Bompas & Parr | cheriecity.co.uk

Baileys Chocolat Luxe with Bompas & Parr

August 12, 2013 by cheriecity

Baileys today launches Baileys Chocolat Luxe, a new liqueur that fuses real Belgian chocolate with alcohol for the very first time. It’s a molten chocolate experience, made with rich Irish cream, fine whisky, Madagascan vanilla and over 30g of Belgian milk chocolate per bottle.

For a special preview, Baileys teamed up with culinary alchemists Bompas & Parr to create a multi-sensory tasting event at Dennis Severs House in Spitalfields. The historic Grade II listed Georgian terraced house dates from approximately 1724 and was lovingly restored as a ‘still life drama’ of centuries past by American in London, Dennis Severs.

As we wandered through the dark, atmospheric rooms, we were introduced to the concept of this world first in liqueurs by Harry Parr, while Anthony J Wilson, Diageo’s Principle Liquid Developer at Diageo, talked us through the scientific process behind it.

During the three years that it took to create Chocolat Luxe, Anthony tasted over 200 varieties of chocolate, travelled across three continents and experimented with no less than 840 recipes. Interestingly, Anthony’s father Steve Wilson led the team behind Baileys Original Irish Cream back in the 1970s, making Bailey’s a real family success story.

At the end of our tour, it was time to reveal the mystery liqueur, accompanied by a sumptuous afternoon tea.

Sam Bompas suggested that we taste the Baileys Chocolat Luxe with a specially-designed ritual. Inspired by Marie-Antoinette, The Rococo Serve involves Baileys Chocolat Luxe poured over ice in a long-stem glass and garnished with a raspberry threaded onto a pearl-topped attelet. Adding gold leaf to the lips before drinking is optional.

East London baker Lily Vanilli created a stunning afternoon tea of marbled food including pastel finger sandwiches on marbled breads, rose and coconut friands, pistachio cakes, luxe marble cake and rococo jelly. The decadent, mouth-watering cakes were served with Baileys Chocolat Luxe and berry iced tea in teacups.

As a special treat, Lily has shared the recipe for her amazing Marbled Vanilla & Chocolate Flourless Cake, perfectly paired with a glass of Baileys Chocolat Luxe….

Marbled Vanilla & Chocolate Flourless Cake

Ingredients:

For the vanilla swirl:
225g soft (room temperature) cream cheese
130g granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

For the flourless chocolate cake:
280g best quality dark chocolate
140g soft unsalted butter
3 medium eggs
70g granulated sugar
1 tbsp brewed and cooled espresso
1 tsp vanilla extract
Good pinch of Malden/sea salt

Directions:
Preheat oven to 150 DC
Grease a 9″ round cake pan with butter and line the bottom with parchment.

Vanilla batter:
Beat the cream cheese with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the sugar and continue beating until well blended and smooth again. Add the egg and vanilla and beat just until blended. Set this aside for now.

Chocolate batter:
Chop chocolate and butter into small pieces and melt in a bain-marie. Use a whisk to combine into a smooth batter and set aside to cool. Using an electric mixer to beat the eggs, sugar, espresso, vanilla and salt on a medium high speed for approx 4 mins (until pale and thick). Turn the mixer onto a low speed and gradually pour in the chocolate mixture and continue beating until well blended.

Make the Marble Cake:
Spread about half of the chocolate batter (judge it by eye) in the bottom of the pan. Then add a scoop of the vanilla to the centre of the pan, then more of the chocolate and keep alternating, each time adding it to the centre.
Use a knife or a toothpick to gently swirl the two batters together so they’re mixed but not completely blended. Rap the pan against the countertop several times to settle the batters.
Bake for around 40 mins or until a pick inserted about 2 inches from the edge comes out gooey but not liquid. Be sure not to over-bake. Let it cool in the pan – it will sink as it cools.
Store in the fridge for up to 3 days. Serve chilled or at room temperature with a glass of Baileys Chocolat Luxe.

Baileys Chocolate Luxe is available exclusively at Harvey Nichols now, before general release in October, with an RRP of £16.99 for 50cl.

For more information, visit: www.baileys.com

Gardens, London

IncrEdibles Festival at Royal Botanic Kew Gardens

July 22, 2013 by cheriecity

Last weekend, we made the most of the glorious sunshine for an afternoon at Royal Botanic Kew Gardens. This summer’s IncrEdibles Festival at Kew is all about celebrating edible plants – discovering the origins of the everyday and the exotic.

Leading the festival, food artists Bompas & Parr have transformed the pond in front of the Palm House into a Tutti Frutti boating lake with the floating Pineapple Island at the centre.

The colourful island is covered in fabric featuring printed fruit from the Kew archive and is topped with a 500 kilo golden pineapple sculpture. It also offers the chance to ‘talk’ to the plants by pressing various buttons, created by sound artist Mileece.

Underneath Pineapple Island is a secret grotto spraying out aromas of banana, accessed by rowing boat. Having been enticed by interviews with Bompas & Parr, I had high expectations and couldn’t help finding the experience ever so slightly underwhelming.

I was much more enthralled by the permanent Palm House with tropical rainforests and exotic plants from all over the world. The humid, 19th century glasshouse features enormous palms and bamboo, alongside smaller tamarind, kola nut, sugarcane, yam, jackfruit and papaya plants. Keeping with the theme of the festival, various plants feature colour coded signs that explain which parts are edible.

Behind the Palm House, the brand new Rose Garden Tea Party has a charming, Alice in Wonderland feel. Visitors can sit at the large wooden table over an ‘afternoon tea’ of edible plants and herbs sprouting from illustrated china plates, teapots and cups.

The Xstrata Treetop Walkway is an absolute must when visiting Kew Gardens. The 18-metre climb to the top is rewarded with spectacular, birds-eye views over Kew Gardens.

Other highlights at Kew Gardens are the stunning Rose Garden, the Waterlily House with its large lily pads and numerous pepper plants, the immaculately manicured gardens at Davies Alpine House and the Mediterranean Garden. If we had a little more time, I would have liked to tour Kew Palace and Minka House.

Kew Gardens was much larger than I expected and there is quite a distance to cover if you want to see everything. I recommend taking a full day to explore the gardens and enjoying a picnic or a delicious cream tea at White Peaks Cafe, run by Peyton & Byrne.

IncrEdibles Festival is open at Royal Botanic Kew Gardens until 1st September. For more information, visit: www.kew.org

All photos by Chérie City

Bars, Events, London

Hendrick’s Horseless Carriage of Curiosities at London Cocktail Week

October 11, 2010 by cheriecity

Hendrick’s Gin is quickly getting a reputation as the English Eccentric’s tipple of choice and this week Hendrick’s is bringing its raffish, dandy charm to London Cocktail Week, in the shape of the Horseless Carriage of Curiosities.

A converted rail carriage filled with oddities, the carriage will be open to the public with a packed schedule of boozy events.

From 12th-15th October, the horseless carriage will become a pop up restaurant, offering a unique, bespoke dining experience. London’s most respected bartenders will be on hand to mix up some exquisite cocktails to go with each course created by food innovators, Bompas & Parr.

The carriage can host just 9 guests per evening, so it will be an intimate, private dinner where you’re sure to meet some real characters. (tickets cost £100 each and are limited).

Visitors to the Horseless Carriage of Curiosities will be invited to contribute a story to its ever-evolving collection of curious ‘cocktales’. Participants will be rewarded for their tale with a well-earned glass of Hendrick’s Gin & Tonic. (12th-15th October from 12-4.30pm & 4.30pm-6.30pm, free to all).

Class Magazine’s Ambassador of the Year, Louis Lewis-Smith will take gin quaffers through The Quintessential Anthology of Gin – a history of gin distilling and cocktails (12th-15th October, 3pm-4.15pm, tickets priced at £8)

For more information on Hendrick’s Horseless Carriage of Curiosities and to book tickets for the events or dinner, visit: www.hendrickshorselesscarriage.com