Here at Ebury we love a good birthday celebration. Partially it’s about celebrating another year of our colleagues but mostly it’s about the cake!

It really is no surprise that we love cake, one look at our bookshelves reveals cookbooks of all shapes and sizes that celebrate their deliciousness. Staff can often be seen flicking through books looking for that perfect recipe, whether it’s a Christmas Cake from Delia’s Happy Christmas, a Chocolate Roll from Mary Berry’s Baking Bible, Pina Colada Cupcakes from Eat Me!, chocolate treats from Miss Hope’s Chocolate Box or an edible gift from Good Food: 101 Delicious Gifts we have the office sweet tooth covered

This week celebrated the birthday of our Publicity Assistant, Charlotte (and fed our cake addiction) with a Strawberry and Cream White Chocolate Sponge Cake from the Great British Bake Off. And the celebrations continue today with some amazing birthday cupcakes baked by Charlotte’s family.

Birthday Cakes like these and the Great British Bake Off has recently bought out the competitive bakers within Ebury and Friday has become cake day with someone bringing in temping goodies on a weekly basis. With new books due out later this year on cake decorating, I can only image the competition will heat up as the year progresses.

One thing though is certain, fitness books will begin disappearing from the Vermilion bookshelves as we attempt to counter the inevitable effect!

Kasi – Press Officer

CRÈME BRÛLÉE WITH CINNAMON SCENTED WHISKY ICE CREAM

Serves 8

For the cinnamon-scented whisky ice cream

500 ml double cream
2 vanilla pods
70 g caster sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
3 egg yolks
50 ml (2 drams) The Famous Grouse
2 shortbread biscuits

For the crème brûlée

500 ml double cream
1 vanilla pod
100 g caster sugar (plus an extra 6 tsp for the topping)
6 egg yolks
25 ml (1 dram) The Famous Grouse

To make the ice cream, place the cream in a saucepan and start to heat. Halve the vanilla pods lengthways and scrape out and reserve the seeds. Add the pods to the cream and bring to the boil, then add the sugar and cinnamon and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks in a large bowl then slowly whisk in the hot cream mixture.

Pour the mixture through a fine sieve into another bowl and whisk in the vanilla seeds. Allow to cool, mix in the whisky and crumbled shortbread biscuits and either churn in an ice-cream maker until frozen or pour the mixture into a freezer-proof container and freeze for 2–3 hours, or until set.

To make the crème brulee, preheat the oven to 140˚C (gas mark 1). Pour the cream into a saucepan. Split the vanilla pod lengthways and scrape the seeds into the cream. Finely chop the empty pod and add to the cream. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer gently for 5 minutes.

Beat the sugar and egg yolks together in a large heatproof bowl until pale and creamy. Bring the cream back to boiling point and pour it over the egg mixture, whisking all the time until thickened (this indicates that the eggs have begun to cook slightly).

Strain through a fine sieve into a large jug, stir in the whisky then pour into 6 ramekins until about two-thirds full. Place the ramekins in a large roasting tray and pour in enough hot water to come halfway up their sides. Place on the centre shelf of the oven and bake for about 30 minutes, or until the custards are just set and are still a bit wobbly in the middle. Remove from the water and cool to room temperature, then store in the fridge until ready to serve.

When ready to serve, sprinkle 1 level teaspoon of caster sugar evenly over the surface of each crème brulee, then caramelize under the grill or using a mini blowtorch. Leave to cool for a couple of minutes before serving. Serve each crème brulee with a generous scoop of whisky ice cream.

Recipe from The Famous Grouse Whisky Companion (Ebury) £9.99

Struggling with a little last minute shopping? We thought we would give you a hand with some great gift ideas. And the best part is books are so easy to wrap!

Last week I joined Ebury Illustrated Senior Editor Imogen Fortes and author Juliet Sears on a photoshoot for Juliet’s book, The Cake Decorating Bible, which we are publishing next year.

Armed with a long list of shots to get through, we meet at the studio early to make the most of the light. On the list of shots was some step-by-step sequences, to show readers exactly how techniques are done, as well as finished images for some of the recipes. Many of the cakes were pre-baked but Juliet spent much of the day icing and decorating them, some in parts, for shooting.

Lucky for me this meant that there were delicious cupcakes, cakes, icing and cake decorations in every stage all in need of eating once their photo had been taken.

We also had some fun building mini sets for the final shots with the boxes of props that had been delivered. It was such a busy and fun day that I thought you might like to have a little look at what we got up to…

Kasi - Press Officer

Now you can get all of the best recipes from your favourite chefs in your pocket!

We have just launched the My Kitchen Table iPhone and iPod Touch app. Download the app for free and get 40 delicious recipes from our eight wonderful chefs. If you want more, you can buy additional recipe collections at any time for just £1.99!

Plus iPhone 4 users can activate hands-free technology – press the hands-free button and you can move from step to step within a recipe without touching the screen. Visit the iPhone section of the My Kitchen Table website to find out more or just click here to download it straight onto your phone.

We have put so much work into the app and it really has been a labour of love. We really hope that you enjoy it – please let us know what you think by leaving a review on iTunes or telling us in the comments (or via Twitter and Facebook).

To celebrate the 10th Anniversary of Moro: The Cookbook, Sam and Sam Clark talk about life at Moro, their vision for the their first cookbook, the working day and give a tantalising taster of their summer menu. Recorded at Moro, these tracks capture the spirit and ethos of Moro, their passion for food and the unique recipes they create.

Voices of Moro by Ebury Cookery

Today sees the publication of Tom Aikens’ third cookbook, Tom Aikens Easy. Tom is a well known name in foodie circles and his last two books Tom Aikens Cooking and Fish have been received brilliantly by both Tom’s fans and press. Easy sees a bit of a change of direction and Tom brings us 200 simple yet tasty recipes that are perfect for the busy home chef.

Last week Tom kindly agreed to be filmed cooking some dishes from the book. As if to illustrate that Easy really was an apt title for the book Tom cooked 6 dishes from start to finish in just under two and a half hours!

Tom cooked Sardines with Shallot Chutney, Peppered Goats Cheese Salad with Pomegranate Figs and Walnuts, Spring Vegetable Tarte Fine, Salmon Baked with Juniper and Lemon Thyme, Spatchcocked Poussins with Lemon, Green Olives and Rosemary and finally Chocolate Pain Perdu – PHEW!

The recipes really were simple and fast and all made with readily available ingredients that you can pick up from the supermarket.

Watch Tom preparing the Peppered Goats Cheese Salad with Pomegranate Figs and Walnuts:

Perfect for this lovely weather we are having and really, really yummy (she says peering down at her increasingly large tummy!).

Louise - Marketing Executive

Miss Hope’s Chocolate Box is out now

My week just gets better and better. On Wednesday I was filming Tom Aikens cooking from his new cookbook Tom Aikens: Easy and today I was filming with the wonderful Anna Hansen cook delicious dishes from her stunning new book The Modern Pantry.

Anna’s book The Modern Pantry is out in June and we are all giddy with excitement about it at Ebury towers. We’ve already become addicted to her delicious food after she kindly did delicious cakes and biscuits for our sales conference (the Ginger Crunch is already a firm favourite of the Ebury bakers) and the spreads from the book have had us all drooling.

Today Anna was filming 3 videos of her cooking some of her most famous dishes for us to share with you all soon. I spent Wednesday night pouring over the recipes and ordering up all the ingredients we needed for the shoot. Everything was available to buy on one online grocery site which I though was pretty good except that the tub of ice cream I had ordered up turned out to be theatre interval sized! Still, we had everything and were ready to go.

Anna cooked her signature dish first, Sugar Cured Prawn Omelette with Smoked Chilli Sambal which was really pretty simple to make. You marinate the prawns for a day in advance but its quick to prepare and so worth it. Brilliant and really different. All Anna’s tastes are really fresh and clean but with amazing fusions of taste. The sort of thing you’d never image you could create at home, but I can testify to the fact that you can (it was filmed in a team member’s kitchen)!

She then went on to make her version of the popular classic honey comb ice cream flavour ‘Hokey Pokey Ice-cream. If you don’t know what this is, its like the inside of a Crunchie and its crazily fun to make. You heat all the sugary lovely ingredients, add bicarbonate of soda and watch is woosh into a massive load of honeycomb goodness. The one we made today looked like it might consume the whole house for a moment but it stopped growing just as we thought it might escape everywhere (Anna knew it wouldn’t of course!).

Finally Anna made her Crunchy Beetroot, Puy Lentil and Mint Salad with Pomegranate Molasses and Orange Dressing. Quick to put together and full of rich earthy flavours set off by fresh mint and orange flavours, it really is worth trying and looks stunning (impressive for a dinner party I reckon).

We finished off and Anna went back to The Modern Pantry restaurant and from there she was going on to Meza in Soho where there is currently a Modern Pantry Pop Up. If you can’t wait for the cookbook you should go along, but the book will be out in June – just 3 short months…!!! I went back to the office armed with a huge block of Hokey Pokey to get the Ebury staff started on their next addiction!

The videos for both Easy and The Modern Pantry will be available online soon, so watch this space.

Louise, Marketing Executive

Today is special, very special indeed, yes today Miss Hope’s Chocolate Box is revealed to the world. Let the celebration begin! May jousters joust, trumpets sound and jesters jest. May merry ladies in pointy hats prance about with unicorns and Errol Flynn swing by on a Hollywood vine for I, Miss Hope, your favourite funny confectioner, have written a new book full of raunchy anecdotes, silly people, long words, quips, witticisms, a few full stops and an occasional recipe for something chocolaty, with calories, guaranteed to widen your thighs sufficiently enough to prevent entry into Top Shop.

It’s doing rather well I’m told. Sainsbury’s Book of the month, Campest Recipe Book 2011 by the gay wing of Wormwood Scrubs and Best Door Wedge – Men Heart Hammers Monthly.

So go and buy it as I need the money for a gynaecological underpinning for my frail, elderly mother who is 96 and can’t have children.

Praise for my Miss Hope’s Chocolate Box:

‘I must say you are rather good at the writing lark, I haven’t laughed so much since Anthony Worrell-Thompson had to close his restaurants,’ Cristian Barnett

‘I have never made Griddle scones in my life,’ Miss Hope’s Mum.

‘There is a typo on page 58,’ A man in my office who should know better.

‘Don’t you think he is chubby enough?’ Mr Greenwood’s doctor.

So, if you fancy slipping into something more comfortable, like a sugar coma, this is the book for you. Au reservoir,

Miss Hope, author of Miss Hope’s Chocolate Box