Daily rounds no more: Eccles Cakes

At breakfast, we all have our habits. Despite the pleasure to find our favorite products every day, I remain convinced that messing up these habits is the best way to never get bored. I am far from having tried everything on morning delicacies, but I can say that Eccles Cakes are no more part of the list. 

Wonka Wrap

Each year in Provence, we have a fair called Arles Prestige, an exhibition of decorative arts and culinary wonders, where you can taste wonderful specialties. Among the delicious things I discovered, there was ... LE COMPTOIR DE MATHILDE.

A soft and mild tea break

I know I wouldn't mind a simple and mellow taste that takes me back to my childhood. A swiss roll is a cake with a twist, it's funnier to make than an essay and you can change the filling like you change your shirt. Today I  made it with figs and almonds jam (homemade of course).

When grand-ma' cooks

Soon I'll write one story a month! At this rate, nobody will dare take a look. So I'm going back. I have some recipes waiting to be posted as well. The photos are ready, recipes almost written. What am I waiting for?

Sunny Summer Siesta

From time to time, I put a little order in my files to make sure that everything is in place. Sometimes I'm lucky enough to get a surprise. Today I'm writing one of the first recipes I made on arriving in England last February. The photos date from March 5, if you need proof! The folder was really well hidden. This is a Honey & Rosemary cake. It smells like My Sweet Sunny Provence. 

I've been cooking (truth)

By the look of the blog, it seems like I haven't been cooking for a while: wrong! Actually, I've been quite busy these last weeks, mostly doing jobs that didn't get me any money (and that's not about to change yet). Parts of them were for myself, like re-designing my professional website, my logo, developing a font based on it and designing business cards. You can see a bit of it above. I guess nobody's suprised I work under Alphabakery's name. I just can't seem to escape typography and baking.

23 candles and a Victoria Sponge score

Monday, May 17, I celebrated my 23rd birthday. That day seems very far already, just like my age. Everything always goes too fast. But I go with the flow, what else can we do? That day, there weren't many people in my little Brum' bubble : only my brother and my roommate. But tradition is tradition, especially when it comes to birthdays, and even if my parents were to arrive two days later, I needed a cake on my birthday to blow out my candles. With 23 it starts get crowdy on the crust, especially when I don't plan to cook for fifty guests, so I reduced the number to the half and that was good. And after the revelry with the Summer pudding, I reiterated with another recipe from the BBC. This time, it's the Victoria Sponge cake which blew its own trumpet. So let the music play!

The twisted side of Pâtisserie

message from January, 31st :

When I meet with friends, I always take great pleasure at the mere idea of finding a original recipe to offer. Since my attempt to cook Tagada strawberries for New Year's Eve, I've wanted to bake something with candy. So when I stopped several times on a recipe of a Carambar cake on different websites, I couldn't resist. I did it, and that was the best idea I had that day. I'm still dancing for it.

How to breathe marzipan grass

message from January, 15th :

When I spend one day without baking a cake, I feel it's as if there was nothing to crunch, especially at tea-time. Sometimes I can live without it, but it seems the people whom I live with, can't. After Christmas, I had some ingredients that I had not included in final menu, because there was already enough food. Among these, there was marzipan. Digging in my "Sophie's cakes" book, I inevitably found my happiness, and I simply added a few apricots that I wanted to finish as quickly as possible.

Sweet zucchini cake

When I hear people say that eating sweet cakes hurts your reflection in the mirror I say " no! Of course there are delicacies that can offer delights to your taste buds and your body! " Especially because one can't exist without the other, and denying your envy is never the solution. And at worst, a short walk, a run with your dog (it works very well, since he never stops), and you can keep going. So, whoever says diet celebration, says big fat zucchini cake!

A white Flamingo's tale

message from Dec. 6th, 2009 :

Sorry to disappoint the readers (if there are, of course), because to tell the truth, I have no inspiration for such a story. It's just this little creature who was in the middle of my cake platter. Cheesecake has always fascinated me. I don't know if the idea of making sweet food with salty ingredients, or having to reduce use some of my favorite cookies to dust that attracted me so much, but I searched a long time before I found a recipe that suited me. I have a kind of love / hate relationship with this "cake", because to be honest, I don't like all things creamy (a tear shed for whipped cream though, because I would really like to like it). In addition, there are so many textures and shapes ...

The upside-down summer cake

message from Oct. 4th, 2009 :

To remember the sweets of the summer, baskets of ripe fruits and evening cocktails under the stars, nothing is better than a cake that melts in your mouth.

An upside-down pear cake,

is like a warm sandy beach, 

it's a rum baba which doesn't get drowned,

it's a ladybug lost in rosemary bushes,
it's a sweetness that makes me as delirious as a sunstroke.

The fable of the Ant & the Cricket

message from Oct. 1st, 2009 :

When summer lingers, I start to think about winter. Will it be very cold? tumultuous? rainy? icy? or sweet, soft and powdery? Anyway, I needed an excuse to give another chance to use the wonderful mold I received for my birthday. Considering the first result looked like this: