Whisky, maple, orange poached pears, Ginger Parkin & blackberry compote – bridging late summer to autumn 🍐🍂

/ thecakeshaker / 1 Comment

 

Ah here we go, another post by moi, been few and far between this year… but I couldn’t help but post this one, seems the right time … the leaves are turning fantastical colours, the nights are drawing in… & the squirrels are fumbling with their nuts and digging up my bulbs in the garden

(hey !! ?.. what, they are doing WHAT !) 🐿😡☠️)                        

We had some lovely friends around for dinner last night, and I was scratching my head about what to do. These days my job basically involves cakes, brownies and Macarons etc, for the two Biscuiteers cafes I supply, so I don’t get the chance much to plate any actual desserts these days. So after mulling over some of my favourite things I like to shove in my gob this time of year I came up with this trio…. gorgeous gooey ginger Parkin, pears baked in whisky, orange and maple syrup (I really like the whisky part of course) … and a deep red blackberry compote with some rosemary and juniper thrown in… so sort of paying an homage to the end of summer with the fruit, and foretaste of autumn/ winter with the Parkin and whisky (well whisky can warm me up anytime of year tbh… along with a certain actor …. sorry.. distracted myself there….)

So here’s the recipe for all three, you can either go the whole hog and make the whole shebang, or choose a bit of each, treat yourself to some Parkin, make the compote to drizzle on some ice cream….. or just drink the whisky and forget about the pears etc

I made the Parkin individual like, you can do the same if you have the moulds, or use a small loaf tin and serve as slices, or bake in a tray and cut into squares.

This Parkin recipe is made with wholemeal flour, and deserves soaking with some lovely syrup, like the reduced one from the baked pears, with a bit of the compote juice thrown in.

I’ll stop blah blah blahing now and write up the recipe, the usual step by step gallery is added too … you know the drill, click on the picture to enlarge etc etc…. Enjoy !😉😋

YOU WILL NEED:

Small sauce pan.

Medium high sided baking dish.

Either individual baking pans, a small loaf tin or 6″ square cake tin.

Some dinner guests to try this on, just grab someone of the street and scream eat this! if you must 😛

PS … I like to leave the skin on the pears, I think it adds texture and soaks up the flavours nicely in those fibres… also good for you apparently.

PPS … I’m finished now.

SERVES 6

RECIPE:

Parkin

140g fine oatmeal
140g whole wheat flour
450g pound Black Treacle warmed
1 tbsp ground ginger ( level tbsp)
115g unsalted butter
1 tbsp milk
1/2 tsp baking soda

 

170c conventional oven 160c fan

Mix the flour, oatmeal and spice

Melt the butter and treacle in a pan, leave to cool slightly

Dissolve the baking soda in the milk

Add the warmed treacle and fold this into the dry ingredients to make a soft batter.

Spoon into a greased moulds or tins of choice

Bake for 30 minutes, check, may need 5 minutes more, but watch they don’t burn on top, they need to be still moist in middle.

 

PEARS:

3 pears

juice of two oranges + zest of one

150ml whisky

120g maple syrup

5 cardamom pods

¼ tsp cinnamon

Half the pears, leave the skin on, core the middle with a melon scoop or teaspoon.

Place in deep oven dish core side down, pour over whisky, juice and zest.

Add spices.

Bake in oven at 175c conventional or 165 fan for at least 40-45 mins

Check pears half way through and turn over so core side up

NOTE: they may need longer if under ripe, or less if very ripe.

COMPOTE:

2 punnets blackberries

Juice of 1 orange

80g caster sugar

4 dried Juniper berries

2 sprigs rosemary

150 ml water

2 teaspoon cornflour dissolved in a little water

Bring water, sugar juice to boil add berries and rosemary.

Then add blackberries, simmer for 3 minutes

Remove the sprigs of rosemary

Add the dissolved cornflour and cook out, leave to cool slightly

ASSEMBLING:

Take the pears out of the syrup, place syrup in pan and simmer for a couple of minutes to reduce the liquor slightly.

Trim the Parkin, place on plate, prick top with a fork or skewer and pour over some of the hot syrup

Place a pear halve alongside the Parkin with the core showing

Warm up the compote, spoon some in the core and round the pear and parkin, drizzle some of the juice over the Parkin if you like.

FINISHING TOUCHES:

Place a spoon of creme fraiche on top of the Parkin, sprinkle a little syrup over

SUGGESTIONS:

If you don’t fancy the creme fraiche, serve with double or clotted cream, Ice cream or even some warm vanilla custard ( Might actually try that next time I make this… dammit I’m in the mood for custard now !)

METHOD GALLERY:

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Gluten free ? yep it is, a strawberry and lime tart with (garden) mint meringues.

/ thecakeshaker / 2 Comments

Here we go a new blog post… well I thought I had better put something up seeing as I’ve just paid my yearly fee for this thing 😉

A lot of people have been asking me for a good gluten-free pastry recipe, so I thought while I was making this tart at home recently I would blog about it too with a gluten-free pastry recipe….. I’m like that you see, like to kill two birds with one stone.. (how ever I would never kill a bird, or even be that good an aim, my cat on the other hand….)

The filling for this recipe is cream cheese based, with lots of tangy lime which is my favourite pairing flavour with Strawberries, I have added meringues made with mint from my garden, you can use the same fresh mint you can buy from most grocers if you haven’t got any growing.

When making this pastry, don’t be alarmed by how wet it seems, most gluten-free  flours are much “drier” than wheat flour, this extra moisture is to compensate, it will firm up nicely once chilled .

Unlike most sweet pastry recipes, this has whole egg rather than just yolk, the egg white helping to give extra structure which is lacking due to no gluten being present, I have added a small amount of xanthan gum, just a small amount is needed, as the final mixing is a bit longer to incorporate the flour and moisture more, so the gum gets a good work into the paste, so too much will give a slight “rubbery” feel.

This pastry can be rolled quite thin, and re-rolls quite easily with out getting elastic.

Well, let’s get on with it … can’t abide these recipe posts where the writer goes on and on and on and on ….  👀 😉

YOU WILL NEED:

A 9″ tart ring

Baking tray.

Two piping bags

A glass of pimms to use up any left over strawberries and mint with (or a sneaky strawberry daiquiri)  🙂

PASTRY:  Make day before, or place in freezer for couple of hours to set.

150G Gluten free white flour l  (I use doves farm as my a brand of choice)

75g icing sugar

75g unsalted butter

1/4 tsp Xanthan gum

1 egg

1 teaspoon  milk.

1 teaspoon orange zest

METHOD GALLERY:

MINT  MERIGUES: Can be made a day or so in advance.

Oven at 140c

80g egg white (approx 2 eggs)

160g caster sugar (weigh in two separate 80g batches)

5 good size mint leaves

METHOD GALLERY: Meringues.

 

FILLING RECIPE & HOW TO ASSEMBLE TART

Oven on 160c to start to bake tart case.

450g full fat cream cheese (Philadelphia is my fave)

150g caster sugar

2 eggs

3 limes Juice of all, zest of one.

1 teaspoon of good vanilla extract

Cream all the above together until smooth, careful not to beat too much air in.

Bake tart case then turn oven down to 155c for filling.

METHOD GALLERY:

TO FINISH

Strawberry topping.

500g fresh strawberries hulled and halved

80ml water

80g caster sugar

30g corn flour dissolved in a small amount of water

100ml double cream whipped with a bit of sugar and vanilla essence to garnish.

METHOD GALLERY:

 

Hello… long time no blogging, It’s been a while !

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Hiya ! … yep it’s me, not been on here for a while, about a year and a half I reckon.img_7573

It’s not you…its me you know, I haven’t been sure for a while where this blog was going, and also I have been getting my head down and getting my career back on track after my redundancy at Spring studios in 2015…. More on that in 2017.

well for those in the know, I have been working at the Biscuiteers baking company since April 2015, (based in my manor of south London)  who are pretty much famous the world over for their hand iced biscuit collections, with concessions in some fine retail outlets.

I Myself am not involved in the biscuit side, but rather the cake side, as they have two marvellous boutiques bakeries in Notting hill and Northcote road, clapham, I supply  & develop ranges of Macarons, tarts, cakes and tray bakes for their cafe options, and have been involved in setting up a pastry team to take this forward, so you can imagine, a lot of stuff to do and no time for blogging my fancies online .

Looking back on some of the posts on here I have not been too sure if this was for me anymore, It all seems a bit all over the place, a few marzipan figures here, some tarts, a bit of gluten-free, some dodgy baking innuendo and really bad iPhone photos, but I have decided to make 2017 the year I give it ago again, some posts I have written will be trashed in a “eww what was I thinking kinda frame of mind’ ..& I will try to restore some order and continuity, probably giving some more time over to Gluten free items and other free from sweet lovelies.

I am removing some of my categories and tidying up the space here… it’s like my 15-year-old selfs bedroom, things I liked for about 5 minutes and the shoved under the bed  or in the sock draw  (in the case of this blog, the side bar)

So anyhow, enough of the babbling, lets see if I can give this another go.. so looking forward to starting “The Cake-Shaker” .2 and seeing where it goes, and If you have any ideas of what you would like to see, or anything you want to find out more about… just drop me a message.

I’ll get a “Happy new year”  in to you all  in early, and see you in 2017.

Heres a few highlights from 2016.

Macaron shop displays
Macs ready for the shops.
Macarons online !
My Brother and sister in laws wedding cake this summer
Shop production line
My favourite cakey time of year, HALLOWEEN !
One of our lovely shops
Yule log action again this xmas.
First time I got our mince pies onto the shop shelves.
Xmas glutenfree brazil nut and fig cake
Chocolate pink limousine cake
Blackberry cheesecake
Great customer feedback
Gluten free peach and redcurrant tarts, summer 2016
I had another job in 2016, for a brief while, and managed an afternoon tea while there (more on this later)
Mothers day cake production line 2016
Great Customer brownie feedback
Habitat cafe pop up on the Kings road 2016
Biscuiteers pop up in habitat on the kings road, Easter 2016
Valentines 2016
More Brownie love from a customer on instagram this year 🙂

 

Blondie bombshell in a (salty nutshell) White chocolate & salted peanut butter Blondie.

/ thecakeshaker / 4 Comments

So you have the brownies Right ? .. all gooey and sweet, dark and chocolatey…and er.. Brownie-ish ?

But what about the light side, not the dark ? well don’t panic, if its white chocolate you like, here’s the recipe for you !

Now because white chocolate is quite sweet, I decided to stick my salty nuts in my recipe, ( yes I know, sorry about that, I can’t help myself)

So here’s a blondie recipe using peanut butter, plus salted peanuts… I like that whole contrast between sweet & salty, thats why one of my guilty pleasures is a chocolate digestive with a bit of strong cheddar on.. (trust me, it’s similar) 😉

Leave to cool., cut to desired size ...and scoff ;)

A salty mouthful with a sweet punch, what’s not to love ? 😉

Just like brownies are, you know …well,  brown, blondes get their name from the sandy colour of the final cake, more so with the peanut butter in this case.

YOU WILL NEED:

A an 8 inch square cake tin

A bowl of water over a saucepan of hot (not boiling water)

stirring spoon or whisk

A separate mixing bowl to mix all together in.

INGREDIENTS:

150g white chocolate.

160g butter

200g  crunchy peanut butter

120g soft brown sugar

1oog plain flour

1/2  teaspoon baking powder.

(For gluten-free use 130g gluten-free flour, or 100g fine rice flour + 2 tablespoons of rapeseed oil)

180g salted peanuts.

2 pinches of sea salt.

1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon.

4 eggs.

METHOD:

Place a bowl over a pan of hot water (make sure bowl isn’t touching water)

Place the butter, peanut butter and white chocolate in the bowl and leave to melt while stirring, add  2 pinches of sea salt & cinnamon.

When melted take of heat, stir in the sugar, then beat in the eggs, then fold in the flour & baking powder.

Pour into your  tin lined with parchment, then sprinkle over the rest of the nuts.

Bake at 160c (155 fan) for 40-45 minutes, test with a small knife or skewer, if it’s slightly tacky that’s fine, not wet.

Leave to cool.

METHOD GALLERY:

Click on any image to enlarge.

 

Alternatives:

Add salted or unsalted Cashews for a smokier flavour ( see photo below ), or honey roasted peanuts on top for a totally different flavour, salted Almonds are great too.

Add some dark chocolate chips into the mix ( about 150g ) or top with a dark chocolate ganache (recipe below) to get a “salted snicker bar” type Blondie.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or any ice creamy prefer, with warm chocolate sauce (recipe below)

CHOCOLATE SAUCE:

100ml single cream

75g dark chocolate

Teaspoon of golden syrup

Teaspoon of dark cocoa powder

Warm cream in pan with chocolate and syrup, then add cocoa powder until smooth sauce is formed, warm brownie in oven, serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream & the sauce.

Ganache topping.

1ooml single cream

100g dark chocolate

2 teaspoon of honey (or 1 tablespoon of maple syrup)

tablespoon of sunflower or rapeseed oil, or try olive oil for totally different flavour.

Bring cream to the boil,turn down heat add chocolate , stir, then add honey stir in, then slowly add oil.

spread over Blondie and set in fridge.

 

Same recipe above, but using salted or plain cashews, about 200g sprinkled on top before baking.

Same recipe above, but using salted or plain cashews, about 200g sprinkled on top before baking.

It’s been the best of times, the worst of times, now time for exciting new opportunity times…goodbye Spring studios !

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..... It was all downhill fromm here on ;)

….. It was all downhill from here on 😉

What’s this all about you may ask ?

Well it all began with a magpie ………….

I woke up on the Monday morning a few weeks ago, ready for the week ahead, eating my half a grapefruit for breakfast (a tradition I carry on from my grandmother) and I was staring into our garden, thinking “looks nice out does that”

Then a magpie landed straight in front of my view on our bird bath. Now in most cases I’m not particulary superstitious, or even remotly religious, but for some reason I always find myself saluting a lone magpie 3 times, you know, just incase like.

The whole spell was broken by a wood pigeon swooping down and starting to knock seven bells out of said Magpie, which spilled out on to the lawn, my money was on the pigeon, it looked pissed.

Sooo anyhow, off to work I went after the avian punch up at the bird bath, on my bike to a normal Monday work routine. When I arrived at the studios I started stuffing the bar in the restaurant with cookies & brownies, sorting out that weeks al a carte menu, and going through the days production sheet to see what clients I was to be stuffing all things sweet and gooey down that day.

That afternoon as I was walking across the restaurant to adjust my muffins, ( they always seem to get a bit unruly ) When a young lady from HR handed me an envelope and sat me down, I was to be put on a two-week redundancy notice due to a change in business and cost cutting…..Well first of all I was like “EH?” then I was “OH!” Then the news settled in and I was surprised to feel quite calm and a bit tingly, almost excited for some strange reason.

To be honest, I sort of saw this coming, the studios had changed, become even more successful, they were streamlining areas and saving money to put into other areas that were more successful, the restaurant was the smallest part of the operations, and they decided to save my wages and just out source the pastry side of things, I was basically a luxury that didn’t make sense on paper, I get that business is business, the restaurant is still going, just without a pastry chef, like a lot of restaurants do.

I had a great run at the studios, 8 years of association ( with a 7 month gap where I worked at love Bakery in 2010 )

It was so different to my previous 20 years in the world of corporate fine dining, I worked entirely on my own, I didn’t even have a head chef or restaurant or catering manager above me, I was treated as a creative, and allowed to go down my own path with the full support of the studios (which I did have during times when it was really needed especially during one period there)

So thank you Spring studios for giving me a time in my career where I forged my own identity in my profession & for allowing me to grow, there’s no hard feelings at all, I made many friends who will be with me in the years to come.

So my two weeks notice period passed real quick, in a blink of an eye I now find myself unemployed.

So what next ?

I have been very lucky in the support I have had from friends & family, lots have given me leads to where to send my CV so big wet kiss to all those, who gave me messages of support & sent my CV to people they think might be interested in little ole me.

I used all my social media accounts to announce my redundancy & promote my CV and job ability, the response there has been brillliant ! especially on LinkedIn, I posted a piece about my redundancy which proved very popular, and now have a folder full of new connections and agents I didn’t have before.

I now have interviews lined up & the promise of some work trials ( not going to say much incase I jinx them )

The one thing about the studios is that catering is not their main business, they are not a catering company, so one thing I am looking forward to is hopefully working for a company who’s main business is catering, like I used to, I did miss being part of a large brigade of chefs to be honest, so I’m looking forward to being part of one again soon.

I also now have to think about how I can help myself, I have an idea about away to expand this very blog and the Cake-Shaker name, it’s early days yet, but watch this space 😉

Don’t worry, there are a still a few recipes to go up on here, I have the photo’s in the bag and the recipes to write up…obviously I now have the time to do it and no excuses .

Anyway ….. F%*@**G  MAGPIE !!  😉

 

 

Click on link below for my farewell to Spring slide show 🙂

https://flipagram.com/f/TMzAT3EJsn/embed

Cookie dough, the way to go, the recipe I’m most asked for.

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Cookie Jenga annyone ?

Cookie Jenga annyone ?

Yes yes… I know there are hundreds of cookie dough recipes out there these days, but it’s my most asked for recipe.  So I have been procrastinating about posting this recipe ever since I started this blog, I don’t know why, it’s not like I am being overly protective of it or don’t want to share.

And here It is, I think my main reason for posting now is due to pure laziness, once it’s here I no longer have to scribble it down for people who asks me for it at work, just point them in this direction.

I truly do not know where this recipe originated from, but as usual it’s one thats been tinkered with over the past decade, it used to contain oats, but I did away with that so it was more soft and chewy, This version has chocolate chips in, the most popular one I sell.  But it is a really versatile recipe and you can customise it how you ever you want, I’ll leave some ideas at the end of this post.

I can’t tell you how many of these I have made over the years, but for a charity event I made 3000 one day a few  years ago, ! Oh my goodness ! I think I didn’t get my sense of smell back to normal for at least a week, I could just smell cookie dough for ages afterwards !

I make quite a bit at work..this will last a couple of days, if that ;)

I make quite a bit at work..this will last a couple of days, if that 😉

They are now a consent staple where I work, there is always a jar on the bar in the restaurant, or I sometimes send them into studios where clients are working, still warm on the baking tray.  One thing you will notice is the amazing aroma, all due to the cinnamon and vanilla …. who needs scented candles, just knock up a batch of these before your guests come around, better than any old potpourri your mum might have 😉

You can make any size you like…big ones, small ones, some as big as your head, just remember to adjust cooking times.

YOU WILL NEED:

A pre-heated oven at 160c ( 155c fan )

A baking tray lined with a baking mat or parchment

A mixing bowl

Some disposable gloves ( incase you are precious about getting dough under your nails, but optional if you want to lick yourself clean of dough after you have finished )

That is all.

Please note, my actual recipe is for a huge bulk amount for work, so I have scaled it down here, but all pictures are taken at work us using my normal amount, so will look a lot bigger than you will have while making this recipe.

This will make about 10-12 largish cookies or 15-20 smaller, this dough can keep for a week, wrapped in the fridge, and can easily be frozen.

Best eaten while a bit warm out of the oven, or can be kept for 3-4 days in a sealed container

TIP: “Refresh” cookies a few days old by placing in a warm oven for 5 minutes, making the chocolate chips gooey.

INGREDIENTS:

320g unsalted butter.

460g soft light brown sugar.

3 eggs, medium.

3 tablespoons of milk

540g Self raising flour + 1 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons of vanilla essence

2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon.

200g dark chocolate buttons/chips.

200g white chocolate buttons/chips.

(You can add more chocolate if you are feeling naughty)

 

METHOD:

Beat the butter and sugar until it’s light and fluffy.

Beat in the eggs one at a time until fully incorporated.

Beat in the milk, vanilla, and cinnamon.

fold in the flour.

fold in the chocolate buttons

 

Place in a container, cover and place in the fridge for a couple of hours to firm up.

BAKING:

For large cookies weigh around 150g of dough, roll into ball and flatten to about 1/2 an inch on tray, place cookies at least 2 inches apart bake at 160c (155c fan ovens) for 15 minutes.

For smaller cookies weigh around 75g dough, roll into balls and flatten as above, bake for around 8-10 minutes.

Leave for 10 mins before eating, I don’t want to be sued for causing lip blisters due to molten chocolate chips 😉

VARIATIONS

Oat & Raisin

Take out 50g sugar, add 50g oats add 200g raisins instead of chocolate, raisins are nice soaked in rum for a couple of hours before hand if you like (if you want chocolate and oaty cookies, just leave the chocolate buttons in)

White chocolate, cherry and cinnamon

Add 250g white chocolate 150g chopped glace cherries

( you can replace the 1 teaspoon of cinnamon with with two ground ginger for a spicier cookie, or add chopped stem ginger in syrup)

Date and pecan

200g chopped pitted dried dates & 250g chopped pecans add 1 teaspoon of ground cardamom as well as cinnamon..

Christmas cookies.

200g dried cranberries, 250g white chocolate chips, 1 tsp cinnamon, 2 ginger, zest of one clementine.

I will get back to you on a gluten free version, that’s still a work in progress.

METHOD GALLERY:

click on any image below to enlarge.

©The Cake-Shaker 2015

Fig and berry marshmallow…. With some “Frankenstien brains” thrown in for halloween !

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Squares of marshmallow with a campari shot

Squares of marshmallow with a campari shot

Marshmallows …Where DO I start, well they have been around for donkeys years, and get the name from a plant (The Marsh Mallow plant of course)  which the powdered roots were originally used to make a gelatinous medicine for sore throats, & later confections, mainly in the middle east at first.

Then us Europeans got in on the act and started messing about with them, the french mainly  (of course they did, those confectionary geniuses)  and they were then mainly made using gelatine or egg whites. due to the fact the original plant root was a bit hard to come by & wasn’t cheap. It was often flavoured with rose. These days the main bulk of theses spongy morsels is a boiled sugar syrup & gelatine thats flavoured.

Frankenstein Marshmallow braaiiiinnnssss !

Frankenstein Marshmallow braaiiiinnnssss !

Marshmallows have had a resurgence of late, “gourmet marshmallows” as they are known, are made with more natural ingredients, Like fruit purees, chocolate …even alcohol ! ( yes…I like that last one) People have been really inventive with them and coming up with all sorts of concoctions….so of course I had to have a play 😉

The following recipe is made with a gelatine base ( I am not keen on the egg white base)  I know this isn’t really vegetarian friendly, but I will be updating this blog post once I have experimented with other bases like Agar and will keep you informed. But for now I am using a gelatine recipe, using a fruit puree as a flavour, in this case fig and berry, Mainly because at the time I was writing this post, summer had given way to Autumn and I was using these as they were in season.

I used ready made purees in this recipe from Boiron, Funkin purees are also perfect for this recipe (links below)

HALLOWEEN KLAXON !! Yes ! my fave part of the cakey calendar is about to fall upon us as I write, and I couldn’t resist using marshmallow  for halloween treats. It’s spongy texture is perfect to make “flesh like” treats for the creepy season, I also used food pipettes filled with raspberry puree to add a bit of “mad scientist” to them and moulded the mix in some brain chocolate moulds I bought online (I will leave relevant links at the end of the post)

Bloody marshmallow brains ...YUM ! ;)

Bloody marshmallow brains …YUM ! 😉

I flipping loved how they came out ! real creepy like 🙂 I have still used the pipettes in normal squares of marshmallow , so people can squeeze a bit of loveliness over them to add a bit of oomph, I have even used pipettes filled with cocktails (filth !)

You can use any combination of puree you want to, as with all these recipes and this blog, the aim is to get you to experiment yourselves 😉

Now I haven’t really touched on sugar boiling before, so heres a first, you will need a sugar/jam thermometer for this one…and keep it handy, as I have another recipe coming up which will need it soon.

YOU WILL NEED:

A heavy based saucepan

A Sugar/ Jam thermometer

An eight to ten inch cake tin or brownie pan.

An electric whisk and bowl.

INGREDIENTS:

20g gelatin powder or 7 leaves of Dr Oetker size gelatine, soaked in around 150mls of water.

150ml fig Puree 100ml raspberry puree* } You can use any combination of purees as long as you get a combined amount of 240mls liquid.

120g golden syrup

420g caster sugar

180ml water 1/2 tsp lemon juice ( to help the flavours “punch” through the sugar syrup)

Cornflour to dust.

METHOD:

Line your tin with oil or cake release spray, then line the bottom and side with baking parchment (not greaseproof paper) I find this better then cling film as it leaves less creases in the end product…you can dust it with cornflour too.

Mix the gelatine powder, purees & lemon juice together in your mixing bowl and allow the gelatine to soak up the liquid and swell. If using leaves soak them in  the cold water until they have swelled and are spongey (bloomed) Then take them out squeezing out any excess water.

In your pan place the sugar, syrup, water and bring to the boil, continue boiling (washing down sides with a brush and water to stop crystals forming) and using the thermometer, keep boiling until it reaches 120c (hard ball) Take of the heat and leave until it stops bubbling.

Next (and be careful here as you are using a very hot liquid) whisk into puree/gelatine mix, gradually speed up the whisk until its high, and whisk until mix has doubled in size  and is a much lighter colour…almost like bubble gum. If using leaves, pour the syrup over the puree and start whisking, as you add the soaked leaves, they will melt when they hit the heat of the syrup.

Using a greased spoon or spatula ease the marshmallow into your tin, place some more parchment over the top and press down. Leave to cool for at least 4 hours.

If you use the brain moulds, oil the moulds and dust with cornflour, pipe the mallow in each mould and press down to get the mould detail on each one.

TO SERVE:

when set, turn out the mallow onto a corn floured surface, cut into squares to size you want, you can dust with cornflour or dip in chocolate, or use food pipettes filled with fruit puree or alcohol to add a little something special.

With the brain moulds  you can gently Peel them out the moulds. I brushed them with jam first to make them look “bloody”

You don’ t have to have brain moulds for a Halloween treat, brush squares of marshmallow with an edible skin tone food colour powder, and stick a pipette with red berry coulis in for a “cube of human flesh” … even better, while whisking the mallow, add a bit of green food paste to give a zombie flesh feel.

USEFUL LINKS: –          Food Pipetes        Boiron purees

Brain moulds       Funkin Purees

METHOD GALLERY:

use the gallery* below to view the method, click on any image to enlarge.

*Note: The amounts look larger than they will for the recipe given above, as I make much larger amounts at work, I have adjusted recipe to give you a smaller amount, but the method shown is the same. Also colour may vary in photos as I have photographed different types I have made over the year, Images are just to illustrate the method

HALLOWEEN “FRANKENSTIEN” BRAINS GALLERY ! Make using recipe as above, will fill at least 8 brain moulds.

© The cake-Shaker 2014

Mastering chocolate with the “Mast brothers – A family cookbook” and falling in love with Brooklyn, NYC. (including my fave recipe, an ingenious chocolate blueberry pie)

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The Mast Brothers factory and shop, I was mesmerised by the smells, flavours and feel of the place.

The Mast Brothers factory and shop, I was mesmerised by the smells, flavours and feel of the place.

As you may or may not have noticed, if you’ve been wandering through this blog, is that one of my fave places on the planet is New York city.

I was lucky enough to visit again in March this year with the husband, Terry Ronald, who has been going there for 25 yrs after working out there in the early 90’s, hence we have a New York family of friends as well as the ones back here in London.

This year we explored a  lot more of Brooklyn, which has gone on to become THE place to be in NYC, especially Williamsburg, which our friend Leticia, who’s lucky enough to be a long-standing Brooklyn resident, took us on a tour of. Now Leticia loves her chocolate, & one place she took us to was The Mast brothers chocolate factory and retail shop, and boy, was I blown away by the creativeness & flavours.

The mast Brothers Marvellous book in their retail shop, Brooklyn.

The mast Brothers Marvellous book in their retail shop, Brooklyn.

At Mast brothers we handcraft chocolate in away that seeks to highlight the unique characteristics of its exceptional ingredients, cacao and sugar. Ingredient-focused cooking always respects the process in its entirety: from ground to mouth, farmer to customer, bean to bar.

The above quote is from the Mast brothers, A family cookbook, Which I picked up and bought, while at their shop, which in itself is amazing, with glass screens from which behind chocolatiers worked away to the brothers formulas, like chocolate alchemists. Of course we took full advantage of the tasting pieces on offer, and bought a couple of bars for our friend from Manhattan, Michele, who also highly recommended we visit this area & shop too.

Once back in the UK I completely became obsessed with this book (being obsessed with chocolate and with munching as much of it as I can throughout my time here on earth helped) and didn’t waste anytime in trying out some of the recipes, they have away with mixing flavours you wouldn’t think off, including savoury combos, including scallops & pork.

The Photography and design of this book, is just perfect.

The Photography and design of this book, is just perfect.

I like the fact they have gone much further than fair trade, by dealing with the cacao farmers direct & forming a strong relationship with them, so getting the best sourced ingredients for their marvellous creations.

This is something I don’t normally do when I write about a book on here, include my favourite recipe. So below is a recipe for a blueberry and dark chocolate pie, I’ve made it a couple of times, and it’s so simple, and involves a flavour combo and method that I am envious of not coming up with myself.

(I have added a tip on how to make a gluten free version of the crust at the end of the recipe below)

The book will soon be  available locally where I live  in East Dulwich at Roullier white, I raved about it so much to our friend Lawrence , the proprietor, that he checked it out & liked it so much he decided to stock it. (will post a link as soon as it’s available online, or you could visit the shop in ED)

This was one of the best things I bought in NYC on this particular trip  (well that and my vintage ghost busters hoodie I bought for $7 in a Williamsburg thrift shop)  🙂

If you can get hold of a copy please do, its such a lovely book and totally inspiring … even to an old pastry chef who’s been around the block like myself 😉

MAST BROTHERS

A FAMILY COOKBOOK.

by Rick & Michael Mast

Published by Little Brown book company, Hachette book group

Available on Amazon and coming soon to Roullier white’s book selection

RECIPE- The Mast brothers chocolate blueberry pie.

You will need: An 8 inch pie dish (or an  loose bottom tart case which I used as I didn’t have a dish)

An oven at 180c, 350f  (160c if using an a fan oven)

ingredients (I have converted from cup measures to grams for us on this side of the pond) 🙂

CRUST

1 1/2 cups (180g) of plain flour.

6 tablespoons of cocoa powder (dark).

1 teaspoon sea salt.

3/4 (180g)  cups unsalted butter

1/4 (25g)  cup icing sugar

1 egg yolk.

1.5 teaspoons of double cream.

FILLING:

5 cups of fresh Blueberries  (I found 5 Punnets was adequate).

2 onces (90g) of dark chocolate, chopped + extra for shaving over pie after baking.

1 cup (200g)  of castor sugar

4 Tablespoons of cornflour.

METHOD GALLERY:

Below is a gallery of the how to make the pie, click on any image to enlarge.

Note: I made a gluten free version of the crust by substituting plain flour with  doves farm gluten free flour with 1/4 teaspoon of xanthan gum and 1 teaspoon of orange juice for the crust and left it 15 minutes longer to chill in refrigerator.

© THE CAKE-SHAKER 2014

Whats long thick, pink in the middle, and lovely in the mouth ? Thats right, a baked Rhubarb and ginger roll !

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How rude !

warm, stodgy and fruity ...marvelous

Warm, stodgy and fruity …marvelous !

Well you know me by now, always up for a bit of pudding innuendo.

Well as of the time of writing this post, it’s nearly the end of April and it’s Easter sunday 2014, & typically it’s raining and a bit chilly outside, good old british bank holiday weekend weather 😉

So what a good day for writing up a recipe that warms you up inside.

As you know, I love a bit of Rhubarb, and have already posted a few recipes on here….this blog might as well be called “The Rhubarb-shaker”  ( sounds naughty ) But I decided to make this, as I’ve gone back to making a traditional british pud that I have not made for a long time… A nice suet roll pudding !

You can fill this with what ever tickles your fancy to be honest, Apples and dates, sultanas & spice, pear and blackberry ….or good old-fashioned Jam, as in a jam roly poly. Here I used my favourite again, Rhubarb, mainly as it’s in its zenith in spring & it’s the first seasonal product of the year that’s readily available, You get good old pink forced rhubarb from january to march, then the much firmer and darker outside grown varieties from then on.

It is actually a lovely simple recipe, and you don’t even need to have a special tin to bake it in either as you might think.

This is marvelous served with a thick vanilla custard, Ice cream, or thick vanilla cream.

So if you fancy a hot warm, steamy length of loveliness, this is one for you, have a go and enjoy 😉

Serves about 8-10 can be halved easily to make less.

It’s easy to make this gluten and dairy free  ( see below )

YOU WILL NEED:

Some baking parchment (not grease proof paper, this isn’t strong enough)

Some tin foil.

Chopping board

Shallow oven tray ( like a swiss roll tray )

An oven preheated to 170c ( 160c for fan ovens )

Someone to share your pudding with …and can take a lot.

RECIPE: Suet pastry

300g self-raising flour

Pinch of salt.

100g castor sugar

Fine Zest of one large orange

150g beef or vegetable suet

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1ooml milk

1 egg ( medium )

(also 1 egg, beaten for brushing)

RECIPE: Filling

200g rhubarb ( about 3 sticks )

4 pieces of  stem ginger in syrup, chopped roughly

1/2 teaspoon of ground cardamom

1 teaspoon ground ginger

2 tablespoons cornflour

100g soft light brown sugar

Juice of 1 large orange ( from one you zested for pastry )

Orange Marmalade for spreading

NOTE: To make gluten and Dairy free use same amount of gluten free flour ( doves farm flour is great) with 1/2 a teaspoon of Xanthan gum & 50ml more milk. Use a gluten free vegetable suet ( non dairy ) Use same method below.

METHOD GALLERY:

Follow the gallery below of step by step stages on how to make, click on any image to enlarge.

© The cake-shaker 2014

Dead cool, sugar ghouls – Day of the dead sugar skulls

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As you would know by now if you have been following this blog, I love a bit of Halloween, and always try to put something up each year. This year is no exception.

Who knew skulls could be so cute !

Who knew skulls could be so cute !

I came across how to make these skulls while trying to look for something a bit different last year, I found the moulds on ebay, they came complete with instructions on how to do them, so this is really about how I found making them.

They take little in the way of ingredients, but I found the amounts a bit vague, so have basically tried to simplify them.

I really enjoyed making them, and have made some more for october this year, they are traditionally made for the mexican day of the dead festivities which is celebrated in the beginning of November. They are made in honour the spirits of dead ancestors who are reputed to visit their relatives and our world at this time. Families make them, sometimes fill them with sweets, & and take them to the graves of relatives as gifts.

Display I made for halloween last year, with Norman, one of my skulls.

Display I made for Halloween last year, with Norman, one of my skulls.

It may all sound rather creepy, but I quite like it, it’s a nice way to feel close to ones ancestors, and its a sugary way to taking the fear out of mortality. ( try licking a sugar skull & you’ll never fear the reaper again ) 🙂

The skulls themselves are not really made for eating, it is just a huge lump of set sugar, you could try to put it in a giant cup tea, but I wouldn’t advise it.

We don’t really celebrate this festival here in the UK, but I think the moulds are great for Halloween, Last year I made two ( who I named Norman & Tebbit ) and placed them in a display, I made a few this year and placed one in a Halloween restaurant display, I’ll decorate and place the others around the place as we go through october.

2013's display using one of the skulls i made this year

2013’s display using one of the skulls I made this year

I have included a link to the company that sell the mould below, or you could just find them online somewhere else, you might get a bargain on ebay like I did !

What I like about the skulls is that you can decorate them how ever you want & use your warped imagination. I was inspired by the fabulous colourful mexican decorated skulls last year, but decided to move towards a more gory creepy design this time. I have just shown how to make the base, the rest is up to you… go nuts and be really creepy, scare the shhhhsugar out of everyone and get your spook on !  ( I’d love to see them )

Skulls made in 2015 for Biscuiteers shop displays

YOU WILL NEED:

A Mexican sugar skull mould. ( I used an XL mould ) click on link to buy, Front and back moulds are sold separately on this site.

A bowl

Some baking parchment

a couple of 6 inch round cake cards

disposable gloves ( optional )

A warped imagination when decorating 😉

INGREDIENTS:

1.250g granulated sugar ( some say castor, but I found this easier and liked the crystalline effect )

1 tablespoon of dried egg white powder or meringue powder ( I used Meri white which is sold in most cake decorating shops )

Some cold water.

METHOD:

Place sugar and powder in bowl.

Gradually sprinkle some cold water in and mix by hand until its like wet sand you make a sand castle with.

A good guide is if you squeeze some in your hand and you leave finger marks in it’s done, if its to sticky, just add a bit more sugar.

Polish the inside of your moulds, pack the sugar in one half and smooth off at the top.

Tip out like you are making a sand castle, I found it easier to turn it onto a cake card covered with baking parchment.

Do the same with the other half.

Leave both halves 24 hours to set.

When set you can pick them up, the inside should still be soft, scoop out the inside with a spoon, leaving about half an inch for the structure on the outside.

leave to dry for another 12 hours.

make a batch of royal icing from this blog. (click here for link)

Stick the two halves together ( fill with sweets for a spooky Halloween suprise )

Leave to dry, then go nuts and decorate however you like 🙂

METHOD GALLERY:  a step by step picture guide.

click on any image to enlarge.

© The cake-shaker 2013