lapin d'or

The recipes I have in my older baking books are all made with a mixture of butter and lard (or just lard), and minimal or no sugar. One describes the dough as similar to a croissant but a different shape. The proportion of fat to flour is high in all of the recipes I could find.

This summer I had a very good Spanish tapas meal at Iberico, which is quite central and relaxed.

Here is another review of top 10 afternoon teas in London, just published by Hardens http://www.hardens.com/uk-london/16-12-2016/top-10-london-afternoon-teas-2017/?inf_contact_key=1312a1be7b8272006422f35c4507baf882af01f93cb2c9bb51b4d077d3fe1c5a. There is a tea academy in London, but I cannot see any 1 day courses just the longer ones http://www.ukteaacademy.co.uk/

This recent article has some ideas for afternoon tea in London http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/united-kingdom/england/london/articles/Londons-ten-best-afternoon-teas/ Hope you enjoy your stay in London

Diana I saw that promotion but thought the best by dates on the product info looked very short. Do you know typically how long the dates are on the Valrhona chocolate that Vent Privee supply? I do keep dark chocolate well beyond the manufactuer's best dates but I am not selling my products. I have far less confidence in white chocolate keeping well over a long time but I guess I could freeze it.

All of my scone recipes call for cold milk, and to keep all of the ingredients as cool as possible.

Let me know if I can help, pretty sure this is just a silicone mould, not polycarbonate.

Hi, Could you tell me what the butterfat percentage/content would be for the cream you use in this recipe? In the UK the fat content of creams available ie single, whipping and double are very different. Thanks Jill

Hi Lee Re food culture and history you could do a lot worse than take a look at the proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food & Cookery. The volumes are available for free download from their site http://www.oxfordsymposium.org.uk/proceedings/downloads/. Good luck with your course.

Well no, there is not a lot of text but many of the 'base recipes' at the beginning have have several step by step photos to demonstrate the process. Quite a few of the recipes are very much dessert type cakes or mousses and there are some ice creams too.

The Couture Chocolate book by William Curley is very good but this is not a 'french book' other than in title. The authors are based in London and there is a strong Japanese influence from the author's wife. They are about to release a patisserie book so you may want to wait and see what that contains. I have had success with everything I have made but i bought it primarily for the chocolate confection recipes. I would say it is aimed at the home chocolate maker who does not want to purchase a large amount of equipment. Table tempering and seeding are covered but there is very little trouble-shooting content. I treat it as a recipe book rather than a techniques book.

I have not seen one, I ordered off UK amazon and the french language book was the only one offered. For recipes, I trust my own translations more than the publishers, not sure what QA they put the translations through but I have seen some bad ones in other books. I don't speak french at all but the grammar for recipes is quite simple fortunately.

John, I use self raising flour most times but if I am working with plain flour I would add baking powder; This ratio is taken from the Nigella Lawson website: Just add 2 teaspoons of baking powder for each 150g/6oz/1 cup plain flour. Many VS recipes use self raising and some baking powder but if the SR flour is fresh it should have enough raising agent in it in my view.

If the book can be in French then Christophe Felder also has a very comprehensive book on chocolate http://www.amazon.co.uk/Chocolat-Christophe-Felder/dp/2732449512/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1399709334&sr=1-4&keywords=christophe+felder

I made this Victoria sandwich cake with apricot jam and custard filling for a recent twitter Sunday bake-off @SundayBakeClub I use a stand mixer to cream the butter and sugar, arms getting old now! I always weigh the eggs and then use that weight in flour, sugar and butter. This book http://www.louisejohncox.com/book.htm published earlier this year in the UK has a lot of recipes for old fashioned UK cakes and lovely stories about the bakery they come from.

A little Drambuie drizzled over hot porridge is delicious. Makes a very special Sunday breakfast.

Basic crepes served with mango chunks that had been sizzled in a pan with maple butter. Good way to use an unripe mango.

Chocolate Fig cake from William Curley's book 'Couture Chocolate'. The cake has a mousse like texture almost and contains chopped figs that have been soaked overnight in a spiced red wine syrup. The recipes garnishes the mini loaves with hazelnuts but I only had pecans. The recipe seemed complicated but the result was good.

For dessert a rhubarb and strawberry fool with crushed pink praline garnish

Hi Chris Thank you so much for the update. Love this forum, everyone is so helpful, Many thanks!

If you are sourcing the Geerts book from the UK also look here: http://www.keylink.org/productlistings.php?altCats=23&catCode=33, £45 plus delivery, still expensive mind.

The food and craft festival in Boscastle is on 6th & 7th October. Paul Ainsworth is one of the chefs doing a demo, lots of food to try, including pasties last time. http://www.boscastlefestival.co.uk/ Chough's bakery in Padstow do a good pastie; I think the chef at Margot's likes them too.

Make sure you go to Paul Ainsworth's Rojanos and No6 in Padstow and you will get a superb flat white and shortbread at Relish in Wadebridge and they have a good deli next door. Had lunch today at the Seafood & Grill, Rock. The Haddock Scampi starter was amazing. If you are near St Ives I have had 2 good meals at Alba. Also had a good meal at Driftwood Hotel, Port Scatho.

I would second the use of duck eggs to make brioche, I have 3 girls who lay most of the summer and their eggs make superb brioche. Love the look of the savoury brioche posts, must get baking!

Hi cmflick The cream you are using is a little lower in butterfat than standard UK whipping cream. The ganache recipes you mention all specify whipping cream which in the UK would ususally be nearer to 39% butterfat. The difference may be small but I think it would better to have a slightly higher than lower fat content if your ganache is too soft. Lapin