...bake!

Week one - Mary Berry's frosted walnut layer cake.

Well here we are again, week one's technical challenge. 

I'll be honest with you here...I wasn't looking forward to this bake. Why?  Well, it's just such a big cake, and really a special occasion type of cake...who's going to eat it all?  Ok, don't all rush at once.

Onto the recipe. First up make the sponge mixture. Straight forward enough, that is after you've spent far too long finely chopping walnuts (life is too short for this). Out came the Kitchen Aid (woop woop!), and we're off.  The resulting mixture was quite firm, so I was a little dubious about how it was going to pan out (plus the added risk factor of having found out that I didn't have enough baking parchment to line the bottom of my tins - I like to live life dangerously!).  Anyway, I proceeded, undeterred, and the layers of sponge turned out just fine, as you will witness below. 

Next step, caramelised walnuts. Ooh, a new skill required here. I'd never before attempted caramel so this was going to be interesting. The recipe called for 100g caster sugar and 2 tbsp of water. Sounds all well and good...but no, first attempt crystallised.  Not sure why, I thought perhaps I'd bottled out and not left it long enough. Second attempt, better but still no cigar. Third attempt (after a quick bit of caramel making research by my husband and a lunch break) success, ever so slightly burned, but success all the same.  Hurrah!  On this attempt I used the 'dry' method, i.e. no water. Higher chance of burning (erm) but more success!

Step three, make the buttercream. Kitchen Aid at the ready, again!  Vanilla extract, splash of milk, and heaps of butter and icing sugar later - voilà. 

Lastly, boiled icing (?!). I'd never heard of this before so apart from seeing the results on Bake Off on Wednesday, I had no idea how this would turn out. Again so much sugar that you think your teeth will fall out, egg whites, water and cream of tartar (I've only used this previously to make play dough). Suffice to say, I don't think I'll make the frosting again, way too sweet, and also in the mighty words of Paul Hollywood, it came our "granular". 

So there we have it...week one completed!  I hope you've enjoyed reading about my kitchen escapade this week. If you have, then make sure you don't miss out on future posts by subscribing to email notifications (pop your email address in the 'Follow by email' box). 

Until next week xxx

P.S if you live nearby, and fancy some free, all be it granular, cake...let me know. 

P.P.S if you want to attempt this for yourself, check out the recipe here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/marys_frosted_walnut_15679

On your marks, get set...

Good evening Bake Off fans...

I am poised and ready, with a brand new look you will also notice, for this year's self-induced challenge of baking.  Inspired by what is one of THE best things on British television these days (closely followed by The Great British Sewing Bee and (now just re-runs on Dave of) Top Gear) I will attempt each technical challenge every week and will post the results here for you to feast on (only with your eyes though - unless you live close enough to me then you may get to feast on the real thing!).

So sit back and enjoy...first up (sometime this weekend) is Mary Berry's Frosted Walnut Layer Cake (link to BBC recipe here).  Yum!

Week ten - The Final!

Hello Bake Off fans. It's been a while since my last post, but I'm sure you haven't been waiting with baited breath!, I had to make some crucial baking purchases to be able to attempt the final technical challenge. 

So without further ado here are the final results (drumroll please). 

Tarte au Citron, mini scones and mini Victoria sponge cakes. All very yummy!

I hope you've enjoyed reading about my adventures in my imaginary Bake Off world!  Now to consider applying for the next series and what to blog about next.

Cheery bye...for now x

Week six - Mary Berry's Princess Cake

Oh my, oh my...what a challenge this was.  Anyway before I begin I must apologise for the delay in writing this post.  Since completing the challenge I've been a bit busy with the small matter of childbirth and subsequent recovery of.  I'm writing this one handed whilst feeding our new little bundle of joy.  As you may say, I had my own 'bun in the oven' and what a Showstopper he is.

Back to the matter in hand. Once again this recipe called for all manner of ingredients that once combined could potentially cause a coronary just by looking at them.  Here's the recipe if you'd like to challenge yourself: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/prinsesstrta_17336.

First step was to make the creme pat (custard to you and me!). I've never made this before, but I didn't find it particularly difficult and was pleased with the result.  Next up, the sponge.  I missed out the raspberry jam making stage as we already had some homemade jam from my in-laws to hand.  The sponge, I believe, is of the Genoese type which again I've never attempted, but I was pretty pleased with this too.  The rise was amazing, I thought it was going to come out of the tin!

Whilst the sponge was in the oven, I made the rose decoration out of some spare marzipan I had (not fondant I know).  Then once the sponge was cooled it was assembly time.  First of all to slice the cake into three horizontally then assemble the first layer.

That was pretty straightforward, thin layer of custard, then pipe around the edge and then a layer of jam. I think in hindsight I would have added a bit more jam, just because it was so yummy. Then whip up some cream and mix with the custard and add some on top of the jam. 

Next place the second layer of sponge on top, spread over the remaining custard cream.  Third sponge layer then goes on top of this and the remaining whipped cream got added to the top and shaped into a small dome.  Now somewhere around mixing the whipped cream and the custard, I must have got confused and didn't seem to end up with enough whipped cream, so my dome wasn't as impressive as some from the Show.

Just looking at that photo makes me laugh.  I soldiered on and once chilled it was time to add the green marzipan (bought, not made) and to decorate with the rose, melted chocolate and whipped cream piping...

And there you have it, one Princess Cake.  I don't know what all the fuss was about!  

See you next week for Paul's Kouign Amann.

Week four - Mary Berry's tiramisu cake

Good evening Bake Off fans,

Sorry this post is a day late, but I didn't fully complete the challenge until this morning. 

So, when I watched Bake Off last week I was filled with dread at the prospect of attempting this bake. So many things could go wrong.  I think my heart was in my mouth when they had to slice the sponge in half, let alone attempt making the rest of it!

Anyway, I bravely soldiered on and as you will see, I don't think my first attempt is actually half bad.  First step was to bake the sponge.  I was very pleased with my effort, and even took a photo to show you.

Then came the tricky slicing in half and constructing the cake.  Slicing was ok, but then my sponge did end up getting stuck to the wire cooling rack so not all layers were perfect.  But hey, you can't see it all.  Next putting all the layers together was quite easy, just needed to guesstimate how much of each ingredient to use per layer - which consisted of half a tonne of mascarpone, the coffee and brandy mix and grated chocolate.

Here's the result.

And here's what my kitchen looked like after all that effort.

Next up was the chill, then the chocolate decoration.  I had a problem with creating the chocolate decoration as I'm lacking in a proper chocolate thermometer, so improvised by using a meat thermometer.  Even still I think I was impatatient and didn't wait until the chocolate was quite cool enough before I started piping pretty shapes.  Which resulted in only a few good designs,  which didn't end up nice and shiny.

But as a first attempt I'm pleased, and both my husband and an independent taste taster who happened to be visiting today thought it was tasty.

So final results...taa daa!  If you'd like to try it out for yourself here's the recipe: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/tiramisu_cake_13686

Week two - Mary Berry's Florentines

So here we are, my second blog post, that's quite an achievement in its self!  This week is Florentines. I've never made these before and it's not something I would normally buy.

So I gathered all the ingredients together this morning...unfortunately my local neighbourhood shops don't stock unsalted butter or candied peel - fail.  But I persevered, instead of butter I used margarine with the lowest salt content I could find and ignored the candied peel.

Recipe was very straight forward and easy to follow, I don't think I would make any adjustments next time around, apart from perhaps melting slight less chocolate as I had a bit left (which I spread on some baking paper and refrigerated, then broke it up to use in cookies).  What I didn't manage to do was temper the chocolate properly as I'm lacking in a chocolate thermometer.  Also I left the chocolate to set too much so couldn't add the zigzags properly.

Ta da, my take on Mary Berry's Florentines:

Recipe can be found here http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/marys_florentines_49833.

Week one - Mary Berry's cherry cake

I've decided to take it upon myself to attempt the technical challenge (where the full recipe is available) from this year's Great British Bake Off.  Mainly for two reasons.

1. I thought it would be good to try bakes that I may not normally attempt.

2. I've just started maternity leave so may have a little more time on my hands

3. I like cake...sorry that's three reasons.

Anyhow, week one was Mary Berry's cherry cake.  Here it is:

What d'ya think?  I know, I know it's not been baked in a bundt tin.  But I don't have one and didn't see the expense was worth it.  Also you'll note the icing is perhaps a little runny.  It was late and I was tired of trying to get the right consistency.  Note for next time - gradually mix the lemon juice with the icing sugar.

Otherwise this was a really easy bake.  The recipe can be found here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/marys_cherry_cake_17869

Next week: Mary Berry's Florentines.

::