Learning to Decorate Cupcakes with Peggy Porschen

Every domestic goddess must absolutely be able to make the most beautiful cupcakes.  Me included, but I need a little help in decorating them and right now Peggy Porschen’s name is hot cake scene.  In cake conversation on twitter Peggy's name is scattered like wedding confetti across the twittersphere.   Women all over the country are drawn to her fabulous feminine girly style of delicious cakes and it is hardly surprising because Peggy is amazing.  She is regularly commissioned to make cakes for people such Gwyneth Paltrow, Stella McCartney and recently made Kate Moss’s wedding cake. In Autumn 2010 the Peggy Porschen Parlour in London's Belgravia opened closely followed in January this year by her cake-decorating academy.

With her fourth book underway it’s an incredible achievement to have opened this academy especially when you consider that she’s started her business on her own after training as a pastry chef taking her cake decorating passion to become one of the most inspiring and creative artisan cake decorators in the county.

Now the truth is that I can bake the most fabulous cakes, but if I am honest, then I must admit that, until not so long ago if I decorated a cake people would smile and turn to congratulate my nearest child, because my cake decorating skills were really really not great.

I felt rather a failure, I mean how else is one supposed to feel when even the most delicious cake look ridiculous?   Yes I know what you are thinking, that I am exaggerating, but to me cake decorating would send me into blind panic, so a cake-decorating course taught by Peggy herself offered the perfect solution to what was becoming a bit of a sticking point in my culinary world.

Even looking at the photos of the cakes I was to decorate en route to London my state of mind was such that I found myself having one of those strange moments. As I stared at the picture I half snorted and half laughed out loud at the very idea of me producing something half as pretty. Consequently the other passengers all bunked down, staring even harder at their phones and newspapers as I colored up in total embarrassment!

Well as you can see from the photos my cakes were not the disaster I was expecting. I really needn’t have worried.  Peggy was just lovely.  Her explanations were detailed and simple. Each process was broken down into small steps, she was fantastic as a tutor and clearly really enjoyed teaching. 

The class had people from all over the world.  Indeed there were two ladies from Italy, another lady traveling back to Tenerife and another taking her cupcakes to Hong Kong.   Although we all made the same cupcake  .. everyone was individual and styled slightly differently.

In the space of a day I learnt to be far more confident making my sugar craft flowers. I used fondant for the very first time and got some brilliant tips and techniques with the royal icing.  Peggy’s ways are shared as fun, informative, and with the practical demonstrations followed by being able to do the same ourselves it was the perfect learning environment. 

I certainly didn’t feel half as stupid as I thought I would and was in reality I was far better that I could have imagined. I just needed to be shown how to do certain things better and the one to one time with Peggy was great.  She made sure she spent time with everyone -  which I thought was really professional.

I had a moment to ask Peggy about how she became on of the countries leading cake decorators.  You can listen to what she said here.

I met another blogger called Rebecca who has Cupcake Cavern and she wrote a much more detailed how to guide in her lovely blog you can read it here.

Now I’m not saying that I am amazing yet but I feel so much more confident that I may even consider decorating my own Christmas cake this year.

And for a chance to win Peggy’s latest book click here.

The Peggy Porschen Parlour address is 116 Ebury Street, Belgravia, London SW1W 9QQ
Tel +44 (0) 20 7730 1316. Or you can visit the website at www.peggyporschen.com

Love food Hate Waste

I couldn't put it better myself. I love food and hate to see waste, so I was delighted to be asked to head up the Northamptonshire  Love Food hate waste campaign.  The time has just flown by and it's been seriously fun taking the road show campaign out and talking to the people of Northamptonshire.

Sara, Rebecca and the team have been out all over the county giving out advice, leaflets, recipes and the perfect measuring scoops for rice and pasta. Of course being half term the children helped out on the market square, not allowing a single person to go past with out a leaflet  .. it was great fun to get people to think about changing their habits.



Here are three facts that really made me sit up and think

An average family throws away up to a quarter of all the food they buy, which equates to up to £50 a month

If everyone in the country stopped throwing away food that could have been eaten, it would have the same carbon impact as taking 1 in 4 cars off the road in the UK

Nationally, we throw away 8.3 million tonnes of food every year, most of which could have been eaten.

So if you'd like chance to win a copy of Prepped the county council are giving 10 copies away  .. .enter the competition here: 

and please  think about the way you use food.  We cal all make a difference. 

I Love James Ramsden's Secret Larder

I’m not a nervous person, but last night I felt a little apprehensive as I arrived at James Ramsden’s supper club, because Al was at home with the children and I went on my own. It’s interesting that people assume that because you are bubbly then you don’t get butterflies. Well bubbly people to get butterflies .. we’re just good at hiding them!

James is very understated when he talks about himself, but writing for the guardian word of mouth, Waitrose Illustrated and having a brilliant cook book Small Adventures in Cooking (New Voices in Food) out he really is one of the country's finest food young writers.

Well, I needn’t have been worried.  I was made so welcome when I arrived the tables were laid beautifully, the people were lovely and chattering and everyone was very relaxed.. including James !

I was given a Moscow Mule by James’s delightful sister Mary and got chatting with some of the other guests. There was laughter, smiles and a brilliant buzz in the room, which with its high ceilings and simple clean décor made the atmosphere really open and easy.

The food was utterly delicious. A spiced soup with ginger, wild mushrooms and chilli was light and warming on a cold October evening. The charred chicory was balanced with spiced pickled pear and creamy gorgonzola -  a clever addition of ground caramelized walnut and smoked salt gave the whole dish a sweet salted crunch.  The main was pure comfort.  Slow braised beef on garlic mash with green beans that had the perfect al dente crunch. The gluten free chocolate cake that followed was just divine .. I am going to have to add the recipe into my own dinner party book of tricks.  Deep dark rich fudgey chocolate cake.   Hot coffee and rose marshmallows were the perfect ending to a superb meal.

James’s supper club is one of the best evenings I’ve had for ages.  He is naturally charming and fun, with a serious ability to turn out superb food.  I can’t wait to go back ... only next time I will definitely take my husband. I called him earlier and told him what a great evening and that I’ve re booked for the next one.

Click here to contact James. 

I love Dan Lepard's Short and Sweet

A few weeks ago I attended Dan Lepard's Sourdough making course and Dan was just bursting with pride with his fabulous new book  Short and Sweet . Well I have to tell you that it really is one the best baking books ever..  The book itself is designed with the cook in mind.  Clear type, easy straight forward instructions, and it sits open flat so the page stays on the recipe you are making!

Then there of course there are the delicious recipes, and they are not just cakes ( .. although there are plenty.)  There are bakes, cakes, sweets, bread, muffins, and some of the most utterly gorgeous recipes ever. 

Dan's recipes are easy to follow, and always turn out exactly as they should. So if you are buying a baking book this year  I can't reccomend Short and Sweet

highly enough. 

Let’s make Christmas - The Food Blogger Gift Swap

It occurred to me just the other day that we food bloggers don’t often get the chance to meet up and yet we love nothing more than a cup of tea, something delicious to eat and a good natter about a recipe.  So I decided to organize just that. 

So I spoke to the lovely people in one of my absolute favorite shops in the world, Fortnum & Mason and they thought it was a wonderful idea for a get together and the swap has been arranged on Friday 18^th November 3 – 6pm.  I love their gifts and if ever I haven’t got he time to make something then I know many of their goods are hand made and, as you can see from my pictures they make fabulous gifts.

I am so excited not least because we’ll all get to sample Fortnum & Mason’s delicious world famous tea and eat cakes and mince pies but we’ll get the chance to meet world class baker Dan Lepard, who’s recent book Short and Sweet is looking to be one of 2011 Christmas best selling baking books.

There are now just 3 spaces left 

If you'd like to come please add your comment below and tell me what you favourite thing to make at Christmas is and what your blog is called. 

On the day 

You will need to bring along your gift to Fortnum & Mason's 4th floor at 3pm (with your name and the recipe must be attached in an envelope.)  Your gift needs to be entered into the swap by 3.45pm. Your gift get’s a number and a category.  At the end of the event you get to pick out the tickets (According to how many gifts you brought with you ) out of the hat and leave with the gifts correlating to the number that you have picked from the hat it's like a raffle and you will leave with someone else’s gifts.  I wanted to add a bit of gentle competition to it all ... so Dan Lepard has very kindly offered to judge the gifts and the timetable is as follows: 

4 -5pm Dan Lepard will judge the entries and pick the winning gifts.

5 .45pm you pick a ticket out of all the entries and you leave with a gift.  

The gift categories are:

1 Pickles and preserves

2 Sweets

3 Alcohols / Drinks

4 Cakes, biscuits and baked goods

The Prizes are as follows

1 Overall best gift.  –  Fortnum & Mason Hamper

2 Best preserve / pickle is Aga Preserving Pan & Maslin Pan

3 Best sweets – Rococo Chocolates course with Laurent Couchaux -  the Principle Chocolatier at Rococo Chocolates and winner of Chocolatier of the year 2011

4 Best drink - Champagne tasting class with Leiths Cookery school resident wine expert, Richard Bampfield this fun, informative tasting of the world’s most desirable tipple is the prize for the best drink

5 Best baked goods Signed book Short and Sweet by Dan Lepard & a Kenwood kMix KMX58 Stand Mixer, Citrus Yellow
mixer by a leading brand of Kitchen appliances Kenwood.  ( Hurrah for British design!) 

The Rules

You must share your recipe and blog about your gift using the Fortnum & Mason Let's make Christmas Logo in the blog post. 

You may enter up to 3 categories. Minimum entry is 1 category. 

You must provide an envelope with the recipe inside and your name and email address. Ingredients must be clearly marked to accommodate andy food allergies. 

All gifts must be packaged in a way that is appropriate for someone else to transport home. 

Prizes will be sent directly to the winners.  If you win you will need to leave your address with me at the end of the day. 

All decisions by the judge are final  and there are no cash or product alternatives. 

All gifts must tbe hand made, and credit the recipe to the author if appropriate.

You must be over 18 to participate. 

All the fabulous recipe testers

When I was writing Prepped I did not have the facilities or resources that the big guns have at my disposal to write Prepped! ... I did have, something which I think is turned out to give a better result altogether.

I have the Preparatti ..  online food bloggers who are gave these recipes a run through in the real world. I LOVE this. All my recipes were all tested for real, and there was no hiding!

The recipes work.  So far, touch wood there has not been a single report of any of my recipes having any mistakes in them .. and that is down to these fabulous ladies!

SUSAN EASTON is a really fabulous Lancashire lass who cooks up a storm in her kitchen in Chorley. She keeps her own chickens and bakes delicious cakes using the eggs they lay. She tested out my 100mph batter cakeand you can read about it here...

You can catch Susan on Twiiter @TwitTotte

TRACEY REILLY is based in Edinburgh and followed her dream to work in catering. She as savvy cook and has a super blog where she posted about testing the Lemon Syrup, Lemon Sorbet and White Rabbit Cocktail and the Lemon Chicken salad for me and gave some invaluable feedback!

You can also catch her on Twiiter as @nippie_sweetie

KATIE BRYSON certainly has to make the most of her time in the kitchen! A freelance food writer and blogger, she tested a double cook Duck & Noodles & canapés recipe for me. Her family food blog is bursting with recipes and tips for feeding hungry families that’ll help inspire all those frazzled parents out there wondering what on earth to cook for tea!

JO DYSON Jo’s Kitchen is a blog about simple home cooking that fits into a busy lifestyle. Jo is not a chef or a photographer, and has nicknamed herself ‘the ‘hungry blogger’ as food is not usually around long enough for a good photo! Jo lives in the Midlands and is the founding member of the Midlands Food Bloggers. Fortunately she’s a star and did manage to take some photos of the Eccles cakes she tested for me and blogged about it here!

ANITA MENON

Anita 

is a stay-at-home mom to a 16 month old toddler. Living in the Kingdom of Bahrain ( Middle East) until quite recently lived in Birmingham. After moving to Bahrain, she started baking. She says the joy of watching your cake rise up to perfection is unparalleled. So you can say, I'm addicted! Her blogwww.sliceofmylyfe.wordpress.com is about celebrating her life, and was good enough to test some Cheese biscuits for me!

CAROLONE VON SCHMALENSEE

 Caroline is one half of Edinburgh Foody a superb site that delights in all thing foodie and Scottish - and boy do the Scottish love their food! It's a superb Blog and I was delighted when she offered to help !

Now you wouldn’t think much could go wrong with a Caraway and Parmesan Muffin - unless there is a typo .. Caroline spotted 25ml of milk should have been 250m! Thank goodness .. because they are delicious !

JAYNE MILLER

 from Edinburgh Scotland, Jayne tested the Garlic Pasta Dish. has been living in Barcleona, Spain for the past 4 years. She’s a busy primary school teacher and says she’s a super foodie.www.veggieinspain.com is her website is especially for vegetarians living in Spain as she found it very difficult to follow her usual recipes in Spain She love all types of cooking but exotic dishes probably do it more for me than most. Oh and baking cupcakes is a regular occurrence in my kitchen!

HELEN BEST-SHAW I almost gave up getting 

an elderflower recipe to be tested in the dead of winter as I finished Prepped. Luckily for me Helen is already prepped! as she had some elderflower syrup from earlier in the year! I was delighted as she agreed to test the elderflower Macaroons for me. Helen lives in west London and is a 100% foodie through and through. Her Blog Fuss free flavors is terrific read!

JAYNE RIVERA LYNCH Lovely lovely Jayne lives in London but was born and mostly raised in America. Having followed lots of other blogs she’s now decided to try her own and kicked off by testing a few of my recipes! She says loves cooking, especially baking as you can see in this mince pie testing blog post!

ANDREA ROBSON Last week Andrea tested my Whoopie pie recipe. Her feedback was just superb! Andrea moved to London from Victoria, BC two years ago and brought her Canadian recipes and taste buds with me. She compares the differences between baking in North America and the UK on her blog Made With Pink. She describes herself as A self confessed hoarder of bakeware, cook books and any pink kitchen gadgets I can get my hands on. You name it, I have it.

ROSS SHAND (with his fabulous Charging Chimp Blog ) I can't tell you how pleased I am to have a man testing ! The first recipe tested was the caraway soda bread and he then went on to test out the Chicken liver parfait .. he's a rock star in the kitchen as far as I am concerned ! Ross is a self confessed geek married to a Caribbean foodie. He saysthat time is short for the both of us as we work long hours so any book full of quick dishes is going to be well thumbed in our house.

RENATKA BEHAN As a busy lawyer and now with two little children Renatka really knows what it is like to be short on time and still loves great food. She has a fabulous St Albans based blogwww.renbehan.co.uk and was brilliant at ironing out the wrinkles in the instant pancake mix recipe .. click here to read more about her Fabilicious pancake mix test!

Lovely LIZ POPE tested my Grandmothers Christmas cake and then went on to decorate it! Liz a primary school dance teacher by day and describes herself as a general homemaker the rest of the time. She loves blogging about her endeavors in homemaking, particularly from the perspective of her Christian faith. With a lovely husband and two naughty kittens to keep her company; her dream is to one day retrain as a pastry chef and artisan baker to continue the family bakery established roughly 150 years ago. I can certainly see why as she’s shown just what a great baker she is right here.

ALETHIA HILL is a super tester .. she describes herself as , mother of a darling little boy and wife to a scoundrel of a husband (equally darling though). Her roots are from the southern tip of Africa, where she lived and worked until the early part of 2009, when as a family they decided to look for a better life for their young son, and made the move and now call the UK home. Now that's brave. I am delighted she has move here because she and Jack have taken the time to test one of my linked recipes and you can read all about tomato pasata, and soup here ... and meatballs in tomato sauce here.

KATIE LEE

Katey is an Edinburgh-based food lover, baker and cake addict. She has a fabulous blog Edinburgh EatsShe has a million cookbooks and relaxes by reading through them and deciding what to cook next. Her dream job is to open a cakeshop/bookshop hybrid and is patiently waiting to win the Euromillions to make those dreams come true. I the mean time Katie tested my Rhubarb and Lamb Tagine, and when she opens her cakeshop I shall be up like a shot buying cake and books. Meanwhile you can read her blog post about testing out my recipe here.

Give HELEN REDFERN a mixer, an oven, a few ingredients and a laptop and she’s happy. If she could find a way to stop getting sticky cake mixture on the laptop she’d be even happier! Helen’s passionate about simple, family baking but with two children, a husband who works long hours and her writing she doesn’t get time to spend hours in the kitchen. So recipe have to work She tested the Raspberry and chocolate cake for me. As well as her blog you can find her as a foodie columnist here.

JULIA ENGLAND - what a star ! She is she describes herself as A total facebook addict with an upsurging twitter addiction ! A busy mum of 3 growing and hungry boys who took the time to test for me. She’s NHS office worker by day and wannabe foodie by night ! A perfect Time Short Foodie .. she spends evenings reading cookbooks (any and every!! Have shelves full) dreaming of food and watching foodie programmes! To Julia's Blog and to see what she things to the recipe Click here

ELAINE from laney-lanesworld.blogspot.com

Elaine is a busy working professor in America who I met on twitter! She was wishing she was a recipe tester .. and I asked if she’d like to test one of mine .. with three children and her interest in veganism and vegetarianism, health, ethics and the environment her blog made me sit up and take notice. Her style is witty and forthright, as she tested out he Garlic yum yum for me! Click here to read how she got on....

ENGLISHMUM

Tested the pizza and bread linked recipe . As a professional recipe tester Englishmum has two boys aged 12 and 15 and works at home developing and testing recipes for magazines and recipe books, and writing about food and travel. Read her blog post here. She’s fabulous and describes herself as a 40 year old time wasting, talkative layabout, excessive twitter and arch procrastinator with a penchant for cooking, shopping, hot baths, Green & Black’s and a nice glass of red (not necessarily in that order).

ALISON MACPHERSON

Alison is 34 and lives in Rostrevor, a small village in County Down, with her historian husband Jim and a delightfully grumpy white cat called Frank. Her background is in TV production and she loves to cook - she enjoys reading (especially cookery books and design blogs), shopping, watching far too much TV. She goes on to say that her favourite cookery writers (apart from Vanessa!) are Nigel Slater, Jamie Oliver and Nigella Lawson although I own a very large stash of cookery books by all sorts of people. Testing recipes is just my ideal pastime. Heaven ! Click here to see her blog.

JULES – the other half of The Butcher and The Baker. As the Baker and the main author of this fabulous blog she is dedicated to teaching children about food through her business. Self-confessed geek and lover of all things vintage and cake shaped she's got one of the best blogs going. Living The Good Life in rural Derbyshire in a tiny cottage with an even smaller vegetable patch, and her husband the the Butcher. He is an engineer who always loves a challenge. . he is the Chief Gardener at The Cottage. Hugh F-W/Dick Strawbridge/Ray Mears worshipper.They make great team and live life to the full! Jules tested the Chocolate beef and Chocolate pasties for me ..click here to read how she got on!

You are the most important link in this process.. if the recipe works you can be sure it will be down to these amazing people .. I can't wait for them all to meet at the Book Launch !

Please do let me know if you'd like to help .. there are lots to test!