When baking goes bad

We’ve all experienced the odd culinary disaster, particularly in the baking department (me more than most I suspect) and whilst presentation will never make things taste better, a minor collapse (a de-thawing for example) could be brought back from the brink of the dustbin by a gorgeous platter or cake stand. Should such an event occur in your household, I have some presentation suggestions for you.

Pressed glass cake stand by Baileys Home £48

Bone China ‘Beautiful Alchemy’ Cake Plate by Rockett St George £20.50

Handcarved Acacia Cake Stand by Anthropologie £30.00 – £54.00

Pressed glass cake stand by Graham and Green £41

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Holly Frean Gallus Dessert Plate at Anthropologie £14 each

 

Stoneware Cake Stand from The White Company £35

 

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Farrow and Ball’s new colours revealed!

We’ve been good and waited but we can now reveal the nine fantastic new colours from Farrow and Ball!

Here they are – from the left: Mole’s Breath, Ammonite, Purbeck Stone, Yellowcake, Wevet, Stiffkey Blue, St Giles Blue, Nancy’s Blushes and framed in Dimpse.

There are some great additions to the current palette including five beautiful shades of grey, a really punchy yellow, a beautiful true pink, a strong warm blue and an exquisite deep dark blue which will be adorning the walls of Chateau Burren very shortly!

The walls of this room are in Wevet, which is a greyer, lighter version of the ever popular pointing and the woodwork is in Purbeck Stone

Glorious Stiffkey Blue, named after the colour of the mud found at Stiffkey beach in Norfolk

Walls here are in the classy Purbeck Stone which is a very usable warm grey and could be equally happy in a traditional or contemporary home. The chair is in Yellowcake which looks fabulous against all the greys in the new palette or can be used all by itself as shown below (sunglasses on).

This is an amazing colour and is as bright as they come – if you are fearless, use it everywhere, otherwise mix it with other colours and it will give you an accent to die for.

Showing off two of the new greys, this image shows the walls in Dimpse and the fire surround in Mole’s Breath, two truly beautiful new colours.

Wonderful St Giles Blue which is a rich warm blue with real depth of colour.

Bringing out a feminine side in all of us, lovely Nancy’s Blushes can be used to create a retro vintage feel but also works really well used in very grown up schemes – we know, we’ve been experimenting!

And finally, Ammonite which is a beautiful warm light grey, really classy and ethereal and looks amazing against this deep red carpet.

That’s your lot, the tester pots are available from today – go, go, go!

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Kitchen Corner: Jenny’s lemon drizzle cake

This is one of my favourite cakes, it’s so moist and has just the right balance between the tangy lemon and sugar. Most lemon drizzle cakes use icing sugar for the syrup topping but I like to use caster sugar which forms a delicious crunchy texture as the cake cools. This is a really simple recipe, always a crowd pleaser and it’s perfect with a cup of tea!

*Editors note* Unfortunately jenny’s cake was so good we ate it before thinking to take a photo! So the photos below are of similar lemon drizzle cakes, with thanks to floracuisine.co.uk and goodtoknow.co.uk

Image credit: floracuisine.co.uk

Lemon Drizzle Cake

Cake

About 200g unsalted butter

About 200g golden caster sugar

Zest of 1 lemon

4 large eggs

About 200g self raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

2-4 tbsp milk (optional)

Topping

Juice of 1-2 lemons (depending on how juicy they are!)

50g caster sugar

When I make this cake, I’ll usually weigh the four eggs first then use the same quantity of butter, sugar and flour but 200g shouldn’t be far off. That way you should get the perfect texture every time. All your ingredients should be at room temperature before you start, particularly the butter and eggs, to make sure your cake rises beautifully!

• Preheat the oven to about 160°C
• Beat the butter, sugar and lemon zest in a mixer or using a handheld electric whisk until very pale and fluffy.
• Add the eggs one at a time, beating in between. Don’t worry if the mixture curdles slightly.
• Sift the flour and baking powder then add to the mixture bit by bit. Gently fold the mixture (don’t whisk!) using a plastic spatula or metal spoon until all the flour is incorporated and you have a smooth cake batter.
• Add a little milk to loosen the mixture slightly if it’s too thick. You don’t want it to be too runny so add a spoon at a time and see how it is.
• Pour into a cake tin and bake in the oven for 50 minutes – 1 hour. Test the cake to see when it’s done by inserting a skewer, if it comes out clean it’s done.
• While the cake it baking, mix together the lemon juice and sugar.
• When the cake is done, take it out of the oven but leave it in the tin. Poke holes all over the cake using a skewer or fork and pour the lemon juice and sugar on top then leave to cool in the tin.

Image credit: Goodtoknow.co.uk

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Kitchen Corner: Jenny’s secret Chiffon Cake recipe

The Angel + Blume blog has a new recruit! Jenny, our very talented Project Manager, is also a secret chef / master cake baker so we have persuaded her to share some of her favourite recipes with you.

First up, to celebrate Chinese New Year (which finishes today) is her recipe for Chiffon Cake (which we have sampled and can vouch for). Over to Jenny to talk us through it:

‘This beautifully soft and super tasty cake is also known as Chiffon Cake for its light and airy texture. You can use a variety of different flavours but Pandan is definitely my favourite! Pandan is a tropical plant found in South East Asia. The leaves have a delicate, fragrant aroma and are often used in Asian cooking. My very talented Auntie Linda taught me this recipe a few years ago and I have made it countless times for family and friends ever since. It’s my Mum’s favourite and she requests it almost every time I visit! If you want to try another flavour just substitute the Pandan flavouring and coconut milk, for example use the zest and juice of lemons or oranges. Delicious!’

‘I have used Pandan essence and Pandan paste in this recipe which you should be able to find online or from good oriental food stores. You will also need a chiffon cake tin which is quite large with a hole in the middle (like a Bundt Cake tin) but most importantly, it must be aluminium and not non-stick as it cools upside down in the tin and the cake will slip out of a non-stick tin and collapse.’

(Images with many thanks to Heaven in a Wildflower. Unfortunately we ate all of the cake that Jenny made before thinking to photograph it. Ooops. But luckily we found these beautiful photos on the lovely Heaven in a Wildflower blog.)

Pandan Cake Recipe

Ingredients for Mixture 1

7 Egg Yolks
3oz Caster Sugar
100ml Coconut Milk
3tbsp Flavourless Cooking Oil (e.g. Groundnut Oil)
1tsp Pandan Paste
1tsp Pandan Essence
5oz Plain Flour
1½tsp Baking Powder

Ingredients for Mixture 2

7 Egg Whites
¾tsp Cream of Tartar
3oz Caster Sugar

1. Preheat oven to 160°C.

2. Make Mixture 1 first:

a. Beat the egg yolks and sugar with an electric whisk until very pale and smooth.
b. Mix together the coconut milk, oil, pandan essence and pandan paste and pour into the egg yolk and sugar. Beat well until combined and smooth.
c. Sift the flour and baking powder and fold into the mixture adding a little at a time. Use a plastic spatula or metal spoon.

3. Make Mixture 2:

a. Beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar in a large bowl until soft peaks form
b. Add the sugar a little at a time and continue beating until very firm. You should be able to turn the bowl upside down.

4. Add half of Mixture 2 to Mixture 1 and fold in very gently. Once combined, fold into the rest of Mixture 2.

5. Pour into the pandan cake tin and bake for about 1 hour

6. Once the cake is done, keep it in the tin to cool but turn the tin upside down, raising it if necessary. Keep in the tin until completely cold, if you try to take the cake out while it is still warm, it will collapse. Once the cake has cooled, use a knife to cut around the edges of the tin.

7. Serve on a plate and enjoy!

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