So I went on my first Cinnamon Square course last Thursday. There were six of us in total. Me and 5 guys, a friendly bunch and we all introduced ourselves over a cup of whatever we wanted ( I started with a coffee to keep me awake, but I wouldn't have needed it, had I known how good the course was going to be). We then moved into the "classroom" and Paul introduced himself and asked us about ourselves. VERY funny when he looked at me and said "Have you done a course here before, you look very familiar" "No," I replied. "I didn't win the cake competition you judged at the library, remember? My friend won instead" He'll know better for next time now! ha ha.
So Paul explained to us how he makes his sweet short pastry. Not one for the faint hearted or maybe weak hearted, but then everything in moderation. LOTS of butter with the flours and sugars, and Paul was very good at explaining how and why and how long and what ifs. AND wow what a fantastic mixer! Take your average Kenwood and increase it about 5 fold. I WANT ONE OF THOSE please!! It was great.
Once we had our pastry mixed we played with it and rolled it out for our ten pastry cases. This was probably the most tricky bit of the whole course. A really good short pastry should be difficult to handle. Well ours was. The more difficult, the nicer the taste! We then sent our 10 pastry cases of various sizes (8 actually because the chocolate ones were already prepared for us) with a truly lovely lady called Mae who was so careful not to mix anyone's cases up and so many little name tags dotted around everywhere.
Whilst the pastry was baking or half baking we set to work on the following amazing fillings. I'm not going to give the game away of how we made them but we got instruction papers with each one to do at home as well. -
Chocolate ganache (oh my god, and the size of the bag of chocolate buttons Paul had for his baking - and that we were allowed to eat as much of it as we wanted)
Lemon curd, for want of a better word. I'm totally addicted to it now
Creme Patisserie, made the PROPER way with extra yum
Frangipan - and whilst making the frangipan, we were also given so many amazing tips on how to get a perfect mix on a sponge cake for a Victoria Sponge. Paul was so generous with his information, all the Cinnamon Square secrets were being shared with us.
And so we made
2 Tarte au Chocolat filled with chocolate ganache and topped with as much chocolate as we wanted to add, or cocoa powder decorations, "HELP YOURSELF" Paul kept saying!
2 Tarte au Citron - definitely my new favourite with home made lemon curd which I shall be making and freezing as soon as I get rid of that savoury crap in my freezer.
2 Strawberry frangipans - I can't believe I made proper Bakewell Tarts. Move over Kipling, I can even ice the same as you. You are NOTHING to me now, we are so OVER. I'm going home made all the way!
3 Raspberry Frangipans - I have so many more friends now wanting to pop in for a coffee and a cake. I wonder what James would think if I turned the kitchen/dining room into a mini café
and the Piéce de resistance a Creme Patisserie filled large tart complete with as much fruit (and I really mean as MUCH) as we wanted or could fit on! The other guys did get quite extravagant with their fruits, Paul had everything from Figs, plums, strawberries, raspberries, blue and black berries, grapes and so on. I kept it a little calmer because I wanted to make something that Molly and Lucy would tuck into, so it was predominantly strawberries and grapes with a fig in the middle for yours truly.
We overran, probably because being the only woman, I started questioning Paul on his life and experiences and had to mention soggy bottoms when no one else had. They all knew EXACTLY what I was on about. But the time had flown so fast.
Not happy with just the ten tarts to take home, we were also told that the foil containers that we baked in could be reused - I have the materials I need to make these at home, and we packaged our tarts up in boxes, as you would expect if you had bought cakes from Cinnamon Square made by a professional baker. It was the best going home package I have ever taken home from anywhere.
As I mentioned, Paul was an excellent teacher, a lovely person and very clever and talented baker. Mae was just lovely, very friendly, very welcoming (kept offering drinks, and always smiling). My baking friends were Allen and Jeff. A bit like me (except very old and balding and men), they bake at home but hadn't done much pastry. There was Levi and Matthew, the gayest couple in Rickmansworth to be sure (no socks with your black brogues and women's fashion designers and Ivan (not a Russian) who was certain he was going to win next years GBBO. I will route for you because your local Ivan, if you get on, but I don't think my money will be on it mate!
And so thus ended my lovely evening at Cinnamon Square, and happy to add Tarts to my repertoire of baking for friends and family and complete strangers. Put your orders in now for your pre christmas discount!
I MADE ALL OF THESE....
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