Tales of the Unexpected at Townhouse Coffee and Brew Bar, Preston

South Lancashire Clandestine Cake club has been running  for over 6 years and over the years for our 39 and counting events we have been hosted by lots of lovely venues. We have lots of favourites, one of which we paid a return visit to for our most recent event.

We have loved them all, all different in their own way. So we were really pleased when we were invited back to hold another event at this great little coffee house in Preston.

Run by the a great team we love this venue, it's so friendly and the refreshments are second to none, the Townhouse is a wonderful retreat from the busy town centre. Its so calming...

For our theme this event we decided on "Tales of the Unexpected" and we really enjoyed chatting through the "unexpected" ingredients in our cakes, great fun and some amazing combinations.

Lemon and Lavender drizzle cake containing swede. This was also gluten free

4 C's cake - included cauliflower

Rich Porter Cake - West Indian Porter

Rich Dark chocolate cake - Guinness

Citrus and Cardamon cake - chickpeas. Gluten Free

Julie's Swiss roll - Spinach

You can find the Townhouse Coffee and Brew Bar on Friargate, in Preston Town Centre

Re'velo'ution at Twin Lakes Velo Cafe for South Lancashire Clandestine Cake Club

November saw at visit to the "Twin Lakes " Velo cafe for South Lancashire Clandestine Cake Club, it was a chilly day bright but cold, the welcome was warm and friendly in this tucked away venue near the village of Croston, near Chorley.

Situated by two lakes hence the name and with a cycling theme as the area is popular with cyclists the cafe is a little of the beaten track, our members however had no trouble locating our event and arrived a wonderful selection of suitably themed cakes.

Our cakes attracted a lot of attention from cyclists and passing walkers who pop in for a warming drink or snack whilst in the area.

Our cakes included a Yellow Jersey cake, Brandy snap cake, Paris Brest, Chocolate, cherry and chestnut roulade, Tipsy Orange truffle cake, Treacle and lemon dizzle bundt, Berry and cream rings cake, Chocolate, coffee meringue roulade, Carrot and Chocolate roulade, Black Forest Circular and Clares Mum's Wheely good cake.

The lady who made the Paris Brest, wrote a little missive on her trails and tribulations on making her creation for her first cake club.

"How not to make a Paris Brest"

It may be on theme, but  35 step recipe is possibly a little ambitious to start with. Still some of the steps are pretty straightforward –eg step 21 When cooked remove from oven & leave to cool. The cake  only takes 1 hr 30 mins to complete.

8.30 start . Step 1 All ingredients assembled by 8.45. Dropped plain flour on to chair, so have to use part self raising. Also snapped thermometer Not sure it can still be used in 2 pieces.

Panada . Butter, salt, water in pan, boiling. Tick. Remove from heat . Add all flour at once. Too stiff to stir & certainly doesn’t need drying off. Add eggs one by one. Should be shiny, not dull and drop off a spoon in 3 seconds rather than 3 minutes. Add another egg

Pipe 3 rings onto greaseproof. Looks singularly unattractive. (picture available)  Just remembered in time to glaze with beaten egg. Supposed to sprinkle with 100g flaked almonds, but only about ½ will fit on.

Cook for 20mins at 180- nowhere near done. After 30 mins almonds burning, so removed. Has not risen

Almond praline cream

Boil up sugar syrup- get husband to stick finger in or guess when it is done. Beat in 8 egg yolks then 250g butter. Continue to beat for an hour to an hour and a half (resting mixer frequently to stop motor wearing out) Add almond butter. How can this still be liquid?

Assembly

Slice a very thin uneven layer off the top.  Rebake  bottom half for 10 minutes as it is completely raw.

Cool. Pipe in squidgy praline cream, try not to laugh. Spend 40 minutes trying to clear the kitchen walls and work surfaces  of choux pastry base, praline cream and egg.

Now seeking recipes needing 8 egg whites and a bowl of almond praline cream.

  

Original recipe used was

https://www.meilleurduchef.com/cgi/mdc/l/en/recipe/paris-brest.html

This made us all chuckle ! 😋😋😋😋

Thanks go to all the team at the Velo Cafe for making us so welcome

Gill Osborne - Middle Holly Cottage

We have another shy featured foodie this month, so instead of a picture of Gill we have a photo of the lovely Middle Holly Cottage which Gill runs with her husband Andy, as a country B and B and now Tea Room and Cake Parlour. Despite hailing from other parts Gill loves Lancashire and its produce which she uses extensively in her establishment.

What is your favourite cookery or food book or publication?

That’s difficult bearing in mind I must have over 100 cookery books on my shelf! I mostly use books by Annie Rigg, Rachel Allen, Mary B, Dan Lepard. Pinterest is great and so is the Internet. Plus I do purchase several monthly publications too.

What sentence sums up Lancashire Food to you ?

Good, honest, down to earth and wholesome food, maybe with a few tweaks here and there!

If you weren’t doing what you do now, what would you like to be ?

That’s, easy, I’d love to run my own high street bakery selling high quality bread, cakes and patisserie.

Which piece of kit could you not do without ?

My 35 year old Kenwood Chef, my third arm. I’ve used it nearly every day and it’s only let me down once. In my opinion it was the best wedding present we got!

Who would join you at your ultimate dinner party and why?

Just my family, they’re the most important people in my life. I don’t think I could handle anyone famous, I’d be too on edge and not sleep for days before!

What would you tell your younger self?

Go for it, believe in your own ability, don’t be afraid of what others think, just be your own confident self

Describe your style in three words

Honest, Creative, Confident

What was your latest foodie gadget purchase?

A little Russell Hobbs blender, great for whizzing herbs or bits of anything really. Oh and my microplane greater – every kitchen should have one!

What is your greatest achievement to date?

Opening the tea room at Middle Holly Cottage, my dream to bake for others to enjoy.

What is the worst mistake you have made?

Not going to catering college when I left school, it wasn’t the thing to do then but gosh do I wish I had. Everything I know now is pretty much self taught.

Tell us a secret about yourself ? It may be something we wouldn’t expect !

I was a Rosebud Queen in our village fete when I was 8 years old. I still have the head-dress I wore.

Middle Holly Cottage Tea Room and Cake Parlour - Afternoon tea

In Lancashire we pride ourselves on a warm and friendly welcome and there is no finer way to spend an afternoon then enjoying the delights of afternoon tea. On a cold blustery spring day we ventured forth to Middle Holly Cottage in Forton for such an afternoon.

On our journey up to Forton where Middle Holly is situated, we saw the cars temperature gauge plumet by 3 degrees and experienced hail, rain and thunder. Fortunately for us Middle Holly is really easy to find being situated just of the A6 and on arrival we were warmly welcomed into the cosy tea room and cake parlour by Gill who runs Middle Holly with her husband Andy. 

Originally from Cheshire but now firmly settled in Lancashire, Gill and I enjoyed a lovely chat about all things food, the WI (she's a member just like me), the Clandestine Cake club, catering for free from diets and Lancashire in general.

Gill is really passionate about her beautiful B and B and tea room being the best they possibly can and she carefully features the best  quality local and seasonal produce on her menu's. She wants all her customers to experience a warm, genuine and memorable experience when staying or eating at Middle Holly.

Gill makes all her own bread, cakes, jams, chutneys and her eggs come from her own  garden hens and sources all her other ingredients as locally as she can. For example she proudly serves Dewlay's Lancashire Cheese, which is little a few minutes walk down the road.

We were invited to experience the Deluxe Afternoon tea which was served in the pretty Garden Room area, thoughtfully decorated in country pastels and the tea, cakes and sandwiches all served on eclectic vintage china, complete with home knitted and crocheted tea cosies by Gill's Mum !

We started our tea with a shot glass of homemade seasonal vegetable soup, very tasty and flavourful which was very welcome given the weather outside, Gill makes sure that when she blends her soup you still have little chunks of vegetables so you can really taste the fresh vegetables in the soup.

Next came our tottering tower (cake stand), strewned with viola flowers, salad and herb leaves, and bedecked with finger sandwiches of home cooked ham, egg mayonnaise and Lancashire cheese and homemade chutney, all served on homemade organic bread. Gill likes to ring the changes and try different flours in the bread baking (most of the bread is made by Andy), so our selection was farmhouse white and  a seeded bread. The sandwiches were delicious, generously filled  and the homemade bread makes such a difference to the taste experience. Alongside our sandwiches we also had a little bowl of Lancashire Crisps, we love those too and again show careful thoughtful sourcing.

Our next  cake stand layer was a fruity raspberry fool served in a pretty vintage teacup and homemade crisp and light chocolate eclairs. The fool was perfectly balanced in terms of sweetness and tartness so as not to be cloying, the eclairs light and airy and filled with fluffy whipped cream.

The top layer of the stand has two huge pieces of cake, which we split in half so both myself and Mr LF could experience the floral rose and almond cake and slated caramel layer cake. Again all homemade, We particularly loved the salted caramel layer cake with its salty yet sweet topping. By this stage we were getting very full so we agreed with Gill to take away our scones (choice of fruit or plain), if you can squeeze them in they come accompanied with cream and  a choice of Gills Homemade jams. The scones are huge, and unlike a lot of other scones I have tried, not in the least bit disappointingly dry and tasteless, these were light and tasty, they were our treat later in the day when we returned home with the last of our homemade rhubarb and strawberry jam.

Last but not least a handmade homemade truffle each, just to round things off !! 

Outside Middle Holly has views over to the Bowland Hills, a little misty and obscured whilst we were there due to the inclement downpour but stunning non the less. 

We loved our visit to Middle Holly and meeting and chatting with Gill, despite it being an awful day the tea room was still fairly busy, so if you are planning a visit I would book just to be on the safe side as given the high standard of afternoon tea and cake on offer, Middle Holly is sure to be very popular. The tea room is currently open Thursday, Friday and Saturday and in the summer on Sundays too.

Check out the website for further details of the tea room and B and B. 

Our meal was provided free of charge for review purposes, we were not compelled to write a positive review and all thoughts and opinions are our own.

Cakes Regional and Traditional - Julie Duff

In what seems ages ago I was kindly sent a copy of a the lovely Cakes, Regional and Traditional by Julie Duff by the publisher - Grub Street. I love a good recipe book and this was let me tell is fab, its stuffed full to the gunnels with over 200 recipes for some fantastic British Cakes. 

Handily the book is divided into small and large cakes both regional and country (meaning baked across the country), there is also a section dedicated to Ginger cakes too. The recipes are throughly researched and you get the feeling that these are recipes that have been handed down through the generations and all the ones I have baked from so far have been very reliable.

 Now avaliable in paperback its a great addition to my extensive cookery book collection (bookcases now groaning !). I am pleased to note that there are all the Lancashire favourites featured and also a couple of more unusual ones too, the only little niggle with the book being not every recipe being illustrated.

Pictured are the Lancashire Teacakes which feature in the book and are for the unitatited a little like a fruited scone , using strong bread flour but raised using baking powder. They were very tasty served buttered and disappered quickly.

The book is avaliable from any good local book seller - ISBN-978-1-910690-06-2 published by Grub Street.

Free From Cakes - South Lancashire Clandestine Cake Club at Duk Deli and Cantina, Chorley

For our most recent meeting of  South Lancashire Clandestine Cake Club we are back in Chorley, where our meeting was kindly hosted in the newly opened Duk Deli and Cantina on Cleveland Street, right in the heart of the town near the market.

The theme of "Free From" Cakes was chosen as our venue is award winning when it comes to catering for allergies of all types. We had cakes that were gluten free, dairy free, egg free, sugar free, fat free, gluten and dairy free and you just couldn't tell , the cakes were amazing, we had lemon drizzle, chocolate cake, date cake, strawberry cake,sugar free carrot cake, vegan raw cake and many more.

We had a great time and were very well looked after by the lovely friendly staff at this cute new town centre venue, members discussed the different gluten free flours now avaliable, free from baking in general and our favourite healthy cook books.

Pictures are courtesy of Lancashire Food Photography and Colin Shepherd one of our baking members. Apologies as a couple of cakes are missing from the images on the day, they were all delicious.

Cooking with Herbs - September 2015

Its with great excitment that this month we are hosting this month's Cooking with Herbs, whilst the lovely Karen is away travelling in Canada (lucky lady), hopefully she has left it in safe hands whilst she is away

As the new series of Great British Bake Off for this year is well underway and as always the bakers are being ccreative with their flavour choices. I thought it would be fun to theme this months linky to baking, cooking with herbs in Breads, biscuits and cakes. Please join in the fun as I am looking forward to seeing all your lovely baking creations, as I know we have lots of talented bakers out there.

You find the roundup if last months linky here - the theme being Herbal Flowers

So if you fancy joining the baking fun just follow the instructions below

September Cooking with Herbs

Bread, Biscuits & Cakes

Guidelines how to enter:

1. Post your recipe url to the Linky at the bottom of the appropriate month’s challenge, including your email and the title of your recipe or post.

2. Display the Cooking with Herbs badge (as shown above and below) to the relevant recipe post, with a link back to the monthly challenge post.

3. Add as many recipe links as you like, there is NO limit!

4. If you tweet your post, please mention #cookingwithherbs and @KarenBurnsBooth in your tweet – I will retweet all that I see. If a guest blogger is hosting, please add them into the tweet too! So for this month please tweet @LancashireFood 

5. The recipe can be one of your own or one you’ve seen elsewhere. You are welcome to republish old recipes/posts but please add the information about this challenge as listed above with the Cooking with Herbs badge.

6. If using a recipe from another person, book, website, chef or blog, you must link back to the original recipe and not reproduce the recipe in full in your post. You must also use your OWN images for the recipe and not the original images, unless you have permission to do so, with appropriate links and any other information requested by the photo’s owner added to the image.

   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

The Ginger Baker

Its with great pleasure that I am writing this article telling you about a new cafe / bakery / tearoom that has recently opened in the Ribble Valley village of Longridge. What makes "The Ginger Baker" so special is that its a mainly "gluten free" venue, Sharon the Ginger Baker who has been baking Gluten Free for several years has had dreams of opening her own venue for years, so she jumped at the chance when this cute venue became available in heart of Longridge.

The Ginger Baker stocks a wide range of gluten free treats, snacks and breads along side great coffees and drinks at great prices. The breads range has been sourced from Wheat Free Bakery Scotland which is all gluten free and it tastes, looks and smells amazing. The cakes and pastries are a either carefully sourced from Gluten free bakeries or baked on the premises by Sharon and her team.

                           

Situated in the heart of the village there is ample local parking for your visit and you can book afternoon teas and special events with the tea room.

                       

Its well worth a trip especially if you need a Gluten Free diet  and the welcome is warm and genuine, you can find the venue on Berry Lane, Longridge. You can also find the Ginger Baker on Facebook and twitter too.