Balthazar Boulangerie, Russel St.

Balthazar's Russel Street window display.

       Late last year a friend and I flew out to New York with a list of sight seeing to fill 7 days. By sight seeing I mean Sprinkle's cupcake ATM, Dylan's Candy Bar, Bosie Tea Parlour.....get the gist? At the top of this list was Balthazar's Boulangerie. I'd heard great things about their macarons and was so excited to finally try them out for myself.

     Unfortunately, Hurricane Sandy hit during our first few days in the City and those 7 days were the most surreal I've ever encountered. Our days were spent walking around for hours on end in the wind and rain observing the aftermath. I would feel bad if I said Hurricane Sandy ruined our holiday, so many lost their lives, homes and were subjected to complete devastation, we were fortunate enough to have been staying within the evacuation zone and were completely safe the whole time.

     As you can imagine, when I first heard that Balthazar was to open in London I was excited that I'd finally be able to get my sweet tooth around one of their macarons. And that's exactly what I did today. So thank you Mr. McNally for sending your sweet treats across the Atlantic for us to enjoy, you did not disappoint!

Balthazar's Russel Street bread and lunch selection.

     Unlike all the rumours I've heard, I didn't have to queue and was served immediately by a very helpful member of staff. Two different breads were recommended to me; a rosemary salted focaccia and a potato-onion roll. 

Potato-Onion Roll.

Rosemary Focaccia. 

     Both entirely different but equally as good. I tried a small hunk of each, before photographing and can safely say that the focaccia with a little bit of balsamic oil is the perfect flavour combination. The roll has a hint of caramelised onions and baked potato but however good it tastes, I'm not sure what to eat with it. Any suggestions?

     And finally on to my favourite part...the macaron. I would like to think of myself as a macaron connoisseur (I did take three trips to Paris in 2012 alone) so what I am about to say is based on my professional macaron munching opinion:

      This is the best macaron you will ever eat. I challenge anyone to prove otherwise!

     Similar to Pierre Hermé's Ispahan, this macaron au framboise sandwiches fresh lemon cream with white chocolate, fresh raspberries and a secret raspberry centre. Heavenly.

  
     The Restaurant and Boulangerie can be found peeping out of Russel Street on the corner of Wellington Street. I just hope that the wholesale boulangerie in Waterloo arches is open to the public soon, then I can stop by on my route to work.

And here's some pictures from NYC!

Hummingbird Blueberry Bundt

     In my university days, this was my most successful bake...I put a lot of time into the kitchen to avoid writing about Fourier Transforms. Surprisingly...nearly two years on...I couldn't tell you now exactly what an FT is, but, I can bake and I did learn that the sour cream in this makes for a really moist bake. Handy.

     This cake is an ode to these days in my wee little flat, and the beautiful cake stand I once had for this cake to perch upon (it got smashed by some new, not so nice, flat cohabitants).

     I didn't make the frosting in those days as I thought the blueberry studded top looked so impressive on its own. (The blueberries sink to the bottom of the cake mix whilst basking in the oven...when you up turn the bundt the top is studded with blueberry jewels). However, this time I decided to go all out with frosting and to add a little twist...

     After buying The Flavour Thesaurus I've been thinking a lot about flavour pairings. I was trawling the internet, magazines and books for the perfect blueberry recipe before finally realising I had it all along. With a few tweaks to the Hummingbird  Bakery's blueberry cake, this time I now have frosting and zesty lemons!

Blueberry cake:

     350g unsalted butter, room temperature
     350g caster sugar
     6 eggs
     1 teaspoon vanilla extract
     450g plain flour
     2 tablespoons & 2 teaspoons baking powder
     280ml sour cream
     250g fresh blueberries & extra to decorate

Cream cheese frosting:

     600g icing sugar, sifted
     100g unsalted butter, room temperature
     250g cream cheese, cold
     Juice of half a lemon
     Zest of half a lemon, for sprinkling on top

25cm bundt tin, dusted with flour.

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees.

Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs to the mix one at a time, ensuring each addition is well combined.

Beat in the vanilla, flour and baking powder.

Add the sour cream and mix well before gently folding in the blueberries.

Pour the mixture into the prepared bundt tin and smooth the top with a palette knife.

Bake for 40 minutes, until golden the sponge bounces back when you give it a little prod.

Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.

Whilst the cake is cooling, beat the icing sugar and butter in a mixer on a medium speed until well combined.

Add the cream cheese and lemon juice and beat until the frosting is light and fluffy. Approximately 5 minutes...be careful not to over beat.

Once fully cooled, cover the top and sides with frosting. Add some fresh blueberries, lemon zest and a dusting of icing sugar to serve.

A few handy tips -

• make sure you prepare the bundt tin with plenty of flour to make it easier to release after baking
• don't worry if disaster strikes and the cake doesn't come out in one piece...the frosting makes for perfect cake cement, no one will know any different!

And here are my original flat friends...hello to you both!xx