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Archive for the ‘La Cocotte’ Category

Hand me those cupcakes, I need my sugar fix! Well, it certainly feels like that there are a whole load of cupcake junkies out there at the moment. A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that everybody in Paris is cupcake crazy. Well the proof has definetly been in eating the pudding! So much so that I’m doing another “Pimp my cupcake” session. It’s already booked up with a waiting list. Wahey!

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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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Right now I’m busy prepping for my first cookery class @ La Cocotte this Thursday. I’ve been busy researching, testing, tasting, doing all things muffiny…so much so I think I’m actually becoming a muffin. I found out the word muffin comes from the old french term “moufflet” (=soft). And that the American muffins did originate from the English ones but quickly developed their own style.

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Remember back in October my fifth time lucky muffins? Well, this week the book came out for which we (La Cocotte and I) wrote the recipe for. The delivery guy hardly made it through the bookshop’s door this Tuesday I was so excited. Like a kid on Christmas day I ripped open the box and flicked through the book to find my recipe. Very very happy with the result (I’m even in the picture, well half of me is ;-)) and the book has lots of other amazingly delicious recipes too (Rhubarb & strawberry, sticky toffee…the list goes on). Taking a leaf out of the book, my mum and I decided to invent our own muffin recipe. Currently at my parents this weekend, with the weather being snowy one minute, sunshiny the other, the best bet is to stay inside.

If you’re in Paris on the 29th March we’ll be having a “Muffin” booklaunch at La Cocotte. So do pop by if you’re around. There’ll be lots of tasty muffins to eat.

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Some soup for the soul is just what I need. Not only has it been raining cats and dogs but life has been a bit of a roller coaster recently. So what better than a nice cup of soup (and no, not this kind). I took a leaf out of Charlotte Lascève, the author of the delightful “Petit sequences” which we launched at La Cocotte this thursday. She made a delicious pumpkin soup. Perfect for a wintry evening. However I do like things spicy. The sweet, slightly nutty pumpkin flavour with the coconut milk marries well with a tablespoon or two (depending on how hot you like things) of red thai curry paste. Think a kick arse version of “Chicken soup for the soul” minus the meat

If you haven’t checked out the amazing prizes in the Menu for Hope IV fundraiser. Make sure to do so!

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