Bake with Gemma - the time I made delectable danishes

I can just about cook (roast chicken anyone?), but I am not a baker.  I once baked a chocolate and peanut butter cake at the request of my husband and I proudly displayed my ambitious attempt for friends to see on Facebook.  Said friends responded with the likes of, “did you drop it Gemma?” and “what the hell is that?!”.  So you can understand my trepidation when I agreed to attend a Danish pastry baking course with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law run by Bake with Maria.

Classes are held in a small, cosy, yet well equipped baking lab in St John's Wood run by the lovely Maria in intimate groups of just eight (plenty of opportunity to make a fool of myself, or so I thought!).   But instead of being filled with contestants from the Great British Bake-off, the class with made up of a mixture of those who had previously baked and had no clue like me. 

The dough was provided for us, as it needs to rest overnight (phew!), but we weren’t to be fooled into thinking this would be an easy ride.  As out of this dough we would be rustling up a whole host of tasty pastry treats including cinnamon swirls, apple turnovers, pain au chocolats and my favourites, some very yummy marzipan ones topped with crème patisserie (the real name escapes me – I blame the baby brain). Heaven!

Although professional as Paul and Mary, Maria was warm, funny and encouraging as she gently took us through the pastry making process step-by-step.  First as we laminated our dough, or as I refer to it, squashed the butter in. As the dough rested we made our various mouth-watering fillings and lastly, we were taught how to fold and create our delicious danish delights.  To quell the clearly audible rumblings of our tummies, we were served some freshly baked bread, cheeses and chutneys whilst our carefully constructed pastries cooked in the oven.

My favourite evening outs generally consist of just eating rather than cooking, so I was surprised at how much I enjoyed myself.  Obviously leaving with two boxes filled with scrumptious pastries helped, but I genuinely loved the whole baking process, and it was great to feel the thrill of learning something new again.  Whilst I am under no illusion that I will be able to create pastries anywhere near as professional looking as those on the course, I will definitely be putting my new skills to good use by giving Danish pastry baking stab at home soon.

Cinnamon swirl anyone?

To book yourself on one of Maria’s courses (I highly recommend you do!) please visit…http://www.bakewithmaria.com

Gemma x