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Archive for the ‘Dulce de leche’ Category

You say tomatoe (just imagine the yankee accent ) I say tomato (and a brit one here). The same could go for cupcakes or as us Brits call them fairy cakes. I was doing some research for my next cookery class. The theme is cupcakes which is all the rage in Paris and I found a few interesting titbits…

According to the “The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America”, cupcakes were originally just small cakes minus the icing, that came in the 1950s. The “cup” derived from two origins:
1. The switch from weighing to using cup measurements in the 19th century American households.
2. The practice of baking in small containers or cups. Large cakes were often burnt in the the hearth ovens.

Brits use the term “fairy cakes”, as you normally scoop out the top, fill that with buttercream and jam and then cut the top into two wings which you place on top. Hence them looking slightly fairy like. I would normally call those butterfly cakes and all the plain iced cakes, fairy cakes.

Anyway, at the end of the day they taste delicious and bring back memories of sticky little fingers at birthday parties (well, that is if you had an anglophone childhood).

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“Won’t you be my valentine?” A question which will be on many people’s tongues this 14th. Not mine though. I tend to be a bit more cynical and find the whole thing way too commercial. But then I guess if you’re unluckily attached to someone who needs that kind of reminder, than once a year is better than none a year.
I may be cynical in regards to valentines but I do have a small weakness for anything in a heart shape, though. For some reason I often end up making a cake, biscuits or other foods in heart shapes. (more…)

The lovely Fanny from Foodbeam sent me an email a couple of weeks ago, asking whether I could participate in the Menu for Hope IV event. Menu for hope is an annual fundraising event masterminded by chez Pim raising money for the UN World Food Programme feed the hungry.

Each year, food bloggers from all over the world join forces to host the Menu for Hope online raffle, offering an array of delectable culinary prizes. For every US$10, the donor receive a virtual raffle ticket toward a prize of their choice. This year, the prizes include once in a lifetime experiences such as touring the elBulli laboratory with Ferran Adrià , dining on a historic British meal prepared by Heston Blumenthal, or joining Harold McGee on a lunch date to satisfy a lifetime’s worth of cooking curiosity. You can also tag along with your favorite blogger on a tour of their favorite markets, restaurants, or even receive a care package fashioned especially for you from your favorite bloggers themselves. All you need is $10 and a bit of luck.

Wanting to do my own bit I’ve submitted two prizes for the raffle… (more…)

Hate to blow my trumpet, but who cares I’m so excited about being on the cover (with my cake) of this month’s Elle à table I just had to share it with you. There’s an 8 page article inside “Christmas dinner with the 4 girls from la Cocotte“. Andrea and I wrote the recipes and made the food (and some food styling). Nathalie did the beautiful interior and prop styling…well worth rushing to your local newsagent and getting a copy now, while there are still some left

The days have been zooming past extremely quickly. Falling like the leaves on the trees at the mo. They’ve been filled up with plenty of delicious (very exciting) things. I was busy making plenty of Christmas food for a Elle à table (hitting French newstands in November), working on Christmas biscuits for La Cocotte, writing recipes and working on my new baby plus there’s the usual stuff like keeping up with the Parisian social scene… (more…)