The Birthday Cake Book Reviewed by thelittleloaf

thelittleloaf  discovers why with Fiona Cairns’ new book, The Birthday Cake Book, you really can have your cake and eat it.

As someone more than slightly obsessed with cooking and eating, I love how special occasions are marked by what we consume. Think of a birthday or party you’ve attended in the last year or so, and (often in addition to copious amounts of alcohol) most likely there was some kind of cake involved. Whether picked from a beautiful line of boxes in a bakery, or slathered in icing as generous as the creator’s love for its recipient, this cake will have been chosen with a special person or moment in mind, marking the passing of another year, an achievement earned, a marriage made.

The association between cakes and celebration is nothing new. While ancient Egypt was the first culture to show any significant baking skill, we have the ancient Romans to thank for the round, flat fruit cake which made its way to our shores in the 14^th century and embedded itself in British tradition; the majority of wedding cakes today are still made from a variation on a dense boozy batter packed with fruit and nuts.

I’m not a huge fan of fruitcake. I like the odd slice, slightly spiced and laced with brandy, but for me cakes and baking can be so much more; feather light sponges or a moist fudgy crumb, fondant and food colouring, silky ganache, sticky syrups, different tastes and textures and often (if not absolutely always) chocolate. Which is why when Quadrille first asked if I’d like to review the new book by Royal Wedding Cake baker, Fiona Cairns, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. If I’m completely honest, I was more excited by Will’s (17 kilo) chocolate (1,700 rich tea) biscuit cake than the official and terribly traditional 8-tier fruit version.

I couldn’t have been more wrong. Fiona’s role as Royal Baker - and the level of skill involved in creating Kate and Will’s incredible official cake - might make you think her recipes would be elaborate, conservative and unachievable but ‘The Birthday Cake Book’ is anything but, full of warmth and wisdom whatever your skill level.  Her introduction invites the reader to ‘stir in happy thoughts’, not to seek perfection, but to enjoy the baking process, thinking about the person for whom they are making the cake, and the memories that will last long after every crumb has disappeared. This is absolutely what baking should be about.

Highlights from the book include a lifesize piggy bank complete with chocolate coins, an erupting volcano that kids will go crazy for, the slightly more sophisticated masala chai cake with ginger fudge frosting,  giant Jammie Dodgers, a slightly bonkers savoury smoked salmon cake and, if you really can’t even be bothered to bake, a crispy Mars Bars fridge cake. Yes, there are some pretty complex recipes in here (life size football boots complete with threaded laces or the epic pirate galleon spring to mind), but with several standard sponge flavours to choose from, and simple little cupcakes, bars and biscuits in every chapter, bakers of every level will find something that they can try.

Fiona also makes several suggestions for variations on each recipe, allowing the confident baker to get a bit more creative in the kitchen. I loved the sound of Devil’s Chocolate Cardamom Cake, but with friends coming round for a dinner party, wasn’t quite feeling the Swarovski-studded crystal skull version included in the book. Instead, I baked a batch of the deliciously moist, darkly spiced cake then smothered it in rose scented white chocolate buttercream, copying an icing technique Fiona demonstrates on another cake.

The end result was absolutely incredible, and the process surprisingly simple; Fiona’s cakes don’t just look amazing, they taste good too. While most readers (me included) will have to embark on a journey of discovery  before they feel prepared to tackle some of the more complex recipes in the book, Fiona is the best person to guide you along the way.  I have no idea how many thousands of pounds the Royal Wedding cake ended up costing, but for the price of a book, you can soon be churning out confections just as delicious, if a little less beautiful. This is a book that will keep on giving over years to come, allowing you to develop skills as a baker, and ultimately, to have your cake and eat it.

Crumbs! It’s Fiona Cairns

Claire McDonald (from the brilliant Crumbs! blog)

on Royal Wedding cake maker Fiona Cairns…

and a recipe from her latest book, ‘Bake & Decorate’

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Despite being very much a cake-eating person, I’m not really a cake-making person. My ability to munch on carrot cake, a macaroon, or slice of Battenburg knows no bounds, but when it comes to baking I’m very much stuck on lemon drizzle….no bad thing as it is delicious, but as mother of a three-and-a-half year-old, and an 18-month-old I can see that I am going to have to broaden my repertoire. The eldest has already lisped his way through a request for rithe crithpy caketh, and who can resist that?

My sis, Lucy, on the other hand, has a five year old and a three year old, so is at least two years ahead of me on the cake-baking front. She can whip up an apple cake or a Victoria sponge in no time. So you’d think that if you put us together, you’d get a good cake (from her) and a clean kitchen (from me, licking the bowl and surrounding surfaces).

Unfortunately, that’s not the case. We’ve baked together twice, and each time it was a disaster. Most recently was last week when we tried to make some fairy cakes. Too much chatting and not enough care was taken, and the end result was an exploding mess which ended up straight in the bin. We’re not quite sure how we did it (OK, it was me) but some of the cakes were volcanic eruptions while others sank almost without trace.

Luckily the recipe was a super-fast one from Bake and Decorate by Fiona Cairns, so we whipped up the ingredients again, properly, and the results were delectable. Fluffy bite-size treats topped with creme fraiche and a drizzle of lemon curd. Which makes me realise, despite my attempts to broaden my cake-baking horizons, I’m back to the lemon drizzle.

Fiona Cairn’s Victoria Sponge Fairy Cakes
Makes: 18

Start to finish: 10 minutes making, 15 minutes baking
175g unsalted butter - at room temperature
175g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
3 eggs, lightly beaten
175g golden caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Icing
400g tub creme fraiche - full or half fat, whichever you prefer
a jar of lemon curd
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C
Put fairy cake cases into fairy cake trays ready to be filled with mixture.

Fiona suggests sifting the flour, but to be honest, I never bother. So put it straight into a basin with the baking powder, the butter in knobs, eggs, sugar and vanilla essence. Then with a handheld whisk, or electric mixer with beater attachment, beat the ingredients together. When thoroughly blended put a tablespoonful of the mixture into each cake case and pop in the oven for 15-20 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean or the top of the cake springs back after you’ve pressed it down.

Place on a wire rack and wait for them to cool. In the meantime put a couple of tablespoons of lemon curd into the creme fraiche and stir in. When cakes are cool, put a dollop of creme fraiche mixture on each cake, and with a small teaspoon add an extra swirl of lemon curd.

Ta da!

About Crumbs

We are two sisters with two husbands and four children between us aged between four and nine months. We live in opposite corners of London, but wished we lived next door to each other. Well most days.

We are not cooks, just women who like to eat. Claire likes fish, liver and oysters. Lucy likes tacos, roast chicken and coconut macaroons. We both like chocolate. And red wine. We want our children to love food too, but having said that, we want a life too. We both work, have friends and like gazing into the mid-distance doing nothing. This limits the amount of time we have to make our own pastry, peel potatoes or even, if we’re honest, grate cheese.

Claire – I’m the Queen of Cobble. Because I try to buy all ingredients from local shops, with two young children in tow, the cupboards are frequently bare. Which means, in my world, having garlic and onion in the same meal is a rare luxury. Luckily my personal philosophy towards ingredients lists in recipes is the shorter the better, so I look at an empty cupboard as a challenge.

I’m a journalist, and have worked at The Times for more than ten years. While there I have written, commissioned and edited pieces on everything from plastic surgery to tap dance, but have concentrated on food, children’s food and health.

Lucy – I’m the Queen of Ocado. If I dropped dead tomorrow, they would go bankrupt. Probably. But I buy meat, fish, cheese and seasonal fruit and veg from my local farmer’s market. I try to menu plan but often ruin it all by sneaking in a mid-week Thai takeaway. I have realised that the more organised I am, the better we all eat. That said, all the best laid plans of mice and men….

I’m a journalist too. I freelance for the national press and write about food, parenting and social trends. I am also a broadcast journalist and work regularly for Sky News and the BBC. I am the London correspondent for an Australian news show called “The 7pm Project”.

Claire and Lucy’s regular blog can be found at http://crumbsfeedyourfamily.blogspot.com/

Stop Press! Fiona Cairns announced as Royal Wedding Cake maker

Fiona Cairns’ company produces 750,000 cakes a year for clients including the Waitrose supermarket chain, the Conran Shop, Liberty, the Ritz hotel, Harrods, Selfridges, and Fortnum and Mason.

She has made cakes for celebrities including Bono and Sinead O’Connor, and supplies Sir Paul McCartney with a specially commissioned Christmas cake every year.

It was announced on March 27th 2011 that Fiona has been chosen by Prince William and Miss Catherine Middleton to create their wedding cake.

The wedding cake will be a multi-tiered traditional fruit cake. The cake, which will be decorated with cream and white icing, will have a strong British floral theme using elements of the Joseph Lambeth technique. Fiona was chosen for her creative style and beautifully crafted handmade cakes using traditional British ingredients.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7D7FcJmH6bI