Yum…raspberry cream cake

There is nothing better than raspberries to herald summer.  We are lucky here in HK to get the best raspberries the world has to offer flown to our shores.   Raspberries have a subtle taste that works well with the light sponge and cream cake.  Make sure that you sift the dry ingredients three times- it makes for the lightest sponge cake.

Even the colours are gorgeous…the mixture of yellow and pink and the flavours- say no more….tart raspberries, sweet sugar, fluffy cream…yum!!!

For cake:

5 eggs

1/2 cup  white sugar

1 1/4 cups cornflour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease two 8-inch round cake pans. Line the bottoms with parchment paper.

Sift cornflour, baking powder and salt together 3 times.

Separate egg whites from yolks carefully making sure no yolk is mixed into the white.

Beat whites with a pinch of salt until stiff peaks form.

Gradually add sugar and yolks one at a time, beating until sugar dissolves. Add vanilla. Add cornflour mixture to egg mixture. Gently fold in the dry ingredients until just barely mixed through.

Divide mixture between prepared pans. Bake for 20 to 22 minutes or until cake spring back when touched. Line a wire rack with baking paper. Turn cake out onto wire racks to cool.

For the filling and topping:

1 punnet fresh raspberries

1 1/4 cups whipping cream, whipped

2 tsp icing sugar

Hot pink decorating sugar (from Complete Deelight)

Garnished with edible flowers

Whip cream and mix in icing sugar to sweeten.

Top one cake with layer of cream and sprinkle on some pink sugar, place raspberries on top of cream and then top with the second cake.  Using a piping bag, pipe cream in a decorative pattern and top with pink sugar.   Garnish with raspberries- or if you can find some- edible flowers.

Cool… emma bridgewater & scones

There is nothing I like better than afternoon tea.  There are plenty of places in HK to go…I will talk  about the best places one day.   However, today the rain was bucketing down and we decided to stay home and enjoy our own scones with jam.

I am a bit of an ad hoc cook- I tend to throw everything in bowl, not worrying too much about measurements, I judge the mixture by proportion.  So I will give you my recipe for scones- pretty foolproof and feel free to substitute ingredients- I always do.

Joanne’s Scones

• 3 cups (450g) plain flour, plus extra for dusting tray

• 6 teaspoons baking powder

• ¼ teaspoon salt

• 75 g chilled butter, chopped

• 1 to 1½ cups (250ml-325ml) milk, approximately
  extra milk, to glaze

• Preheat oven to approximately 200 oC, rub butter and salt into sifted flour and baking powder until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
• Add milk gradually until combined with a knife and it turns into a soft dough.   Knead a few times and then turn onto a floured board, rolling the dough approximately 2cm thick.   Cut with scone cutter or small glass.
• Put the scones close together on a tray.  This helps them rise.   Brush tops with milk and then bake for around 10 minutes or until golden brown.
• Enjoy with cream and jam and a pot of Earl Grey tea.   Yum!

Our Emma Bridgewater pottery sets off the scones beautifully.  Her simple designs are hand painted onto pottery made traditionally in Staffordshire.   Even though we were in the midst of high rises here in HK, we were transported to the English countryside.

You can find  Eclectic Cool’s range of Emma Bridgewater ceramics here.

Cool… MYdrap

MYDrap is a Spanish brand of table linen with  twist.   Instead of  tired old linen becomes yellowed and stained with time, this linen comes on a roll so that you can rip off the exact quantity that you need.   It can be washed and reused up to 5 times so this linen becomes extremely cost effective, working out to be a few cents per use.

Made from completely biodegradable, compostable and recyclable 100% cotton, MYDrap’s linens are great for the environment too.

We are stocking it in a range of colours, with more colours and even patterns (cute ginghams and spots) available to order.   Come and visit us in Ap Lei Chau if you want to see the range.

Perfect for parties where paper napkins just will not do, try them out!

Cool… click to add drama

In a quiet square in Belgium, someone pressed a button…..

Cool… sassy hong kong

If you want to know exactly what is happening in HK you have to check out Sassy Hong Kong.   You may know that I occasionally write about all things design for Sassy Mama but its younger more hip version has heaps of info that is great for anyone who lives in Hong Kong and loves a good time.  Packed full of tips, events and happenings this should be your go-to place to discover  the best that HK has to offer.

PS: Soon EC will be doing even more with Sassy: interior styling and tips: all geared for living in HK!  See you at sassy hong kong

Cool…cr by carine roitfeld

I am very excited to hear about the new magazine Carine Roitfeld, former editor of Paris Vogue, is launching very soon.    The biannual mag will launch in September and will be based in New York. Each issue will have a certain theme and will be much more in the style of in depth interviews and articles as well as fashion stories.

As an influential style leader, no doubt her mag will be original and daring and will hopefully give us something cool to look at twice a year.

Cool…the best shelter magazines

I do love a printed magazine, but I am loving the new online home magazines that you can find on the net. I’ve picked the best four in my opinion-but am open to suggestions!

Matchbook Magazine  is tagged ” a field guide to a charmed life” and is characterized by its ladylike images, bright colours and female focussed stories.  It does have some wonderful interview with American designers and some great peeks into their private spaces.

Est Magazine is based in Australia and every page shows the Aussie clean aesthetic- it is all bright spaces with splashes of colour.  It has a very heavy bias towards Scandinavian interiors, which personally I love but not a lot of vintage.

Array Magazine is the mag for the New York Design Center and encompasses a range of styles from Hamptons relaxed to the Soho Cool to formal Fifth Avenue.  Again they access great US designers and design writers which is always interesting.

The first, biggest and, some would argue, the best shelter mag is Lonny.   Founded in October 2009 by designer Michelle Adams and photographer Patrick Cline, Lonny is bi-monthly and accesses cool interiors of the rich and famous in the design world such  Cath Kidston to Kelly Wearstler.

The best thing about these mags is that they are 1. free 2. land in your inbox and 3. they generally link straight to advertisers and stores that sell the products.   If following design blogs is too time consuming, sign up to one or all of these.  It really is one of the highlights of my day when one of these lands in my inbox.

ECLECTIC COOL ONLINE STORE NOW LIVE

You may notice that we look a lot different…we have updated our blog and now we have a great new website that includes a curated range of products from all over the world. Hopefully it will be easy to find your way around.  We have worked hard and will value any feedback that you give!

CHECK US OUT….

THE SITE

www.eclectic-cool.com

THE BLOG

www.eclectic-cool.com/blog

THE STORE

www.eclectic-cool.com/store

COMO IN WINTER

Como is a destination that is teaming with people in the summer.  Famous for the magnificent lake, it is a summer vacation spot for the rich and famous.  Its most famous resident is George Clooney who has a fabulous house there.

The lake itself was as beautiful as always but seemed quite bereft without boats cruising around at fast speeds. In fact, it seemed almost unrecognizable.  Is its glamour because of the people that visit or its natural surroundings? However, though it had a melancholy air, it did retain an aura of romanticism, even if I had to pull up my collar against the chilly air.