Fridge Cake a.k.a Tiffin

Much has been made of the story that William and Kate are serving Fridge Cake at their wedding buffet.

I thought I'd share with you my favourite fridge cake [or tiffin] recipe, which people rave over.

Fridge Cake / Tiffin To Die For

250g/9oz dark chocolate, chopped
150g/5oz milk chocolate, chopped
175g/6oz butter
4tbsp golden syrup
200g/7oz shortbread or digestive or rich tea biscuits [I used Gluten Free "Tru" biscuits]
150g/5oz brazil nuts, chopped into biggish chunks
150g Craisins [dried cranberries - these give a lovely tart flavour, whereas raisins are a lot sweeter]
3 x Crunchie chocolate bars, or honeycomb, bashed into medium size chunks
1 tbsp of icing sugar for decoration
edible glitter for decoration [optional]

Method:

1. Place the dark & milk chocolate pieces into a heavy-based pan.  Add the butter and golden syrup and cook over a very low heat to melt - stirring occasionally but don't overstir
2. Place the biscuits in a freezer bag and bash with a rolling pin into rubble - don't make the bits too small though as you need a good contrast of textures in the finished product
3. Place the Crunchie bars in a bag and bash with a rolling pin into rubble
4. Using a sharp knife and cutting board cut the brazil nuts into small chunks - if find bashing them in a freezer bag makes them too small
5. Take the pan off the stove and stir in the biscuits and nuts
6. Add the craisins and finally the Crunchie rubble
7. Stir until everything is coated with the syrupy chocolate mixture
8. Pour the mixture into a 25cm/10in x 30cm/12in greased and lined baking tray and smooth the surface as much as possible, although it will look bumpy[I line mine with greaseproof paper so the pieces are easy to remove]
9. Refrigerate for two hours, or until firm enough to cut
10. Dust with icing sugar and sprinkle with edible glitter if using
11. Remove the block of cake and cut into 24 rectangles.

Serving suggestion:  enjoy with a cup of English Tea whilst watching the Royal Wedding and waving a Union Jack

Prince William has requested a "tiffin" wedding cake at the Royal Reception

Good on Wills - he's allegedly requested something very similar to a Fridge Cake or large Tiffin as one of the cakes at their Royal Buffet. It's rather touching that this was his favourite treat as a child and therefore gets onto the wedding menu.  Maybe this harks back to Famous Five-esque "midnight feasts" at Eton, which, if fiction is to be believed, usually involved condensed milk and biscuits. Some tiffin squares may have been part of the royal "tuck box" that he took back to school with him?

No doubt the media will dine out on the Royal Wedding for weeks afterwards, dissecting the food as much as the fashion. Should be fun!

Read The Guardian article: Pass notes No 2,949: Rich Tea biscuits UK news The Guardian

I vote for the Tea Party

While driving to work this morning, listening to Radio 4, I heard about the Tea Party and how this revived american-based form of taxation protest [based on the historical Boston Tea Party] is rapidly catching on in the U.K.

I had no idea what a Tea Party stands for but immediately started to make up names for what could be served at a political tea party:

Gordon Brownie

David Macaroon

Jack Strawberry Shortcake

Hazel Eclairs

all served with Alistair Darjeeling

I've since done some research on what the Tea Party movement is about and Time online says:

"Taxation has become a hot button in next month's British parliamentary election: Labour had proposed increasing the National Insurance, which opponents call a jobs tax. Conservative Party front runner David Cameron came out against it, boosting his campaign. "The [American] Tea Party movement has caught a lot of people's imagination in the U.K., and the frustrations are very, very similar," says Mark Wallace, campaign director for the TaxPayers' Alliance, which started six years ago with just a dozen supporters and now boasts 40,000 members. "A lot of people are angry about government waste, what with the scandal over members of Parliament's flagrant expenses at the cost to the British taxpayers last year. They're angry that no political party currently represents their frustrations." more here and here and here.

Any other suggestions for the Tea Party menu?

Photos thanks to Flickr.com CCL - digyesica, norwichnuts,chriscampbell and crumpart

Alcohol may trigger food allergies

As I've got older intolerance to alcohol has become a sad fact of life for me.  I had a very socially dependent relationship with alcohol from about the age of 15 [we start young in South Africa - and this was the 80's].  In years gone by summers would see me sitting somewhere outdoors knocking back G&T's, mojitos and chilled white wine like there was no tomorrow.  Winter evenings you would find me curled up on the sofa sipping a big glass of mulled red wine.

As of about 8 years ago I noticed that red wine  made my cheeks very rosy and only one glass would give me an instant headache and thirst.  Then about a year ago it got to the point where only two sips would make my face feel like it was on fire.  Sadly, in the last six months even a few sips of white wine summon the same reaction.

Hence, yours truly at the ripe old age of 45 is virtually a teetotaller.

I was very interested to see this article in the New York Times online which says that alcohol may trigger food allergies or just an allergic reaction in itself:

"Beer, wine and liquor contain histamine, produced by yeast and bacteria during the fermentation process. Histamine, of course, is the chemical that sets off allergy symptoms. Wine and beer also contain sulfites, another group of compounds known to provoke asthma and other allergy-like symptoms"

It also goes on to talk about other foodstuffs that contain histamine or encourage the body to release histamine.

My partner has over the last two years developed quite a severe allergic reaction to, what we thought was just gluten, however over time more and more things seem to set him off.  He read the article and says that most of it rings true and he'd reached the same conclusions himself with regards to many of the listed foodstuffs.  Worst of all, it seems he actually craves those things which are worst for him!  I thought the body was meant to inituitively know what was good for it and reject what wasn't?

Oh woe is us!  Eating and drinking is now potentially becoming a minefield, whereas before we didn't give it a second thought.  My theory is modern life, stress, pollution etc. etc. mixed with an aging body leads to a suppressed/over-senstive immune system which start to over-react to any perceived threat.

Any thoughts?

Photo courtesy of Flickr.com - CCL - marco varingo

The Domestic Poddess releases her Nigellapp

Interesting news today that Nigella Lawson's "Quick Collection" is No. 1 in the I-Tunes paid apps.  She says  "I am iPhone-obsessed and app-addicted anyway, so feel particularly excited about my own 'Nigellapp'.
Jamie Oliver launched his app in November last year [I missed this bit of news] and his "20 Minute Meals" also went to No. 1.

I don't own an i-Phone and have never downloaded an app. Mainly because I can't afford an i-Phone not because I don't want one. Not possessing one probably means I'm not qualified to say this but I think I'd still prefer to use a recipe from a book or on a sheet of A4 that I've printed off the internet. 

Being long sighted I have to wear glasses to read and I'd sure as hell need to don my glasses to read a recipe on a small screen.  Plus the phone would end up batter splattered and greasy non?

My all time favourite critic Jay Rayner calls the new trend for chef apps a "marketing tool". He goes on to say  in this article in the Guardian :

"You just know there was a business meeting in which terms like 'branding' and 'multi-platform' have been bandied about and the result is a cooking app.

The proof of the pudding would be in the eating, he said. "It is not the medium but the content that is important. Whizzy gadgets are fine, but if the recipes themselves aren't very good then people will not go back to them." He added that the best cookbooks are often those whose pages are stuck together with sauce, and questioned how the iPhone would deal with the hands-on, often messy, nature of cooking.
What I would love to see if someone going into the Apple store on Regent Street to explain that the reason their iPhone is broken is because they smeared pesto all over it," he said. "I think people will find when their iPhone is covered in crap, that cooking with an iPhone is not such a good idea."

Hear, hear!

What do you think of the recipe app?  Good idea, or yet another sleb chef gravy train ride?

Masterchef 2010

Congratulations to Dhruv Baker - Masterchef 2010!  He's amazingly talented, has the "palate of an angel" and is also very easy on the eye.  He's already entered into my Chef Candy hall of fame.

I really enjoyed the latest series of Masterchef which finished last night.  The format has been ramped up to conclusively test the contestants grit, determination and talent. 

For all their faults and foibles Greg and John are the perfect presenters.  Do we really want people who are groomed within an inch of their lives?  I enjoy expressing my horror at their wardrobe disasters almost as much as I enjoy the food.

My only real complaint about this series is that the contestants are forced [surely they are?] to ramble on endlessly about how much they want to win.   How many ways are there to say the same thing over and over again?  My tolerance level for any kind of repitition is low at the best of times.  We GET it OK?  We understood years ago that everyone who enters this show wants to win.  I suppose all this "stating the bleeding obvious" goes some way to padding out the programme.

I'm looking forward to seeing Dhruv in action at Taste of London in Regents Park in July.  I'm presuming he'll be there, as in previous years the winners have been spied behind the counter of a professional kitchen.

Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all

The above wisedom was imparted by Mr Nelson Mandela and never a truer word said. 

This morning I read  an interesting article in the Guardian Online which debated and experimented with the best time to add salt when cooking.

To be honest I'm still rather confused.  Any tips or experiences to share?

Photo courtesy of Flickr.com - creative commons - joyosity

Gotta love the boy

Here I was hoping that the "distaster" label in this blog would be underpopulated but it would appear not.  This weekend I went to visit a friend of mine to see her 16 week old baby for the first time.   I decided to bake my foolproof Raspberry Bakewell Cake  and it turned out just a bit too squidy in the middle. 

I've no idea why.  I did use normal flour instead of gluten free.  I've come to the conclusion that I no longer know how to judge when something is cooked when made with normal flour.  Before you ask - I did insert a skewer into the middle and it came out clean.  I also pressed down with my finger and it sprang back].  It tasted great but wasn't just so.

To change the subject.......... I've just discovered that Jamie Oliver has these "cafes" called Recipease where you can book a session to learn how to cook something and then eat it.  What a fab idea!  I like the idea of learning "knife skills" and how to make fresh pasta.  What a pity that Anthony is allergic to gluten - as that session would be my first choice.  A session would also make a great gift.

Photos courtesy of :  Flickr.com - creative commons - recipease search

Let Them Eat Cake / Qu'ils mangent de la brioche

Poor Marie Antoinette is, after her bouffant hairstyles, perhaps best known for uttering "Qu'ils mangent de la Brioche" - which is historically inaccurate on many, many levels.

Whilst London is hardly full of starving peasants it does seem to be bucking financial trends and literally eating more designer cake than ever before.

This article from the London Evening Standard reveals that cake sales are at an all time high.   I wonder are people putting off the expensive holiday and instead indulging in designer cakes?

Photos courtesy of Flickr.com / creative commons / Bev [Sugar Bloom Cupcakes] & Rosey Sugar

Latest foodie trend?

I spied this interesting article in the London Evening Standard, which predicts that eclairs are the next big thing after cupcakes and macaroons.

I'm well pleased with this, as I started making eclairs at about the age of 12.  Even before we learned how to make choux pastry in Home Economics [or cookery classes] I was making them at home.  Hailing from darkest Africa, ready made desserts simply weren't around in the 70's or 80's.  You wanted something, you damn well made it!

I love my eclairs with slightly sweetened whipped double cream and topped with good quality melted dark chocolate.  Some of the commercially produced versions feature very sweet butter icing or custard and a gooey coffee or chocolate flavoured glaze.  No thanks!

Interestingly the new trend also emcompasses savoury eclairs.  What a fab idea.  I can immediately think of cream cheese mixed with smoked salmon and capers.  Or ricotta cheese, flecks of sundried tomatoes and fresh basil.  Really, what is an eclair but a fairly bland tubular, or round receptable, in which anything can be placed.  Likewise, anything can be placed on top too, so the possibilities are endless.

Whilst researching pictures for this post, I came across some amazing photos of the Japanese take on eclairs.  The Japanese say "you eat with your eyes" - hence the artistry.

I haven't thought about eclairs or profiteroles [little balls of choux pastry] for the longest time and I feel inspired to get choux making again.

Watch this space!!

Thanks to flickr.com - creative commons