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Don’t you think these pictures are Oh-My-God-‘this-is-out-of-this-world’-Wonderful?

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When I encountered this treasure finding, I just had to share her with you!! ^^

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Amy’s art confections series started when she turned 30. She originally wanted to make 30 cakes for her show, but as she discovered that her cakes were not going to look like what might appear on a Martha video, she decided that they would look better if made in their exuberantly imperfect state.

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What I love about her cakes is exactly that imperfection.

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It is perfectly imperfect & beautiful.

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I asked Amy some questions:

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Q: Are they all edible?

A: The cakes are edible, although they are rarely eaten. Because I make them with the sole purpose of decoration, I don’t use the very best ingredients and sometimes the cakes sit for a while in my studio while I am shooting and editing the images.

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Q: Is it sponge inside?

A: I use the same cake recipe for all of them, it’s a yellow cake recipe from Martha Stewart. Every so often, I will spend a whole day baking cakes – of many different shapes and sizes. I then freeze the layers in a big freezer in my studio and when I want to decorate a cake for a shoot, I thaw out various layers and put them together. Usually the cakes are layered with icing in between.

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Q: What technique do you use? ie; piping bag with different nozzles?

A: I use parchment triangles for the bags and various tips.

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Q: Is it buttercream?

A: The icing is a decorator’s ‘buttercream’ recipe I got from a cake decorating class. It’s basically powdered sugar and vegetable shortening. I found this to hold up the best – even under the hot lights while shooting. When I bake cakes for eating, I will make real buttercream (with butter!) I find it to be a little finicky in humidity, but it tastes so good.

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Q: Do your get cake orders from friends? Or bake a lot beside of art?

A: Sometimes I make cakes for friends or special occasions. I have this book called the Cake Bible and like to try different recipes from it. But in general I love to cook and bake and am constantly trying something new.

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Q: Amy, I love your pictures so much, have you ever considered doing a calendar? I’ll be the first to buy it!!!!

A: I have considered calendars and maybe in the future will make one. Right now I am working on a photo book of Confections that will be available through my website and Blurb, and will also be selling note cards soon through my website.

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Check out more of her fascinating cakes on her website!

t xoxo

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April & May was pretty rough going.

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It was in the last week of March that my father was diagnosed with brain tumor. You can probably tell from how I write what I write, that I love my family very very much. I respect my father, he is a great man, & he is a big part of my life. He understands me, supports me & influences me. So you can probably tell that I was upset over this news. I may know a thing or two about baking, but brains? I may have one, but that’s about it knowledge-wise. Perhaps it’s that unknown that brought on the fear, the fear of what if something awful might happen?

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First of all, I should say, don’t worry though readers, he is fine now. After re-scheduling & another re-scheduling of surgery, the tumor was finally removed. And that is almost a month ago now & he is now doing absolutely great & is at home with us. The doctors have said surgery was successful. It’s a huge relief.

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During this time, I got my self in to a tiny bit of state. I found it mentally draining. Motivation for my book writing waned, well, to a complete halt actually – it’s not been touched ever since. – Despite the very fact that I knew it was comfort-eating/ emotional-eating, I snacked a lot. And now I’m two kilograms heavier. – Rather than working at night like I ought to, I would log off very early, curling up to my warm & cuddly girl ‘S’ at her bedtime.

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Now though, thankfully, things are alright, back to normal, & I’m starting to feel alright too. I feel alright enough to share this with you.

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Here’s a realization: Isn’t just a normal, everyday life great!? ^^

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Picnic:

We were going to go somewhere a little special for my 35th birthday, but what with the uncertain re-scheduling, decided to do a picnic on the nearby heath.

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We celebrated with some of my close friends, on a part of the Hampstead Heath called Parliament Hill (also known as Kite Hill), which is the highest point in North London. With blue sky, green grass, stunning views, yummy food, flowing alcohol (atleast 15 bottles were consumed!? But who’s counting? ^^) & most importantly, with fantastic company of friends… – what more could a birthday girl want? (oh, other than a diamond ring or three perhaps…of-course! Lol!)

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Picnic dessert:

My answer to portable dessert on the day? Lots of freshly made bite-size choux!! (the inside was vanilla crème patisserie mixed with whipped double cream.)

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Note-worthy picnic foods that day was…:

• Friends T & S brought this truly AMAZING smoked salmon from Hansen & Lydersen. IT WAS UNBELIEVABLE. Really, never tasted any smoked salmon so spectacular. And it was such a great party gift too – the crowd went wild! ^^ I highly recommend it if you live in London & can get hold of it.
• Another friend T.E who is ‘in’ to baking bread brought with him a ‘No-Knead Bread‘. It was reaaaally really perfect – with crunchy & tasty crust. He used the recipe from here. In the video, it says it needs to rest for more than 12 hours! Wow, thanks T.E for making it!!
• Home-made Spanish omelette from friend C (that I didn’t get to try…),  a special cake called ‘engadiner nusstorte‘ brought from Switzerland by friend G (Engadin is the valley where she grew up), beautiful Prosecco wines, Champagne… And not to forget the freshly made coffee using a camping stove…

It was a very satisfactory picnic indeed!

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Backtracking humongously here, but here are some pictures from before Easter.

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There are seven Japanese mums at my son’s school, & we all got together to raise funds for the Japan earthquake & tsunami relief. We did a sushi & cake sale in the school yard, & I of-course contributed by baking cookies & cakes.

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Upon setting about doing this, I had a clear criteria to solve. Perhaps it’s the old graphic designer in me, but I love brainstorming. So here’s what I considered:

~ I knew I wanted a Japanese theme to them. ~ It had to appeal to primary school children & their mums. ~ It also must be time & cost effective for maximum return. (The going-rate for cake spendage is 20p to a £1 at a standard school cake sale, so for the pricing to be set so low, the cost of ingredients must stay minimal…) ~ And most importantly, explicitly with NO nuts as the school has a nut-free policy.

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After a quick sesh with my thinking cap on, I figured the best way is to bake cookies but also add value to them by imprinting famous childrens characters. Hello Kitty to appeal to girls, & Pikachu (Pokémon) for boys. As for the cookie recipe, I used the tried & tested Nontan one that I wrote about previously on this blog.

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To imprint the characters, here’s what I did:

• 1. I found a line drawing that I like on the web.
• 2. Then printed it out b&w to a size that I want.
• 3. Layer a clear acetate sheet on top of print, secure the corners with sellotape.
• 4. Using a thin black permanent marker pen, copy the design on to acetate. (Non-permanent will smudge as you do your cut out work.)
• 5. Place acetate on cutting board, & carefully cut out the black lines. – The important thing to remember when cutting a stencil is that if there is a ‘perfect’ continual line, you have to break it to avoid cutting out the inside. It’s a bit difficult to explain, but think of the inner circle in letter ‘O’ for example. - And if you look at the bow on the kitty cookie below, you’d see that there I left gaps in the line to hold the inside.
• 6. When you have finished making the stencil, place it on cut-out cookie dough & dust cocoa powder gently & most importantly faintly to avoid smudges. Carefully remove the stencil sheet off, then bake as per usual.

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(I used my tart tin as a cookie mold to get the fluted rim.)

(Pre-packaged in a bag for quick sale. Small handmade Japan flag sticker for added touch & charity feel. Lucky that the Japan flag is just a red circle! I wouldn’t have done this if the flag design was complicated! ie; U.S.A!)

(Cookie came big in five inch diameter! But was sold only for a pound! Bargain!! If at my market, I would’ve sold them at £1.50 I reckon!)

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I made about 55 of these, & they sold within 7 minutes. I didn’t anticipate that most mums would be buying more than one each. ~ I should’ve made more…!!? ^^

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Dearest readers, I would like to first of all apologize for not updating my blog much lately. I’ll report soon, I hope. But in the meantime, I would like to introduce you to my dearest, dearest friend of 14 years, Mr Jason Hindley.

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Jason is a photographer, an award(s)-winning one in fact. He’s also a very relaxed, good bloke too, & always very generous & buys me drinks! ^^ (Lol! Now it’s set in public domain, you’d better keep to it J! Lol! ) – On a serious note now, his photographic talent is awe-inspiring. He once took a picture of me when I was about 22, with a mohican-style quiff do. It got used for a calendar I think. Yesss, I’m officially a calendar-girl!! Ha! One day, when I’m wrinkled & want to look back on my youthful looks, I’ll show it to you. – - Anyway, I hope you’d agree from the sample pics here that he’s damn good at what he does… Respect to the man.

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In aid of the Japan Tsunami disaster, he’ll be exhibiting & selling his collection of 100 images taken in Japan at ‘theprintspace gallery’ in Shoreditch, London. All proceeds from the print sales will go to the British Red Cross Japan Tsunami Appeal. The exhibition will provide a rare opportunity to purchase the exhibited prints at an affordable charity price.

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The private view (which you are most definitely welcome to) will be on next Thursday, 19th of May, from 7pm to 10pm.

It’s at theprintspace gallery, 74 Kingsland Road, London E2 8DL.

And then the exhibition will run from the 20th of May until 3rd of June.

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I’m gonna be the first in queue to get in that night to snap up a print. I hear that there’ll also be raffle tickets & stuff too. It’ll be fun & it’s all for charidy!!

I hope to see you there. xxx

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Update 22/04/11:

Hi! I’ll be at the market tomorrow (23rd), so I hope to see you there! All the best, t xxx

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Hi… Just a very quick note to say that I won’t be working this week… Sorry for letting you know in such last minute… I hope I haven’t messed up anyone’s plans on visiting… – There’s a good reason why I can’t work, but…, I don’t feel like telling you until the situation has calmed down. Perhaps I can tell you at the end of the week.

… Sorry.

(plus a general update at the end)

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Please note:

I am not going to be at the market on the 9TH & THE 30TH OF APRIL! I’m sorry for the inconvenience it may have caused to your plans… Sorry.

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Hello everyone!

I’m going to share with you today a cake recipe that is not mine, but from one of my family’s favourite & thumbed through Japanese children’s story book we have at home.

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If you’re a seasoned reader of this blog, you’d know that this is the second time that I’ve written about a recipe from a children’s book (read the first one here). I love collecting (good) recipe books to add to my huge library of anything baking related, & that obsession extends to the choice of books I buy for my children! Biased I know (!), but why not? ^^ I would love for my children to like baking as much as I do. And in fact, let me tell you, my son’s first ever cinema film was Pixar’s Ratatouille back in 2007, because I wanted food to be part of his milestone experience. Although… then again, maybe the truth was that we went because I myself simply couldn’t wait ’til it came out on DVD…? ;) Lol.

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The book title is “クマくんのはちみつぶんぶんケーキ” (Kuma-kun no hachimitsu buun buun keiki) which translates to something like “Boy bear’s honey buzz buzz cake”. It is published in 1994, & is written by Machiko Yagyu.

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The story is about a bear who wants to make the honey buzz buzz cake (what a great name!), so helps out at Mrs.Bee’s to get some honey for it. On return home, he meets a family of pigs & he invites them around for a cake party. Here, there is the highlight joke of the book, when the piglets can’t say part of the cake name “buun buun” (Japanese way of saying buzz buzz), & says “buu buu” (Japanese way of saying oink oink). If you’re a Japanese kid, it is the most hilarious bit I assure you.

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(the illustrated recipe page.)

(Boy bear with his bee & piggie friends have a tea party outside with pink tablecloth. – For my cake picture at the top of this post, I followed Boy bear’s choice with pink tablecloth! But I’d like to think I’m one up on him for the beehive-like hexagon design! )

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Boy bear’s honey buzz buzz cake is delightfully homesome. There is one caution though – as it bakes in the oven, the aroma of honey will waft tantalizingly, teasing us in to a drool monster by the time it is ready. And if you only knew how scrumptious it really is, it’s hard not to dig in as soon as it is out of the oven. Trust a honey-lovin’ bear to know a seriously good honey cake I say!

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Combined with the ease of the recipe, I have made this cake a number of times without fail, even with the children! – - Although, as you can see from the chaotic pictures below, at times there were too many hands wanting to do the same thing, & it does get messy… When baking with children, best to take a deep breath & not be too fussy I suppose, so long as they’ve washed their hands! – (I’m a hygiene freak!)

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About the science behind the recipe:

Honey has the ability to attract & hold moisture (hygroscopy). This makes the cake moist. Honey is also relatively acidic, & together with the sour cream which is also an acidic ingredient, it tenderizes the gluten formed in the batter.

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The bicarbonate of soda in the recipe reacts to the acidic ingredients & produces carbon dioxide gas which lifts the cake upwards as it tries to escape. During the time in the oven, the flour gluten structures ‘pillars’ that hold the cake in it’s risen height. A noteworthy point here though is that the bicarbonate of soda starts doing it’s magic at 80 degrees+ (wiki), so you’d think that you would have time to prepare leisurely, but as the recipe also calls for baking powder which reacts straight away from when in contact with moisture (the batter), you will be required to work quick once the BP is mixed in.

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You might have noticed that the oven temperature is set at 140 degrees compared to the usual 180. That’s because honey caramelizes at a lower temperature than sugar, & it browns more than baked cakes made with granular sugar. The lower oven temperature will prevent the cake from over-browning.

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For this cake recipe, I recommend using ‘clear’ honey with all-round taste, & NOT any of the more distinctive bold flavoured ones. I once tried baking this cake with eucalyptus honey, & it was not good. If this cake recipe works for you, perhaps next time play around with different honeys – the amount of fructose honey has is different in every one of them & subsequently the sweetness too will differ.

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One last point – don’t feed honey to children under the age of one – honey has high fructose content, & the botulinum spores in it may be hazardous.

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“Boy bear’s honey buzz buzz cake” Recipe:

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Ingredients:

• 140g of unsalted butter
• 140cc/ml of clear honey
• 140g of sour cream (or if not, double cream apparently, but I have to admit I never tried)
• 2 medium sized eggs
• 200g of plain flour
• 7g of baking powder
• 2g of bicarbonate of soda
• 25g plus of almond flakes
• Icing sugar to dust the top

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Prepare:

• an 8 inch (20cm) spring-form cake tin. Butter the sides & the bottom, then line it with baking paper.
• preheat the oven to 140 degrees.

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Method:

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• 1. Cube the unsalted butter & microwave until soft. (I recommend microwaving in 10 second increments & checking that you haven’t over-melted it. Here, ‘soft’ is when you can easily dip your finger in to it & it feels soft like mayonnaise.
• 2. Whisk the butter to incorporate air. Do it until the butter is lighter in colour.
• 3. Add 140cc of clear honey. Thoroughly mix it in.
• 4. Add 140 grams of sour cream (or double cream). Thoroughly mix it in.
• 5. Add 2 medium sized eggs. Thoroughly mix it in.
• 6. Sift the dry ingredients in. 200 grams of plain flour, 7 grams of baking powder & 2 grams of bicarbonate of soda.
• 7. Fold it in.
• 8. Pour the batter in to the cake tin & spread it out nicely.
• 9. Sprinkle 25 grams of flaked almonds.
• 10. Sieve icing sugar on top. Here, sieve more than you think it requires!)
• 11. Place in pre-heated oven of 140 degrees for 50 to 60 minutes, or until your cake-skewer comes out clean.

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A little update on how things are doing:

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Exactly a week after the Japan earthquake & tsunami, my daughter S turned three. That Sunday, we celebrated with a small party. The birthday cake was our family’s one & only option for birthdays, which is the genoise cake with cream & strawberry. It was put together very quickly on that Sunday morning, while chaotically tidying the house before the guests arrive. You could probably tell the stress on my face in the first picture on the left! Lol!

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Last week, there was a little incident when our son ‘I’ turned out to be a bit of a fundraiser himself. He handed out ten of the Japan charity badges to his class-mates without my knowing, & asked them to bring one pound each. He meant well I know, but asking for money from children is not good, so I emailed the parents to tell them what happened & tried to recover the badges. Nice thing about it was that most parents just donated money instead of returning, & so in the end, my son raised eleven pounds! – Upon this incident, I realized that our son is perhaps just as affected by the news of Japan as I am…, & wanted to help. Perhaps I ought to have been a bit more careful when watching the news on telly…

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There’s two bits of news:

One: all donations from the badge sales & from the donation box on my stall will go to THE RED CROSS from now on. They are doing such a fantastic job out there. Subsequently, I am now going to shut down the fundraising page I set up 3 weeks ago on First Giving for the Save The Children charity. May I take this final opportunity to thank once again to those of you who have donated! Thank you!! xoxo You are all very special people…! I love you!

The total fund raised is… (drum rolls please…!!) a whopping 3,699 dollars! Woohoo! Yay, baby!!!

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Two: As I wrote at the beginning of this post, I will not be at the market on the 9th & the 30th of April. The first one because I can’t get child-care, & the second date, because it is my 35th birthday!!! ^^ Also, it’s because the day before, the 29th is the Royal wedding, & my road is doing a street party & I’m not one to miss it! ^^

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がんばれ日本。がんばれ東北。

(Don’t give up Japan, go for it East-North)

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First of all, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to those of you who have donated so far. Currently, as at 22nd of March, we have raised $3,160!!!!!! For the UK readers amongst you, that’s £1,943. I thank you for being so generous. I also would like to thank those of you who have blogged, tweeted, facebooked, or sent mass emails to your friends about the relief. When I set about organizing this, I didn’t expect half as much as it has achieved. And it’s all down to the generosity you have shown.

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That said, the call for funds is far from over.

Currently, even after ten days since the earthquake, people in the worst affected area are still without heat, electricity, running water, regular meals or for some, no word from their loved ones. The official death toll is currently 8,277, with 12,272 still missing. Nearly 500,000 people are homeless. Japan is still very much in it’s urgent state. They are still battling to gain control over the dangerous situation at the Fukushima nuclear reactor. Worries are abound especially for harmful levels of radiation. I well-up when I see children tested for radio-activity by those masked & suited workers, it really feels unreal. When I hear that some have resorted to drinking swimming pool water & pond water…, I can’t believe it is happening in Japan.

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Japan is facing a herculean task to recover & rebuild. But I know that the Japanese people have the remarkable capacity to face natural calamity stoically. In Japan’s time of great need, please let’s continue to do our best to help!

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I now have a donation box at my stall. It was my first time to do it last week, & it has raised $51.68. The generosity that Broadway Market goers have shown is amazing ~ thank you!

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This weekend, my friend H successfully persuaded a badge maker to make 1000 of these badges for free. The text on these tiny badges (it’s a size of a £1 coin) says “Ganbaré Nippon. Ganbaré Touhoku.”. It means something like “Don’t give up Japan, go for it East-North”. I love the simple design of just a red circle. Pin this dinky thing to a plain coloured top & it looks very stylish. I’ll be selling 50 of these for £1 each at the market stall next week, & if they sell well I might order more from her.

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The Japanese word “ganbaré” is one of my all-time favorite words. It’s a difficult one to translate in to English though ~ there doesn’t seem to be a direct translation. It could mean any of these below, it just varies on the context the word is used:

try hard

hang in there / hang tough

good luck

be stronger

stick with it

do your best

don’t give up

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As you can see, it’s a bit of a mixed bag, but it does have a core theme – to wish someone well & to send strength their way. Apparently, the Chinese translation to ganbaré is ‘Jiayou’, written in these symbols: 加油. First symbol means ‘add’, the second means ‘fuel’. (wiki) I like that they put those two symbols together like that. It captures the spirit of the message well.

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Like I say, ganbaré as a word is special for me.

When I was about 10, I had to do a swimming test at school. It was to swim two lengths without any aid. I was one of the last ones that could do it & the pressure was on. I was so determined to do it that I came up with a repetitive song in my head “Ganbaré, ganbaré, Ta! ma! mi!”. Again & again, non-stop I repeated those words until the very end. And with that, I managed to complete. ~ Ever since then, whenever I face challenges, I magic that phrase in my head. It’s become my very own special phrase to help me zone in.

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Finally, I’d like to share with you another phrase that is close to my heart. It is 一期一会 (Ichigo ichie). Literal translation is “One encounter, one chance”. It means that one must approach every encounter like as if you will never get that chance again, so excel & do the very best. It also means to treasure the moment you have.

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I just want to thank you dearest readers for being so kind to donate for Japan. I think it is so amazing that you have answered to my call for help & donated on that page… Am I lucky to have you guys visiting this little blog? Yes I am.

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Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Tamami xxx

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Donate & I pledge to give £1 for every time there is a donation!

(up to the total of £150)

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I’m sure you are all aware of the magnitude 8.9 earthquake that occurred in Japan yesterday. It’s heartbreaking to see the extensive devastation it has caused  - & I feel very tearful to think of all the people there. The people that died, the injured, the missing & the sorrow of the families & friends of those people. There are plenty who have lost their houses too. It’s going to be a long, trying process to heal, & it truly is a horrific time for everyone in Japan.

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I feel strongly that it’s not enough to JUST feel sorry for Japan. Even if we live so far away in a different country, there must be something we can do to help… But what? I wish I was there to help with the relief, rescue as many people with my own hands, dig out the injured underneath the rubble. But turning up on the doorstep is not a good idea – When I thought of what I could do, yes, I can donate, but what else? And then I had an idea. I can use my web-presence, however small it is, to persuade you to donate too, & generate as much buzz as I can to get people to be generous in Japan’s time of need.

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So I have decided to set up a personal appeal. Here’s what I ask of you. Please follow this link to FIRST GIVING website. I have created a special donation page to help the Save The Children charity. The money we generate will fund them help Japan specifically.

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“Save the Children is mobilizing its global resources to respond to the needs of children and families affected by the earthquake and its aftermath, and an international emergency team has been dispatched to assist staff in Japan.  The humanitarian agency has been in Japan for 25 years, is in many of the other Pacific nations that could soon be hit by tsunamis, and was a major responder to the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that killed 225,000 people.”

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Please donate generously.

Please help me generate as much funds as possible.

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To start it off, I have already put funds in to the account. And as an incentive for you to donate, I pledge to give £1 for every donation you give, up to the total figure of £150.

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So go on, I’ll dare you. You donate & I’ll pay!

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Please tell all your friends about this pledge so that I’ll cough up more! Also, if you have a blog, please blog about it. If you twitter, please twitter. I want you to reach to as many people as possible to donate. Help me do this.

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Please remember, Japan has an excellent track record for been superbly charitable in other’s time of need. Now it is your turn to return the favor. I know we’re in recession and all, but look at it this way, ~ if this mega scale of a disaster struck where you live, wouldn’t you love it if everyone dipped in to their purse to donate for you?

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So please give generously in this time of great need. Please. It’ll mean a lot to me to see you do it. Let’s you & me make a difference.

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Thank you in advance,

Tamami Haga

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Midday at the market, for a moment, the clouds subsided & the sky turned beautiful blue. It prompted me to ask my fellow stall holder to look after my stuff & go for a quick stroll. We often take turns looking after each other’s stalls like that, for whenever nature calls or when we need to grab ourselves a lunch.

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When on my stroll, I often like to walk to the end of the market to see my friends at their baguette stall. On way, I noticed the cherry tree next to ‘L’eau à la bouche’ café was in full bloom. Wow, first sign of Spring & what a magnificent one! Mr.S from the café says that it bloomed almost all of a sudden. I took the murky picture above with my grubby iPhone. The weak but direct ray from the sun felt penetrating & tingling warm in the still crisp cold air. Perhaps the cherry tree decided to make the most of the sun’s rays & use the opportunity to blossom, just like how it prompted my little stroll.

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I felt peaceful. Or maybe I was just simply spaced out through lack of sleep. I went to bed after 4am on the previous night & woke up at 7:30 in the morning. I told a visiting friend about this, & she said “Tamami, but 4am is not ‘night’, it’s already ‘morning’! What-on-earth..?!”. Lol, yes, perhaps, but I didn’t feel the lateness atall! I was buzzing, working on my book! And it is just so exciting, ideas just keep pouring out & I know exactly what to write! Like the crisp blue sky, everything is clear for me on what to do. If only time allowed, I would work on it day on end!

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And besides, I didn’t sleep much prior to this book writing anyways! It’s just the way I am. On average I probably slept 5 to 6 hours or so a night, often going to sleep around 3am. There’s something I love about the undisturbed hush of the night, it’s as if suspended in time. I often read or potter around in the kitchen & ofcourse also do my blogging. And now that my book project has fully commenced, it’s the night-times that I must really work in, what with day-times being fully booked with family & market work, it’s the only reserved slot of time I have.

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The stall’s doing great by the way. Sales are on the up for definite compared to last Winter. (Phew!) And it’s still cold enough to have a decent sale on the truffles & hot chocolates. The market itself feels busier than ever before & this week was a perfect example of so.

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The last two weeks I deliberately produced less cakes so that I can finish slightly earlier on Friday night & also go home earlier than usual at 4pm on the Saturday to conserve energy to work on my book. Unfortunately it also meant no lemon drizzle cake the first week. I disappointed a few customers though so I just about squeezed time to make two for this week. But the situation is that a cake has to leave my line-up, & it’s either gotta be the lemon drizzle or the baked cheesecake (aghast!) Which one should go? Sale-wise, the cheesecake is perhaps less popular, but the look of it with the bird stenciling does stop people on track… Sigh…, which one should it be? It’s so difficult!

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(above cheesecake picture borrowed from This is naive.)

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Hello~,

yes, I’ve got a bit of news ~ I’ve decided to write a cookbook!!!

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Yup! That’s right! And I’m confident enough to say so here on my blog & let everyone know. Some might say “don’t jinx it” or perhaps advise me to keep schtum until I know for sure that it gets published to save embarrassment, but…

1. I think this ‘jinx’ malarkey is rubbish – & infact, I’ve had a sour experience in the past when a friend decided not to tell me certain things because she ‘didn’t want to jinx it’, but I find out later that she told others but just not me!? It’s probably since then that I really hate this ‘jinx’ talk. It’s just a silly way of not including certain people.

2. I’m pretty bad at keeping secrets anyways! :)

3. Letting everyone around me know would definitely kick my head in gear to work on the project. I work better under pressure!

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You’re perhaps wondering wether I have an agent or a publisher? Well, no. Or shall I say ‘not yet’. I’m not exactly sure how to go about it but I’ll try approaching a few in an appropriate timing. Or if that fails, I might go down the self-publishing route. I’ve read up online about the ‘print-on-demand’ system which sounds rather appealing… Well, anyhow, we’ll see won’t we, when time comes to consider those options. (Then again, if you ARE a publisher reading this, please don’t be shy as to letting me know if you are interested! Thank you!!^^)

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In a strange & wonderful way, this career path marries my present job to my old one, which was being a graphic designer. When I think of this, a phrase like ‘everything has a meaning’ springs to mind. That perhaps all those years designing brochures, proofing & visiting the printers will be put to good use once more.

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Dearest blog-readers, may I thank you please for the wonderful support you have given me so far – this goes even to those who’ve not yet left comments, because I know you are reading. Did you know, it’s your continual support that has given me the strength to make this step. ~ It strongly reminds me of… … when I was about fourteen years old. There was an art teacher called Mrs. Davies who believed in me. During one lesson I wanted to draw a figure lying down on bed, but I found it very difficult, especially the perspectives. When I told the teacher this, you know what she did? She laid down on the dirty art-room floor for me to sketch from. Without a single fuss. I remember I was so shocked & touched by her gesture that I proceeded to sketch with so much intensity to try to return my gratitude. Needless to say, I loved Art more after that! ~ … … I guess what I’m trying to say from this is that your support gives me strength & belief in myself – I believe that I can do it & make something of it. So thank you…

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Hello!

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My one month winter hiding is almost up!

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From this coming Saturday (29th) you’ll see me regularly down at the market again!

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I’m really looking forward to going back to work (did I just really write that??! Lol). As much as I enjoy being cocooned at home, there’s so much of it that I can take, I become a total lazy so-and-so! I hate myself for it, but I think my head still thinks it’s Christmas! I hardly touched on the loads of “To-do’s” & the exciting projects I have in mind… There’s intentions but no actions, just lots of ineffectual stomping on the same ground… And perhaps it’s because it’s winter, I’m just eating eating eating! (Needless to say that I have a sweet tooth…) I know it’s not good but I can’t stop! I think I need to get busy with work just to keep my weight in tow!

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And ofcourse, when I go back to work, I should hopefully meet lots of you too? xx I’m very happy to say that last year there were so many blog-readers who came to the market to see me (currently, on average I receive around four blog readers every Saturday – & that’s just counting the ones that do reveal their identity!). Astonishingly quite a number are from abroad, especially America & Asia. I should also mention that there are lots from this country too! It’s SO amazing. I know it might sound odd, but I am still blown away by it all. Every single time, I’m struck with a dose of happiness to find out that they came via knowing me through my blogging.

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Here’s a picture of one blog-reader who came to the market last Autumn – all the way from Minnesota!!!!!!!

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(Mrs. L)

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She & her husband were such smiley & happy people. I felt the connection straight away. After this picture was taken, they presented me with a gift. What?! Wow wow wow!!!!! I mean, I totally didn’t expect that obviously. – It had a red & green ribbon on the box, so I kept it unopened ’til Christmas day. Keeping an unopened present for a month in the house was a bit of a suspense, in a good way. I must admit, on quite a few occasions I almost opened it, especially days when I felt tired & in need of a ‘pick-me-up’, but I kept true to my promise to Mrs. L. – When I did open it on the morning of Christmas Day, I was enchanted to find a set of silver measuring spoons, delicately engraved! Wow, it’s beautiful & truly special Mrs. L! Thank you!! xxx

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I’m not sure how it’ll exactly pan out for me (I’m still everywhere with my ideas), but I’m thinking of retiring from selling cakes in the next year (or perhaps two), so if you’d like to, please visit! I really would love to see you!!! (Ps: I should point out that, no, you don’t need to give me presents to see me! Really! Lol!! Like I say, your “presence” is the “present”! Geddit? A bit naff?? Lol, oh well, it’s true though.)

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I know it’s some time ago now, & it certainly feels like it, but I thought that for this post I’ll write about how it’s been at the market last Winter.

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Although… well, in short, I can simply put it down to one word: ‘crap’.

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Saturday 18th of December:

(picture taken earlier in the day)

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The weather during the week leading up to it was not good for starters. It first snowed on the Wednesday I think, & I remember at that point I deliberated on wether to turn up at the market. But my books showed that I ALWAYS do ‘more than a good-day’ around this time of the year, afterall it’s meant to be THE cushiest day of the year for retailers, & I thought snow or not, surely people still need cakes for dinner parties & chocolate boxes for presents…, right? So I decided to go, but chocolates-wise made just 360 truffles, which is slightly more than the usual but a lot lot less than last years’ 700+.

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Come Thursday, as I was prepping the tart dough to rest in the fridge overnight, big clumps of snow started to fall, & within just half an hour everything outside was covered in white. It looked so dreamy & so romantic! But straight away alarm-bells were ringing in my head & I was thinking: ‘$%!t…, this is gonna be waaaay bad for Saturday’s trade…’

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Waking up to snow-wonderland on Friday morning was, let’s just say an official booking for the doom & gloom ride for Saturday. At this point, I made an executive decision (ahem!) to bake as little as possible – so there were no lemon drizzle cakes, cheese cakes, brownies & lemon tarts, & generally less of everything else, especially small heart tarts.

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First thing when I woke up on Saturday morning, I looked out of the window. Good, it’s not snowing. Hm, it might be alright. So I psyched myself “Right! I’m gonna do this! Let’s do it, let’s do it, let’s do it!!!” & got in to my battle-gear (Lol!) of heat-tech, turtle-neck, fleece jumper, multiple layers of leggings, woolly socks, & the ‘pièce de résistance’ stick-on heat pads… – D was really great about all of this snowy situation & without a single moan carried everything in to the car & scraped the snow off the car windows. But as we tried to set off, the engine… wouldn’t start up. “Crap…” (I very very rarely swear, but on this occasion I was). On reflection, this perhaps was the tell tell sign of things to come that day.

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Miraculously (& with D’s persistence to try turning the key numerous times) the engine decided to play ball with us. When we got to Broadway, the market boys had been busy removing the snow off the pavement already! Ha! Good work! ~ Feeling uplifted by their spirit & seeing all the other traders who braved it out, I set up my stall. And from early on, big cakes were starting to be sold – Hm, maybe it’s not as bad as I feared??

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But Tamami, learn, please, follow your instinct. You shouldn’t ‘ve come. For as yes, it’s started to snow HEAVILY & it’s way earlier than what the weatherman said. (Mister said it’ll hit the East around 3pm, but in reality it was 10:30am.) At first it was lovely in that ‘oh wow, this feels like a proper Xmas Market.’ kind of way. Everyone was smiling & enjoying the experience.

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After thirty minutes or so, the tarpaulin roof cover over us was sagging with the weight of so much snow. I saw fellow stall holders using a broom stick to shove the snow off it. Thinking, wow, what a great idea to foresee it caving in, I asked if he could broom my roof too.

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Soon as it happened, I regretted asking. – Just above my stall is where two sheets of tarpaulin connect, & with the force of the broom it separated like a flap & a load of snow was dumped on to one third of my table, yes, disastrously on to quite a number of tarts.

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“Oh £v<k.” (ps: so sorry for all the sign-hidden swear words in this post, like I said, I very rarely swear, but I like to portray it as how it really went…) The man with the broom profusely apologized, poor bloke, but it really wasn’t his fault, if anything it’s the stupid roof. I told him so & to not worry. But I think my facial expression must’ve been so awful looking, he walked away looking unconvinced of my words & ever so sorry. – It must’ve been because in my mind I was repeating ‘this..is..not..good.. this..is..crap..”. I quickly put all the affected tarts aside (which got given to fellow stall holders to consume – they didn’t mind) & got the market boys to fix together the roof.

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But aw gawd, what ever next? … What!? Gaaaaa!!!! The snow is now blowing INTO my stall!!! And not just a bit but big time! It’s going all over my things! Sa~ve me….

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It took a while to figure out a solution (which was to buy cling-film & cover the goods). By that time more things were too damaged for selling on. Even the ones that were not directly hit by snow was also damaged as the moisture in the air was making the tart bases soggy to the touch. Might as well really, because to top it all off, the early heavy snow detracted visitors it seemed & the foot count was bad anyways. Later in the afternoon, I heard that the public transport had come to a halt & fellow stall holders started to talk of how on earth they’d be getting home. Some packed up early so they have a head start & obviously because they simply had enough of a bad day.

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1. 3pm, D telephones me. He can’t get the car to start up again.
2. 3:10pm, the car finally starts but he now couldn’t roll it out of the parking position because there’s too much snow under the tyre, it’s slipping.
3. 3:15pm, standing outside in gusty wind which felt like -6 degrees, I started my ‘end-of-day saaaaale….!!’ call. I think it’s the earliest I’ve ever done so.
4. 4:20pm, D had only moved about 1.5 miles from our house due to extremely bad traffic.
5. 4:45pm, pride shunt aside, I managed to sell almost everything except for two chocolate heart tarts.
6. 4:50pm, but panic!!!!! D is still stuck in traffic & he’s going to be very late to pick me up. But the market finishes at 5pm…!! Do I stand by the side of the street with all my bags & wait?!
7. 4:55pm, I then remembered that our friends D & L who lives near to the market dropped by earlier saying that if I ever needed help today they’d be around. I phoned them & within ten minutes they came rushing to my rescue… Friends like D & L…, are a God-send… THANK YOU.
8. 5:20pm, in D & L’s warm house, feeling relieved but exhausted. I just couldn’t get over how lucky I am to have them as friends. L swiftly hands over a mug of hot mulled wine, orange slices an’ all. I’m so lucky… It could be because my cold body was getting back to normal temperature, but I felt a tad mushy.
9. 5:50pm, my D arrives at D & L’s house. In the end it took him OVER FIVE times longer than usual to drive. I’m so sorry… & thank you for not complaining…

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Friday 24th of December:

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In my mind, I knew it was always going to be a gamble, the fact that the market day being a Friday instead of the usual Saturday. ~ Would it be busy or quiet? ~ I knew there’d be quite a number of people that had already traveled away to spend Christmas with their parents. But Broadway Market being loved by the locals, there’d always be shoppers too.

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I decided that this 24th for me would be about having fun & not stressing out on stuff not being sold. I wanted 24th to be plain-sailing, a nice finish for the year. So I didn’t make any lemon drizzle cakes, nor brownies & lemon tarts. Generally less all round, which was the right decision as the foot-count was great in the morning but trickled in the afternoon. Which infact suited me fine. I’ve already left my pride somewhere last week I think (!) as I felt so easy about calling out ‘saaale!!!’. … well besides, anything’s better than last week isn’t it - atleast it wasn’t snowing nor so windy.

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The market ended early at 3pm. Wishing “Merry Christmas” to so many people during the day ofcourse has a knock-on effect, & I’ve been feeling festive all the time, but it was when D with the two children came to pick me up that I truly felt festive & loosened up. Seeing them approaching the stall, all happy to see me, I vowed never to work on a silly day like the 24th, I really should’ve been with them. To somehow make-do with the time left, we went to sit at ‘Off Broadway’ (a café/ bar that is just a few steps away from my stall). The children drank hot apple juice (their favourite), I had red wine (my favourite), & D was coffee with milk on the side (his favourite non-alcoholic drink?!) as he was driving. It was a nice little moment there & I’m glad we did it.

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(ps: I read some where online long time ago that a guy couldn’t access my blog at work as it got caught up by firewall or something – well, perhaps this post with the occasional naughty words won’t help… lol, oh well.)

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Hello! How’s the first week of the year panning out?

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Mine? Well, it’s been pretty relaxing & I generally have more time for myself as I’m not back at Broadway yet (I’ll start on 29th)! So far I’ve been reading about Shaker interior (I borrowed this book from my neighbour). I love the book & I can’t get over my love for their black stove with thick piping going across the room. If I’m allowed to, I’d love to do that in our house!

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And then culinary-wise, I’ve been test-making a recipe for puff pastry! I won’t publish the recipe just yet because it needs some work on it still & it also needs a loooong write-up for all the tips & tricks – - for example; – - even down to a simple thing like how to hold your rolling pin = most people would probably hold at the edges, but actually you have to rest/ grip your hands at the same distance as the width of your pastry. This way you can apply the same pressure on both sides, resulting in same thickness throughout. – - Anyway, here’s some pictures of Galette des Rois that I made with my handmade puff pastry, in time to celebrate Epiphany!

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As you can see from the picture above, I’ve left it in the oven a tad too long! Lol, oh well, I still like it for it can look… ‘rustic’!? For the filling inside, I made two creams (crème d’amandes & crème pâtissière) & mixed it together to create crème frangipane, in to which I then mixed in a tiny amount of dark rum. The rum is gorgeous with its distinct sweetness & it’s a fabulous way to lessen the eggy taste/ aroma.

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For me, a strong tea with no milk or sugar goes really well, it cuts the buttery-ness & refreshes the palette.

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Meet Lyla & Roger, my favourite fève charms. I put both of them in the same galette, side by side, because I think that they are made for each other.

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How’s your holiday been? Mine was alright-ish I guess, just pretty much stayed at home, which to be honest just felt like any other usual day with the family.

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Today, I took down all the Christmas decoration around the house & D chopped up the Christmas tree to a manageable size to take to the recycling centre. The living room feels stark without the 6 foot tree that was festooned with “un”-colour-coordinated baubles, but having them tidied away feels so ‘right’ in that “New year = fresh start” kind-of-way, it’s good. I feel ready to tackle things again.

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(The baubles)

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The baubles for the tree are all vintage, purchased on several occasions on eBay. That’s why it’s all different sizes, colours & textures! I decorate the tree with these & with multi-coloured fairy lights thrown in the mix too. It is very definitely colour-overkill & uncoordinated. Lol! But y’know what, I like it just like that – ‘uncoordinated’. I wouldn’t want top-to-bottom colour coordination or an expensive ’gold-theme’. Mish-mash & haphazard, that actually suits me.

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Most are plain coloured silk woven baubles (perfect for a house with children because it doesn’t break!), but I also have some unusual ones in the mix that I love love love! Below are pictures of some of them!

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There’s apple shaped one, pointy one, disco ball one… Then there’s frazzled ones that’s seen better days, & a bauble that I can’t bring myself to take its old sticker off (…17… maybe it used to be 17 pence??). There’s also a gold bauble that got transformed in to a Santa face! Cuuuute I think & it deserves a noticeable part of the tree to hang from, but my son is unbelievably spooked out by it (!!) – he thinks it looks like a head that is chopped off, so it got dangled out of sight at the back of the tree … (maybe this year Santa face has centre stage hopefully??)

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The beauty of eBay is that all of these were dead cheap (for example just 99p for 20 baubles!). And now & again there’s a nice little surprise – unexpectedly amazing bauble in the mix (the apple-shape), or like one of the bauble box had ‘Made in GDR’ stamped on it – that’s German Democratic Republic, former East Germany! To think that these baubles & box had been around for atleast more than 21 years…!!

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Dearest readers, I was going to write about how my trade went in the last two Saturdays leading up to Christmas, but I’ve run out of time, so that’s ’til next time I guess!

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On that note, I’m signing out for the night,

Tamami xx

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Above picture was from last Saturday! It was the first ever time in my five years of trading at the market that it snowed so heavily! It was a day of lots of happenings, & it deserves a proper write-up, so it’ll have to be in another time…!

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Because right now, it’s 5am on Christmas Day, & all I want to say to you is…

Merry Christmas everyone!!!!!!!

Have a fantastic day, what ever you are doing, let loose, be jolly & be merry!!! It’s been a heck of a year & we all deserve a big ol’ knees up don’t we!

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I’ll be thinking of you all.

xxx

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Ps: you’re perhaps wondering why I’m up at this stupid hour, but I’d like to defend myself by saying that I slept from 7pm last night & woke up at 1am! – After finishing at the market, I had a few glasses of red wine & got stuffed with good food that my mother made, which totally finished me off, lol, I very almost nodded off at the dinner table! Seriously! – After a comatosed heavy sleep I’m up & I feel rather refreshed! ^^

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Hello! How are you all keeping in this cooooold weather? Wrapping up warm I hope??

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Last week I purchased a repro US Military ECW (Extreme Cold Weather) snorkel parka on eBay, & just got it delivered to mine on Sunday (which got us surprised as we didn’t know delivery service was operating on Sundays! It must be a special Christmas season thing…). The parka is definitely bulky around the shoulders unfortunately…, but it’s seriously warm (they don’t tag it ECW for nothin’ baby!) so I’ll be looking forward to wearing it at the market for the first time this coming Saturday! Just don’t laugh if I’m moving a bit stiff! Lol!

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Anyway, I’m typing this quick message to say that this year, Broadway Market will be open on FRIDAY 24th December instead of 25th! (25th is Public Holiday.) The special Christmas market will open from 9am & finish slightly earlier than usual at 3pm. And then next year, the market will commence from the 8th of January, although I will be on my annual break for 3 weeks & will be back at the market from the 29th of January.

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The Christmas market on the 24th will be very special with festive atmosphere… – I love it when greetings like “Merry Christmas!” can be heard left right & centre! It’s a time when one can’t stop feeling anything but festive. It makes me grin & feel proud to be working at such a friendly market. So if you’re going to be in London, & have some time to spare, hop on down to East London & hang out with us – I’d love to catch you this side of the year before my break!

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Happy thoughts to you all, Tamami xx

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A couple of weeks ago I was invited to attend a preview do for Waitrose’s new cookery school. It was on Thursday evening, which was not exactly great as it’s my chocolate making day but I wanted to go so much, I decided I’d make a little less to make up for the time-loss.

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Now, I’m a sort of person who h.a.t.e.s going to places alone. I get uncomfortable, be it waiting for a friend to turn up at the bar, or going to cinemas on my own. So I asked my friend A to accompany me. She also has great interest in food & teaches Japanese home-style cooking here in London, so a perfect companion for the night I think!

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Soon as we got our coats checked-in, we were handed a glass of champagne. Champagne is my favourite alcoholic beverage (next to Japanese plum wine) that magics delirious happiness in me. Hmm… - And then came very tasty canapés. Ah! We’re getting treated finely tonight aren’t we! (champers fueled giggles with A.)

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(Another one? ~ oh go on then, bend my rubber arm why don’t you.)

(Behind the scenes, making our nibbles.)

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Drink in one hand & camera dangling on neck, we nosed around. Gosh, it’s such a dream place. If I was to ever open a school it’ll be like this. A spacious open plan set-up of cooking workshop area, eating area & impressive bar. There’s also an auditorium for demonstrations in the next room equipped with hi-tech live-camera above the front work-top so that seated students can see what the chef is doing in detail on a mounted telly. Not bad.

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Equipment freaks that we are, we looked in draws in the workshop. I instantly fell in love with the following two; a ‘Lékué Decopen’ for piping,

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& this, oh God I want it so bad, a titanium ‘Kenwood KM070 cooking chef major mixer‘, WITH induction cooking technology!!! I’ve never heard of such a thing! Apparently you can make béchamel sauce in it, & even risotto. Well, with just under £1000 to buy just one of these, it better do. I have never ever been interested in food mixers before, even the lovely KitchenAid, but this… God, I want one. (did I just say this twice?)

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Anyway, back to writing about the evening.

There were only around 17 bloggers that attended & from Waitrose’s side there were around 7 chefs, aswell as more bods from management & PR. (Pamper-ometer, tick!) After champagne, we watched head pastry chef James Campbell (formerly Gary Rhodes’ group head pastry chef ) make italian-meringue based macaroons in orange marmalade flavour. And then it was our turn to do the same. The ingredients were already measured out set neatly by our work table, & ofcourse we don’t do the washing up later.

(Clean & stylish)

(Macs. Italian meringue based are easier to make (compared to french meringue version) as there’s no drying period, but I think the result-texture is harder & chewier… – although it is less so as you leave it for a couple of days.)

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We then had a cocktail master-class. Orange & vodka mix poured in to  sugar-rimmed  glass, & then another cocktail which was coffee flavoured.

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(My friend A making cocktail.)

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We also sampled two more flavours of macs. Eggnog one which had chantilly cream filling which was delicious, & mulled wine one with edible glitter on its surface. Everyone seemed to love the glitter on it, but I personally don’t, although I do understand the attraction of its prettiness. The reason why I don’t like them is simply because I don’t want to eat it. It’s the same feeling I have to edible gold leafs.

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Anyway, all in all I was very impressed with the place & the chefs who were all friendly. I thought that the price for classes (all-day classes are £175) are reasonable if you think that there are three chefs to 24 pupils which is good going.

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Hello! How are you keeping in this Autumn?

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I must say, I’m actually doing really good – yeah, it’s getting too cold for standing long outside on Saturdays, but I wear TWO layers of Uniqlo ‘Heat Tech’ garments under my clothes, & I recently bought my first ever wool socks which won’t let the cold penetrate from the ground so much as cotton. (I just can’t believe I never had any before! I’m hooked… so if you haven’t got one, please, I recommend you go out get a pair too!).

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The cake sales are on the up (on some weeks it’s still down, but it’s mostly up). And I’m thinking: “… like, finally!”, after the rather unfruitful Summer period when it was almost not worth the time & effort to be there every week. (I put the blame on tightened purse strings due to the economy’s downward spiral.) Although, having said that it being not worth the effort, I WAS there pretty much throughout, my main drive was because I felt strongly that I mustn’t look unreliable to not be there regularly – I mean, it’s a sure-fire way of losing loyal customers right?

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So anyway, my Summer 2010 was spent moaning about the frustration of bad sales to any ear that would listen – well, the victims were mainly my dearest stall neighbours actually – so I’m sure they’re just as happy that my sales are up finally…! lol.

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Nowadays, it’s just great to be making chocolates truffles & hot chocolate drinks again, because I missed making them (I only sell chocolates during the cold season, from mid-Autumn to mid-Spring). Delicious cakes could surely give people great pleasure, but when I see people eat chocolates, it’s like watching a cat in a cream factory, y’know, really savouring it for what it is ~ there’s nothing like it, there’s a small dose of magic in chocolates.

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Recently I got to thinking that perhaps my children would be reading this blog when they are older. At first I couldn’t quite make up my mind on wether I liked the idea of it. Can’t explain well, but I guess I worry about what they would conclude out of reading this. Recipes to hand-down to them is definitely going to be a plus, but what about all the other things I have been writing here? The ups & vulnerable downs. Perhaps I might come across as self-absorbed? Or perhaps they’ll relate to my passion for what I do.

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I guess the one thing I am proud of conveying to them from this is that I NEVER write anything negative about anyone. And that’s the same when I talk to people in everyday life too. I might like my girly gossips but I hate speaking ill of anyone. Because if you turn it around & imagine somebody else saying that about you, you’d sure get hurt. I also believe what goes around comes around. If you sow the wind, you’d reap the whirlwind. On this note, it’s important to remember that it works the other way too – if you treat others with kindness & respect, IT WILL be returned to you. It could even start with just a simple act of smiling to people you meet. For example, when I work at the stall, I always like to beam my best-est smile. Real smiles. Not fake because a lie always catches you out. Anyway, it’s easy to smile & say thank you because I still can’t believe how great that anyone would want to spend their hard-earned cash on things I make.

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Our boy ‘I’ will be seven in December. Already. (Has seven years passed by that quickly?) He wants to be a footballer, artist & head-teacher (yes, all three in one!). He is very good with reading at school & what’s more important, he has good social skills. He’s amazing with dancing & is tall & very handsome too. I’d like to think he’d make a good pop-star but he absolutely hates the idea of it!

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Then ofcourse, there’s our little girl ‘S’ who is two & a half years old already. It still seems like only a little time ago that I wrote about her birth on this blog. And documented about the time when I was pregnant with her. She is so sweet, so gentle & very clever. I can see positive determination & good concentration skills in her. She’d like to be a school teacher too (actually it was her idea to be a teacher first & ‘I’ copied!).

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When they are old enough to start reading this, I wonder what great people they will be. And I wonder what I will be doing too – I have been thinking that this trading every week at the market thing, I’m probably going to stop in the next year or two. There’s one or two projects I’d like to get my teeth in to. And besides, with the family-life needing more of my energy & attention, the balance of work & family is not quite right anymore & it tires me out & the rest of the family members. Time for re-adjustment. I always think that my children come first in priority stakes, & work? probably third or fourth. You get just one-shot at being a Mother whereas you can re-establish work many times. What I need is a job that can allow me to stay at home & makes lots of money while at it!! lol. But doesn’t every mother want that?!

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About the picture above – that same day there was another blog reader, & she was also from just as far away: CANADA! It is just too exciting for words! The fact that there are people from out-of-country coming to the heart of East London of all places & to put seeing me as part of their journey…! Wow… really…, thank you!!!!!!! Isn’t it weird & wonderful - I sometimes find that there are certain customers who I think are suspect-blog-readers – they’re just taking more pictures than that of usual & observes my face more than the standard fair. Perhaps it’s all my wishful imagination but it makes me beam out a smile of all smiles anyhow. ^^

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One of the many baking questions I get asked is how to scale a cake recipe to fit another size or shaped pan.
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There is an universal formula you can use:
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(volume of the preferred tin) ÷ (volume of the original tin)
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x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x
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For this, you need to find out the volume of the two tins.
The formulas to work out the volume of a pan according to shapes are the following:
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ROUND
(3.14 x half the diameter x half the diameter x height)
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SQUARE or RECTANGLE
(length x width x height)
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NOVELTY CAKE TIN
First work out the volume of tin by weighing how much water goes in. Water is 1g = 1 cm³
(The mass of 1 cubic centimetre water at 3.98°c equal to a gram. (it’s the temperature at which it is at maximal density roughly). So we can use that number you’ve weighed as the measure of volume.
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MULTI-CAVITY TIN (like a muffin pan)
Again, work out the volume by pouring water in one cavity, & multiply that with how many cavities there are. Weigh it in grams, & use that number as the volume.
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x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x
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Here are two examples:
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To convert from an 8″ ROUND cake tin (with 2″ height) to 10″ ROUND cake tin (with 3″ height) you’d do this:
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(3.14 x half the diameter x half the diameter x height) ÷ (3.14 x half the diameter x half the diameter x height)
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(3.14 x 5 x 5 x 3) ÷ (3.14 x 4 x 4 x 2) = 2.34375
So here we now know that we need to multiply the recipe by 2.4 times.
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But if the height of the pans are the same, use this simpler formula:
(dimension of preferred tin ÷ dimension of original tin) x (dimension of preferred tin ÷ dimension of original tin)
For example,
(10÷8) × (10÷8) = 1.25 x 1.25 = 1.5625
So here we now know that we need to multiply the recipe by 1.6 times.
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To convert an 8″ ROUND cake tin A to 10″ SQUARE cake tin B (when height is the same):
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(length x width) ÷ (3.14 x half the diameter of A x half the diameter of A)
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(10 x 10 ) ÷ (3.14 x 4 x 4) = 1.99
So here we now know that we need to multiply the recipe by 1.99 times. (I like to round it to 2)
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Please note:
- If both tins in question are of same height, you don’t need to measure the height for each.
- The examples are in inches, but of-course the same formula works in centimeters too!
- When I get long answers like 1.5625, I personally like to round it UP to 1.6.
- Although the oven temperature should remain the same for both occasions, the baking-time will change.
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x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x . x
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It’s all probably elementary bit of maths for you all, but for me it certainly isn’t! There is a reason why I’m a baker & not a mathematician…

This wednesday I made a Black Forest Gâteaux.
I arranged the cherries on top to spell number 3, because I baked it to take to a 3 year old’s birthday party.
The cake was constructed with Kirsch-syrup soaked chocolate genoise sponge layers with alternately piped kirsch chantilly cream & whipped chocolate cream. There are also lots of de-stoned black cherries (Kirsch-syrup soaked) hidden inbetween the layers.
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Wh, what? Booze soaked cake for a children’s party?? – Don’t worry – it was for consumption by the mums only. (There was a separate cake for the children, baked by the mum.)
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Actually, I especially made it for the birthday girl’s mum ‘A’, who’d been handing down bags n’ bags full of girl clothes for my daughter S. Literally tonnes of it!! And good stuff too, from the likes of Petit Bateau & Polarn o. Pyret, as well as cute vintage finds. I hardly ever buy new clothes for my daughter other than a few key pieces & some underwear, & that’s all thanks to the generosity of ‘A’!
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Now, why Black Forest Gâteaux. – Well, here’s what it was. The one week prior to the party, my daughter S & myself were outside ‘A”s house, all dolled up, warm Tarte Tatins (there were two) tucked safely in the bottom netting of S’s pram. Just as I was going to ring the doorbell, ‘A’ opens her door. She welcomes us in with a slight puzzled look. Noticing how quiet her house was, I ask “Oh, am I the first to arrive?” – And just at that moment, it struck us both – Yes, I had gotten the dates wrong. The party was on the next week.
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Oh.my.gawd… shame on me. How-do-I-do-this? I’m a fool. ‘A’ insisted on inviting us in regardless. I decided to give the Tarte Tatin to ‘A’ anyway, & keep the other one for taking around to a different friend later. While our daughters played upstairs, we sat on her sofa with a mug of milky tea cupped in our hands. Our conversation was naturally (?) about sweet things (!) & about her new found admiration for M&S Black Forest Gâteaux (all butter, soft & chewy) dessert cookies. “They’re very good, Tamami…” ‘A’ wistfully expressed her review of it with a sigh of yearning. She also shared her realization of how we don’t ever come across a good Black Forest Gâteaux in London – … like, never! And she was so right!
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So, to cut the story short, I made another cake for the correct party date, but this time a Black Forest Gâteaux. Upon research on google images, I realized that the cake seriously suffers on the looks stakes, oooh so ugly & retro in a bad way! I boiled the culprit down to the chocolate flakes patted on to the sides together with all that cream with swirly piping. So I simply avoided that & just had fun with piping simple round blobs. I think it also ties in with everything-else (the sponge & the cherries) that are also round. The simplicity of the look (& flavour) needed the addition of whipped chocolate cream in to the equation, alternating it with the white chantilly cream to step it up.
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The cake went down well with the crowd at the party, & no slices were left after 10 minutes upon serving. But oh, I should also share with you a story of another clumsy slip-up. The birthday children (it was a joint birthday) were celebrating their FOURTH, not third birthday… Ooops…
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I really don’t know what is wrong with me lately. I’ve been making mistakes more than my usual fair. It’s all very minor incidents – like forgetting to take my cake knifes on Saturdays. One time I forgot to sift in the flour to THREE lemon drizzle cakes, & ended up with an oily souffle kind of thing which obviously didn’t make it’s appearance on the stall table. What a waste of ingredient, time & energy… Also, this week, my regular customers might perhaps have noticed that my ‘Luxury Brownies’ looks have changed. Yes, it was because I initially forgot to add the nuts in the batter. When I noticed this halfway through baking, I took the trays out to scatter the nuts on top instead. But guess what guys, it looks so much tastier now! And I realized that with this method, I now have control on the exact distribution of nuts per slice! A mistake turned to better results. Perhaps I shouldn’t feel so down about making mistakes afterall!
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On Friday, ‘A’ popped around with a packet of M&S Black Forest Gâteaux cookies as a thank you pressie to me for the cake. – Yes, the cookies are very good ‘A’… but with 120kcal PER cookie, I think it is e-v-i-l (says Tamami as she sadly reaches for the last cookie in the packet…) ^^