Paul Hollywood Recipes

At the Cake and Bake show a few weekends ago everywhere I went I saw Paul Hollywood. Granted he is hard to miss with his glacier (or is it glacial?) eyes and silver fox looks. However I was mostly impressed with his work ethic, he seemed to spend the whole day either on stage or talking to his fans, and most of the reviews of the show mention him as a highlight.

Anyway that's by-the-by this is not about his looks or crowd pleasing ways, but his fine baking. So you may be interested to snaffle some of his latest recipes on a series of  cards everyday for a week, in the Telegraph. starting Saturday!

ps, this is not a sponsored post but something I thought all you baking fans may find interesting.

xxx

Book club cake of the month...October

This month we read 'The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared' by Jonas Jonnason. Basically, the story is about a man who is 100 years old and disappears one night after climbing out of a window...!

Sorry, I couldn't help myself. 

The aged man is Allan Karlsson who has lived a very strange and wondrous life, and the novel swings between his past and his present. He becomes involved with a rag-tag group of misfits, including an elephant, and we follow their road trip as they are pursued by gangsters and the police.

His past consists of various implausible situations, including inventing the atomic bomb, meeting Stalin and being the catalyst for the Star Wars missile programme.

This is a potted history of 20th Century world politics, told at a fairly break neck speed. At one point I thought to myself 'this is like reading a Swedish Forrest Gump,' only to reach the end of the novel and find another commentator had had the same thought...why can I never be original! However instead of 'life being like a box of chocolates' for Allan it is more like a bottle of vodka.

This was another book which split our group. I really enjoyed it and found it quite amusing, it would make an excellent indie film. However half of the group thought it was patronizing, unrealistic and badly written, although they did concede that some of the meaning may have been lost in translation. It got an average of 61/2 (I gave it an 8)

I actually made two 'cakes' for the book. The first being not a cake at all, but a vodka watermelon. (One of the characters sells watermelons.)You fashion this by making a hole in the top of the melon and then pouring vodka in at regular intervals and chilling it. I only did this for one day so there was a lot of vodka at the bottom of the slices and very little at the top...it was delicious though.

For the real cake I made Swedish chocolate balls, as the present day story is set in Sweden. I got the recipe here. They were so easy to make and delicious. The kidlets taste tested for me and have since insisted on making their own batch. As there is no cooking involved it is a great bake for kids.

xxx

Previous book club cakes of the month;

September 2012

August 2012 (unofficial)

July 2012

May 2012

April 2012

February 2012

January 2012

November

July

June

March

April

February

November 

October

September

Painted rose and hydrangea wedding cake

I made this cake last weekend for a really lovely couple who wanted a cake to reflect their wedding flowers but asked for my creative input too. I love having freedom to add elements that I think will compliment the bride and grooms choice, it makes for a lovely collaboration.

They also requested the bird toppers, but wanted to keep them as a memento of their day. So I placed the birdies on their own board, which was just sitting on top of the cake, and added a nest of hydrangea flowers for them to cuddle into.

I had a hydrangea cutter so I painted the fondant first and then cut them out, leaving them to dry for a day before they went on the cake. I decided to add some 3D interest to the cake so I included some of the cut out flowers on the sides.

They also wanted cupcakes to use not just as favours but also name places. The cupcakes didn't have to match the cake exactly but needed to have the same feel and vintagey colours. 

I did some simpler versions for the children attending the wedding.

This is a picture taken on the day by  Rosewarne Cox Photography, isn't it gorgeous? (The picture, not the cake!) You can see more sneak peeks of the lovely bride and groom here.

xxx

A tale of two cookies

I have an old Martha Stewart magazine with the best chocolate chip cookie recipe ever. I make it each time I have class, as a great afternoon snack for my students. However, it is also great baked in a cake tin to make a giant chocolate chip cookie. 

I had a request for a birthday cake recently that needed to be posted. I have tried this before, and, unless it is fruit cake, it is a massive gamble (one I normally lose). So, instead, I made a giant cookie that I covered with fondant and painted. The recipient was a fan of my work and her pal had organised this surprise...what a sweet friend!

This cookie was unadorned, and was for a very good friend who has been having chemotherapy. I can never find the right words to say in these situations (I leave that to another friend who always asks and says the right thing, but she is trained!) so I thought I would make a cake for each chemo session she has had. This is the last one and I went for a giant cookie, mainly because that's what I would want, and I can't think of a better time to eat it all yourself without feeling guilty.

I did try and package it nicely though.

Sorry I am just going to have to write giant one more time as it is amusing me...giant!

xxx