Choosing EAT as our theme this month celebrated the launch of ‘Appetite’ our annual foodie magazine. Not ones to let an opportunity to eat something delicious pass us by, we challenged a batch of Genuine Jersey bakers to bake us a bespoke ‘g’ out of ingredients of their choosing. Sadly there weren’t as many cakes as we’d hoped but there were four fantastic and equally as tasty creations presented to us, all of which we thoroughly enjoyed eating after we’d photographed them!
Cookie Crew
Mel Le Tarouilly is the founder of Cookie Crew, an artisan cookie and cake producer based in St Ouen. With a passion for baking and a flair for arts and crafts, Cookie Crew has provided an excellent way to combine her talents. All of the cookies and cakes are prepared, baked to order, and iced in Mel’s lovely kitchen in St Ouen.
What did you do?
The nice thing about working with gingerbread is that it is very adaptable, which is why I chose it to make the Gallery ‘g’. The delicious gingerbread ‘g’ was made using only the finest ingredients – locally produced eggs and Jersey butter, of course, plus flour, spices, sugar and luscious sticky golden syrup! Once the dough was chilled and rested, I rolled it and carefully hand cut it to shape. It was then baked and decorated with royal icing in a traditional filigree pattern.
www.cookiecrewjersey.co.uk
Island’s Choice Bakery
Joe Pinzari is the founder of Island’s Choice Bakery, a wholesale supplier of artisan bakery and cake products based in First Tower. His talented team of 25 make, bake, pack and deliver products made from scratch to supermarkets, hotels, corner shops and catering businesses Island w.
What did you do?
Making products from scratch allows us to be versatile to meet customer needs. I left it to the manager of the bread baked products to decide how he would like to make the “g”. Given the Easter season, he thought it appropriate to choose the Hot Cross Bun. It was key to have the vision of the end result, using the experience and skills needed to ensure the right amount of the best ingredients are measured, knowing how long it would be proved and the end result once baked. Each part of the “g” needed to be precisely placed to ensure they are all joined up. He really enjoyed the challenge and looks forward to more challenges in the future.
You can find Island’s Choice Bakery on Facebook “Island’s Choice Bakery”
Holme Grown
Holme Grown Country Store brings the freshest breads, cakes and patisserie to their customers online and in their store in Grouville. Choose from all your favourite breads – rolls, loaves, baguettes and ciabattas all baked fresh every day. Why not spoil yourself with their perfect patisserie and cake range with their exclusive handmade cake selection only available at Holme Grown.
What did you do?
Our ‘g’ was baked in our new bakery production kitchen by Peter de Guelle our master baker. He hand shaped the dough and then set it to proof before baking it to get the glorious finish. Anyone who’s worked with dough will know it can be a little unpredictable in the proofing process so it wasn’t easy to get the perfect likeness we achieved. Peter is an early riser starting production at one in the morning while everyone else is asleep. His team of three come in a little later at four, so that the shelves are stocked ready for customers arriving at 7.30am. He can turn his hand to making many things from bread, you’d be surprised at what he can produce!
www.holmegrown.com
FLOUR
Flour is the brainchild of Cordon Bleu trained Kirstie Taylor. From her little shop in the Central Market she produces beautiful and tasty: cupcakes, celebration cakes and miniature bakes. She also offers a bespoke ordering service in case you’re looking for something in particular, including enormous letters!
What did you do?
Using my own personal sponge cake mixture, to which I can add a variety of different flavours, I cooked four different sized circular cakes to make the top and bottom of the ‘g’. I then drew out the shape to scale on parchment paper and sandwiched each layer together with icing to level the cakes off. I cut by hand the shape I wanted, using the central pieces to make the extra bits of the ‘g’ and shaped the sides to make sure I got the right shape and joined the elements together with icing. I then use an angled palette knife to cover the cake completely in a thin layer of blush pink icing, once covered I removed the excess icing to leave a semi-naked cake. I finished it off with icing shells, handmade macarons, sugared pearls and fresh flowers.
www.flourpatisserie.co.uk
