a bit like historical cake; early forms of the usual types of cake were basically griddled blobs of flour & egg, and scotch pancakes (or drop scones, basically the same thing) were just thicker versions that could be carried and stored for slightly longer. Regular pancakes make a great transport mechanism for other foodstuffs, a little bit like a warm, comforting sandwich only without the faff of making bread. As a qucik snack, there's nothing finer.

Proper crepe are thin and light, but fragile and you need to be sure of your pan and flipping skills; perhaps better to think about is the classic British pancake, slightly thicker than a crepe but not as thick as the American buttermilk pancake or drop scones. Thickness of pancake is all about the mixture you use - a runnier mix makes a thinner pancake - so perhaps it's worth thinking about the recipe.

You need: plain flour, eggs, milk and salt. I rarely measure out my ingredients for pancakes, preferring to judge the texture by feel, but let's start with about 100g flour in a bowl with a pinch of salt. Make a well and crack an egg into it. Start whisking the two together and slowly add milk, a glug at a time and whisking until smooth, until it reaches the consistency of double cream. It normally works out at 250ml milk to 1 egg + 100g flour, but use your best judgement; add more flour or more milk if you feel it is necessary. Then leave it alone for an hour.

Next, it's all about the pan. Heavy is the watchword here; it needs to be a substantial pan, and if it's nonstick the surface has to be smooth, without scoring. Melt some butter in the pan over a medium heat, and then pour it into the batter, whisking as you go. Take some kitchen towel and gently wipe the surface and then put the pan back on the heat before pouring in the batter; think about rolling the batter around the pan, and leaving enough room for a spatula to get under to flip it, so in an 8" pan stop pouring batter when you have a circle 4" in diameter in the centre of the pan. Roll it around so it covers the surface, and then leave on the heat until the top surface is cooked and little bubbles are forming; then flip it with a spatula. Don't toss it, especially if you've been drinking, unless you don't mind picking bits of pancake off the light fittings.

As for fillings, then think about the rich food that would have been given up for lent, a period of fasting. I like to make a good tomato sauce and sprinkle it with cheese after filling pancakes with it, or some creamy garlic mushrooms with parsley and nutmeg. You might like to think about meaty fillings, or making cannolini, baking spinach and ricotta filled pancakes in a creamy bechemel before serving (pancakes make a great alternative to sheets of pasta - even lasagne can be made with them). Sweets? Lemon & sugar is the classic but I can't imagine how it started, as these aren't necessarily rich fillings to have prior to fasting. Still, it's very tasty. Try something different, though: beat the juice and zest of a lime into 250g mascarpone with about 50g caster sugar, perhaps? Or make a hot marmalade and cointeau sauce and serve with ice cream. Caramelised apple slices, nutella and cream cheese, nuts and jams and all sorts of things of that nature all lend themselves to pancakes beautifully, so experiment with what you have stashed away in the cupboards or fridge.

And tomorrow? Go for a run :)

Make time for tea!

March is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month! Have a tea party for a good cause! You can hold your tea party at home, school, work or at your local club. When you register, you'll receive a free fundraising pack with ideas, tasty recipes from celebrity supporters and lots of tips and advice.

Win afternoon tea with GMTV presenter Lorraine Kelly! Tea party organisers will also be in with a chance to win afternoon tea with GMTV presenter Lorraine Kelly!

To receive your free Make Time for Tea fundraising pack with everything you need to get you started, call 0207 299 4430, alternatively you can email tea@eveappeal.org.uk. For more info follow this link http://www.eveappeal.org.uk/maketimefortea

Bakewell bars

Last night I felt the need to bake so I made some bakewell bars. These can be a bit tricky, but the results are bloody lovely. You basically make a sort-of shortbread base, cover it in jam, then make some frangipane and bake it until it's properly cooked. But if you undercook it, or even open the oven door before the frangipane is cooked it will never set properly and you're effectively stuffed. Recipe for those who want it:

Base: 3oz butter, 1oz caster, creamed. Add an egg yolk, a teaspoon of vanilla, and mix well. Then squeeze in 6oz plain flour. Beat it until it forms a dough - it will all go, I can assure you. Do not be tempted to add any liquid. Roll this out to fit a deep 8" square tin that's been lined with baking parchment, then squeeze it in so it goes right up to the edges of the tin (and if you leave dimples in the dough there's more room for pockets of jam). Cover this in jam and put in the fridge. Turn the oven on to GM4.
Frangipane: 3oz butter, melted and left to cool (but not cool solid). Beat in two eggs. Then add 3oz caster, 3oz semolina and 4oz ground almonds, and mix until very well combined. Leave for a couple of minutes and it should start to set a little. Blob this onto the jam layer and join it all up with the back of a spoon if it's not runny enough to join up together by itself. Bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown^*. Leave to cool in the tin and slice into 3x4 bars. You can drizzle almond icing over the top if you like.

* DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN DOOR TO CHECK IF YOU CAN AVOID IT. Really, in my oven it's 45 minutes at a minimum (fan assists might be able to get away with 35) but if you open the door too early and the middle isn't cooked it will collapse and nothing you can do will save it.

Results: delicious, and look like this:


Bloody nom.

Cake Inventing

Sometimes I need to keep track of my thought processes when making cake. Or inventing it. You see, I can't always work out how I get from A to C and on more than one occasion I start off thinking that I want to make one thing and end up making something totally different. This happened on Sunday when I started off wanting to make marmalade and ended up making a tea loaf.

What happened was this:

• I was sat thinking "I want to make some marmalade, but have no seville oranges. Where will have some oranges? Twitter will tell me."
  
• So I went on twitter and asked. While I was waiting for a response I looked up "marmalade recipes" on Google. This took me half an hour.
  
• Ah, I got a response on twitter. Leeds Markets have some! Great, I thought. Then I realised it was Sunday. Markets closed on Sunday.
  
• That's ok, though, because what I really want is a cup of tea.
  
• Oh! Tea bread, that's an idea. Is it tea bread or tea loaf? Hm. Best google that.
  
• This took me half an hour.
  
• All the recipes said "soak your fruit overnight in tea." Bugger, thought I, because it was Sunday and I can't make cake on Monday because of that pesky work thing.
  
• Then I saw a thing for "boiled fruit cake" which said that this would be the easiest christmas cake ever. I don't like christmas cake but thought the principles would still apply.
  
• So I came up with this:
  
  
  
  • 225g dried fruit, whatever you have in the cupboard. Apricots, mixed dried, currants, sultanas, what the hell there's some glace cherries that I'll never use that can make up the weight.
    
  • 300ml black tea, strong as you like, earl grey, tetleys, twinings, whatever you've got.
    
  • 200g soft brown sugar. Or white sugar. Or probably honey. I know I've got 200g of "sweet" in the cupboard.
    
  
  
• put all these in a pan, bring to the boil, leave to boil for about 3 minutes, then turn off the heat and go & have a shower, or a nap, or read a book. Watch some Simpsons, maybe.
  
  
  
  • Then crack an egg into the cold mixture and stir it in.
    
  • Then throw in, say, 250g self-raising flour.
    
  • Some mixed spice would be nice. There we are. About 2 teaspoons.
    
  • That lemon looks a bit sad. Tell you what, let's zest that into it.
    
  
  
• Stir it so it's all well mixed, then pour into a lined 2lb loaf tin.
  
• Bake at GM3, or whatever the metric equivalent may be, for about an hour and a quarter. Don't open the oven door until at least 1hr is up.
  
• If the top looks a bit singed, stick some baking parchment on it.
  
• Stick a cocktail stick in it and if it comes out clean, it's done.
  
• Tip it out, remove the lining, and leave it to cool completely before breaking into it.
  

Results:


It's bloody lovely.

eta: I should perhaps point out that the little postcard that I wrote out my recipe on reads:

225g fruit, 200g SBS, 300g tea. Boil 3m. Cool.
1e, 2tsp GMS, 250g SRF.
GM3 75m.

Yeah, I know.

PARKIN!

Mike recently said "it's Cinder Toffee Season!". I disagree. It's Parkin Season.

I don't know if there is some regional variance going on in our seasonal baking habits, but I'm a solidly Yorkshire lass and Parkin is so associated with Bonfire night for me that one wouldn't be right without the other.

This recipe is unashamedly descended from Jill Metcalfe's, which I found on the Internet in circa 1999 and have used since, as it tastes just like the cake I ate on bonfire nights throughout my youth.

There are two things I must say about Parkin.

1. Parkin MUST contain oat bran. Any parkin without this isn't right and has probably been made by a non-native (ie someone from outside of Yorkshire who doesn't really understand what they are doing when it comes to Parkin), or a chain bakery who are using bonfire night as an excuse to sell overly-sweet plain ole' ginger cake. The oat bran gives this cake a unique nutty, crumbly texture - it's quite dense without being stodgy or dry, and is just the thing to keep you going on cold nights.

2. Parkin MUST be made AT LEAST one week before you want to eat it. You take it out of the oven, let it cool, wrap it up and leave it well alone (no matter how nice it tastes) for at least a week. This improves the flavour - it gets more complex and rich. I once met someone who said 'I don't make my Parkin a week ahead, I put so much black treacle in it doesn't matter!*". I tasted some of that cake - and whilst it was very nice, it didn't taste like Parkin, it tasted like Liquorice. Which is nice, but not what we are after. If you don't believe me, make 2 batches a week apart and eat them on the same day. You'll see what I mean.

The Parkin Recipe

200g self-raising flour
200g oatmeal (bigger supermarkets sell this, it's usually near porridge oats)
100g treacle
100g golden syrup (you can vary the ratio of syrup and ginger or even do 200g of one without the other if you wish- follow your taste buds here)
100g margarine or butter
125 ml milk
2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp ground ginger


Warm the treacle/syrup gently with the butter and milk.

Stir in the dry ingredients.

Pour into a square greased tin (a square one of about 20 cm should be about right) and bake at 160° C (325° F / Gas 3) on the middle shelf for about 1 hour (a skewer inserted into the middle should come out clean).

Leave the cake to cool, wrap up well in an airtight container and leave for one week before eating to let the flavour develop.

EDIT: I later recalled 2 variation on your basic Parkin which I consider wrth sharing.
1. Tina Sparkle (the lady behind the Dutch Bonfire Cake who can, by the way, be found here) reccomends substituting some of the golden syrup with half a jar of ginger jam. Sticky heaven.
2. I have been known to swap 25g of the flour for cocoa powder to create Chocolate Parkin. It is quite a popular addition.


*This cake did not contain oat bran and was made by a non-native. I rest my case.

"I'm going to talk about cake..."

A couple of months ago I did a talk at Bettakultcha, an open public lecture series that gives you five minutes to talk about something you're passionate about. That talk is on Youtube, so it would be remiss of me not to put it on T&C!



I'm doing a longer version of this talk in Sheffield on Nov 13th.