Whipping up a treat in the Wilmslow Kitchen Cookery School

Weekend baking is an absolute favourite of mine, when time allows me to whip up treats or work on my bread making (which is finally doing pretty well). So stick me in a kitchen with a bunch of other keen bakers and a plethora of fancy kit and I am happy as the proverbial pig.

Joe Blogs, Currys and Kenwood invited us down to the ridiculously pretty Wilmslow Kitchen Cookery School for an afternoon of baking, and what a great afternoon it was.

Wilmslow Kitchen is tucked away in an unassuming unit, but when you walk through the doors it’s like a mini version of the Great British Bake Off tent – bunting hangs from the ceiling and fairy lights wrap round shelves. On the worktops were row upon roll of candy coloured stand mixers – this was going to be fun!

Sarah from Wilmslow Kitchen was a brilliant host for the afternoon. She showed us how to make meringues, swiss roll and a rich chocolate tart. Then, keeping a keen eye on us along with chefs Brian and David, we were let loose to make our own.

I teamed up with the lovely Rachel aka Vintage Folly, with Jane and Emma providing comedy interludes on the workbench next door. We were baking with the Kenwood K-Mix- those candy coloured mixers which greeted us when we arrived. I’ve never used a K-Mix before but Debbie from Kenwood was on hand to tell us all about the brand and how it grew from the original Kenwood Chef which hit the market in 1950.

The whisk on the K-Mix is good and wide making it perfect for getting lots of air into the mix. And there is a nifty little lip on the cover which you lift so you can add ingredients in as you mix or whisk without them flying out everywhere- my favourite feature as it can save so much icing sugar or flour related cleaning!

It’s quite odd that I’ve gone all these years baking and never made a Swiss role but under Sarah’s tutelage it came out soft and light, and with a bit of confidence it folded beautifully. It was delicious and I’ll be making it again and experimenting with flavouring the delicate sponge. I’m already thinking about lemon zest so I can fill it with curd.

I had a fantastic time catching up with friends and meeting some ladies who it turns out live quite close to me – I think a meet up may well be on the cards! I learned a lot and laughed a lot; the makings of a pretty perfect afternoon. Of course, I got to take home the pretty tasty results of an afternoon’s baking, and my husband was cutting the tart pretty much as soon as I walked through the front door, so I’d call that a result!

 

You can read more about the day, and find the recipes on the Currys Tech Talk website.

You can find out more about Wilmslow Kitchen Cookery School here.

And you can find me handing out cake to my family in a vain attempt to stop myself eating it all (although I had to have some, for quality control purposes, obvs)!

Thank you to Currys PC World, Kenwood and Joe Blogs as well as Wilmslow Kitchen Cookery School.

Happy baking xxx