LIVING:COOKERY
WI Life October 2015
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Laura Merriman Tea and Tarts WI, West Yorkshire Federation
Two WI members share their
baking secrets and time-honoured
recipes that have enjoyed
enduring popularity with all ages
n
Words JESSICA JOHNSON Photography louise haywood-schiefer
y recipe for chocolate
cheesecake has been a
staple in my family for
more than 20 years – it
was passed on to me by
my mum. I’ve made it so
many times that the method in my chocolatestained recipe book is only about 15 words long!
I find it hard to follow instructions while
I'm cooking, which is why I use a shorthand
method that I can easily follow when I’m trying
to recreate it, with my two little girls at my feet
waiting to lick the bowl!
The cheesecake is simple, but effective, and
it's always a crowd pleaser at parties, weddings
and, of course, Christmas. You can just put it
in the freezer, forget about it, then remove it
when needed. We all love cooking and baking,
but we've never been a family for fancy, faffy,
marathon-long bakes when this cheesecake
tastes just as good as anything else.
I never thought that my baking could end
up as a business. It was a holiday to Anglesey
in 2012 and a visit to a little shop named Posh
Puds that gave me the idea I needed. Here they
were selling individual cheesecakes, so everyone
could have the exact flavour they wanted. Last
winter I bought my first individual moulds and
found an excuse to make cheesecakes to take
to every party I was attending. At the time I was
working in a school, which was rewarding, but
the stress was starting to take its toll.
My new year’s resolution for 2013 was to
try and sell individual cheesecakes at a local
farmers’ market by the end of that year. It was
only a half-serious idea, but, as the months
progressed, I knew I had to give it a go.
It has been a long slog – there have been tears
over curdled cheese; I’ve scoured the country to
find the right-sized moulds and I’ve had to get
my brain into gear for costings and food hygiene.
I set myself a tough goal, but I did it. On
13 October 2013, I launched myself as I Love
Cheesecake at Upmarket, Huddersfield, to a
sell-out crowd! I now supply several local cafes
and restaurants and I also have a stall every
Friday at Huddersfield train station, treating
teatime commuters to a portion of cheesecake.
I hate waste. I’ve got a Masters in Sustainable
Development and I really want to retain that
environmental thread in my business. We grow
our own fruit so I have loads of blackcurrants,
n 8ozs biscuit
n 4ozs cooking margarine
n 12ozs cream cheese at room
temp
n 8ozs cooking margarine at
room temp
n 8ozs caster sugar
n 12ozs dark chocolate
n 4ozs chopped Hazelnuts
Laura's enthusiasm for making
cheesecake eventually led to a
successful business opportunity
strawberries and raspberries for the fruity
cheesecakes – my blackcurrant and liquorice
is one of the most popular flavours. We’ve had
some lovely feedback, such as: ‘This is the best
strawberry cheesecake I’ve ever tasted,’ or,
one of my favourites: ‘I need the Baileys
cheesecake in my life!’
I’m quite a traditional person for someone
of my age. I’ve always knitted and baked so I
thought it was quite natural to join Tea and Tarts
WI when they set up here, in Huddersfield, four
years ago. I needed to make new friends and had
found it quite hard with two children. I felt like
I wanted something that was just for me.
I now have many friends I can call upon and
we are always trying different activities, such
as jive and belly dancing. And one member is
teaching me to crochet. It was touching to see
so many WI members at my first market stall.
I owe a lot to my family and my WI friends,
who have always been on hand to sample my
cooking. But most of all I owe thanks to my
mum’s recipe that has been changed beyond
recognition – from blackcurrant and liquorice
to lime and pistachio – but it was hers that was
responsible for my first love of cheesecake.
Lauraʼs Chocolate Cheesecake
BASE
n 225g biscuits
n 110g cooking
margarine
Topping
n 350g dark chocolate
n 225g cooking margarine at
room temperature
n 350g cream cheese at room
temperature
n 225g caster sugar
n 110g chopped hazelnuts
1 For the base: crush the biscuits (the end of a rolling pin does the job
quite well or you could use a food processor).
2 Melt the margarine and mix into the crushed biscuits.
3 Press into a greased 23cm spring-form or loose-bottomed round cake
tin. Cover with clingfilm and put in the freezer for ½ hour.
4 For the topping: melt the chocolate in a glass bowl on half power in
the microwave 1 minute at a time, stirring after each 30 seconds until
it is all melted. Leave to cool.
5 Cream the margarine with the sugar in an electric mixer.
6 Cream the cheese separately, then add it to the creamed margarine
and sugar and mix again, until it is all completely blended together.
7 Check that the chocolate has completely cooled, then add it to the
cream-cheese mixture and slowly mix it in. Fold in the hazelnuts.
8 Spoon the chocolate-cheese mixture on top of the base and smooth
the top to a level finish.
9 Cover with clingfilm and place in the fridge to set for at least four
hours, or place in the freezer for one to two hours to set. It can be
frozen at this point, then taken out of the freezer and put in the fridge
for around eight hours prior to eating.
10 Laura decorated her cheesecake with homemade chocolate shards,
but you could buy decorations or luxury chocolates to decorate yours
as you wish. Laura suggests Ferrero Rocher would look great to give
the cheesecake a final flourish.
LIVING:COOKERY
WI Life October 2015
Jill Blumsom
Berkhamsted WI, Hertfordshire
Federation
I
’ve been a WI member for 50 years. One of my
neighbours said ‘I’ll go if you go’. At the time
I had two little boys and was expecting a third.
Meetings were held in the village and I thought
it would get me out and give me another interest.
My husband John used to babysit.
Most of my five children would come back from
school bringing their friends with them for tea – David,
our second son, would eat half a loaf of bread as a snack
before dinner. There was always something home baked
and Dream Cake was one of the most popular items. It’s
a batch cake with a meringue topping that I remember
cutting out of the newspaper in the 1960s.
I’m not an adapter – I always follow the recipe. I drive
the children mad as I’m desperately accurate when it
comes to weighing ingredients. Until a couple of years ago
I used an Aga for all our cooking and baking. You didn’t
need to know anything much about it, except which shelf
to use. We’d leave
n it on throughout the year and it did
everything from giving us hot water and warming baby
bottles, to cooking jacket potatoes for WI meetings.
I went through a ‘I hate cooking’ phase for about seven
years after all the children had left home. It had been
a full-time job feeding five of them and my husband.
I had my set routines: Monday to Wednesday were
cleaning days, Thursday was for shopping, and Friday was
dedicated to cooking for the weekend. I also did lots of
baking for WI tea parties and coffee mornings – for some
years I also made the WI birthday cake. But I don’t think
I’d like to take that on now!
My mother was taught how to cook by her mother
during WWI by going into the kitchen with her for one
hour each day. I remember helping my own mother to
cook, but sugar was rationed until 1953, and I was married
just four years later. It was just by watching her that I grew
to love cooking and now I treasure her book of recipes.
However, today I use electric blenders and whisks and
they really do the job. Since John and I have both retired,
our life has become a whole new learning curve.
I’ve served on committee for a number of years, doing
most of the jobs, including Treasurer, Secretary and
President of Berkhamsted WI. One of the most rewarding
roles was being a VCO (now WI Adviser), which involves
finding an area that might benefit from a new WI and
helping new members to get on their feet.
There’s still a real need for the WI. With all the budget
cuts being made by councils, the education aspect is very
important. But I think it’s a marvellous social thing, too.
Women can get out to our meetings and it’s wonderful for
widows and single women as it's something they can join
without feeling threatened. Members always close ranks
if anyone is in trouble.
I would put my recipe for Dream Cake on a par with
brownies and flapjacks. It’s a well-put-together recipe,
which is great for a growing family like I had. It’s also a
very good store cupboard cake and keeps well – I can’t tell
you for how long as it never had a chance in our house,
but probably for about a week.
Our now grown-up children live as close to us as
Oxford, and as far away as Hong Kong, but whenever
I have asked them what I should bake, the decision for the
Dream Cake has always been unanimous.
n 8ozs biscuit
n 4ozs cooking margarine
n 12ozs cream cheese at room temp
n 8ozs cooking margarine at room temp
n 8ozs caster sugar
n 12ozs dark chocolate
n 4ozs chopped Hazelnuts
Laura's DREAM CAKE
JILLʼs DREAM CAKE
BASE
n 112g butter
n 225g plain flour
n 2tbsp icing sugar
Topping
n 2 large eggs
n 225g caster sugar
n 55g sifted plain flour
n 1 tsp baking powder
n 55g chopped cherries
n 55g desiccated coconut
n 80g chopped walnuts
n 1 tsp vanilla extract
1 Set the oven to 160˚C/140˚C fan/gas 3, grease
and line a swiss roll tin (33cm x 20cm).
2 For the base: rub the butter into the flour and icing
sugar until you get a breadcrumb consistency.
3 Spread evenly into the tin and press down lightly
with your fingers.
4 For the topping: beat the eggs and sugar well.
5 Sift in the flour and baking powder and gently
stir in the cherries, the desiccated coconut,
the walnuts and the vanilla extract.
6 Pour the mixture over the base and bake for
30-50 minutes until the meringue is a light
golden-brown colour and feels firm to the touch.
Jill and John Blumsom and
their large family have
enjoyed her delicious,
meringue-topped Dream
Cake for decades
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