Charlotte Pike

Food & Drink Expert

Charlotte Pike

Strawberry Shortcake

By 8 Comments

DSC_4702

I can’t quite believe I’d never tried a strawberry shortcake until last week. I’m not sure how that happened. To be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect, as the first one I tried was one I made myself. The shortcake part itself was the bit I wasn’t sure about. It’s not a shortbread biscuit, and it’s not a cake, but looking at a number of recipes, it seemed to be remarkably similar to a scone recipe, so that’s what I ended up making essentially: a giant scone filled with ripe strawberries and whipped cream. I made a few adaptations on recipes I saw; namely by making the shortcake a little sweeter and filling it with whipped double cream rather than whipping cream – I like the extra thickness of the cream. 

This is, possibly the most simple and pretty summer dessert to make – great for afternoon tea or a light, seasonal way to finish an evening meal. I’m hooked on strawberry shortcake already!

Strawberry Shortcake

Serves 8

Ingredients

For the shortcake

225g self raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

Pinch of salt
60g butter

30g caster sugar plus

30g for sprinkling

150ml milk

1 large free-range egg, beaten

For the filling

300ml double cream, whipped

50g icing sugar, sifted

200g strawberries, washed, hulled and thinly sliced

Method

Preheat the oven to 200C. Grease and line an 8″ round loose-based cake tin.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a large mixing bowl. Add the butter and rub into the flour until it looks like breadcrumbs. Stir in the first 30g of sugar.

Make a well in the centre of the bowl and pour in the milk and egg. Mix gently until the wet and dry ingredients are just combined.

Transfer the mixture into the prepared tin and smooth down evenly using the back of a wooden spoon or spatula. The mixture may be stiff, but do try and make sure it evenly covers the base of the tin.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until risen and lightly browned. Once baked, allow to cool in the tin for around 15 minutes and allow to cool fully on a wire rack.

Once the shortcake is cooled, slice in half around the middle to create a top and a bottom. Fill with whipped cream (stir the icing sugar into it first) and top with sliced strawberries.

Serve sliced immediately. Eat within 24 hours.

Poached rhubarb with orange and cardamom and rosemary ice cream

By 2 Comments

DSC_4146

I wanted to share a seasonal dessert I made recently. This ice cream is amazing with all manner of tarts, particularly apple and rhubarb, but, looking for something lighter on this occasion, I decided to poach some fresh, local rhubarb with orange and cardamom to accompany the ice cream. The two were such a good match, but either would be delicious on its own. They make a delicious, easy to make dessert, which can also be prepared in advance.

DSC_4132

Poached rhubarb with orange and cardamom and rosemary ice cream

Well, the rhubarb part isn’t really a recipe. I placed the rhubarb into the pan. Added the zest of a large orange, four heaped tablespoons of cardamom sugar and 3 tablespoons of water. I poached the rhubarb for around 10 minutes over a moderate heat until tender, but not too long as I didn’t want it to fall apart. I decanted it into a bowl and chilled in the fridge before serving.

To make the ice cream. I followed this recipe (or use any simple vanilla custard ice cream recipe) and infuse it with one large, bruised sprig of rosemary. Pass through a metal sieve to ensure there are no needles left in the custard before freezing.

Serve the two together for a seriously delicious dessert.

Kenwood vs. Kitchen Aid: which mixer is best?

By 222 Comments

My trusty Kitchen Aid – how would it compare?

I recently decided to try out the Kenwood Chef against my beloved Kitchen Aid to see how I thought the two machines would compare. I was really keen to give this a go.

The Kenwood Chef Titanium

Kitchen Aid stand mixers seem to be so popular and have been for many years. They are a lifestyle choice for so many people. What does it say about you and your kitchen to have a snazzy top of the range mixer permanently gracing your kitchen counter? Sounds silly, but I think lots of people see it this way – they can’t be taken seriously as a keen home cook without one, perhaps? I have to say though; they are a complete lifesaver for professional bakers and keen cooks just like me.  The stand mixer has completely revolutionized the way I cook, which has been great for me and so many others. Hands free cake and bread making really does speed up the amount of time spent in the kitchen, and especially if, like me, you are in there all day most days, that can make such a difference to your day.

Prejudices well and truly cast aside, I set about choosing my recipe. I was really in the mood for some good granary bread, so here is the recipe I used:

Granary loaf

 Makes 1 loaf

Ingredients:

  • 500g Organic granary bread flour
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp. yeast
  • 1 tsp. sugar
  • 300ml warm water
  • 2 tsp. sunflower oil

Method:

1)   Preheat the oven to 200C

2)   Place all the dry ingredients in the bowl of the stand mixer

3)   Whisk the oil into the water

4)   Pour the water into the bowl of the stand mixer and mix with the dough hook on the stand mixer to combine. I set both machines to run on speed 2 until all the flour was worked into the dough

The Kitchen Aid in Action

The Kenwood in action

5)   Leave the dough to rise in a warm place for an hour, in the mixer bowl, covered with cling film

The Kitchen Aid dough ready to be left to rise

The Kenwood dough ready to rise

6)   After an hour, place the bowls back onto the stand mixers and knead the dough on speed 2 for 5 minutes

7)   Then cover the dough again and leave for 30 minutes to rise

8)   Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled baking sheet and shape. I made mine into cottage loaves with one ball placed on top of the dough, and a hole pressed through the centre using a chunky wooden spoon handle.

The cottage loaves, ready to be baked

9)   Bake for 40 minutes

The loaves, fresh from the oven

Here are my observations:

  • The Kenwood’s motor does seem more robust. My Kitchen Aid does sound and feel a bit clunky. Although it is a very heavy machine, it does feel as though the motor is not as robust as you may imagine for such a solid machine. I felt as though I could turn the Kenwood up higher without worrying it might break, which I do with the Kitchen Aid
  • The splash guard for the Kenwood does come with a flap, which you are able to open and close whilst adding additional ingredients to the mixer whilst the motor is running. The splash guard is an invaluable feature of the Kitchen Aid, particularly when working with lots of flour or icing sugar, as it does tend to coat everything else in the kitchen even with the splash guard on, so I like this idea.
  • The attachments for the Kenwood feel really robust and are slightly easier to attach to the machine than with the Kitchen Aid
  • I found the Kitchen Aid slightly easier to clean, as there are fewer nooks and crannies to get muck into when baking
  •  The Kenwood did appear to work slightly harder than the kitchen aid, and worked the dough more quickly, even though visually both mixers appeared to be working at the same speed
  • I remain convinced that the Kitchen Aid is the most visually attractive mixer. Given the frequency of use in my home and the weight of the machine, I always keep it out on the work surface, and I have to say, the Kitchen Aid looks more attractive to me.

For me, there really was very little difference in how the machines performed.  I hate to sit on the fence so to speak, but the differences were so minor, it really comes down to which machine you think would work better for you.

The finished loaf – Kitchen Aid

The Kenwood loaf

In terms of taste and texture, both breads came out pretty much the same. I clearly did not make my cottage loaves in the correct proportions given the topple factor, however, I would give the edge to Kenwood – the flavour and texture are ever so slightly nicer. I used the exact same ingredients for both loaves and baked them on the same shelf of the oven simultaneously.

The one big difference though, is cost.  I should add that the Kenwood Chef does come with other attachments too, it is not just a stand mixer, so it does all sorts of jobs you could not do with the Kitchen Aid.  Where I have two or three machines, you only need one with the Kenwood.

So, what do you think? Which machine do you use, if any, and which one do you prefer?

Here are the prices and links to the websites I have used to compare the price of the machines:

Kitchen Aid £429.95

Kenwood £349

I should add that since I tested the machines, I spent three months at Ballymaloe Cookery School on the Certificate Course. There, they use Kenwoods, and I used them regularly throughout my time their. My feeling is that the motor on the Kenwood is much stronger and powerful, but the Kitchen Aid is easier to use – I prefer the controls to set the speed and the latch to lift on the Kitchen Aid.