Pretty cupcakes using Sugar Sheets from Craft Company - a review

Recently was given the opportunity to carry out a review post for the Craft Company, an on line company which specialises in cake baking and cake decorating products. I had to choose £10 of goods for review so after much browsing on their website I plumped for a selection of sugar sheets. I have never used sugar sheets and was intrigued as to how they would perform in a domestic setting.

As regular readers of my blog will know I am not a fantastic decorator and prefer a more homestyle form of decoration for my bakes, the sugar sheets looked like something that might be useful and where a little different from the usual, when I am decorating I tend to use fondants and cutters.

Butterfly printed sugar sheet

Red polka dot sugar sheet

Pink blossom printed sugar sheet

The delivery service from the Craft Company was excellent and my chosen products arrived the next day well packaged and in one piece. It was recommended to use the sheets in a warm kitchen which is what I did, I decided to bake some basic vanilla cupcakes and dress them with a simple vanilla and rose buttercream using the shapes I cut from the sugar sheets to decorate them.

The sheets varied slightly in thickness and I found some to be more difficult to cut than others and had to resort to using a meat mallet to cut the shapes with the cutter, the resultant shapes could be used to decorate biscuits, cupcakes or larger cakes. After a while the sheets did become a little more brittle so you need to work quickly to get the best results, all in all I probably wouldn't buy sugar sheets again as I tend towards a simpler finish for my cakes but think they would be useful if you had a lot of the same type of decoration to produce.

The Craft Companies website has some useful video tutorials on using this and other products so for cake decorating supplies the company is definitely worth checking out, the prices look competitive and the delivery service is good.

Pendle Hill Cakes

I love looking at handwritten family recipe books and archives, the yellowing papers which hold our counties culinary heritage, recipes which are handed down from generation to generation. I have been kindly lent by my neighbour his families recipe book which I think dates from the early 1900's and runs through his Mother's early married life and their rich local cooking and baking heritage.

Within its bounds I have discovered a number of recipes which I have never heard of before, one of which is Pendle Hill Cakes ,which would appear to be a form of a sweet biscuit. The Pendle area of Lancashire is a wild and achingly beautiful place, forever associated with the infamous witch trails of 1612, interesting given that the recipe book is from the Leyland area at least 20 miles away from Pendle Hill.

Following the recipe in the book which didn't include an oven temperature or the length of time to bake for , we have baked the Pendle Hill Cake, and if we do say so ourselves its pretty delicious and definitely deserved to baked again. The resultant "cake"  is actually  in texture a biscuit,  what is it about "up north" where everything is a cake ! Chorley Cake, eccles cake  goosnargh cake, shortcake, etc, but they aren't cakes in the traditional sense.

On my recent visit to BBC Radio Lancashire I also made an appeal for "lost" forgotten food recipes so we will have to see what other culinary delicacies turn up. I can't trace any other recollections of the Pendle Hill Cake. The recipe contains flour, meal (I am assuming oatmeal), sugar, butter, egg and a little baking powder, then baked in a hot oven. The instruction said to roll out 1/4 inch thick and cut with a round cutter. So here we are ta dah ! the Pendle Hill Cake a re found classic.

The resultant "cake" is deliciously oaty and crumbly and stores well in an airtight tin. I haven't posted the full recipe as its still work in progress and still very variable when baked, humidity seems to make a big difference to the resultant "cake".

Chive flower vinegar

At this time of year the garden is bountiful, full of promise and flowering its heart out. I have always had a passion for herbs considering them some of the most useful plants in the garden, as they combine culinary and medicinal uses with great texture and form and in the case of chives stunning flowers too.

Chives, spikey pinky purple flowers erupt from the top of the plant, they are attractive to insects and attractive to me. The flowerheads are a great addition to a salad, but to capture their lovely sweet spicy oniony essence for a little longer you need to make chive flower vinegar. This lovely light vinegar is ideal in salad dressings, with fish or just to ring the changes and its such a gorgeous colour.

All you need to do is collect enough chive flowers to lightly pack your chosen jar and then select your vinegar, white wine or champagne vinegar works well as it allows the lovely flower colour to be extracted to create a pinky hue to the condiment. You leave the flowers steeping until the vinegar is your desired hue and has the required level of chive flavour. You could also make this with wild garlic or garlic chives but the resultant vinegar wouldn't be such a beautiful colour.

I am also adding this to the lovely Lavender and Lovage's Cooking with Herbs challenge 

                                          

Fluffy puff puffs - gourmet marshmallow review and giveaway !

Recently I received a small box in the post and was intrigued as to its contents, it was a light as air. I was pleasantly surprised as to its contents having agreed to the review I had forgotten that I was expecting a delivery from Fluffy puff puffs, the Gourmet marshmallow company. I was sent four flavours to sample, now I'm not a real fan of commercial marshmallows, the pink and white one's you see in the shops as I don't think they taste of any thing, well that's were Fluffy Puff Puffs differ. 

Our sample pack contained

• Lime Punch
• Love currant & white chocolate
• Raspberry & white chocolate
• Sugar & spice

You could really taste the flavours in the mallows, berry, chocolate, spices, unlike other commercially produced mallows which are full of rubbish , these are totally different, due to their being no preservatives in them, so they only have a relatively short shelf life of 6-8 weeks and the texture is also so very different too. There are loads of other flavours available plus seasonal variations, here are just a few to tempt you

• Key lime and ginger pie
• Salted caramel
• Dark chocolate peanut butter drizzle

Made using the finest ingredients, including Belgium chocolate, these mallows are artisanal, gourmet, decadent and above all very delicious.

Luckily for you Fluffy Puff Puffs are  allowing one of you to taste their delicious mallows too. The prize will feature two flavours, white chocolate peanut butter drizzle and the new Raspberry mallow.

How do I enter the Giveaway?

• Simply follow the instructions on the Rafflecopter widget below. 
• To be in with a chance of winning you must complete ALL the required fields. 
• All entries will be checked and verified before a winner is announced.
• You can increase your chances of winning by Tweeting on a daily basis.
• Rafflecopter will pick a random winner.
• The competition runs from 10/06/13 to 30/6/13 .
• If you win, you MUST send me your delivery details before 12pm on 01/07/13, or the prize will be passed to the next person drawn.
• Please see the Terms and Conditions on the Rafflecopter widget for the rules and more information.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

                            


                                                         

No knead bread

I was reading an article last week in the Saturday Times about essential kit in a foodies kitchen, needless to say our kitchen contains quite a few of the items quoted, it also mentioned about having a recipe for "no knead bread" which reminded me this was something I have been  planning to give a try for along time, the original no knead recipe was first published in 2006, I think in the New York Times. The internet is littered with recipes all much the same so I am going with the classic. So here we are a week later and our first foray into no knead baking is cooling in the kitchen.

The idea is that rather than knead the dough to activate the gluten, time does the hard work for you something that is lacking from many modern bakes, you are aiming for an artisan holey style loaf not a fine crumb structure, the resultant bake is rustic and humble. I like it and its ideal to serve as bruschetta, with oils and vinegars and along side salads.

The mix should also be able to cope with substituting different flours, so next time I might have an experiment. I'll let you know how I get on.

Ingredients

• 3 cups bread flour
• 1 tsp of dried yeast ( quantities vary and this will depend on whether you are using dried or instant acting yeast)
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups water
• You are also going to need a large cooking pot with a lid, I used my cast iron Le Crueset, but you can use Pyrex, etc.

Method

• Mix all the above in a bowl with a wooden spoon, try not to be precious as soon as its mixed leave it alone. Cover with film ( I use a shower cap) and leave for 12 - 18 hours or so in the kitchen.
• Return to your dough and see that it has risen and nice a bubbly.
• Turn onto a heavily floured surface or tea towel and using well floured hands or a scraper form into a rough ball, don't worry the dough will be very sticky and loose.
• I then placed mine in a baking parchment lined proving basket ( or use a bowl) for about 30 minutes
• Meanwhile preheat your oven to 230C / 450f , once up to temperature then place your baking pot with lid to preheat for about 30 minutes
• Now place your dough with baking parchment in the pot and replace lid, put in oven and bake for 30 minutes with the lid on, remove lid and then bake for a further 15 - 30 minutes until golden brown.
• Remove bread from oven and allow to cool on a wire rack.

Next time I might allow the dough to have a longer second rise ( up to 2 hours) as per the classic method and also may be reduce the quantity of yeast initially added.

Lancashire Summer and wow what a week !

I don't normally do a post without food pictures, recipes and the like, but I just felt the need to jot down what a busy week its been for Lancashire Food this week. The week started pretty calmly with the start of Slow Food Week, we have been working with Slow Food UK on their ark of Forgotten Foods and creating a post for their website and the blog about Goosnargh cakes. 

I then found out that we had a our tomato ketchup recipe featured in Modern Vintage Magazine, a popular online  vintage magazine.

On the same day we also received notification that the recipe for Chocolate courgette spelt cake (featuring Agave nectar) was to be used by the Groovy Food Company in their competition from the Clandestine Cake club.

Midweek, we also took part in our first live Google+ hangout with Booths and their #BoothsCookalong and had the great pleasure of virtually hanging out with non other than Edd Kimber, Winner of the First series of Great British Bake off , whilst the chef Rob produced delicious Trout, Formby asparagus and pico de gallo in their store in Media city. I just love how Booths have embraced modern communications despite being a very long established family grocery company.

Last but not least we had an email from non other than Jamie Oliver's production company requesting assistance in seeking out another "forgotten" Lancashire delicacy. So as you can see its been a busy week and remember that this is our hobby. So seeing its such beautiful weather here in Lancashire, were having a day off today ! and a trip to the seaside.

Keralan King prawn curry

Now that finally we have some warm weather I have a craving for a creamy fishy curry, this Keralan inspired curry is aromatic rather than hot hot spicy and is wonderful with any white fish or king prawns, using coconut oil and coconut cream or milk it tastes tropical and is ideal served on a warm summers evening in the garden. Quick to pull together and mostly from store cupboard ingredients it's a favourite in this household. The recipe is inspired both by a Nigella recipe and also Anjum Anand's Spice Tailor coconut curry.

Ingredients

• Firm white fish (hake or similar) or raw king prawns (1 large fillet or about 20 prawns)
• 2 tsp curry powder or tumeric ( I prefer curry powder)
• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• 1 large onion, sliced very finely into half rings
• 1 large fresh red chilli - de seeded and very finely sliced
• small piece of fresh ginger - peeled and grated
• Good pinch of freshly ground cumin
• Coconut milk or coconut cream ( I have used both and both work fine ) - 1 tin
• 1 tbsp tamarind paste (I got mine from Foxs Herb and Spices)
• Fish stock powder - about 1 good tsp ( I use Essential cuisine)
• Fresh coriander leaves to finish
• Sea salt
• Lemon or basmati rice to serve with

Method

• Firstly chop your fish into chunks if using and then marinate in some of the curry powder
• Melt your coconut oil in large frying pan and gently cook without colouring (tip sprinkle with a little salt as this makes the onions sweat rather than browning) until softened.
• Once the onions are softened add the finely chopped red chilli and the grated ginger, cook for a few minutes, then add the remaining curry powder, cumin and tamarind paste and cook for a few more minutes.
• Now add the coconut milk or cream to the pan and fish stock powder, if necessary add a little water to get your desired consistency of sauce, stir and simmer , taste for seasoning.
• Add the fish to the sauce and cook for a few minutes until cooked or your prawns are pink , do not over cook your fish, it only takes a few minutes to cook.
• Serve with rice and roti and serve sprinkled with fresh coriander.

Check out an earlier post for a roti recipe 

Cheese of the Month

Lancashire Food has decided that as inspiration to encourage you to buy more British Cheese and to try something different, we are starting a monthly cheese club. We are really pleased to announce that we are linking up with Karen at the lovely Lavender and Lovage blog in this campaign to get you to buy more British Cheese.

We have a lovely logo too, kindly designed by Mr Lancashire Food also know as Sixes and Seven design house. 

So every time we are buying cheese we will attempt to purchase something we haven't tried before and blog about it, of course keeping it from within the UK, I am going to try were possible to feature Lancashire Cheese's too. Its also really important that if at all possible that you purchase your cheese from independent cheese shops, market stalls, cheesemongers and deli's, outlets such as these are much more likely to have a better selection of artisan local cheeses and know the provenance of their stock. Luckily near to me I also have the wonderful regional supermarket chain Booths who are also great supporters of British cheese, other favourites are Liverpool Cheese, Pats Cheese stall on Chorley Market and The Cheese Shop @ Botany Bay.

So follow our adventures in cheese and take a tour round the fantastic produce of the British Isles.

Kickass Cheddar

Is an extra mature strong cheddar cheese coated in black wax and proudly made in Chipping Lancashire by Procters Cheese, what sets Kickass Cheddar apart from other Cheddar style cheeses is the fact that is a creamy cheese but with a pronounced cheddar flavour. The Cheese has a mature, nutty bite but a unique smooth texture. 

This cheese is hot off the press ( well cheese press) as its only been being sold for the last few weeks as it official launch was at the recent highly successful Lancaster Food Festival and its already picking up fans locally and from far a wide.

Available in good local cheese shops, delis and at farmers markets this a great cheese to search out. Its avaliable in 3kg deli wheels, 454g cheese bombs and 200g truckles (love that word !), I was kindly supplied with some truckles to play with by Procters after initially tasting the cheese at The Cheese Shop at Botany Bay.

The cheese makes a great sandwich cheese for a ploughmans and we loved it in our "rabbit" - that's mushrooms gently fried in a little oil or butter, you could add garlic too (wild garlic would be ace) and then melt your cheese, sprinkle with a little thyme and serve with toast. A great breakfast or lunch dish. 

Ramshackle

This month sees our first foray into sheep's cheeses, Ramshackle is a soft sheeps cheese made by Leagrams Organic diary in Chipping, hand made and encased in a cute red wax coat. Soft and crumbly the lovely young cheese has plenty of creamy character as sheeps milk is rich in lactose and fats and is gorgeous spread on warm crumpets, oatcakes or crumbled over salads.

Leagrams was the creation of the late Bob Kitching a true artisan cheesemarker who is sadly no longer with us, but his wonderful legacy is his fabulous range of cheeses , this being one.

I appreciate that if you don't live in Lancashire it may be difficult to get hold of this or another of Bobs creations such as the what I call "Baby Lancashire cheese" day old curd, but try one of the other sheeps cheeses avaliable locally to you.

These soft curd cheeses are a favourite of a number of local chefs, so much so that Great British menu favourite Nigel Haworth uses it in his curd cheese and onion pie which is a regular menu feature in his Ribble Valley inn pubs.

Kidderton Ash

This months selection ventures outside the county of Lancashire and is a cheese that is produced in Cheshire by the Ravensoak diary, marketed by Butlers Cheese (of Lancashire), this delicious handmade goaty cheese is an  outstanding goats cheese in my humble opinion.  Kidderton Ash is log shaped and features a delicate creamy flavour which when young is firm but as it ages it goes more gooey and creamy. Sprinkled with charcoal ash prior to maturing, this creates a snug coat which can be appreciated when the cheese is sliced.

The contrast of textures can be enjoyed from the soft white coat, the firmer charcoal ash layer and then the soft luscious goats cheese in the centre, nice and creamy and oozy when more mature. Made from local pasteurised Goats Milk the tiny  diary which is close to Nantwich was founded by Sarah Allwood in 2003.

Home to many other goats cheese such as  Ravens oak and Guernsey gold, all created by head cheesemaker Katy Hollinshead , the soft curds from the goat's milk are ladled by hand into the cheese moulds and drained before being dusted with food ash and left to  ripen slowly, the silky white mould coat blooms through the ash and creates and outstanding goat's cheese with a delicate yet distinctive creamy flavour.

We loved it especially on a croque monsieur of Kidderton ash, ham and spring onion served alongside a fresh green salad dressed with balsamic vinegar.

Bowland Cheese

My selection for this month is Bowland cheese, a variant of Lancashire cheese which is mixed with apple, cinnamon and sultanas prior to being molded into rounds. It is has a distinctive cinnamon coating and a sweet salty flavour, nicer than it sounds. I like it served with plain oatcakes. 

Bowland Cheese is a relatively new style of Lancashire cheese created by David Williams from Cheshire who's family had a delicatessen in Sandbach, originally created on a small scale , the idea spread and it is now commercial produced by several Lancashire diaries and is available all over the country.

The name Bowland is after the Forest of Bowland and area of outstanding natural beauty in Lancashire and reputed to be the area of the country where the Queen would like to retire to. The area has always been a royal hunting area and still has many shooting areas within it and the Queen visits privately most years. Who can blame her the area is stunning and the food amazing in this area. 

Leigh Toaster 

Now for those of you not in the know Leigh is a town near Wigan (of the pier fame) and in days gone by a place apparently famous for its variety of toasting Lancashire Cheese, apparently in the 1600 and 1700's large quantities where exported to London. 

Dewlay,  a Lancashire cheese manufacturing company  have revived this beloved variety of Lancashire cheese so we can all experience its claim to fame. It is made from locally sourced milk and is carefully matured until reaches the desired taste and texture.  Both tasty and creamy varieties of Lancashire Cheese toast well, but Leigh Toaster is in a league of its own , its a softer creamer variety of cheese and melts in moments under the grill and is deliciously still a Lancashire cheese at heart.

Here is a classic cheese on toast grilled until slightly golden , with just a splash of brown sauce (homemade) to make life more interesting still.

Double Gloucester

Karen's first Post can be found here she knocked up a great snack dish not dis-similar to my dish  with a lovely Double Gloucester cheese. Karen also tells you about how this cheese is made and its history. So pop across and read what she has to say !

                     

        

Garstang Garlicky Goats Cheese

Our first try something different cheese is a Garlicky Goats cheese made in Garstang, this firm creamy cheese is flecked with garlic, which packs plenty of punch and off sets most of the goatyness of the cheese, delicious served with homemade bread or crackers. We purchased the cheese from Pats Cheese stall on Chorley Market , a great cheese stall which supplies some great local and international cheeses. 


                                                

Rhubarb and vanilla curd

We grow several varieties of rhubarb in the garden and this year is obviously a good year for this plant as they are rapidly out growing their allocated space. In search of recipes which use this bounty (otherwise known as a glut) I came across several recipes for fruit curds, I love lemon curd particularly in victoria sponge cakes so I thought I would have a go with a rhubarb curd, the addition of vanilla due to wanting to the rhubarby tang with a mellow spice, vanilla has a natural affinity to rhubarb.

The curd colour is variable as it depends on the starting colour of your rhubarb, early forced rhubarb will give a delicate pink curd, but if you are using later season it will come out a greeny orangey red, feel free to change the colour with grenadine or food colour  if you want a more red / pinky curd.

Its also a great way to use up any excess of homelaid eggs which from time to time (particularly if I have forgotten to take eggs into work).

Ingredients

• 600g rhubarb , washed and chopped up into chunks
• 4 eggs - free range
• 200g butter
• 4 tsp cornflour
• 175g caster sugar
• 2 vanilla pods, cut and stripped of seeds ( you could use paste)

Method

• First you need to juice the rhubarb, I did this by using my food processor to chop very finely and then strained the resultant mush through a sieve and collected the juice in a bowl.
• Now put the eggs, butter, cornflour and sugar, vanilla seeds in a large pan and the rhubarb juice over a very low heat whilst whisking until the butter has melted and all the other ingredients have been well incorporated.
• Continue to stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture thickens and begins to coat the back of your spoon like thick custard, this could take 15 - 20 minutes
• Remove from heat and sieve to remove any eggy lumps and bits of rhubarb so you have a smooth curd
• Cool in the fridge and then pot into sterilised jars , this recipe makes about 2 normal sized jars. Store in the fridge but use within a week or so.
• Delicious spread on scones, toast,crumpets or in cakes.

I am also linking this up as part of Calendar cakes over at Dollybakes and Laura Loves Cakes 

                                                                     

Tiramisu cake for Baking the Books ! - South Lancashire Clandestine Cake Club at Ebb and Flo Books, Chorley.

             

Here at Lancashire Food we like to support and promote local businesses and as I also love a good book, so  I was delighted to hear that an independent bookshop was opening in Chorley which is in my patch Clandestine Cake Club wise.  Dianne the lovely owner of Ebb and Flo immediately agreed to host one of our meetings even though at this stage she didn't have an actual shop and the shop was some months away.

Roll the calendar forward and here we are holding our "Baking the Book" event in the cute newly opened bookshop. The shop has a range of books specifically selected by Diane 

to offer a selection of interesting reading for all customers and for them to discover books they didn't know they wanted or, perhaps, that even existed. Customers are encouraged to browse, sit, smell, touch and hold the books, have a cuppa and chat about books. The shop also has inspiring areas for children, such as a den and craft room. 

As well being a great book shop Diane is keen to hold bookish events as well and has a great whats on section on her website, so there is plenty going on !

We are here with a theme of baking a recipe from our favourite cooking or baking book, my bake was a Tiramisu Cake from Fiona Cairns "The Birthday Cake Book".

We all had a great time and loved the new bookshop and I am sure lots of us will pop in the next time we are in town. Oh and just so you know Dianne stocks the Clandestine Cake Club cookbook. We had a great selection of cakes inspired by books or taken from our favourite baking books, check them out !

Lemon diary sponge

Vegan carrot cake

Strawberry & marscapone swiss roll

Coconut & Lime Cake

Blueberry, peach and amaretto cake 

Chocolate chilli cake

Coconut layer cake

Victoria Sponge

Lemon Drizzle Cake

Date & Walnut Cake

Iced Lemon Curd Cake