A French Glacé Cherries Affair ...

A few months ago, The French Glacé Cherries company asked me to partner with them and overview the organisation of a bloggers event in London.
The event took place last Saturday in the beautiful surroundings of the Central Street Cookery School, near Old Street station.

God, how much I'd like to work everyday in a kitchen with as much cupboard storage and countertop space! And the light in there! Check the photos!

Pretty amazing, hey?!

About twenty bloggers took part in our two baking sessions. I have to admit I was pretty stressed to meet all these talented bakers After a little "cocktail de bienvenue" to welcome everyone, we introduced each other to the group and I then demonstrated two recipes.

 

First I wanted to show them a twist on a British classic : the jaffa cake. By replacing the orange jelly layer with a jelly layer made with French Glacé Cherries, it then became the "French Glacé Cherries Jelly Cake". A bit of a mouthfull, but a really delicious mouthful ! The recipe will be featured very soon on this blog so keep an eye out for updates. Or sign up to receive an email everytime something new is posted.

 

The second recipe I demonstrated was more of a classic French cake : a financier with French Glacé Cherries and Pistacchios.

It's a pretty easy recipe that will only require a pan, a silicone mould, a mixing bowl and a wooden spoon. Great to use leftovers egg whites and easy to adapt.
This time I used a heart shaped silicone mould as we thought it would a sweet idea for upcoming Valentine's Day.

Recipe for 8 financiers : 

• 50g flour
• 50g ground almonds
• 120g caster sugar
• 85g unsalted butter
• 120g egg whites ( 4 egg whites)
• vanilla paste
• some pistacchios 
• some French Glacé Cherries

1. Preheat the oven at 210°.
2. Melt the butter in a sauce pan over medium high heat. Let it burn slightly and turn golden brown. That's a "beurre noisette". This name comes from the hazelnut aroma that you can smell. Be careful not to let it color too much. 
3. In a large baking bowl, mix together the flour, ground almonds and sugar with a wooden spoon. 
4. Add the warm butter and mix well.
5. Incorporate the egg whites and a little drop of vanilla paste. Mix well.
6. Pour the batter into your baking pan.
7. Roughly chop the pistacchios and halve the French Glacé Cherries.
8. Bake for 15 min.
9. Let the financiers cool down in the mould before taking them out of it.

I'd like to thank Pauline for helping me on organising the day and also Maddy and Katherine who gave us a hand during the event.