Cake & Bake Show

Today I've been at the Cake and Bake Show at Earls Court. The Cake and Bake Show is apparently the 'first live event dedicated to cakes, breads and the art of baking!' As I'm in the midst of moving house at the moment I thought I'd just pop down for a couple of hours and then get back to my packing...but six hours later I was still there and the packing had fallen by the wayside.

After a less than auspicious start, there was a bit of a queue debacle outside, I had a great day! When I arrived at 10am there was a MASSIVE queue to get in but that is probably testament to how popular baking has become in the last few years. In the Cake and Bake programme official statistics indicate that the market has almost doubled in the last 5 years and is up nearly 20% in the last year alone.

So what did I get up to at the show? Well on arrival I was lucky enough to get a seat in the 'Cake Kitchen to watch Eric Lanlard create a Carribean Chocolate Tart from his latest book - Tart it Up! Eric's top tips were as follows:

1. Make sure you have an oven thermometre as ovens can be 20-30 degrees off
2. Add a little glucose syrup to your ganache to give it a nice smooth finish.
3. You can flavour your ganache, Eric added vanilla, cinnamon and star anise but you can add anything you like...I quite fancy orange.
4. You can buy ovenproof clingfilm which is better than greaseproof paper for lining a pastry case as it gets into the corners and doesn't cut or indent the pastry.

After Eric I had a ticket for a classroom session with Paul Barker from Cinnamon Square. Cinnamon Square is a bakery offering bread and cake classes in Hertfordshire. Paul demonstrated a Panetonne for us. It turns out panetonne is quite difficult and time consuming to make...about 4 hours in real time! It also involves different kneading techniques due to the fact that the dough starts of quite dry and then becomes a wet dough with the addition of sugar and eggs. Paul's top tips:

1. If a recipe indicates that you need fresh yeast, you can use half the quantity of dry yeast (e.g. 40g fresh = 20g dry). Doves Farm do a good quick yeast.
2. When kneading a white bread it will need 10-12 minutes of good kneading. Wholemeal will need longer.
3. To test if you're dough is sufficiently kneaded do the 'Window Pane' test. If you can stretch your dough thin enough to see your finger through without tearing then it's ready.

Next up was Jo Wheatley, winner of the Great British Bake Off. Jo demonstrated a Chocolate Mud cake from her recent book - A Passion for Baking. Jo did seem a little nervous which is hardly surprising given the number of people watching. Jo demonstrated a variety of ways to decorate her mud cake including standing matchmakers or chocolate fingers around the sides and topping with raspberries, malteasers or smarties. Jo's top tip:

1. Soak an old tea towel in water and then pin it around the outside of your cake tin, this will help the cake to rise evenly.

After three demonstrations it was time for something a little bit different - a Betty's Baking Bliss session. The Betty Crocker team had their own baking area where visitors could bake along using Betty Crocker products. I joined a Caramel Cupcake session. We used the packet mix to make the cupcakes and then watched a piping demonstration. Although this was really simple stuff and there is no substitute for baking from scratch, this was a fun session as it was a chance to get hands on...the finished product didn't taste too bad either!

After Betty it was on to probably my favourite session of the day with Mich Turner of the 'Little Venice Cake Company'. This was yet another chocolate recipe involving ganache...as the Cake Kitchen host Alistair Appleton (him off Cash in the Attic) pointed out, today was an 'extravaganza of ganaches'. Mich made a 'Chocolatey Cherry Cake' using the Little Venice recipe which they use in all their celebration cakes...I'll definitely be giving this one a go! Mich's top tips:

1. Take your time when making cakes. You can't overbeat the sugar and the butter whilst creaming...the fluffier the better...this could take 10 minutes or more. Then add your eggs really slowly a bit at a time.
2. If you make ganache you can leave it to set. This can then be whipped in a mixer and piped. If it's a bit too rich or to sweeten it up you can add ganache to buttercream for piping or filling cakes.
3. If you want a deeper vanilla flavour, use vanilla paste instead of vanilla extract.

After Mich Turner I was starting to think about heading home...partly due to the fact that I was so hungry and thristy. The queues for the food stalls were also huge and I didn't really fancy spending half an hour waiting. However, when I was heading towards the door I happened upon Tom Herbet's session in 'The Bakery'. I'm glad I stayed as he was really entertaining and I've never really had the urge to make a sour dough loaf before but after his demonstration I think I might give it a go. I also ended up sitting next to Cathryn, John and Sarah-Jane from this year's Great British Bake Off. In the next couple of months keep your eyes peeled for Tom's new baking and butchery school which he is opening along with his brother Henry in the new year. By this time I was a bit tired for top tips but here are two:

1. Use the best quality ingredients you can afford.
2. Invest in a bread scraper as they're invaluable and only cost about 2 to 3 pounds.

Other than the demonstrations and classes there were also wedding cakes on display such as the one above from Rachelle's Beautiful Bespoke Cakes, an edible beach competition where all the competition entries were on display, book signings and exhibitors from all sorts of cakey companies. Other famous names at the show included Peggy Porshen, Paul Hollywood, Richard Bertinet and Edd Kimber. Sadly there wasn't time to see them all. Mary Berry is also the star attraction tomorrow.

There were plenty of exhibitors ready to help you part with your money...but I came over unusually frugal and bought very little. I did however invest in a fab book called 'Great Cake Places in London'. It's got sections on Cupcakes & Bakeries, Coffee & Cake, Afternoon Tea, Wedding Cakes and Chocolate & Sweets, not to mention a section of recipes. I will now have to start working my way through!

The Cake and Bake Show was certainly worth a visit and if you couldn't make it or don't live near London then the good news is there will be a Cake and Bake Show in Manchester in April 2013! Top tips for anyone going tomorrow:

1. Take your own lunch and drinks
2. Be prepared for the queues outside upon arrival
3. If you want to join in with a Betty Crocker baking session head straight there when you arrive to register for one of the 5 sessions throughout the day...they book up quickly.
4. If you can't get a seat in one of the demonstration theatres...just sit on the floor at the front...that's what everyone did today.

Have fun! :-)

Nielsen-Massey Masterclass with Eric Lanlard

On Wednesday evening I was very excited to be invited to a vanilla workshop with master patissier Eric Lanlard which was hosted by Nielsen-Massey fine vanillas.

It was also my first visit to Cake Boy...and it won't be my last as I only live 10 minutes down the road! When we arrived we were greeted with the wonderful aroma of vanilla and the tables were decorated with beautiful orchids...vanilla pods are actually the fruit of an orchid...something I didn't know!

There were also some gorgeous nibbles, all made with a hint of vanilla. There were sweet and savoury offerings...a top tip is to use vanilla in your savoury dishes as it cuts through acidity. It was therefore perfect with the little shot glasses of gazpacho. You can also use vanilla to cure fish and Eric recommended adding it to your pumpkin soup!

My favourite was this combination of raspberry and pistachio mousse...it even had a little macaroon in the bottom of the glass.

I always use Nielsen-Massey vanilla in my bakes and I was glad to hear I'm in good company, as so do all the top bakers. At the beginning of July I conducted a blind taste test creating mini cupcakes using Nielsen-Massey vanilla and mini cupcakes using vanilla essence. The pure vanilla extract won hands down and you can check out the results here.

Whilst we were at the masterclass, there were three different types of vanilla laid out in front of us...Nielsen-Massey bean paste, Nielsen-Massey pure extract and an artificial flavouring. You could really see...and smell the difference but interestingly 98% of factories worldwide use vanilla flavouring in their products.

First of all Eric spent some time explaining to us about vanilla...it was good to see that it was something he was passionate about as he was very knowledgable. Eric even went so far as to arrange a visit to the Nielsen-Massey factory on a trip to Chicago.

Then we got to the baking...obviously my favourite bit...which kind of goes without saying with a blog name like 'Laura Loves Cakes'! Eric demonstrated for us a Gateau Fraisier, a traditional patisserie made with sponge, creme mousseline and strawberries. We were shown each step of how to construct the gateau and to remove it from it's ring, Eric used a blowtorch...apparently a good place to get a blowtorch is B&Q! The finishing touch was marzipan on top, it was hand crimped around the edges and finished with the blowtorch. You may sometimes find that the marzipan on a Gateau Fraisier is green. Finally, the word Fraisier was expertly piped in chocolate on top along with a border...et voila...a gorgeous gateau!

So what were Eric's top baking tips?

1. Take your time - when creaming butter and sugar together it takes longer than you think! The good news is you can't overbeat it.
2. Baking is like chemistry - you need to be precise. Mary Berry always advocates this too.
3. Always sift your flour
4. Ensure your ingredients are at room temperature.
5. Never leave your eggs and sugar sitting together - the sugar starts to cook the eggs!
6. If you have been storing your self-raising flour for a while it can lose it's va va voom, so just add a little baking powder to it before using.

After Eric's brilliant demonstration we were given a bag full of baking goodies...including of course some Nielsen-Massey vanilla. All I need to do now is come up with a recipe inspired by Eric's Gateau Fraisier! We also received a copy of 'British Baking in 2012' a lovely little book full of delicious, easy to make recipes. You can buy a copy of the book in Sainsbury's for £2.99. I also have to admit that I ate the delicious vanilla cupcake below as soon as I got home! :-)

So to finish off, here are a few facts about vanilla and how it reaches us ready for baking!

1. Madagascar is the world's largest producer of vanilla. It also produes the finest vanilla. Other producers include the Seychelles, Mexico, Uganda, Indonesia and Tahiti.
2. Vanilla pods are the fruit of an orchid and each one has to be fertilized by hand.
3. It takes around 7-8 years before a vanilla vine will produce well.
4. Each vanilla flower opens for only part of one day - if it's not pollinated on that day, no pod will be produced.
5. 6-9 months after pollination the pod turns from green to yellow and is ready to harvest.
6. A curing process is then undertaken. The pods go into an oven for 24-48 hours, they're then spread in the sun, gathered in overnight and wrapped in a blanket to sweat, spread in the sun, gathered in...and so on.
7. Finally, they are stored in racks to further develop the flavour. This curing process can take between 3 to 6 months.

Who knew that it took so long to get one vanilla pod! And finally to leave you with a bit of vanilla trivia...the bean seeds that we often see in ice cream etc are purely cosmetic...they have no flavour, they're simply exhausted vanilla bean specks!!!

Strawberries & Cream Layer Cakes and Nielsen-Massey Product Review

It's that time of year again...Wimbledon starts tomorrow, so what better way to get into the swing than with individual strawberries and cream layer cakes. These are lovely little cakes that I've been looking forward to making for ages. They also gave me the ideal opportunity to use and review Nielsen-Massey vanilla samples that I have been sent. So I'll start with the review and then move onto the recipe...

I felt that to give you an honest and unbiased review I ought to do a blind taste test to compare Nielsen-Massey's premium vanilla extract with vanilla essence...is it really worth going the extra mile and using vanilla extract in your bakes? So without further ado I whipped up 28 mini vanilla cupcakes, half were made with vanilla flavouring/essence and half with Nielsen-Massey vanilla extract. I then found 14 willing volunteers who took part in the taste test, they ate one of each cake without knowing which was which.

Each tester was then asked to pick a favourite if they could taste a difference. And the results... 11 picked the Nielsen-Massey vanilla cupcake as their favourite, 2 picked the vanilla flavouring and 1 said they couldn't taste the difference.

So the results were fairly conclusive. My favourite quote from a tester was that the cake with the extract gave 'more of a vanilla experience'! Many testers also commented on the fact that the flavouring tasted and smelt more chemically and left an after taste, whereas the Nielsen-Massey product was more natural. I guess this is due to the fact that the extract is made with finest quality vanilla beans.

You can buy Nielsen-Massey vanilla products in many supermarkets and at Lakeland but one thing you will notice is the price differential between buying vanilla essence but as Mary Berry always says...'buy the best you can afford'.

So if you do bake regularly with vanilla or are making a special cake, I would recommend using vanilla extract if you are able as it doesn't just add flavour, it also complements and enhances other flavours too. If you watched the last series of Baking Mad with Eric Lanlard, he actually threatened to throw one lady out of his kitchen as she wasn't using vanilla extract!

I recently made these 'Window Cookies' using Nielsen-Massey's Madagascan Vanilla Bean Paste too. They had a lovely vanilla flavour and you could see the little seeds in the dough. The bean paste can also be used in custard, ice cream and creme brulee or in any other recipe that requires vanilla.

So there we have it! And now for the recipe...

These strawberries and cream layer cakes are perfect for summer and the start of Wimbledon. It also makes a change to have an individual cake rather than a slice of cake. They're not the neatest bake I've ever made but they certainly were tasty. The cake is a sponge recipe made with vanilla extract and interestingly the recipe also included a little ground almond. Each little cake was baked in a mini cake tin. However, if you don't have mini cake tins it is still possible to make these. You can just make a regular large sponge and then use a circular cutter to cut out sponge rounds which can be stacked.

Once the mini cakes were baked, each one was split into three. These are easy to assemble, just whip up some cream with a teaspoon of vanilla extract and thinly slice some strawberries. I started by spreading a little strawberry jam onto each of the bottom two layers and then I piped my cream on top as it gives a better finish, it's also advisable not to overwhip the cream, it should still be quite soft. Then place some of the sliced strawberries on top of the cream.

To decorate the top use a little icing sugar and make it up to a fairly stiff consistency. The icing I used here also had a tablespoon of rosewater in it. The little strawberries on top really finish it off and these can be made in advance. Use pre-coloured sugarpaste or colour your own. You need about four strawberries per cake. To make them just roll little balls of red sugarpaste into a teardrop shape and then top with a tiny blob of green icing for the stalks. To make the strawberries more realistic you can also prick holes in it with a steralized pin or a scribe. Cover the top layer of each cake with icing, leave to set for about four minutes before adding the sugarpaste strawberries. You can then put the whole thing together.

All I need now is a glass of Pimms....oh and maybe some sunshine! :-)

N.B I was sent the Nielsen-Massey vanilla products to review with no expectation but an honest opinion and I received no recompense for the review.

Ingredients

115g caster sugar
115g softened butter
2 eggs
85g self-raising flour
30g almonds
1tsp Nielsen-Massey vanilla extract

300ml double cream
1tsp Nielsen-Massey vanilla extract
200g strawberries
3 tablespoons strawberry jam
200g icing sugar
1tbsp rosewater
Red and green sugarpaste

To make the sponge, whisk together the butter and sugar, it should be pale and fluffy. Then whisk in the eggs before sifting in the self-raising flour. Finally fold in the almonds along with the vanilla extract and divide between the cake tins. The recipe suggests this amount makes 10 cakes but I would suggest dividing it between 8 tins as it seemed a little sparse between 10. One thing to note is that the instructions don't suggest greasing the tin but just in case I greased and floured each one which I think helped.

Bake in a preheated oven at 180c/160c fan/gas 4 for 15-20 minutes until springy to the touch. You can then allow to cool in the pan. To remove slide a knife around the edge of each pan. To finish follow the instructions above.

* Recipe adapted from mini cakes & other bitesize treats

Orange & Cranberry Torte

After some consideration and a good search through the recipes in Delicious magazine I decided that I would make this Orange & Cranberry Torte to email in for their Winter Bakes feature. The recipe is by Eric Lanlard and the brief for the entry was any wintery bake... their favourite pictures will be featured in the magazine...although tasty I'm not sure this one will make the cut as it's a bit... well...errr...brown! It definitely won't be winning any style awards but it did taste good with a dob of cream!!

• 350g almonds
• 350g caster sugar
• 3 tsp ground cinnamon
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 8 large free-range eggs, beaten
• 400ml sunflower oil
• Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
• Grated zest and juice of 1 orange
• 200g dried cranberries plus a handful to decorate
• 3 cloves

Heat the oven to 180c/fan 160c/gas 4. Butter and line a 23cm springform cake tin. Measure out the ground almonds, 300g of caster sugar, 2 tsp of cinnamon and the baking powder in to a large bowl.

Make a well and add the sunflower oil and eggs before mixing. Then add in the zests and dried cranberries. I used my new microplane grater (below) for finely zesting and it worked a treat! Once combined bake for 50 minutes - 1 hour. However, beware mine took a look longer... probably about an extra 20 minutes.

With about 5 minutes to go, gently heat the citrus juices in a saucepan with the remaining sugar, cinnamon and cloves. Dissolve the sugar and then simmer and cook for 3 minutes. When the cake is done remove it from the oven and pierce it with a skewer. Then pour the citrus syrup over the top. It then cools in the tin for an hour before turning out. Finally, decorate with a handful of dried cranberries and serve with pouring cream. Result... a tasty winter bake!

* Adapted from Eric Lanlard's Orange and Cranberry Torte recipe on the Delicious Magazine website.