Good afternoon everybody,
Firstly, a date for the diary. On Sunday 9th of November we are collaborating with Caitlin aka Cake On My Face, friend of Hamblin, food writer and baker extraordinaire, on something which has been a pipe dream for quite some time. We shall be setting up outside the bakery on Iffley Road and running a…. doughnut stall. The vision is, under the cover of a gazebo generously donated by the Magdalen Arms, we shall set up some carefully positioned deep fat fryers, and fry through the day until we run out. Open air frying in borderline winter in reach of the general public? What could possibly go wrong? Such is our love of freshly fried dough we are prepared to risk it all. There will be a menu of options released next week, being developed as we speak. Kick off at 10am.
Now on to the counter this coming week. The mincemeat has been filling the bakery with the smell of spices and dried fruit, which gave us the desire to bring back Banbury cakes. For the uninitiated, these are the local version of the Eccles, a crunchy, sugary, oval puff pastry case filled with dried fruit, brown sugar and spices, and in our case lightened by some russet apple butter. A pastry item to hunker down with. We will also have lemon and vanilla shortbread, to herald the start of citrus season and make the most of the fragrant unwaxed green lemons we are currently receiving. And then, another favourite we haven’t seen in a while, a coffee and walnut cake of sorts; walnut brown butter financiers with coffee buttercream and candied walnuts. With Red Bank coffee from our outpost at the Covered Market, and walnuts from Charles at Food and Forest. And finally Vale has a weekend special planned, pumpkin cake with cinnamon streusel. Whole vanilla buns and chocolate orange brioche are returning for a second week. It’s a counter to reflect this transitional phase between the last of the orchard fruit (though membrillo production is a work in progress) and the first of the festive bakes. A Daylight Saving counter if you will.
That's all for now, a round up of highlights from our tasting last night next week. In the meantime, go well.
Very best as always,
Kate and Hugo