With over 65 recipes, Treats From Little and Friday is a stunning celebration that shares Kim’s most popular cakes, loaves, biscuits, slices, sweets, tarts, doughs, savoury tarts and pies. Full of easy helpful tips and with sections on pastry, preserves, finishing and fillings, these approachable recipes have been adapted for the home cook so that even the novice baker will be able to master the style and delights of Kim’s delicious café treats. This simply designed ribboned hardback with luscious photography from Rene Vaile is sure to make your mouth water. Treats From Little and Friday is set to become a staple in every bakers repertoire.
The Little and Friday story
As a self-taught baker, baking has always been part of Kim Evans life. Her journey to Little and Friday began in Sydney New Zealand Christchurch , Kim, a mother of two, returned to Auckland
Kim has a strong focus on the process of natural farming and organic produce. Little and Friday has a working garden that grows all the salad greens, herbs and tomatoes in her baking. She uses free-range meat and has developed strong relationships with local farmers. These relationships have lead to a great contra arrangement, whereby Little and Friday reduces its waste by giving food scraps to local pig and chicken farmers in return for free-range pork and eggs.
Kim says the community based feel to the café has meant that ‘Little and Friday has become the bustling neighbourhood local: parents congregate around the communal table to catch up while kids entertain themselves covering the pavement in chalk drawings. By 10 a.m. the sleepy street is overrun with foodies from further afield, who appreciate seeing bakers bringing trays laden with treats straight from the ovens to their plates … As the day goes on, the cabinet and shelves empty out, the ovens are turned off and latecomers scavenge through the slim pickings of the day’s leftovers. The street breathes a sigh of relief and reverts back to its former sleepy self – until tomorrow.’
Little and Friday is simply special and with Treats From Little and Friday we hope we’ve captured the essence of this unique neighbourhood bakery and cafe. This is a book that gets the taste buds going and offers every Kiwi (no matter where they live) a taste treat and the chance to get passionate about baking.
And the publishers have kindly agreed to let me publish a recipe from the book, here it is:
Banana Cakes
This is our interpretation of the Edmonds Cookbook Banana Cake. We make it as a double-layer cake sandwiched together with gooey caramel and mascarpone.
2 cups fl our
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
125g unsalted butter, softened
¾ cup caster sugar
2 eggs
3 cups mashed banana
1 tsp baking soda
4 tbsp hot milk
1 cup walnuts
To assemble
½ cup Caramel
¼ cup mascarpone
1 recipe Cream Cheese Icing
chopped walnuts or banana chips, to decorate
Makes 12 small cakes or one 23cm double-layer cake
1. Preheat oven to 160ºC. Grease two 6-hole Texas
2. Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl and set aside.
3. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter on a low speed until light and creamy.
4. Slowly add sugar and continue to beat on low speed until light in colour and fluffy.
5. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition, and making sure to incorporate each egg before adding the next. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula. With the mixer on low speed add the banana.
6. Dissolve baking soda in hot milk.
7. Fold flour mixture and milk into the banana mixture in three equal measures. Lastly, fold in walnuts.
8. Divide mixture evenly between prepared cake tins and bake for 20–25 minutes for small cakes or 45 minutes for large cakes, or until the tops spring back when touched lightly and
a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the middle.
9. Let cakes cool completely in tins before turning out.
10. If making small cakes, carefully cut them in half horizontally. To assemble the cakes, spread Caramel over bottom layer, then spread a thin layer of mascarpone over the top. Place second cake layer on top. Spread with a thick layer of Cream Cheese Icing. Drizzle with extra Caramel and decorate with walnuts or banana chips.
Kitchen Notes
Place in an airtight container and store in a cool place (not the refrigerator) for up to three days. The banana flavour gets better with age at room temperature.
Caramel
2 cups caster sugar
600ml cream
Makes 3 cups
1. Place sugar in a small saucepan and just cover with water to achieve a wet sand consistency.
2. Bring to the boil but do not stir. Using a wet pastry brush, clean down sides of saucepan to remove any stray sugar crystals.
3. Continue to boil until the sugar turns amber. At this point, quickly remove from heat.
4. In a small saucepan, heat cream to boiling point. Gradually add this to caramelised sugar, stirring constantly to achieve a smooth consistency. This may take a while but it will eventually combine.
Kitchen Notes
Timing is paramount with Caramel. Both the cream and the sugar need to be really hot when they are combined.
Cream Cheese Icing
Makes 3½ cups
125g unsalted butter, softened and cubed
500g cream cheese, cubed
1 cup icing sugar, sifted
1. Thoroughly cream butter in an electric mixer on high speed, continuously scraping down sides of bowl.
2. Soften cream cheese by squeezing through your fingers and add to butter. Continue beating on high until there are no lumps, scraping down sides of bowl frequently.
3. Turn mixer to slow speed and add sifted icing sugar. When icing sugar is fully integrated, turn up speed and beat until mixture is smooth. Refrigerate in an airtight container for up
to 2 weeks.
Reproduced with permission from Treats from Little and Friday by Kim Evans.
Published by Penguin Group NZ. RRP $44.99. Copyright © Kim Evans, 2012