Bournemouth Marriot - Gluten Free Afternoon Tea

For many people, the highlight of the past week will have been a mixture of Thanksgiving and 'Black Friday'. The latter, for those unfamiliar with the term, is a day on which thousands of people queue outside shops for hours on end in the freezing cold, before beating each other to a bloody pulp as they try to grab key items such as TV's at dropped prices before the person standing next to them.

For me, however, the highlight of my week was a far more civilised experience, courtesy of The Marriot Hotel in Bournemouth, who invited myself and fellow gluten free blogger Vicki (The Free From Fairy) to try out their brand new gluten free afternoon tea! Ohh, the excitement was through the roof, I can tell you!!

On arrival, we were given the option to sit by the window or in a HUGE separate room that we could have all to ourselves...since it was too dark by then to see the beautiful view, we opted for the separate room, and once seated were able to choose our tea. Assam for me, Early Grey for my sister, Peppermint for Vicki and a coffee for her husband. There were a LOT of options so there's something for almost everyone. When the tea arrived, there was a real sense of ceremony, as the length of brewing time for the leaves was set with the help of egg timers - one for the peppermint and another for the black teas! Perhaps unnecessary, but it was a quaint, fun little addition we all thoroughly enjoyed.

But, of course, what you want to know about is the food! Well...how about this:

So...what you're seeing here is three separate platters of sandwiches, all gluten free, and then broken down further into dairy free, vegetarian, and a mixed selection for the meatosaurs. On the tiered cake stands, there were fruit and plain scones, clotted cream and strawberry jam; then chocolate and raspberry brownies, rocky road brownies, lemon and white choc eton mess, raspberry eton mess and thin slices of 'almond, peanut and caramel tort' (that were clearly Almondy tarts, but still very good).  As you can see, there was a LOT of everything!

The sandwiches were filled rolls, cut in half. As a veggie, I was worried my options would be limited, but I was provided with tomato, cucumber, egg, and cheese. The rolls were dense but very nice, and there were MASSES of them!! The scones were beautifully flavoured. They hadn't risen very well (except the ones that were also dairy free, for some reason!?), but my goodness they were good!

Everyone agreed though, that although the chocolate and raspberry brownies were tasty (that perfectly gooey texture reminiscent of raw cake dough. Yum!), the real hero was the raspberry eton mess. A marshmallowy, sticky, thick Italian meringue (I think), layered with tart raspberry coulis, and finished with a tiny spear of milk chocolate, it was so incredible that we each had two of them! I'm afraid the pics didn't come out too well, but here's a close-up:

I'm ashamed to say that we didn't manage to eat it all, but the staff are kind enough to provide small, compostable, cardboard boxes so you can take home any leftovers (with the exception of the shot glasses of eton mess, of course!).

After eating until we couldn't move, the executive chef, Matthew Budd, joined us so we could talk to him about his policy on providing allergy-friendly food, and sustainability. We were all  impressed with his dedication, which sees him attempt to offer foods free from as many of the 13 known allergens as possible, and also replace gelatine with vegetarian alternatives wherever possible. Fellow coeliac vegetarians will appreciate what a rare gem that makes him and his team!

Priced from just £16, the Marriot have not only answered the much-asked question of where a coeliac can find a really great afternoon tea, but also where they can get it at a reasonable price. For that, I really cannot thank them enough and I'm already plotting a second visit! Book now, because I have a feeling that once word gets out, they'll book up fast! 

Genius At Work!

Okay, before you turn away, aghast at my shameless self-congratulation, this post isn't about me, but Genius the company - one of my very favourite gluten free brands.

Recently, the lovely team at Genius sent me a box of delicious goodies that I'd never tried before. As you can see from the pic below, I received crumpets, triple-seeded bread, triple-seeded rolls, chocolate cupcakes, a white bloomer, and chocolate chip brioche. If you're a regular reader, I'm sure you can imagine the bouncing-around, hopping-on-one-foot level of excitement. If you're a new reader you may think I'm exaggerating and you would be wrong!

First up to the taste-test was the crumpets. You might be surprised to hear (read?) that I've never had crumpets before, pre or post-diagnosis. And well, they're a bit odd, aren't they?! Toast them up and they become crunchy on the outside and squodgy in the middle (yes, squodgy. It is a word, I assure you). Served with butter and jam, they are really rather nice! My non-coeliac husband wolfed down the remaining two crumpets and gave them a thumbs-up.

Amazingly, the chocolate chip brioche survived a little longer than the crumpets (by about 5 hours!). I actually remember having brioche before I was diagnosed and I HATED them then, but I've now concluded I was clearly mad because these are SO good! Slice a brioche in half, slather with salted butter and you have a delicious treat that even your hips won't regret.

Now, here's a little bit of a negative, I'm afraid. My one issue with Genius bread is that although it always tastes great, it's always hit-and-miss as to whether it will be so full of holes that you can't really use it. I get the brown sandwich bread on prescription and last week, one was totally unuseable because of the large gaps in it.

So, I was a bit worried about reviewing the triple-seeded loaf. Well, there were cracks in it, as you can see from the pic, but they were small enough that the bread held together pretty well. The seeds give it a lightly crunchy texture and the loaf is incredibly soft and light. Plus, everyone knows seeds are great for you, so it's okay to thickly cover it in jam or Nutella, right? Right!

Unfortunately, the white bloomer didn't escape the holes and cracks, which ran right the way through the loaf. But, on the positive side, it was really very nice. The crust is slightly chewy and the inside of the bread is wonderful for a sandwich or French toast. Yum!

On the topic of the bread, I should add that I forgot to take a pic of the rolls! Sorry! They were excellent though. All the seedy-fluffiness of the loaf in a nice, fat roll. They're perfect for packed lunches or to serve with soup. Their texture means they'd also be fantastic as burger rolls, so next year these will be popping up at our barbecues!

Finally, the chocolate cupcakes. Technically, as a baker, I think I'm meant to tell you all about the inferiority of mass-produced, store-bought sweet bakes. But the truth is that sometimes, I have too much to do or I just don't have the energy and it's easier to buy something on-the-go. Well, these cakes are a brilliant option! Although yes, I prefer my own, the cake is rich, light, moist and chocolatey, and the buttercream is incredibly smooth and silky. However, I wouldn't recommend ordering them online because the icing got a little smushed in transit...!

So there you have it! I thoroughly enjoyed myself this week, working my way through everything. Overall, there were a few issues with the breads but everything tasted great and I really cannot recommend the chocolate brioche, in particular, enough!

Gingerbread Fudge!

Hello and happy Sunday to you!

I am aware it's only mid-November, so if you're currently denying the existence of mince pies, twinkle-lights and all other signs of Christmas, look away now.

CHRISTMAS, CHRISTMAS, CHRISTMAS!!!!!

Still with me?

Okay, good!

Now then, I'm still working on festive products right now and this week (in between soaking fruit in various alcoholic fluids and 'feeding' the cooked one with brandy), my focus has been fudge. Cadbury may have declared that 'a finger of fudge is just enough' but as it turns out, they lied. Anyway, why have I been working on fudge? Well, firstly because it is THE most fun confection to make. And secondly because I've had the idea in my head for a few weeks now to make a gingerbread-flavoured fudge. Doesn't it sound good!?

Well, as it turns out, fudge is no different from any other recipe I try. The first attempt is duty-bound to go a bit wrong, as you can see from this pic of the 'fudge dust' that happened when I cut it!

Surprisingly, it actually taste pretty good! Although there wasn't enough spice in it for my liking and it was (obviously) overcooked. Damn and back to the beginning again!

This time, I was prepared to turn the heat off a little sooner. Here's the issue: the first key step to getting fudge right is to heat it to the correct temperature. You want to get it to the 'soft ball' stage (wherein you waste a hearty globule of delicious fudge by dripping it into very cold water and hope it holds its shape). This, they tell me, happens at 118 degrees C. Well, they lied, as it turns out because the second time around, it only worked at 108 degrees C.

It has a few good shakes of Christmassy spices in it, to give it that dark, spicy warmth you get in a really great gingerbread. SO good!!

 

 In the future, I intend to offer this as a product available for purchase, which would be great as I could post it anywhere in the UK! Woohoo! But there are new labelling laws that, quite frankly, confuse me and I need to sort that out first. So, watch this space and I'll let you know as soon as I can offer it for postal deliveries! In the meantime, if you're local to the Poole and Bournemouth area, a perfect pack of fudge can be yours now for the cheap, cheap price of £1.50 a pack! Just drop me an email to thebuttercupbaker@gmail.com if you're interested. 

Next week, I hope to tell you all about the successes of my Christmas cakes AND there are exciting things afoot, so stay tuned, food fans!

Picking Up and Christmas Prep

Well hello there!

Goodness, it's been a little while, hasn't it?!

I'm afraid I've spent the last two weeks laid up with flu and sadly, contagious illness and kitchens just aren't the best of friends. However, I'm on the mend now (my family are, I think, a tad less eager than I am to celebrate the return of my voice!) and to begin the process of building myself back up, I've been working on our Christmas cake!

Now, the great thing about baking a Christmas cake is that it's really quite simple, and very easy to tailor to your own tastes. You can use whatever fruit you prefer, you can soak it in your choice of booze. Indeed, you can choose to keep it virgin (!?) and omit the alcohol if you're feeling particularly virtuous, but where's the fun in that? Anyway, the process of soaking the fruit and then making the cake itself means you can split the work over a few days, or longer if need be. Then, once it's baked, you can wrap it snugly, store it away and routinely douse it in yet more booze for a truly indulgent Christmas treat that will discreetly get your Nan completely plastered.

Doesn't that sound like fun?!

Originally, I had intended to make a whole heap of delicious gluten free, dairy free Christmas cakes, and offer them up for sale along with gluten free iced Christmas biscuits. Unfortunately, I fear my flu may have put paid to that for this year, although time will tell. (Incidentally, if you are particularly keen, please email me or send me a message and I'll see what I can do). Still, no point crying over spilled snowballs, and there is always next year.

In the meantime, as I type, the incredibly delicious smell of Christmas cake is wafting out of the kitchen, where it will sit in the oven until around half-past midnight because I forgot that it takes almost five hours to cook until I'd already put it in the oven...*ahem*. But the smell is heavenly and is edging me dangerously close to feeling the festive spirit.

So deck the halls and jingle those bells and I'll be back with the end result of our cake in my next post!

Reviews: Fun With Food! CoYo and Genius Muffins

Over the last few weeks or so, there have been a lot of new, coeliac-friendly products hitting the shelves, and every time one announces its arrival, I feel that desperate urge to give it a damned-good taste-test. After all, it's research that helps people, right? Right!? (The correct answer here is 'yes') So, with great excitement, I took myself off to a local supermarket and made a couple of purchases.

In recent months, I've had to give up on lactose, and although I've found great lactose-free alternatives to many products (mainly with thanks to Lactofree's greatness), I did get rather excited when I came across CoYo. A yoghurt that's free from dairy and gluten, and positively loaded with goodness?! Even better, it was made with raw chocolate. Yum!

There are other flavours available - Natural, and Mango - but frankly, the idea of raw chocolate sounded far more appealing!

As you can see from the pic, the texture is slightly mousse-like and very decadent; silky and creamy and just lovely. Unfortunately, I have to say I didn't really care for the taste. The flavour combination was a bit weird for me. The raw chocolate has a very strong bitterness, and was a little bizarre against the sweetness of the coconut. Having said that, I imagine this would be great for coconut fans and although I didn't enjoy it, I would recommend giving it a try. You can pick one up at a local Tesco for £1.69 (at the time of publishing this post).

But for me, the great find of my week was the Genius Blueberry Treat Muffins.

Generally speaking, I don't like reviewing cake products on my blog because, well, it seems a little counter-intuitive to say 'Hey, this is a GREAT product...now please buy my cakes!' but this one really does deserve a review. For one, I despise fruit in cake (why would anyone ruin perfectly good cake with fruit!???!?), but this is the one time I have ever been able to make an exception!

There are two muffins in a pack, each in its own tulip paper case. Don't you just love them? They're golden on the top and bursting with blueberry goodness. And if you aren't sold immediately on the way they look, you will be on the first taste.

They are, without a doubt, the lightest, moistest, most sweetly decadent store-bought cake I've ever had the luxury to try! They have an almost creamy taste to them, that reminded me somehow of a milkshake. They're fluffy and absolutely packed with juicy blueberries, so there's at least one in every single bite. In fact, the only downside to these morsels is that they're rather high on the sugar and fat scales. But they're so delicious, they're almost worth the extra time on the treadmill..

...which may well be a very good thing! You can pick up your very own pack of muffins for just £2 from your local Tesco (and you'll be pleased to hear they have a good shelf-life on them but can also be frozen...if they last that long!).

Enjoy! 

The Blogs To Watch...My Top Five Allergy-Friendly Bloggers

When I started this blog at the beginning of the year, I did it mainly as a way to raise the profile of The Buttercup Bakery. I figured it would help to keep the business current, and also give me a different way to reach out to potential customers.

But along the way something changed. I realised that I really enjoyed the writing part. A lot. I started to pick up more readers, more followers on Twitter, and among both there were other food bloggers. These were men and women who, like me, had experienced coeliac disease or other allergies or intolerances; people who had, at least in part, dealt with a new lifestyle by helping others adjust to similar situations, using product reviews, recipes and advice. Currently, I probably read some 15-20 blogs and checking the latest posts on them is the highlight of my week.

What makes these blogs so good? They are informative, they are fun to read, they have food porn by the saucepan-load, and they are very well written. The authors are also friendly and supportive of other bloggers - something I hadn't expected.

So, without further ado, here are my top five allergy-friendly blogs, in no particular order:

1.  Wuthering Bites


The name itself is fantastic, but what really sets this blog apart is the sheer volume of food porn. Oh yes. You want to see a gooey, sinful pudding, oozing with chocolate or caramel? Want to see meat, glistening with tender juices? Trust me, it's all right here, along with recipes that will have you reaching for your utensil drawer before you realise what's happening. There are reviews as well and it's worth noting that this blog was a Grand Finalist in this year's The Food Reader Awards for Best Food Blogger.

http://wutheringbites.co.uk/

2. The Free From Fairy

One look at The Free From Fairy blog shows you it's something special. Beautifully designed, but still with an air of fun, this blog began after the author's daughter was diagnosed with coeliac disease and lactose intolerance. Although there are recipes and reviews in abundance, the thing I love most about this blog is the high level of information dispensed in the posts. Through video posts and written posts, the reader can learn all about catering for a child's birthday party, dealing with school meals, and there's even a whole section dedicated to offering advice for those in the catering biz on catering for coeliacs! Keep your eyes peeled for competitions here as well!

 http://freefromfairy.com/

3. Dairy Free Baby and Me

Started in 2012, this blog covers the experiences of raising a child diagnosed with non-Ige cow's milk allergy. This is not the same as lactose intolerance, and can be very tricky to negotiate. There is a huge amount of information specific to avoiding dairy, and there are recipes for and reviews of dairy free food and drink. If it's dairy free and NOT on Dairy Free Baby and Me, it's probably not worth buying. Even better, there's help on eating out and travelling, which can be a real challenge on a restricted diet.

http://dairyfreebabyandme.blogspot.co.uk/

4. Free From Favourites

Recognition should go to the author's brother-in-law, who desgined this fantastic website. But, of course, the main focus has to go to the author herself, who started blogging about gluten free and dairy free recipes after she was diagnosed with Arthrochalasia - a form of Ehlers Danlos Syndrome. There are three main things to say about this website: recipes, recipes, recipes! Want a recipe for breakfast muffins? Struggling to work out what to have for lunch or snacks? You'll find recipes here in abundance, safe for coeliacs and lactose intolerants alike. I especially rate the recipe for jaffa cakes!

5. Last, but by no means least, The Happy Coeliac is a pro in the world of food blogging. Diagnosed in 2011, the author has emigrated fairly recently to the Netherlands, but this hasn't stopped her from providing some of the best gluten free blog posts around. Not only are there regular recipes, reviews (including mentions of products and eateries in the Netherlands), giveaways AND drool-worthy food porn, you can even buy her ebooks on cooking gluten free at Christmas and for dinner parties. Special mention has to go to the video post 'My Gluten Free Kitchen: A Peek Inside'. If you ever wanted a good look at someone else's kitchen, this is definitely a post worth checking out!

http://thehappycoeliac.com/

Recipe: Banana-Almond French Toast

There's no escaping it. Autumn is definitely upon us. The leaves have been shaken from the trees and the deliciously telling scent of woodsmoke is hanging in the now decidedly chilly air.

For many of us here in the weather-beaten UK, the happy-go-lucky spirit of summer has headed south for the winter along with the birds, as we button our coats and grudgingly flick the 'on' switch for the central heating. But for me, there's a certain beauty to the colder months of the year. Bonfires, snow (if we're lucky), and cosying up on the sofa in your fluffiest knitwear with a great book in your hand or movie on the TV, supping from a delicious mug of hot chocolate. Throw in a log cabin, a real wood fire, a couple of cats and a blanket, and you have my idea of heaven.

Anyway, cold mornings deserve the most heartwarming of breakfasts, and few could be better than the sweet, sticky comfort of this banana and almond (or, as my husband calls it 'banalmond') french toast.

So, grab a whisk and a bowl for this easy and quick recipe, and treat yourself to a great start this weekend!

Ingredient (makes 4-6 slices)

4-6 slices of thick-cut gluten free white bread (I used Udi's White Bloomer)
250ml whole milk or lactose-free alternative. Almond milk would work VERY well!
2 large eggs
1tsp vanila extract
1tsp almond extract
3tbsp sieved icing sugar
50g flaked almonds
2-3 knobs unsalted butter
3 ripe bananas

Method

Pour the milk, eggs, extracts and 2tbsp of icing sugar into a wide, flat bowl. Whisk well. Take the slices of bread and leave them in the liquid for around 3 minutes on each side, until they've absorbed all the lovely flavours.

Heat a frying pan on a meduim heat, and add a knob of butter. Take each slice out, on at a time, and coat both sides with the flaked almonds, before placing in the frying pan. While the slices are cooking, peel and chop a banana, dust with a little icing sugar, and pop into the pan next to the bread to caramelise. Leave each slice for 4-5 minutes, and carefully turn.

When each side has turned a beautiful golden brown and the banana chunks are soft, remove from the pan and place on a plate. Top with the bananas and serve immediately, or leave in a warm oven until the remaining slices and bananas are cooked.

Serve topped with a dusting of icing sugar, golden syrup or maple syrup for a delicious, warm start to the day. Perfect with a cup of tea or coffee.

If you've tried this recipe, please tell me what you thought of it. Did you like it? Did you hate it? Did you make any changes? Did you try a different fruit? Feel free to add any comments below!