A cooking teacher who taught me liked ‘rounding off’ the flavour of a cake by adding a tiny bit more of vanilla essence. Vanilla is the second most expensive spice, after saffron, due to its labour-intensive process of extraction. The best essence come from Madagascar and the most trusted brand is Nielsen-Massey. Avoid using imitation vanilla essence which will make your cakes taste plastic.
© 2012 All rights reserved. Published by Marshall Cavendish.