Cat Got Your Tongue?

Some days we all just want to keep things low key. We might be feeling a little bit quiet. We might be feeling a little bit flat. We might be feeling just a little bit ordinary. Nothing wrong with that. Nothing much to shout about. Maybe we just want to have something comforting and familiar in our lives. Fanny always has the answer, and it's usually cake. As it happens her solution here is her 'signature' with a twist. The cake is normally flat, normally ordinary, always comforting, always familiar. So, imagine it with oooopmh, and you have her Swiss Roll, presented as a Gâteau...

Fanny has her own ideas on how a Swiss Roll should be made, and we've made them a few times together before. For my money, they always work, always produce a light, spongey cake panel and always go down well. She shoots hot sugar into eggs as they whisk, until a light, yellow, fluffy double-in-size mixture is created begging for you to fold in some flour and bake. She calls it the 'Swiss Roll Which Will Never Crack', and like her smile, it doesn't.

This time, Fanny bakes it in a perfectly ordinary 8-inch round cake tin, all lined and ready with greaseproof paper. It bakes for longer than an ordinary, flat Swiss Roll, but comes out just as springy and light. Fanny splits it carefully with a large knife and spreads it either with homemade jam, or when it is available scum from the jam. Yes, scum. Perhaps she really means something very different, she often does, but to me scum is the frothy stuff that rises to the top when you make jam. You skim it off and throw it away. Does Fanny really spread it in her cakes?

I don't have any to hand regardless, so use my homemade Bramble Jelly. We know how Fanny loves a Bramble. In addition to spreading it in the middle and 'clapping' the two halves together again, Fanny brushes it all over the sponge. It feels a little wrong, am I reading the instructions correctly? I should really have more faith in dear old Fanny, soon all becomes clear. She has plans. It's all methodical. Panic over. It's not only for taste, but also for glue.

Fanny takes some Langues de Chat (Cats' Tongues) biscuits that are either homemade or shop bought (I bought some this time), brushes them with more jam and dips them in freshly milled pistachios. She knows this is rather extravagant, so it remains optional. Then, they are stuck round the outside of the gâteau. The glue-jam helps them to stand proudly. A cheerful border of freshly whipped cream, a little icing sugar and a whipped egg white is piped around the inside, before the centre is piled high with the chosen berries. Fanny choses blackcurrants. I chose blueberries. Suddenly the day feels less flat, less ordinary and more familiar as I tuck quietly into a hearty slice of this satisfyingly spongey surprise. And *maybe* another one too. Just don't shout about it.

Respect Your Aelder

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. At least in Fanny Cradock's world. Having said that, she does start planning for the fateful day in January, such is the importance she places on the occasion. So perhaps everyday is like Christmas? For now though it's not puddings, fruit cakes, mincemeat or even decorations that has got Fanny all stirred up - it's the chance to say, although you may say uncharacteristically, 'thank-you' to all those that have supplied her throughout the year.

You see there were seemingly certain teams of people who worked for the Cradock's who they sent large gâteaux for them to eat in their offices on their last working day before Christmas. They obviously had a lot of these mystery office workers dotted around, and they all needed a suitable cake to be dispatched in time for the final hoorah of the year. Clearly the cakes had to be delicious, full-on festive and large enough for the whole team to dig in. Fanny set her own housebound team to work on the 'thank-you' cakes. Michael started by making endless swiss roll panels. The ones which never crack.

We've made them before, but I always enjoy doing them. So easy, and light, with fluffy panels resulting. As well as the panels, Fanny of course needed an almost endless supply of buttercream. She does have an unusual method for making it, or rather getting her team to make it. She starts with egg yolks. And a double-boiler. The yolks are whisked to a frenzy with icing sugar over a gentle thread of heat until pale and 'like cream'. Meanwhile, butter is also beaten until pale and fluffy, and then added to the eggy-sugar-cream mix. The result is a lovely, natural looking buttercream. It tastes pretty good too.

Fanny tends to top these 'thank-you' cakes in mocha glacé icing. It's what you think of for Christmas, isn't it?  No, me neither. So I switch up the coffee for a new Scottish, foraged liqueur, or elixir, that I tried this week called Aelder. It's made by Buck and Birch, and packs a punch of herbs, botanicals and christmassy flavours of sweetness and spice. Should be perfect. Fanny borrows her recipe from Gretel Beer (who I also love) which is essentially a syrup, with added chocolate chips and a little olive oil. The Aelder makes a tempting syrup, so all looks good so far.

Fanny divides her swiss roll panel into three and build layers of with buttercream filling, before it's all topped off with the glacé icing. Fanny recommends popping the cake into the porch to cool down before the icing covering is added, although I dare say the fridge might do. I think mine might've seized up a little, but it still covers okay. All that's left is a jaunty design with the remaining buttercream and perhaps a walnut or two for decoration, before Fanny fires them off to the waiting office teams. Add in any Christmas decorations you should wish too, of course. For bigger teams, just make more (Fanny states the obvious) and add them together into long lines of cake. Then, be thankful. Do you think the office teams were?

Ricotta Roll - the Big Cheese Freeze

I've never been to Italy. It's quite a shock to think it out loud, and to write it down. Never been. Fanny would be horrified. I love to travel, as she did, and love to hoover up food wherever I go, as she did too. I love Italian food, just like Fanny. So, it just seems odd to have never even considered heading to the home of pasta, pizza, risotto and gelato. Perhaps it's because Italian food is everywhere, there's no need to search it out? Perhaps it's because it's relatively simple to recreate at home? Perhaps it's because Fanny made it so commonplace? Perhaps I need to remedy it in the near future at any rate - watch out Italy I'm coming your way (maybe).

Not only do I love cooking and eating Italian fare (or at least my version, and Fanny's take!) but I love trying new things. Last year I headed to the Eat Drink Discover Scotland event in Edinburgh in search of more new things. My house is full of new things. And old things really, just full. I'd been following the adventures of the Big Cheese Making Kit folk, so was delighted to snap up one of their kits to make my own vegetarian (all their kits use veggie rennet) cheese at home. Who would've thought it? I plumped for Mozzarella and Ricotta. I made the Mozzarella straight away and was impressed with the result. The geek in me was impressed with the process too. The science-y bit.

Fanny uses Ricotta in her final recipe to follow all that pasta - Italian Cream Cheese Iced Pudding, or Gelato de Ricotta, and I'm sure she'd be delighted if her student were to make their own cheese, wouldn't she? It's fairly easy, everything you need is in the kit, except the milk. I've gone 'best' here and am using Grahams Dairy Gold. Use the best you can find. The Ricotta is easiest of all, just add citric acid and salt to the milk and heat until the curds separate from the whey, strain (I hung mine over the kitchen tap) and it's ready. Really fresh, really creamy. Really perfect for an Italian dessert.

Fanny makes a kind of ice cream with hers - blending it with sugar, chocolate chips and chopped glacé cherries. I'm tempted to say Tutti Frutti or Neapolitan, it's neither but maybe a bit of both. Fanny also adds vanilla and a little Crème de Cacao from a miniature bottle. I use some vanilla paste and Pure Chocolate Extract from Little Pod as a substitute. No alcohol, but it does come in a little bottle. What's wrong with me - no alcohol? Once combined it's popped in the ordinary domestic deep freeze. No churning or fancy machines again for Fanny.

To serve, Fanny chooses an old favourite, the Swiss Roll. Oh, not very Italian then. I wondered if I might be able to encase the Ricotta Ice Cream in the roll like that old 1970's favourite Arctic Roll, but even after a full day in the deep freeze, the Ricotta Ice Cream wasn't quite firm enough. Fanny makes a kind of cake with hers, but I simply slice and plop the ice cream on top. It's a bit wonky, maybe inspired by the leaning Tower of Pisa? Tasty though, with a great texture. The added chocolate and cherries go well. It's not the most attractive looking dessert, but looks aren't everything. Fanny smothers hers in sifted icing sugar as with all things, so it's hard to see what it looked like for her. She serves a slice on scented geranium leaves, which I don't have, but I'm learning to adapt. I'm not sure if I ever do make it over to Italy that this is what they will be eating, which has never really concerned Fanny, but until then I'm in ignorant, cheesy bliss. Perhaps it's brain freeze...

It's Chrissssssssstmas! Are you fond of festive fondant?

Christmas is so important to Fanny that she dedicates several parts to whipping up endless treats and essentials for the annual celebration. So, for the next few months it's all Noël round here as I prepare along with Fanny. Previously I'd be one of those people who refused to think about the 'C' word at least until after Bonfire Night, and more likely well into December, but Fanny must be infiltrating my mind and soul. I am cheerily skipping through the fake snow of the Christmas department of John Lewis, watching back-to-back Christmas shows on Food Network UK and stocking up with winter-y ingredients as if my flat is to be hazardously cut off from civilisation at any moment. Fanny aims to get me prepared, but I am slightly concerned I may peak too soon...

For Fanny, the most festive of treats is cake. Not only was she determined that everyone should be able to afford a piece of cake at least once a year, but that at Christmas they should be decorated in a sufficiently celebratory fashion. Viewers and readers must've bombarded Fanny with 'cross letters' saying that her Royal Icing cracked their teeth, for here she recommends the softer Fondant as her covering of choice. However, Fanny says, please do not be alarmed into thinking that this is in any way a 'classic' fondant which must be worked up with a spatula on a marble surface. No, Fannys version is much less complicated. And everyone should make their own fondant, shouldn't they Mary Berry? The horror of shop bought was not in Fannys mind.

Fannys version involves adding an egg white and some gently warmed liquid glucose to sifted icing sugar. Fanny warns NOT to beat the egg white at all. Fanny has another warning to ONLY buy your liquid glucose for the chemist. Please update this advice to read 'any good supermarket' unless you want some very funny looks next time you pick up your prescriptions. This fondant is so easy, she sets poor Johnnie to it - simply working it up to a stiff paste and kneading it on a dusted surface. Any flavourings and colours may be added, I choose just to add some pastel shades. Well almost pastel shades.

Fanny uses her fondant to cover cakes, to stamp out pretty little designs to add to cakes and to cover her very favourite Minature Bûches de Noël, or Mini Swiss Roll Christmas Logs. Fanny clearly trusts us now to return to the very beginning and prepare her 'no-crack' Swiss Roll, the only difference is to make it thinner than usual. So I divide the standard mixture between two pans. Once cooked for only a few minutes, the panels are trimmed and cut into eight pieces of equal size. The trimming is essential to ensure that the roll up perfectly without those shameful cracks. 

Fanny fills her Mini Bûches with jam, jelly or buttercream. I went brambling at the weekend with my Mum for the first time in years, and made a very nostalgic batch of Bramble Jelly. I can clearly remember the smell and taste of my Grans jelly several decades after last having the joy of it, so this was my attempt to recreate it. I added some Elderflower Gin from Edinburgh Gin to the batch and it tasted perfectly hedgerow-retro-tastic. Perhaps my Gran used to add Gin to hers too? Either way it makes a perfect filling for these little festive fancies. Once spread and rolled up the fondant needs to be rolled out and cut to size to cover them. Fannys final warning is to roll out the fondant on a cold surface sprinkled with CORNFLOUR this time, which will not affect the fondant if the cakes are stored. It's like insurance she says, to avoid nasty little humps appearing like dogs under the bedclothes. Please take heed, and do not write any nasty letters to say it has if you haven't. Fanny has lots of Christmas knowledge to share, and doesn't have time to read them. 

Emergency Cake! It's my Blogiversary!

I've just realised that I started this blog one year ago today! Whoo-hoo, Happy Blogiversary to me! With all the recent sponge-tastic posts though, would you believe I've forgotten to bake a celebratory cake? Fanny must've known too, as the final of her sponges in this partwork is a cake for an emergency! She doesn't specify of course what the emergency might be. Perhaps one of the neighbours you are trying so hard to 'keep up with' pops round unexpectedly? Perhaps one of the long suffering assistants has reached a milestone, staying in Fannys employ for a whole year? Or perhaps like me, a special celebration creeps up on you unawares. Fannys answer is an Ice Cream Sponge. Sounds so 70's. And even better for me, it uses the very first recipe Fanny taught me a year ago - the standard Swiss Roll panel. Fanny'd up of course.

For her emergency solution, Fanny uses two big Swiss Roll panel cut into squares, but learning from all she has taught me so far, I make 5 smaller Swiss Rolls. Get me. She notes that you could also use her own invention, the 'Fanny's Egg Yolk Sponge' pressed down just like the Dobostorte. But it's Swiss Roll for me, quick to make and turns out perfect every time, if you follow Fanny's instructions of course!

As it's a special celebration for me, I want to reflect that in the cake. Fanny makes an ordinary square cake, but I cut my panels into a large 1 shape. Above all, garnish and presentation. I'm sure Fanny would want me to make a template, but I just go for it free hand, this is an emergency after all!

All that remains is to assemble the cake, which is filled with ice cream. Fanny, slightly shamefully, recommends that for emergencies it is perfectly acceptable to use 'bought' ice cream from the freezer. She does note that not everyone is as fortunate as she is to have a home freezer though. The bought ice cream of choice is a 'brick', how very 1970's - who knew you could still buy them!

So I carefully slice pieces of the ice cream and layer up the cake, brushing the sponges with apricot glaze to help it all stick together. I have to admit an altogether different kind of emergency is imminent as the ice cream is quick to melt, so I pop the whole cake back in my 'ordinary domestic freezer' while I set about whipping up some cream for the topping. Fanny suggests Crème Chantilly, and who am I to refuse a little apricot brandy in my cream? And a little harmless colouring too, it just wouldn't be a celebration without a splash of colour! So, emergency averted, I have a celebration cake! Thanks to you all for reading my ramblings over the past year, hope you stick with me as the creations get stranger and stranger! Now, quick, grab a slice before it melts everywhere...

It's All In The Booklet #1 - Our Royal Mincemeat

I think I love Christmas time almost as much as Fanny does, and she gets VERY excited about the whole thing. For me it's a time to think about food, drink, friends and family... and Fanny! No matter how many times I have seen them, I still get so excited when her series Cradock Cooks for Christmas is shown on TV. This year it's being shown on the Food Network in the UK, so this special series of posts is in celebration of the shows, and of course the famous booklet which Fanny constantly refers to. So, grab your booklet, pop on your very best ballgown, pretend to decorate your tree, switch on the TV and cook-along for the perfect Cradock Christmas.

Fanny thinks it's such a pity that people only make mincemeat for one day in the year, and then forgot about it again until Christmas comes around next year. So, to reverse this trend she recommends making BUCKETLOADS of this 'Cinderalla of Christmas Cooking' and sharing with us a variety of special dishes to use it in... Aren't we lucky? Fannys favoured technique is to mix up the mincemeat ingredients, store them to mature and then cooking as required. When I've made it before I have cooked it then stored in jars, so chopping and swirling things 'pell mell' into a bowl, packing it into jars and storing it away well in advance is all new to me. Fanny insists this is done three months before required, and even better if it's left for a whole year. Lucky I was prepared!

Fanny gets very cross with folk who make those nitty little individual mince pies, which she claims are really just a waste of time. Millions agree with her, she says, men hate them, they are a dead bore to make and always end up like British Rail Sausage Rolls with the first bite up to the filling and the second bite over it. Whatever that means, Fannys solution is to make one big one!

No Cradock collection would be complete without reference to French cookery, and here Fanny tells us that her French twist on the classic mince pie is 'almost more popular'. She doesn't really sound convinced, however her Mincemeat Galette using discs of crisp and flaky puff pastry slapped onto trays, baked and served with cooked mincemeat in the middle, are lovely! I think the puff pastry twist must've caught on going by the offerings available in my local supermarket this year.

Continuing the French theme, Fanny would now have us combining mincemeat and home made pancakes, or crêpes, in a baked dessert. The pancakes can of course be made in advance and stored in between greased sheets of paper in an ordinary domestic freezer and rescued to be used when required. Roll up some mincemeat in the pancakes, dust with icing sugar and bake - or pass them to poor darling Sarah to do so - until piping hot! They are actually great, I had forgotten how satisfying pancakes were.

Fanny is so particularly proud of her next invention - a mincemeat filled Swiss Roll, using her never crack recipe to wow your guests over the festive period. It was the first recipe I tackled in this blog, and again worked a treat for this. Simply replace jam or cream with cooked mincemeat and voilá... Fanny says she uses one that is a fortnight old, but I made one fresh. Mine didn't crack, but don't look too closely at Fannys on TV, just saying...

Fanny saves the dish she is most pleased with in her mincemeat story until last, and despite her pride I doubt it went down well in the 1970's and still today seems quite stomach churning - the Mincemeat Omelette. It is essentially an omelette richly filled with mincemeat and dusted liberally with icing sugar quicker than you could snap your fingers and chastise poor darling Sarah for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, taking away the wrong equipment. It tastes as you'd imagine, no matter how much icing sugar is sifted on top. Perhaps this was made as a punishment for poor Sarah to keep her in line? Fanny shares all these recipes selfishly but gets great pleasure in doing so, as a salute to housewives everywhere who will try to feed their families well over Christmas. Although remember, there is no need to merely try, it's all in the booklet...