Bake it Easy: Graham Herterich's favourite cookbook and some delicious summer bakes
Heretich Graham
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
Summer Creamy Zesty, Perfect A The For Cake Hummingbird Dessert
Servings
12Preparation Time
20 minsCooking Time
40 minsTime Total
60 minsCourse
Dessertingredients
- For the cake:
Raising 350g Flour Self
Brown 350g Sugar Soft
Oil 250ml Olive
4 Bananas, Peeled Mashed &
425g And Of Pineapple, 1 Drained Finely X Tin Chopped
Beaten Eggs, Medium 2
Ground Tsp Cinnamon 1
Zested 1 Orange,
Vanilla 1 Paste Bean Tsp
50g Roughly Chopped Pecans,
Desiccated 25g Coconut
Icing: for The
Icing Sugar 400g
150g Butter, Soft
Cream Cheese 150g
& 1 Lime, Juice Zest
To Decorate:
Zest 1 Lime,
Banana Chips Dried
method
Preheat The 180°c 23cm Two Cake And Oven Line To Round Grease Tins
Into Mixing And And The The Coconut Cinnamon Bowl Brown And Sugar Flour A Sift Add
Zest Bowl A Oil, Orange Chopped Bine Banana, The Vanilla Separate Mashed Eggs, In And Pineapple,
Dry Gently Together Until Chopped Wet Mixtures Mix In And The Fold Pecans The Bined Well And
Touched Evenly In Centre For When The Bake Your Between The Tins 35 Back Golden To 40 Risen, Lightly Sponges Or And Prepared Divide Spring Until Minutes,
Tins, To Around A Cool 10 Transferring Knife Cool To The Run Of Leave Pletely Before Then Minutes To Racks The Wire Edge For
And Stand Just To Butter Cheese, In The And The Add Make Over A Mix To Mix Cream Until Cream Until Sugar Hand Keep Or Needed The – With Until Zest The Not Mixer Smooth Icing, Juice, And It’s Fridge Lime Together Pale Fluffy Important Icing And The It
Top Chips One With The Spread The The On Finish With Rest The Some Other Sponge, Of Dried And Cake Icing Lime Banana Half Sponge Icing And Over Stand Place Spread A With
Lemon Posset with Pistachio Shortbread Crumble & Macerated Berries
Shortbread By Pistachio Simple A Posset Leemon Plimented
Servings
6Preparation Time
2 hours 20 minsTime Cooking
60 minsTotal Time
3 hours 20 minsCourse
Dessertingredients
- For the lemon posset:
600ml Cream
Sugar 200g Caster
3 Lemons, Zest
Juice Lemon 75ml
for The Shortbread: Pistachio
Diced Butter, And Cold 125g
Flour 180g Plain
Sugar 55g Caster
Chopped 60g Pistachios, Roughly
Macerated Berries The For
Recipe Raspberries Love This Your Choice, For Use Of I To Berries Mixed
Icing Sugar
Juice Lemon
method
Min Saucepan Heat, In Dissolved And Bubble The Bring Stirring And Sugar Posset Simmer To 1 A For To Until Make And Gently Large A Sugar Cream Has The Put The
In And Stir The Or Zest Juice Off Divide The Between Bowls Glasses Heat Turn Lemon And
24 To Up Then And Hours, Least Cool Hours Room 3 Chill Or For To Carefully At Temperature, Cover
Fan Oven The To Heat Your First 150°c Make To Shortbread
Fingertips Sugar Together And Butter, Have Texture Crumble The Pistachio You Rub With Until Your Flour, A
20 Pale And Mixture Golden For The Pour Allow Until To Cool Lined Baking Onto A Bake Tray Mins 15
Icing For Macerated Chop To Berries Lemon Season Mixed The Sugar The Juice Berries And And With Taste
Allow For Before Stand Serving Hour To One
Crumble With Berries Shortbread Possets, The To Serve And Top
Moroccan Orange & Almond Cake
A Sweet Cake, Fresh With Morrcan A Almond Orange And Bite Beautiful And
Servings
12Time Preparation
2 hours 21 minsCooking Time
60 minsTotal Time
3 hours 21 minsCourse
Dessertingredients
cake
2 Oranges, Washed
315g Caster Sugar
4 Eggs, Beaten
Almonds 300g Ground
Tsp 1 Baking Powder
Cinnamon Ground 1 Tsp
½ Tsp Cardamom Ground
for The Orange Syrup
1 Washed Orange,
Caster 100g Sugar
60ml Water
Tbsp Orange Blossom Water 1
Fraîche To Serve: Mascarpone / Crème
Almonds Flaked Toasted
method
Wash Cook Bring For 2 Water Pot Boiling Hours In Of Oranges And The Large Boil To The Water A The
To From Room To Remove Cool And Temperature Allow Water
Remove Step Then Half Of Oranges Cut And Done The Puree Pips/seeds, Any Be Ahead In Time Can This
160°c A Inch To Preheat Baking Cm/8 Grease Cake Oven And With Tin Line 20 The Paper
The Thick And Cinnamon Eggs With Until And Until Beat Mixer An The Gently Add Caster Pale Orange Baking Bined Electric Almonds, And Stand Just Sugar Fold Powder, Ground Puree, Cardamom
Approximately One Pour For Bake Clean Centre Into Until Inserted Hour The The Into Or Out The A Es Tin Skewer Prepared
To In Allow The Cool Tin
Remove Zest The From Saucepan For Add And Slightly The Until Low Syrup In Heat, Blossom Simmer Place Sugar And Syrup, A Zester 5 Water Juice The Orange The Zest Over Make Orange Minutes Orange, The To Cool Slightly, Thickens A From Use Water To
Or To Mascarpone Serve Remove & Drizzle Tin Some Wedges Thin, In With Crème The The Toasted Enjoy Fraiche Into With From Cake And Syrup Cut Almonds With The