Where did it all begin?
Although I didn’t realise it at the time, I spent many of my favourite years in a dungeon of a kitchen on the South Bank in London. Developing recipes, testing and photographing recipes for Sainsbury’s and other brands.
It was a special place, not the dungeon as much but the people I met. One would be squirrelling sharing thoughts and ideas with other chefs and foodies busy on projects. Foodie magic. Life long friends were emulsified down there over chocolate brownies, Roka’s soy, ginger marinaded aubergines. Endless”Feed your family” for a fiver recipe development
My passion for creating recipes ignited down there. Although over time, my focus shifted to clean, simple food. Purely because of my own journey, navigating weight gain battles whilst permanently surrounded by food. and staying healthy. Now I just gravitate to healthy food that tastes delicious, that’s fresh and light and looks gorgeous.
I love to navigate around dietary requirements and enjoy the challenge of creating menus that still impress even when the dietary list is long.
If I had my way, I would be in the development kitchen all week. Tweaking and fiddling with recipes to make them vegan, sugar or gluten-free. I know, make time, make the time you say! It doesn’t just happen like that. Cooking is such a personal thing, someone else’s recipe on Google isn’t always just what you are looking for. Trust me, it’s rarely perfect the 1st time, you need a few cracks at the whip to perfect. There are normally a few flops along the way! I have been known to turn up at friends when promising to turn up with a dessert, I bring the duds! Not always my best move, not everyone is keen on being a guinea pig. The instagram’ed finished product, never shows the work that went in behind it.
Through this tiny little cafe´, we have been so honoured to have met such fantastic companies who love and trust the food we produce and use us regularly to create fabulous goodies that align with their brands.
Recently Roar Africa, the most glorious African destination travel company asked us to create High Tea Treats for some of their favourite companies they work with. Roar oozes luxury on every level, taking their clients to the most spectacular far-flung places in serious effortless style. This is the kind of brief I completely froth over. Creating delicious baked goods treats that would certainly have the wow factor. So naturally, most of them were gluten-free, refined sugar-free, some vegan and then a few naughty ones in between.
The spread included our legendary OMG Chocolate Brownies, ridiculously dense and chocolatey. Our to die for Buttermilk Scones drizzled with Larder Cherry, Ginger & Vanilla Jam. Then to go along with that some decadent Salted caramel and popcorn cheesecakes and Espresso Choux Pastry Buns. On the Vegan, gluten-free and refined sugar-free front, I made some Pistachio Panforte along with Raspberry & Coconut Custard Bars as well as some Carrot Cake Muffins and our Superfood Banana loaf which contain egg. This project inspired me to get working on the ultimate vegan brownie, watch this space…