Cake in a Train Arch: Comptoir Gourmand

What's summer for if not wandering through London streets and searching for coffee and cake? 

A few days a go my dear friend, who among other things, shares my love of good cake introduced me to Comptoir Gourmand, a small bakery in the train arches of Druid Street, SE1 2HQ. 

Tucked away in the heart of Bermondsey away from the river by Tower Bridge, the winding streets make this difficult to find but once you know where it is you won't forget. 

It shares the street with very little other than Lassco, an architectural antiques company, and a few bars that in the middle of the day had very little to show for themselves. This secluded street makes the cafe quiet and intimate and off the main path of the 'yummy mummy' crowd. 

The bakery itself is industrial in size as I assume the cafe is just a side business to the mass producing of fine cakes and tarts.

We decided to split to tarts as the choice is overwhelming and why try one when you can try two? We had the salted caramel cchocolate and the raspberry lemon tarts.

Despite the underwhelming presentation on paper plates with plastic cutlery the tarts themselves were divine. Although we both agreed the fruit tart was better with the sharp lemon custard complementing the sweet raspberries perfectly, the chocolate caramel with its oozing salted caramel sauce under a thick layer of dark chocolate was excellent also.

If you are searching for a new place to find excellent cake which is off the beaten track, Comptoir Gourmand in Bermondsey should be one for you to test out soon. 

Comptoir Gourmand, 98 Druid St, London, SE1 2HQ, is open from 9:30am - 4:30pm. http://comptoirgourmand.co.uk/

1 year on and an adventure into Choux

So... It's been a while...

Since I last updated this I have completed my first year of university which took up a substantial part of my time but it is little excuse as students do basically nothing all the time. Anyway, I have just finished my first year studying History at the University of Birmingham and it has been the best year of my life although it has been severely lacking in baking.

As the summer has come and has nearly gone, I decided to give this whole cooking thing another whirl and when term starts in a month or so I will be attempting to keep it up but maybe a little different than it used to be. As I am away from home and the ample baking supplies that it offers, the baking has been limited, however the cooking has not.

Thus (ooo fancy) over the next year I am going to attempt to keep this up but with the addition of recipes for main meals on a budget which should hopefully be helpful to students and all of those who want to save a bit of cash in general.

Anyway this is all to come, for now I have access to baking products so I made profiteroles.

My adventure into choux pastry begins.

I used the recipe by John Whaite which you can find HERE.

Choux pastry is unlike any other in many ways. One, it uses a ton of eggs.... well not a ton but a lot. And it is in part made over a hob which while being very satisfying is also very bizarre.

Once the pastry was made according to John's recipe, I piped the choux into balls of about 5 cm diameter as they seem to puff up amazingly.

They also last quite well so once baked if you put them in an airtight container you can leave them for a while if you don't have the time or the energy to deal with them at that point.

When I was emotionally ready... I cut them all in half and filled the middle with vanilla ice cream which while is not usual in England is lovely, perfect for summer and works very well with the hot chocolate sauce that you then have to make.

To make the chocolate sauce I just mixed dark chocolate and cream over the hob before pouring over the piles of profiteroles and serving with raspberries.

So the return of the blog is underway...Hopefully I will be updating all again in a week or so but if life gets in the way again, I will see you in a year xoxo

Apple and Almond Tart

Right then, you make a sweet short crust pastry with 15g of almonds as a replacement to some of the flour which just gives it that little extra bit of almond loveliness. This must then be blind baked at 170 degrees heat for 20 mins with the little beans in the case.

This is then filled with a almond frangipane mixture, or a kind of almondy sponge... I think that's a lie but that is what it reminded me of so that is how I will describe it. This makes it think and delicious and warming and fab.

You pour this mixture in to the pastry case and cut up an apple, with or without the skins on, I left mine on as I like the colour that it adds to a slightly beige pudding but feel free to peel them off as there doesn't seem to be an affect on the actual cake.

The cake/tart is baked for another 30-35 minutes or until risen and golden at the same temperature.

You can then dust a sprinkling of icing sugar over the top to make it look all snowy and slightly nicer than before.

I have found that this can be a little dry, it tastes nice but the sponge can be a bit claggy. So until I find a way to combat this, leave a comment below with your idea if you have one, cream, custard or ice cream are great for making it a little lighter.