[Updated 20/11/2023] If you've been living under a rock lately and missed our coolest, freakiest creation ever—the Triple Decker Faux Fried Chicken n Waffle Cake, here it is.

This cake has been soaking up Likes on Instagram. In its first week, we shipped three orders, including a whopping 10" mammoth version! 

With all this Faux Fried Chicken madness in the kitchen, I found myself craving the real deal. Shockingly, and sadly equally, there isn't a chicken shop anywhere near where I live. So, I decided to take matters into my own hands and 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 choose your own chicken and cook it fresh. The best part is that I deep-fried them, indulged, and the next morning, I didn't hate myself or 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 homemade and fresh.

It's crucial to choose fresh (not frozen) free-range corn-fed or organic chicken for this recipe. Caged/battery/budget chicken should never be supported for obvious reasons. You could end up going through all the effort only for the meat to release SO MUCH water, leaving shriveled 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, 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 a minimum of an hour (the longer you leave it to marinate, the better; it 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 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, 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 involves 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, but 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.