Parallel Lines

Dear Readers,

I am amazed / awed / thrilled to discover that I do not blog and yet still you read! Many thanks for that. I am going to try and set myself a five day project, today being day one. It will be a somewhat costly project but one I will attempt to adhere to nonetheless. I intend to bake once a day for the next five days. That means Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. (Those of you who grew up in the 80s might note the similarity that sentence holds to Sinitta's 'Toy Boy' - except that whilst aforementioned pop starlet was going out on dates every night, I will be getting flustered in the kitchen  with the baking powder and wooden spoons.) Anyway, that is my intention but, as I so frequently tell my students, 'the best laid schemes of mice and men gang aft agley' so we'll see how it all turns out...

But enough of this chattering! Today I have been experimenting with Dan Lepard's 'Short and Sweet' recipe book. I am not much of a banana eater unless the fruit features in a cake, but when faced with some over-ripe bananas today I didn't want to resort to the usual fail-safe banana and chocolate cake and so looked to Dan Lepard for the answer. And, Dear Reader, indeed he held that answer!

Dan Lepard's recipe says that "if Carmen Miranda ever wondered what to do when her bananas ripened, she should have got some of her personal stash of baking powder out ( I hear she'd hide it in the heel of her shoes) and made these." Well, I'm not beginning to compare myself to Carmen Miranda (although I have been known to wonder around with a fruit hat) but I was wondering what to do with my over-ripened bananas and I do have a very lovely pot of baking powder so I thought I was all set to make these little wonders.

The recipe is slightly more complicated than I initially thought because to begin with you have to make BRAZIL NUT TOFFEE! Yes! Actual home-made toffee with brazil nuts. In all my baking adventures I have never experimented with HOT SUGAR until today and it was mighty exciting.

Put 75 g caster sugar in a pan with two tablespoons of cold water and heat it to the boil!

(I took photos of the process so that if, like me, you too are a novice at sugar-boiling hopefully you won't get too scared.)

Dan Lepard says to wait til it turns a 'reddish-golden caramel' and then take it off the boil. I sort of had to guess what the colour was but I guessed that it meant this colour:

and the smell coming from the pan seemed to confirm my belief. Have 75g of roughly chopped brazil nuts ready and stir them into the toffee immediately.

TIP: Work very quickly!! The toffee sets faster than you can imagine and I soon realised I needed to up my speed if I was going to get the toffee out of the pan and onto the pre-prepared baking tray with a sheet of baking parchment. Spread the mixture out and wait for it to go cold. When it's cold, cut it up into small bits and try to resist the temptation to eat it all like sweets and try to save it for your actual tray-bake.

I have to say the BRAZIL NUT TOFFEE was a BIG hit with my SIBF who enjoyed it very much.Thinking about it, if you were super-organised you could have this made in advance and stored in your cupboard for a rainy day.

Next, make the blondies! This is the easy bit. Heat the oven to 190/170 fan and line your brownie tray with foil. Melt 100g unsalted butter with 200g white chocolate over a low heat.

Add it to a bowl and beat in 225g sugar, two teaspoons vanilla extract, 2 ripe bananas peeled and chopped, and one free range egg.

Then sift 225g plain flour with a quarter teaspoon of baking powder into the bowl and fold it in along with the (remaining) BRAZIL NUT TOFFEE.

Scrape the mixture into your brownie tin and bake in the pre-heated oven for 35minutes.

I baked it on the middle shelf and thirty-five minutes was spot on for my fan assisted oven.

Unfortunately, you have to hold off eating them straightaway as Dan Lepard said they needed to be stone cold before cutting...but I would be lying if I told you I managed to wait until they were stone cold...they were just too tempting.

The brazil nut toffee provides a wonderful contrast to the squidy smooth white chocolate cake and the whole blondie is infused with the taste and scent of bananas. In a better way than that sounds. To sum up in the words of the SIBF: "I have to step away from the blondie!"

Best served next to the record player with a healthy dose of 'Parallel Lines'. (Beats Sinitta any day of the week.)

Love and other demons,
Silver Whimsy x

PS You can find Dan Lepard's original recipe here: Banana Blondies 

Life is one hell of a rocky road, so you may as well eat chocolate...

Q: What does a Hampstead Baker do when the oven is broken?

A: Experiment with the creation of Rocky Road. 

I have long been fascinated by the slabs of chocolatey biscuit treats you often see in the front counters of cafes country-wide. I think this fascination stems from a cafe I frequented during my university years (whose name I forget and extensive googling for which does not locate) which had the widest array of every type of biscuity-slab you might ever possibly find in their window. This being the case, I am surprised to find myself saying I have never until this day attempted to make any of these things. Possibly because they are ubiquitous and why should one attempt to make something so readily available, but probably because no baking is necessary and wherefore art one a Hampstead Baker if one is merely melting and refrigerating? This being said, my oven is broken and so I find myself in the melting and refrigerating stage of sweet-treat making and I must say it is an unexpectedly satisfying activity.

Be warned! Rocky Road is not a cheap creation and the more money you put into the chocolate you use, the better and more delicious your product will be...

 

You will need: 400g best quality dark chocolate (green and blacks is the best really, let's face it)

100 g mini marshmallows or full sized ones cut in quarters

200g rich tea biscuits 

3 tablespoons golden syrup

125g unsalted butter + about 20g more

Buying the ingredients for this recipe is fun as you look pretty much like either someone throwing a child's birthday party or a really useless contestant on Ready Steady Cook.

You do NOT need an oven, but you DO need a hob and a refrigerator.

Crush your rich tea biscuits using a rolling pin. It's good to have a mixture of decent sized bitey bits and some crumbs for textural purposes. 

Check out my silver nail polish, dear Readers. (These details are important.)

Melt 300g of the chocolate with 125g butter and the golden syrup. Melt it slowly over a v low heat. The saucepan I used was too small - would have been much less messy in a bigger pan as you do all your mixing in the same pan.  Simultaneously, melt the other 100g chocolate with the 20g extra of unsalted butter and leave to cool - this will be poured onto the top of the Rocky Road to smooth over the surface. Rather like laying the tarmac over the rough road. (Clearly, I have experience in the art of road surfacing.)

Fold the biscuits and then the marshmallows using a spatula into the original melted chocolate mix (the one with golden syrup). The mixture won't look beautiful but more like the rocky road surface after which it is named! 

Scoop the mixture into a foil lined brownie tray and smooth the surface as much as you can. 

Then pour the extra melted chocolate all over the top allowing it to fill in all the ruts and ridges of your ridiculously rocky road. Pop it in the fridge and leave it to chill over night. 

The following day, cut your creation into small squares (you may need to dip your knife in boiling water to help you cut through the dense chocolate) and drench in icing sugar. Serve with strong, hot tea to very hungry/sugar craving individuals. It is incredibly rich and gooey and not really for the faint hearted. 

  Having made my first Rocky Road I am slightly taken aback by what a long process it is to make something so apparently effortless and simple. There may not be very much skill in melting chocolate and stirring in some biscuits, but an element of patience is required (along with foresight) seeing as these have to be made a day in advance to be enjoyed - or at the very least in the morning to be eaten in the afternoon. Equally, for something that manages to cost about a pound in the shops, making these choclate-bars/biscuits/*things* is not an exactly economically viable day to day activity BUT there is something pleasing about having made it from scratch rather than merely consuming it. 

 Definitely a recipe to keep hold of and bring out on those occasions where you need to be reminded that however rocky the road might seem, there is always chocolate around the corner...

 Love and biscuits,
Silver Whimsy x

A Rich Winter Blueberry, Peach or Plum and Almond Cake

Dear Readers,

It amazes me, but according to 'blogger stats' still you read every day in spite of my inability to post more than very sporadically. I do hope this means that the quality of my recipes ensures longevity in the blogging world. Anyway, 'tis an extraordinarily miserable day here in north west London, so what could be better than to fill the flat with the aromas of baking and the joy of cake.

You will need: 

2 x free range organic eggs

175g self raising flour

100g ground almonds

175g unsalted organic butter

175g golden caster sugar

1 x teaspoon orange zest

A few drops vanilla extract

100g blueberries

A punnet of plums or peaches 

Oven pre-heated to 170. 

You can replace the blueberries with raspberries or any other berry and you could use nectarines or a mixture of the stone-fruit in the recipe as you wish. I know these fruits aren't in season but sometimes you end up with a punnet of plums / a handful of nectarines that were an impulse purchase that never seem to ripen and this cake suits them perfectly. You can also use up out of date / past their best berries in this delicious, moist and almost crumbly cake. 

Line the base of a circular cake tin and butter the edges. Then mix the almonds and self raising flour together and put to one side. 

Cream the butter in the bowl and then cream together with the golden caster sugar until it is light and fluffy. I do everything by hand so this is quite exhausting as golden caster sugar is less refined and so takes more beating. Lightly beat the eggs in a bowl and beat into the mixture about a quarter at a time adding a tablespoon of flour if there are signs of the mixture curdling. 

Fold in the flour and almond mixture in thirds - the base is quite heavy so this takes some time. Be sure to fold in evenly across the butter and sugar mix. Grate the orange zest into the bowl and stir in along with a few drops of vanilla extract. Mix the fruits in evenly. This can be quite tricky as the mixture will be rather stiff by now. 

Scrape into your tin, smooth the surface down with a palette knife and bake for about an hour - you will need to keep testing as cooking times vary depending on the water content of the fruit. 

When ready, the cake should be golden brown on top and speckled with rich jewels from the fruit. You can eat this cake warm as more of a winter pudding with lashings of thick cream or vanilla ice cream, or alternatively sprinkle the top with a little more caster sugar, leave to cool and then serve with a proper cup of Yorkshire tea in the afternoon.  If making in the summer, I go for raspberries and blueberries leaving the stone fruits out of the picture altogether and smother the top in whipped cream with icing sugar and vanilla running through it and then lob loads more berries on top for a truly delicious summer spectacle. 

 YUM.
Future tea time treats coming soon.
Love til then, Silver Whimsy x

Whimsy and the City!

Dearest Readers, 

I have just returned from a city break in NYC! Whilst you are all aware my poison is (generally speaking) cake, I felt that I simply must take a break whilst on holiday and enter the alcoholic equivalent of baking: cocktails. As I explained to one exceptionally polite bartender, making a cocktail is rather like baking a cake:- if the ingredients are not in full proportion then the cake/drink won't taste quite right. Seeing as NYC is the ultimate cocktail-capital I felt it my duty to bring you tales of three secret cocktail bars where the drinks are up there with the finest of cakes...

1. PDT

Part of the thrill of the NYC cocktail scene is that each bar seems to come with either a secret entrance, a hidden door, or it's own speciality that enables it to stand out from the crowd. These are not your average British drinking spots, nor are they treated as such by the patrons. PDT (full name 'Please Don't Tell')  is situated on the effortlessly hip St Mark's Place in Manhattan's Lower East Side. (I intend to LIVE in the Lower East Side one day.) To enter PDT you must first pick up the courage to go into a slightly sunken 'gourmet' hot dog shop called 'Crif Dogs':

Once inside 'Crif Dogs', the fun begins! On your left as you enter the restaurant you will see a wooden phone booth...step inside and all is revealed. A hand-written note invites you to dial PDT on the phone and then you await your reception from an immaculately groomed gentleman in a perfect three piece suit with slicked down, side-parted hair. I couldn't possibly tell you any more than that or it would ruin the surprise on entry, but  - traveller's tip ahoy - it really is advisable to book a table (by phoning from 3pm on the day you wish to go) otherwise you have to join the 'walk in' queue from 6pm and most people leave disappointed...

I really do believe all bars should i) be hidden ii) have smashed-mirror toilets and iii) come with a strict etiquette. I might like them all more were this the case. Now to discuss the drinks! I had a Tompkins Square  named after the local park and SIBF had a Paddington Bear named after, ummm, Paddington Bear. The Tompkins Square was PDT's take on a Cherry Manhattan and utterly delicious - dry and crisp with the most succulent maraschino cherries ever to be tasted. I was instantly transported to a finer and more glamorous time. SIBF's Paddington was made with real marmalade in the drink and absinthe and citrus juices mixed with rum. He drank it under PDT's very own Paddington and enjoyed it immensely! We did stay for another drink and the bartender was more than happy to experiment on the theme, so I had my own bespoke version of the Tompkins Square which was extra dry with added absinthe (!). Suffice to say the East Village looked even more like the streets were paved with gold when we emerged from our speakeasy...

2. Death & Co

If PDT is a super-cool underground speakeasy with slightly tongue-in-cheek humour, then Death & Co is the darker older brother who listens to Joy Division in his never-lightened room and has slightly sinister friends. Whilst Death & Co (situated on East 6th Street) does not have a secret entrance, it does not exactly advertise itself either. There are no signs, just a hipster doorman glued to his iphone and a dark oak panelled doorway. Inside it is like the darkened glistening gleaming den of your deepestly dark dreams. The bar is seemingly lit by candlelight and it takes a good twenty minutes for your eyes to adjust fully to the Hadean land in which you find yourself. Once they do, you can savour the sleek bar and gaze in awe as the mixologists craft their drinks. 

SIBF and I had been reliably informed that Death & Co's "thing" was "ice". We weren't sure exactly what this meant until our cocktails arrived. I ordered the Jekyll & Hyde - a short whiskey drink featuring CINNAMON BARK SYRUP, yes, cinnamon bark syrup!! - and it tasted of Victorian libraries. Smokey, sweet and slightly dangerous. But in terms of ice, to preserve the intensity of the drink it came served in an old-fashioned glass with one huge ice cube in it - I mean the ice cube was the size of the glass - meaning the ice dissolved less quickly and so the drink stayed the same until the last drop was drunk. Sublime.

3. La Esquina
Finally, dear Readers, should you find yourselves in NYC on a Saturday night in need of a more 'weekendish' secret bar, then please allow me to alert you to La Esquina between Kenmare and Lafayette in Soho.

This may look like a Taco take out (and if the reviews are to be believed, the tacos are pretty good!) but deep under the streets in the subterranean bowels of New York City is a hidden TEQUILA BAR!! To enter this fun-tastic bar-disco (which was playing, bizarrely, mostly British indie tunes when we were there) you must go into the Taco stall and be sussed out by the man guarding an intriguing looking door in the wall. If you pass the test (I'm not sure exactly what the test is, but we were there with a real New Yorker, director extraordinaire, and he sorted it out for us) you are ushered through the doorway, down a long staircase, across several winding corridors and through a KITCHEN where they make the Tacos for upstairs until finally you come out in a lively Tequila bar with booths, bar stools and an area for dancing. Having never tasted tequila before, being at La Esquina was a 'learning experience', as one likes to say, but I was told on good authority that they have the best selection of Tequila going so if you like Tequila get yourself down to La Esquina!!

This is me post-tequila leaving La Esquina. I'll spare you the image of me and the Taco chef. 

And so, dear readers, there you have my three step guide to NYC bar life. I would do PDT on Monday, Death & Co on Thursday and La Esquina on Saturday for the ultimate in prohibition era speakeasy drinking week!
But remember, shhhhh, tell no-one!
Cocktails and canapes,
Whimsy x

Hazelnut and Cinnamon Meringues

Dear Readers THANK YOU for the phenomenal reading response to TSWCS 3.0! I do hope you all enjoyed the pictures and will come to The Jester Festival in 2013!

Now that summer has officially reached Britain, why not make some meringues - the oven temperature is low enough that it won't over-heat your house and meringues make the perfect long summer eve desert. 

These meringues are a little bit different - they're slightly more grown-up after dinner with a coffee and/or amaretto than the pistachio and vanilla ones, but well worth trying...

 

...the recipe comes from Ottolenghi and it is a fabulous one as the meringues turn out just as good as the  famous ones for sale in their shop. The perfect sticky and gooey meringue treat. 

The recipe follows the Swiss meringue method which involves melting 260g caster sugar and 140g dark brown muscavado sugar in 200g free range organic egg whites in a bain marie for about ten minutes. Please be warned that it looks pretty revolting (as you can see in this picture) but I promise you the end result is worth the moderate ugliness of the early stages. You should be pre-heating the oven to 110 degrees by the way!

 Once this is done, you can begin the whisking. As per my previous post on meringues do not believe the instruction that it is not possible to get high volume meringues without a free standing whisk! Mine are made using a very lo-fi hand held electric option and always come out ticketty-boo. After a minute of whisking, the mixture will look like the above pic.

 After four mins it should begin to change colour and look like the one above.

 By the time you have been whisking for eight minutes, it should be cool, super-glossy, a beautiful pale colour and hold it's shape as per the image below. (NB these photos were taken by me whilst I was in the process of whisking hence the not-so-brilliant quality. It was a challenging photographic experiment!)

 At this point, it all gets super-fun as you sprinkle half a teaspoon of cinnamon over the mix and then VERY gently fold it in with a rubber spatula.

 Have 30g unskinned hazelnuts (roast them slightly and then rub the skins off in a tea-towel to get the best flavour) roughly chopped and ready and waiting along with two large baking trays lined with baking paper. Use two large metal spoons to scoop up a generous dollop of the meringue mix and then transfer to the baking tray before sprinkling over the hazelnuts. This is the most fun part of meringue-making - enjoy swirling the mixture onto the tray!

 They should look something like this as they go into the oven. Ensure they are well spaced out as they do puff up to a surprising extent.

Bake for between one and a quarter to two hours. It is hard to tell if they're done and it's important NOT to over-bake them so that you still have that chewy sticky gooey inner yumminess, but it IS very important that they are completely dry on the underneath and that should let you know when they're done. So I would say check after one and a quarter hours, but expect them to take about fifteen minutes longer after that. 

Et voila! Delicious Hazelnut and cinnamon meringues pretty and tasty enough to grace the cake stands of Whimsy! We completely under-priced our meringyues based on how expensive free range organic eggs cost but I think the people appreciated the Whimsenomical bargain they were getting and, indeed, these meringues were one of the first sell out products at TSWCS 3.0!
I am so excited about my next post featuring WHIMSY branded shortbread - you're going to love it!
Sugar and spacedust,
Whimsy x

The Silver Whimsy Cake Stall 3.0

Dear Readers,

I have kept you waiting with baited breath for too-too long. And now it is finally time to reveal images of The Silver Whimsy Cake Stall 3.0. Yes! We had a full re-boot this year and TSWCS was the sparkliest bestest incarnation thus far!

 The main key to our success was the addition of the help (not just of strangers this year) of baker extraordinaire Miss F. The two of us together made Whimsy a force to be glittered with and both stall and customers went away with extra sparkle as a result.

 Pictured above are Miss F's epicurean white chocolate and raspberry slices and pictured below is the ubiquitous Silver Whimsy record player. (People have tried to purchase the record player EVERY single year, but it is amazing how cheap the people deem the price of a battery-operated Japanese import portable record player!!) Also, note the edible creations in the pretty polyphene - a new idea for 2012; Whimsy Cakes to take away and eat later!

 This image shows another of Miss F's inventions - Space Cakes! Popular with grown ups and children alike, these fairy cakes come to life in your mouth with the special ingredient of popping candy and a lollipop to eat as a post-cake snack!

 We had the most wonderful variety of cakes on offer and the people commented over and over again about how amazing it was to have such choice! I started making a Victoria Sponge but after the cakes were made, I felt the need to do something a little more interesting and came up with the Raspberry Cream Dream Cake (pictured below). Oh Readers, 'twas so delicious! Raspberry coloured and flavoured buttercream on the inside with freshly whipped cream with raspberries spun through it on the outside and vanilla sponge in the middle!

It was a wonderful day at the Jester Festival, West Hampstead's greatest local gathering, and we had an amazing, glittery day! The people love TSWCS and TSWCS loves the people! Roll on 2013!!
Recipes to follow,
Silver Whimsy x