Welcome to my monthly look back at what’s been happening behind the scenes of Recipes Made Easy and Only Crumbs Remain
And what an amazing month it has been. Mr B and I flew out to Cyprus at the beginning of the month and have been enjoying our time on the island, culminating with the wedding of my youngest son William to Izzy.
I decided to make the wedding cake while I was out here, so we travelled with a little more luggage than usual, and various kitchen items were packed including cake tins, a cheap cake turntable, rolling pins, kitchen scales and piping bags, all squeezed in among our holiday clothes.
Making the cake was fun but a bit of a challenge. Many friends had commented that it must be hard cooking in an unfamiliar kitchen but after years as a food stylist preparing food for photography on location in different kitchens this did not phase me at all. It was the little things that made it a slight unknown. Ingredients vary ever so slightly from country to country and with the difference in humidity and air temperature the results coming out of the oven are not as guaranteed as when working in your own kitchen.
Luckily the kitchen in our Airbnb had a decent amount of work surface, a must when cake decorating and a quick test bake of the top tier showed the oven worked well. I did have the backup of being able to use Izzy’s parents’ kitchen, but I’m glad I did not need to as making a wedding cake in among the bridal preparations would be difficult and they really didn’t need me taking up the whole kitchen.
The cake was made up of three tiers and each tier of 3 layers of cake. The bottom a vanilla cake sandwiched with vanilla butter cream and Strawberry jam. The middle was a spiced honey cake filled with cinnamon honey butter cream and fig jam. For the top tier, I adapted my almond Bizcocho cake (recipe below) using gluten-free flour and baked it in a 15cm(6in) round cake tin instead of a loaf tin. It was then split into layers filled with an orange buttercream.
As I only had one tin of each size, it took a whole day to bake all the layers and then another day assembling the cake, covering the cake in fondant and spraying the green colouring before boxing them up for transport to the venue.
At the venue, it was a case of stacking the tiers and decorating the cakes with flowers, olive leaves from Izzy’s parents’ Cyprus garden and wheat and barley picked and dried last year from the fields behind our cottage in Suffolk.
Look closely at the cake and I can see many flaws. This was only my 4th wedding cake I’ve made, and I probably would have got a slightly better finish had I been making it at home. But overall, I was really pleased with the result and it tasted very good. I can honestly say I have never seen a wedding cake disappear so fast.
As for the wedding itself, it was amazing. We had to delay the wedding ceremony by an hour or so due to a passing storm (it has been the wettest spring for 50 years) so we were on tenterhooks for a while as the venue was not geared up for an indoor wedding. But the rain passed and everyone sprang back into action, tables dried and relaid, the terraces swept clean and the rest of the day passed without a hitch and it was as if the rain had never happened.
The sun came out during the ceremony outside the tiny Greek chapel, and it was wonderfully atmospheric. After the formalities, the cocktails flowed. The wedding breakfast in the setting sun was delicious and plentiful. The band was brilliant, so despite being on my feet for several days, I still managed to dance all night and even attempted to join in with some of the Greek dancing.
As we still have a few days left in Cyprus and it has been such a busy month, I thought I would put off sharing more on our time exploring the history and foods of Cyprus until next month, as June is going to be a much quieter news month (thank goodness!).
Until next time (I will be back with my weekly Sunday newsletter on the 14th June), eat delicious!
I adapted this recipe for the top tier gluten free cake, replacing the plain flour with gluten free flour and baking in a round tin
Strawberries are in peak season
“Spring’s cold start and the recent heatwave have led to sweeter, juicier strawberries being grown, according to the industry body that represents UK soft fruit growers.
British Berry Growers said although the weather had delayed this year’s strawberry season, it had helped produce fruit with “incredible sweetness and size”. BBC
So now is the time to try some strawberry recipes
Basil and balsamic vinegar might sound more like savoury flavours but these light and creamy basil scented panna cottas with balsamic strawberries make an unusual and fabulous summer dessert
Don’t wait for another heatwave before trying this easy ice cream. It tastes of summer even when the sun is being shy!
Fresh fruit tarts are a classic dessert which makes the most of summer produce.
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