London Calling

Greetings readers,

I hope you're all well. It's been a bit quiet since last Thursday for a very good reason: I've been on a holiday to London! :D 

Pretty London <3

I adore London, it's my favourite city in the whole world. I love the city day and night, the people, the languages, the stores, the sights, the quiet parks in the middle of town, even the smoggy, smelly, crowded tube! The city has a very lively, friendly and down-to-earth atmosphere. It feels like coming home. 

Cakes in the pastry shop in Harrods; aren't they pretty?

The British food isn't known for being overly delicious or elegant, but I can't help but loving it. I'll take you through some of my favourite British dishes and restaurants. Let's start with the most important meal a day: breakfast.

Full English @ Speedy's!

I'm not much of a breakfast-person. I always leave home in a rush, and usually have "breakfast" (which is a banana) at work around 10:30-ish? But this is definitely one I can enjoy in the weekend. Fried eggs, toast, tomatoes, beans, sausage, bacon and tea. Happy full English! <3 it's an absolute carb bomb (especially beans on toast, nomnom!) but it's so good. And quite satisfying if you've got a busy day. Usually more ingredients are added, like mushrooms or black pudding. It's one of britains most famous meals. Can you believe that people already ate this in the Victorian era? 

Such a cute mini tea pot <3

Tea. Tea. Tea. When you think of England, you think of TEA <3 My favourite tea brand is Twinings, and it's used everywhere in the UK. Happy me! <3 Also, just a tip, try the Strawberry Tea from Harrods. It's lovely!

I remember people telling me that when they were young, they got black tea with a bit of milk. I never got to taste tea with milk until I was 19 and in England. I always drink my tea strong and pure; no sugar. So imagine my confused face when I got tea with milk in it. I really love it though. Besides my strong tea, this is the one exception that I drink. And with quite a bunch of milk too :)

Now that we're talking about tea..

In the cafe in the Tate Modern Museum :)

Skipping lunch and moving straight to the Afternoon Tea. I told you before: I have a sweet tooth so Afternoon Teas make me very very happy!

This Afternoon Tea is quite a simple one, containing only scones with jam and clotted cream and tea. During a very traditional Afternoon Tea you will also find finger sandwiches and other pastries, like a slice of Victoria Sponge. Scones aren't very known in Holland, but nowadays you can buy them easily at Mark & Spencer. 

Many terms are used for the different kinds of tea breaks in the afternoon: Cream Tea (just scones), Light Tea (scones and sweets), Full Tea (scones, sweets and savouries), High Tea (scones, sweets, savouries and more!) and so on. The best High Tea I've ever had was a few years ago in Holland. It had the following rounds, including unlimited tea:

1) a selection of finger sandwiches with salmon, cucumber, egg salad

2) a selection of cakes, sweets and scones

3) a selection of savoury snacks

4) the showstopper: chocolates. 

Every round was served separately, also refreshing the teacups and plates. It was very well taken care of. For me, that is the perfect High Tea.

Hello Big Ben!

When you talk British, you talk Fish & Chips. Period. The best (very greasy) meal in Britain, traditionally served in an old newspaper, with lots of malt vinegar on the chips. Combine the jummy food and a gorgeous view: there is no better place to enjoy Fish & Chips than on the South Bank. 

Some may recognise the meme: "cheeky Nando's with the lads".. :)

For the (rare) moments you don't feel like having Fish & Chips, there are lots of other places in London to have supper. There is a Pret a Manger on every corner, of course the widely known McDonalds and Burger Kings, you can also eat a bunch for not too much money in China Town. But this holiday, my friend took me to a place I've never heard of before: Nando's! Only meals with chicken are served, but the quality and service is divine. Will definitely return!! 

Give me ice cream ANY time a year <3

One time, my mom and I went to the Harrods Ice Cream Parlour for ice cream. As you can see from the picture, it's a HUGE ice cream. They put so much effort in it, It's almost a pity to eat it! I can also recommand going to the Häagen-Dazs store on Leicester Square. They sell scoops of ice cream but there is also a restaurant with a big variety of dishes. 

I can keep going on and on and on about the food and restaurants in London but I will leave it with this :) Unfortunately I have caught a cold on the last day of my holiday in London. Now at home, I am covered in blankets, with a big pile of tissues next to me and a nice, big, hot pot of tea. As soon as I'm better again, I will bake something spectacular! 

*sniff sniff*

See you soon! 

Rebecca 

TBT #2: Peche Melba

Hello readers,

This Throwback Thursday is dedicated to my favourite ice cream dessert in the world. It's a very special ice cream, dedicated to a famous singer and especially a famous dessert in France: 

Pêche Melba 

The Pêche Melba was a dessert created by French chef Auguste Escoffier, in honour of the Australian singer Nellie Melba. In 1892, an ice sculpture of a swan was used to present this dessert: fresh peaches, on a bed of vanilla ice cream and spun sugar on the top. Later on, raspberry sauce was added.

Cupcaaaake!

This Pêche Melba cupcake (December 2011) is a recipe by Rudolph van Veen; a famous dutch pastry chef. It consists of a peach flavoured cupcake with vanilla icing, raspberry sauce and pieces of peach, raspberry and roasted almonds. It's actually the first cupcake I've ever made that has icing. It's sweet AND it contains sweet fruits: what more could a girl like me want for a dessert!? :) 

A year after creating this cupcake, I sent multiple emails to Rudolph's website, asking: why not create a Pêche Melba cake? I'm sure it's possible! 

And guess what. HE DID. 

This is THE Pêche Melba cake <3

This is my version (March 2013); also by the recipe of Rudolph van Veen. You should've seen my face when I was watching his baking show and he mentioned that he would be baking a Pêche Melba cake. My jaw dropped. 

Me & Rudolph!

I have met Rudolph twice until now. In November 2013, there was a signing session with Rudolph in a book store close to home. I hurried over and got my recipe book signed by him. I asked him if the recipe for the Pêche Melba cake is mentioned in the new book. "Sadly no", he told me. I told him that I was the one requesting this recipe; he said it was nice to finally meet me :) 

The best part about meeting him was his compliment on my Rainbow Jelly (TBT #1). He said it was pretty and reminded him of Hawaii. It's quite surreal to get a compliment of such a successful pastry chef! 

I still treasure my signed recipe book every day :)

The second time I met him was at a cake fair, where I was waiting for the results of a competition. 

But that's a story for the next TBT.. :) 

That's all for now, my friends! Stay tuned this weekend, for I will be baking something very old-fashioned and very dutch :) 

See you soon!

Rebecca 

Kitchen Princess

Hello readers!

Happy weekend :) I hope you've all got lovely plans to spend it! Let's hope it won't rain so much..

I didn't spend much time on baking today, and that doesn't necessarily mean a bad thing. 

Behold, the easiest (but very tasty) dessert in the world: 

Yoghurt mousse

It's such a simple dessert but very tasty. Simple is pretty in my opinion! The recipe originates from a manga (which is a japanese comic book) called Kitchen Princess. 

Read it a lot when I was younger :)

It's the story of a young girl with an absolute sense of taste, who is looking for the boy that rescued her from drowning and gave her flan. 

(Note to self: make flan :) )

Many recipes appear in the series and this is one of them. The ingredients are very easy to get, the way to prepare the mousse is easy and it only takes about 10-15 minutes. It's the perfect dessert to bake when you have guests!

Good description too!

For the people using gelatin sheets (like myself): one teaspoon of gelatin powder is equal to two gelatin sheets. According to the recipe, you'd have to use four gelatin sheets. I can recommend using 2,5 sheets and beating the heavy cream a bit longer. It has a more natural flavour that way. 

Also: I use vanilla sugar instead of regular sugar. I've got a sweet tooth and I'm not ashamed of it! :)

Ready to refrigerate!

The thing I like best about this dessert is that you get the possibility to be creative. I used vanilla sugar to sweeten it, but you can add so many other flavours. How about syrup? Or food extracts? You can split it and create two kinds of mousses. Put it in a tea cup, a wine glass, a cocktail glass! You can use fruits, chocolate, caramel or candy for decorations. The sky is the limit! 

Berries are lovely for decoration :) 

This time, I used whipped cream, fresh strawberries and some blueberry sauce. How do you make the sauce? Easy (!): use what ever jam you have in the kitchen. Which in my case was blueberry jam :) heat it until it's completely liquid, leave it to cool for a bit and voila! 

And that is all there is to it. Please try it out and have fun being creative! 

I will finish this blog entry with a picture of someone who is just as sweet and white as this mousse: my dog <3 

Libby <3 

See you soon! 

Rebecca 

TBT #1: Rainbow Jelly

Hello readers,

My first Throwback Thursday! And it's about a dessert that I'm very proud of:

Rainbow Jelly

I made this Rainbow Jelly in March 2012; it took me nearly a day and a half... Each layer contains gelatin and needs the time to stiffen well; it takes about 2 hours per layer... Which all together takes a long time...!

But isn't it gorgeous? <3

It's actually a very simple recipe. Take six colored soda's, add sugar to the ones that contain fizz, heat one or two gelatin sheets, add to the soda, add to glass and wait. And the result is just lovely. It was especially hard to find a green soda. Thank god for Fernandez drinks!

I love rainbow desserts. I have to bake a rainbow cake or create some rainbow soda some day :)

Ending with a button that one of my friends made for me:

So jelly it hurts! <3

See you soon!

Rebecca 

Hellos and weddings

Hello readers,

Welcome to my blog! I'm so happy you've taken the time to check it out. 

I will give you a short introduction: my name is Rebecca. I'm 25 years old and living in The Netherlands. I have been baking ever since I can remember and still love to bake in my free time. My favourite things to bake are chocolate-hazelnut cake (pictures will follow), marble cake (will also follow) and cupcakes (definitely follow). 

Hello! 

The reason I'm starting this blog is because I'd like to show people my works and share my stories while baking. You'll see posts with photos, stories, baking tips, handy equipment and much more. For requests and questions, you can email me: cakeshopbyrebecca@gmail.com .

So, time for my first story then!

I'd like to dedicate it to my first real official request: wedding cupcakes. My ex-colleague/friend got married last Friday to the man of her dreams. About half a year ago, they asked me if I'd like to bake something for their wedding. Not a very hard decision: OF COURSE! <3 

Many happy returns, R & D!

Since the happy couple and their families are not big fans of wedding cakes, they asked me if I could bake wedding cupcakes. After a tasting trial, we settled for the following flavours for the 35 cupcakes:

1) orange flavoured cupcakes with a passion fruit icing

2) almond flavoured cupcakes with a light blue coloured vanilla icing (featured #1)

3) four extra almond flavored mini-cupcakes for the kids

The theme was "light blue summer"

The day before the wedding I prepared all the cupcakes + extra in case something happens.. Which happened to be a good thing, because I received word that more guests would be joining! 

Since I was a wedding guest as well, I didn't have much extra time to finish the cupcakes on the wedding day itself. So, last Thursday, I finished the cupcakes, brought them and the serving plates to the party location and rested a bit before the big day. 

I added a ring to the cupcakes for the bride and groom and the kids :)

I don't often bake/decorate with fondant or marzipan. I like decorating with them, but it simply takes a lot of time. But the few times a year that I do decorate with fondant, I enjoy myself very much. Flowers are my favorite decoration to make. Glueing layer and layer to the stem.. I think the decoration and presentation is just as important as the baking itself! 

And it's a good practice for me to be patient :)

A sea of cupcakes.........

The cupcakes were a huge success. I was so pleased to hear and see that! The happy couple liked them, the other guests liked them.. Success! :)

My first official request worked out well, I'd say. Who knows, more might appear in the future. Until then, I will keep baking and practising. 

Thank you for reading this post. I will finish with a baking tip that one of my close friends sent to me and that I maintained during this request:

Always make sure you'll make about 25% extra when baking. If something goes wrong, you'll have back ups, if everything goes right, there's extra treats you can eat without feeling guilty.

See you soon!  

Rebecca