Cooking With Belvoir And Lisa Faulkner

Cooking With Belvoir And Lisa Faulkner. Hello friends. So how are you today?

Last week my daughter and I got invited down to London to do some baking with Belvoir and Lisa Faulkner.

Cooking With Belvoir And Lisa Faulkner:

It was also such a lovely and rememberable day out.

We all went down on the train and my husband and son had a walk around London Pokemon hunting, then we all met up again afterwards to catch the train home.

Cooking With Belvoir And Lisa Faulkner.

Cooking With Belvoir And Lisa Faulkner:

We watched Lisa being filmed for a video whilst she made some delicious Madeleine hot air balloons cakes. So much fun.

Then we got a chance to make our own.

We also go some tasty lunch provided and learned all about how Belvoir made their yummy Elderflower cordial.

Lisa’s Madeleine Hot Air Balloons (pictures above).

Also, how pretty are these!?

Everything set up for us to bake with.

Lisa being filmed baking.

Cooking With Belvoir And Lisa Faulkner.

How To Make The Madeleine Hot Air Balloons:

Makes 12

For The Madeleines:

70g melted unsalted butter (plus 20g extra melted for greasing)

100g caster sugar

2 medium eggs, beaten

125g plain flour + a little extra for dusting

1tsp baking powder

2tbsp Belvoir Elderflower & Rose Cordial

For The Icing:

150g icing sugar

1 tbsp Belvoir Elderflower Cordial

a squeeze of lemon juice

food colouring

cocktail sticks

paper piping bags

12 flapjack squares for ‘the baskets’

Method:

1. Whisk the eggs and sugar until they are light and fluffy, (the whisk should leave a ribbon trail on the surface of the mixture when you lift it up). It needs to almost double in volume – which will take about 6 minutes in a stand mixer.

2. Lightly fold in all the other ingredients. Leave to stand for 20 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, brush the madeleine tray with melted butter, leave to set, then dust with a little flour, knocking out any excess.

4. Preheat the oven to 200c/Fan 180c/Gas Mark 6.

5. Gently spoon the madeleine batter into the moulds and bake for 8-10 minutes until lightly golden.

6. Allow to cook in the tin for 5 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Make The Icing:

7. Mix the icing sugar with the cordial and lemon juice until you have a smooth pipeable icing. Divide into 4 and make them different colours with food colouring. Spoon into small piping bags and cut off the tips so they pipe nice and thin.

8. Pipe the icing over the madeleines to create patterns.

9. Last but not least, use a couple of cocktail sticks inserted into the base of each balloon and skewer into flapjack squares to make them into hot air balloons.

Cooking With Belvoir And Lisa Faulkner:

We had a bit of a baking problem!! As we were running out of time we had to make the ballons straight up.

Also it was really warm so when we popped our sticks into the flapjacks they keep braking and falling.

So catching the cakes wiped all the icing sugar off them. As one fell one way, another fell another way.

No worries though, we may not have won the fun competition but they still tasted great!!

Top tip for making these; Let the icing sugar set before you assemble them 🙂

Cooking With Belvoir And Lisa Faulkner:

Our cakes did not turn out as good as Lisa’s but as they say “Practice makes perfect!!”

We are going to be making these cakes again soon, so watch this space.

We had a great day and it was lovely meeting the Belvoir team and Lisa Faulkner.

Cooking With Belvoir And Lisa Faulkner.

Cooking With Belvoir And Lisa Faulkner.

Did You Know: Elderflower Pickers Urgently Needed:

Belvoir Fruit Farms has opened weighing stations across the North East as the Cordial maker seeks a bumper crop of elderflowers this season.

They need over 60 tonnes – that’s 3.6 million flowerheads – to keep up with demand for their quintessentially English drinks and so the annual call for pickers from across Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Cambridgeshire to help harvest the frothy blossoms has been issued with some urgency.

Despite the national economic crisis over the last few years, together with new uncertainties raised by Brexit, family run business Belvoir has continued to flourish.

Sales of its iconic Elderflower Cordial and its lightly sparkling Elderflower Pressé have increased by 10% in the last 12 months and are on track for similar growth over the next year, so a bountiful harvest really is essential.

90 Acres Of Commercially Grown Elderflowers:

Pev Manners, MD of Belvoir Fruit Farms says: “We have 90 acres of commercially grown elderflowers – we believe the only ones in the country – which are stripped bare of flowers by the end of the season.

However, of those 90 we have replanted 10 acres over the last couple of years and they are still too young to be fully productive.

The increase in demand for our drinks means that we need 60 tonnes of elderflowers (that’s 3.6 million flowerheads) compared to the 50 tonnes required in previous years, therefore we are particularly dependent on flowers plucked from plants growing wild in the hedgerows in areas around the Vale of Belvoir.”

Harvesting Elderflowers:

Harvesting elderflowers is an easy thing to do – there’s no need for any specialist equipment, just a bin bag or basket to put the flowerheads in.

Belvoir can only accept flowers at their freshest best so the flowerheads do need to have been picked that day and should not include any stalks.

From 24 May until the end of June there will be four weighing stations open Monday to Saturday, where Belvoir will be accepting flowers.

They Are Located At:

Belvoir Fruit Farms, Barkestone Lane, Bottesford, Notts, NG13 0DH

Sacrewell Farm & Country Centre, Thornhaugh, off A1/A47 junction at Wansford, PE8 6HJ

Swarkestone Nursery, Lowes Lane, Swarkestone, Derbyshire, DE73 7GQ

Thaymar Ice Cream, Haughton Park Farm, Nr Bothamsall, Retford, DN22 8DB

They Pay:

Belvoir will pay £2.10 per kilo picked and an experienced picker can harvest up to 45 kilos of elderflowers in one day.

However, this year Belvoir are introducing an added incentive, as well as a bit of fun – the chance to be named Belvoir’s Biggest Bagger!

Each week of the harvest the person who collects the most elderflowers and has their booty weighed at Belvoir Fruit Farms only will receive a £100 reward so there’s, even more, reason to get picking!

Pev Manners concludes: “Helping with the elderflower harvest is a wonderful opportunity to take part in a delightful countryside tradition.

We have been encouraging people to help with the harvest for over 30 years now and welcome back many of the same people year after year.

A Big Job To Get Stuck Into:

We love to see them, but it’s always great to get new people getting involved. It’s such a massive job, we all get stuck in at Belvoir and this year we know that the actress Lisa Faulkner will be joining us for a day.

It’s the public though, who make the real difference and without them we would be in trouble – so thank you and do please help us this year.”

To check details of the harvest, opening times for the different weighing stations and for terms and conditions for the Biggest Bagger incentive, visit Belvoir Fruit Farms/Elderflower or call 01476 870286.

Cooking With Belvoir And Lisa Faulkner:

Cooking With Belvoir And Lisa Faulkner.

So what did you think of our day out?

About this post: We got invited down to London to cook with Belvoir and Lisa Faulkner. All thoughts are my own and I was not paid for this post.

You Might Also Like:

Firstly, How To Make Elderflower Bakewell Mug Cakes:

Celebrate the Elderflower Season with Belvoir and Lisa Faulkner. How To Make Elderflower Bakewell Mug Cakes.

Secondly, Elderflower, Lemon And Poppy Seed Layered Cake:

Elderflower, Lemon And Poppy Seed Layered Cake: This cake is so pretty it could be used for those most bona fide reasons to celebrate – a birthday or even a wedding.

To make the celebration complete, try adding a dash of Belvoir Elderflower Cordial to a glass of fizz or just enjoy a refreshing glass of lightly sparkling Belvoir Elderflower Pressé.

Serves about 40 Elderflower, Lemon & Poppy Seed Layered Cake.

Thirdly, Lisa Faulkner’s Chilean Blueberry Pancakes for Shrove Tuesday:

Celebrate Pancake Day on Tuesday 21 February with Lisa Faulkner’s recipe for homemade pancakes with a healthy twist.

“We forget how easy it is to make pancakes from ingredients we all have the cupboard. Lisa Faulkner’s Chilean Blueberry Pancakes for Shrove Tuesday. So yummy!!

Fourthly, Lisa Faulkner’s Bran And Blueberry Muffins:

Fancy trying some of Lisa Faulkner’s Bran And Blueberry Muffins? Lisa Faulkner’s Bran And Blueberry Muffins.

Fifthly, My Sunday Photo: Meeting Lisa Faulkner:

Happy Sunday, so how has the school holidays been for you? Busy here, have you been busy too?

It has been a great week with the children off school. Out and about all week, no time at all for stopping in and doing boring housework . So here is my Sunday Photo Meeting Lisa Faulkner.

Last But Not Least, What I Wore: Day Out In London: Meeting Lisa Faulkner:

What I Wore: Day Out In London. What a difference a week makes!!

Last week it was red hot and felt like the middle of summer. This week it has been so cold, windy and raining. It feels like Winter again!! I mean come on weather, get yourself together; What I Wore: Day Out In London: Meeting Lisa Faulkner. So much fun.

Cooking With Belvoir And Lisa Faulkner:

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Claire Justine

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Claire Justine Oxox- Over 50s Lifestyle Blog. You can also read more about me on my Over 50s Lifestyle Blog Page.

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