Edinburgh Cake Ladies - East West Cake Event

In December I signed up for an Edinburgh Cake Ladies event, they are a group of bakers (not just ladies!) in the city that meet up throughout the year to share their creations each other and eat loads of tasty cake. They organise regular events with different themes and in January they held their biggest get together yet, East West Cake, where they were joined by a group of Glasgow bakers for a serious cake-off. I'd been reading about their cake exploits online for a while but this was the first time I had actually applied for a place and gone along.

Cake as far as the eye can see...

Despite it's popularity I'm not someone that does a lot of baking, though I'd like to do more. At Ballymaloe I learnt loads on the subject but back home it never seems right to bake for only one or two people. I don't have a huge family up here to feed all the cake to and I don't want to end up the size of a house eating it all! Being the office feeder has never appealed and it's also a bit science-y for me, with all the stretching proteins, bubbles of air and exact temperatures. I've always been a far more intuitive cook, before Ballymaloe I rarely measured anything and only started getting interested in the science of food once I realised it would make me a better one.

However baking is both scientific and creative and that creative side definitely appeals to me, I loved making cakes as a child and decorating them from recipes in a Jane Asher cook book. My mother still tells the story of us dancing along to the sound of the Kenwood Chef (dear lord...) and I have cooked loads of tasty cakes over the years, this time though, I was a bit out of practice.

Ahead of this cake extravaganza I planned on making an Italian cake 'Torta Mimosa' from Tessa Kiros' gorgeous book Limoncello & Linen Water. The theme was 'showstopper cakes', this one is decorated to resemble mimosa blossoms, bright yellow from lots of organic yolks, a bit like a sweet version of the Eggs Mimosa dish at Ballymaloe. I thought it fitted the bill, yes I would have time to rustle up some crystallized flowers for the top! Christmas came and went, then the flurry of Hogmanay, January was racing by and suddenly I had no time to practice a cake that required 10 eggs and a bottle of Limoncello. I consider a bottle of Limoncello a sound investment but I didn't want to risk taking something I'd never made before. What if it was a disaster, these ladies' cakes are really good...

My three layer coffee cake, with chocolate curls

Yes, I wussed out and instead made the delicious coffee cake we had at Ballymaloe. I'd made the chocolate cake that week but the differences are really only in the flavouring and icing, and I had most of the ingredients in. I baked a third layer to give it a bit more height, and added additional decoration to the top of dusted cocoa powder and homemade dark chocolate curls. The cake itself has a really intense coffee flavour, especially from the icing and cream, the sponge itself is a bit more delicate and balanced but still strong enough for a coffee fiend like me. There's no chopped or ground nuts in it, it's pure coffee, although I did add halved walnuts at the base and covered the top in cocoa and chocolate curls.

Once the cake was made (recipe in my next post), on its stand and safe in a cardboard box it was time to set off. Carrying it down from the second floor, across the icy pavements, into the car, and keeping it save driving across town was a challenge. "Not the cobbles!" I cried to my poor driver, protective of my precious cargo. Good job I wasn't going to Glasgow, my heart was in my mouth the whole time and we only drove two miles. I've since discovered the sensible thing to do for these things is buy a plastic cake carrier, then assemble it on the stand at the venue. Lakeland, here I come.

The event itself was great, the cake made it there in better shape than me after the journey and took its place with all the other fabulous cakes on display. There were all types, chocolate, chocolate and fruit, gingerbread and Guinness, Malteser, pavlova, carrot, tortes, cakes with macaroons, I could go on and on. I tried as much as possible, I managed about five or six slices, some smaller than others. After that there was no way I could eat anything sweet for the rest of the day! A sugar coma beckoned...but I still took back a huge box full of cake and we ate the rest over the week. It was nice to meet some new people in Edinburgh who were all super friendly and hugely creative with their skills and ideas. I'm definitely looking forward to the next one.

Here are some pictures of the fab cakes from the day:

This George Square cake was too good to eat!

Mine on the table

Nom nom

There's more...

...and more

The icing on this one was amazing!

Rosewater in this one was lovely

Yum!

  

Ballymaloe Day 20, 3rd February - Are the Urchins here yet?

End of Week 4 and my first week in Kitchen 2. Think I know where everything is now. I wanted to make the Brown Yeast Bread which I hadn't had a chance to make so far. Started afresh after my yeast didn't seem to work, it should fizz in the jug of treacle and water and froth like a pint of Guinness! Got that underway, then onto the Marzipan Apples, made marzipan! Which we then use to stuff some cored and peeled apples which are dipped in cinnamon sugar and baked. Loved the marzipan, would make that again as soon as possible!

I also chopped loads of mushrooms for the soup, good practice, also good practice sweating onions and cooking in the flour etc to get flavour into the soup. Bread done, soup done, apples in the oven, it was time for the eggs. I made the Smoked Salmon, Leek and Dill Frittata, but it started to get too hot underneath while the top and middle weren't cooked. Then I put it under the grill to finish it off while I got on with my French Omelette but there was so much going on it just ended up looking burnt and oily :( Left it to one side, should have taken it out the pan straight away, as a result it was definitely overcooked but once turned out actually looked okay. I made three French Omlettes, each one was not quite perfect, either the pan was too hot or too cold, argh! Rachel made it look so easy!

My Frittata on the right

Last demonstration of the week. I was tired but things got very exciting with the arrival of loads of Irish Shellfish. Langoustines, Shrimps, then several different types of Clams including Paloures, Mussels, Oysters, Periwinkles and Sea Urchin! I heard Rory ask the teachers in the kitchen, "are the Urchins here yet?" like you do. Makes me think of Oliver Twist. Anyway, before the Seafood Platter we also saw Dingle and Kerry Pie, Poached plums and Rhubarb, Banana Bread, Carrot Cake and Beetroot Cake, and a Carrageen Moss Pudding. Carrageen is a kind of seaweed you can forage for here in Ireland or buy dried and rehydrate.

It was loads to concentrate on for a Friday afternoon but enjoyed it. The plates of shellfish were particularly spectacular! And I now know how to prepare a Sea Urchin!

'Chanel Pink' Rhubarb to the left, Fruits de Mer to the right

Periwinkles

Spot the spiky Urchin

Beetroot & Walnut Cake

Ballymaloe Day 18, 1st February - This is the Life - Wine in the morning, Cake in the afternoon

Wednesday the 1^st of  February and another Theory Day. Curiously in Ireland February is considered Spring?! I am finding the theory days to be just as hard if not harder than days in the kitchen, as there is so much to concentrate on. First of all it was an early start as some of us students went to the massive greenhouses to plant some seeds. We dug some little trenches and sowed in dried peas (Ambassador is the variety) which had been saved from the previous year. The next thing they’ll grow in the same patch are broad beans but it was a bit early to sow them. En route to the green houses we saw the piglets racing towards us in a nearby field, looking for food. We fed them, they were thrilled and stuffed their faces without a snort of thanks. They are Saddlebacks I think. It was good to see them running free more to the point!

Zero table manners

Oink!

Sowing the peas

My little lettuce, 3 weeks bigger

The greenhouses

Then back to the school and after some tasty Tunisian and Moroccan Orange Cake and Fermoy Cheese it was onto the wine! A Wednesday morning with a wine tasting ahead beats any Wednesday morning going to work in the office. For this wine 'lecture', yes it's a struggle here, we had Colm McCan from Ballymaloe House again and this time John McDonnell from Wine Australia. There were loads of great wines of course including an introduction to sparkling wine and the methods of making it, Riesling - very nice I have to say, and then some reds, a biodynamic Cabernet Merlot, a Tim Adams Shiraz and a Syrah from the Rhone valley, the Guigal (the winery) Côte-Rôtie (the appelalation) 'Côte Blonde et Brune' (the name). We were supposed to have another Australian Granache instead of the Syrah but it was corked! This was a good opportunity to smell some corked wine though, smells like mouldy carpet in a damp shed or something.

John in action

It was also an introdcution to biodynamic wine, planting to the phases of the moon etc and harvesting to a different calendar and treating the vines with almost homeopathic remedies. It's interesting stuff and the wine we tried is highly regarded - €60 a bottle!!

Phew, after all that excitement there was no let up. In the afternoon we had a talk from Nood Teas about tea and the teas that are sold in the supermarket, those you get in tea bags are dust grade - what does that tell you! Their company puts proper leaves in a new sort of teabag that biodegrades - it's pretty cool. Then that was a introduction into the afternoon's demonstration, Afternoon Tea!

As ever, it was a full-on production. Rory and Pam, one of the teachers made some amazing creations. There were perfect cupcakes, meringues, different sponges, cider cake, the icing of the mega-Simnel Cake, and sandwiches served in a 'treasure chest' of a loaf of bread. There was so much going on and so many ideas to take from it and so many recipes that if done well would be amazing if you had a cafe or catering business or something. Really it was another brilliant day and we are so lucky to be exposed to this stuff day in day out, even if it is a bit exhausting!

Rory & Pam

Perfect Cupcakes

Better than the Savoy!