Cakes Cookery Class in London

Get ready for an extremely yummy read! Gemma and I were lucky enough to turn a cold wet evening into something special …a cake cookery class!

Our experience was with Cookery School,  a sustainable cooking school, who are located in Central London just off Oxford Street -perfect for a day of shopping before baking some delicious cakes. When we arrived, we met Jane and Edwin, who were our chef hosts for the day. They kindly welcomed us with a glass of chilled wine and a warmed savoury scone (Yum!) We hung up our coats and put away our bags in the lockers provided, then took our places at one of the worktop tables. The room was small, yet fully prepared with all ingredients and equipment neatly laid out ready. Once our group of 10 had all arrived, we were ready for the class to begin.

Jane begun the session with an informative introduction to the world of baking. Her tips and tricks were extremely useful, and ones I will be letting all my friends who are aspiring bakers know – for example, mix ingredients delicately yet quickly to avoid overmixing, as you want to keep as much air inside the mix as possible for the best bake.

It was now onto the making … and the messy part! Today we would be learning how to make the perfected whisked sponge. Different to your usual go-to sponge, this cake requires no baking powder, just an old-fashioned folding technique to naturally rise your cake. 

Whilst we waited for our sponges to bake, it was onto the next event: an apricot Swiss roll. Using the same technique as before, but adding the baking powder, we began mixing together the ingredients. 10 minutes later, our sponge was golden brown and ready for rolling in a quick smother of apricot jam. Off we rolled, using the baking paper to help! Although this seems difficult, it was actually relatively fun and easy. 

Out came our sponges ready for filling. Again, we chose a delicious fruit jam and a dusting of icing sugar. It was then ready to be boxed up to take back to the office! Jane gathered us around for an icing tutorial. My eyes lit up when she told us what we were making: a chocolate ganache topping!

Our final cake was one of my favourites: a classic lemon drizzle loaf - easy to prepare, and simple, yet indulgent to spoil guests with. I’ll definitely be making this recipe at home! The fresh lemon juice used in both the cake and icing was sweet and zingy, just as a lemon drizzle should be. Jane and Edwin had already been baking before our 3-hour session, so we had plenty to taste test, talk about and take home with us. This included devil’s food cupcakes, gluten free orange cake, carrot cake and an olive oil and sultana cake. All recipes are sent to you beforehand, so you can read over them and know what to expect in the class, as well as having something to refer back to.

The class was organised fantastically. We learnt a lot from our 3 hours spent in the session, and had a brilliantly scrumptious time! A huge thank you to Jane, Edwin and the Cookery School for having us! 

Here at Experience Days, we love cooking experiences. Especially when we have the opportunity to learn a little more about a cooking company itself. We have recently completed a partner interview with the wonderful Cookery School at Little Portland Street, to learn a part of its history and some interesting facts. This will, for sure, help towards purchasing the perfect cookery experience for yourself or a loved one.

To begin, how was Cookery School  at Little Portland Street created?

Cookery School at Little Portland Street founder, Rosalind Rathouse, was a school teacher in South Africa in the 1960s and had lots of experience in catering and food – including running a successful pie factory.  When a boy on his year off wanted to learn to cook but could not find a place in any of the handful of cookery schools that existed then, Ros said that she wished that she had time to teach him how to cook. With that thought Cookery School at Little Portland Street began. The following year Jake completed a course in the summer at Cookery School where he learnt to cook with confidence and skill.

Secondly, what would you say to an apprehensive first time cook, looking to complete one of your cookery experiences?

To throw yourself into it! You’ll learn so much more by actually ‘doing’ as opposed to reading recipes and trying to decipher the techniques and even the ingredients. At Cookery School at Little Portland Street, we have courses designed especially with the beginner in mind but in all of our classes, our cooks are really good at pitching the instructions to the level of the students. This means that everyone is challenged, and everyone leaves a lesson having learnt new things, yet feeling confident in the kitchen.

Can you tell us of any celebrity faces that have visited your wonderful cookery school at Little Portland Street?

We don’t really reach out to celebrities – that’s not our style. We welcome everyone in to learn decent home cooking. However, we did recently have a TV channel come in and film a gut health expert for an upcoming programme – we’re excited to see that aired.

There are plenty of cookery schools around, what makes yours especially unique?

Cookery School at Little Portland Street is the most sustainable cookery school in London. We ensure that we put the planet before all else; this means that we have an almost zero waste policy, don’t use plastics, cook with organic meats, local and seasonal produce. We aim to equip our students with the confidence to cook quality, home cooked food without the fads and work hard to demystify cooking.

How would you describe Cookery School at Little Portland Street in three words?

Sustainable, unpretentious and engaging.

Do you have any exciting future plans which you wish to share with us?

We’re constantly evolving our classes and looking to put new ones on based on the feedback from our students and what’s happening in the world. For instance, there is such a worthy demand for vegan classes, due to the increased number of people who have adopted that lifestyle, that we have extended our vegan class from 3 to 5 hours so that we can impart even more delicious recipes and knowledge to help them eat plant-based. We’re also really concerned about the extortionate amount of food that goes to waste in the UK so have created a class called Waste Matters - dedicated to the browning banana, the surplus potatoes and other bits and pieces people find themselves throwing away at the end of the week. We want to teach clever and creative ways to use up these ingredients to make easy, tasty dishes whilst reducing food waste.

Thank you, Cookery School at Little Portland Street, for finding the time to complete one of our partner interviews. We thoroughly enjoyed reading your answers and completely agree with you that it is such an important part of day to day life to be environmentally friendly. We especially love the idea of your Waste Matters cookery experience. You can view each of their experiences by clicking on the pictures!