CafeRetro s Blog
Posted on 28 March 2012 | 1:49 am
Well here it is, my attempt at a Union Jack Battenberg! “EPIC” as my eldest son would say – or did say when I was making it last night! Rather stressful but worth the effort I think. Not one for the faint hearted!
If you would like a simpler Jubilee Battenberg with a great wow factor, have a look at my May Recipe Post!
This is for the Homemade by Fleur, Blogging Jubilee Baking Competition http://wp.me/p1UMex-o3 sponsored by Appliances Online
Tags: food, recipe, cafe retro, cake, afternoon tea, baking, jubilee, jubilee battenberg, marzipan, almonds, retro bakes, union jack battenberg, union jack battenburg
Tags: afternoon tea, almonds, bake, baking, battenberg, cafe retro, cake, easy bake, food, jubilee, jubilee battenberg, marzipan, recipe
I have chosen this delicious cake which falls in to the ‘very easy to make’ category and is a popular afternoon tea choice at the Cafe. This is based on a recipe by the fabulous Mitzie Wilson whose book I used constantly as a student – baking for my flatmates to brighten up our days. Instead of Mitzie’s Marscapone Icing I tend to use Cream Cheese frosting (a cheaper ingredient for a poor student which has now stuck!). I also think this keeps better in the fridge as a Marscapone topping can look pretty sad the next day & nobody wants a sad-looking cake.
Recently voted by one of our customers: the best cake she has EVER had. You can’t beat that for a recommendation! Here’s how I make it:
April Recipe: Tiramisu Cake
First pre-heat the oven to 170ºC and grease & line a cake tin
Dissolve 1 tblsp instant coffee in 1tsp boiling water then put into a large mixing bowl with:
125g Self-Rasing Flour
1 tsp Baking powder
125g Butter (I use cooking margarine)
125g Golden Caster Sugar
60g Grated Dark Chocolate (or coarsely chopped in a processor)
2 Free-range Eggs
Mix together then pour into the prepared cake tin.
Place in the oven to bake for 25-35 minutes until springy to the touch.
Leave to cool then pour over Brandy (you could also use Rum or Marsala) and leave to soak in.
Make your Icing: whisk together 100g cream cheese, 150g icing sugar, 100g butter (margarine) until smooth.
Spread this over your sponge and then dust liberally with cocoa powder
They also make delicious & unusual cupcakes and you can booze them up as much as you like for a grown up party!
NB: For the version I make at the Cafe, I make two of these sponges (using decaf coffee) soaked in a slightly Brandy flavoured sugar syrup then sandwiched together with some of the frosting.
Tags: afternoon tea, bake, baking, brandy, cafe retro, cake, chocolate, coffee, cream cheese frosting, dessert, easy bake, food, recipe, tiramisu
With the weather getting chillier what could be better than a delicious warming, filling soup full of natural goodness and VERY simple to make! Perfect heated up in one of our thermal Bento boxes ready for lunchtime. As with all soup, really take your time with the first steps – don’t rush it – as all the flavours should be there before you add the liquid. For all our mushroom soup fans, here’s how we make it:
Makes 1 litre of Soup
Fry 1 finely chopped Onion in a pan with 50g Butter until soft and golden
Add 500g sliced Mushrooms and fry until golden brown
Add 1 litre Vegetable Stock, Season to taste with Salt and Pepper and add a pinch of dried mixed herbs
Bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes
Add a splash of Double Cream (or Soya Equivalent) and heat through gently before Blending with a hand blender or processor
SERVE WITH: crusty bread
I always have a pot of Vegetable stock at home in the freezer made from all those left over & wrinkly veg boiled up in seasoned water then strained. I would however recommend getting some Marigold Vegetable Stock Powder (also available as Vegan) for your store cupboard.
Tags: bento, cafe retro, dairy-free, food, mushrooms, recipe, simple, soup, soya cream, starter, vegan, vegetarian
An Ice-Cream with all the flavours of a Christmas Pud & a kick of booze: what’s not to love about this delicious recipe! A fantastic alternative to Christmas Pudding which to be honest I find rather heavy, especially after the other festive treats.
A popular recipe at the moment, I had a version of this in the restaurant at Highgrove earlier this week. This version is tried and tested as it was devised by my father many years ago. The best part about it is that it is just as easy to make using Soya ice-cream, so perfect for those with a dairy intolerance.
December Recipe: Christmas Pudding Ice-Cream
Mix together in a bowl then cover closely & set aside for a few hours (or overnight):
60g sultanas60g currants60g raisins120g chopped glace cherries60g chopped mixed candied peel30g chopped stem ginger ( or glace pineapple)60ml BrandyWhen ready, soften 1 litre vanilla ice-cream (perfect for ice-cream straight from the shop!) then mix in your Brandied fruit, 150ml double cream, 25g toasted flaked almonds and 60g chocolate chips (these are optional as they go VERY hard in the ice-cream)
Spoon into a 1.8 litre (3pt) pudding basin, cover with freezer wrap & put in the freezer
When you are ready to serve: remove the wrap then dip the basin in hot (NOT boiling) water for 30 seconds, then tip out of the mould onto a plate. Dust with Sifted Cocoa Powder & let soften slightly before serving.
Easy Peasy! I’ve made some using sweetened dried cranberries for a change instead of the cherries… Although I am also toying with the idea of inventing a”stollen” ice-cream – boozy fruit, almonds & marzipan balls perhaps?
Tags: brandy, christmas pudding, dessert, food, fruit, ice-cream, iced pudding, pudding
I have just realised that there’s not much time left until Christmas and I haven’t made any Mincemeat yet. This recipe is perfect to make now as it only really requires two weeks until it’s ready to eat.
The best thing about making your own is that you can adjust the ingredients to suit your own taste (I like it with lots of nuts in and I generally spend the next two weeks opening the jars & pouring more brandy in!).
Think of the recipe below as a guideline for your own preferences
This is so easy and knocks the spots off the shop bought stuff, make it now and let it stand for a few weeks for the best mince pies you have ever tasted!
Roughly chop (or quickly blitz in a food processor) 250g raisins, 250g sultanas & 125g mixed peel
Then mix this together with:
400g currents,
125g chopped nuts (traditionally almonds – but any will do)
1 finely chopped apple (dessert or cooking, cored but with skin on)
400g soft brown sugar,
180g shredded Vegetarian suet (this is an optional ingredient, my sister omits it from her mix)
Rind from 1 orange & 1 lemon
1 1/2 teaspoons grated nutmeg
1 teaspoon allspice
1/ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Finally pour in:
Juice from 1 orange & 1 lemon
6 tablespoons Brandy (or rum or whisky)
Put into your clean, dry jars & wait two weeks…
When you are ready to cook them, use either homemade or shop bought Shortcrust pastry rolled out to less than half cm thick. cut out circles & put into a greased bun/muffin tin & prick the bottoms, fill with mincemeat then either leave open or cover (remember to prick the lid) & brush with melted butter. Cook at 200°C for 8-10 mins (for mini ones like mine) or 15-20 mins (larger ones) until they are golden. Serve hot or cold sprinkled with icing sugar!
This mix should keep well for 6 months if stored in a cool, dark place.
Christmas Mince Pies made to impress
Tags: bake, christmas, food, mince pies, mincemeat, recipe
Thank you so much to everyone who came in for cakes this morning in aid of Breakthrough Breast Cancer! It’s such a worthwhile cause – I am always amazed at how many people have been touched by this dreadful disease. After a slow start, we raised a wonderful £70 with more donations pending & we still have a few ribbon cupcakes for sale in the cafe… get them while you can!
For the lovely lady who wanted some recipes, the chocolate brownie one (yes, I agree they ARE the best in the world) is also on this site. Here’s how I made the sponge for the cupcakes (or any cake for that matter!)
Simple Failsafe Cake Recipe
This recipe uses the same weight of everything: EGGS, BUTTER, SUGAR, FLOUR
Decide how large you want your cake & choose your number of eggs accordingly – 2 eggs for a small cake/cupcakes, 3 or 4 eggs for a larger cake
Weigh your eggs whole, this is the weight you need for all the ingredients
Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees and lightly grease & flour your cake tin
Whisk the butter (or you can use margarine or sunflower oil) with the caster sugar until creamy
Add the eggs one at a time and mix each one in well (if the mixture starts to split, add a spoon of your flour)
At this stage you can add any flavours such as vanilla essence or cocoa powder. My favourite is crushed cardamom pods with lemon zest.
Fold in the self-raising flour
Pour into the cake tin and cook for 20-25 mins until a skewer comes out clean (Cupcakes only need approx. 12 minutes cooking time)
Cupcake tip: For perfect round cupcakes the mixture shouldn’t touch the sides of the cases, the easiest way to do this is to pipe the mixture gently into the middle of the cases.
Tags: breast cancer, brownies, cake recipe, charity, coffee morning, cupcakes, food, go pink, pink day
Well my head has been in a whirl of all things pink as October is officially “Go Pink”" Month in aid of Breakthrough Breast Cancer.
I am planning lots of wonderful things to bake and decorate – pink ribbon runouts, bra bunting and pink cowgirl cookie mix in a jar. It’s not just for me it’s all in aid of our Go Pink Coffee Morning on Friday October 21st with all profits going to Breakthrough Breast Cancer.
I think everyone must know someone, either a family or friend who has had breast cancer, and yes men can get it too… So come along with your friends and support a great cause.
Upstairs at Cafe Retro Friday 21st October 2011: 9.30am - 12 noonfor cakes, biscuits, coffee & tea all for a great cause
Ribbon topped Cupcakes, Coconut Macaroons, fresh Strawberry Cream Gateau, Cake Pops & Brownies!!!
Tags: biscuits, breakthrough breast cancer, breast cancer, cakes, charity, coffee, coffee morning, kids activities, milkshakes, tea
Well, it was an interesting day yesterday at the ‘Lunch’ trade show in Billingsgate. Always great to meet up with existing suppliers as well as sourcing new ones. It does make you realise how different the whole business is in London and how you need to translate current trends for your customer. One thing we won’t be doing is getting the one oven that cooks everything: from steamed rice to steak – you can put different food on different shelves & it’s cooked by the oven not by a chef. Apparently they are all the rage in the chain restaurants. We’ll stick to the chefs thanks!
London (Take-Away) Food Trends:Packets of loose nuts, seeds & dried fruitsTake-away hot ‘pots’ of soup, stew & the healthy ‘pot noodle’ made with Quinoa & Bulgar Wheat or CouscousPre-packed one portion foodDrinks packed with vitamins, fresh fruit or yoghurt based.So definitely a healthy slant dominating the market, but what will work for us? Well, we’ll definitely be stocking some delicious nut/muesli bars which scored well in my personal taste test! We also LOVED the loose nuts although we may get packs in to jazz up the salads & soups in the Cafe.
We also liked many of the pots of soups & stews and although I realise that consumers do go for the ‘branded packaging’ – the products just don’t compare with our delicious freshly made soups & stews that we make here. So bring in your Bento pots & get them filled!
Tags: bento, nuts, seeds, soup, stew, take-away
It’s that time of year when our Lunchtime Specials menu is full of delicious salads and one of this year’s most popular choices is the classic bacon & avocado combo – with a Retro twist if course!
Here’s how we make it:
serves 4 people
Fry 150g of Pancetta Cubes for 5 minutes until crispy (you could also used chopped bacon)
Peel & dice 2 ripe Avocados this can be tricky at home as you have to time your avocados somewhere between bullets and stringy brown mush
Make the dressing
(yes, this is the recipe for our world famous Sweet Basil Dressing)
Blend together:Bunch of fresh basil1 garlic Clove200ml Extra Virgin Olive Oil1 tblsp Wholegrain Mustard2 tblsp honey1 Chilli PepperSalt & Pepper to tastePrepare your salad: arrange mixed Salad Leaves (Endive, Lollo Rosso etc) with 1 sliced yellow or red Pepper, 2 Tomatoes cut into wedges and half a sliced cucumber
Sprinkle the warm, crispy pancetta & cold avocado on top & then drizzle the dressing
SERVE WITH: garlic ciabatta & a glass of rosé please!
Tags: avocado, bacon, basil, cafe retro, crispy bacon, crispy pancetta, food, pancetta, recipe, salad, sweet basil dressing
A Veggie Venture For Green Bean Casserole Just Say NO to Canned
Posted on 1 February 2012 | 7:37 pm
TIP #1 - LOTS of WATER It might seem crazy to, you know, 'measure' the water just to cook some green beans. But this is one of the tricks to making Fresh Green Bean Casserole. Use two full quarts (that's eight cups) of water for every pound of green beans. This gives the beans a lot of liquid to cook in and helps them cook fully and evenly. Two quarts of water almost fills my large Dutch oven so to double or triple the recipe, it's important to cook the beans in batches, replenishing the water for each batch.So measure out the water, set the stove to medium high, put a cover on the pot so the water doesn't evaporate as it boils and bring the water to a boil.
While the water boils, you'll be busy.Measure the greens beans, a pound at a time. You do have a kitchen scale, don't you? :-) Otherwise, just guess-timate.
Now give those beans a nice cold shower.
Now 'snap' the beans -- that means to break off the stem ends. Some people like to snap of the curvy little bit at the end of the bean but I don't honestly get that. They're cute! Why go to that extra effort?
Drop the end bits into a Rachael Ray bucket. What's a Rachael Ray bucket, you ask? Well, what it isn't, is a high-priced garbage can. What it is, is a container of some sort that sits in the sink to gather up little odds and ends of garbage. At least in my kitchen, where the garbage is underneath the sink, this saves me so much time and bother while I'm cooking. Plus it goes in the dishwasher.
TIP #2 - SET UP AN ASSEMBLY LINE Snapping the beans will move lickety-slick fast with an impromptu assembly line. Put the washed beans in the center. If you're right-handed, put the Rachael Ray bucket on the right, another container for the snapped beans on the left. Grab two beans in your left hand, snap off the tips with your right hand and drop them into their respective spots. Lefties, just switch sides.
OOOPS Now here's where I'm going to ask for imagination because -- well, I forgot a really crucial step in making this batch of green bean casserole. It's not just that I forgot to take a photo of this step, I forgot to DO it.You see, after snapping the ends of the beans, you also want to snap them into bite-size pieces. Yes, I suppose you could use a knife but honestly, the rough edges are one of the 'signs' that this is NOT a typical canned green bean and mushroom soup kind of green bean casserole. So me, anyway, I break the beans into short lengths.
BTW if you forget too, it's not a taste issue at all so don't worry that way. But whole beans don't stretch as far, so it's harder to feed as many people because the servings are automatically larger.
TIP #3 - USE PLENTY OF THE RIGHT SALT The way to draw out the most green bean flavor is the judicious -- okay, let's call a spade a spade -- the liberal use of salt. Remember this formula for cooking beans: a pound of beans, a quart of water and a tablespoon of table salt.Table salt? That's the fine-grained Morton-style salt. It is relatively 'saltier' than kosher / sea salt and way less expensive. It's the choice for the cooking water for vegetables. Sure, you CAN use the other salts, but you'll need to use more and it'll cost you.
Kosher salt? Or sea salt? Those are usually larger grains of salt, they are used for 'seasoning' food, usually when it's mostly or fully cooked. Get the kosher salt or sea salt out, we'll need it in a few minutes.
So. Measure out a tablespoon of table salt, add it to the boiling water, stir it around a bit so that it's distributed and then drop in the beans. Put the cover back onto the pot and set the timer for six minutes.
TIP #4 - STOP the COOKING! KEEP the COLOR! While the beans cook, fill a big bowl about halfway with ice, then about three-quarters full with cold water. This is called a 'cold water bath' and prevents the beans from overcooking and retains their bright green color.Remember this term, for the technique is used quite often to stop the cooking process, well, cold. This way, the beans (or asparagus, say) cook completely in the boiling water but instead of continuing to cook due to their own heat, once they hit the ice water, the cooking stops and the bright color is retained.
See? This is a good thing to remember.
TIP #5 - MAKE SURE THE BEANS ARE FULLY COOKED From here on, the beans won't actually cook, they'll just be heated. So it's important to make sure that they're fully cooked. They should be past crisp, just barely soft.
Drain the beans in a colander.Speaking of colanders, you do have one, don't you? Or four? Yes, I have four and can't believe how often at least three are in use at the same time. I LOVE these colanders. They're on the small side, they stack, they cost about a $1 each, they go in the dishwasher though many times, a quick rinse under the faucet is enough. Every time I see one of those huge colanders in a store for $15 or $20, I channel my mother, shaking my head as I think, "More money than sense."
Once the beans are fully cooked, drop them into the ice water, submerging completely. Use your hand, the temperature change will be palpable, you want them icy cold throughout.
Once the beans are cold, lift them beans out of the ice water, leaving the ice cubes behind. Don't tarry - you don't want the beans so soak up the water. I suppose you drain the beans in the colander again but you'd need to pick out the much-smaller bits of ice.
TIP #6 - DRY THE BEANS THOROUGHLY Wet beans = watery casserole = NOT GOOD. Even if you happen to be using frozen green beans, don't skip this step, it makes all the difference. Arrange the beans in a single layer on a double layer of paper towels.(Ha! Don't you think at this point I should have noticed that the beans should be in bite-size pieces?)
Use another double layer of paper towels to dry the beans from the top, too. Press gently, you don't want to squash the beans, but firmly too. You really want to extract as much liquid as possible.At this point, it usually work to uncover the beans and let them air dry for awhile.
Okay, so that's it for the green beans. Now, the next step for making the World's Best Green Bean Casserole is to make the mushroom sauce.
~ Part 2: How to Cook the Mushroom Sauce ~