Friday 1 June 2012

Jubilicious

Oh yeah, I did just call my post 'Jubilicious'. 'Cos I can.
Anyhow.
Firstly, I would like to show you this:
Recipe Source
It gets my 'gold star' for being great AND British (see what I did there?).
Yes, I have reached the point at which I am handing out awards for patriotic baking. 
I promise I will start seeing someone if this continues after the Jubilee  celebrations are over. Actually, after the Olympic festivities are over. Promise.


Ahem.
Slight change of subject, but still on the party food theme:
Eton Mess is one of my favourite puddings. 
I need to add a little caveat here to say that pretty much any pudding is my favourite pudding. Unless it's trifle. But even then I'm prepared to make exceptions.


In fact, an enduring memory from my teenage years is eating Eton Mess at the 4th June celebrations actually at Eton whilst pretending not to goggle at all the handsome rowers wearing ridiculous  hats their mothers had  made. Seriously. Floozy (me, not the mothers. Obviously. Oh golly, just remembered that DPB reads this. Sorry PB). You can't make this stuff up.



When searching for inspiration for Jubilee party food, I found this recipe here and it was just too good not to share. 

Also, I'm a sucker for anything with popping candy Space Dust, anyone? This is a posh way of having popping candy. Awesome.





Eric Lanlard’s Popping Candy Eton Mess




Serves six
Preparation time:

20 minutes
Ingredients:
2 punnets (350g) fresh raspberries, plus a few extra to decorate
2 tsp raspberry liqueur (or vodka or grenadine) [I'm going with the raspberry vodka. In case you were wondering.]
50g vanilla sugar
100g golden caster sugar
250ml whipping cream
250g mascarpone cheese
50g bought or home-made meringues, or meringue nests, broken into pieces [Delia Smith has a really good meringue recipe. I'm sure other people do too but... nah, trust me on this one, Delia's the best]
2-3 sachets of strawberry popping candy [This is the most important part of the pudding, ok? It is totally fine to buy more than 3 sachets so that you can check to see if it's the right sort of popping candy]
Method:
Step 1: Firstly, make the raspberry coulis. Place the two punnets of raspberries in a saucepan with the liqueur vodka, and cook on a slow heat until the fruit softens. Using a fork, mash the mixture up roughly and leave to cool.
Step 2: In a large bowl, using an electric hand whisk, mix the cream with both sugars to form nice soft peaks. In another large bowl stir the mascarpone until soft, then fold in the cream.
Step 3: Now we are ready to build the mess! In individual glass dishes, in a not too formal way, layer the cream, raspberry coulis and broken meringue pieces, trying to make it look as attractive as possible.
Step 4: Top with the remaining fresh raspberries and, just before serving, sprinkle the popping candy on the top to finish.
From Home Bake by Eric Lanlard (£20, Octopus publishing)
**********
For more inspiration, or for a good way to procrastinate broaden your mind, head over to Stylist.co.uk
Right then, I'm off to Newcastle for the day.
Enjoy your weekend!
Nope, this post is not sponsored. 
None of my posts is sponsored. 


Sniff. 

3 comments:

Gesci said...

1. That cake looks just like the ones made for the 4th of July, only with an American flag... weird...
2. Eton Mess is AMAZING. It's probably the best thing ever in the universe.
3. I just learned what you call PopRocks, apparently :)

Life in Transition said...

Funny you should say that - I thought the cake looked A LOT like St Ina's 4th July cake (I'm obsessed with the Barefoot Contessa). Hope you have a lovely weekend!

Marcela Gmd said...

Delicious!!! take a look on my blog and if you like we can follow each other?
Besos, desde EspaƱa, Marcela♥