Once bitten, forever smitten - 9 out of 10 cats prefer...

Does anyone remember the TV advert 9 out of 10 cats prefer Whiskas I've never had a pet cat but it must be perfect as an advertising slogan as I remember it from years ago. This weekend I was looking at the accounts and I realised it is very very rare for a couple to come to a cake tasting and not order a wedding cake from Delicakes so I did the sums and guess what 9 out of 10 couples who come for a cake tasting book my cake design for their wedding.

Macaron Silhouettte

For instance the couple who choose this cake were having a multicultural wedding. The bride was French and wanted Macarons. The groom loved the styling of the invitations and wanted that featured. They needed a large cake for all the relatives and as was his custom the bride and groom cut and served the cake in pudding size portions! In fact I designed the central tier to copy their invitation design and colour scheme and made extra macarons so every guest got a whole one. The cakes were triple decked red velvet or a luscious coconut and lime cake so everyone had a choice.

Helmet cake boxed ready for delivery

Last weekend at a friend's birthday party I met one of her neighbours who mentioned she had been to a wedding where the wedding cake was a life size motorbike helmet - I made one of these about 18 months ago and of course it had been my Bridge and Groom's wedding she had been to. Imagine that more than a year after your wedding the guests are still mentioning the wedding cake!

Bespoke will not be as economical as supermarket or home made but if you want a professionally made cake to feature at your wedding that is as individual as you are then book a cake consultation now.

Talk to Janet 01732843518 or email Janet@weddingdelicakes.co.uk to discuss your cake dreams now

Once bitten forever smitten - Its all in the detail

One of my customers this week confessed she passed my cake off as her own! Shame on you Mrs M but as you told me about your brother - he spent 3 hours making two characters for his son's birthday cake - and the figures fell apart before the cake was eaten! - which inspired me to write this blog, so I will forgive you ;)
This is the cake that maybe was a little too perfect to really be 'homemade'

The biggest difference between a professionally made cake and a cake made for you by a friend is in the detail. When planning that BIG celebration such as a wedding or christening do you really want to make do or do you want the perfect centrepiece and photo-opportunity.

Take a look at this beautiful classic wedding cake - can you really imagine requesting that your favouite Aunt gets it this perfect. Is a friend really going to know how to make up to four different cake flavours and fillings that will stay fresh and hold their shape while the intricate icing is completed? Is your Mum going to have 30 -35 hours free in the 3 days before your wedding to make the cake?

A professional cake designer will work with you to create a cake that is totally right for you and your event. Consider it as important as having a wedding dress that fits - if it looks stunning and tastes fantastic what more could you ask.

As savy bride and grooms are watching their budgets Delicakes is offering easy payment terms for wedding cakes over £500 and a takeaway bespoke wedding cake (less service but same cake!) 2 tiers £250 3 tiers £330

All birthday cakes are made to order and to be sure their is space in the baking diary to make your cake you should order at least two weeks in advance by email janet@weddingdelicakes.co.uk or phone 01732843518

Once bitten, forever smitten - Sweet Salt

Various  tweets this week  have inspired me to write a piece about the salty sweet combo that the Americans love so much - call it the positive Thanksgiving effect. We are more traditional but celebrity chefs are enjoying a full on love affair with salted caramel so be brave and give it a try. 

 

 To make the salted sweets combo work you need to make a a salty flavour a featured ingredient rather than a secret. It is virtually impossible to buy a commercially produced pudding that doesn’t have salt added to a sweet recipe and the reson for this is that salt enhances sweetness on the tongue.

  

Lets start with peanut butter – Nuts have a neutral flavour profile so they combine perfectly with savoury or sweet. The ingredients on a jar of peanut butter are peanuts 95%, sugar, salt so if you add peanut butter to any cake or cookie you immediately have the salty sweet combo. The reason why it works is that a little salt brings out the sweetness and you get two flavour profiles alternating  and blending as you chew and this creates a more interesting taste. 

Peanut Butter and Jelly Muffins

Here is a simple recipe for 10 large muffins I call PJ’s You can make and bake them in just over 30 minutes. Just mix the wet ingredients into the dry ones you cannot go wrong.  Go on - put the jam in!

In a bowl beat with a wooden spoon:  1 egg,  150g crunchy peanut butter, stir in 60ml of vegetable oil, then 180ml milk. In another bowl sift together 200g self raising flour,  2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon salt, stir in 130g sugar.

Make a well in dry ingredients and pour in wet ones, quickly mix together. If you want a jam surprise cooked into the muffin one third fill 12 large cake cases, spoon on 1 teaspoon of jam per muffin, (essential to keep the jam neatly in the centre of the muffin) cover with remainder of mixture and bake for 20-25 minutes at 160 fan oven = 180 degrees. 

Covering up the secret surprise -a jelly centre

 They will rise and might crack on top depending on how smoothly you fill the cases, whatever the finish they will smell and taste delicious.  If jam’s not your thing fill after cooking and cooling with chocolate or caramel spread.  

For the more adventurous I give you Chocolate Crisp. First discovered many years ago when small child decided that both chips and chocolate milkshake tasted better if combined. However a bit of research and trial and error in the kitchen means not only can you tantalize your taste buds with a salty sweet pairing but you can have smooth and crunchy too.  In California www.chuaocholatier.com   sells an amazing chocolate bar that is filled with crisps – yes CRISPS. 

Crushed Sea Salted Crisps

 Here is my recipe for this daringly different salty sweet snack which is perfect with a glass of red.

Gently Melt 100g dark chocolate and 50g white chocolate in a bowl (microwave for 1 minute then stir ). Take your chosen crisps – my favourite are sea salted – and crush up so some are quite small and the rest are the size of cornflakes. Tip crisps into melted chocolate and pour out onto a baking tray lined with non stick baking paper. Smooth out till level with a spatula and leave to set. I prefer to make the chocolate very thin so I can cut it into diamond shaped crispy thins with my pizza cutter and arrange decoratively on a plate.

In most circumstances I don’t like dark chocolate but here a little darkness makes this the perfect nibble with a glass of red wine. 

Chocolate Crisps

 So if you have been inspired make something different this week. If you need a propper celebration cake just check out the Delicakes website or email janet@weddingdelicakes.co.uk

Once bitten, forever smitten - a photo says it all

Often people say to me - here's a photo - doesn't do the dress, cake, view etc justice - but you get the idea. So why do some people not get the best photographic memories possible of the big events in their life. I aways take a quick snap of a finished cake and the best ones end up on my website, the rest I keep as a record for myself anyway of how the cake turned out.

 by SamanthaJonesPhotography

 But look at the way these stylish cupcakes just pop when taken by a professional photographer with an artistic eye. You can smell almost smell the sweetness and the tastebuds start to tingle. Likewise this cute cake topper wouldn't have looked so impressive without the detail of good quality photography.

by SamanthaJonesPhotography

And even a simple bithday cake shaped to represent a Skateboard is shown as at its best when perfectly lit for the photograph - before it was eaten in 2 mnutes by a hoard of teenage boys.

by SamanathaJonesPhotography

Most of the time we have a special cake so we can share the moment of lighting the candles, singing happy birthday, watchng the Bride and Groom cut the cake and then share a special and delicious cake. So dont forget to get that unique photograph before you eat the cake.

To order cakes phone Janet 01732843518 or email.

Once bitten forever smitten - To Duck or not to Duck

This summer Jamie Oliver was extolling the virtues of Duck eggs in cakes rather than Hen's eggs. For those that have seen my foray into TV land (Cooks to Market on Sky Living) you will know I don't do what I'm told but if experiment and science gives me good reason to change tried and trusted recipes then I will.

First of all Duck Eggs look very pretty, they are clean and whitish with delicate mottled shading as if they have been dipped in water colour paints. They are also the size of a Large hens egg or even bigger. When cracked open the white is not so much white as really clear - looked wholesome and delicious. Here is a comparison of a Duck egg on left and a Hen's egg on right. I bought all the eggs in my local Waitrose.

We made two Victoria sponges using the same all in one method and the same amount of butter, sugar and flour. The cakes looked the same when baked and when eaten without any additional frostings they tasted the same but the texture of the Duck egg cake was firmer. I suspect this was the extra protein in the larger eggs. But the thing is the Duck egg cake didn't have any advantages and they cost about double the price of Hen's eggs so my advice is keep the Duck eggs to boil for breakfast when you want an egg that looks cute and special still in its shell and use hen's eggs for baking.

This is the Victoria sponge filled with cream and strawberries made with Duck eggs. I can make your special cakes with or without any key ingredient - I call them Freefrom Delicakes and more information is available on my website. If you have any wedding or celebration cake enquiries email janet@weddingdelicakes.co.uk

Once bitten, forever smitten..as featured on Sky Living

Yes we have been featured on the new TV show Cooks to Market currently showing on Sky Living on Monday and Wednesday evenings at 8pm.

Picture by Samantha Jones

Janet (on the right) and Suzanne made 180 Delikones in Raspberry Fizz and Chocolate Nut flavours and sold them at One New Change by St Paul's Cathedral in London. This was all back in June before the Jubilee but the show was first screened on 12th September and is to be repeated tonght - Monday 17th September. Winning the challenge was a moment of particular embarrasment as we only made £21 profit but the other team made a masssive loss making and selling soup.


We got to pitch our product to the panel of experts whom we had not met before we stood trembling in front of them. In Dragon's Den style David Ishag summed us up quite well when he said how can I invest I don't know if you want one pound, one thousand or one million! The thing was we didn't know either as we had only had a weekend since we won and we didn't really know where to take our product as it was only invented for the show.

Still not having a plan did not stand in our way for long as Sharon Huetson from EasyJet quickly recognised the Delikone USP - a proper pudding you can eat without a spoon or bowl - just perfect for treating yourself on that plane journey to your holiday.So during October if you are flying out of Standsted Airport make sure you ask your EasyJet steward for a Delikone.

If you are having a catered function in the London area Suzanne's catering company Limoncello can provide all your needs including Delikones for pudding and if you are Kent based I provide Delikones from my Delicakes kitchen.

And just a final word about using freeze dried raspberries - Gizzi Erskine may not like them but they are the reason why our product works. I did a lot of research and development of the recipe to ensure the cone stays crisp. When we used fresh raspberry as suggested it soaked through and the cones fell apart!

To see the best bits from the TV show Cooks to Market click here.

For more info on Delikones email Delikones@gmail.com or like our facebook page or twitter @delikones

Once bitten forever smitten - Buttercream Cakes

As with all things there are trends and fashions and right now Buttercream covered cakes are having a comback. Maybe its because we've got used dto delicious buttercream on our cupcakes but full on swirly decorated cakes are definately back in fashion.

 So if you want a pink Hello Kitty or a riot of roses buttercream is the tastiest decoration possible - soft and less sweet than fondant its a little bit retro and little bit individual as you can have any colour or texture.

 This chunky wedding cake is ideal for chocaholics - completely filled and covered with a chocolate fudge buttercream - the heady scent of cocoa as you get close makes the mouth water

This 'grass' covered golf cake made a hobby come to life and only the flagpole was not eaten!

 Contact Janet @weddingdelicakes.co.uk to order your cake - but dont leave it too late - once my order book is full I have to say no. 01732843518