Fab idea!

Premier Foods are launching Mr Kipling’s celebration cake-sized Big French Fancy in September. I’m hoping it’s covered in the same fondant as the originals but I haven’t found out yet…it’s not easy covering a big cake in liquid fondant.

See this post if you fancy seeing some little ones I made earlier.

If you’re coming to Greenbelt festival next weekend (August bank holiday) , come to the Happiness and Chocolate workshop and give your taste-buds a challenge.

Caution: consumption of chocolate may be compulsory.

Saturday 20:00 in the Soul Space venue.

See the FoodLife page here for more info and more from Embody here.

Scrapers were the most coveted freebie amongst my fellow students when I was training to be a baker.

Think of them as spatulas but much better!

Millers and other ingredient suppliers used them as marketing tools and I had a prized collection by the time I qualified. Huge ones half the size of bucket lids for scraping out industrial mixers, strong ones with perfectly square edges for smoothing royal icing, thin ones for scraping out mixing bowls almost clean enough not to need washing, serrated edged ones for ridged finishes on gateaux… They’re so useful that my supply has finally dwindled and although the domestic market is beginning to catch on, the ones I’ve seen for sale aren’t quite bendy enough for scraping out bowls!

Recycling to make things for your own use seems even more edifying than entrusting it to someone else - see if you agree! Click on more for ‘how to’ and some tips. (more…)

If you came to the festival I hope you enjoyed it!

Click on ‘more’ if you’d like the recipe for the lemon cupcakes I made for the kids’ classes and the main demonstration.

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There’s nothing quite like making your own wedding cake - some people can think of nothing worse, but for me it was a pleasure not to be missed, an opportunity for a true labour of love fully justified! Thankfully I was on my ‘Duracell Bunny Summer Waking Hours’ (ie waking up about 5am enthusiastic about getting up and making things - I notice I’ve reverted to normal-time now!). After the first two working drawings were scrapped, the final version emerged with creative direction from Bruce. Click on ‘more’ for more pictures and details! (more…)

Heinz have decided to drop ‘baked’ and go for ‘Heinz Beanz’  - they believe it sounds more healthy. If anything the crazy z seems more zany than healthy to me but no doubt we’ll adapt. (Am I getting old?!)

I’ve just changed my name too; having married Bruce I’m no longer Sara Pike but Sara Stanley. I’ll add our wedding cake picture soon. 

Elderflower and Strawberry Cordial

I’ve been aching to make elderflower cordial every time I go out in the garden, catching their heavy scent as soon as the door’s open. Husband-to-be is less enamoured with elderflowers but suggests adding strawberries (some he’s grown in the broken wheelbarrow in the photo) which would make it Husband-to-be-friendly. A perfect match. It’s done! Wedding guests will be able to tell you how it turned out… (recipe from sister-in-law-to-be originally from mother-in-law-to-be!).

You may or may not have noticed the FoodLife page on this site…Foodolution and Embody  unite to form FoodLife, an entertaining mixture of food and positive psychology experiences. We hosted two ‘Happiness and Chocolate’ workshops at Wychwood Festival this year, identifying a Supertaster, trying out an orgasmatron,  and indulging in lovely chocolate in the process.

FoodLife Truffles - celebrating our four basic tastes (leaving umami for another time!).

Such as that there isn’t just a measure for acidity (pH), but for sweetness too - measured as the ratio of brix (total soluble solids) to acid (more info here if you’re interested).  And I am intrigued by my new knowledge of the existence of CAM exhibited in certain plants / fruits… and even more by ‘The International Society of Crassulacean Acid Metabolism’ (!) They explain here how CAM enables plants to be drought-resistant. Very clever.

The feel-good-factor of a forage in the back garden is hard to beat, especially when it adds justification for a neglect of weeds!

I’ve made a variation of the nettle risotto I mentioned in the first foraging post. I wanted to make the most of our wild garden produce so I added ransom (wild garlic), just before the pretty flowers are over and used some apple juice we put in the freezer last autumn. The bacon didn’t come from the garden, but from our Riverford Meat Box (mushrooms from Riverford too). It was eaten at its hot best so sorry there’s no picture of the finished risotto but if you’d like to see the recipe, click the read more button. (more…)