Interview with Annie Herriott, Searcys’ Head of Product Development

We interview our Head of Product Development, Annie Herriott, about our new ‘Bakery Guides’

How did you begin your career in the food industry?

I have loved food forever. Some of my earliest memories were of pleasurable moments in our kitchen, me standing on a chair in my pinny, with my mum beside me and watching her make something for supper. The alchemy of turning raw food into deliciousness has always fascinated me. I went into business making cheesecakes and sausage rolls for my mother’s friends parties when I was 12 and started working on the deli counter in my village at 13. I worked with Prue Leith for 18 years and she guided me from where I started in the business organising parties to becoming responsible for food quality for her group of businesses. She rather embarrassingly called me ‘the tastebuds of Leith’s’.

What is your role at Searcys? How do your work-days vary?

I am lucky enough to be the Head of Product Development. It is a broad role that sees me involved with anything from new business through creation of a new menu and product concepts, such as the John Searcy Bakery, team training and product photography. Sometimes I am based in our support office, but what I really love is being in our venues and working with the teams there. Rarely are two days the same.

What is your favourite element of your role at Searcys?

That’s a tricky question. I work with a wonderful team of people and I love the creative side, when there are lots of Ideas flying around. However, I get enormous satisfaction from producing cohesive and user-friendly guides which I know will help our teams deliver the Searcys vision. Visiting a venue where the dream has been brought to life and is brilliantly executed is particularly pleasing.

Where do you get inspiration for your recipes from?

Everywhere really, we are constantly bombarded by food, in the papers and on the television and radio. It seems to be a journalists’ favourite topic. I’ve also been working with food for the past 35 years and have been an avid reader and collector of recipe books since I was 10. I’m lucky enough to have done a fair amount of travelling and I never come home without some ideas to try out.

On top of all of that, I am basically greedy and will always try something on the menu that I have never seen before. I love the way food develops and is reinvented. Keeping on top of food fashion can be a full-time job but I believe that delicious food is, and will always be, based on harmonious ingredient combinations, carefully prepared and skilfully cooked.

You have just created Searcys’ first bakery guide. What were you trying to achieve?

Quite simply, delicious bakes that are displayed well and that delight our customers. We believe in baking on-site, using seasonal, well-sourced ingredients and Including local signatures. We have made it easy to use. All the recipes have been trialled at least three times so that our teams can produce them with confidence. The aim is to make their lives easier and our bakeries better. An example of a signature we developed would be that for the John Searcys’ Bakery at The Alnwick Garden. There, we created a wonderful Percy Pineapple bake which honours the Duchess of Northumberland’s family’s long association with growing and revering this far from English fruit. It is super to be able to respect some local history in this way and give a real sense of place.

What is your favourite recipe in the bakery guide?

Coffee and walnut cake. It Is a gorgeous classic bake with tender crumbs and the comforting taste of coffee and walnuts, just perfect as a treat with a cup of Earl Grey tea in the afternoon. I will never tire of it.

Coffee and Walnut Cake

Serves 12

Indredients:

• 80g walnut pieces
• 260g caster sugar
• 260g unsalted butter
• 230g plain flour
• 5g instant espresso powder
• 12g baking powder
• 3g bicarbonate of soda
• 5 free-range eggs
• 30ml full-fat milk

Method:

For the cake,

• 1. Preheat the oven to 160˚C and grease and line a 1x 26cm cake tin.
• 2. Blitz the walnut pieces and sugar into a fine powder then add butter, flour, espresso powder, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and eggs and process to a smooth batter.
• 3. Add milk to loosen the mixture to a soft dropping consistency.
• 4. Place mixture in the lined tin and bake for 20 minutes or until cooked.
• 5. Allow the cake to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

For the buttercream,

• 1.Beat the butter until soft, then add the icing sugar.
• 2. Dissolve the espresso powder in 1 tbsp of boiling water and add to the buttercream whilst still hot, beating to blend the mixture.

To finish,

• 1. Slice the cake in half horizontally and place one half upside down and pipe in half the buttercream.
• 2. Sandwich with the other half, right side up, then cover with remaining icing – finish roughly. Sprinkle with walnut pieces.