Hungry Heart // Bruce Springsteen

The Dessert Bar has opened at William Curley!! Well, it opened a little while back but monetary constraints meant we were forced to wait.
Then it was my birthday and it was the only thing I could think of that I actually wanted was a trip for some pudding action.
Turns out it was a complete treat day for me - we started off at the London Transport Museum! They have busses and tube trains and so much information about the transport! Serious swoon.

Libby loved driving the bus.

We arrived at William Curley to a lovely welcome after a little trip on a routemaster! Yay!! It was busy so we went and chilled out in the pretty square over the road. Then when it was time we headed in.


So when you go for the a la carte menu you get three courses of dessert! And it all gets made by a chef right in front of you, so you can see exactly what you're getting, and the work and skill that goes into it.
The first course is pre-dessert. The first was a moelleux-au-chocolat, with chocolate sauce, kinako bean ice cream and crystalised pistachios.
The ice cream is never something I would have picked out for myself, but it was lush. I loved it. I'll definately have it next time I go. The moelleux was beautiful - warm and gooey. It definately whet my appetite.


The next pre-dessert was the Pomme Granita. It consisted of a jelly made with agar agar. The texture was completely different to a gelatine jelly. It was melt-in-the-mouth and moreish. The next layer up was creme fraiche, followed by apple spaghetti and topped with the granita part.
It was so fresh and tangy. Jonny and I loved it and I could have eaten two. Or three.


Then the main part. There is a small back story behind my choice. When I worked in the Richmond store I was confronted every day by a picture in the shop of the Mille-Feuille. It wasn't being sold while I worked there, but a tiny version was included on the petit-four. Which I loved. And it was never enough. I have been longing for a full-sized one for almost two years. When we were asked what we'd like for the main there was no hesitation. I didn't even look at the other choices.
The mille feuille consists of layers of hazelnut and chocolate sponges, chocolate mousse, and a layer of praline biscuit and it came with muscavado ice cream and orange segments and orange sauce. Jonny had a bit more of a puzzle but opted for the Foret Noire.


There are no words for how happy I was with my mille feuille. The Foret Noir had white chocolate mousse, dark chocolate mousse, sponge and a kirsch syrup. It came with griottine cherries in a sauce and crystalised pistachios. He obviously has an unmanly and weak stomach and filled up and started finding his a bit rich. Wimp. His was boozy and incredible looking. It came in a cylinder of chocolate. I can't even fathom how it's made.


Then we had the petit fours. These were adorable mini pistachio macarons sandwiched together with a very dark chocolate ganache, and another adorable mini chocolate and yuzu financier, which is my favourite William Curley cake.


All this was washed down with hot chocolate and then home-made lemonade, which was just what you needed to balance out the sweetness.


I can't wait to go back. I suggested to Jonny that we should make it a weekly habit, but he wasn't so keen. Maybe once a month would be reasonable. It costs £15.00 per person. Which also leaves me a bit lost for words as the amount you get and the quality of the experience is just incredible.

Jello Biafra // Wesley Willis

I hate that word - Jello. It makes me all cringey.

Jonny and I hosted a barbecue at the weekend to make the most of the weather, and to cheer me up a bit. I was feeling a bit sorry for myself, so we went all out and spent loads of money.

We had a fair few people over and cooked the usual burgers and sausages and Jonny did this amazing marinade for the lamb we bought. It was incredible.

I hit the pimms at about 1pm. I was rather merry by the end of the evening. We put the usual fruit in pimms (the only acceptable use of fruit really) plus blueberries. Jonny liked them as the skin meant they didn't soak up all the booze. I think this makes him weird and for every blueberry I had I gave myself the task of skewering it so that it ended up with some flavour. Weird things, blueberries. They aren't nice, yet it's quite possible to eat a whole punnet. I like them in cake. That's it.


Anyway, Jonny wanted jelly for pudding. Jelly is another thing I don't really get. I'll eat jelly cubes, but once you've watered them down they just taste like cold, set water. We had three flavours - blackcurrent, raspberry and orange. Jonny wanted them layered up prettily. Which meant it took the whole morning, for what was not much of an effect in the end. By the time you water them down they all look the same sort of washed out pink colour.

Jonny liked it. Our lovely friend Hayley had also brought a chocolate torte, thankfully as after all the meat I was really in the mood for a pudding that wasn't jelly. The torte was lovely, not too rich. Someone.. I have a suspicion that it was Jonny put a piece of torte on top of his bowl of jelly.


This is disgusting and wrong.

The weather seems to have gone away again now, and it looks like it's taken my need for sugar. I'll try a milkshake at lunchtime to try and fix this.

Chocolate Pope // Electric Six

I went to Longparish in Hampshire as part of an extended photography project. It’s a lovely place. A string of houses set along a very long road. Beyond the houses there are fields. Beyond the fields there are woods. It is in fact a beautiful place. The town follows the wiered and forded way of the river Test that splits hither and thither, flows along the sides of roads and under countless bridges and when you look closely trout keep pace with the water, facing upstream.

Just the place if you work in draw-bridge sales.

It’s an affluent area, the place to live if you can afford a car luxurious enough to take you comfortably and daily into and out of one of the nearby cities or even all the way into London. The two inns, the Cricketers and the Plough, are the only two down the long Longparish road and they compete for the pockets of the local residents who don’t want to cook of an evening at home and both insist proudly “weekend booking is essential”. They are sublime examples of the Gastro-Pub.

As my extended project is self funded I travel on rather a strict budget and on night one, had a strict supper of Pot-noodle, cup-a-soup, tea and digestive biscuits. Mmmmm.
Chicken and mushroom pot noodle was all that the little local Londis had. There was more selection in the cup-a-soups however they’ve recently rebranded themselves as “some annoying yet familiar and common, stressful -but not too stressful- event – a – soup” I eyed up tasty options but their slogans were just too annoying in the end I settled for “I Accidentally Taped Over The Wedding Video – a – soup” which is cup-a-soup for chicken and mushroom. When I had breakfast I could still taste the mushroominess of dinner the night before.

On night two, knowing that I had another pot noodle and more moron-a-soup sachets waiting next to the kettle in my B&B I went into the Cricketers Inn. I had had a good day and I had a sunburnt nose. The sun had shone bright on the trouted tributaries of the Test and in the cool of the evening, roe deer stepped out of the woodland to fill their bellies on the spring grass growing by the stubbly fields of wheat, barley and corn.


The Cricketers was busy and I had not reserved a table. There was high chatter and the bar was propped by the well fed and the well watered. It seemed no-one in Longparish wanted to cook on that Saturday. The food was expensive, the cheapest, a pub favourite, was cod and chips so I had that. With a pint. Came to £15 or thereabouts. That’s much more expensive than my local and very good fish and chip shop fish or my local bar’s beer. The fillet had bones in, the peas were tough and I had to ask for tartar sauce. I thought I would remedy this initial bad impression with an attempt at their homemade deserts menu.


I had the chocolate and amaretto pot topped with toasted flaked almonds. The top was covered with almonds at least two flakes thick and I resisted the temptation to stir them in and treat the whole thing like a crunch corner. The chocolate was smooth and sweet but had a Cadbury like ordinariness about it, there was a hint of amaretto masked by the whack of crunchy almonds on top. Why add amaretto? It makes the whole thing sound swankier. A trick also used in the considerably higher quality William Curley, ooh you say, sponge soaked in Kirsch, how swanky! It’s an unnecessary addition.


You could eat and eat and eat a thousand portions of the chocolate pot, but only because it lacked any real richness or sumptuousness. No exciting tang of raspberry hidden underneath, no strong sweet coffee to compliment the almond and chocolate, it was in fact little more than a crunch corner.

I had no chance to try The Plough Inn although I did have one sandwich there for lunch. It had the similar unsatisfactory ratio of cost to quality. They had napkins rolled and decoratively peaked in the wine glasses on one laid table. I expect it’s much the same.

The Rabbit Hole // In This Moment

I'm laid up in bed being ill and pathetic. Which is fine, as it is a bank holiday and I had no plans. I forced myself to get up to find some food and the Doctor Who easter egg my brother and niece gave me looked massively inviting. Especially as it came with marshmallows. So it is now sat next to me in the form of hot chocolate waiting to be drunk.
I hope Jonny won't mind as we were meant to share this egg, but I'll give him some of another one to make up for it.

Yesterday we had a big family lunch, and for pudding I did the unthinkable and baked a cheesecake. I wouldn't have done this if I'd chosen the pudding, but I rather stupidly said to Mum 'find something I haven't done before and buy the stuff and I'll do it.'

I am in general very anti baked cheesecake as I've never had a good one. They get a skin on when you bake them, and I just think it would be so much nicer if left to chill.
My one was tasty, but I couldn't eat the edge as it did get a skin on it. Also because by the time I got to that bit I was stuffed and overdone. I'd served up Libby sized portions and really the only one who could finish them easily was my big brother, who is in training for the marathon.

After lunch we had the egg hunt where Mum and Dad hide eggs around the back of our house (I'd love to be able to say garden one day) and we all manage to find enough childish excitement to go and find them.

On the egg front I got more than I ever would have done when I was a child. It was one big egg and the hunt back then. This year I got the one from brother, a percy pig one from my parents, a small lindt bunny from my parents, a cow from Jonny and the other lindt bunny from Jonny's mum.
It is not a good thing.

And Doctor Who is back on TV! I was nervous but enjoyed it a lot, I think I'll get used to Matt Smith as the Doctor, but still managed to count all the things he said that Ten also said and cried a little bit when they showed all the past Doctors.

It has been a good Easter.

Dude (Looks Like a Lady) // Aerosmith

Happy Easter everyone! I'm having a relaxed weekend while Jonny is off seeing family. We met up with friends yesterday for a day in the pub, we got quite settled in and played cards and backgammon and Jonny arranged an egg hunt! It was really good fun, despite being pushed in the back in competition for an egg.

Jonny took some lovely pictures for me yesterday of the egg hunt eggs and the lindt bunnies his lovely Mum gave to us, one of which is sat next to me half eaten.

I must be the luckiest blogger ever, having a professional photographer at my command. I think he's amazing.

Oliver's Army // Elvis Costello

I was taken for a fantastic supper last night by one of my beautiful friends. We went to Jamie's Italian in Kingston, which I've been to once before. I think when I went with Jonny fund guilt kicked in and we didn't have pudding. But last night I was practically forced into it. You can't get a better friend than one that'll make you eat pudding.
We shared a tuscan chocolate and hazelnut cake which came with poached fruits, and 3 scoops of icecream with a double helping of crushed cinder toffee on top. We had prune and armagnac, vanilla and third I can not remember - that could have had something to do with the wine.
The prune ice cream was lovely, and the honeycomb topping was perfect.
The tuscan chocolate and hazelnut cake was to die for, soft and warm and nutty, with a dark chocolate sauce.

I left feeling completely content and very full. I feel like I have a duty to go back and try the bakewell tart and the tiramisu.

Mother // John Lennon

I just had a very busy weekend. I am quite knackered. And I ache all over. That would be down to over doing it at Ballroom I suppose. And then going to the gym yesterday.


You see, the problem with this love of all things sweet is that I'm getting fat. I didn't really notice as at work I tend to go for comfy skirts that sit on my waist and give the illusion of having no hips. Friday evening ended in a massive panic when nothing would fit. Not even the dress that I bought when I was the fattest I'd ever been.
That means I'm now fatter than I have ever been. Gosh. If it is of interest in the end I had to make the dress into a skirt and wear a top.
Anyway in conclusion this all means that I am going to the gym, and anytime now my cravings for sweet things should be replaced by cravings for peas. This could be damaging to the blog for a short while.

The other part of my busy weekend was Mothers Day. It started with an almighty strop because the card I had made was shit, and I couldn't be arsed with getting up stupidly early (9.30 am) to go to Church.
It seems to be tradition now that I don't bother with gifts and just attempt to do all the cooking. I made a chilli and a pudding that Mum had eyed up from the Hummingbird Bakery cookbook.
It was a chocolate brownie base, with cheesecake and then a raspberry cream on top.
I think the jist of it was that you bake the brownie, then stick cheesecake on top, then bake it again and then stick the cream on. I don't trust myself or my oven and decided that I really didn't fancy baking brownie twice.


So I made black bottomed cupcakes, which is pretty much the same thing. Chocolate sponge with a dollop of vanilla cheesecake all baked at once. Then to make it more puddingy I made the raspberry cream to blob on.

Issues; I didn't read the recipe and got massively confused when after adding all the wet ingredients the mix was still dry. I'd missed the bit about 125ml of water. Mum had to read it to me. Blame the hangover please.
After adding the water the mix turned into a dough. I'm sure I'd measured it correctly.
Anyway, this is where I went wrong. I sploshed in a load of milk until it was a trustworthy consistency. This isn't helpful for anyone else looking to make these. But you know.. It was a large splosh.

Then the cheesecakey bit.. I whizzed it all up like it said and it was very very runny. So I ended up putting the same amount of cream cheese in again. This meant that I over-mixed it and in the oven it split.

But anyway they were very tasty and I've eaten 3. No more treats for me for a while.

Billy Brown // Mika

Yesterday was the birthday party of one of our best friends, Will.
We managed to keep it a complete surprise from him, and I think it was a total success in the end, well he seemed happy enough.


When I make cakes for people I like to put some thought into them, make them a bit more personal. I had two ideas for Will.. wine and guitars.
We decided against making a replica of his beloved bass, as it's beautiful and a cake would just be a charicature of it, and its imperfections would have probably annoyed him.
The other idea, wine, needed practice and I ran out of time and didn't fancy taking the risk of errecting a cake held up with wine bottles without knowing if it would work or not.
So I had to re-think. Will is one of my only friends who has an interest in proper chocolate, he thinks the darker better.
So I gave myself the challenge of making the chocolatiest cake in the world.

I made the actual cake on Thursday evening, using James Martin's cola cake recipe, the only chocolate cake recipe I trust to work now.
I planned to fill it with a dark ganache and top it with Helm Magical Icing and then put as many chocolates as possible on top, all bought from William Curley.

I'd asked my dad to buy some 70% chocolate for the ganache, as Will would approve but it wouldn't be so dark everyone else would hate it.
So I happily made the ganache but when I tried it.. bleurgh.. it was bitter and unpalatable. We checked the packet and it had been 85% chocolate. It could not have gone in the middle of the cake, and I had to get back to the office.
It was decided we'd take the risk of adding sweetened cream cheese, in an attempt to keep the perfect consistency but make it a bit more edible.
It worked, sort of. It solidified in the cake, so wasn't the gooey filling it should have been, but it was still tasty.

Helm Magical Icing is a mixture of butter, cocoa powder, icing sugar and evaporated milk. It makes a silky smooth covering that you can just pour over the cake, and it gives it a lovely shiny coating.


Then the fun bit of covering the cake in chocolates, cinder toffee and nuts. We were quite pleased with how it looked in the end, and I think everyone at the party liked it, even if they didn't manage to finish the Libby-sized portions I dished out.

Cherry, Cherry // Neil Diamond

Today was a trip to Kooks in Richmond for some necessary cupcake supplies. I have a large batch to make for the end of February, and as I have never made cupcakes before some practice runs would be wise.

Any trip to Richmond isn't complete without a trip to William Curley (I take no responsibility in the case of you looking at the online Boutique and spending a lot of money).
This shop is my heaven. I think that while I worked there I sampled everything that they made, and loved everything.
When I left I knew that I'd make an honest attempt at being their best customer. I've let myself down a little, as I have reverted back to my old ways of eating cheap chocolate, but if I had the money I'd know that William Curley chocolate would be all I ate.

I was pleased to see the one of the lovely chefs I had the pleasure of working with, and perhaps a little bit more pleased to see a new item of patisserie in the cabinet.
I was told that it was a cherry and praline entremet, and had been designed especially for an upcoming competition. Handily there were five, and we were en route to a lunch where there would be five of us.
So I excitedly snapped them up, along with a sea salted caramel bar and a white chocolate and raspberry bar, my Mum's favourite.

The entremets were dark chocolate mousse, cherry compote with a feuillatine and praline biscuit and a chocolate sponge, all finished with a perfect dark chocolate glaze,dark chocolate discs and a boozy griottine cherry, with a flake of real gold, just to remind you how decadent what you're about to eat is.


The balance of mousse and compote was perfect, though I wouldn't expect anything less really.. the praline biscuit was a perfect crisp contrast to the soft mousse and ugh it was just heaven.
Everyone agreed, and there were squabbles as we tried to steal each others.
OK, I admit that it was only me trying to steal Jonny's.

My only complaint about these divine desserts is that they were too small. They are slightly smaller than the normal portion size, but the price reflects that.
All the entremets are fantastically good value for money in fact, the amount of layers that each one has, and the time put into them to make them just right, the quality of the ingredients used.. you see I'm swooning just thinking about them.

I think these cherry ones are a guaranteed competition winner, and I hope that they make regular appearances in the patisserie cabinet. Though even if you can't get your hands on one of these all of the others are equally as delicious.

I think there are going to be a lot more posts on the shop that houses Britain's best chocolates...