Happy Pancake Day!

Here in the UK, it's Pancake Day and I would like to share a recipe with you for American style pancakes that are semi healthy and gluten free! I developed this for a friend who is properly allergic to gluten and has unrequited love for pancakes.

This recipe has been developed using ingredients readily available from supermarkets in the UK. If you aren't following a gluten free diet, feel free to try them with self-raising flour instead!

Gluten Free, American Style Coconut Pancakes

150g Dove's Farm gluten free self-raising flour
60g Dessicated coconut
120g whole natural greek style yogurt
175ml Milk or soy milk if preferred (Alpro Vanilla Soy is great for this)
2 lightly beaten egg whites
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp honey or agave nectar
2 Tbsp oat bran
1 tsp sunflower oil
- combine all ingredients above in a medium sized bowl and whisk together until thoroughly combined. Batter will be thick, not runny.
- leave to rest for 10 minutes.
- lightly oil a cast iron skillet (or a non stick flat pancake pan) and place over medium heat.
- when pan is reasonably hot but not smoking, spoon a generous amount onto hot skillet and quickly spread it into a pancake shape with back of spoon.
- once pancake begins to lose its shiny appearance and can be easily lifted with a spatula, flip pancake to other side and continue to cook.
- when pancakes feel firm in the centre, they are done!
- Drown in real maple syrup, butter, sliced banana and/or crispy bacon and enjoy!

Christmas is Coming!

Tis' the season to wrap up warmly, drink something piping hot and have cake whenever possible!

If you are in London and feeling in need of delicious treats to make your holidays special, or are in need of a gift for friends, family, clients or co-workers, we have come up with some decadent and delicious treats for you!

Here is our special December holiday menu below! Place your orders as soon as possible to avoid disappointment. Orders for delivery by 24 December must be placed by 20 December at 2pm.

Bittersweet Bakers December Holiday Menu

Apple Turnovers 12 for £24

Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars. 12 for £24

Cardamom and Cinnamon Breakfast Buns 12 for £28

Vanilla Pecan Pie Bars. 12 for £28

Linzer Tart sandwich biscuits 12 for £18

Ginger Star or snowflake Biscuits. 12 for £12

Gluten Free Chewy Chocolate Walnut Cookies 12 for £12

Mulled Wine Pear Crumble cake 1 tray for £24

Hot Buttered Rum Apple Crumble cake. 1 tray for £24

Spiced Cranberry and Apple Crumble cake. 1 tray for £24

Gingerbread Parkin 1 tray for £22

Xmas Deluxe Brownies: 1 tray for £28

Cinnamon Brownie drizzled with White chocolate, cranberries and toasted macadamia nuts.

Peppermint Brownies drizzled with White chocolate and crushed red and

White candy canes and chocolate chips

Pretzel Peanut Butter Malted brownies, chocolate malted brownie with peanut butter swirl, drizzled with milk chocolate and topped with chopped crunchy pretzels.

Toasted Hazelnut Brownies, nutella swirled brownie drizzled with milk chocolate

and topped with toasted Hazelnuts and dried cherries.

All trays yield 12-15 large pieces or 24 small pieces

Summer, roll on Autumn!

It's been a really busy summer for us at Bittersweet Bakers! Not only did we bake like crazy but we have been up to super exciting businessy stuff too! Some of which I can share now, some will have to wait for later..

Firstly, if you are looking for a place to get your Bittersweet Bakers fix immediately we are providing lovely goodies to munch on for the super cool people at: Dose Espresso in Smithfield and The Espresso Room in Bloomsbury!

If you haven't been to either, I really can't encourage you enough to go. Not only do they both make incredibly good coffee, they are really lovely people and supporting your local artisan coffee bar is really good for everyone. You get better coffee, better service and promote small business. And even better, big business (Starbucks, et al.) gets a few less pounds in their insanely deep pockets. Ahem.

This has been a long time coming but I haven't taken the decision lightly to do wholesale cookies and brownies for the cafes in London. I haven't wanted to put our fine, handmade baked goods in any old cafe. I want only to provide treats for cafe owners who really care about the quality of their product, how it's served and your overall experience. Dose Espresso and The Espresso Room fit the bill perfectly. I do hope you go and please, tell them I sent you!

On sale there now are Double Chocolate Brownies, Walnut Blondies, Guinness and Ginger Cake, Banana Coconut Cake, Anzac Biscuits, Cheesecake Brownies and my favourite, Seasonal Fruit Crumble Cake.

Our recipe for Chocolate Cinnamon Buns published in the new Green & Blacks cookbook is still going strong and as Autumn draws near, they are the perfect antidote to the chilly weather blues.

For the UK version:



For the US version:




As this is going to be an action packed Autumn, including a new premises (YAY!), a new (and VASTLY) improved website, recipes, classes, a cake club and more! We are going to roll into winter a fat and happy bunch!


Best wishes to you all cake lovers!!

Mad Hatter Wedding Cake

Here are a few photos of including this gorgeous, Mad Hatter's Tea Party inspired Cupcake Wedding Cake for the lovely Rhiannon and Dan.

Happy Bank Holiday Monday!

We all knew going in that this weekend's weather was going to be less than ideal. However, being stuck indoors can have its perks! Especially when you are a baker procrastinating over a deadline and have some yummy Blueberries to use up!

So these are my Bank Holiday Blueberry Babies..I mean Muffins.








I don't normally make muffins in my professional baking repertoire (maybe I should??) so when I needed a good reliable recipe I went to my go-to guide for the classics The King Arthur Baking Companion. I miss using King Arthur Flour, as they really do produce a superior product..but I digress.


Recipe is here and will work with any yummy seasonal fruit you happen upon in the coming months and can be tweaked in any way you desire! It's very easy and certainly doesn't require much brain power on a sleepy Sunday (or Bank Holiday Monday!) morning to produce excellent results.

The only tweaks I made, were to double the vanilla and I didn't over fill the muffin tin as you would normally to get those mega muffin tops. My blueberries were exceptionally juicy and I had bad visions of spending my Bank Holiday Monday scrubbing exploded blueberries out of my oven. But by all means, go wild! I also decided to make a crumb style top, out of medium oats, brown sugar, butter, flour and cinnamon all rubbed together then drizzled on top before baking. This gave the muffins a fragrant crispy top that so many people love. Again, this a perfect place to experiment with toppings and flavours. Also, a good tip for fruit muffin making in general, always lightly toss your fruit in a little flour before adding to the a batter as it keeps them from sinking to the bottom of your muffins.

Enjoy!

Hope you are having a great day off..

Arianna

Springtime in London

We are all suffering the effects of the ash cloud and if you are stuck somewhere and have had your life upended, our thoughts are with you! But if you are on the other end, its hard to be down about it on a day like today. Blue skies, warm sun, flowers bursting out from every branch...and the slow pace. The empty streets, the silence and the peace. I think in a way it's been nice to slow down for a few days and to literally, stop and smell the roses.

So this afternoon, I came home and sat in the garden, had a cup of tea and a truly amazing sweet-tart lemon bar. Really, as close to tasting spring as you can get. The flavour bursts with sunshine and when there is nothing else to do but wait, can you ask for more?

A Very Good Day for Cake

We make cakes all the time for lovely people all over the big smoke, but today we really went all out to make two particular lovely ladies super happy!

Firstly, the super cool Mademoiselle Robot got married today and being the truly unique and stylish girl that she is, she wanted a decidedly unique and stylish wedding cupcake display.







Secondly, the amazingly creative and super talented Emma, otherwise known as Erqsome celebrated the big 3-0 with a super lush vegan chocolate cake!



Doesn't she look like a cake loving super spy?? Oh, yes she does.



Hope you have enjoyed this glorious weekend, even if you are stuck somewhere because of the stupid ash cloud.

Bollocks to Baking!

I know, it's been ages since we have reported happenings around Bittersweet HQ but we have had our little hands literally full of yummy goodies for weeks on end now leaving precious little time to catch up with you all! How have you been? We certainly hope all silly notions of diets and detoxes have fully been banished and you are back on the cake wagon, woot!

Spring is here it seems and with it we have a new menu with new flavours! We hope that it inspires you to give us a call and try out something new and exciting.

In other very exciting news, Bittersweet Bakers was written up by the gorgeous ladies of Domestic Sluttery, who we caked up for their 1st birthday party! They celebrated in style and we hope this the first of many birthdays to come! They were so kind and we really appreciate the glowing review!! Thanks girls!

Here are a few photos of what's been happening around here lately...

And my personal favourite the SUPERSIZE cupcake!!

And some lovely Valentine's Cupcakes





Take care cake lovers!
x

Cupcake Decorating Workshops in London

Wow, what a few crazy months it's been! We at Bittersweet Bakers have been so busy making heaps and heaps of delicious tasty treats that we are stunned and amazed it's nearly Christmas! How did that happen?? Good thing the internet is open for Christmas shopping at all hours or we would be empty handed on the big day!

The most notable thing to announce is that due to overwhelming popular demand (we are SO flattered!) we have decided to make our Cupcake Decorating workshops open to everyone on a regular basis instead of just private parties! Yay!

This is partly due to the wonderful Gail who wrote a super article for the Londonist on what a brilliant time she had at one of our classes. Not only is she good with words, but she's pretty hot with a piping bag and some glitter too!

If you fancy getting your cupcake decorating groove on, just send us an email for information. We are going to be doing workshops in the new year on 10 January, 7 February and 28 February. This also makes a brilliant gift for Christmas or any other gift giving occasion and vouchers are available.

Also, for all you baking enthusiasts, we are happy to give classes on all sorts of topics including Proper Baking for Beginners or Layer Cake Assembly and Decorating, just to name a few. If you have a specific topic you would like to cover, get in touch! You never know, we might just be thinking the same thing!

Happy Halloween London!!

Halloween has always been my favourite holiday. Perhaps it always brings me back to my suburban Californian childhood, but the dressing up, the candy, the fake blood, the scary movies, the excuse to scare the daylights out of people...never ending fun in my book. My inner child couldn't be happier.

Unlike other holidays that are steeped in tradition, family, religion and obligatory consumerism, for me Halloween is just about good old fashioned childish fun. I am sure it has deeper meaning somewhere in the world, but I love to celebrate it for the Autumnal fun that it is. And of course, the eating of sweets, cakes, candied apples and gummy eyeballs with reckless, nausea inducing abandon!

So, however you are spending this All Hallow's Eve, we hope it is filled with joy!

American Thanksgiving Pumpkin and Pecan Pies

When the leaves start to turn their magnificent colors and the wind turns chilly, I automatically starting thinking of pie! Perhaps my internal yankee holiday clock sets off the alarm, but right now nothing will do but Pumpkin everything!

Next month Americans will be celebrating Thanksgiving, a holiday which we can all get behind as it has nothing to do with shopping and gifts but family, friends, happiness and of course, food!!

If you are celebrating Thanksgiving in London this year, we have the pies for you!

Classic Pumpkin Pie



Classic Pecan Pie

Autumnal Victorian Wedding Cake

Ok,the Victorians didn't eat cupcakes but if they did, this is what a Victorian cupcake wedding cake would have looked like. The venue was One Whitehall Place, next to the Royal Horseguards Hotel in London. A stunning building and a true window into another era.

Here is the cake we made for the lovely Louise and Ben, married today and we wish them all the best in their new life together.







Flowers by John and Sam at Dovers Flowers, who were just as lovely to work with as the flowers.

Mini Cupcakes!

I nearly forgot... for some reason, we have been making loads of gorgeous mini cupcakes! For everyone from little birthday girls to fashionistas (who would have thought??) are munching on these little bite size treats. Perfect for when you just want a little treat.

Summer is really gone and Autumn (and proper tea breaks) is here!!

Where on earth has the time gone?? It is suddenly cold, dark and rainy and worst of all...October!! We have seriously had our noses to the baking grind stone all summer long..including September which really counts as our summer this year..making all sorts of super delicious goodies for all you cake crazy Londoners and poof! It's Autumn!!
Here is a bit of what we have been up to!



























We made the most of the summer with all it's gorgeous fruits and outdoor parties but now it's all about windswept days, cashmere scarves, leaves crunching under our feet, hot chocolate and best of all warm and spicy treats for our well deserved tea breaks! We have a new and delicious menu posted here on our website, so please have a look and let us know if we can deliver some Autumn tastiness to you or someone you love!

Hope your summer went swimmingly and that you are looking forward to the change of the season as much as we are!

The Village Fete and it's Cake Lovers

Wow! I really didn't think it would turn out this way, but in 3 short hours we sold every single cupcake, brownie and cookie we had and could have easily sold twice that. It was amazing and so much fun to meet the local people and talk to them about cake! They were so enthusiastic and even came back for seconds and thirds!



We brought 400 lovely baked treats to sell and wham! Now you see them.....

And now you don't!!!

Very happy ladies, on a very happy day! Thanks to all that came out, it was a really great success and we will be doing it again soon!