Katherine Dienes-WilliamsCHORISTER CHOCOLATE CAKE
Katherine writes:
This Cathedral organist's breakfast of choice is porridge oats soaked overnight in milk and served with blueberries, raspberries and flaxseed - it's a pre-chorister rehearsal weekday staple. Sunday lunch is always roast chicken or lamb - occasionally beef, always with a side of kumara - although only the orange fleshed variety here, and gravy made with gravy granules, pan juices, a splash of red wine, hot water and a teaspoon of vegemite! Pudding is usually chocolate self-saucing pudding or lemon delicious pudding. Sunday night supper is normally a post-Evensong cheeky cheese and onion toastie. The recipe I am most well known for is the birthday chocolate cake, which I used to make every time a girl chorister had a birthday - but this became almost a weekly event, owing to numbers in the choir, so it is now a ‘special occasions’ only. It is always the same recipe - and everyone loves it. I have adapted it from Jo Seagar’s ‘All things nice’ cookbook - a very used page 39. INGREDIENTS
METHOD
ICING
1 ½ cups (maximum) icing sugar, 3tbsp cocoa and 25g butter melted in the boiling water. Add buttery water until it is the right consistency. (Go very easy on this, as one drop too much water can tip the consistency into being too runny.)
TIP:The ‘secret’ ingredient? Two tablespoons of golden syrup.
Chocolate cake is a big favourite all over the world
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Katherine Dienes-Williams
Katherine Dienes-Williams, MA, BMus, FRCO, LTCL, Hon. FRSCM, Hon. FGCM was appointed Organist and Master of the Choristers at Guildford Cathedral in January 2008 following six years as Director of Music at the Collegiate Church of St. Mary, Warwick.
In May 2022 she was appointed the first ever female President of the Cathedral Organists’ Association. Katherine was born and educated in Wellington, New Zealand, where she was Organ Scholar at Wellington Cathedral from 1988 to 1991 when she was appointed Assistant Organist. Katherine came to England in 1991 to take up the post of Organ Scholar at Winchester Cathedral and Assistant Organist at Winchester College. She has held posts as Organist and Assistant Director of Music at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, Liverpool, Assistant Organist and Director of the Cathedral Girls’ Choir at Norwich Cathedral and Director of Music at the Collegiate Church of St. Mary, Warwick. She is Chair of the Royal College of Organists, a trustee of the Organists Charitable trust and YOST (Young Organ Scholars Trust) and is regularly asked to be a guest choral workshop leader for the Royal School of Church Music in the UK, South Africa, the USA, Canada, and Australia. Katherine is also a Patron of the Society of Women Organists. She has given several organ recitals in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Germany, U.S.A., Bermuda, the Netherlands, South Africa, Australia, Spain, and Singapore. She has performed as organ soloist with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the Hallé, the City of London Sinfonia, Southern Pro Musica, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Katherine holds a Master of Arts in Music and Liturgy from Leeds University. She features both as organist and choral conductor on several recordings. She is in demand as a choral workshop leader in the UK, the USA, and several other European countries. She co-directed a Rodolfus Foundation senior choral course in summer 2024. Forthcoming engagements include directing a Rodolfus Foundation senior course in summer 2025 as well as an Oundle for Organists course. Other interests include languages (her BA is in French and German), travel, reading and fitness. She is a Knight of the Grand Order of Vitéz and a Knight of the Order of St. Ladislau (Hungary). |
