Let them have cake... and sponge at Abe's Cakes

PATISSIERS are notorious for their evangelical approach to their hallowed craft — and their short-sightedness beyond the refinements of éclairs, macarons, towering Croquembouche and Grand Marnier soufflés.

If it doesn’t whiff of liqueur, or boast tongue-twisters like dacquoise or genoise, it’s unlikely to hack it with the pastry elite.

Despite being initiated into its superior arts and sprung into the inner sanctum by esteemed master Michel Roux Sr, Abraham Padmanaban is straying into the nether world of British confectionery at Swindon’s newest bakery Abe’s Cakes.

Although the occasional choux and fine tartes grace his elaborate displays, the award-winning pastry chef and chocolatier has vowed to rehabilitate overlooked Albion favourites – from the humble shortbread to the ubiquitous sponge.

“Pastry is very divided,” says Abe. “But even when I trained I didn’t want to restrict myself, or choose one particular area. I love sugar work, chocolate work, creating desserts, every part of it. My base, my heart is French,” he pauses, a sheepish smile fleeting across his face.

“But what I do with it is combine it with other cuisines. For me cream cakes, Indian sweets, soufflés – it’s all great pastry. What I do is fuse them.”

As the eldest in the family, the Indian-born pastry chef was roped in to help his mother in the kitchen.

This early apprenticeship prompted him to enroll in a hotel management and food production course, where he discovered the wonders of world gastronomy and, crucially, classic French patisserie.

After a spell at the five-star Taj hotel in Chennai, he joined one of Celebrity Cruises’ exclusive ships. He honed his skill, religiously practicing and fine-tuning Michel Roux’s recipes – who acted as a consultant for the cruise liners’ high-end restaurants – and was put to the test by the hawk-eyed Frenchman on one of his many visits to test his troops and ensure standards were not slipping.

“He is a French pastry God,” gushes the 40-year-old. “He would come once in a while to train the chefs and whenever he tasted my food, I stood back and watched, really scared. But he never criticised anything. We used to make his own recipes and actually it’s through that that I found my love of soufflés. His recipe for chocolate Grand Marnier is the best I’ve tasted. He’s a great inspiration.”

Five years and a promotion as head pastry chef later, he made the move to the UK in 2006, where, after a brief period in Scotland, he settled in England and was offered a top spot at the four-star Donnington Valley Hotel in Newbury. There, he was given free rein to experiment with his sugar technique and dramatic chocolate sculptures.

Abe has scooped a string of awards from the Salon Culinaire International de Londres, for his eye-catching edible masterpieces – which range from intricate schooners to a striking replica of a Greek amphora.

At Donnington, he also trademarked his signature sweet ‘savouries’ –— inventive desserts cunningly disguised as English staples like fry-ups or sausage and mash.

He eventually left in 2012 – although he is still in charge of creating impressive chocolate displays during the festive season and on Valentine’s Day for the hotel – to run his own chain of eateries across the region. Itching to return to his first love, pastry, he wrapped up and sold the business to launch Abe’s Cakes in Market Street. The shop also operates as a front for Glace Fine Foods, a chocolate sculptures and pastry business aimed at luxury hotels and fine-dining eateries.

He counts Donnington, The London Marriott and the likes of the Swindon Marriott and Old Bank as clients.

“Pastry is my world, it’s everything to me,” he says bent over a chocolate hazelnut cake, deftly piping perfectly even swirls on shiny ganache.

“Ideas come to me all the time; it’s all in my head. I just do it all by feel, it’s quite natural.”

Even for someone with natural flair, churning out biscuits, wedding cakes, and Black Forest Gateau six days a week is no mean feat, he admits.

The one-man-band bakes and painstakingly decorates on average 150 cakes a week – 50 of them in one stretch and well into the night ready for the weekend rush on a Friday. He has taken many a commission with just hours’ notice since the shop opened its doors at the end of last year. When one distraught bride-to-be waltzed into the store pleading with him to create a tiered cake for hundreds of guests two days before her wedding, after a mix-up with her order at another bakery, he nodded calmly, discussed designs, and reached for the mixing bowl.

“I don’t want to be one of those places where you have to wait three weeks for a nice cake,” he shrugs. “And I want is to accommodate people as much as I can. If they want cake, they’ll get cake.”

Unlike many bakers, who offer a limited selection of plain cakes, focusing instead all their attention on icing and decorations, Abe spoils his clients for choice, with a range of alcohol-infused fluffy sponges and cream cakes including Grand Marnier (the apple doesn’t fall that far from the tree), Malibu and Pina Colada as well as free-from bakes. Other tempting flavours include mocha, mango, and butterscotch.

Loath to repeat the same design over and over, when it comes to commissions he prefers to pick customers’ brains — and the more whimsical or structurally-challenging the finished product, the better.

“It would just be boring for me. Thankfully so far I’ve been able to do whatever I’ve been asked. “Whatever I do it has to be right. Every time I work on a cake, it’s like it’s the first and last cake I’ve made.”

Abe’s Cakes is only the beginning, a step toward the chef’s life-long ambition of running his own factory specialising in bespoke chocolate art, sugar displays and fine desserts for restaurants and hotels.

“That’s the dream- maybe one day. But for now I have a lot to do with Abe’s Cakes.” And as if to prove his point, a woman bounces through the door casually ordering a family-sized cream cake for that very evening. “No problem,” smiles Abe. “When do you want to pick it up?”

Abe’s Cakes is based at 8 Market Street, Swindon. To place an order or for more details call 01793 484848, email admin@abescakes.com or go to the Abe’s Cakes Ltd Facebook page.

RECIPE

Abe's Hazelnut Sausage, Mash, and Plum Chocolate Gravy

Ingredients

Sausage

250g chocolate sponge

1 1/2 tbsp Nutella

200ml hot chocolate

2 gelatine leaves

Mash

200ml condensed milk

1tbsp Greek yoghurt

2tsp corn flour

Gravy

100ml water

1 plum

1tsp cacao powder

1/2tsp corn flour

Method

Sausage

Mix the chocolate sponge and Nutella. Shape like sausages and freeze for a few minutes.

Make a hot chocolate and mix in the gelatine.

Once the chocolate has cooled down dip the sausages quickly to form a skin.

Mash

Mix the condensed milk, corn flour and yoghurt. Put in the microwave for 2min and give a good stir. Repeat the process until it reaches a mash-like consistency.

Gravy

Boil water, cacao and corn flour. Add thin slices of plum and cook until it turns into a thick gravy.