Report: Great Brixton Bake Off - in the rain

It was a wet windy day in South London for the Great Brixton Bake Off. About 15 brave stall holders faced the elements with their baking wares, all vying for a chance to win a prize in the competition.

I met some great people on the way around, all happy and smiling despite the weather and it proves that there are excellent local bakers doing great things. 

The winners were:

Cakes: Mahalias Kitchen
Cupcakes: The Carob Pod
Biscuits and Bites: Lillyput
Fruit Pies: Anna Smith Bakes
Bread: Pistachio Rose

The overall winner was Anna Smith Bakes. 

Here's a round up of some of my favourite stalls.

The Carob Pod

The Carob Pod is a Mediterranean Bakery with fabulous Greek Inspired, Cypriot bakes. Not everything was necessarily traditional, but each bake had a twist or could claim an influence in Greek cooking.

Crumbs of Brixton

Crumbs of Brixton delivered excellent biscuits and was a real winner for me in terms of presentation and taste. I loved the combination of flavours and they looked fantastic.

 www.crumbsofbrixton.com

The Pan Dan

The Pan Dan is a small family-run baking business that brings a taste of Malaysian inspired cakes and bakes to London. The infusion of Pandan into the cakes was especially good.

www.thepandanbakery.com

Mahalia's Kitchen

Mahalia's Kitchen presented cakes that were impressive in size, presentation and taste. Winning the Cakes category, Mahlia's Kitchen was also my top pick for cakes on the day.

Lillyput Cakepops & Cupcakes

Lillyput Cakepops and Cupcakes has clever cakes and pops. What I loved about this stall was the presentation of the individual cupcakes in little plastic covered containers. Easy to transport home without damaging the look and presentation.

www.lillyputbakery.co.uk

The London Coffee Festival

I am a lover of good coffee and champion (when I can) independent cafes serving quality roasted beans and perfectly brewed coffee. So, The London Coffee Festival is music to my ears. In it's second year and promising to be bigger and better than before, there are some great names lined up. Nude Espresso, Sacred, Caravan, espresso machine producers, food places, chocolate specialists, coffee roasting houses with all of their fine blends even Gelupo - which serves incredible ice cream. Please don't eat all of their delicious salted caramel before I get there.

The London Coffee Festival is the flagship event of UK Coffee Week (23-27 April). UK Coffee Week 2012 provides a unique opportunity for branded coffee chains, independent coffee shops and industry suppliers to collaborate and celebrate the success of the industry while giving back to an extremely worthy cause. A nationwide programme of charitable collections, in-store activities and public events will raise funds for Project Waterfall to deliver clean water projects in coffee-producing African countries.

So, more on the London event - Last year over  12,000 coffee lovers and food fanatics, professional baristas, coffee shop owners and industry experts gathered for a unique celebration - coffee.

This year promises to offer Street Food and Artisan Markets. You can learn about coffee through tastings and demonstrations, watch the UK Barista Championships (honestly) and enjoy live music throughout the themed zones – Hyde Park, Shoreditch, Soho, The Lab, The Showroom and The Growing Community.This is one event that shows London is truly on the coffee map of the world. Tickets are from £9.50 in advance (more expensive on the door).

The London Coffee Festival
27-29 April
Old Truman Brewery
Brick Lane - London

Click here for more information

The Great Brixton Bake Off

Brixton's on the up! Everywhere you turn, you'll read that Brixton is fast becoming the food destination of choice for South Londoners. At the heart of this revolution is Brixton Village - the new hub of it all with Federation Coffee, the fabulous Breads Etc and Thai favourite Kaosarn, just some of the fantastic food options that everyone is raving about. To celebrate this, Saturday April 28th sees the launch of the Great Brixton Bake Off which promises home baked cakes, bread, biscuits and fruit pies. Stalls by local bakers will be selling their wares and stall holders are all entered into the Bake Off competition.  I have read that there will be special celebrity guest judges (as yet unannounced) who will select the best bakes and present the prizes (sponsored by local department store Morleys). Sadly, I read about this too late and was not able to get myself together to take a stall. Shame!

Head to Station Road in Brixton -  the venue for the weekly market
Saturday, 28th April 2012 from 10am-5pm
Judging takes place at 1pm 
Nearest tube: Brixton

Read more about the Great Brixton Bake Off here

Stylist Magazine: Top 10 Coffee Shops in London

London has thankfully, over the past 5 or so years seen a growth in the number of cool cafe's serving great coffee. Forget Starbucks, Cafe Nero, Costa. I am talking about quality roasted beans, the introduction of the flat white and even a latte served in a small glass. This is all familiar territory for me. I grew up in Australia and coffee culture there is honed to a fine art. To the point that if a particular barista is not serving, my friend won't partake in a coffee. Melbourne is the coffee capital of Australia and some of that style is now being served up in London (and very slowly in the regions). Stylist Magazine captured the essence of this in a great article this week and not only did a round up of our new found love of fabulous coffee, but featured a top 10 list of the best. Sadly, Lantana Cafe in Fitzrovia and Caravan in Exmouth Market were missing from that list. So I've given them my thumbs up here. A theme running through most of these start-ups is that they are run by or inspired by the Antipodean coffee culture. We musn't forget New Zealand, as coffee is big for Kiwis too. I can attest to that as I can still remember a most fabulous latte I had in Central Auckland in 2001. Seriously. 

So in the latest issue, Stylist rounds up coffee culture in the UK. OK, the chains may have got us hooked on caffeine, but as our taste buds for the black liquid matures, we are refining our requirements and it seems en masse. From the list of Top 10 Coffee Shops I have to say Flat White has a special place in my heart - I feel like I am home in Hobart (Tasmania) every time I walk through the doors. Kaffeine - a new found friend, is alive with an electric buzz every morning. It's my pit stop of choice before client meetings in the heart of the fashion district. And if I every venture "out East" then I always head straight for Nude Espresso. These are all independent, interesting British based businesses that are doing something a bit different. Visit them today and join me in the campaign for real coffee. Now.

Stylist Magazine's Top 10 Coffee Shops in London

The winning recipe from Baking Mad

 









Rhubarb Pie with almond pastry 
topped with a lattice crust

Ingredients:

250g Plain Flour

50 g Icing sugar

150 g Unsalted butter

2 large eggs yolks

A pinch of salt

1 tablespoon cold water

1 tsp vanilla extract

50 g Ground almonds

Plus 2 tablespoons of ground almonds (for pastry base)

800 g rhubarb

2 tablespoons of cornflour

100 g caster sugar

Juice of half a lemon

1 egg

1 tablespoon milk

1 tablespoon icing sugar

Crème Fraiche to serve.

1 x 20cm fluted pie tin with loose base.

Method

Turn oven to 150C.

Sift the flour, icing sugar and salt into a large bowl. Cut the butter into pieces and rub this in. Stir in the ground almonds. Add the egg yolks and vanilla extract and some of the water, bringing the dough together. Break off about 1/4 and form into a small round disc, wrap in cling film. With the remaining dough, form into a round disc, and wrap this in cling film. Chill for at least 30 minutes in the fridge or for speed for 15-20 minutes in the freezer.

Chop the rhubarb into 2cm pieces, sprinkle about 1 tablespoon of caster sugar (from the 100g) and the juice of half a lemon and bake in a shallow dish covered with foil in the oven for 15-20 minutes at 160C. It’s done when just starting to soften. Do not overcook at this stage. Remove from oven and place to one side.

Turn oven to 180C

Grease the pie tin with a little butter (both the loose base and around the sides). Remove the large disc of dough from the freezer. Roll out on a floured surface until a little larger than the 20 cm loose bottomed tin. Lift the pastry using your rolling pin and carefully lay across the tin, pressing it into the base and sides. Remove the excess pastry by trimming with a knife or rolling pin. Prick the base of the pie with a fork in 3 or 4 places.

Lay baking paper to cover the pastry and fill with baking beans and blind bake in the oven for about 10 minutes. Remove from oven, remove baking beans and coat the base with a little egg wash and bake for another 6-8 minutes. Remove from oven, sprinkle with 1-2 tablespoons of ground almond.

Mix the cornflour and 75 g caster sugar into the Rhubarb.  Place rhubarb into the pie case (as per picture).

Remove small disc of pastry and roll out flat, cut into 2 cm strips for lattice crust. Layer the lattice strips in a crisscross effect. 






Carefully egg wash the top and bake in the oven at 180 C for about 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove and present on a serving plate. Dust with a little icing sugar and serve with crème fraiche or ice cream.