Holidays & Quiet Times...

The summer holiday period is a strange one....the town feels very quiet (we are not in a tourist area)...parking is easy, the streets relatively empty...no queues in the shops...I love being at home during August. The Coffee Tree, though, is very busy right now...lots of children around, of course, and it is very close to the County Museum & attached Roald Dahl Gallery which makes it a prime spot for a lovely cup of coffee & a slice of something sweet...which, of course, is where I come in! I try and make a few more child-friendly cakes during this time...like this cake, for instance! I call it 'Proper Chocolate Cake' because that's what it really is ...a dense, moist confection filled with my special whipped buttercream and topped with milk chocolate glaze...

The pastel M & M's are from my tin of decorating treats...if any 'special edition' sweets come into view, I buy them and squirrel them away in this tin! It's proved so useful on many occasions. This cake didn't last very long this week!
Another really popular delivery were these Treacle Tart Bars...recipe will be in the book but they contain lots of sour cream which, along with the sugarless shortbread base & the lemon, seems to counteract the tooth-aching sweetness of the golden syrup...

When I made this Vanilla Cake I thought of my friend Nancy who lives over in LA...I knew this would be her pick from this post as she loves anything vanilla! Often when I bake I imagine it's for someone special...friend or family...it helps to add a little love to a recipe!

I hope you enjoy your virtual cake, Nancy...one day for real, I promise!

Last week I baked vanilla cupcakes (and a big cake) for a wedding party. I always find baking for weddings particularly nervewracking as it's such a momentous occasion and everything has to be absolutely perfect! The bride had had some beautiful purple sugar butterflies made for these...so all I had to do was provide the background! I think I did ok...:-)
And that brings us to this morning...as well as 3 Cheese Scones (cheddar, gruyere & parmesan) and Date/Coconut Bars I also walked through the mizzly rain towards the Coffee Tree with...

Harvest Cake, which is basically a light fruit cake (I also added dried sour cherries for some contrast) with cinnamon & a crunchy demerara sugar top...it keeps very well and is perfect on a rainy day such as this with a steaming cup of tea. Also, inspired by the blogpost of my good friend Hummus Boy in which he described the wonderful Orange Polenta Cake his wife made recently (which, I suspect was from a recipe in the first Ottolenghi cookbook!) I made one myself..

It really is a beautiful cake...caramelised orange slices on top and a rich almond/polenta sponge below. A delicious way to start the weekend! I hope yours is filled with good things too xo

What I am hearing as I write this morning...

This is what I was listening to as I wrote today's post...I thought you might like to share it and remember why it is that I am, and will always be.....Mozart's Girl!

Hot cakes...

Last week was full of birthdays! Not family ones, but customer ones. The cake above was HUGE. It was for a man, so I didn't want to make it look too feminine...they just stipulated 'yummy & chocolatey'...I think it fitted the bill.

It was the Farmer's Market on the Tuesday...and it was having a birthday too...

I made another chocolate cake, which was photographed by the local newspaper at the little 11am  ceremony that marked the occasion...then sliced up and given away free to the shoppers. I love making the sugar paste fruit & veg for the top...I rolled the 'potatoes' in a little cocoa powder to look like mud...
My brownie-of-the-month on the stall was a special sparkly birthday one, filled with coloured smarties and covered in 100's & 1000's and edible glitter...

all the little girls begged their mothers to buy one (and usually succeeded!)

It's been so hot here, too...on Monday I baked brownies until my eyes went swimmy with tiredness! The kitchen felt so steamy. It's not a great time of year to be chained to the stove. But, customers have to be supplied with CAKE! So here are some highlights...

Sugar-crusted blueberry lemon scones...they turned out so beautifully...light & fluffy and not too sweet. I made a few extra so that I could give some to my Dad (who has developed a real sweet tooth as he's got older...)

These will be in my book...White Chocolate Peanut Caramel Shortbread Bars. A mouthful whichever way you look at it! They sold really well too...

And finally, this glossy extravaganza was this morning's delivery (along with Greengage Almond Muffins)

Dark Chocolate & Fresh Raspberry Cake. The fruit is baked into the cake, and I left the ganache frosting plain so that there would be a surprise when it was cut into...the slightly sharp jolt of raspberry against the bitter chocolate is a wonderful contrast.

I have a Victoria Sponge baking as I write...and 60 vanilla cupcakes to bake and ice for collection tomorrow (a wedding) Life is busy at The Blue Angel Bakery this summer, I'm very pleased to say!

I hope that you're having a wonderful week too...xoxo

Food from Friends...

On Sunday...which was a beautiful day...my parents came for lunch. We normally all meet at their beautiful farm, so this was a rare occurrence! I decided to cook two recipes that friends had given me. I don't usually do this for some reason...I trawl through my hundreds of cookbooks until I find the perfect dish for the occasion. But I really wanted to use these ideas, as I knew that my Dad in particular would love them. He has a very dear aunt (now in her 90's but spry and active as a little bird) who is Portuguese...and he cherishes the memories of the meals she has cooked for him. So when my lovely friend Rosinda - who is also Portuguese - posted the recipe for Caldeirada (Fish Stew) on her beautiful blog With Love from the Kitchen XO I knew that it had to be cooked for him!

Rosinda has posted the full recipe...so I won't do that here. But it's a very simple yet delicious meal...layers of red pepper, onion, garlic, tomato, paprika...

potatoes...

white wine, fresh coriander, olive oil..

and finally fish (I used haddock as it was fresh and good from the market) Rosinda also adds seafood..and Dad would have loved that too, but unfortunately Mum doesn't really like it, so I stuck to the white fish. It looked absolutely delicious...and Dad posed for this quick picture before he couldn't resist tucking in!

I didn't know what to serve with it...I'd made some bread in the morning (warm spelt & white rolls) but wanted an interesting salad. And then a gorgeous one that my other darling friend, Susan Branch, had posted a few days ago on her blog (isn't the internet wonderful??) popped into my head. Her original was a White Bean Salad...but as I had some dried chickpeas that were nearing the end of their shelf life, I soaked and used them instead!

Red onion, sage, tiny cauliflower florets (blanched), garlic, flat parsley,...I added fragrant tomatoes too. It was the perfect side dish.

Gooseberry & Greengage Crumble with creme fraiche followed, before we all went into the garden to soak up the last of the sun and chat...a wonderful Sunday afternoon!

Also baked during the last week for The Coffee Tree...

Fresh Raspberry & Redcurrant Bars...

Yum!

Carrot Cake...this was on a chilly day, one when I wanted to give them something spiced and warming...

Bluberry Almond Cake...

I love the way blueberries burst when baked...spilling their beautiful purple juice into the cake...

This was originally a bundt cake...but the Coffee Tree customers seem to prefer a 'whole' slice! So it's Vanilla Cake with a maple walnut streusel filling baked through the middle and a maple glaze...mmmm
and finally, on Saturday morning, some 'healthy' muffins! there wasn't actually much sugar in these...the sweetness came from the earl grey tea-soaked prunes, which went beautifully with the rye flakes, the pumpkin seeds, the orange zest...

I kept one back...and I can report that it was perfect with a cup of steaming black coffee and the Saturday papers!
I hope your week has been good so far...I'm just home from the Farmer's Market again...time for a rest and a drink of something lovely!
xoxo

Mmmmmonday!

I often experiment with different brownie flavours...I try and devise a new one each month for the Farmer's Market to keep things interesting! This was my latest creation...Caramel Popcorn Brownies.  They sold very well...the popcorn is in the mixture as well as on top. One thing I found while playing with the recipe was that it works best to sprinkle the popcorn that decorates the top of the brownie after it comes out of the oven, but while the cake is still hot. This prevents the caramel from scorching...and the warmth of the chocolate means that the popcorn sticks beautifully to the top too...

So, that's one that will be repeated sometime...
Other delights this week included...

Double Almond Tarts...

Fresh Raspberry Shortcakes...the filling was a vanilla mascarpone one...I delivered these in the wind & rain of Saturday morning. They reminded everyone that it is, in fact, Summer!

Also, some old fashioned favourites. My little sister, Lucy, always used to request a Marble Cake for her birthday. I haven't made one for ages...making this one made me wonder why!

It was, as you see, chocolate & vanilla....so pretty...

I filled it with vanilla buttercream...

with more for the top and crumbled milk chocolate flake to decorate. Delish!
The other 'retro' cake I made was really popular about 150 years ago....but rarely seen today. Seed Cake was usually eaten mid morning, with a glass of sherry or madeira wine. In fact, if you visit St John restaurant in London, it still is! The few times I've eaten this cake, I've loved it. So I thought that it was a good time to resurrect it for The Coffee Tree. Mine had a lemon glaze...

and it turned out so beautifully that I thought I should share the recipe with you. It's adapted from the Three-Seed Cake in Sarabeth Levine's beautiful bakery book - so it has US measurements..

Old-Fashioned Caraway Seed Cake

Grease & line a 10" round tin with parchment paper.
Preheat oven to 350f/170c

3 cups all-purpose (plain) flour
2 tsp caraway seeds                       } stir together in a bowl and set aside
1 tbsp baking powder

10 tbsp/1 1/4 sticks unsalted butter
2 cups superfine (caster) sugar            } Beat at high speed in a stand mixer until light & fluffy in texture
2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Separate 4 large, room temperature eggs. Beat the yolks into the butter/sugar mixture one by one, beating well after each addition.

Reducing mixer speed to low, add the flour mixture to the butter/sugar/egg yolks in thirds, alternating additions with 1 cup whole milk. Scrape down bowl to make sure all is fully incorporated.

In a large, grease-free bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form (I use a hand held electric whisk for this) and fold into the cake mixture using a large metal spoon. Scrape into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake approx 1 hour until top springs back. I also insert a thin metal skewer into the centre of the cake - if it comes out clean, the cake is cooked! Turn cake out onto a wire cooling rack and invert so that it's the right way up.

For the glaze (best poured on while the cake is still warm/hot as it sets better): combine 2 cups confectioners (icing) sugar in a small bowl with 3 tbsps fresh lemon juice and stir until smooth. Pour over cake and, with a knife, gently smooth over the top...a little dripping down the sides looks beautiful too!

Leave until completely cold, transfer to a plate and EAT!! It keeps  really well for 3/4 days in an airtight tin or container.

Have a wonderful Monday! xx

The shared table...

One of the best things about food is the joy in sharing it with others. The conviviality of the shared table is a life enhancing experience....

Last weekend was three days of such meals...and it was bliss! You can read about the weekend, where we stayed, and how it came about by clicking here . But the real reason that we were all together, was because of the friendships that have grown through our shared passion for good food and our desire to communicate that love through writing.

As you can imagine...we ate well from the beginning!

A trip to the local Farmer's Market on Saturday morning meant that we were well stocked with fruit, vegetables and wonderful meat...

cubed vegetables, sprinkled with fresh rosemary and olive oil....ready to be roasted...

when they were transformed into an earthy, sweet dish of deliciousness...

Belly of pork was soaked in spiced brine for 3 hours to produce the softest, most delectable meat most had ever eaten...

with the crispest crackling that needed a good, heavy knife to cut through it...and plenty of elbow grease!

also on the platter was locally reared rose veal and roasted lamb...
As usual, the kitchen was the heart of the building...everyone wanted to be involved....watching, helping, clearing, tasting..

and the sun went down....the corks were popped and the candles lit...

silence for a while as the meal was enjoyed...before the laughter began again and the joy of being together in this place, at this time, overwhelmed each one of us...

Of course, we probably ate too much - but it was only for a few magical days. I never usually eat breakfast...but somehow, when everyone else is enjoying coffee, crisp bacon and orange-yolked eggs, a warm and jam-filled muffin seemed a good idea!

And afternoon tea really wasn't necessary...but a divine apple olive oil cake, resplendent with maple frosting, plus glittery chocolate cake and rosemary scented apricot squares soon persuaded me that it was the right thing to do....!

On the last night, we needed to use up the fresh produce....so a quick green vegetable pasta was whipped up, sharpened with lemon juice and complemented perfectly by a crunchy, tasty and absolutely delicious chargrilled carrot & broccoli salad made by the talented Marta (her blog is amazing too...Muscovado Cafe )

It would be difficult to name my favourite dish of the weekend. But one of them was definitely this...

It may look bizarre, but I can tell you truthfully that tapioca cooked with palm sugar & a touch of pomegranate molasses is one of those taste experiences that I shall treasure forever in my foodie memory bank! Inspired.

I had such a wonderful time....in my element with like-minded people and surrounded by gorgeous ingredients and dishes.

I wish you could have joined us!  Eat well this weekend....xoxo