The Sergeant's next proceeding was to question me about any large dogs in the house who might have got into the room, and done the mischief with a
whisk of their tails.
"I 'll go to her." And Polly
whisked out of the closet as suddenly as she had
whisked in, leaving Tom sitting on the boot-jack, with a radiant countenance.
INGREDIENTS SERVES 12-15 n 100g caster or granulated sugar n 2 medium eggs n 70g salted butter, plus extra for greasing n 135g plain flour n 1tsp baking powder n 3/4tsp culinary lavender buds n 30ml whole milk For the decoration: n 40-45ml lemon juice n 200g icing sugar n Black food dye METHOD 1 Put caster sugar and eggs in stand mixer (or use handheld electric
whisk).
Make the saffron milk, then place the butter and sugar in a bowl and
whisk until light and fluffy.
Whisk the egg whites in a large clean dry bowl until they form stiff, moistlooking peaks and you feel confident that, if the bowl was turned upside down, the egg whites wouldn't fall out.
Gradually
whisk in the sugar a teaspoonful at a time until it has all been added then
whisk for a minute or two more until very thick and glossy.
Whisk vigorously to form a smooth paste (a roux), then
whisk in the remaining 1 1/4 cups milk.
In a separate large bowl, pour in the cream and
whisk using an electric hand
whisk or balloon
whisk, until soft peaks form and curl over a little when you lift the
whisk out of the mixture.
Place 200g self-raising flour, 120g caster sugar, 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda and 1/2 tsp salt in a bowl and
whisk to mix.
Put the egg whites into a clean bowl and
whisk. Start at a low speed and then gradually increase until you get soft peaks.
Place the egg yolks into a mixing bowl, and once the sugar and water have been boiling for 2 minutes, set the electric
whisk to medium speed.
I highly recommend an electric hand
whisk for this, and that is based on personal experience.