Ingredients - eggs, sugar, flour, butter and one Mario Lanza!

Mario Lanza has become an essential ingredient in my baking. I pop on my pinny and rev up the mixer with his “Because You’re Mine” caressing my ears while I croon around the kitchen lost in the spirit of the 1950s. Mario does it for me every time. I’m sure the eggs and sugar fluff up better, the flour feels softer and the butter gleams in the kitchen spotlights with extra lustre because he is with me. Mario puts me in a mellow mood, the Hollywood orchestrations that encase his beautiful hearty tenor voice sparkle with such glitz and schmaltzy romance that I find I’m lost in a world where he is singing only to me... and my cake!

Who or what do you listen to in the kitchen while you bake?

The Singing Cakemaker’s Top Ten List for Successful Cake Baking

To a novice baker this could all look a bit daunting! Hold my hand and allow me to take some of the stress out of baking by sharing with you what I have learnt over the years. These are tips I have learnt from baking as a career and for pleasure. I am passionate about cake! The act of baking and the sharing of my cakes is one of my greatest joys and a joy I would like to inspire in others.

1 USE GOOD QUALITY INGREDIENTS.
Tasty ingredients make tastier cakes, simple! You must also always check that your ingredients are not out of date. Spices can age and lose their pungency if kept in the sun or in your larder for too long. Bicarbonate of Soda and Baking Powder both lose their effectiveness if they are out of date.
To test Baking powder mix 1 tsp of baking powder with ½ cup of hot water.
To Test Bicarbonate of Soda mix ¼ tsp of bicarbonate of soda with 2 teaspoons of vinegar.
Both should fizz. If they don’t, you need a trip to the supermarket!
Test that your eggs are fit for baking by placing in a jug of cold water. If the egg floats it is off!
Never forget the essential ingredient – love! Cakes made with love and music would have to taste better don’t you think!

2 INGREDIENTS SHOULD BE ROOM TEMPERATURE.
Refrigerated products bring the temperature of the cake batter down so that when it enters the oven it slows down the chemical reaction process and can lead to uneven rising. If you are using ingredients normally kept in the fridge, just get them out an hour beforehand. I never refrigerate my eggs.

3 WHEN PREPARING YOUR CAKE HAVE A CLEAN AND ORGANIZED WORKTOP.
If you work in chaos you may end up forgetting to add ingredients or miss out important stages. Assemble all your ingredients and equipment and have your recipe in a good position for regular checking. A recipe stand is a great help.
On the point of hygiene: for obvious reasons you need a clean worktop. Always thoroughly clean it after using raw ingredients before you use it for icing the cake. You should never cross contaminate.

4 PREPARATIONS.
Prepare your tin, adjust oven shelves, preheat oven and prepare any ingredients that call for chopping, mashing, warming etc. Good preparation will mean you can follow the method without having to leave the cake mix halfway through any of its stages. Also you don’t want the cake mix sitting in the tin too long as the raising agents start to activate on contact with liquid.
It is very important to adjust the shelves before you put your cake in the oven. If you do it when the oven is hot there is a risk of getting burnt and the oven temperature will drop. The oven needs to be the correct temperature as specified in the recipe.

5 KNOW YOUR OVEN.
In my gas oven there is a huge difference in quality of bake between the 3rd shelf from the bottom and the 4th shelf, middle top. My cupcakes on the 4th shelf rise too quickly causing peaks and cracks because the oven is hotter at this position. In an electric oven you can often have bake or fan bake, which will affect the temperature, so you will need to adjust it accordingly. A good cookbook writer will include a guide to coordinate your oven with theirs. You need to become friends with your oven and regular baking will help you find the best positions for the best bake. If you consistently get bad results I suggest you check the oven with an oven thermometer to check its thermostat is working ok.

6 ACCURATE MEASURES AND CORRECT INGREDIENTS.
I don’t want to frighten you but baking is a chemical process and very scientific. If ingredients are not accurate or are substituted for ingredients not stated in the recipe you can get yourself into baking trouble. If you are a novice baker follow exactly what is written and you can’t go wrong, assuming it was a good recipe in the first place! You can’t become an experienced baker in one day so you hope whoever wrote the book is a skilled baker and has done all the hard work for you.
Digital scales are the best for measuring ingredients accurately. I am still a fan of the trusty cup measure as not everyone one has fancy scales. In my book I will use both as I don’t want to exclude anyone from the joys of baking. When using cup measures or teaspoons they should always be flattened off unless the recipe calls for something different.
Egg size is also important and usually books state which size eggs were used. I always use free range size 7 AKA medium.
A common mistake is using wrong flours. Label your flour containers clearly and never substitute plain flour for self raising or vice versa. Self raising flour already has raising agents in it and if you add more raising agents you will have an overload and a cake volcano!
Weigh ingredients in order and in advance and I guarantee you will not leave anything out.
Lastly, working in a commercial bakery for 6 years the slogan was - check, check and double check!

7 CORRECT METHODS.
As in point 6, follow the correct method. Your recipe has been written by someone who understands how to bake! It is helpful to have an understanding of general cooking terms - creaming, whipping, simmering, blanching etc. Again most good cookbooks will include this.
The biggest mistake is to not sieve ingredients. Bicarbonate of soda for instance can tend to stay in rock hard lumps if not sieved. I had the dreadful experience of eating a piece of chocolate cake which had a lump of bicarbonate of soda in it. It was one of the foulest things I have ever tasted and really knocked the shine off a chocolate cake experience! Sieving also evenly distributes your ingredients and helps to incorporate air into the flour. Never be tempted not to sieve!

8 DON’T OPEN OVEN DOOR UNNECESSARILY.
Opening the oven door part way through the baking process can cause the cake to collapse. I’m also rather fussy about kitchen doors that open to the outside being shut on cold days. In a cold kitchen the oven has to work harder.

9 USE A CAKE TIMER.
Not rocket science here. We all get busy and can forget what’s in the oven. Set a timer and follow the recipe. Again this is an example of knowing your oven. Mine generally works within a minute or two. And I recommend you always use the shortest cooking time first. Your recipe should give you a guide to tell you what you are looking for when the cake is baked. Well risen, golden, comes away from the tin etc. Only test how is recommended. With some very delicate cakes you cannot test with a cake tester as the cake might collapse! In my experience most cakes can be tested with a cake tester; my favourite tool for testing is a bamboo kebab stick. If you feel the cake needs a little longer, cook in small increments of 3-5mins. I bake a lot and I have a bakers 6th sense and I always trust my nose!

10 REMOVING FROM THE TIN.
You’ve baked your cake, it’s perfect, you could cry with joy and then you take it out of the tin and it snaps in half! Again follow the instructions. Different cakes have different needs once baked.

Enjoy your cake baking and even if it doesn’t come out exactly as you plan.... keep trying, practice makes perfect!

Forget-Me-Not

Forgotten love songs and loves best forgotten ...

Sharon Elizabeth‘s one woman show
With musical director and composer Paul Lewis at the piano.

“Clever and catchy songs performed by a hugely talented cabaret star’’ “Anything but forgettable”

Meet Forget-Me-Not for a late night rendezvous in her dressing room at Le Jardin de Plaisirs. The deliciously naughty flapper recalls her life in the Roaring Twenties through adazzlingcollection of period songs that will romance your heart and tickle your fancy!!!

The Latest Music Bar

14-17 Manchester Street, Brighton, East Sussex
Friday 30th October 09
Doors open 7.30pm for 8pm performance
Tickets £8 on the door
www.thelatest.co.uk/musicbar

Autumn Leaves

The leaves are on the turn and there is a bite in the air, the first hints of autumn. Most people I talk to are rather gloomy about this fact; sadness drifts across their face as if I’ve just spoken of a previous lover who left them brokenhearted. Letting go of summer, however crappy the weather, is hard to do. We tend to look at all the things we didn’t achieve over the summer months instead of what we did. I personally love autumn and I am a little less summer obsessed these days, but then I do get more summer than most with spending half of our winter in New Zealand (sorry to gloat!) I love the autumnal colours, the smell of the leaves, and the distant sound of a chainsaw as trees are cut in preparation for cosy log fires. I’m not fazed at all, especially as I adore cooking food for the cooler weather. I make gallons of soup and tasty stews that bubble away all day in my slow cooker. The house fills with delicious aromas and I feel a great comfort from the fact that we are warm indoors and protected from the elements... with food!
Over the last month I have been learning Jacques Prevert’s and Joseph Kosma’s “Les Feuilles Mortes” AKA “Autumn Leaves.” I have always adored this song, but recently I realised that up until now I have only been listening to whispers of its original melody and thought there were only English lyrics. Eva Cassidy’s heart melting rendition, my main reference, is beautiful. I have always felt rather envious of Eva as I can't sing this song with her interpretation and style. Now I actually have the original version in my hands I can see that she has really taken it in a whole new direction which in turn has left a generation of listeners unaware of its roots and French lyrics. This is not a complaint, just an observation. Lucky for me the way it was written is more suited to my voice. I find it sits beautifully in my voice range and it feels very natural to sing, especially in French. Jacques Preverts’s French lyrics are deeply poetic and use autumn as a metaphor for a previous love affair, leaving you with a feeling of a suspended sadness and poignancy. He uses autumn leaves to symbolize memories and regrets that gently fall to the ground and pile up, only to then be carried away on the winter wind into oblivion. Phew! Certain songs I learn become like a romance in my life. I am having a beautiful love affair with this one.
Summer nearly over, for me happy memories and no major regrets.

Vive La France!

I have just had a blog holiday as we were away for a week in the depths of Burgundy, France. Time slowed to a steady stroll and we were able to recharge our batteries and soak up the riches Burgundy has to offer. I could write endlessly about this holiday, we saw and did so much, but this isn’t a travel blog, this is a singing, cake making and vintage lifestyle blog! Singing and cake making are self explanatory, but what do I mean by vintage lifestyle? I have seen this term used elsewhere and it made perfect sense to me, but for some it needs further explanation. Vintage lifestyle doesn’t mean that I live in a 1930s time warp with no computers, mobile phones or GHD hair straighteners... though at times I wish I did! For me vintage lifestyle is slipping a period of time that I love into my everyday life. It could be going to the shops using my lizard skin 1950s handbag or wearing a 1940s hat at a gig. I get so much joy out of using my Nan’s 1950s bread bin every day, and teatime is so much more fun with real vintage bone china cups and saucers and cakes on my 1940s cake stand. The period I have a particular interest in is the 1920s to the 1950s. I love social history and I am fascinated by the designs that are reflected not only in the buildings of this era but also in the clothes, fashion, music and everyday household objects. Vintage lifestyle, I must confess, is a rather huge addiction in my life and my sweetheart Paul believes himself to be my ultimate addition to my collection as he was actually was born in the 40s!!! I digress. On our return from our all too brief stroll in France, we visited a Deco fair and were stunned to see so many art deco items for sale en masse. The designs are timelessly contemporary, classy, functional and oh so glamorous. The fair also revealed addiction on a mass scale and left my collecting habits for dead! Most stallholders that we spoke to were so addicted to all things deco that they had to dabble in dealing on the side to cope with their collecting excesses. For some, their need to possess these items if only on a temporary basis, leads them to have stalls at such events. They travel miles from home to sell and buy while holding down a “real” job to provide the money that funds the collecting bug. All quite fascinating, but a rather longwinded intro to the real purpose of this blog!
Well I couldn’t leave France without a little vintage purchase could I?
First of all, what I didn’t buy!
It was in a locked glass case, which should have served as a warning to me. With my newly acquired French phrase, pointing to a Hermès blue 1930s crocodile and suede handbag, I tentatively asked the stylish sales assistant “c’est combien s’il vous plait?” Paul had to translate the reply as my French counting only goes up to a hundred. 2,000 euros - I wasn’t quite prepared for that! I don’t have that kind of money to spend on a handbag, but if I did I would buy a beautiful handbag such as this, a slice of history and French design perfection all in one. I wouldn’t buy some modern day designer label bag like Posh Spice reportedly does.
I did get to touch the handbag. In fact the generous sales assistant allowed Paul to photograph me holding it in various positions around the shop to get good lighting for the perfect pic. The owner of the shop, who designed for Hermès for 20 years, believes it to be 1 of only 2 handbags of this design. The other is currently housed under lock and key at the Hermès museum. I was looking for a navy bag for my visit to the Napier Art Deco Festival in New Zealand next year, where I will be performing, but this isn’t the kind of handbag you stuff into your suitcase when flying economy class! I blew the bag and the lovely sales assistant a kiss goodbye and filed the experience into my vintage collecting dreams.

Then we have what I did buy.

On the whole we found France to be well picked over and the prices were often rather ridiculous, made all the worse by the euro rate. Literally a few hours before we boarded the ferry home we found an original 1950s French felt hat, made in Paris, in a side alley brocante shop. What a perfect souvenir. This time I could understand how much it was, 4 euros and with the slight drop in the exchange rate I spent the affordable sum of £3.20. I will cherish and look after my hat the same way as I would the 2,000 euro Hermès handbag if it were in my care. My hat too is a slice of history and French style perfection and it made a brilliant diversion in the ferry queue while waiting to board. Vive La France!

Footnote - Paul kindly told me yesterday that due to the euro rate dropping I could now purchase the Hermès bag I spied for 400 less euros making it a tidy sum of £1600 pounds instead of £2000. We haven’t booked a ferry back to France however!

Rendevous i gigi General Store and Café

Have you ever been in the situation where you’ve made a date with a friend but you’re not sure if they got the message, so do you or don’t you go? Not wanting to risk standing my friend up I thought I should go to the said rendezvous point and accept that this could be an afternoon tea for one instead of two. Well it wasn’t a difficult choice really as I had been wanting to try out a café I had spied above i gigi General Store in Western Road, Hove, and judging by the glorious goodies downstairs I had a feeling there could be a cake and coffee heaven waiting for me upstairs.
So while I waited at i gigi café, knowing in my heart that my friend probably couldn’t make it, I penned this list on the back of a till receipt –

Ten things to do while waiting for a friend to turn up.

(All of which I actually did!)
1 Clean out my purse.
My purse was starting to bulge with till receipts. I must admit I’ve never been that cautious about destroying them properly , but now I’m back living in the UK it seems a week doesn’t go by when someone doesn’t warn me of the perils of credit card fraud and identity theft. So now I collect all my till receipts in bundles and periodically tear them into tiny pieces if they are not needed for business purposes. We have a paper shredder at home but I find it oh so very satisfying tearing by hand... most therapeutic!
2 Tackle my inbox on my mobile.
I am a shocker and don’t always send instant replies. That’s why I was in this situation as I thought my friend might be like me.
3 Talk cake.
Well that’s so easy for me to do. I gigi buy their delicious temptress cakes from Treacle and Co and the “kitchen boss” was so enthusiastic (and quite rightly so) about them and their creator. I nearly chose the Beetroot and Cream Cheese Chocolate Cake but noticed a piece that hadn’t quite been finished on the table next to me. There were at least 4 forks placed around the plate so I thought it might be a rich option. Considering it was looking increasingly like I was to be on my lonesome I chose a smaller slice of gluten free Lemon and Lavender Cake made with polenta.
4 People-watch.
That was a little tricky as i gigi isn’t massive and my 3 other fellow cafe goers were in rather close proximity. I had to be a little careful as I didn’t want to frighten anyone and look like a nosey parker. I did notice the couple next to me brought their own magazines to read and seemed to sit in silence. The other lone woman was reading the menu continuously which was a little odd until I realized there was no reading material for adults available, just some board books for children. If I hadn’t kept so occupied with the above I too may have resorted to extensive menu reading.
5 Drink coffee.
The best latte I have had in ages. Little ole NZ is really very brilliant at making coffee and every time I order one here I cringe a little on the inside as I know it is going to be a disappointing experience. Glad that on this occasion I was to be proved very wrong.
6 Eat cake.
My choice of Lemon and Lavender was served with the perfect amount of whipped cream, a huge succulent strawberry with a dusting of icing sugar and a lovely tart berry coulis. This was summer cake perfection on a plate! Apparently Melody who makes these delicious cakes has blue hair and is super slim. I can taste that she loves what she does and her creations are very inventive. I’m on the cuddly side myself. My dear friend Melisa advised me: “You should never trust a skinny cook,” which makes me feel great, but some people are just dead lucky and can eat whatever they like without putting on weight. I choose to believe the latter of Melody as you can definitely trust her cakes.
7 Talk to “Kitchen boss.”
We two girls covered everything from holidays in France, “The BIG C”, our own mortality, passionate cooking, killing animals with “love” for meat, (that needs extensive explanation which I don’t have time for now,) children, more discussion of cake and general chit chat. Luckily for me everyone had left by this point, and we chatted while “kitchen boss” worked and I indulged in my cake and coffee. I gigi is a bit like a French country kitchen, with its cream walls, pine country furniture and intimate atmosphere. It’s made even more homely because “kitchen boss” doesn’t get to hide in her kitchen as you are sitting in it!
8 Talk to friend who was meant to be at rendezvous.
Yay, she rang on a new mobile as her last phone was dropped in a puddle. We laughed about the situation and considering she was halfway to Wales having just got back from France the previous night, it was no wonder she wasn’t able to reply to my email.
9 Enjoy the change of scene.
When I squirrel away at home working, getting out and being in a different space just seems to wake me up and re-fire my creative juices.... or was that the caffeine! I read somewhere that part of café culture was that “people want to be seen,” and it seems that we can do this alone or with friends and family. Working at home can at times make you feel rather invisible so it is no accident that the café has had a long association with the artistic community.
10 Write notes for my blog.
Writing a blog is the most liberating experience. I have always wanted to write but I have been paralyzed to do so up until now by my terrible spelling and a crappy education. Now I’m at a point to brave the world with my words, I bash away with my spell-check and trusty dictionary (and my secret weapon Paul, my proof-reader.) When you have been ridiculed for most of your life for your poor English and spelling, (to the point where I would come out in a sweat while writing a cheque in front of a bank clerk in fear of a spelling humiliation moment,) I figure the only way you can get better is to do more. I hope people enjoy what I post on my blog.... but do you know what? If no one ever reads this I still feel better for doing it. People who have difficulties in writing still have a right to write!
http://www.igigigeneralstore.com/
www.treacleandco.co.uk

Forget-Me-Not in Cabaret

The deliciously naughty flapper performs a dazzling collection of charming period songs that will romance your heart and tickle your fancy! Accompanied on the piano by the equally delicious and masterly composer Paul Lewis.

Saturday 22nd August 09
Old Needlemakers Café, West Street, Lewes
Doors open 7.30pm for 8pm performance
(Food and bar available)
Tickets £12 available from Old Needlemakers Café
Tel 01273 486258

For the more adventurous dress cabaret camp or art deco.

“Clever and catchy songs performed by a hugely talented cabaret star’’ “Anything but forgettable”

Photo by Penelope Coleman

I will be wearing my top hat mentioned in previous blog!

Silk

I have just finished reading this beautiful novel “Silk” by Alessandro Baricco. It delivered on every promise made by the glowing reviews within its covers and I was truly touched by this literary gem. As the story centred on a young silk breeder in France in 1861 it made me realize that I had never really given a thought to the art of making silk. I think it’s a bit like stories I have heard of city kids who think milk comes from Tesco’s but don’t actually know it comes from cows grazing in the countryside! Well back in my brain somewhere I knew that silk didn’t come from Harrods but from little worms, but I sort of didn’t understand the complexities of its production and the fact it was first developed in ancient China, possibly as early as 6000 BC and definitely by 3000 BC. “Silk” focuses on the story of Hervé Joncour whose job was dealing in silkworms, oh and his most haunting love story of heartbreaking quality. I’m still none the wiser about the actual production method from this book but it has given me a healthy respect for this most glorious material, and I am simply blown away by the very invention of it and the fact that entire communities were and still are dependent on its production... all beginning with a by-product of the little silkworm!
Then as luck should have it I found this vintage black silk top hat in an antique market in Arundel just after I had put Alessandro Baricco’s book down. I don’t think I have ever seen a top hat for sale in such excellent condition as they are often dented or moth eaten. We think it dates back to the 30s, and the deal was sealed by its coming in a proper top hat box and a 1940s glass and silver cake stand being thrown in for free. (Pics of my cake stand later!) On the first try of the top hat it fitted so perfectly, I wanted to burst into song: “Come to the cabaret old chum” and start dancing the Charleston! I am a hat girl and I’m lucky enough that I can wear most hats without looking stupid, mind you I can’t guarantee what they might do for my behaviour! I am totally in love with my top hat and it will get good use in my various shows. The silk makes the hat shimmer and due to some recent research on the internet (so I don’t remain ignorant forever!) I now understand that silk fibres have a triangular cross section with rounded corners. This reflects light at many different angles, thus giving silk a natural shine!!!!!

What Wikipedia has to say on silk production:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silk

Winchester we Love You!

Last night we performed my show "Ising on the Cake - The Chocolate Experience" in the beautiful mediaeval city of Winchester at The Discovery Centre. The audience was brilliant and totally embraced the show, good fun and lots of chocolate were had by all. On the way home Paul and I were chatting about the show and we were tickled pink by the reaction to Paul's song "Soprano in the Shower."
Paul wrote this amazing cabaret song for me after hearing me do my vocal warm-ups in the shower! This has become a firm favourite in my sets and I'm often asked to sing it again (I think that might be due to people double checking what they really heard!!!!)
We will be recording this gorgeous song very soon but for now here are the lyrics especially for our Winchester fans xxx

Soprano in The Shower

There's a Soprano in the shower, it's soprano shower hour, tra, la, la, ha, ha,ha, ha, haaa
The sound of vocal warm ups in it has him steamier by the minute, tra, la, la, ha,ha,ha,ha, haaa.
The thought of diva moist and singing has his head and senses ringing,

And his thoughts are those of sinning in the spray.
He don't know how to stop him rushing into where the waters gushing,

If you ask me if I'm blushing: I should say!

There's a soprano in the shower, it's soprano shower hour,tra, la,la,ha,ha,ha,ha,haaa.
The thought of his soprano in it makes him hotter by the minute, tra, la, la, ha, ha, ha, haaa.
The sounds of high notes while I'm soaping has his racing brain a-hoping

That we might be soon eloping far away.
He can not wait a minute longer for his sexy singer-songer,

He wants wedding dinga-dongas right away!

Ming,ming,ming,ming,
Me,me,me.,me,meeee,
Maw,maw,maw,maaaaw,
Ma,ma,ma,ma,ma,ma!
Ah............................
Ming.ming,ming,ming,
Me,me,me,me, meeee,
Maw, maw,maw, maw (Sharon has a "When Harry met Sally" moment!)
More soap please!

There's a soprano in the shower, it's soprano shower hour, tra,la,la,ha,ha,ha,ha,haaa.
At sounds of singing in the water he has thoughts he didn't oughta, tra,la,la,ha,ha,ha,haaa.
He loves me hot and really steaming, that's what gets him freely dreaming

And his passions all a-teeming wanting more.
I am his frothing soaping songbird, I'm his loving all night long bird,
And for him I'm not the wrong bird,

And for him I'm not the wrong bird,

No for him I'm not the wrong bird that's for sure!

(Copyright 2008 Paul Lewis)

Thank you
I would like to thank Dawn from Le Salon du Chocolat for supplying chocolates to the audience. We chocoholic ladies are cooking up a plan to work together in the future, it will be a real chocolaty affair so watch this space...
Here is Dawn's website
http://www.lesalonduchocolat.co.uk/
Winchester Discovery Centre, you rock. The staff were all so friendly, professional and helpful. A big THANK YOU for all your support on the day and of course for booking my show.
www.discoverycentres.co.uk/winchester

Phew. I think I'll go have a lie down now!

“Storm in a Teacup”

A delightful interactive cupcake making extravaganza!

Sharon Elizabeth cupcake maker and singer extraordinaire will embrace the deco theme and demonstrate how to make her gorgeous “Silver Screen Stars” cupcake collection while singing hits from the 1920s-30s. You will learn top baking tips, get a chance to try your hand at decorating a cupcake and be thoroughly entertained by Sharon Elizabeth, who will be accompanied by masterly composer Paul Lewis on the piano.

• Rendezvous •

mdtea
38 Upper St. James’s Street, Brighton, BN2 1JN
Tuesday 1st September 09
Meet and greet 6.30pm -7.00pm, 7.00 pm start
Tickets £35 available @ mdtea
Booking essential as there are limited places!!!
Tickets include bubbles on arrival, substantial nibbles, cupcake, a cup of mdtea exclusive tea and a goody bag to take home.

***Bring an apron, teacup and saucer and a sense of fun.
***Embrace the 1920s-30s theme and dress in deco style.

The last ‘Storm in a Teacup’ event was a sell-out festival prize winner.
We would like to advise you that the event may be filmed by Channel 5.

I am really looking forward to this event. I love deco
and I love cupcakes.

mdtea is the perfect venue and the owners Maggie and Helen
are terrific gals to be working with. It's going to be a fun night!!!!

www.sharonelizabeth.co.nz

Toffee Apple Crumble Cupcake (makes 12)

In February I performed "Storm in a Teacup" in the English Flower Garden at Hamilton Gardens in New Zealand. To connect with the garden I themed the cupcake-making demonstration around culinary inspiration from my English childhood. It was a delightful afternoon, the weather was perfect, the event was a sellout and all the participants were gorgeous. One of the highlights for me would have to be witnessing the only gent proudly icing his cupcake while telling me had never done this before (he was about 70!)

This cupcake is a combination of two happy childhood memories. Firstly buying toffee apples that gleamed like precious gems in the sunshine at the village fete. Always impossible to eat and a real hazard when you had wiggly teeth, but somehow with sheer determination and the deliciously sweet and sour combination spurring me on I'd eventually get down to the core! Secondly eating my Mum's classic Sunday roast followed by the equally classic English pud, apple crumble. Ah, what simple bliss.

In this recipe I opted for using chewy milk toffees as I wanted a lovely gooey finish and I didn't want to damage any teeth!

Ingredients
2 small eating apples grated with skin on – I like red apples for colour
125g melted butter
½ cup of raw sugar
1 beaten egg
1 ½ cup plain flour
1 tsp of baking powder
1 tsp of baking soda
2 tsp of cinnamon
8 chewy toffees (each toffee chopped into 8 pieces)

Crumble Topping
25g butter
½ cup sieved plain flour
1 tbsp of brown sugar

Toffee Sauce
5 chewy toffees and 1 tbsp of milk

Method
1 Make crumble topping first – In a medium bowl combine the flour and sugar. Cut the butter into small piece and drop it into the flour and sugar mix. Rub in the butter until it resembles fine bread crumbs. Set aside.

2 In a medium bowl combine apple and sugar. Stir until sugar has dissolved.
3Add butter and egg to the apple and sugar mix. Stir until combined.

4 Sieve all dry ingredients in a separate bowl then gently stir the dry ingredients into the wet mix. Only stir until all ingredients are combined.
5 Spoon mixture into cupcake cases set in a muffin tin. Evenly distribute toffee pieces amongst the cupcakes and with your finger, gently push the toffee pieces into the cake mix so the toffee is just covered.

6 Top each cupcake with a desert spoon of crumble topping.
7 Bake for 25 mins in a 180°c fan bake oven/gas mark 4. Cupcakes are cooked when the crumble is slightly golden.
8 Place the remaining toffees into a heavy bottomed saucepan. On a medium heat melt the toffees and slowly stir in the milk. You will end up with a toffee sauce. Dribble sauce over each cooked cupcake while they are still warm and in the tin. Remove cupcakes from tin and cool on a wire rack.

Can be served warm with ice cream or custard or serve cold as is.

There’s a Little Bit of Bad in Every Good Little Girl.

What’s on the piano is going to be a regular feature of my blog and I couldn’t think of a more lovely way to start than with this piece with its beautiful deco cover. I have to admit this piece is on our piano more for its ornamental value rather than something I am currently learning and then this got me musing about old sheet music and the value of it in my life. My show Forget-Me-Not was inspired by a box of music which my Dad gave me having found it in a garage. Further songs for the show were found in a Salvation Army store in New Zealand for an absolute pittance and then Paul and I wrote the rest. To me old sheet music is real treasure in so many ways, and not only for musical reasons.

Firstly I love the feel of old sheet music and the smell of the aged ink and paper with its mustiness reminiscent of times gone by, (or it can just be a sign of bad storage which isn’t so nice!) Some copies can be so fragile it’s like holding enormous butterfly wings, and from the numerous repairs you can tell it was a much loved and cherished piece. The covers often have glorious pictures of beguiling flappers, movie stars or stout German women in breeches from the Edwardian era, so they become great reference material for costumes. Then I think about the people who used the music before me with their names proudly inscribed in ink on the covers. My imagination runs wild here with visions of old fashioned music teachers in woollen suits pounding the keys on the humble school upright! Or more romantic visions of the cosy 1950s family sing-a-longs with Dad at the piano abundantly playing and Mum and the children all rosy cheeked singing in harmony. It interests me to read their personal script notes in the score or alternative words to the ones written. One copy I have of the National anthem has had “God Save the King” changed to “God Save the Queen.” I think that’s quite sweet as it could be rather embarrassing if you were invited to sing at the local Proms and got it wrong! I wonder how the songs were used: just for pleasure and sheer joy or for performance in amateur or professional productions? Who listened?
On my treasure hunting trips I often find huge bundles of music dumped unceremoniously on the floor all marked with the same name. As I search through it is like taking a glimpse into the previous owner’s musical soul. Mmmmmm. What would someone make of my sheet music collection with its opera arias, theatre songs and cheeky cabaret numbers such as “Soprano in the Shower,” (a song Paul wrote for me to perform)? Then the title of the song I began with comes to mind. Perhaps they would conclude... “There’s a Little Bit of Bad in Every Good Little Girl.”

Enough of this musing... I can tell these ramblings could go on forever so I think it is time I get on with using some of this sheet music!

Tra la la x

Help me Heather Mills, I need cake!

Yesterday I persuaded my sweetheart Paul to come with me and pay a visit to our newest local dining experience, V Bites. Heather Mills’ brain-child, a vegan restaurant or as she likes to call it, “a vegan community café.” The fact that I got Paul into a vegan restaurant is a huge testimony to his love for me as he is barely tolerant of vegetarianism let alone vegan! My quest was simple. I needed cake and unfortunately I have to cut back on my dairy at the mo because of the dreaded ‘M’.* ‘M’ makes my staccato notes stick and my voice not as clear as it should be. So for the time being I am avoiding dairy which is a known cause for ‘M’ and the thought of visiting Heather Mills for cake felt like I was about to be shown the Holy Grail. As we readied ourselves to set out on a blustery, damp Saturday afternoon I felt slight trepidation. What shoes do I wear? Will my basket be frisked to reveal my 1970s Spanish tooled leather bag? Best not wear my original 1930s mink-tail hat! These were all real thoughts. I gave myself a stern talking to and told myself to “shut-up” and “don’t stereotype, you need cake.” This isn’t a review of V Bites, I am simply interested in dairy free-cake though.... the 8 waiting staff that pounced on you if you so much as moved, numerous yummy mummies with their broods and bold bright buggies, hip grandies and daddies telling their offspring to “hurry up and eat your fish fingers” were quite frankly overwhelming! I was then taken to a room with its “moving travelator of delights”(as it is described on the V Bites website) and was rather shocked to see a sushi bar-style conveyor belt circulating various dry looking uncovered slices while people sat around the bar sipping their soy espresso. Number 1 thought: This is only going to dry out the slices further and number 2: With so many people breathing over these slices in this little room is this really a healthy alternative? The numerous big round cakes under cover looked a tad boring and insipid. Oh Heather, I wanted to be seduced, I wanted to salivate with yearning, I wanted you to save me from my love of dairy. I’m not even going to go into how I was served my cake. To say it was a complicated process is enough. I chose a cake that was under cover. Cherry, Plum and Almond Cake. As it was served it quite literally fell apart on my plate. Paul and I have often noticed that vegan cakes don’t seem to hang together. Well of course that’s one of the jobs of the trusty egg. I wanted to take a picture especially with the wiggly whirl of spraycan soya cream all over it but quite frankly I was scared to get my camera out with the restaurant owner’s high profile and on account of the pouncing waiting staff!

The verdict
I sooooo wanted this to be a heavenly experience but the cake was what I call “claggy” and it seemed to stick to the inside of my mouth and it wasn't that memorable. As I write today I do remember the wonderful crunch of the almonds on the top of the cake and the tartness of the plum; that’s about it. I don’t like to be negative but this is how it was for me. On the upside my moccacino was superb, the experience only cost me a fiver, (moccacino, tea and one slice of cake,) I really liked the soya cream though there was just a bit too much, and once I got used to all the waiting staff I found them very friendly and helpful and I was even told by one that he wasn’t vegan and yes, his shoes were leather. Heather Mills has catered very well for parents of young children and dryly we commented “well she is getting them young” with V Bites being next to the children’s playground. We felt a little saddened that small children were being told by their parents they were eating something that they are not. Not very truthful is it? The Santa Clause myth seems pale compared to this. I personally liked being in an environment where I didn’t have to explain I couldn’t eat dairy and could trust what I was being given. I can also forgive a lot of what I experienced due to the simple fact that this is a new business. But... if I visit my community vegan café again it won’t be with Paul. Paul would prefer to stay at home and drink his tea with milk and eat my cakes laden with dairy.

Conclusion
So after this experience I’d better get experimenting as it looks like I have to save myself. Surely there is a way to make a mouth-watering, seductive cake that won’t cause the dreaded ‘M’ ?


*M meaning mucus, the enemy of the singer... I couldn’t bear to write it in the blog!

This is My Chocolate Fudge Cake Recipe!

During my show "Ising on the Cake" I make my favourite chocolate fudge cake and I am often asked for the recipe. I think this a totally wonderful cake. We are like old friends, I have made it for years and it never fails to impress. It is so rich, moist and easy to make. It's a real keeper too - store in the fridge.

The pic of me with the cake is at my first ever "Ising on the Cake" 4 years ago almost to the day.... Wow!

For vintage fans, the dress I am wearing is an original 1950s number I bought in Greenwich Market to wear to a 21st birthday party 18 years ago, which is also when I learnt how to make the cake. Gosh that shows my age!

So here it is, enjoy!

Chocolate Fudge Cake

Cake
5 size 7 eggs
2 cups of caster sugar
1½ cups of mayonnaise
2 ½ cups of plain flour
¾ cup of cocoa powder
2 tea spoons of baking powder
2 tea spoons of bicarbonate of soda
2/3 cup of tepid water

Icing
250g of soft room temperature butter
500g of icing sugar
¾ cup of cocoa powder
Hot water from the kettle, just off the boil
Tin – Round spring loaded 22cm. Line with baking paper. Oven 145°c

Method
1 Whisk eggs and sugar on high speed for the length of one song! The eggs and sugar should be white and fluffy.
2 Mix in mayonnaise on a slow speed until combined.
3 Sieve all dry ingredients and add to the egg mix. Combine on slow speed and gradually add the water. Give the bowl a scrape and re-mix on a medium speed until all ingredients are well combined and smooth.
4 Pour cake mix into a prepared tin (I line with greaseproof paper) and bake cake in the middle of the oven for 1 hour and 20-25mins. Test with a cake tester. Cake is cooked when the cake tester comes out clean.
5 Once cake is cool make icing. On a slow speed beat soft room temperature butter with sieved icing sugar and cocoa powder. Gradually add the hot water (should be around ¼ cup) as the ingredients combine. Once all ingredients are bound together whip the icing, scrape the bowl and then whip again. Ice cake - as seen in the show!

Ising on the Cake!

My fingers hover over the keyboard... where do I start? I have a feeling of being at a first counselling session (not that I have had that many!) So much to say, unravel, will I look like an idiot, why would anyone read my blog? Then my optimistic side says " Nothing ventured nothing gained." Most of my life revolves around me pushing boundaries and being cheeky. With a gratifying sigh (sigh) it all seems like a brilliant idea and my words begin to flow.

So what's this"Ising on The Cake" all about?

Well I don't actually sing on a cake. That would be rather silly and I would make my dress all sticky! But I do have a one-woman show where I sing everything from Dean Martin to grand opera while making and icing a chocolate cake and telling my life story. The best bit is I actually get paid to do it! I LOVE singing and cake making. Cue website www.sharonelizabeth.co.nz

Through my blogs I want to let you into my crazy world of being a singing cake maker, share my recipes, my music, boast about my retro finds, share my thoughts, display my hats and hopefully inspire the odd person to sing and bake. "A cake infused with love and music has got to taste better hasn't it?"

So there we are. It is the 10th of July 2009 and I have entered the blogging world!

Sharon Elizabeth xxx