Vanilla & Strawberry Present Cake

                             

 Forget Heston's weird and wonderful creations, here is something you can easily make yourself, and the best thing is liquid nitrogen is not required.

This impressive and beautifully wrapped vanilla sponge cake is a sure fired winner, so go on give the gift of cake at Christmas.

The marzipan decoration adds that taste of Christmas, but alternatively you can use melted white chocolate mixed with gelatine to create the present ribbon, if desired.

Ingredients:

• 250g Butter
• 250g Caster Sugar
• 4 Eggs
• 1 tsp Vanilla extract
• 250g Plain Flour
• 4 tsp Baking Powder
• 3-4 tsp Milk

Method:

Use the creaming method for this cake.

1) Cream the butter and sugar

2) Slowly add the beaten eggs

3) Add the vanilla extract 

4) Fold in the flour and baking powder

5) Mix in the milk

6) Add to a greased square cake tin

7) Bake for 40minutes at gas mark 190c

Decoration:

• Strawberry Jam
• Strawberries
• Marzipan 

Wrapping the present:

• Roll out the Marzipan and cut out the following shapes:
• Two long strips, long enough to go across and down either side of the cake
• Two short strips, folded to create an oval loop (each side of the bow)
• Roll out a short strip to fold over the bow loops
• Two half sized strips, cutting the ends into a fork (ribbon end)
• Before wrapping the cake with the marzipan bow, cover the now cooled cake in strawberry jam.
• Next, wrap the cake with the marzipan ... two long strips to form a cross over the cake, add a loop to either side of the centre, cover the middle of the bow with the short strip.
• Cut the strawberries into halves and lay over the strawberry jam, to cover the area between the ribbon 
• Cut the remaining strawberries into slices to cover the sides of the cake.
• Finally, add the ends of the ribbon. Tucking each end under the bow and softly creating folds whilst laying the ribbon ends over the strawberries.

There you go, the one present you can share.....

Setting the perfect Christmas scene, to be enjoyed with your friends and family!

Asadal Korean Restaurant

Overall 4/5

 Great atmosphere, great for sharing and taking part in a new dining experience. 

Asadal Menu

Now, I live and have lived in Holborn previously for over a year but managed to brush past this gem of a restaurant. Located right next the to the tube, it is easily missed until you smell the aroma of intensely appetising food, tempting you inside. It is also a great sign when the customers are coming out telling you, you need to go in and I assure you they are not wrong. Expect to queue to get a table unless you have booked in advance, but again this is just another sign of the restaurants popularity and the restaurant is worth the wait.

This place is great for an entertaining and interactive meal, the tables have there own gas heated cookers in the middle, which are used for their popular BQQ meat meals.

Appetisers sampled included the  "Man Du soup" handmade dumpling soup- which had three handmade dumplings and pieces of egg in a steamy broth. The star however was "Pa Jeon", pancake made of egg, wheat and rice flour, pan fried with spring onions, oysters, muscles, prawn and squid. I find the English often overlook the different uses of pancakes and its ability to create a variety of dishes and be mixed with a large array of ingredients. These we both soft and crispy with different textures from the seafood.

The main dishes were the shows stoppers, although I feel the "Sam Gae Tang", Whole baby chicken stuffed with sticky rice, dates, ginseng, chestnuts, garlic slowed cooked and served in a broth, was a little disappointing in flavour, as it lacked much oomph and can only be described as boiled chicken.

However, I throughly reccommend the "Yu Khei Bibimbab" one of Koreas most popular dishes, consisting of rice topped with fresh and cooked vegetables, red chilli paste and raw beef. This is then mixed together by a very attentive server, which allows the meat and vegetables to cook together in the hot stone bowl and create a "harmony" of flavours.

The idea of Korean food is to bring diners together, to use food to socialise, as they believe sharing food with others is a way to experience love and togetherness. I throughly agree with this and believe the restaurant and atmosphere helps accentuate this message. The BQQ section is focused on sharing an inmate meal using your fingers and getting stuck in with the atmosphere of the place. The "Joo Moo Luk Kui"slices of sirloin seasoned with sesame oil and garlic, was full of flavour.

The waiter prepared the meat to medium rare as requested and then demonstrated how to eat the meal. You begin with a lettuce leaf and using the back of a spoon, dip it in bean paste then spread on the lettuce. Then dip the meat in sesame oil and wrap together. Now the waiter told me I had to shallow it in one go as that is how it is eaten in Korea. Though I had my doubts and decided to chew my food. It was very good all the same.

This restaurant ticks the right boxes for me and my first real experience of Korean food, was definitely a successful and enjoyable one.