Claudette Colbert's Claudette Colbert Cake

I've been putting off testing this as it looked like a bit of a challenge. It was, but it was worth it! Basically I made a Rita Hayworth's Angel Cake then followed Claudette's instructions for fancifying it with home made lemon curd filling and lemony frosting. Oh YUMSKI as my French colleague Marie-Agathe put it.

We've had a lovely redhead rockabilly girl working with us for a couple of months and she's such a peach I decided to make the cake for her last day. What a success it was. Everyone piled up to the mezzanine waiting for their slice - it was gone in a flash! I decorated it with little pink sprinkles and some mini eggs to make it look Eastery. A BIG success!

And by the way, I hereby award test cook Miss Dorothy an internet MEDAL for making this for an event at the Cinema Museum. It is the most time consuming cake I have ever made so bravo Ms D over there at the British Film Institute.

Rita Hayworth's Angel Food Cake

Hello Sailor!

Definitely feeling full of the joys of spring now that I have successfully made an Angel Food Cake. There is a picture of it on the flickr site - I personally have never seen anything like it!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fritzyritz/4414358525/

The secret is obviously all in the whipping. Last time I tried to whip the egg whites with one of those soup mulchers but it just didn't work. Has to be the old fashioned egg beater for sure.

Lord knows how I'll get it into work tomorrow!

Rita Hayworth's Angel Food Cake

I am seeing my Shellac Sister Jean this evening and I'd forgotten that she had quite a success with the Rita Hayworth cake. We are DJing at Kokos in Camden (formerly the Camden Palace) and I'm going to ask her about her egg white whisking between discs.

It's the first time I have really felt sad about the hundreds of records I had to leave behind when I split with Sidney. My CHRISTMAS 78s are all there so I have nothing festive to play tonight. Let's hope Clara has some Xmas Swing in one of her boxes.

Jean took her cake to work and got great feedback from colleagues, most saying how light it was (in marked contrast to the brick I made at the weekend). Some suggested accompaniments such as peach / apricot compote (Will in the Arts team), fruit and yoghurt (Auntie Jean) and stem ginger (Denise in the Sports team). Mmmm, that would be nice and Christmassy.

Speaking of which I'd like to wish all my readers the most fabulous Christmas and fantabulosa New Year. 2009 has been a bit crummy at times, but 2010 is going to be ace. As Bob Hope puts it, "My idea of Christmas, whether old-fashioned or modern, is very simple: loving others. Come to think of it, why do we have to wait for Christmas to do that?" Right on Bob!

So let's all have a great big love in, not just for Christmas - for always! Happy holidays.

Rita Hayworth's Angel Food Cake

"We are all tied to our destiny
and there is no way we can liberate ourselves."

Hmm, but what does destiny have in store for me Rita, Rita Peanut Eater?

I have a Rita Hayworth's Angel's Food Cake in the oven, to be followed by a Gloria Swanson's Devil's Food Cake. These are for a very special event happening tomorrow but I can't reveal what it is in case a certain someone reads this blog and twigs that there is a surprise party being hatched. It will be intriguing to see which of the guests chooses to be Angelic and who Devilish...

Yesterday was a lovely, lovely day. I finally got my waist length hair chopped to collarbone length so I can do some Rita style hairdos. Pincurls here I come. My new hairdresser is a peach! Her salon in Primrose Hill is full of original 1920s bits and pieces and she knows all about vintage hairdos. My appointment was at noon and the first question was, "Do you feel it is too early for a mulled wine?" Hell no! There were also homemade biscuits, yum, yum, yum!

I'd never met Lisa before, but she and her mum have test cooked LOTS of the Silver Screen Suppers recipes as my lovely friend Hugh had told them about the project. So I'll be posting their feedback here soon. Great, great, great to meet in person some test cooks who were previously just an email address...

Lisa's lovely salon - http://lisahauck.com

Rita Hayworth's Angel Food Cake

"After all, a girl is - well, a girl.
It's nice to be told you're successful at it."

I should say you were Rita! Extremely successful at it!

I'm going to be channeling Rita's spirit during my birthday week. I have bought myself a birthday gift - heated rollers - and will be attempting to do the Hayworth "do" for the work Xmas party tomorrow. Watch out Gilgamesh!

I thought as yesterday's post was about Devil's Food Cake, it would be nice to blog the Angel's Food Cake today. Olivia made this AGES ago so apologies for taking so long to write it up. I haven't tried this recipe myself but it's next on the list of things to offer to work colleagues for approval. Olivia proclaimed the cake to be highly enjoyable with a "light and slightly marshmallowy texture". Good for the waistline too as it is low in fat. Mind you, it does contain 9 eggs! No wonder it serves up to 16. These Hollywood folks sure knew how to feed the five thousand...