Foxcroft & Ginger Review

Last month I was invited to Foxcroft & Ginger in Whitechapel, London for an evening meal. Foxcroft & Ginger is a husband and wife team owned by Quintin and Georgina. They met whilst working in restaurants together and were united by their love for food and drink. The concept is simple - a relaxed all day dining spot where there's no pressure to spend a fortune or to move on quickly. The menu is also simple with locally sourced ingredients and house baked goods. Their specialty is their bread, sourdough pizzas and cruffins. They have 3 branches - Soho, Whitechapel and Dalston. 

 The main entrance 

 View from the top of the stairs inside the restaurant so the main door is to the left of the picture 

 View from inside 

 Our table was to the right of this so this was our view 

The interior has a very modern, post industrial look. It has stripped back walls with pipes and ducts visible. It was a very hot day when we visited but there were fans going and it felt quite cool due to the high ceilings and minimal furnishings. We each had a pizza which is made from their own sourdough base. The base is light and crisp and the sourdough makes it tastes even better. I recently had a pizza at Franco Manca which is supposed to be the best sourdough pizzas in town but I think Foxcroft & Ginger can give them a run for their money! The menu is not extensive which I like and the ingredients are fresh and locally sourced. I had the smoked streaky bacon, mozzarella, artichoke and tomato sauce pizza and J had the house made sausage, red pepper, onion jam and smoked mozzarella pizza.  The pizzas were absolutely delicious. They were a good size with just the right amount of toppings and they were very filling. They are also reasonably priced at £9 each. The pizzas are all between £7-9 each. Personally, I preferred the tomato base pizza (my pizza) but they were both good. 

 Nice and simple menu 

 This is my pizza (description above) 

 J's pizza (description above)

A visit would not be complete without trying something from their house baked bakery section. It was really difficult to make a choice as everything looked good. I particularly liked the look of the carrot cake, chocolate truffle brownie and muffins. However, I felt I had to try their cruffin which is their very own croissant/muffin hybrid. It's a croissant pastry baked in a muffin tray and has different flavours. I tried the salted caramel flavour. J chose a mini Victoria sponge as that's his favourite cake. 

 Victoria Sponge

 Cruffin

I really enjoyed the cruffin. It had soft, flaky pastry which was also spongey in the middle and had hits of salted caramel. The Victoria Sponge was a little on the dry side but it was the end of the day and it was the hottest day of the year. I would definitely go back to try some of their other baked goods and the brunch which looks particularly good. Service was friendly, attentive and efficient without being too obtrusive. Overall a very enjoyable evening out with good food and a pleasant atmosphere. 

Disclaimer: I was offered a meal, drink and pastry for 2 in exchange for a review on my blog. A positive review was not required and all opinions are my own. 

Honey Chocolate Cake

I've been baking quite a bit with Hans Sloane Chocolate beads recently. So far I've made banana, pecan and chocolate waffles, chocolate cookies with ginger or cranberry and a dark chocolate salted caramel oreo pie. Those recipes were made using rich dark chocolate beads or Ecuador 70% chocolate beads. I saw that they have a natural honey with milk chocolate version and was intrigued as I love honey. I absolutely love dark chocolate which is my favourite type of chocolate but I have to say that these natural honey chocolate beads have jumped straight to the top of the favourite list. I've tried honey chocolate products before and often you can't really taste the honey or it tastes artificially sweeter. When you open this pack, the delicious smell of honey hits you immediately. The chocolate is smooth and really tastes like honey. I could have just eaten the whole pack as it is but I had to exert some self control and save it for the recipes. I've also used the natural honey chocolate beads to make a hot chocolate drink and it's absolutely divine.

I started thinking about recipes to showcase the honey chocolate and decided on an old favourite which is Nigella's chocolate honey cake. I've made this recipe quite a few times and it never fails to impress. I have tried different ways of decorating it and I think this is the winner. I put a Kit Kat fence around the cake and added crushed Crunchie bars on top. The bees are my favourite part and they look great sitting in a pool of honeycomb. I also made another cake and decorated it with fresh flowers from the garden and sugar bees.

The cake is light, chocolatey and full of honey flavour. The natural honey chocolate beads adda a really strong honey aroma to the cake and the glaze. The Kit Kats and Crunchie bars add more chocolate and also provides different textures to the cake. The sugar bees are literally the icing on the cake. They look really cute and add a fresh burst of colour to the cake.

 adding honey to the cake mixture 

 adding natural honey chocolate to the cake mixture 

 honey chocolate cake! 

 how cute are the bees in a pool of honeycomb?

 This is the second cake decorated very simply with fresh pansies and sugar bees. 

Recipe adapted very slightly from Nigella 

Makes 1 x 23cm/9 inch round cake
For the cake
100g Hans Sloane Natural Honey Chocolate beads, melted
275g light brown muscovado sugar
225g butter, softened
80ml runny honey
2 large eggs
200g plain flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
250ml boiling water

For the sticky honey glaze
60ml water
25 ml runny honey
175grams Hans Sloane Natural Honey Chocolate Beads
75g icing sugar, sifted

For the bees
25 grams yellow ready to roll icing
12 flaked almonds

For the decoration

Kit kat

3 crunchie bars

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Grease and line a 23cm/9 inch round springform cake tin. 
• Melt the chocolate in a small bowl over a pan of simmering water. Allow to cool slightly. 
• Beat the butter and sugar in an electric mixer until pale and fluffy.
• Add in the runny honey and mix well. 
• Add in the eggs, one at a time.
• Fold in the melted chocolate, flour, bicarbonate of soda and cocoa powder.
• Finally pour in the boiling water and mix well.
• Pour the cake batter (which will be quite liquid) into the prepared cake tin and bake for an hour. 
• Check the cake after 45 minutes and cover with foil if the top of the cake is brown. 
• Allow the cake to cool completely in the tin on a wire rack. 
• To make the glaze, put the water and honey in a small pan and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat. 
• Add the Hans Sloane Natural Honey Chocolate Beads and whisk gently until the chocolate has melted.
• Add in the icing sugar and continue whisking until smooth. 
• To make the bees, divide the yellow icing into 6 even pieces.
• Roll each piece in the palm of your hand into a sausage shape roll that's tapered at one end.
• Use a wooden skewer to paint 2 stripes on each 'bee' with the sticky honey glaze as shown. Add 2 dots in the front for eyes.
• Place 2 almond flakes, one at either end to form the bee's wings. 
• To decorate the cake, place 4 strips of parchment paper on a cake stand to form a square. This is a great tip from Nigella as the icing is quite runny initially and prevents a mess on the cake stand. 
• Place the cooled cake in the centre of the cake stand.
• Pour the sticky honey glaze on top of the cake allowing it to drip down the sides.
• Gently slide out the strips of baking paper so you have a clean cake stand. 
• Cut Kit Kat bars in half and arrange them around the border of the cake the form a fence.
• Crush 3 Crunchie bars and sprinkle on top of the cake.
• Carefully add the bees on top.
• Alternatively decorate with some fresh pansies and sugar bees. 
• (Note - the sticky honey glaze is very sticky and a little runny so make sure you allow plenty of time for it to set before serving) 

Disclaimer: I was sent Hans Sloane chocolate beads for review purposes. A positive review was not required and all opinions are my own. This is not a sponsored post. 

Banana, pecan and chocolate waffles

We decided to treat ourselves to waffles over the bank holiday weekend. We usually have plain waffles with maple syrup and fruit and occasionally with bacon. This time I thought I'd bake something a little different as we are trying to eat healthier so it had to be loaded with fruit. I actually ended up forgetting to add the oil (maybe it was my subconscious working overtime) and surprisingly the waffles turned out fine. It's probably because they are baked in the oven so they have a slight cake like texture but it really did not detract from the taste. I was really worried that it would be dry and unpalatable but they were actually really delicious and filling. I'm guessing that it would taste better with the oil but I've not tried it yet. In any case, the bananas and buttermilk probably saved the day. 

The initial plan for the waffles was for banana and pecans but then I decided to add in some chocolate in the form of chocolate beads from Hans Sloane. Hans Sloane sent me some rich dark drinking chocolate beads to try. They are packaged in an attractive red box and the smell of chocolate when you open the bag is heavenly. Dark chocolate is my favourite kind of chocolate and these beads really pack a proper chocolate punch. I tried quite a few on their own and had to stop eating them otherwise I wouldn't have enough to bake with! They worked well in this recipe as it provided a rich, dark chocolate taste to the waffles. The beads did not melt completely so you get lovely chunks of chocolate. I've also tried it with milk as a hot chocolate drink and it's absolutely divine. I often find that powdered hot chocolate have an artificial taste and tends not to taste chocolatey at all. This is the complete opposite as it tastes like proper melted chocolate in warm milk. I loved the stuff so much that I baked another recipe with these chocolate beads which will be on the blog very soon. 

 Hans Sloane drinking chocolate beads which won the Taste Gold Awards in 2011 and was winner of the chocolatier taste test in 2012. 

 dry ingredients on the left and wet ingredients on the right (minus the oil!) 

 adding chopped pecan nuts to the mixture with the chocolate beads on the right 

 Look at the gorgeous chocolate beads - they are really shiny

 This is my silicone waffle tray

 I love how the chocolate gives it a speckled look 

 Topped with lots of fresh fruit and maple syrup which I bought from America 

 You can see the chocolate beads better in this picture 

Makes 8 waffles

375g flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

50g brown sugar

4 eggs 

250g buttermilk 

2 bananas, mashed

50g pecans, chopped

100g Hans Sloane chocolate beads 

80 mls vegetable oil (optional -see notes above) 

• Preheat the oven to 180C. 
• In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and brown sugar and set aside.
• In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs, mashed bananas, buttermilk and vegetable oil (if using)
• Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients andmix gently until just mixed.
• Stir in the chopped nuts and chocolate beads.
• Pour the batter into a waffle mould and bake for approximately 25-30 minutes or until golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
• Serve with fresh fruit and maple syrup or as desired. 
• (The waffles freeze well and tastes great if you toast them in the toaster)

Disclaimer: I was sent some Hans Sloane drinking chocolate beads for review purposes to create a recipe. A positive review was not required and all opinions expressed are my own. This is not a sponsored post. 

Irish Tea Bread and Degustabox April 2015 review

It's time for the what's in my Degustabox for April and I will be posting about May fairly soon. April's box had an international theme and as usual it comes in an alcohol version or non alcohol version. I usually receive both in my review box but you can specify when you order them for yourself. A quick note about Desugatabox in case you're not familiar with it. Degustabox is a no obligation monthly subscription which costs £12.99 including delivery. You get 9 to 14 surprise products and it's usually a good mixed selection of goodies. Do check out my previous reviews to see the range of products you can expect to receive.  I have a special discount code for all my readers if you are interested in signing up a box for yourself or for a family memeber/friend. You get a £3.00 discount when registering by using this code PXATS which makes it just under a tenner for a goodie box including delivery.

I decided to create a recipe using Barry's tea which is from Ireland. I used a traditional Irish Tea Cake recipe which I found online and it turned out beautifully. I gave half to an Irish colleague who thoroughly enjoyed it. She suggested adding a bit of brandy or whiskey so I'm going to give it another go soon. It was really easy to make apart from allowing extra time to soak the fruits in tea overnight. It was delicious warm from the oven with butter on top. It kept well and was equally delicious toasted with butter.

 Kingfisher beer in the alcholic box which is from India. 

 IdrinQ from Hermany which is an enhancement drink. 

 Scheckters Organic Energy drink which is a natural, organic drink. 

 Cirio tomato fillets from Italy. 

 Vetee rice which I like for the convenience. The spicy mexican rice works well in stuffed peppers. 

 Nando's Peri-Peri potato chips - tasty ridge cut chips perfect for snacking. 

 Debeukelaer Cookies Bakery inspired by traditional family bakeries in Greenwich Village, New York. They are individually wrapped and have a melty chocolate centre. Perfect for picnics or lunchboxes. 

 Barry's Tea from Ireland

 Kinder choco-bons and mini kinder chocolate with cereals. Perfect for treats and lunchboxes as they are all individually wrapped. 

 Schwartz Balti and Korma recipe mix. These were great for mid week meals and the spices were perfect. 

 Cirio concentrated tomato puree from Italy - absolutely delicious. 

 I decided to use Barry's tea bags for my recipe this month. 

 Soak fruits in strongly brewed tea overnight 

 The fruits were plump and juicy after soaking 

 ready to go in the oven 

Makes 1 large loaf

500g dried fruit mix
4 Barry's tea bags
400ml boiling water
200g brown sugar
250g self raising flour
1 egg
1 teaspoon mixed spice

• Place the tea bags in 400mls boiling water in a large bowl. Allow to steep for at least 5 minutes before removing the tea bags.
• Add the dried fruit mix and stir.
• Cover with a tea towel and leave overnight. 
• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Add the remaining ingredients to the dried fruit mix and stir.
• Pour the batter into a loaf tin and bake for approximately 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Check after 45minutes as you may need to cover the loaf with foil to prevent the top from burning.