In case you've been under a rock recently and missed our coolest, freakiest FreakCake invention ever, here it is: The Triple Decker Faux Fried Chicken n Waffle Cake.

It's been lapping up Likes on Instagram and within its first week of launch we had three orders going out, including a 10" sized mammoth version! 

With so much Faux Fried Chicken-ness going on in the kitchen this week I craved nothing more than some REAL fried chicken. Shockingly, and sadly in equal measure, there isn't a chicken shop anywhere near where I live so I've decided to take it upon myself to make the juiciest, crispiest, and most comforting fried chicken at home. It's not much effort, super easy with simple ingredients, and incredibly rewarding when you can actually choose your own chicken and cook it fresh. Best is that I deep fried them, binged on them, and the next morning I don't hate myself and don't feel gross or grubby (which is what I normally feel after a take-away family bucket). I can only think it's something to do with it being home-made and fresh.

It's important to choose fresh (not frozen) free-range corn fed or organic chicken for this recipe. Caged/battery/budget chicken should not only NEVER be supported (for reasons obvious), you could end up going through all the same effort only for the meat releasing SO MUCH water leaving shrivelled bits of chewy nothing behind. So if you're going to do this well, you really need good chicken. 

Buttermilk Fried Chicken Recipe

Ingredients

8-10 fresh free-range/organic chicken drumsticks and thighs, skin-on

500ml buttermilk (if you can't get buttermilk then make your own by adding the juice of 1 lemon to 500ml whole milk and stir till it thickens)

2tbsp Sriracha hot sauce (or Frank's/Tobasco sauce)

2tsp sea-salt

250g self-raising flour

2tsp paprika

2tsp ground black pepper

500ml vegetable or sunflower oil, for frying

Method

1. In a shallow bowl stir the buttermilk, hot sauce and 1tsp salt together to make the marinade. Place the chicken pieces in the marinade, cover with film and leave to rest in the fridge for an hour minimum (the longer you leave it to marinade the better; can even be prepared a day in advance to rest overnight).

2. In a heavy based skillet/pan, heat the oil on medium up to 180 degrees Celsius. 

3. While the oil is heating up, mix the self-raising flour with 1 tsp salt, paprika and pepper in a shallow bowl. Bring the chicken out of the fridge and shake each piece off of excess marinade before rolling in the flour mix to evenly coat piece by piece. After the first coat, cover the chicken again and place in the fridge for 15 minutes to rest.

4. After resting, bring the chicken out again, shake off excess flour and roll each piece in the remaining flour mix again. This second coating is super important to make sure the coating is thick enough and won't come off easily when cooking.

5. Once the oil is ready at 180 degrees, use a pair of tongs to place 3 chicken pieces at a time into the oil. Cook for 7 minutes on one side, and then flip over for another 7 minutes on the other side, or until golden. Remove from the pan using tongs again and place on a tray lined with kitchen paper. Bring the temperature of the oil back to 180 and repeat until all chicken is cooked. Serve hot, or at room temperature with chips/slaw/smiles.

I guarantee you this is the best fried chicken you'll make or ever eat. The deep frying element is scary as it's a lot of oil and it's hot so you have to be careful BUT by making it yourself not only do you know it's fresh you also appreciate that it's not "fast" food, you don't take it for granted and you don't eat it frequently so when you do you really enjoy it! Like I said, I had a massive 3 pieces last night and I don't hate myself ;) Oh...and then there was cake too...

Oink oink,

Reshmi xoxo

Check out our other cakes here.