People take baking at the Tullamore Show seriously. Sometimes too seriously.
“They had to sneak me out a back door one time,” admits Catherine Leyden, who will once again reprise her role as judge of the Odlums’ All-Ireland Home Baking Championship this Sunday. “There were two women going to go for me.”
Irish Country Living met up with Catherine to find out just what it takes to win first prize at the show. This year, finalists will be judged on three items: a decorated chocolate cake, an egg sponge with butter icing and jam, and – what Catherine deems to be the real test of skill – a bakewell tart.
Though, as fans of her TV3 slot will already know, Catherine makes it all look remarkably easy. But she is quick to emphasise that she’s doing it a long time and will, in fact, mark 40 years working with Odlums on 12 August.
“Before most of the people here now were born,” she laughs.
And she is keen to share the wealth of that experience in her down-to-earth style. For perfect pastry for the bakewell tart, for example, she keeps a block of butter in the freezer and grates the required amount straight in to the bowl of flour and caster sugar, using the cool blade of a knife to mix it, rather than over-handling it by rubbing it in with her finger tips.
“I also chill the pastry in the tin before baking,” she reveals. “Even if you stick it in the freezer for about 10 minutes, the contrast between the high temperature in the oven and the cold pastry will crisp it up and you won’t have the famous soggy bottom.”
Her chocolate fudge cake recipe – or “death by chocolate” as she quips – is similarly stress-free, though for those with an eye on the prize, there are ways to aim for perfection.
“Get the cake as evenly in the tin as you can,” she says, as she pours the intoxicatingly chocolaty mix between two sandwich tins. “A lot of people will actually weigh the exact amount of mixture into the tin to have the two halves perfect.”
Standards are very high at Tullamore, with approximately 40 bakers having qualified for the All-Ireland competition from agricultural shows all over Ireland.
“Some will travel through the night to get there,” says Catherine, who arrives on site by 9.30am to begin judging, with 50% of marks awarded on taste, followed by texture and presentation.
“I go through gallons of water,” she says. “But I cut everything and you know by the feel of it how good or how bad it is, and when you turn it over, that’s when a lot are eliminated. You see an awful lot by cutting and tossing over a wedge of a cake.”
When deciding on first place, however, the competition is often so close that only a half mark could separate first and second place. Catherine is always on hand after the show to share tips with people on how they can improve for next year, and she is especially enthusiastic about encouraging younger bakers.
The rise in popularity of home baking means that Catherine is busier than ever. Apart from her TV3 slot, she is constantly testing new recipes (most recently for Odlums’ range of “Bake Your Own” easy mixes, like tomato and fennel bread and chocolate brownies, due in September) or answering baking queries, which, perhaps surprisingly, are still about getting the traditional things right.
“With all the trendy ideas, people still love an apple tart with custard or cream, fruit crumble or a fresh cream sandwich,” she smiles. “You just can’t beat it.”
Winning recipes
Bakewell tart pastry
175g/6oz Odlums cream plain flour
125g/4oz margarine or butter if you prefer
1 tbsp caster sugar
Cold water (6-7 tbsp)
Filling
Raspberry jam
25g/1oz Odlums cream plain flour
75g/3oz margarine
75g/3oz caster sugar
Few drops of almond essence
2 eggs
100g packet Shamrock ground almonds
25g/1oz Shamrock semolina. If you don’t have this, use an extra 25g/1oz plain flour
Icing sugar for dusting
Preheat oven to 190°C (375° F/Gas 5). Lightly grease a 20-23cm/8”-9” flan dish, tin, ring or a 28cm x 18cm (11” x 7”) swiss roll tin.To make the pastry, sieve flour and sugar into a bowl. Rub in the margarine, then add sufficient water to make a soft dough.Transfer the dough to a floured surface and lightly knead. Roll out and use to line the tin.Spread bottom of pastry with the jam.For filling, beat margarine, sugar and almond essence together until soft, then beat in the eggs and flour.Finally, mix in the almonds and semolina, then spoon this mixture over the jam. Use pastry trimmings to make a design on top.Bake for 30-40 minutes until the filling is firm. Cool slightly, remove from the tin, and sift the icing sugar on top.Serve with custard or crème fraîche.Chocolate fudge cake
Dry ingredients
175g/6oz of Odlums cream flour
2 heaped tbsp of cocoa, sieved
A pinch of bread soda
150g/5oz Shamrock light muscovado sugar
Liquid ingredients
150mls/ ¼ pint sunflower oil
150mls/ ¼ pint natural yoghurt or soured cream
2 eggs
2 tbsp golden syrup
For the icing
300g/10.6oz chocolate
125g/4oz butter
Small carton of cream
1tsp vanilla extract
200g/7oz icing sugar
Preheat your oven to 180°C (350°F/Gas 4).
Grease and line two 7” sandwich tins.Place all your dry ingredients in a bowl and mix together.Place all the wet ingredients in a jug and beat together with a mixer.Add your wet ingredients to your dry ingredients, mix with a spatula and then place in the prepared tins.Bake for 40 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare icing by heating cream, butter and chocolate over a low heat until melted. Remove from heat, add vanilla and beat in the sieved sugar. Once the cake has cooled completely, use icing to sandwich and cover the cake.For more recipes and further information on the Tullamore Show, visit www.tullamoreshow.com and www.odlums.ie.
People take baking at the Tullamore Show seriously. Sometimes too seriously.
“They had to sneak me out a back door one time,” admits Catherine Leyden, who will once again reprise her role as judge of the Odlums’ All-Ireland Home Baking Championship this Sunday. “There were two women going to go for me.”
Irish Country Living met up with Catherine to find out just what it takes to win first prize at the show. This year, finalists will be judged on three items: a decorated chocolate cake, an egg sponge with butter icing and jam, and – what Catherine deems to be the real test of skill – a bakewell tart.
Though, as fans of her TV3 slot will already know, Catherine makes it all look remarkably easy. But she is quick to emphasise that she’s doing it a long time and will, in fact, mark 40 years working with Odlums on 12 August.
“Before most of the people here now were born,” she laughs.
And she is keen to share the wealth of that experience in her down-to-earth style. For perfect pastry for the bakewell tart, for example, she keeps a block of butter in the freezer and grates the required amount straight in to the bowl of flour and caster sugar, using the cool blade of a knife to mix it, rather than over-handling it by rubbing it in with her finger tips.
“I also chill the pastry in the tin before baking,” she reveals. “Even if you stick it in the freezer for about 10 minutes, the contrast between the high temperature in the oven and the cold pastry will crisp it up and you won’t have the famous soggy bottom.”
Her chocolate fudge cake recipe – or “death by chocolate” as she quips – is similarly stress-free, though for those with an eye on the prize, there are ways to aim for perfection.
“Get the cake as evenly in the tin as you can,” she says, as she pours the intoxicatingly chocolaty mix between two sandwich tins. “A lot of people will actually weigh the exact amount of mixture into the tin to have the two halves perfect.”
Standards are very high at Tullamore, with approximately 40 bakers having qualified for the All-Ireland competition from agricultural shows all over Ireland.
“Some will travel through the night to get there,” says Catherine, who arrives on site by 9.30am to begin judging, with 50% of marks awarded on taste, followed by texture and presentation.
“I go through gallons of water,” she says. “But I cut everything and you know by the feel of it how good or how bad it is, and when you turn it over, that’s when a lot are eliminated. You see an awful lot by cutting and tossing over a wedge of a cake.”
When deciding on first place, however, the competition is often so close that only a half mark could separate first and second place. Catherine is always on hand after the show to share tips with people on how they can improve for next year, and she is especially enthusiastic about encouraging younger bakers.
The rise in popularity of home baking means that Catherine is busier than ever. Apart from her TV3 slot, she is constantly testing new recipes (most recently for Odlums’ range of “Bake Your Own” easy mixes, like tomato and fennel bread and chocolate brownies, due in September) or answering baking queries, which, perhaps surprisingly, are still about getting the traditional things right.
“With all the trendy ideas, people still love an apple tart with custard or cream, fruit crumble or a fresh cream sandwich,” she smiles. “You just can’t beat it.”
Winning recipes
Bakewell tart pastry
175g/6oz Odlums cream plain flour
125g/4oz margarine or butter if you prefer
1 tbsp caster sugar
Cold water (6-7 tbsp)
Filling
Raspberry jam
25g/1oz Odlums cream plain flour
75g/3oz margarine
75g/3oz caster sugar
Few drops of almond essence
2 eggs
100g packet Shamrock ground almonds
25g/1oz Shamrock semolina. If you don’t have this, use an extra 25g/1oz plain flour
Icing sugar for dusting
Preheat oven to 190°C (375° F/Gas 5). Lightly grease a 20-23cm/8”-9” flan dish, tin, ring or a 28cm x 18cm (11” x 7”) swiss roll tin.To make the pastry, sieve flour and sugar into a bowl. Rub in the margarine, then add sufficient water to make a soft dough.Transfer the dough to a floured surface and lightly knead. Roll out and use to line the tin.Spread bottom of pastry with the jam.For filling, beat margarine, sugar and almond essence together until soft, then beat in the eggs and flour.Finally, mix in the almonds and semolina, then spoon this mixture over the jam. Use pastry trimmings to make a design on top.Bake for 30-40 minutes until the filling is firm. Cool slightly, remove from the tin, and sift the icing sugar on top.Serve with custard or crème fraîche.Chocolate fudge cake
Dry ingredients
175g/6oz of Odlums cream flour
2 heaped tbsp of cocoa, sieved
A pinch of bread soda
150g/5oz Shamrock light muscovado sugar
Liquid ingredients
150mls/ ¼ pint sunflower oil
150mls/ ¼ pint natural yoghurt or soured cream
2 eggs
2 tbsp golden syrup
For the icing
300g/10.6oz chocolate
125g/4oz butter
Small carton of cream
1tsp vanilla extract
200g/7oz icing sugar
Preheat your oven to 180°C (350°F/Gas 4).
Grease and line two 7” sandwich tins.Place all your dry ingredients in a bowl and mix together.Place all the wet ingredients in a jug and beat together with a mixer.Add your wet ingredients to your dry ingredients, mix with a spatula and then place in the prepared tins.Bake for 40 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare icing by heating cream, butter and chocolate over a low heat until melted. Remove from heat, add vanilla and beat in the sieved sugar. Once the cake has cooled completely, use icing to sandwich and cover the cake.For more recipes and further information on the Tullamore Show, visit www.tullamoreshow.com and www.odlums.ie.
This is a subscriber-only article
SHARING OPTIONS: