Mat Follas - Afternoon Tea at Bramble Cafe

All spoon measurements are level unless otherwise specified. A teaspoon is 5 ml, a tablespoon is 15 ml. All eggs are medium (UK) or large (US), unless specified as large, in which case US extra-large should be used. Uncooked or partially cooked eggs should not be served to the very old, frail, young children, pregnant women or those with compromised immune systems. Ovens should be preheated to the specified temperatures. We recommend using an oven thermometer.

If using a fan-assisted oven, adjust temperatures according to the manufacturers instructions. Contents I grew up in New Zealand, with all of its wonderful Pan-Asian influences, and yet, the food I love and come back to time and time again, is traditional, English fare. I guess its the influence of key personalities in my childhood that runs the deepest. I remember going for afternoon tea with my grandmother in the cafe in Cornwall Park, Auckland. As a child, it felt like entering another world; one where the pace was slower, the tea was served in teapots, and the cakes looked like little works of art. Afternoon tea is a childhood memory I treasure.

These days, Im lucky enough to live in the heart of the English countryside and have a traditional English cafe in the county town where Thomas Hardy lived; Gran would have loved it. There is, normally, a fantastic sense of satisfaction that comes from baking something delicious; whether its a simple biscuit, or something a bit more complicated. Nothing beats the aroma as your baking comes out of the oven, or the smiles you get when its eaten. The recipes in this book include some of the most well-known cafe classics. When I was thinking about opening Bramble Cafe, these firm favourites were the recipes I wrote first and theyve gradually evolved over the last few years into easy, foolproof, well-tested recipes. Many of the cake recipes are as simple as measuring the ingredients and mixing until combined.

In most cases theres no creaming, or adding one egg at a time, I dont have the patience for all that, or the attention span, so everything is designed to be as quick and easy as possible. Bramble Cafe opened in 2016 and was a massive departure from the fine dining restaurant I had run previously. I wanted to cook comfort food and provide an atmosphere of calm familiarity to enjoy it in. I wanted a very customer-friendly alternative to the counter service queuing of modern coffee shops. A small lunchtime menu of traditional delights that youll come back for time after time. In the afternoons, we love to serve an afternoon tea, with selections of cakes, scones, treats, savouries, a light cocktail or tea and coffee; it doesnt matter what your choices are but it does matter that its all delicious and fun to eat.

At the cafe we serve simple food, made with great quality ingredients. Much of our food is handmade in-house using ingredients from local producers and we make most of our own jams, chutneys, pickles and sauces. Just like in the pages of this book, there are little influences of my New Zealand upbringing throughout the menu but the predominant theme is delightful, simple, English dishes. Some of the recipes included here are my versions of classics, Anzac Biscuits and a Victoria Sandwich, for example, but Ive tried to give you tweaks that make the ingredients easier to measure and the baking more reliable. Ive updated recipes to metric measurements to help when using digital kitchen scales. I cant stress enough the need for fresh ingredients.

Eggs that are super fresh will make your cakes rise and hold incredibly well. If youre using eggs from a supermarket, use an extra pinch of baking powder in the cake recipes. Baking is a form of chemistry, so scales and accurate temperatures are very important for perfect bakes. Simple digital scales will give you reliable results every time and a probe thermometer will tell you when things are properly baked, whereas using a skewer only checks a small part of the cake. My advice would also be to spend a few pounds/dollars and get an oven thermometer. Ive used self-raising/self-rising flour for many recipes.

If you dont have any, you can use regular flour and sift in a level teaspoon of baking powder for every 150 g/1 cup plain/all-purpose flour, as an alternative. If you do this, remember to only use plain/all-purpose flour, as flours for bread-making will make your cakes tough and not rise as well. To tell the difference, look at the percentage of protein in the flour; for baking it should be below 10%. We make many of our cakes for Bramble Cafe using gluten-free ingredients. So, while this book has not set out to be a gluten-free recipe book, most of the slices, biscuits and denser cakes, like my carrot cake, can be made using the better gluten-free flour mixes and are almost indistinguishable from those made using regular flour. I add one level teaspoon of xanthan gum powder to every 250 g/1 cups gluten-free self-raising/self-rising flour and I often add a few dessertspoons of natural/plain yogurt to the cakes and slices to add extra flavour.

I hope you enjoy this book and nothing would give me more pleasure than to be sent a picture of your dog-eared, flour splattered, used regularly, copy. Cookbooks are meant to be used, not kept pristine, so please put this beside your blender, choose a recipe and start cooking!