meemalee

I'd never heard of speculoos till Edd Kimber aka The Boy Who Bakes mentioned it to me. Speculoos (or speculaas) is a spiced, gingerbready biscuit from Belgium and the Netherlands, which also comes as a spread, brilliant for using in cakes and other desserts. So when I came across packets of speculoos in the adorable little Wye Bakery run by Mary Braithwaite and Nigel Ings (who'd moved from France to the village of Wye in Kent), I scooped some up as a present for said Boy Who Bakes (they also sold us some Campteclaire and Peveloise - artisan French bread flour - and gave us gluten and yeast). Then today I felt like a snack, so I raided my freezer to find some Prune and Armagnac ice cream I'd made ( this David Leibovitz recipe ). I had a couple of bites, and sucking the spoon I suddenly thought, "Y'know, I bet those speculoos biscuits would be really nice with this". And so I opened one of Edd's packets, and I slathered fat wodges of ice cream between so...

I am a terrible student. Firstly, I turn up late to a macaron baking class by Edd Kimber . Yes, that Edd Kimber, the guy who won the Great British Bake Off hosted by Mel and Sue and judged by the Silver Fox and Nicholas Parsons's sister . A macaron class held by an official baking genius. And yet I turn up late. Edd with two D's. Like Edd the Duck. Genuinely. Secondly, I interrupt his demo with lots of silly questions. Look at him humouring me. He makes a salted caramel sauce. He makes the macaron batter. I'm not paying attention, because I'm too busy inhaling the wonderful sugared scent. This much did sink in - the best macaron batter must fall in languid waves. Next, Edd pipes perfect circles of macaron batter, spaced out so they don't merge into some kind of uberon. We all take turns to copy him, piping circle after circle. Some more successfully than others. 2001: A Cake Odyssey Crisp shells of delicious almond joy with perfect "feet". And now E...