The Hummingbird Bakery cookbook

175 Pages·2009·7.63 MB·English

by  Malouf

Welcome to The Hummingbird Bakery
I first thought about opening The Hummingbird Bakery after
spending Thanksgiving with cousins in North Carolina. After
eating too much pecan pie, banana cream pie and apple pie, I
wondered why there wasn’t a place in London that made these
types of desserts to a high standard. On subsequent trips to the
USA, and New York in particular, I visited various bakeries that
made all the goodies that I enjoyed eating, especially cupcakes.
At that point, cupcakes seemed to be unknown in London – at
least, they were hard to buy.
I started planning the Bakery in 2002. First, I attended baking
classes in New York so that I would understand the ingredients
and techniques used in American baking. Then came the fun task
of devising recipes and testing them on friends and family. I
always had an idea of which core cakes I wanted to sell – and for
these I tested and tweaked many, many recipes until I found what
I thought tasted the most authentic. I even held parties for friends
so that they could test the recipes and tell me if I was getting them
right.
The next important step was finding the perfect site for the first
shop. I felt it should be a place that was relatively busy, with a
bohemian feel. A unit in Portobello Road in London’s Notting Hill
came up by chance and I immediately jumped on it. It proved to
be heavensent because as soon as the shop opened, a lot of
high-profile customers began to write and speak about it. On
Saturdays, when the famous market is on, tourists flock to
Portobello and they were soon queueing up to try our cupcakes.
During the quieter weekdays, the publicity surrounding the Bakery
kept it busy. Soon, recommendations were appearing on blogs,
and friends were being urged to try our cupcakes when they
visited London. Now, thanks to the success of our first branch, we
also have a shop in South Kensington.
It will probably come as no surprise that we sell far more
It will probably come as no surprise that we sell far more
cupcakes than anything else. They seem to be popular because
of their cute size, the childhood memories they evoke and their
sheer versatility. Our best-selling cupcakes are vanilla with pink
frosting, which reflects our female-dominated customer base, and
red velvet, simply because they look and taste so distinctive. For
many people, layer-cakes are essential for birthdays. Besides the
red velvet and vanilla, our carrot cake is extremely popular.
Decorating a three-layered cake takes time but the result is worth
the effort! Pies are such an American tradition, especially for
festive occasions. Our customers love lemon meringue and key
lime pies the most – the fluffy meringue and whipped cream
toppings are so beautiful and mouth-watering that they never last
long in the shop. Other treats such as muffins, cookies and bars
were always favourites in school lunchboxes when I was at
school. Our brownies are extremely popular, so we developed
three versions: plain (no nuts), frosted (more cakey with nuts and
frosting) and my favourite, brownies topped with baked
cheesecake and raspberry whipped cream!
I’m so pleased to share my favourite cakes and bakes with you in
this book. I hope you enjoy baking them as much we all do at The
Hummingbird Bakery
Tarek Malouf
baking notes
Most of our recipes have been collected from old friends and relatives, so
they come from a variety of sources and use many different cooking
methods. We have modified them so that they will turn out exactly as they
do in our shops, picking the goodies that sell the most when we put them
out on our shelves. They are our take on good, old-fashioned American
favourites: nothing fancy, just very tasty treats!
We have some tips which we hope will help you to get the best
results from our recipes:
The cupcakes were baked in American-style cupcake cases,
which are larger than standard UK cases. For these recipes,
please use muffin cases. If using standard cupcakes cases,
the yield will be approximately 18 instead of 12. They will
need 3-5 minutes less in the oven.
Only ever fill cupcake cases two-thirds full.
The muffins were baked in American-style muffin cases,
which are larger than standard UK cases. For these recipes,
please use large muffin cases.
Muffin cases can be filled three-quarters full but may overflow
a little and create a 'muffin top'! This is normal.
All spoon measurements are level, unless otherwise
specified.
Make sure that your baking powder and bicarbonate of soda
have not passed their best before date.
Please don't substitute self-raising flour for plain flour - this
will affect the outcome of the recipe!
A good-quality cocoa powder, such as Green & Blacks, is
preferred. Weaker cocoa powders may produce inferior
results.
All eggs are medium, unless otherwise specified. It is
generally recommended that free-range eggs be used.
Uncooked or partially cooked eggs should not be served to
the very young, the very old, those with compromised
immune systems, or to pregnant women.
Sounds simple, but please do follow the recipes exactly as
written! Baking is a chemical reaction, and so any
experimentation with the recipe amounts can potentially
cause a recipe to fail.
Some of our baking methods may seem unconventional to
experienced bakers, but the recipes will work if followed
exactly.
Don't rush when measuring out ingredients and following the
cooking method. In haste, we can all forget to measure out or
add a certain ingredient!
Only use the correctly sized tin! If you put the whole batter
amount into a tin that is too small, then the batter will overflow.
Only ever fill the tin you have two-thirds full.
For our ring cakes we recommend using: Wiltons Ring Mould
(product code 2105-4013) which can be purchased at
Knightsbridge PME http://www.cakedecoration.co.uk among
other places.
When creaming butter and sugar together, always make sure
you do this until the mixture is light and fluffy, usually at least
a good 5 minutes.
After adding flour to a mixture, don't overbeat as this will
overwork the flour and make the cake dense. Simply beat or
stir until the flour is just incorporated.
Ovens should be preheated to the specified temperature.
Recipes in this book were tested using a regular oven. If
using a fan-assisted oven, follow the manufacturer's
instructions for adjusting temperatures.
Get an oven thermometer that you can hook into your oven
permanently. This ensures that your oven temperature is
accurate and well calibrated.
Ovens vary greatly, so use our suggested cooking times as a
rough guide. First bake to the shorter cooking time, and then
check every few minutes until finished.
Cakes, cupcakes and muffins are only ready when a skewer
comes out clean when inserted. They are not automatically
ready when the recommended time is up!
Please don't open your oven until at least the minimum
recommended time has passed. The more items baking at
the same time, the longer the baking time might be. Too
much cold air coming in from an open oven door can cause
cakes to sink or not rise properly.