Chocolate!

I meant to blog about my Pastry Chef course at Trafford College last year but just doing the course, running a business, looking after a family and trying to have a life all contrived to get in the way, so I didn't. I finished year one, and a cake decorating course, in June but I'm afraid I ducked out of year two. It just wasn't feasible (see why above).

My biggest regret was not getting to work with chocolate, which would have been part of the year two course. So, just for a treat, I booked myself onto a Chocolate desserts and decorations course at Slattery's, the "patissier and chocolatier" in Whitefield, North Manchester. I was joined for the day by fellow secret tea-room host Shirley Quarmby who runs and bakes at her home in Saltaire as Chez Shamwari.

I really enjoyed the day. It was messy, fun, hard work, busy and we got to take home oodles of chocolate desserts. My family and I were completely overwhelmed by the amount (and quality) of what I arrived back with. Next time I take a course, I'm arranging to have friends round the next day to help eat all the spoils.

Under the calm supervision of Julie, and after an introduction from Mr Slattery himself (who showed us around the store and baking areas at lunchtime where, no kidding, we saw a dalek bride and groom cake ready for delivery, one white, one dark, both 2' high!), we mixed and baked (or chilled) the desserts in the morning, and decorated them in the afternoon with our own chocolate decorations. We made:

Chocolate fondant puddings (we took these home raw and ready to bake, so I've frozen mine for a future treat)

Baked White Chocolate and Raspberry Cheesecake (I took the raspberries off and froze this for future family use, the mix tasted delicious before it was baked, not over-sweet), baked in a ring mould on a base of sponge, lined on the outside with baking parchment and foil because we baked it in a tray of water to protect the eggs in the mix.

Chocolate snobinettes (or cups), creating the white and dark chocolate cups by dipping sponges covered in cling film into the vats of tempered chocolate (the school on the third floor is a little like Willy Wonka's in that there are three vats of chocolate pouring and stirring away all day long: white, dark and milk, all ready to use), then filling the cups when dry with chocolate mousse, chocolate cake, strawberries and decorating later. I was really pleased with these, although my cups could have been more delicate, they had fat bottoms.
Using the same mousse we made little Chocolate mousses in rings, with a base of dark chocolate sponge.

Chocolate and honey tarts, for which we used chocolate sweet pastry tart cases baked fresh for us by Slattery's, filled with a chocolate and honey ganache we made ourselves:

Raspberry Chocolate Tarts: we made our own sweet pastry for these, rested in the fridge before rolling out then lining a tin, baking blind, cooling and brushing with melted chocolate, then filling with raspberries and a chocolate cream custard. We chilled the filled tarts before decorating later with chocolate ruffles. I was quite proud of my first attempt at chocolate ruffles, more successful than my cigarellos. The first cigarello was more of a huge fat cuban cigar to be honest, but I did get better. We also used chocolate transfer sheets, which I've used before, but a first was spreading chocolate onto bubble wrap which gave a really unique bobbled effect, and chocolate dipped strawberries. 

I'd recommend the course for fun as much as anything else, but I was also learning all day long. Julie the tutor was immensely patient and smiley, considering how much we had to get through in a day. Worth mentioning that it wasn't a cheap day out and it was hard work, we were all shattered at the end of it. But so worth it as the bag and boxes of goodies were unwrapped to oohs and aahs and we dug into our chocolate mousses later that evening, and the following night too...

Back to school

Remember Domestic Science lessons, or Home Economics, or maybe you're not quite as old as me? It's Food Tech now. Anyway, I was too clever at school to bother with anything like that. So I did my few years before I started my 'O' Levels: boiled an egg, made toast and moved on to learn how to make flaky pastry (and turned it into a vanilla slice), baked a mackerel and made gooseberry sauce for it (how bizarre that seems now) and I've forgotten the rest. Then I moved on to more academic pursuits and a job, then another job.

So when I started selling my baking last year I have to admit to a certain nervousness. After all, I wasn't professionally trained, just a good homebaker. And there are a lot of good homebakers around, not to mention those women who've been to cake-decorating classes and regularly turn out stunning creations for family and friends.

I researched a few courses and did nothing. And then I phoned Trafford College and a very friendly tutor phoned me back and really seemed to want me on his course. I went to meet him the same day and he showed me the Pastry Kitchen, talked me through all the elements of the course (pastry, bread, hot desserts, cold desserts, cakes) and I was hooked. I signed up, paid for my uniform (yes, a real chef's uniform!) and knives, and turned up a week later for my induction.

Not all the others are seventeen years old, there are a few other "returners" like me. But I do feel old, both in the class and in the college. A few rules and regulations to get used to: no mobile phones in class (I was pulled up for texting in the first hour, oops!), no hats or hoodies, no sitting on the floor in the corridor, 100% attendance expected or they phone your parents (I'd love to see my tutor phoning my mum about my attendance!) and lots of other stuff. It all felt very odd.

And then we got in the kitchen, and everything made sense. We made apple pie and it was wonderful, no kids, no phone, no email, no multi-tasking, just baking and lots of help and advice while we were doing it. So just one more hurdle to get over: our outward bound day for bonding purposes. It does make a lot of sense to get to know each other quickly, given we'll be working together in a restaurant pastry kitchen for the next year. Even so, it sounds like we'll be getting wet doing something or other outside for the day.

My kids thinks it's a hoot, their mum being back at school. And they loved the apple pie. I absolutely can't wait for next week and our second session in the kitchen. There is a lot to be said for vocational education and making things. It can be very very satisfying.

Baking in Pyjamas

Does anyone else bake in their pyjamas, or is it just me?

My favourite time of day to bake is morning, which makes a lot of sense when we're talking about baking for an afternoon tea, meaning everything is deliciously fresh. Even better and absolute bliss is baking on my own in the morning, while the others are still tucked up in bed. Difficult because the little uns room is above the mixer, but I'm describing bliss here, not reality.

I pad downstairs still in my pyjamas, with a dressing gown or cardi for warmth and slippers on my feet. Kettle on and first cuppa of the day. Nothing happens before I have a cup of tea inside me. Radio on, cat fed, cup in hand, it's a good time for a little sit at the kitchen table, always with my back to the oven and facing the window. I have my favourite chair for reading at the kitchen table, with glimpses of the garden through the window and back door. I might sip my tea and flick through the recipes for the day, thinking through what needs to be done, what equipment I'm going to have to get out. Next, roll up sleeves, wash hands, pinny on and we're ready to go. If I get warm at any time, or for extra ease of movement, I might take the pinny off, take off the dressing gown or cardi and put the pinny back on.

Cakes baked and on trays cooling, I'm finally ready to get dressed for the day. Whether it's 9am or midday, it's my favourite way of baking. If I have to bake dressed, after I've taken the kids to school, I will do, but it's not the same lovely baking-in-pyjamas feeling.

In defence of the cupcake-maker

On Radio 4s Woman's Hour today, a piece about the cupcake:

"The Infantilisation of Food. Are these culinary developments frivolous fun, or should we be concerned that food marketed to adult women is beginning to resemble a children’s tea party? Jenni Murray is joined by Nicola Humble, Professor of English Literature at Roehampton University and author of ‘Cake – A Global History’ and the food writer Joanna Blythman."

Blimey. I'm a feminist and I make cupcakes. Maybe I should resign, either from feminism or cupcake-making. Clearly you can't be in both camps. Or can you?

Cupcakes come in for a lot of stick, considering they're just cakes with icing. But today on the radio the critics were particularly vengeful, questioning how anyone who really appreciates cake can enjoy a cupcake (I like most cakes), how pink and girly/babyish cupcakes are (have they never seen the bleeding heart cupcake, complete with fake blackberry blood oozing out?), how women would be shocked at how calorie-laden cupcakes are compared to a fairy cake (I doubt it, we're pretty good at assessing calories in foodstuffs - equally good at ignoring them and eating things anyway), how people are making huge amounts of money selling them for exhorbitant prices (probably came as a surprise to those cake-makers like me who have still to make a profit - and anyway haven't they seen the price of a coffee these days?), how plastic they are (what, even the homebaked, bespoke cupcake made with the freshest ingredients? I'll agree that the supermarket versions leave a lot to be desired). Their premise seemed to be that anyone who buys and eats a cupcake is being conned, which is pretty insulting to our intelligence when you think about it.

A small focus group (Jo's knitting group happened to be meeting this morning) were clear: cupcakes are pure escapism and in the current climate who can blame us?

I felt criticised today (shame, I love listening to Woman's Hour). How much more interesting it might have been to look at the number of women who are turning to baking (and other creative careers) in their own homes as a way of making some kind of a living when part-time jobs that pay enough to cover childcare aren't always in abundance. If you look at most cupcake shops, a lot of these small businesses will have started at a woman's kitchen table. If they're like me, that's because they're able to fit it in when the kids are at school and in bed.

For me, setting up a tiny (so far) baking business from home has been one of the most fun and creative things I've done in a while. OK some of my cakes might be pink but, having left a good career to focus on my family (after working throughout their early childhood) and, with a husband who works away a lot, there aren't a huge number of options available to me. I've created a new business and job for myself and I'm not the only one. And now Nicola and Joanna come along and criticise what we're doing. And what are they doing for a living? Being paid for talking about cupcakes on the Radio. Frankly, I'd rather be baking them or eating them than talking about them.

Vintage Afternoon Teas: born in 2010, taking our first steps in 2011

January's finally over and we can heave a sigh of relief and start to think about spring. And cakes for Valentine's Day...

A new blog for a new year and I really do hope it will be vaguely readable. Reading about cakes isn't nearly as enjoyable as scoffing them, but much much healthier. And with most people on new year detoxes or Dukan diets perhaps it's a good time of year to just dream and read.

Since Vintage Afternoon Teas was born last September we've had a lot of interest in where the idea came from, so I thought I'd start there.

My love affair with afternoon teas probably dates all the way back to my University Days in London. I was in London and so how else to while away time on a student grant but taking afternoon tea at the Ritz? (having worked in the Halls of Residence kitchens most of the summer to earn some extra cash for such treats.) My best friend Sarah and I decided that only our poshest togs would do and we went just a little over the top with the dressing up. I wore a full length green satin evening gown with long black gloves, hair up and lots of diamante jewellery. Sarah had a long black frock on with a lace jacket and a huge feather boa draped round her neck. We dragged along two game (or mad) men friends. We certainly turned heads as we entered the hotel, in fact we were stopped and photographed by American tourists. It was a spectacular tea aswell as being brilliant fun and I should add that we weren't shy about asking for extra cakes. I'm ashamed to say we stole a linen napkin as a souvenir.

Much later in life and working in Manchester city centre, I was led astray by a number of co-workers, all of whom know their cake. Foregoing drinks after work for tea after work, we sampled a fair few of the offerings at some of Manchester's best hotels, including The Lowry, Radisson Edwardian, Great John Street and the good old Midland. All good, but the best by far has to be the Lowry with I think the Midland in second place. Thanks must go to these ladies (you know who you are) for our hugely sociable tea-sampling afternoons.

More afternoon tea for my 40th birthday. Being eight months pregnant, and whale-like with it, I wasn't really in a fit state to hit Manchester's nightclubs so instead I had a few girlfriends round for an afternoon tea. Twas most enjoyable making it and eating it.

And the final stop on the road was an afternoon tea I volunteered for my little boy's school auction in spring 2010. A lovely husband bid fifty whole pounds for it as a treat for his wife, so I did my very best to make it special. When the morning came, I prepared the sandwiches, scones, cake and macaroons (english style heaps of squidgy coconut) and packed it all into a basket with a box of tea, pot of cream, jar of jam and a bottle of fizz and delivered it to the school mum who'd invited her friends for lunch. Several ideas popped into my head as I was baking the scones, one being "this is really good fun" and another being "hmm I wonder if anyone else would actually pay money for this?".

Having thrown this idea at a few friends and family members and not been laughed out of the kitchen, I happened to be chatting to a friend Mike about the idea at a BBQ in the summer and he'd been having similiar thoughts about starting a little baking business. Mike used to be a chef and knows his bread and cakes, and that's where the idea really took on a life of its own. Mike loves baking, I love baking, we've got some time on our hands and a cupboard full of vintage crockery and tablecloths, so why not just get on with it?

So here we are several months in. It's been interesting, stressful at times, hard work, dusty (I'm thinking of icing sugar here), creative, and, most of all, superb fun. Thanks so far to all our customers, friends and family who've supported us. Here's to more tea and cake in 2011!