From minced meat to Christmas mincemeat

Traditions, traditions... Festive seasons, like Easter or Christmas are meant to revive traditions. And if clothing is no longer an item that clings to tradition, food certainly is. The sense of smelling is said to be the most powerful one, in strict connection to one’s memories. The scent of freshly cooked meals and freshly baked cakes, cinnamon, nutmeg, chestnuts and apples... These stick to tradition.

The mince pie belongs to the category of traditional British Christmas cakes. Foreign tourists going shopping in the UK might find this a bit confusing, as the first thing they associate it with is the minced meat. But the reality is that this is how it all started.

Minced meat, indeed

The very early mince pie was known as mutton pie, shrid pie and Christmas pie. Typically its ingredients were a mixture of minced meat, a range of fruits, and spices such as cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg.

A few hundreds of years ago, the combination of meat, fruit and spices was simply the norm. The mincemeat that we nowadays enjoy contains just fruit and spices, brandy, rum or other liqueur and usually vegetable suet.

A serious research regarding the history and roots of the mince pie might reveal very interesting stories and details, such as its religious symbolism – 13 ingredients corresponding to Jesus and the 13 apostles, or the very old Roman roots; Roman fathers in the Vatican were presented with sweetmeats.

But no matter the history, mincemeat and mince pies are traditional British Christmas desserts.

A mince pie is made of delicious pastry filled with mincemeat. The pastry can vary from puff pastry, to shortcrust pastry, deep shortcrust pastry and wholemeal pastry suitable for vegetarians.

Another special Christmas dessert

Christmas Pudding is another dessert that belongs to the traditional British Christmas cakes. In the USA and many other European countries, pudding mainly denotes a sweet milk-based dessert similar in consistency to egg-based custards. There are rice puddings, chocolate puddings and the list can go on. But the Christmas pudding is something special indeed.

The association of the pudding with Christmas goes back to medieval England and with the Roman Catholic Church's decree that the pudding should be made on the 25^th of December and include 13 ingredients to represent Christ and the 12 apostles. Also, every member of the family was requested to stir the pudding and do it from East to West to honour the three Wise Men.

In 1714, King George I (sometimes known as the Pudding King) requested that plum pudding, actually raisin pudding, be served as part of his royal feast in his first Christmas in England.

And nowadays we are able to enjoy a wonderful Christmas dessert, rich in raisins, currants, spices and other ingredients made to warm up the Christmas evening.

Blamed in the past for not being very inspiring, the British cuisine can boast with some of the most original Christmas cakes and desserts that are truly British. Dunn’s Bakery, craft bakers since 1820, have preserved some traditional recipes and use them to create some of the finest Christmas cakes and desserts.

 

Resources: Wikipedia.org

Halloween Cakes – The Perfect Treat

Halloween has grown in popularity in the UK to become a true calendar event to look forward to. As with all big events, Halloween has an emphasis on seasonal foods that are a treat to eat. 

Halloween activities

Halloween or “All Hallows’ Eve” has mysterious origins, but today everyone is familiar with what it means.

It is a fun evening to

• Pull pranks on friends
• Go trick-or-treating
• Greet trick-or-treaters at your door
• Watch horror films
• Host a fancy dress party

All of these various activities have one thing in common – all are perfect reasons to enjoy delicious Halloween cakes and biscuits.

Children

• Children love getting small treats from the houses they visit, so it might be a good idea to stock up on cupcakes with edible Halloween images on top. You can easily buy these from professional bakers and best of all, they leave no mess as they come in their own wrappers.

•  If you have children joining their parents at your house, or your own children have decided to stay in, buttercream cupcakes are even more indulgent and won’t get spoiled by being dropped into trick-or-treat bags.

 Adults

• Popcorn is boring at Halloween. Spooky gingerbread figures are a much better way to get that crunch and satisfy your appetite whilst waiting for the next adrenaline rush from your horror film. They are also excellent sharers – who wouldn’t want to bite into a vampire or munch on a skeleton?

• If you have decided to host a party, it would be a great touch to supply a scary cake as the center piece, perhaps shaped like a traditional pumpkin or cauldron. If you like giving a speech or two, cutting into a moist sponge masterpiece is a good excuse!

Professional bakers

Of course, this is a busy time of year so leave the treats to a professional bakery that has put in all the hard work of crafting your snacks.

Dunn’sBakery in London have an online cake shop offering a large range of Halloween treats to make perfect whatever plans you have for the evening.

Why Birthday Photo Cakes Are a Great Cake Idea

Birthday photo cakes are indeed a great idea for all ages and tastes. They are original and simply can’t be a wrong choice. Contrary to some expectations, photo cakes do not strictly refer to photography in the sense of a photo showing the birthday girl or boy, but to any cakes that have images on them. It can be a personal photo indeed, a funny one if the birthday cake is meant as a surprise, or any other image that the celebrated one will like.

The images on the cakes are made with edible ink, which is one of the greatest things about these cakes.

It is said that an image is worth a thousand words, and so it is. If someone is a big Elmo fan, an Elmo birthday cake is simply perfect.  

The only thing needed to create a truly unique birthday cake is an image that can be taken from the internet and the skills and dedication of a specialist bakery. The result will be a fresh sponge cake, made with free range eggs, butter, milk and jam. The cake can be either square or round.

Photo cakes are a great choice for almost any occasion. Usually recommended as birthday cakes, they can become a nice surprise for any celebration. A special occasion cake is always welcome especially if there’s a suggestive image on top of it.

Children will love to see their favourite characters, Nemo or the Little Mermaid, while adults will smile to see their most peculiar habits or tastes transformed into an image on their cake.

How easy is it to make such a photo cake?

It should be the other way round – how difficult is it to make a photo cake? While at first sight photo cakes seem like easy to do, there is a lot of work behind what seems such a neat image. The equipment used has to be one of the best as the printed image has to be as accurate as the one printed on paper. No smudges allowed.  

The quality of the image that will appear on the photo cake depends on the quality of the image used. So rather use a different image, than stick to a certain one that will not turn out so great in the end.

Of course, it is only a professional bakery, like Dunn's Bakery  that can help you with your photo cake. Doing something like this at home is practically impossible. There are special inks and special icing used to make sure that the image is one of the best.

Use personal images

Why not have your image as the hero fisherman on a delicious cake? Have you thought of a funny face photo? This way you can be creative and have a truly bespoke photo cake.

There is no more need to explain why photo cakes are a great choice. And it’s always easy to buy cakes online.

How to excel in cake icing

Cooking and baking can easily be called forms of art. Aesthetically pleasing, the food we ingest nurtures our positive thinking. As you already know, one of the most evident type of foods that is a form of art is the sponge cake, be it a a wedding cake, a birthday cake, a celebration or seasonal one.

The decoration is extremely important, it conveys a message, it tells the celebrated one that you really paid attention to the things that characterize him...especially if he’s a grown-up. You can choose a shoe or a car like birthday cake, a fortress or Thomas the Tank Engine.

No matter your choice, we share the same secret of cake icing practised to perfection. Without being true experts in cake icing, we couldn’t offer you so many reasons of joy.

Soft sugar paste icing or fondant icing is made from sugar and glucose; it is edible and as its name suggest, it is easy to work with.We use special tools that help us give the shape we want.
Depending on the decoration, we may have to hand roll the sugar paste, thing which implies a lot of patience and meticulousness.

We take great pride in our hard work, as we know the value of your happiness. Complexity is what defines our birthday cakes: on the one hand there is the sponge cake, soft, vanilla scented, fresh, made with butter and free range eggs. And then there is the sugarpaste icing and the decoration.

 Attention to detail is paramount. We have to know exactly how many edible Bumble Bees to place on the Beehive Cake and where to place them. We have to know that five more white edible flowers will create a delicate image.

We excel in cake icing because this is our way of wishing you “Happy Birthday!"

Cake Icing and decorating – A beginners guide

Cakes have a long history of being the chosen dessert for ceremonial occasions such as weddings, anniversaries and birthdays. Over time the ingredients and technology used to make cakes has improved and today cakes can be an art piece in their own right. Celebrities and their cakes in particular have become eagerly anticipated and often ever more daring in design.

Practice make perfect

To become a great cake decorator takes a lot of time, effort, mistakes and practice. Do not expect your first attempt at decorating a cake to be a complete success. You might even find it a complete disaster. So to get a feel for the art of decorating a cake with a piping bag, the key piece of equipment needed, perhaps using one to make cookies on baking foil is a good place to start. You want something small and flat that will allow you to get comfortable to the feel of bag and pressure of the frosting.

The piping bag

Once you have bought a piping bag and tip, drop the tip into the bag and push it down as afar as it will go. You should notice some of the tip extending past the opening of the bag. Next you need to fill up the bag. Up-end the bag so that the tip is pointing down and open the bag as wide as you are able. Using a spatula, fill the bag approximately one-half to two-thirds full of icing.

Once you've filled the bag, twist or fold the top of the bag closed so that the icing can only escape through the tip. Holding the top closed with one hand, use your thumb on one side of the bag, and your forefinger on the other side of the bag to push the icing down into the bottom. Keep smoothing the icing down until all air pockets are removed and icing starts to come smoothly out of the tip.

The decorating

Now that you are comfortable with the different shapes you can make you can actually move on to decorating a cake with confidence. You will always want a smooth surface to decorate. The easiest way I feel to do this is to first, remove the cake out of the pan.

Using the pan as a guide will ensure that you maintain a consistent height to your cake as you cut off the top. Additionally, when you frost the cake make it as smooth and flat as possible. One final warning: do not decorate too close to the edge or the side as it will fall if it is too heavy.

Now that you have done this you could well be asking yourself, "This is nice but still nothing like I see on the internet."

The reason for this is because they most often use different equipment and cover their cake in fondant for that glossy, coloured finish.

Fondant is a thick and creamy, white sugar mass used in different forms for decorating cakes and cookies.  It can be rolled and draped over a cake, poured as a glaze or sculpted. It is easily dyed so that you can cover your entire cake with a smooth consistent colour. Fondant can also be used to make different designs and shapes to put on your cake. 

Birthday cake recipes

A birthday party simply isn’t complete without a birthday cake. Whatever your taste may be there is a perfect cake out there for you.

At Dunns Bakery, our award winning bakers have the ability to make any cake you can think of. We are often asked to make specific cake recipes and unique designs for anniversaries, children’s birthday cakes, adult birthday cakes, religious cakes and corporate cakes.

The different recipes

There are all kinds of cake recipes to choose from at Dunn’s Bakery, from the traditional to the more quirky.

Victoria Sponge Cake

One of the most popular cake fillings is the classic Victoria sponge recipe. The simple but delicious cake filling is popular around the world and is guaranteed to be well received by your guests. A typical Victoria sponge cake consists of raspberry jam and whipped cream or vanilla cream which is sandwiched between the two sponge cakes.

Chocolate Cake

Chocolate cakes are hugely popular the world over and can come in a number of varieties. Whether you want a chocolate layer cake, a chocolate truffle cake, a black forest cake or chocolate fudge cake for your birthday party, wedding or anniversary party it is sure to be hugely enjoyed.

Carrot cake

Carrots might seem like an unlikely ingredient to put in a cake but since the birth of the carrot cake in the 1960’s in America it has gone on to become of the most popular cakes on both sides of the pond. For many carrot cake lovers one of the things they love most is the topping of white icing or cream cheese icing.

Fruit Cake

Fruit cakes have been around for a very long time and are now popular all around the world, in particular the United States, the UK and Europe. Dating back to the Romans, fruit cakes have changed a lot. The biggest change is the availability of sugar and its fruit preservation qualities.

At Dunn’s bakery we have a closely guarded, secret family recipe for a rich dark fruit that has become highly popular at the bakery.

1st Birthday Cakes by Dunn's

At Dunn's Bakery we know just how much your child’s first birthday means. Why not make that day extra special with one of Dunn’s fantastic 1st birthday cakes.

A child’s first birthday just isn’t complete without a cake of their favourite cartoon character. Whether it is Postman Pat, Winnie the Pooh, or a Disney character, our master bakers can make it!  We have also had parents bring in their favourite baby photo which can then be made into a photo cake.

At Dunn’s Bakery we can also provide sandwiches, cookies, chocolate brownies and various other delicious pastries to compliment the birthday cake and cater for the party guests, both adults and children.

All our children’s birthday cakes are hand-made on site with the finest and freshest local ingredients and come in a wide range of styles and choices which you can see in the gallery below – each can be completely customised with different colours or personal messages.

Ingredients and Flavours

We are passionate about the quality of our birthday cakes and fully appreciate that parent’s care greatly about the food their children eat. To ensure your satisfaction, all our cakes are made from only the best ingredients sourced from local suppliers and baked with our own recipes that have been a family secret for generations.

Each cake is designed by our expert cake designer and decorator at our award winning London bakery. Our cakes come in a range of delicious flavours including vanilla sponge, chocolate sponge, fruitcake and even indulgent chocolate fudge!

To discuss your cake, please contact us on 020 8340 1614 or email us at info@dunns-bakery.co.uk.