New look, new focus

Before, I moved to Paris, a French friend of mine told me that, from a culinary point of view, living in France was just like being in the movie Julie and Julia. I was skeptical, and have spent the last three months waiting to be disappointed. But I can categorically state, he was right.

Yes, there is a small baker's shop opposite my apartment, where I can pop down and buy fresh croissants, and baguettes so hot from the oven, that they burn your hands on the way home. Yes, there is a large turn-of-the-century market hall in the next street, where I have made friends with one of the grocers who will suggest just the right ingredients for whatever I am making. Yes, the city is full of the most amazing patisseries which compete with each other to create stunningly beautiful cakes that make you want to weep.

If I had to find something to complain about or criticize, it would be that the baker's is closed on a Saturday, and I have to walk to the next street to find the nearest alternative; the market is only open three days a week (although one of these is Sunday), and the patisseries can be expensive.

As well as the sheer range and quality of the food, I have been overwhelmed by the fads and fashions I have seen here, many of which haven't been heard of outside France. I have also discovered that there are myriad opportunities to learn how to cook as well, ranging from lessons at well-established cooking schools, to masterclasses with celebrity chefs.

All of the above led to a bit of a crisis on my blog, as I had no idea what to focus on as I couldn't write about it all. So, I have decided that a change of focus and a new direction are in order.

This blog will now focus on patisserie. Every week, I will try one classic pastry, from a famous shop and then recreate my own version at home. As I learn, I will share my recipes and insights here which will build up into a manual. I am also going to take a class once a month at a different cooking school and will blog about my experiences there too. Updates in between will focus on anything I happen to notice around town and feel like sharing.

So, sit back, relax, and enjoy. Updates coming soon about the oldest macaron shop in the world, a masterclass with a real TV celebrity, and a legendary tart made by two sisters. 

Cake and the City

Cupcakes on parade at American Cupcakes, San Francisco, CA

On July 9 2000, the world changed forever. HBO’s popular drama Sex and the City, addressed racism and dating a smoker in the same episode. And as Carrie Bradshaw, announced what was to be her biggest relationship that season, viewers watched her grappling with the biggest cupcake in New York City and a nation experienced collective food envy.

The “homme du jour” was a carpenter called Aiden: the “plat du jour” a yellow cupcake, topped with raspberry frosting, from the Magnolia bakery on the lower West Side. Carrie’s fidelity to Aiden lasted four weeks: America’s fidelity to the cup cake is still going strong, and unlike Mr Big, even the sexy French macaron couldn’t dull America’s appetite for these red velvet devils.

In the thirteen or so years since, the cupcake has made a bid for world domination. This is partly due to the fact that, unlike the delicate gallic marvels, the supersized American cupcake can be easily baked at home, providing the housewives of the world with a kind of personal gratification the writers at SATC weren’t thinking of. 

The SATC cupcake was plain sponge, topped with pink buttercream frosting, piped in a simple swirl. The class of 2013 features flavors such as caramel fleur de sel, s’mores, as well as the ubiquitous red velvet, which has become more American than apple pie, (also available in cupcake form).

Back in 2009, I made a late-night pilgrimage to Magnolia on Bleeker Street, still busy at a quarter of midnight. And on a recent Sunday morning in San Francisco, the sunny city serenaded with foghorns from across the Bay, I decided to pay a visit to three of the city’s finest.

 First stop was American Cupcake, on Union Street, the sci-fi interior, adding an ultra-violet tint to my red velvet cupcake. My senses further confused by the incredible scarlet of the moist chocolate cake, I began to wonder how many “e numbers” (or their American equivalent) I was consuming, until I was slapped in the face by the lascivious saltiness of the cream cheese frosting.  This had never been my favorite, as I had always found it a bit sour, but the salt added a new edge, which I am keen to recreate, and added an intense enhancement to the chocolate sponge.

Red Velvet cupcakes at American Cupcake

Next was Kara’s Cupcakes, the quieter branch on Scott Street, rather than the Ghirardelli Square location. Here, I chose fleur de sel: chocolate buttercream on a chocolate sponge, with a salty caramel interior. Maybe it was the temperature it was served at, but this just didn’t do it for me. The buttercream was hard and bland, the cake fell to pieces in my hand, and the caramel interior popped out like an eyeball on to the plate.

Chocolate and Red Velvet at Kara's Cupcakes

Finally, came Susie Cakes on Chestnut Street. The shop interior had  much more of a mom’s-kitchen atmosphere than the other two and so did the cakes. The raspberry cupcake, was of the original Sex and the City generation: an ordinary sponge, but topped with a deliciously tart strawberry buttercream.

Traditional cupcakes at Susie Cakes

With the general availability of cupcakes worldwide (even Zurich has its first dedicated store, where English is spoken for the benefit of bored ex-pat banker’s wives) it was great to revisit the cupcake on home soil. Even if American Cupcake’s menu (featuring—I kid you not—chicken deep fried in red velvet batter) suggests that stores are beginning to branch out to keep custom, I found the great American cupcake alive and well and living at the foot of Pacific Heights. 

Chocolate brownies

Chocolate brownies are a signature bake of one of my patisserie heroes, Gerhard Jenne. I met Gerhard at a party, for which he had done the catering,  many years ago. The center piece was a cake that, I had assumed, had been covered with a brown velvet cloth. It was only when it came to be served that one realised that the rippled brown velvet was the cake. I can still remember that it tasted of german spices so reminiscent of Christmas markets, proving that it tasted as good as it looked. You can see an image of a very similar cake here on the Pinterest page of Jenne's patisserie: Konditor and Cook.
Gerhard was extremely down to earth and personable at the party and he invited me to come and see his shop anytime I was in the area. Circumstances prevented me but a few years later was surprised to find it on the corner of the street which houses the London home of the company I work for. After that not a meeting went by without a bag of chocolate brownies.

So, it appears that there are two types of chocolate brownie: cakey or fudgy. The Konditor and Cook ones are definitely fudgy and these are the type I prefer. I love the crumbly flaky crust on top of the soft, creamy interior. There are as many different variations on the recipe as there are cooks some using a melted chocolate base and some cocoa powder. My preferred method is to add cocoa powder and the other ingredients for the brownie to melted butter and then to add chunks of chocolate and pecan nuts to add some structure and crunch. I love using a bitter cocoa and a sweet milk chocolate to create a real contrast in chocolate flavours. Living in Switzerland there is a lot of choice for chocolate but my favourite for brownies is Cailler, Cuisine Chocolate au Lait. You can vary the recipe with chocolate and nuts of your choice, for example white chocolate and pistachio. As long as you use cocoa, they are still brownies.

Here are some pictures of my latest batch which my colleagues enjoyed this week.

One a penny, two a penny ...

As, (officially) a Brit living abroad, Easter gets you thinking about Hot Cross Buns. Although I managed to find a french translation for them (brioche saint), these do remain almost unknown outside the English-speaking (post 1776) world.

The Hot Cross Bun was first mentioned in writing in the UK only a few years before this (1733: 'Good Friday comes this Months, the old woman runs, With one or two a Penny hot cross Bunns', according to the OED.) However, there is a lot of evidence to suggest that they date at least to Anglo-Saxon times and are possibly connected with the goddess Eostre, from whose name Easter is derived. Some people have linked the design to the moon, as the main festival of Eostre, as well as Easter, was linked to the phases of the moon: the cross would then represent the four phases of the moon. 

So, here are my Hot Cross Buns: my first ones made ever, and a delight since I left England about 7 years ago! I can attest that my non-English colleagues at work devoured them with enthusiasm! 

For those Hot Cross Bun novices, these contain  raisins, currants and sultanas as well as cloves and orange zest. I am not going to post the recipe as there are many available online and actually, the one I used was SO good, I don't feel like sharing it! You can find it yourself!

Happy Easter to all of you, or Schöni Ostara as they say here in Zürich! I also discovered another delicacy for Easter from this neck of the woods which I will post a picture of soon!

Easter Bunnies Sprüngli Style

It can't have escaped your notice (unless, like me you have spent the last 10 days in the Far East) but Easter is coming very soon! My personal contribution to Easter will be revealed tomorrow, but for now I want to show you what Sprüngli, here in Zürich has been up to. They are changing their window display daily: yesterday sponge rabbits and today icing sugar pictures on top of cakes. They are quite original!

Hong Kong Interlude

I haven't done any baking at all this week, since I have been on a business trip to China for my day job!  Although you can find European cakes and pastries of the highest quality, and European bread (not commenting on the quality) here, local specialities in the shape of baked goods are few and far between. Most cake shops stock very sweet and creamy versions of European standards, adapted for the Asian palate. One notable exception, in Hong Kong is the Macau Egg Custard Tart. These are really the same as the Portuguese 'pastel de nata' since Macau (a Chinese Special Administrative Region), close to Hong Kong, used to be a Portuguese colony.
I will leave you with a few pictures all taken in Hong Kong and see you when I return to Europe next week.

A Hong Kong cake shop

The Peninsula Hotel location of the best afternoon tea in town, apparently 

Macau egg custard tarts

Macarons

OK, I am sorry that you had to wait a couple of days before the news about the macarons, but actually you have to leave them for 24 hours after filling them before you can eat them.

I am not going to write extensively about how to make macarons and how to get the perfect macaron, for two reasons:

1. I don't know yet, as I have only made two batches
2. Gigabytes of internet server space is clogged up with such data

But, I will tell you that making macarons is the best way to learn about them and I can confirm that they are HARD!!!

The main problem I encountered was cracking. I need to experiment with where I position them in my oven since it was the oven that caused several of my macarons to crack. I know this because they were in the same part of the oven in every batch that I baked. (I ended up baking my two attempts in a total of 4 batches.) I already experimented during these batches with position in the oven and also timing: I think my first batch was undercooked and the final one overcooked which means that the next one will be just right!

The other thing I learned and cannot stress enough is the importance of allowing macarons to mature. After you have baked the shells, leave them in the fridge for a while and then after filling them leave them in the fridge for at least 24 hours. During this time an amazing alchemy takes place and faults such as hollow shells can even correct themselves, I kid you not.

I made two different types of macarons. Firstly, a dusky pink batch which I filled with buttercream, into which I had added and whisked in some fresh raspberries: this gave a really nice sweet but slightly tart filling. The second batch were chocolate flavoured and coloured, with a buttercream flavoured with nutella in the middle. I really like the tart fillings for macarons and always go for those, and would like to experiment with more types. However, I also love salty caramel as a filling and will be trying that one too.

I was really lucky that all my macarons developed the distinctive 'foot' which you read about and although I noticed many many faults with my first attempt, my audience (my best friend, whose birthday it was and my colleagues at work the next day) was very impressed.

Quotes:
'You made these yourself? Many I know have tried but all have failed!' (Swedish colleague)
'They were honestly the best I've ever had ...' (French best friend)
'You should sell these. When are you making some more?' (British colleague)


I will leave you with pictures of the macarons themselves, but watch this space as I think I will be making many, many more!

Le grand jour!

It's been a really busy week and so little time for baking, but now the weekend has arrived, it's time to pick one of the things of my future bakes list and go for it. So, Ladies and Gentlemen, today will the the day that I attempt, for the very first time ... (drum roll) ... les macarons! Roll over Sprüngli; roll over Ladurée, there's a new bueb in town!

Pop back later and see how it went!