Wedding cakes, bespoke cakes and macarons
The origin of Caribbean cocoa beans Cocoa (from the Spanish word, cacao) has a long and fascinating history, stretching back at least 4000 years. The ancient civilisation of the Mayans used cocoa beans for medicinal purposes and to make a bitter drink used in traditional rituals. The Aztecs later used cocoa beans as currency, clearly […]
Lemons from Amalfi, Italy The Amalfi coast, in the Italian region of Campania, is the land of lemons! Grown on terraces, lemon trees cover the mountainsides and produce highly prized, particularly aromatic fruits. And, as a food, lemons can be found everywhere, in the glass as a drink as well as on the plate! The […]
Salted butter caramel, a deliciously irresistible combination of caramel, salt and butter, has a whole story behind it and its ingredients! Brittany salt The 14th century in France was a key period when the virtues of salt were discovered with regard to food preservation. In 1343, King Philip VI introduced the “gabelle”, a salt tax, […]
Quintessentially English What do strawberries and cream make you think of? Sitting on a grassy bank watching rowers on a tree-lined river Thames at the Henley Regatta? Sipping champagne in a flower festooned marquee at a summer wedding reception? In short, to many people, strawberries and cream mean a perfect summer’s day in England. […]
Simnel cake – to boil, bake or both? There is a delightful legend about this cake. In medieval times, regulations suggested simnel cakes should be boiled and then baked; but how did this double cooking convention come about? Well, a mythical couple, Simon and Nelly, fell out over making the cake because one wanted to […]
“Love planted a rose and the world turned sweet” … Katharine Lee Bates Fast approaching is Valentine’s Day, with its tradition of sending letters, cards or gifts, often featuring heart shapes. But who was Valentine? What is actually behind this celebration of love? And how did the traditions associated with it begin? Valentine’s Day (properly […]
If you search online for ‘Bourdaloue’, beware – you may find yourself reading about a French Jesuit priest, long sermons and chamber pots. This Bourdaloue, a pear tart, is definitely NOT connected in any way whatsoever! The tart is a Parisian culinary speciality with its origins in a small street in the 9th arrondissement of […]
I have a long-time love of French pastries. At our home, each Christmas my mum would make one of my favorite cakes—the Sarah Bernhardt—a decadent, layered and similar to a macaron. We used a rich walnut flour rather than the traditional almond, and added a coffee infusion to our meringue cream, which gave our Sarah […]
There is a real life royal story behind this cake. Back in the 19th century Queen Victoria’s Swiss born chef, Gabriel Tschumi, came up with a recipe for a very fine, intensely chocolate cake. It clearly went down well with Queen Victoria, and very likely with succeeding monarchs because our very own Queen Elizabeth, Queen […]
Many customers of mine are looking for ways to keep healthy by making small yet manageable lifestyle changes to their diet. This means I often get asked about reducing sugar when someone makes a bespoke cake, pastry, or French macaron order. When it comes to sugar, I think it is important not to discredit it […]
