FOOD FILE:Believe it or not this cake was decorated by a complete beginner who participated in a one-day course at A Cake for You, a specialist sugarcraft and cake decorating school in Dublin 4.
“Students are given a freshly made cake at the start of class and I guide them through all the stages of preparing and decorating it to this finish, including the making of the sugar blossoms and royal icing accents. I am a huge believer in the importance of learning good basic skills,” says course tutor Gráinne Mac Clancy.
Mac Clancy studied with chef, patissier and sugarcrafter Noel McHugh, and went on to acquire the Knightsbridge School of Cake Decorating International Diploma and the Squires’ Kitchen International Certificate, as well as attending masterclasses with Peggy Porschen and Mich Turner. Her classes cover everything from cupcake decorating to a two-day intensive wedding cake course. Course fees vary from €40 for a two-hour evening demonstration up to €350 for the wedding-cake course. All materials are supplied and the full-day courses (€90/€125) include lunch. See acakeforyou.ie for course details.
Taste of Provence
Drop into the food hall at Harvey Nichols in Dundrum, Dublin 14, this weekend and you’ll find them in full fête, celebrating all things Provençal. Vinegars, soups, tapenades, confectionery, salts and herbs from the region will be available for tasting between 11am and 5pm today and tomorrow.
WEB WATCH cheffactor.ie
If the new Irish series of Masterchefhas piqued your interest in taking up cooking professionally, enter the Cully Sully ChefFactor competition to be in with a chance of winning a place on the Ballymaloe three-month certificate course, worth more than €12,000. Details on the website above.
Book of the Week
Catherine's Family Kitchen, by Catherine Fulvio, published by Gill Macmillan (€19.99)
Five is the magic number in Catherine Fulvio’s new cookery book, in which the Co Wicklow-based cookery school owner, writer and TV presenter shares her “everyday recipes with a twist”.
There’s masses of inspiration here for family cooks whose repertoire needs a little lift. Soups, white soda bread, scones, pasta, flavours for meat and fish, mash, salad dressings, and sweet sauces are all given the “five-ways” treatment, showing how subtle tweaks can add variety to basic recipes. It’s a clever and accessible approach that will resonate with harried cooks running low on inspiration.
There are lots of lovely show-off dishes too, such as beetroot-cured side of salmon with dill potatoes; salmon with a gazpacho salsa, and an impressive thyme-infused raspberry and chocolate meringue tower.
