Viennese Whirls (week 2, 2016)

Thought I'd give the week 2 technical challenge a whirl...Did you see what I did there?

Anyway i love viennese whirls so attempting to make them was a no-brainer.  All in all they were pretty straightforward to create (but I did have some expert advice from my lovely mother-in-law who makes these regularly).
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Just to add I didn't make the jam. I had a jar of strawberry jam in the cupboard!

The end result is very delicious and incredibly short; they melt in the mouth.

Jaffa Cakes (week 1, 2016)

Well here we are again. 

I didn't complete all of last year's technical challenges as I felt they got a bit ridiculous and also having two small children in tow reduced the time and energy I had available to bake anything other than the simplest of fruit cakes.

So this year I'd decided,  in the wake of another addition to our family, that I wouldn't undertake the challenge of recreating the Bake Offs Technical Challenges. But when I watched the first week and they made Jaffa Cakes, I couldn't help but think "I want to try that for myself".  So I have.

Here is my interpretation of Mary Berry's jaffa cakes. They actually taste like jaffa cakes too!

Jelly all set!

It was a bit tricky getting the jelly off of the baking tray.

All finished. Don't add the chocolate when it's too warm...it melts the jelly. I missed the window of opportunity to add the finishing touches with a fork, and they'd set before I could do it.