Whats going on in the bakery today!!

What have we been up to..............

 Another busy week for us at FCC HQ! Vincenzo after a sleepless night came to me this morning telling me that the Red Velvet Cup Cake recipe we have for a clients Birthday this week is well in his words:

" I just dont like it Dan!!"

The one on the right at the back was mine!

 

 

What can you say to that so after an hour or so of mixing, playing and baking, a smiling Vincenzo brings me in a new recipe red Velvet Cup cake and an espresso: Bless Him!

All of this after yesterday pulling off this little number!

A forest of chcolate

 Anna has also a busy week ahead: namely making the elements to another Alice in Wonderland creation. This time however we have been reigned into making something a little more subtle. Subtle oh No Missus! not from the gang at the FCC!!!!

Anna's Teapot!

 

A cake with some flowers, love hearts and some cool trickery with our new Vanilla flavoured icing is on its way to make this cake really very well Gorgeous!!

Lemon Meringue Pie

A storm has brewed in the kitchen today. One of our favourite clients called and wanted a lemon drizzle cake finished with a meringue on top for a birthday party.

Quick as a flash ideas flowed, but hang on I said that doesn't sound right surely they mean a traditional Lemon Meringue Pie?

Evil gazes flashed in my direction. Err no Daniel this is what the customer has asked for and the customer is alway right! I was told....

Maybe the client knew something I didn't, hmmmm.... I asked Vincenzo to make two of this unusual combination.

This morning the day of the order Vincenzo brought me a peice of the second cake I tucked in to what I expected to be a nice different slice of cake.. what I tasted was how can I say it AMAZING.  I have posted the image on Facebook and the comments keep rolling in...

It must be true, the customer, however I think of it, is always right.....

Christmas Surely not!

Well September is here already! Vincenzo came into my office this morning all a flush and excited. As I looked up: he is over 6 feet tall! His face flashing a big grin, i thought how uncharacteristic it's Monday it's 4am, no one is every this happy at this time on this day of the week!

  I have a new design for Christmas he tells me beaming from ear to ear. Then the penny dropped, September is here and we have to start work on our Christmas line. 

 I never have gotten used to this, back in the early days of Amato when we were young carefree and I personally had a lot more hair! this was explained to me by the then Head chef: for every season work at least three months in advance, that way you will be prepared for anything! Since then we have, whatever the season three months before is where we have started from.

Back to Vincenzo, who on occasion I have to reign in with his ideas! This year his plans a foot and much discussion to have over the next few weeks I am quite looking forward to Christmas. However for those of you who believe the Marketing for this occasion of all occasions spare a thought for me who has to deal with a very bright light early in the morning every September!

 Merry Christmas to all however not until December.........
 

Bananas about Banana Bread

Tired of wasting money? Well banana bread is an easy and delicious way to fix that. Instead of throwing out old bananas, you can transform them into something edible and sweet. For the most part Banana breads could be considered a ‘quick bread’, which were first made at the end of the 18^th century in America. However, the first banana bread recipes didn’t appear until the 1930’s in Pillsbury's Balanced Recipes cookbook. Even though Bananas bread was around in America for thirty years, it didn’t become popular until the 1960’s. There many variations of banana breads, and here is one of the recipe that we use.

Ingredients:

140g unsalted butter, melted

270g light muscovado sugar or soft light brown

2 eggs

200g over ripe bananas, mashed

280g plain flour

1 teaspoon Baking powder

30g walnuts pieces

30g chocolate chips or drops

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon ginger

Method:

The first thing that needs to be done is to beat the sugar and eggs together until they are light and fluffy. Once the eggs are thoroughly beaten, add the mashed bananas. Next combine  flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, walnuts, chocolate, cinnamon and ginger and mix until well. The final step is to add melted butter and mix until it is completely combined.

Once the batter is complete pour it into a loaf tin and bake for 1 hour at 170 degrees