The Three Tier Challenge

My first three tier wedding cake

Just like the three peak challenge, the three tier challenge is pretty daunting. It goes something like this - almost a year ago my cousin tells me that he is engaged and an excitable evening of drinks and wedding chat occurs. During this evening I offer to make the wedding cake - as the words roll off my tongue I'm thinking Jules and Rach are the bakers, not me. I don't even like cake that much, in fact when I was a child I had pavlova every birthday because I decided that I categorically hated all cake. So, a few drinks in - I thought how hard can it be?!

Fruit cake was always my least favourite of the hated cake category. Conjuring up images of dry, crumbly Christmas cake that you have to try because your gran has made it. Marzipan was always abhorred as was dried fruit and candied peel - a repulsive ingredient that tormented me as a child.

So, imagine my joy to discover that in the Caribbean they go for moist cakes filled with brandy AND rum and they blend up all the nasty fruit so that it is a boozy gooey delight! They use vanilla, almond and lemon extract and lots of dark brown sugar - the result is a delicious black cake - Trinidadian in this instance.

Not wanting to limit my cake practising skills we went for three different cakes and although I got the fruit cake out of the way early on, as the wedding day approached lemon polenta cakes and chocolate cakes were flying out of the oven left, right and centre.

In the end I settled on the River Cafe lemon polenta cake, as recommended my my favourite chef at Spuntino. It is a fool proof recipe - moist and delicious and it stays this way for several days. I now bake this cake regularly.

For the middle 9 incher we had decided on chocolate. Having tested three different recipes and not quite been satisfied I decided to head for Delia and she delivered as always. I was caked out by that point and feeling fairly confident that I did not need to practice another one - I probably would not recommend wedding cake baking without practising, but it worked! The recipe is actually an Anna Del Conte Italian chocolate nut Christmas cake - a beautiful sturdy cake that is flourless (as is the lemon cake) so you have your gluten free fan base covered. Having spent £10 on hazelnuts alone it is not the cheapest of cakes but again it is moist and lasts for several days, which is important if you are trying to minimise your stress levels.

Having done a cake decorating class with Victoria Glass earlier in the year I spent a day marzipanning, stacking, icing and decorating the cake which was actually quite therapeutic! Trauma came when we drove 4.5 hours from London to Devon and I held the cake on my lap - the cake was a weighty boy when all stacked and wrapped in icing. Amazingly (or rather because I could not reach) I avoided punching the taxi driver as we drove across London to hire a car when he slammed on the brakes and the cake slammed itself into the seat in front. All was rescued in Devon and the cake was a hit.

Success all round.

Next step - wedding cake number two and the three peak challenge.

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Pork Pies - Dan Lepard

I have always wanted to try my hand at making pork pies from scratch.
Being my first attempt i did not want to make a huge cake sized pie so i opted to follow a recipe from one of my favourite cook books - Short and Sweet by Dan Lepard.
Another plus to this recipe is that it uses a stock cube and gelatine sheets to make the jelly so you don't have to make it your self from pork bones and worry about it setting - maybe i'll try that next time!

The recipe details as well as in the cook book are available on the Guardian website here 

They take quite a while to make, you really need to get the ingredients ready 3 days before you actually want to eat the pie but the processes involved are very simple and even achievable on a hung over Sunday afternoon.

I chopped the meat ingredients up and mixed them with the spice on Saturday.

On Sunday afternoon i made the pastry, because this type of pastry is made with hot water you need to allow an hour or so for it to cool down before you can actually use it. Don't put it in the fridge though as it would get too cold and become difficult to work.
I found shaping the pastry round the jar the most fiddly stage of the process, it took a while to get used to how much you can mess around with the fatty dough, i am used to shortcrust pastry which you handle as little as possible. Once I had squashed all the folds that formed, from draping it over the jar the pastry looked like it was going to be quite tall but i found the pie shells relaxed a lot once i removed them from the jar and made a wider shallower pie.

Once filled and the lids added the pies need to chill for a while in the fridge before they are baked in the oven.
While the pies bake the meat shrinks in size leaving a gap between the filling and pastry, this is where the jelly comes in.
After cooling for half an hour the hot jelly mixture is poured into the pies through a hole in the top, the pies then need to be returned to the fridge and so won't be ready for sampling until the following day.

This recipe makes 2 generous sized pies which will take you a while to get through, they last up to 2 weeks in the fridge though.




Best enjoyed with a picnic on Primrose Hill after playing rounders!

Rachael x

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Sicily in a biscuit

'Brutti ma buoni' means ugly but good. 

It certainly does sum up this nutty, citrusy, sweet mouthful of joy, that transports you to the Sicilian shores for a moment of pleasure. Several moments in fact, if like me, you cannot resist more than one. Be careful, you will eat them ALL.

So if you are dreaming of warmer times, need to de-stress or decide if Sicily is this year's summer holiday then I recommend baking these.

There's fierce competition in the the convents across Sicily to bake the best dolci, sweet treats fit for the Pope.


Makes 24

4 egg whites
Pinch of salt
110g ground almonds
110g caster sugar
zest 2 lemons
2tbsp honey


Heat the oven to 180C and line a baking tray with parchment paper. Lightly       whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt.

Mix the almonds with the caster sugar and lemon zest and add enough of the whisked egg to get a soft paste - add the egg slowly as I find you are often left with a little. You can add more ground almonds if you do think it is too runny. Finally, stir in the honey.

Use two spoons to make small heaps of the paste on the baking tray, leaving enough space for the biscuits to spread a little.

Bake for 15 minutes until golden brown. Cool on a rack and enjoy. x

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Winter Tomato Tarts

Winter Tomato Tarts

with Parmesan short crust

New / old tins from ebay have been staring at me for two months now so here goes...

Rule - half fat to flour. I used 110g flour to 55g butter (Netherend is simply the best) with a pinch of salt and tbsp of water. Rub the fat into the flour lifting as much as possible - mum says add the water and mix with a knife - do no knead. Add some grated Parmesan if you fancy. Pinch the ingredients together, form a ball and put in the fridge wrapped in baking paper until you are ready.

Roll out the pastry and push into your tin(s). Metal tins are best as they are good heat conductors. Prick the pastry, fill with your beans to bake blind and bake on 200C for 12-15mins.

Meanwhile make you're tomato sauce, a basic sauce that can be used for many things. Slice and slowly cook an onion in olive oil, add a clove of crushed garlic. Add one tin of tomatoes, a handful of fresh tomatoes (not many around right now), chopped basil and salt & pepper. Simmer for 20-30mins. Cool.

Heat the oven to 180C and when the pastry has cooled make the filling - whisk one egg and one egg yolk, add 110ml milk/cream mix and your tomato sauce with a tsp chopped marjoram. Season. Pour the filling into your tart(s) and bake for 30-40mins until firm to touch. Eat warm.

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Jubilee Week Roundup

Pizza Oven - the beginnings - a delightful dome - reminds me of something in Florence...

Devonshire cream tea in Torbay - with ginger scones and all mind!

Marcus Wareing's banana bread - made in a jelly mould. Crinkle cut.

100% Forest of Dean wild boar salami. Satisfying.

The Silver Spoon chicken with pomegranate (and Italian dried mushrooms). Che libro!

Brustengo - another Italian dish, also known as bubble and squeak! It goes very nicely with HP sauce (sshhh!)

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