Happy Birthday Coco Cafe!

 

It doesn’t seem possible but Coco Cafe is a year old today! Whatever did we do and wherever did we go before it opened its shabby chic doors to welcome us? Was there life before Extract Coffee and Fish Finger Friday – and how did we exist before we had frittattas on our doorstep?

I was delighted to bake Coco’s official birthday cake and of course it had to be a Hummingbird! Not just any Hummingbird though – three layers of deliciousness packed full of Farrington’s Cold Pressed Rapeseed Oil, Fairtrade bananas, Ndali Vanilla and Barts Cinnamon, walnuts and pineapple, sugar, flour and free range eggs. Filled with strawberries and cream cheese frosting then drizzled with Fairtrade White Chocolate.

If you are quick and live locally you may still get a slice – Beth is giving it away! But if not you can still order your own by emailing linda@filledwithlovecupcakes.org

I think it would make a delicious and delightful alternative wedding cake – what do you think?

 

 

Lemon and Mashed Potato!

Catering for Gluten Free diets can be a challenge but this recipe caught my eye this week. The flour is replaced by ground almonds or, in my case, a mix of ground almonds and gluten free self raising flour.

It has the zest of three large lemons to give it a really tangy flavour, and the lemony sugar syrup poured over the cooling cake makes sure there is no mistaking what it’s claiming to be – proper Lemon Drizzle Cake only gluten free!

It is also deliciously moist and should keep for a few days if it lasts that long – not sure how likely that is!

 

Showing off….

Coffee in the lovely Coco Cafe is more than just coffee – it is an experience! From the warm welcome, friendly service, great food and superb coffee through to the little details. Too many to list here but for me one of the big attractions has to be the shelf full of cookery books to browse.

We thought it might be nice to showcase some Filled With Love cakes in a book to be browsed over an Extract Coffee or Girlie Grey tea – so here is a first draft. When I am happy with it we’ll push the print button but for now do please take a look and let me know if you spot any ghastly typos or other mistakes!

The pictures are not top quality – that comes next time! But hopefully they give you a taste of what really good top quality cake can look like. And remember – good cake isn’t cheap, and cheap cake isn’t good!

http://www.photobox.co.uk/creation/1732247597

Linda x

 

The Best Cake I Have Ever Tasted!

 

For ages I have been desperate to bake a Hummingbird Cake. The combination of sweet pineapple, bananas, crunchy toasted pecans and cinnamon, with a cream cheese frosting, seems to me to be “Cake Perfection”

Apparently that is the case as someone told me today that her slice of Hummingbird Cake was indeed the best cake she had ever tasted!

The recipe wasn’t entirely my own. As ever I found a number of recipes and looked at the ingredients, compared the ratios, considered the raising agents, and added a twist or two of my own!

I have to say on this occasion I was delighted with how it turned out. For those of you who live close enough to Coco Cafe to drop in tomorrow I would highly recommend you do so – it would go well with a cup of Extract Coffee!

But if it’s really not your thing how about a slice of Reddish Velvet Cake? I did say that the recipe would go up today but with 95 cupcakes to bake for this weekend, not to mention a few other things to think about, time ran out – sorry! Here’s a pic for now!

 

Art or Science?

Baking and Cake Decorating – art or science?

Many people, on discovering my new way of life, make comments about creativity that would suggest it’s all about art. Decorating a cake certainly has elements of the artistic about it as you choose colours, shapes and a design all of which must complement each other to produce a result that is aesthetically pleasing as well as delicious.

What used to be cookery at school evolved I believe into Home Economics and is nowadays Food Technology. I used to wonder why that was but nowadays I “get it” as the science of baking has drawn me in, as I seek to create and perfect new and existing recipes.

For example – Blondies

 

I’d been longing to bake some for a while, and was encouraged to do so by the Baking Barista at Coco  as we discussed what their discerning customers might enjoy. I went away confident I could make some with barely more than a glance at a recipe. “Aren’t they just white chocolate brownies?” I thought.

Apparently not. And each recipe I read differed in exactly where the flavour comes from, what the proportions of ingredients should be, and how they should be combined. Fascinating and frustrating.

My first attempt is shown above left. I was suspicious since the consensus seemed to be that the flavour in a blondie comes from the brown sugar. This recipe unashamedly called for the white caster variety!

The eggs and sugar were whisked together before the melted butter was gradually incorporated. Flour and raising agents were folded in with Ndali vanilla before a bar and a half of Fairtrade chocolate and a large scoop of cranberries.

The batter looked beautiful and baked evenly – all seemed to be well. I left it to cool in the tin for twenty minutes or so. It was only when I removed the loose bottom of the cake tin and the entire creation collapsed that I realised it was completely undercooked. Back in the oven for another 20 25 minutes in total and it was just about cooked through but the texture was dense, even a little greasy. The taste of butter and chocolate was good though and it went well with a scoop of ice cream for dessert.

Determined not to be outdone I found a recipe which combined a smaller quantity of melted butter with soft brown sugar before whisking in an egg. Flour, vanilla and raising agents were folded in with a pinch of salt just before the chocolate and cranberries. I should add these were my own preference, the recipes called for various other fruits, nuts and flavourings.

The mixture was heavy, stiff and sticky. I did not expect the result to be successful. After twenty seven minutes however the infamous toothpick/cake tester came out clean and I removed the tin from the oven. Twenty minutes later and it was cooling happily, still in one piece, before being divided into nine delicious chewy blondies. You can see one above – well half of one really as the other half was consumed in the name of research of course!

Success indeed – hurry down to Coco in the morning if you’d like one as they are sure to sell quickly!

 

The X Factor

Someone said to me today that these cakes have the “Wow Factor”.

If you’re looking for a special birthday gift why not treat someone to a box of bespoke cupcakes? The flavours and design can be chosen in advance if you place an order, but for a last minute surprise you may just be lucky and find a box at Coco

Everyone likes to know “how much?!” and a box like this would cost £15 including the complimentary black gift box. The price compares well with a box of chocolates, decent bottle of wine/champagne or a bouquet of flowers.

If you’d like them to be posted then for £25 they will be packaged in protective bubbles and a secure outer box, packed with eco-fill, before delivery by Royal Mail to anywhere on the mainland UK

You can still order a box of slightly less elaborate cakes for £12, posted for £20 –  but I hope you will agree these do have the Wow/X Factor!

I’d love to hear from you with your order 🙂

Linda@filledwithlovecupcakes.org

 

Reassuringly Expensive?

I don’t believe Filled With Love cakes are expensive!

However people sometimes ask me why they cost what they do – and this conversation was revisited last night at a reunion of staff from the international development agency where I used to work.

Of course you can buy cake more cheaply. At the risk of sounding like the proverbial broken record, supermarkets sell cake that has been mass produced using low cost ingredients. But there is no comparison – unless you want to compare pick and mix sweets with Hotel Chocolat!

Everything we buy has a price, and if something seems cheap to us then the chances are someone else has had to pay – somewhere along the line. Cheap clothing produced in sweatshops is a classic example.

When it comes to baking there are so many options, and so many opportunities, to make choices that make a difference.

The ingredients in cakes – eggs, butter, sugar, flour, spices, flavourings, chocolate, cocoa, coffee – are available in a myriad of forms and it is sometimes tempting to opt for the one that will bring the most profit to the baker. But at what cost to the producer?

I was deeply moved the first time I heard that cocoa farmers in Ghana have often never tasted chocolate. That prompted me to use Divine chocolate and cocoa.

Reading Vanessa Kimbell’s beautiful blog  and entering the competition at Fortnum and Mason inspired me to only ever buy Ndali Vanilla

Last night I heard about a women’s co-operative in Sierra Leone for whom producing cinnamon is providing a means of income that will improve healthcare and education for them and their families. As I write this piece the chef on Saturday kitchen has mentioned cinnamon probably a dozen times so I am off to explore where I can buy some!

One of my ex-colleages said last night that my cakes were reassuringly expensive – hence the title of this piece. I don’t believe they are, but I do know that the price reflects the cost and ensures the people who supply the ingredients get a fair deal.

I also know that these ingredients ensure the cakes taste really good, and can be enjoyed for their taste as well as the part they play in making change happen.

This cake contains Divine Cocoa, Ndali Vanilla and Fairtrade Coffee. Along with free range eggs, unsalted British butter and sugar, and Dove’s Farm gluten free flour. I wish I’d tried a slice before sending it off to Coco Cafe!

 

Busiest Day Ever?

 

Just a few (!) of the 72 cupcakes, 18 fairy cakes and one gi-normous cake I baked today.

Let’s start with that gi-normous Devils Food Cake. I was asked to make one for Coco Cafe and as ever I trawled the internet and every book I possess looking at what others have said and done before deciding what to do myself.

Eventually I settled on a wet and dry cake – using Dove’s Farm self raising flour. I’m not sure if those who follow a gluten free diet will eat this as I did include a teaspoon of baking powder but the flour gives a lovely rise and light texture. For the very first time I used US measures, having treated myself to a pink jug with cup measures up the side, and I was surprised at just how easy it was!

The other dry ingredients were cocoa, sugar, bicarb and – of course – some of that divine Ndali Vanilla.

Speaking of Divine – they supplied the cocoa of course 🙂

Wet ingredients were vegetable oil and coffee made with that espresso powder you seem to find in supermarkets quite easily these days. I did debate for a while as to whether I should use soya milk and make this a dairy free cake but on balance I wanted to use butter in the frosting so sadly this one isn’t suitable for dairy free diets – sorry. Just two free range eggs and look how it rose – a real success story, especially once filled and frosted with buttercream and strawberry jam, and finished with some cheeky chocolate fondant bats.

The rest of the day was taken up with birthday cupcakes, cupcakes-by-post, some charity/fundraising bakes and the fairy cakes – which are not yet pictured. Tomorrow they will be topped with glace icing and then piped and pulled into spiders webs ready for some cute creatures to creepy crawl along them!

If any of these have wet your appetite don’t forget you can pop into Coco for a cup of the best ever Extract Coffee and enjoy a Filled With Love cake. But you can also contact me directly and remember I post to anywhere in the UK for a very reasonable price.

Hope to hear from you soon at linda@filledwithlovecupcakes.org

 

Red, Black, and Birthdays

After some deliberation I’ve decided to go for black gift boxes from now on. I think they look quite classy and in particular they set off the fluffy white buttercream (flavoured with Ndali Vanilla of course!) and strawberries in these ‘Award Winning’ cupcakes.

I’d be interested to hear what you think?

The lovely proprietor of Coco Cafe enjoyed a birthday this week. It wouldn’t have been right not to bake her a cake so here it is.

Fluffy light lemon sponge sandwiched with Carved Angel lemon curd and buttercream flavoured with more of the same.

Sides and top coated with buttercream before a topping of soft fondant and the decoration.

The greeting is piped in pink royal icing, no nozzle just the tip of a disposable piping bag snipped off. The flowers were hand moulded from sugar paste with a touch of gum trag added, and the whole thing finished with some signature hearts.

For the final birthday – for now – it was baby cakes – just a dozen and sadly still in a white box until I find a supplier. Lemon, Vanilla and Chocolate, topped with sprinkles, raspberries and fairtrade Maltesers. 

If any of the above have tempted your appetite please get in touch to place an order. I’d love to hear from you!

linda@filledwithlovecupcakes.org

 

Exclusive to Coco, Croxley Green

Tadaaaa…..! (cue drum roll, fireworks and general excitement building effects)

Coco Cafe opened in Croxley Green today – a really lovely cafe/deli serving just the best coffee you’ve ever tasted. Along with sandwiches, light lunches and nice cakes.

Two of my cakes can currently only be found at Coco. Here they are – if you would like to taste them then you need to come and visit!

This is the Coco cake. Dark chocolate, a shot of espresso, moist coconut and a mango curd filling (the stringy bits prove it is genuine real home made fresh mango curd!) Topped with a chocolate mousse-like buttercream, mango chunks and a drizzle of more dark chocolate.

If chocolate’s not your thing or you fancy a change here’s the lemon meringue cake. Fluffy lemon sponge filled with lemon curd and topped with swiss meringue buttercream – the Oscar of icings! Drizzled with lemon curd.

Pop into Coco and enjoy a cake with a delicious cup of Extract coffee. Or let me know you’re going and maybe I’ll see you there!