Kitchen Whispers Issue 4 - Montreux
From My Kitchen, Whispers and Titbits: Issue #4 - chocolate cake and coffee with Freddie
Welcome to the 4th edition of "From My Kitchen, Whispers and Titbits"!
We're piggybacking on last week’s CERN trip and heading into the mountains. I may have got a bit carried away with this one and blown the email size limit, so please click through to read the full post online. If you enjoy what you read, I'd be grateful for a thumbs up!
It's an agreed early start with the Uni boy, 6:30 am. A lie in for myself, at the expense of no coffee! Staying on the outskirts of Geneva due to our CERN visit, we are a good way out from the train station for a trip to Montreux.
He's up though, and we are ready. The tram came by just as we stepped through the sliding doors of the hotel. He sleepily asks if that is the one we need, shall we run? The stop is a good 300 metres away, my rucksack heavy with water and a few supplies. I’m cognisant that waiting for the next one will just create tension in the schedule of the day, and in a split decision, I say yes.
We make it, and for a few seconds there is that feeling that it might wait for 5 minutes, making us feel like idiots! Then gravity forces us into our seats, and despite our lungs’ complaints and our hearts pounding at the exertion so early in the morning, we acknowledge the success with a sleepy smile.
I'm ready for sustenance. The station has plenty of options, I ask him what he’d like and he tells me he won’t eat anyway. Something about it being so early! So we forgo (my coffee!) for the sake of making the next train. It’s 7:19, a gamble to find platform 5 for 7:23. More exertion! We sprint up the steps, and the train is there, ready. It says Brig, but no sign of Montreux. I put my faith in the system, and we jump on.
The sound of the doors locking is our queue to accept the decision has been made, and I breathe a sigh of relief as I see Montreux flash by on the list of destinations.
Within minutes, we’ve breached the invincible walls of the city, the lake there on our right. I’m torn between writing and watching the view roll by. In the distance, Mont Blanc covered in a coat of white. Closer, there are silhouettes of jagged teeth against the backdrop of the lake. A haze hovering above the water creating that feeling of picture postcard worthiness. The sun is shining, and the train just glides along as we sit in what feels like a luxury, even though it’s 2nd class. I could do with a sip of coffee just now!
An hour or so later, we reach Montreux and hit a perfect little bakery just across from the station offering supplies for the day and .....coffee. Not thimble expresso cups that the Europeans seem to like, but proper medium-sized cups that I like. A pain aux raisin that was definitely in the fit to be called a pain aux raisin category. Although the lady insisted it was called an Escargot, due to the resemblance of a snail’s shell and how it uncurls as you eat it.
We walk down to the shore and I take my coffee with Freddie. The statue is perfect as he looks out at the majesty of the lake. I keep hearing the words this could be heaven for everyone, and make a note to listen to that album again.
It’s time to catch the cog railway, I’m keen to make use of the mountains somehow. Yesterday was the boys’ day, our trip to CERN. Today is more of a nod to taking in the beauty of Switzerland, and my choice. Crack the height with one of the magical trains that sit in the mountains. Then walk across to a pickup point and get the train back down. Then get a boat.
The boy I'm surprised to see is slow, and a little intimidated by the height. I thought I’d be struggling to catch up. Perhaps my Munro walking has been doing me some good. The views are amazing, and I count myself as being blessed; the words this could be heaven for everyone indeed.
We miss the connection by about 5 minutes, which kills the boat sailing plan from Montreux to Lausanne. I take the positive that at no point did I rush the boy, and I did enjoy sitting on that midway bench watching the world go by. I helped a fellow walker who’d not packed enough water for the day. He was wearing an EESA cap and I a NASA cap, which made him smile.
Sitting in the shade of Caux station, we ate our picnic, glad that we’d bought provisions below. He fell asleep on the route down. I fought the urge, desperate to absorb all the views I could. With an easy connection to Lausanne, we wandered down to the lake, and we took an Ice Cream. Sitting at a little jetty, I told him to go paddle, cool his feet down.
Oh, how the years have flown by. Only yesterday, I would have been holding his hand, paddling by his side, but making sure he didn’t fall in. I wonder at what point he will start to take care of me and if he’ll reflect on these last couple of days. It’s been a long time since we spent this much time together.
We head up into the old town via the Metro. Wow, another piece of brilliant modern engineering. It looks like Lausanne is going through a huge process of modernisation at the same time preserving the old. There are still steps to climb to make it to the Cathedral. I’m keen to go in, the organ is playing, and it’s amazing. The power of space, the light coming through the stained glass, its all very moving.
Thoughts transition to food and how to make it back to Geneva. We didn’t eat well the night before. Later than expected, the hunt for somewhere and the shock of the Swiss franc. Tonight we want to eat early, which is a challenge as I start to look things up, kitchens not opening until 6:30-7. I’m keen to be on a train back by then. Then we stumble across an Italian with a kitchen always open sign. There seems to be a wave of pre-dinner apéritifs going on. We order food before the next wave comes in. A pair of violinists take up residence across the way. They’re good. The clock strikes 6, and the shop across the way has a clock where soldiers come out of little doorways and disappear again. So much to take in, besides the food.
Our bellies full of pizza, glad that it’s downhill to the station, and we mosey on down knowing we made a good day of it. Coffee, with Freddie!
🍳 From My Kitchen
There are those times you don't really want to think too much about a cake, just something that needs turning out (still with love and care), but fail-safe and a crowd pleaser. For years, we've relied on this little number based on Annie Bell's Chocolate Cake. Rather than the two-tin sandwich approach, we place the cake mix into a rectangular tray bake tin. Reduced the sugar and the cocoa and used my own sour cream icing. Perfect for transportation, just don't forget it....like I did last night!
For the cake
cocoa powder - 65g
boiling water - 200ml
bicarbonate of soda - ¾ teaspoon
medium eggs - 4
light muscovado sugar - 300g
groundnut oil - 175g
self-raising flour - 200g
Prepare the cocoa powder mix first by pouring boiling water onto the cocoa powder in a jug or medium bowl. Whisk until the lumps have gone.
Whisk the bicarb in and then leave to cool, whilst you prepare the tin (butter or oil the cake tin and line with baking paper) and the other ingredients.
Turn the oven on to your cake baking temperature, for us it’s 180°C with a fan. The recommended settings are 160°C fan/180°C electric/gas 4.
Whisk together the eggs and sugar until the volume increases.
Add the oil and then whisk in until combined.
Sift the flour into the mix and then fold through.
Stir in the cocoa solution.
Pour the mixture into the tin, a sharp tap on a work surface to bring up any air bubbles.
Bake the cake for 30 minutes until risen and firm to the touch.
Bring out the oven and leave it to cool
Chocolate Icing/Ganache
milk chocolate - 200g, broken into pieces
Sour cream - 150 ml pot
Set up a double boiler by placing a heatproof bowl over a saucepan with 2-3cm of simmering water (water shouldn't touch the bowl bottom).
Add the chopped chocolate to the bowl and stir occasionally until completely smooth and melted, about 5-10 minutes.
Remove from heat, let cool for 2-3 minutes, then gradually whisk in the sour cream until you achieve your desired icing consistency.
Note: Add the sour cream slowly whilst stirring to prevent the mixture from splitting, and ensure the chocolate isn't too hot when combining or it may curdle the cream.
Maltesers or Smarties can be used for further decoration or a birthday number, and a word of warning is not to do this too far in advance, as the Maltesers or Smarties might sweat.
👨🍳 Whispers from the Grapevine, From One Kitchen to Another
So the obvious whisper this week is from Annie Bell, with How to Cook. I've mentioned it before as the book I wished I'd been given when I was starting out so many moons ago. We actually have a couple of her books now. We first came across her work in a tea room called the 'Wee Blether', which offered all manner of sweet treats and had a shelf full of books to browse. There we discovered Annie Bell's Baking Bible, so when How to Cook came along, it was a no-brainer in terms of where I was with my cooking journey. So many essentials and a refreshing bible of old favourites.
If you’re interested in California cuisine, then you need to check out this substack from Betty. Regular mouth-watering (recipes) whispers from her kitchen, love this intro to her Newsletter:
✍️ Scribbled Discoveries: Titbits of Note
Bit of a music theme this week with the titbits, in honour of having coffee with Freddie:
1. Made In Heaven
Given that I had coffee with Freddie, I was interested in the last music that was produced by Queen. I went down a bit of a rabbit hole with this one, Fascinating reading if you are pseudo Queen fan.
Taken from the album Made In Heaven. The fifteenth and final studio album by the British rock band Queen
2. Saoirse Ronan and the 50th Anniversary of Talking Heads first live performance
What better tune to take a voyage through the spectrum of human emotion with the fantastic Saoirse Ronan. The song was released in 1977 without a video, and it's nice to see it put right:
3. Billy Joel
My wife and I are working through a few Billy Joel gems at the BBC, A grey whistle test appearance, and his 100th appearance at Madison Square Gardens. Apologies if the link doesn’t work outside the UK.
Then I stumbled across this wonderful post about Billy Joel’s storytelling from D.K. Rose…..which reminded me of the time I played Angry Young Man at full pelt in the school hall, got locked out of the sound cupboard and couldn’t turn it off!
Once again, apologies for breaking the email newsletter length, and hopefully, the Substack gods will be merciful.
Lovely story Alex traveling with your son. Curious why the statue of Freddy Mercury in Montreux?
Looks like a great cake and I laughed as I imagined you forgoing the coffee. Billy Joel is an amazing storyteller and his best songs do just that - Scenes From An Italian Restaurant being one that springs to mind. I've just finished reading Richard Armitage's thriller Geneva set in, wait for it, Geneva.