Bake it Easy: Graham Herterich's favourite cookbook and some delicious summer bakes
Graham Heretich
Graham Herterich’s favourite cookbook growing up was a free one from baking spread Stork. A booklet that occupied the drawer below the cutlery drawer in most Irish homes, young Herterich was entranced by the recipes for buns and cakes and scones that lay within its pages.
"It was so simple and yet so perfect,” he crows down the phone to me. “It had a little tip section that taught you all about rubbing in the butter and creaming in the sugar – it was an education in a tiny book.” Thanks to the success of his Dublin-based bakery named after his moniker The Cupcake Bloke, Herterich’s first cookbook – Bake – is being published later this year with Irish imprint Nine Bean Books. In many ways it is an homage to that tiny Stork cookbook that was used most weeks in his mother’s home. Though a professionally trained chef with experience in many of Ireland’s most prestigious kitchens, he favours wholesome, tasty bakes for the home kitchen.
Food, he says, is all about nourishing the soul and that’s what he hopes to do with his recipes. “I truly believe that making a loaf of bread is more than just an action. It is an invitation to people you're going to share it to it's a symbol of generosity and a gesture of love.” The act of feeding people is a way of nourishing your soul while giving to others, he says.
This is not really surprising given Herterich’s background. Trained in cheffing at the Waterford Institute of Technology, he took on placements at Conrad Gallagher’s Peacock Alley and Mount Juliet. It was while working at Mount Juliet that he began to feel that his life was incomplete and that it was time to pursue something he had always dreamed of: becoming a priest.
Enrolled with the Carmelites, Herterich spent two years training with the religious order and says that it was one of the happiest times of his life. “They were two of the most amazing two years of my life, I do not regret it for one second”, he says.
Though he chose to leave the order, Graham says that his time with the Carmelites was extremely important. “I learned a lot about myself while I was with the Carmelites. I learned a lot of patience and a lot of acceptance. One of the of the things I left there with is the attitude that the glass is always half full, it’s never half empty for me.”
Not religious anymore, he lives what he calls a Christian life. “My thing now is to be good to each other and be good to yourself.” On June 29 2012, Graham married his husband Daithi and three weeks later Daithi was made redundant. The following October, Graham was made redundant. Recognising the opportunity for life change, they started The Cupcake Bloke which began as a stall on Dublin’s Coppinger Row, growing into a standalone bakery in Rialto. While he is the creative force behind the business, Graham credits the success as much to his husband as to himself.
And it’s the same with Bake, this beautiful compendium of achievable and supremely delicious bakes. The book, says Graham would never have been written without Daithi. “I suffer with dyslexia, so every page that I wrote, Daithi would be right there proofing it. It’s as much his as it is mine.”
Hummingbird Cake with Cream Cheese & Lime Frosting
The perfect zesty, creamy Hummingbird cake for a summer dessert
Servings
12Preparation Time
20 minsCooking Time
40 minsTotal Time
60 minsCourse
DessertIngredients
- For the cake:
350g self-raising flour
350g soft brown sugar
250ml olive oil
4 bananas, peeled & mashed
1 x 425g tin of pineapple, drained and finely chopped
2 medium eggs, beaten
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 orange, zested
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
50g pecans, roughly chopped
25g desiccated coconut
For the icing:
400g icing sugar
150g butter, soft
150g cream cheese
1 lime, zest & juice
To decorate:
1 lime, zest
Dried banana chips
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease and line two 23cm round cake tins.
Sift the flour and cinnamon into a mixing bowl and add the brown sugar and coconut.
In a separate bowl combine the chopped pineapple, mashed banana, oil, eggs, orange zest and vanilla.
Mix the wet and dry mixtures together until well combined and gently fold in the chopped pecans.
Divide evenly between your prepared tins. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until risen, golden and the sponges spring back when touched lightly in the centre.
Run a knife around the edge of the tins, then leave to cool for 10 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.
To make the icing, cream the butter and icing sugar together with a hand or stand mixer until pale and fluffy. Add the cream cheese, the lime zest and juice, and mix until just smooth – it’s important not to over-mix it. Keep in the fridge until needed.
Place one sponge on a cake stand and spread with half the icing. Top with the other sponge, spread over the rest of the icing. Finish with some lime and dried banana chips.
Lemon Posset with Pistachio Shortbread Crumble & Macerated Berries
A simple leemon posset complimented by pistachio shortbread
Servings
6Preparation Time
2 hours 20 minsCooking Time
60 minsTotal Time
3 hours 20 minsCourse
DessertIngredients
- For the lemon posset:
600ml cream
200g caster sugar
3 lemons, zest
75ml lemon juice
For the pistachio shortbread:
125g butter, cold and diced
180g plain flour
55g caster sugar
60g pistachios, roughly chopped
For the macerated berries
Mixed berries of your choice, I love to use raspberries for this recipe
Icing sugar
Lemon juice
Method
To make the posset. Put the cream and sugar in a large saucepan and gently heat, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to a simmer and bubble for 1 min.
Turn off the heat and stir in the lemon zest and juice. Divide between glasses or bowls.
Cool to room temperature, then carefully cover and chill for at least 3 hours, or up to 24 hours.
To make the shortbread first heat your oven to 150°C fan.
Rub the butter, flour, sugar and pistachio together with your fingertips until you have a crumble texture.
Pour the mixture onto a lined baking tray and bake for 15-20 mins until pale golden. Allow to cool.
For the macerated berries. Chop the mixed berries and season with icing sugar and lemon juice to taste.
Allow to stand for one hour before serving.
To serve the possets, top with berries and shortbread crumble.
Moroccan Orange & Almond Cake
A beautiful Morrcan Orange and Almond cake, sweet and fresh with a bite
Servings
12Preparation Time
2 hours 21 minsCooking Time
60 minsTotal Time
3 hours 21 minsCourse
DessertIngredients
Cake
2 oranges, washed
315g caster sugar
4 eggs, beaten
300g ground almonds
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground cardamom
For the orange syrup
1 orange, washed
100g caster sugar
60ml water
1 tbsp orange blossom water
To Serve: Crème Fraîche / Mascarpone
Toasted flaked almonds
Method
Bring a large pot of water to the boil. Wash the oranges and cook in the boiling water for 2 hours.
Remove from water and allow to cool to room temperature.
Cut the oranges in half and remove any pips/seeds, then puree. This step can be done ahead of time.
Preheat the oven to 160°C. Grease and line a 20 cm/8 inch cake tin with baking paper.
Beat the eggs and caster sugar with an electric stand mixer until thick and pale. Add the orange puree, ground almonds, baking powder, cinnamon and cardamom. Gently fold until just combined.
Pour the into the prepared tin. Bake for approximately one hour or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Allow to cool in the tin.
To make syrup, use a zester to remove the zest from the orange. Place the juice from the orange, sugar and water in a saucepan over low heat, simmer for 5 minutes until the syrup thickens slightly, add orange blossom water and zest. Cool slightly.
Drizzle the cake with syrup in the tin. To serve remove from the thin, cut into wedges and enjoy with some with crème fraiche or mascarpone & toasted almonds.
