Picking your own & Preserving

Your probably wondering why I have written a post about preserving fruit on a baking blog. I like to think that baking and making pots of jam go hand in hand in more ways than one. Firstly, I think that people who bake are generally quite a nice bunch! Isn't baking all about giving and sharing? Making people happy with something thoughtful? I think preserving has the same connotations. I mean, it's a known fact that people who preserve end up giving jars and jars to friends and loved ones, partly because they like to show what they have made and partly, and more importantly because they know it makes the recipient happy.

I will never forget the time a man came to cake club. The only time in our three years that that has happened! The theme was Seven Deadly Sins and he bought a Victoria Sponge with homemade plum jam. He said it was to represent jealousy as he would be jealous of all our cakes because his was so simple. He couldn't have been more wrong. We were all blown away by not only how well baked the sponge was but by how yummy the simple jam filling tasted. The fact he had made the jam himself was even more impressive. Such a simple cake but so lovely to eat. It's another reason I think preserving and baking go hand in hand. Like baking anyone can have a go at preserving. Even if it's not quite right it's will still, on most occasions be edible. With practice it's something you will get better at and I am far from an expert, or even very experienced, but as someone who loves baking I get an enormous satisfaction putting my own jam or curd in a cake.

Homemade lemon curd and marscapone Swiss rolls

 Fresh fruit, particulary berries are very expensive, especially if you need a couple of kilo. This is where pick your own farms come in, so much cheaper and can be a great day out with the children.

       Team effort picking strawberries

When I was little I remember going to one, we spent a lovely afternoon picking strawberries in the hazy sunshine. It was a case of eat one, pick one! The taste was unbelievable, and as someone who grew up in the suburbs of London being in the country was something I savoured. It was one of those memories that made me always know that I would never be a city girl. Once I had children I knew I wanted them to have memories like that.  I'm am now lucky enough to be able to easily give them to them. The children love coming with me, especially Hudson whose seven. He's so inquisitive and wants to know as much as possible. I think I have a budding gardener on my hands! 

     Hudson helping me with the rhubarb

At the moment I have strawberry and black currant jams and raspberry curd, fruit all picked by myself and my little helpers. 

Making preserves this way is obviously seasonal but in my opinion makes it even better. After all, preserves where invented to preserve the glutton of fresh fruit so they didn't go to waste. 

 It's reassuring to know that not only will I always have a last minute gift sitting in my cupboard, but that I will always be able to whip up a simple cake at the last minute and be able to make it a little bit more special.

Cakes, Bakes and TV

It's been awhile since I last posted, but inbetween the builders starting our extension and the children being on school holidays I've actually been a busy little bee.

 Shortly after I made the Cookies and Cream birthday cake I had the opportunity to be in the audience for 'An Extra Slice'. If your unfamiliar with the programme, which I doubt unless your reading this from Mars, it's an extension of the Great British Bake Off, in where the most recently booted off contestant gets interviewed by Jo Brand and a celebrity panel talk about the programme. Members of the audience can also bring their bakes and some of these appear on the show. 

 As a member/organiser of the Clandestine Cake Club I was lucky enough to be invited by the production company to organise a group of members to bring to a filming! As a complete fan of the programme I was beyond excited. We were asked to come for the first week and the theme was 'cake', which obviously fitted us very well. I decided to make a reworked version of the Cookies and Cream cake. Because of rules regarding advertising and just incase they wanted to feature it I couldn't put Oreos on it, therefore I made my own, or should I say Bouchon Bakery's version of, they call them TKO's, it's a recipe I had wanted to try for a while and now I had a good excuse. It was a monster of a cake, and I was having kittens about transporting it on the train to London. I left it in the fridge overnight so the frosting could firm up and hold the biscuits in place. I gave a huge sigh of relief when I got to the studio and handed it over to the production team in one piece! It was pretty obvious that my cake was very ordinary compared to some others that where bought. When a lady unveiled her Tomato Soup Cake I knew it would feature. I was happy I chose this cake though, and it is slightly unusual as it has Trex in the icing, something you don't normally see. I'm really into these large layered cakes and this cake tastes delicious. I'm not going to lie though  after a day in the sun, studio lights and a train journey home it wasn't looking quite that lovely. But it still tasted amazing and the builders liked it!  

 An unexpected bonus of making this cake was that as I had a load of blitzed Oreos left over from the filling I decided to see what they would be like in marshmallows. I added them into my usual Vanilla recipe. Well viola! Cookies and Cream Marshmallows!! Complete success. The kids went crazy for them. 

 I am constantly thinking of new recipes and have so many ideas swirling around in my head. At the moment I've been busy devising them for both a Passion Fruit Madeira cake and an Apple and Tonka bean Frangipane Tart, both inspired by challenges on the Great British Bake Off. I am so nearly happy with them and when I am I will share with you, so watch this space! 

      Passionfruit Madeira in the making