Рецепт A cacophony of cakes and a Brazillian buffet - Happy Birthday Daisey!
Cake stand
When I told you about The Jimbo Cake a little while ago, I also told you that I did (quite!) a bit of baking for my friend Daisey's birthday party. She knows I love to bake, so asked if I'd be happy to bake some cakes and desserts whilst a Brazillian chef friend of hers made savouries for the party. It was a no brainer - of course!
The night before, I baked and prepared all of the cakes, with the intention of assembling them at the party. So, in addition to the forty-eight Jimbo cupcakes, there was...
A pavlova - always delicious, good for coeliacs, easy, and cheap (even though Daisey paid for the ingredients, I always have loads of egg whites in the freezer so any excuse to use them is welcome!). I'm getting better at pavlovas, this time it was almost perfectly round and the sides were nice and high. (The cracks and dents in the top eventually get filled with cream, so no need to be too precious about those).
Pavlova shell
I also made Nigella's Nutella Cake, from How to be a Domestic Goddess - also good for coeliacs (there was at least one on the guest list), and most people I know like Nutella! The batter for this smelled so good - just like the inside of a Ferrero Rocher. Mmm...Nigella's torta alla gianduia
And here it is topped with ganache and toasted hazelnuts.Nigella's torta alla gianduia
Also on the list was a caramel slice (recipe on the back of the tin of condensed milk)!
Caramel slice
... and some lemon slice.Lemon sliceAll packed up and ready to go!
So, on the morning of the party, I packed everything away carefully, put it in the car and started to drive to the train station... only for my car to break down! Argh!! Disaster! We had to call roadside assist, wait ages for them to arrive, only for them to tell me they couldn't fix my car there and then, and it would have towed back home. It was another thirty minute wait for the tow truck, and then we got my car safely parked, then finally called a cab... and the driver had no idea how to get to the destination, drove incredibly slowly and even stopped at green lights. Green lights! Needless to say, my stress levels were through the roof!
We arrived at the party two hours late, but luckily all the food was fine and no-one seemed to mind that the cakes were a bit late. I definitely needed one (or three) of these! Phew!
Caipirinhas made with aged cachaça
Let's have a look at the yummy food that Brazilian chef Claus made! I didn't get a picture of these, but totally loved the pão de queijo (cheese bread) he made. Think little cheese puffs - super addictive!
Here's a plate of bobó de camarão - a prawn stew with tomatoes, manioc (cassava) flour, coconut milk and tomato. So delicious!
Bobó de Camarão - prawn stew with cassava meal, tomato and coconut milk
He also made these fab crunchy cassava pancakes. You grate cassava into a dry pan and it magically cooks and melts into a big crispy pancake. I think you can put whatever you want in them - mine had prosciutto, cream cheese and tomato - yum.
Cassava pancake with prosciutto, tomato, cream cheese
Bobó de camarão and cassava pancake
And finally, there were these great bolinhos. Bolinho just means "ball" (hehe). I've made salt cod bolinhos de bacalau before - fabulous. These ones were made with cassava dough, and filled with either minced beef or cheese and olives.
Bolinhos Bolinhos - some filled with minced beef, some filled with olives and cheese
My work wasn't quite done - I still had to decorate the pavlova and slice the cakes!(Messily) decorate pavlova
And while we're here, I thought I might show you some innard shots. First up - fluffy pavlova...Pavlova
... and dense squidgy nutella cake.
Nutella Cake
Happy birthday Daisey!