New Baking Kits by Paul Hollywood

Take the morning off to attend a baking masterclass with Paul Hollywood? That didn't require much thinking - of course I would love to!

Some of the places I get to experience whilst attending events for my blog are so beautiful.  This event was held near Waterloo Station in a venue called The Old Violin Factory!

I loved the entrance immensely and of course the lovely displays set out for our arrival.

Paul Hollywood talked to us about his new range of baking mixes so easy to follow that everyone can bake at home and get professional results without having to buy loads of ingredients and have advanced skills.  The kits only require you to provide the fresh ingredients like butter, oil and eggs where appropriate. You can also adapt the mixes to make them your own.

We heard from Paul how he developed his love of baking, starting as a boy in his father's bakery and baking with his mother as well.

There is an extensive range of mixes however Paul only had time to demonstrate two of his baking mixes and using some help from his blogger audience he proceed to show how simple the recipes actually were. My blogger colleague and friend Nayna from Simply Sensational Food (click here to read her review) was eager to help Paul make his Garlic 7 Herb Tear-n-Share bread, first having a quick lesson on rolling the dough from Paul.

Paul was very proud of the finished product which we got to taste.

We also got to try the Bran & Coconut Flapjack mix - really soft and chewy flapjacks drizzled with chocolate on top.

And Luxurious Belgian Chocolate Brownie Mix - cakey on the outside and gooey on the inside - a classic brownie easy enough for children to make!

My granddaughter, Little Miss stayed over Easter and we did loads of cooking and baking together. The mixes are so easy to make even an 8 year old can help make them!  There are easy to read instructions on the back.

The packet also tells you what you need to add.

And with the help of Little Miss we ended up with this!!!

The full list of the range of Paul Hollywood's mixes are:-
Luxurious Belgian Chocolate Brownie
Bran & Coconut Flapjack
Luxurious Belgian Chocolate Cookie
Luxurious Belgian White Chocolate Cookie
Luxurious Belgian Chocolate Muffin
Luxurious Belgian White Chocolate Muffin
Famous Scone
Luxurious Cheese & Rosemary Scones
White Plaited Bread Roll
Barm Cake Roll
Garlic & Herb Tear-n-Share Bread
Tomato & Thyme Bloomer

I was an invited guest to the Paul Hollywood Baking Masterclass and was not expected to write a positive review.  All opinions and photos are my own.

Cake International Show at The ExCel London

When I arrived at Cake International Show I was greeted in the Press Room where I was to pick up my pass and show guide with a restorative cup of coffee and a beautiful cup cake.  The petals of this cake are made from buttercream not the usual icing! Very delicate and precise and equally tasty. 

Red velvet cupcake by Queen of Hearts

You may be forgiven for thinking I popped into the New Billingsgate Market the other day from this photo but in fact it is made not of fish but cake! Yes, cake!!

This 4.5ft tall creation is by Tracey Mann and is called 'Under The Sea'. You can see what other things Tracey has been up to by finding her on Facebook - Tracey's Cakes.

The attention to detail of this cake is stunning and very intricate.

I was lucky enough to be at the front of the queue to have a chat with Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood! Mary looked quite tired whilst she was waiting for the greetings to start. She must be getting tired after the success of the Great British Bake Off!

I loved having a chat with Mary and Paul and kicked myself I hadn't brought my copy of Paul's book 'How to Bake'. I will be reviewing this book soon here on the blog.

There were so many beautiful cake creations like this one (and also the cupcake I had on arrival) made by two very friendly young ladies, Valeri Valeriano and Christina Ong and their cake company Queen of Hearts. Their beautiful decorations are made using only buttercream are indeed edible works of art.

There were various competitions and the standard of the entries was in some cases outstanding! Look at the detail on the cascading flowers. I can't even begin to estimate or imagine how many hours it took to create all those flowers.

I was a bit disappointed that there wasn't more emphasis on actual baking at this show but the emphasis was on the decorating.  One very interesting product I found was SugarVeil. Michele Hester created an innovation in cake decorating with SugarVeil which produces exquisite lace patterns.

Using a special formula of icing and silicone mats you can create something that resembles lace. You can purchase basic kits and then add to your collection.

The lace decoration on this cake was a piece of SugarVeil as above, which was carefully cut and laid onto the top layer.

This bow was made by placing SugarVeil over a piece of coloured sugar craft icing and fashioned into a lace bow.

 

I enjoyed visiting the Cake International show however I did expect there to be more actual baking elements but it was really heavily decorating loaded.