The Pastry King

chouxchouxbedoo: Simple pleasures

2011-09-02T18:52:00.000+01:00

chouxchouxbedoo: Simple pleasures: Sometimes the simple things are the best and just lately I've really appreciated some really quick and easy recipes that give great results....

Marshmallows made at home-Easy done :) here's how!

2011-08-31T15:18:00.002+01:00

Just in case you need a recipe to make marshmallow to glue your Dutch Butter biscuits together, here is a simple recipe to make it at home :) Enjoy!!

• 8 sheets sheets leaf gelatine

• 500 g castor sugar

• 100 ml water

• 3 large egg whites

• icing sugar

• cornflour

- First you need to mix the sugar with the water and ensure it’s all moistened to the same level, and we need to bring it to a boil over a medium high heat.

*Warning: Hot sugar causes serious harm, so please be careful so not to hurt yourself or others when cooking it*

- In a jug of cold water, soften your gelatin. This recipe uses Bronze leaf gelatin.

- You need a sugar thermometer to do this properly, and the sugar needs to boil to a soft ball stage which is 235 deg F, or 112deg C

- As your sugar starts to get close to the soft ball stage, in a mixer start whisking the egg whites on a medium slow speed, this will allow for more uniform smaller bubbles to go into the egg whites :)

- Add the softened gelatin to the hot sugar when ready, and remove from the heat, and add into the whisking egg white.

- Whisk until cool, so this can be around 5-10 minutes in the miser, and add colouring if required. Some chefs add beetroot juice and even purees of fruit-the trick is to not add too much, dashes yes! As too much liquid going in may require a higher level of gelatin in the recipe

- I normally spread the mix over a tray and chill before slicing it, and then adding the cubes to a cornflour icing sugar mixture. However you can also pipe the mixture onto your biscuits and make your own biccie sandwich :)

Hmmmm. Dutch Butter Biccies

2011-08-31T15:18:00.001+01:00

For a quick fix for something to dip into your cuppa tea this afternoon we recommend a Dutch Butter Biscuit. If you have a food processor it’s alot easier but can be done by hand all the same, so all you need to make 600g batch is:

100g Icing sugar
200g Unsalted butter/salted butter if you like it like that
300g Plain flour

Just mix it to a dough, roll into a sausage and slice into 1cm thick coins :)
I bake them myself at 160 deg C till gently browned (normally 20 minutes), but 180 deg C for about 10 minutes is also fine (That way you get to dunk it into the tea faster ;0)

Oh, and if you prefer shapes, the dough can be rolled out and cut, filled or garnished like in the picture!

I hope you enjoy making this very simple delightful recipe, any questions, just ask it here or put it to us on twitter :)

What I think about the training of new pastry chefs

2011-07-22T09:45:00.000+01:00

As one of the lucky few I was trained by members of the South African Culinary team back in South Africa, my belief is that the pastry section is highly regarded back in South Africa, more so than here in the UK.

My experience of newly trained Chefs and pastry chefs straight out of college is that they really haven’t been shown the basics of cooking; just the other week I had an apprentice say that he’d never cut a cabbage and didn’t know how. 5 Minutes later I had shown him and he was on his way-surely the college should have taught him this? Industry leaders and organisations do try their best in getting new talent to flourish, through awards like the Annual Awards of Excellence, The chocolate dessert of the year, and the Pastry Chef dessert of the year.

My opinion is that we need more from the industry to bring talent out in young pastry chefs, where this can be best accomplished would have more skills shown and taught to them at college.

I have also had commi pastry chefs with their new NVQ’s joining my brigade in the past, also with no clue as to the different mixing methods, or even the basic knowledge of reading a recipe.

It is sad that individuals are let loose in our industry not knowing the basics. For example, I regard food science in pastry to be incredibly important, with regards to cooking temperatures (coagulation, over-coagulation, syneresis) and when a sol becomes a gel, cereals also need great attention, and so on.

I love teaching people what i have learnt, and continue to learn myself. My dreams for a Britain with fabulous new pastry sections need enthusiastic Pastry talent. Let?s not spoil it and let?s train them well.

Newspaper article

2011-07-10T16:46:00.003+01:00

North West Fine Food Awards

2011-06-14T16:18:00.001+01:00

THE PASTRY KING SCOOPS WIN AT FINE FOOD AWARDS

The Pastry King has scooped a top award at the Fine Food Awards 2011, which celebrate the best fine foods in the Northwest.

The company won a FOOD NW HEART AWARD for its Chocolate Box Selection.

Organised by Food NW* the awards recognise the best fine foods produced across Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside.

Celebrity chef, Nigel Haworth, chef patron of Northcote in Lancashire and chair of the awards’ judges, announced the winners at his ‘Fantastic Food Show’ at Ewood Park in Blackburn on June 12, 2011.

The Chocolate Truffle selection consists of truffles made from quality Valrhona chocolate, which is hand blended and emulsified by the Head Pastry Chef, Chocolatier Brett Pistorius. The assortment is an arrangement of classic flavour combinations developed and refined over his extensive career in many high class eateries and establishments, both here in the United Kingdom and South Africa.

Six lovely and bespoke chocolate truffles, with flavored ganache ranging from sea salt and bitter dark chocolate through to a white chocolate, almond, vanilla and Amaretto are brilliantly enrobed in hand tempered chocolate and garnished with love. So much love and attention to detail is put into The Pastry King Chocolate Truffle selection that even a touch of 23 carat gold leaf makes an appearance on the Baileys Milk chocolate truffle.

The Food NW Gold Heart Awards, which recognise ‘exceptional’ products, were awarded to 12 fine foods. Over 100 products, which were deemed as ‘excellent’ by the judges, secured a Food NW Heart Award.

Brett Pistorius has said ‘’I am extremely proud that one of my products have won an award, they really are a labour of love with exceptional ingredients being used to make them. I am thrilled!’’

An independent benchmark for the region’s best foods, in 2011 the awards were judged by a select panel of food experts including top chefs, food buyers and food writers, through a series of heats held across the region.

Pat Foreman, chief executive of Food NW, said: “The Fine Food Awards honour the very best of the fine foods to be found in our region. Brett Pistorius should be proud of their achievement, which is testament to the hard work, creativity and innovation that has gone into making their award-winning product. We are delighted to be able to help promote and support the finest foods our region to offer.”

This year’s awards saw nearly 400 products entered by 132 companies from across the Northwest.

Ends

For further information contact:

Brett Pistorius can be contacted direct on 07894519462

Website: www.thepastryking.co.uk

e-mail: info@thepastryking.co.uk

Issued: 14/06/2011

About

The Pastry King is a bakery that produces fantastic quality desserts, chocolates and cakes as they are ordered. From dinner parties to wedding cakes, we can help you.

We believe that fresh is best, local is better and that premix is bad. This is why we make to order, use local when we have it and make everything from scratch using nothing but the best we can buy and our favourite recipe's. At the end of the day, our produce is our passion and we love what we do!

The best way to discover what makes us so special and truly unique is to try it yourself .

About the Fine Food Awards 2011

The Fine Food Awards 2011 are organised by Food NW, which aims to help businesses in the food & drink industry maximise their economic potential and increase productivity and output.

Food NW is managing the Food & Drink Growth Programme with support from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), which aims to stimulate and develop the higher value sub-sectors of the region’s food and drink economy, whilst ensuring a safe and sustainable environment in which to grow. For further information please visit www.foodnw.co.uk

About The Fantastic Food Show

In 2010 Nigel Haworth’s Fantastic Food Show was launched with relatively little publicity and a simple belief that a premiership stadium, such as Ewood Park was as good a place as any to stage a show, due to the main fact that there are indoor and outdoor areas. This year, it was held over two days to give everyone a chance to enjoy the very best of food the region has to offer.

Hospitality Action Week

2011-05-16T20:07:00.009+01:00

It's Hospitality Action Week
16th-22nd May 2011
The Pastry King is a small company with very big dreams, and one of those dreams are to also help others that need it most. Last year just as we set up our first kitchen in Chelford we also became a corporate member of Hospitality Action.

Hospitality Action is a charity which provides financial help to people in the industry who have fallen on hard times and need a helping hand. There are grants available for Essential Needs, Crisis Situations, and Top-Up grants for those who have worked for many years in hospitality and find themselves on a very limited income. They can also provide information about other organisations, which may be able to help in ways they themselves cannot.

All this week we will be giving Hospitality Action the money we charge for deliveries. On our local deliveries, our Pastry chef, Brett, will also be delivering the orders in a fetching, pink set of baby pajamas. Completing the look will be a pink frilly hat and baby bib- all for charity! He will also be popping into a few shops and restaurants wearing the outfit, to help with extra fundraising.

For pictures, and information on our progress throughout this important week you can get this either from our Facebook page or on Twitter.

Result after our recent move.

2011-05-12T13:34:00.000+01:00

We had a great morning yesterday sorting out a few things that needed to get done, we recently moved from our lovely little kitchen in Chelford to Altrincham and we have noticed a great improvement in our available cash flow.

Costs are getting higher, and we haven't noticed much change in the food prices going down-but then again we use premium ingredients to make our bespoke products.
So in our effort to still trade efficiently in the market place, and continue making you our customers fantastic produce we made the decision to move.

Our move to our Altincham kitchen has shown that already 12 days into this month we have made savings. Savings that would benefit you.

It would not be fair of us not to pass these saving onto you our customer, and yesterday many of our products were lowered in price. Some prices in fact lowered by £7 or others by a few pence. We increased packet sizes and weight's also in our bagged truffles, and still getting the best that your money can get.
We continue to build new product lines, and continue to make a premium product for you.

We love what we do, and hope that you will continue to use us for future events, parties and even household treats.

Thank-you for your custom.

Regards
The Pastry King Team

http://www.thepastryking.co.uk

Savoury Cheese and Biltong Muffins

2011-05-11T17:15:00.004+01:00

I absolutely love cheese muffins. This recipe includes a little biltong powder to emphasise the South African in me, but you don’t have to put it in if you are having a vegetarian moment.

EQUIPMENT:

1 muffin trays
1 cupcake cases, large

MAKES 12

Ingreadients:

400g self-raising flour
1 tablespoon mixed dried herbs
20g biltong powder/or tiny diced cubes (Biltong is a traditional dry meat)
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon paprika
125g grated cheddar
60g grated gruyere
140g feta
100g butter, cubed
2 spring onions, finely sliced
1 egg
500ml buttermilk
½ cup milk

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180̊C.

Danish Pastry

2011-05-11T17:08:00.002+01:00

Really not the fastest pastry to make, but a request for a good recipe was made so here it is. Every where now days has the same boring danishes on sale, here is a recipe that would help you put more of a creative spark if your willing to put the labour into it.

Recipe

85ml water

35g Fresh yeast

85g castor sugar

1tsp salt

3 large egg yolks (so the 65g large egg size)

1 tsp vanilla extract

225ml milk

700g plain flour

345g unsalted butter

Flour to work with.

Method:

· Bring the water temperature up to 35°C and dissolve the yeast into it, then add in half the weighed out flour and whisk then set aside until the mix starts to rise, generally this would take about 20 minutes.

· Add in the sugar, salt, egg yolks, vanilla and milk and the rest of your weighed out flour.

· Mix until a soft sticky dough has formed.

· Cover the dough and then chill in the fridge for about 1 hour, this will retard the dough and slow down it’s proving. This also allows the dough to rest and is easier to work with.

· For a successful dough the butter should be as cold as possible, and your work surface should also be cool, and not in a warm environment.

· Dust your work surface with flour, and roll out the dough to a 30cm square

· Quickly slice your butter in half, length ways and place in it the centre of the dough, and fold the corners of the pastry over the butter to completely seal it inside

· Pinch the edges closed with your fingers to make sure it’s not going anywhere.

· Flatten the dough gently with the rolling pin and roll out lengthways being careful Not to go over the edges.

· Turn the dough 180° to the side, and roll out again until you get a 20cm X 50cm rectangle.

· You may have had to use some more flour to stop the rolling pin from sticking, but this is ok. Now you will need to shift the dough over onto a tray and chill for about 15 minutes before continuing.

· Once chilled, you can now book fold the pastry dough , and chill again, repeat this process in total of 4 times, turning the pastry 90° on each fold.

· Once your final turn is completed, you will need to wrap the pastry and refrigerate for up to 24 hours before using it in the kitchen.

Ladies Evening

2011-04-26T12:46:00.003+01:00

The Cheshire Cookery School Ladies evening on the Weds 27th April 6 to 9pm.

We have an exciting evening of Designer clothes and accessories by Abi Fisher, dessert canapés from The Pastry King &Champagne from Lanson.There will be raffle prizes (including a £150 voucher from the school)

All profits go to CAFT a Cheshire charity.Visit their website to find out more http://www.childrensadventurefarm.org/ (or book & join us)

Book here: http://www.thecheshirecookeryschool.com/courses/Evening-Cookery-Courses/Ladies-Night/prod_154.html

Cooking on Redshift radio in Crewe

2011-03-22T14:43:00.031Z

Brett Pistorius was invited last week to cook on air with Liz and Dr Gav on the Tuck In Tuesday program.
It was such an enjoyable evening and in actual fact Brett showed the Redshift presenters how to make a fabulous Chocolate pave', which is a tempered chocolate cylinder that is filled with a flour-less pave' chocolate sponge, and both a white chocolate mousse and a coffee and dark chocolate mousse.

Photo's can be viewed on RedShift radio's Facebook page

Creme patisserie recipe:
- 500ml milk
- 100g Sugar
- 2 Eggs
- 50g Flour
- 10g Cornflour
- Vanilla pod

White chocolate mousse recipe:

-100g Creme Pat
-200g Melted white chocolate
-300g Double cream

Dark Chocolate mousse:

-300g Melted dark chocolate
-300g double cream
- 6 egg yolks
- 1/2 cup Black coffee

You Can listen to the radio show by clicking on these links:

Redshift radio: link

Thank-you Liz and Dr Gav at Redshift Radio for having us at your studio's. Check them out at http://www.redshiftradio.co.uk
Also a very big Thank-you to ReaseHeath college for sponsoring the program.

Cookery Courses In Cheshire

2011-03-12T16:38:00.009Z

Recently we announced that Brett will be hosting one of his pastry courses at The Cheshire Cookery School in Altrincham.
It's one of the first planned where up to 16 students would be welcomed by Brett in the morning with hot chocolate, and start participating together in learning new skills and make some fantastic food in the process.

When Brett first went to the Cheshire Cookery School, he went to see Claire, at Burts Cheese. Needless to say Mr Warne showed him around and Brett fell in love with all the kitchens for sale in the Altrincham Kitchen centre, but what really took his breath away was the Cookery Schools kitchen. The space available for people to learn new skills, and a place for everyone to see the demonstrations. It was a definite place to try and get people to come and learn what Brett shows so eagerly.

Brett's passion for pastry and dessert's is so evident, it's done with so much attention to detail and love it's hard for anyone to leave one of his courses without being bitten by the cooking bug.

For more details of this course follow this link : Elegant Desserts and Pastry

Quick Rough Puff-Pastry

2011-02-21T16:11:00.004Z

This is a recipe given to Brett during a competition held by the Academy of Culinary Arts in London 2009, it is a fabulous quick puff pastry that works brilliantly and can be altered in many ways to suit your recipe needs.

· 300g Plain flour

· 300g Butter (cut into 2cm cubes)

· 4g Salt

· 150g Cold Water

- * Add butter cubes and flour together, and fold so the butter cubes are not sticking together.

- * Add the salt and water to the mix, and combine in the mixer briefly until no flour remains, but the butter is still in large clumps.

- * Book fold the dough twice, and rest for 1 hour.

- * Book fold again and rest again before use.

Anyone for Afternoon Tea?

2011-02-15T20:20:00.010Z

The afternoon Tea is a great British invention, but it's also a treat that so many people enjoy and seek out in order to really pamper themselves.

Brett, the Pastry Chef, used to work in South Africa, including 5 Star hotels, and his experience of the afternoon tea is very different to what he has come across in Manchester and Cheshire.

The Pastry King has started to offer a service to companies that would like to treat their employees to a 'Corporate reward', something that would help with the process of team building or motivation.

Here are a few pictures of afternoon teas Brett has helped create in the past:

Spinach Quiche, Mushroom Quiche a Bacon Quiche

Mini Wholemeal, and Mini Raisin Scones

Buffet Table for Afternoon tea

Apple Compote Brioche, Japonaise Meringue & Chocolate, Cream filled Chocolate Eclair, Berry & Vanilla Rice pudding

The Pastry King offers bespoke packages made to your requirements and needs please contact us to make your enquiry

Chocolate making

2011-02-04T19:25:00.025Z

This is a fantastic producer of chocolate, It is important to understand that this producer only makes up to 50kg of chocolate at a time, large companies like the ones that produce the little chocolate bars you get in the supermarket-are produced on much larger scale.

First:

The farmers, and cooperatives where the cocoa plantations are, send over batches of their cocoa beans for inspection to prospective buyers.

These beans were not up to the grade, and the chocolate producer did not purchase this cocoa, as the beans were different sizes, colours and quality.

If the beans are good.

If the sample cocoa beans were of a high standard, and a deal went through, the cocoa farmers or cooperatives would then have the cocoa beans ground before being shipped over to the UK. Large companies where the wholesale bars are from are large enough to have the beans ground here in the UK, or neighboring European countries. This supplier has it done at the source.
Once ground, the cocoa is shipped here, and arrives looking like this, large blocks and slabs of gourmet smelling cocoa.

The white block in the picture is cocoa butter, I didn't realize that large companies remove the scent from this, I have only worked with cocoa butter that had been deodorized, this cocoa butter really smells great, it smells just like the 100% cocoa does.

The process
This is a conching machine, a serious piece of machinery where the chocolate becomes the smooth chocolate we know and love.

It's similar to a bain marie, with a jacket of water which is heated and controlled very closely. Inside there is a metal arm which turns and conches the chocolate to grind and refine the cocoa particles till smooth.
In the works beneath the water jacket, the pipes lead to a mass with thousands of tiny ball bearings, which also spin round, the chocolate is constantly moving through them as it cycles from the tub, and back in the other side, always moving, getting smoother and finer.

Cocoa & Sugar

The 100% cocoa blocks are left in the concher, to warm up, the arms inside not switched on, as the cocoa solids are extremely hard and may cause damage, however the 100% cocoa still holds a butter percentage and does soften.

When it is soft enough, the conching arms are set to work, and the water jacket is turned to a higher temperature. The moisture is extracted via a vent from the top, the 100% cocoa is left to conch alone for some time before the sugars is added. The temperature of the jacket is then lowered, as high temperature can caramelise the sugars and spoil the batch, but all the time the hood of the conching machine is closed, the arms are working to make the chocolate smooth.

If you were making dark chocolate, you would now after a lengthy period of conching the dry mix, start to add your cocoa butter-however, if you wanted to make milk chocolate you would now need to add the milk powders.
Milk powders are very sensitive to heat, if over heated they may cause a grainy texture, and alter the flavour drastically.
You can see this for yourself if you heat milk chocolate over bain marie to 50°C, the texture becomes grainy and it won't temper correctly.

From a dry mix, to what we know... nearly

We have up to now taken up to 5 hours to reach this point at least, and slowly the melted cocoa butter is added into the conching machine with the conched cocoa solids, and sugar, (and if making milk chocolate, the milk powders)

Slowly the cocoa butter is added in batches, not all at once, as there are natural emulsifiers at work inside, that may split the batch, so patience is a virtue.

Conching at full pace

The vent is lined again the the conching machine, and the chocolate is left to conch further, all the time the moisture is sucked out through it.

Once most of the moisture is drawn out, the vent is disconnected and salt is added. Salt brings out more of the aroma and flavour in chocolate, in fact every producer adds it to the chocolate when making it.

Finally, all smooth, and conched

All it took was patience, the chocolatier believes that the full flavour of his chocolate comes from his process, it has all taken abut 72 hours to produce 50kg.
The chocolate still needs to be tempered, tempering the chocolate is what makes it look great, makes it firmer in texture and is essential for the chocolate not to bloom and go white.

Tempering machine

Hand tempering

The method I use in my own kitchen

All there is to do now is to make, dip and fill chocolates.

Polished hot chocolate, or shiny spheres

This machine is great, in some very good chocolate shops you can now buy little nuggets of chocolate with sugar inside. The surface is all polished and shinny and sold as Hot chocolate, and its made with this...

The white canister is filled with melted chocolate and positioned in front of the tumbler. Brown sugar is placed inside the tumbler, and is turned on...

The tumbler turns like a cement machine, and sprays the melted chocolate in a fine mist over the sugar. Slowly, this sets over each grain of sugar, the volume grows... and because of the friction, the chocolate polishes itself and becomes glossy.

I must admit that the hot chocolate made with these pearls are fantastic, and the method is just plain brilliant.

I hope that you liked reading this.

You can find chocolate products on my website, and other products that you may be interested in

Cheshire Bridal Patisserie

2011-02-04T18:30:00.007Z

In December 2010 our new website called Cheshire Bridal Patisserie went online. On it we offer our bespoke services aimed at the wedding market and strive to push our business forward.

Link: www.cheshirebridalpatisserie.co.uk

The Sweetie Bar provides a stunning and unique dimension to your wedding, and can be a mixture of sweets and baked items, and, of course, chocolates! Choose from old fashioned boiled sweets, lollipops, liquorice swirls, bonbons, cupcakes, sherbets, biscuits and cookies, mini jellies and much more. All of these dainties will be displayed in glass jars, decorative glasses, crystal jars and platters. A deposit will be required for these, which will be refunded on their safe return.

The main centrepiece of your wedding breakfast will always be the cake, and the Sweetie Bar will be tailored to complement that to perfection: add a splash of pizzazz to a wonderful day by incorporating this fun-filled creation!

Hot Chocolate

2011-02-02T22:05:00.001Z

• 300ml Milk
• 150ml Whipping cream
• 150g Milk chocolate/ 100g Dark chocolate
• ½ Vanilla pod
• 1 Strip of Orange rind (optional)

Tip:
• If you prefer not to use cream, please just substitute it with milk.

Method:
- Into a small sauce pan, add your milk and whipping cream, in with the one orange zest peel and the vanilla and place over a gentle heat to infuse.

- Whist the milk mix is heating, chop the chocolate into smaller pieces.

- When the milk mix is heated to just before boiling - add in the chocolate and stir using a wooded spoon to melt in and mix well.

- When the chocolate is melted evenly, strain the mix and serve in 2 large mugs.

Check out our website for more information and services we offer

Carrot Lattice, or powder

2011-02-02T22:03:00.002Z

Ingredients
1 large carrot, peeled

Method:

• Use a sharp peeler to make very thin carrot ribbons.

• Place the carrot ribbons on a baking sheet lined with a silicone mat or grease proof paper.

• Dry the carrot ribbons at a very low temperature (±100°C) until crisp, about 3 to 4 hours.

• Leave some of the carrot ribbons whole for garnish. Place the rest in a coffee/spice grinder and grind to a powder

Check out our website for more information and services we offer

Olive and rosemary focaccia

2011-02-02T21:59:00.003Z

• 600 grams Strong white/Bread flour
• 25 grams Fresh yeast
• 15 grams of Salt
• 400ml Warm water
• 60ml Olive oil
• Sprig of fresh Rosemary
• 40 grams of Pitted olives
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 220°C.

- Into a mixing bowl, add the flour and salt together.

- In a measuring jug, measure out the warm water, and add the fresh yeast and olive oil then stir it until the yeast has dissolved.

- Make a small well in the flour bowl, and slowly add the warm water- mixing it together.

- Once the mix has formed a dough (add more water if needed) remove and kneed it until smooth and elastic.

- Pace the kneaded dough into a clean bowl, and cover with cling film to prove.

- Grease and flour a baking tray/tin.

- Once proven (at least doubled in size) remove the cling film and empty the dough out onto a clean work surface.

- Roll the dough up, starting at the edge to smooth it out and expel most of the larger air bubbles that may have formed whilst proving.

- Place the dough onto your greased and floured baking tray/tin and level it to the thickness and shape you require (about an inch thick is usual).

- Scatter the fresh rosemary and pitted olives and press into the surface of the bread.

- Drizzle the top with half the 60ml of Olive oil, reserving the rest until after baking.

- Leave to prove again, uncovered, in a warm area, until doubled in size.

- When the dough is ready, carefully place it into your preheated oven, and close the door for 15-20 minutes.

- When your focaccia loaf is nicely golden brown in colour, remove it from the oven and drizzle it with the other 30ml olive oil.

- Leave to cool, and enjoy.

Check out our website for more information and services we offer

Carrot & Pecan Nut Cake

2011-02-02T21:53:00.003Z

• 6 Eggs
• 650g Soft Brown Sugar
• 375ml Olive Oil
• 250g Pecan nuts
• 350g Flour
• 6g Bicarbonate of soda
• 6g Cinnamon
• 5g Mixed spice
• 450g Grated Carrots

- Always when making cakes, Preheat the oven before you start, in this case set the oven to 180 °C, grease your cake tins, and line them if necessary.

- In your food mixer, use the whisk attachment and on a medium to high speed whisk the eggs and brown sugar till light and fluffy.

- Whilst this is beating, chop up the pecan nuts roughly.

- Into the beaten egg and sugar mix fold through all the ingredients and fold the mix through till thoroughly incorporated.

- Place all the mix into your mould/cake tin and bake till risen, and set.

- Depending on your oven the cake will take about 40 minutes.

- To check that your cake is done, I prefer to use a temperature thermometer which is available from most cookery shops-use the probe ones as they take a core temperature from the centre of the cake. You’re looking for a Temperature reading of above 98°C. Alternatively keep to the skewer or cocktail stick method you’re familiar with.

- Once the cake is thoroughly cooked through, take it out of the oven, and remove the cake from the tin carefully. Leave to cool on a wire rack.

Cream Cheese Icing

• 100g set sour cream
• 125g Full Fat Cream Cheese
• Juice of ½ a lemon
• 40g Icing sugar

- Only when your cake is completely cooled should you add the topping.

- Using the food processer attach the paddle to the machine and add all the ingredients into the bowl and slowly beat it all until smooth.

- Ice and garnish your cake as your heart desires.

Check out our website for more information and services we offer

Chocolate Truffle Mousse

2011-02-02T21:42:00.005Z

Makes: 8 portions

• 8 Dessert spoons water
• 225 grams Castor sugar
• 2 whole eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 500ml Double cream
• 340 grams Dark chocolate

Method:
- In a small saucepan, add your castor sugar and water together.

- In a food mixer place your eggs and yolks into the bowl, and fix on the whisk attachment.

- Turn on the food mixer on a medium-high speed and whisk the eggs.

- Whilst the eggs are mixing, place your pan of wet castor sugar on a medium to high heat on the stove and boil to a ‘soft ball stage’ for sugar.(112°C-115 °C).

- When your sugar is at the right temperature, remove from the heat, and slowly pour the hot sugar into the whisking eggs. If there is a risk of splashing, slow the mixer speed down, but continue mixing until the egg mix is cool to the touch.

- Whilst your eggs are whisking, melt your chocolate.

- Then whip your double cream until ‘’yogurt stage’’.

- Add half the egg mix into your melted chocolate and fold through with a spatula or spoon until thoroughly mixed. Then fold the rest through.

- Fold the whisked cream through the mixture, and spoon into your dessert moulds.

- Refrigerate until needed and garnish with orange segments and toasted hazelnuts.

Dont forget, if you fancy trying it direct from The Pastry King, Check out our website

Check out our website for more information and services we offer