tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24119831851394153182024-02-22T14:23:37.042+00:00Things I EatMiss Whiplashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17170690244653668290noreply@blogger.comBlogger470125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2411983185139415318.post-31813380738017591442015-10-10T20:23:00.001+01:002015-10-10T20:26:35.026+01:00GBBO 2015 Bakealong: Week 10: The FINAL!The leaves are turning brown, skies are greying, the autumn nights are drawing in and GBBO is over for another year...<br />
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Despite many good intentions, that almost certainly means mothballing the blog again, but before I go, here is my final GBBO bake along of the year.</div>
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I enjoyed the final - the right person won, the nation was in tears and we ate a lot of cheese while it happened.</div>
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As in previous years, though, I was a bit surprised by the comparative simplicity of the tasks - the millefeuilles seemed fairly straightforward (though allegedly were chosen because all three finalists had had pastry problems in the past), though were reasonably cheering from my lots-of-leftover-rough-puff-in-the-fridge perspective and the showstopper specification seemed vague enough just to be saying "bake a nice cake" (which is not unreasonable).</div>
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Once again, though, my real interest was in the signature bake. Iced buns! Noone could fail to be cheered by an iced bun!</div>
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The TV ones had to be filled, but I felt like that was a little unnecessary for my purposes (though it would be easy enough to fill with cream and jam as desired, obviously) and would make them less portable. Well - maybe one. Just to see how it tasted.</div>
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I used a bun dough recipe from Darina Allen's <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Forgotten-Skills-Cooking-time-honoured-recipes/dp/1856267881/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1444385722&sr=1-1&keywords=forgotten+skills+of+cooking" target="_blank">Forgotten Skills of Cooking</a> (a genuinely brilliant book that I honestly don't look at or use enough), which is a fairly standard, slightly sweet, yeasted dough enriched with butter and eggs (though, interestingly, not milk).</div>
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It's actually a really good dough - I've used it in the past for everything from chelsea buns to doughnuts and they've all been delightful.</div>
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As an aside, I fairly recently discovered that it was possible to buy fresh yeast from Morrisons, so now I make everything with (usually frozen) fresh instead of dried or instant. I don't know why I should be surprised by this, but it is MUCH MUCH better. Everyone needs to get back into fresh yeast! Given that it freezes so easily, it's really no more trouble than the dried kind and your bread will be far superior!</div>
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I opted for the traditional finger shape (I'm not remotely precious about them being batch cooked, stuck together and torn apart - I actually rather like the effect) with white royal icing on top, but they'd be equally good round with cherries and or happy faces.</div>
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I also left mine plain, as I prefer them that way, but they lend themselves pretty well to having dried fruit added at the final shaping stage if you're that way inclined.</div>
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So that's it - I am all baked along for another year and will now be grabbing hold of the opportunity to stop eating for a few weeks. Thanks for reading!<br />
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<br />Miss Whiplashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17170690244653668290noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2411983185139415318.post-89268183123705521092015-10-06T23:33:00.000+01:002015-10-07T22:24:09.735+01:00GBBO 2015 Bakealong: Weeks 8 and 9: Patisserie and ChocolateA bit of a catch up this week (again)...<br>
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I actually made the pastry for my cream horns AGES ago, but it's been sitting in the fridge for a bit, as it struck me that cream horns were a touch on the impractical side when it comes to transporting to work or to the rowing club or wherever, so I've been putting off the actual baking part.<br>
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Anyway - week 8 was Patisserie week. I'm honestly not sure that there is a difference between pastry (see week 6) and patisserie, but I assume what they were looking for here was something a bit posher. Posh pastry!<br>
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This included the most ridiculous showstopper yet, the amazing religieuse a l'ancienne, a kind of tower of eclairs allegedly in the shape of a nun. Definitely recipe for tears and collapses.<br>
The technical whatnot was a mokatine, which seemed to be a wee coffee cake with added complexity.<br>
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The signature bake, though, my own particular interest, was the cream horn - a deceptively simple bit of baking and one that, unexpectedly, I had never attempted before.<br>
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I did, however, turn out to have a set of metal cream horn cone mould things (leftover from <a href="http://allthethingsieat.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/just-one-cornetto.html" target="_blank">this</a> wee escapade), so I was all set!<br>
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Having watched the show, I opted for a rough puff pastry (courtesy, once again, of <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pastry-Savoury-Sweet-Michel-Roux/dp/1844008274/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1444167285&sr=8-3&keywords=pastry" target="_blank">Pastry</a>) using a mix of plain and strong flour for added non-falling-apart-ness.<br>
I rolled it out thinly (possibly not thinly enough - I'll know better next time) when I did eventually get round to doing the baking part, cut it into strips, wound it round the cones, painted it with egg white and sugar and baked them till they were done.<br>
I was quite boring and just filled them with a slightly vanillaey mix of whipped cream and mascarpone, with a bit of jam in the bottom for a bit of interest.<div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3mEQToY4EalHHe-ulV4RfQc1G1TYKgyzJHKIdO4-HAlyJjzKE6LZQ_NvokXiP8uwsZRmzq3L0l67VM-vEbx07CIpu8w5C5Z15zo_iqVGqtaOD9cd3WTh7XIDQ-TX787RA05rRhDgdr4hV/s640/blogger-image-1096312777.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3mEQToY4EalHHe-ulV4RfQc1G1TYKgyzJHKIdO4-HAlyJjzKE6LZQ_NvokXiP8uwsZRmzq3L0l67VM-vEbx07CIpu8w5C5Z15zo_iqVGqtaOD9cd3WTh7XIDQ-TX787RA05rRhDgdr4hV/s640/blogger-image-1096312777.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div><br>
They were good - the pastry in particular was v pleasing - I might do them again.<br>
Probably just as well, as there is still pastry in the fridge.</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilCbZG2wnO3l9xjylba5E3-heMnv7waObeJxPYVuBTp2l1oLnQdu8ty5qvAl6hxBdOmQzgEMg1EE4g9szdHdk63wPy8UWkOyCRUYwz4HpMWKOVQMB3mMd9fnuowxT_LPIqpZb_qmii_L8A/s640/blogger-image--512267110.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilCbZG2wnO3l9xjylba5E3-heMnv7waObeJxPYVuBTp2l1oLnQdu8ty5qvAl6hxBdOmQzgEMg1EE4g9szdHdk63wPy8UWkOyCRUYwz4HpMWKOVQMB3mMd9fnuowxT_LPIqpZb_qmii_L8A/s640/blogger-image--512267110.jpg"></a></div><br>
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All this was followed by Week 9 - Chocolate Week.<div><br>
Technical chocolate soufflés were the order of the day with a side of further tears and collapses (I've never made a chocolate soufflé either, so no judgement from me).</div><div><br><div>I failed to completely understand the showstopper on this episode - maybe I should watch it again and pay a bit more attention to the specification - it seemed to be a Chocolate Thing Including Biscuits. Anyway, it all looked very exciting and, honestly, who doesn't love a working chocolate well?</div><div><br></div><div>I was quite pleased to see that the signature bake was a chocolate tart, though a little more dismayed that it required chocolate pastry (and not *just* because there is a lump of "spare" shortcrust currently in residence in my fridge).</div><div><br></div><div>This wide brief was a bit of an issue. I could just have made a ganache type chocolate tart or maybe one in a baked custard style, but that seemed a bit dull in lots of ways.</div><div><br></div><div>I'm quite a fan of baked goods based on cheap chocolate bars - I've made some nice Twix themed tarts in the past and am partial to sticking caramel and chocolate in a sponge and describing it as a Rolo cake, so I went for something along those lines.</div><div><br></div><div>I surveyed my colleagues and Milky Ways came up reasonably often, which seemed as good a way to decide as any.</div><div>Having said that, research determined that American Milky Ways have a layer of caramel (though are still somehow distinct from a Mars Bar - not certain how that works) and a layer of caramel never made anything worse. Thus a plan was made.</div><div><br></div><div>I made a chocolate shortcrust with a mixture of lard and butter (mine was unsweetened - I thought the filling would be sugary enough). It turns out that the contestants weren't wrong when they made all that fuss about chocolate pastry - replacing a bit of flour in your shortcrust with cocoa powder really does make it a bit weird... Having said that, it was also pleasingly short when baked, so, y'know, silver linings and all that!</div><div>I blind baked it for a bit, then took out the baking beans, brushed it with egg white and baked it a bit longer till it was nice and crispy.</div><div><br></div><div>I made an experimental caramel with a bit of vanilla and mascarpone instead of cream (fridge supply limitations), cooled it a bit, poured it into my tart case and cooled it in the fridge.</div><div>The mascarpone made a nice sauce - slightly sharper than sometimes - though I'd make it a bit thicker next time, I think, for slightly better setting potential.</div><div><br></div><div>I made a weak ganache/cream thing from a bit of milk chocolate, cream and a smidge of butter.</div><div>If I'd been a bit cleverer about this, I'd have refrigerated it overnight and then whipped it, but that turns out to be difficult without a bit of foresight. I did chill it a bit, though.</div><div><br></div><div>I whisked some egg whites with sugar into a meringuey thing (again - next time, maybe Swiss or Italian meringue for extra stability, though I do like the fluffiness of the raw white).</div><div><br></div><div>I folded the whites into the chocolatey cream to make a kind of mousse and poured/spread it over the caramel layer to almost fill my tart and stuck it back in the fridge (whilst simultaneously sticking the leftover "overflow mousse" into my mouth).</div><div><br></div><div>I was going to make a beautiful shiny tempered chocolate topping for the whole thing, until I remembered that, whilst it would be very pretty (and would doubtless elicit gasps of awe at my beautiful tempering skills), combined with quite a soft filling, it would render my tart completely impossible to slice, so I opted for a buttery (and a teeny bit golden syrupy) ganache thing instead.</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio177wJmlERma9QTWOK9qmIHpa2uMWN5t3p6n8R6iLisajuPl7vAPA1aB_2iPQlXlbycORH9JtR-rK-mHjnM0ynYv7ePij2pgzpkHtSKpoyY9AsHT2vEIK2-OENCBQrdvq1CNVCLhX4FSw/s640/blogger-image-395085278.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio177wJmlERma9QTWOK9qmIHpa2uMWN5t3p6n8R6iLisajuPl7vAPA1aB_2iPQlXlbycORH9JtR-rK-mHjnM0ynYv7ePij2pgzpkHtSKpoyY9AsHT2vEIK2-OENCBQrdvq1CNVCLhX4FSw/s640/blogger-image-395085278.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Oof - well done for reading if you've made it this far!</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBCCDS1q3HmfoDuC4KybvW0MNg3DqkEVp5NYtPIImGCIuZUIw9McCA0ESARr6kZ765c-7wCtJ4abAL3eglSR_SJFcOh6a7EiFgdzYrvvp06WDPf4nB-HVn1xvLXTnnL4kfu5BW88EEIZfl/s640/blogger-image--302078953.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBCCDS1q3HmfoDuC4KybvW0MNg3DqkEVp5NYtPIImGCIuZUIw9McCA0ESARr6kZ765c-7wCtJ4abAL3eglSR_SJFcOh6a7EiFgdzYrvvp06WDPf4nB-HVn1xvLXTnnL4kfu5BW88EEIZfl/s640/blogger-image--302078953.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div><br></div><div>We ate both these things while watching the actual real GBBO final, which was pleasing.</div><div><br></div><div>Just one more bakealong to go, that means - iced buns for the win!</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>
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<br></div></div></div>Miss Whiplashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17170690244653668290noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2411983185139415318.post-20177978276312856802015-09-25T21:08:00.000+01:002015-09-25T21:08:32.214+01:00GBBO 2015 Bakealong: Week 7: Victorian WeekTwo episodes ago was apparently a first for GBBO - Victorian week - a slightly random selection, I'm sure you'll agree, but a reasonably entertaining one nonetheless.<br />
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The tennis cake was frankly bizarre. Quite apart from the fact that the length of time given to properly cook a fruit cake was completely insufficient (we usually cook our Christmas cakes for upwards of 12 hours, for example), the whole tennis thing was gloriously nuts. Why did noone ask why? It tested some fun skills, though, and I fully endorse Mat's decision to try to dry out the icing in the oven (I might have made it a bit cooler) - royal icing in the fridge will surely just go sticky?<br />
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The showstopping charlotte russe looked like a good dessert - definitely one I'll be trying at some stage (and I LOVED the fruit carving - what a delightfully odd skill to have picked up in life).<br />
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The raised game pie, though, was obviously the thing I was really interested in.<br />
They were supposed to be made with hot water crust pastry, in the manner of a pork pie, but apparently, unlike the pork pie, the jelly is optional.<br />
Now I have some previous with pork pies (which I thought I had probably shared with you before, though a quick squizz through my archives suggests that I may be mistaken) which have generally been successful, though my advice on the matter is to be a bit careful if you are going to make them with jelly lovingly formulated with many hours of trotter boiling, as people seem (v unreasonably, in my opinion) to be a bit unhappy if you accidentally use purple carrots and make it bright pink.<br />
I sadly opted for no jelly, as husband is a bit funny about that stuff.<br />
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Anyway, I bought some game pie mix (and some incidental delicious quails) from the nice people <a href="http://www.wildmeat.co.uk/" target="_blank">The Wild Meat Company</a> (situated in a very lovely part of the world that you must all visit as soon as you get a chance) and got on with things.<br />
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My recipe wasn't a million miles away from this *actual GBBO* <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/raised_venison_and_58562" target="_blank">recipe</a>, though I filled it with a mixture of my game pie mix (venison, pheasant, rabbit, pigeon and boar, I believe), some sausagemeat, a bit of garlic and onion and a packet of chestnuts that I found in a cupboard (oh, and a load of herbs and pepper).<br />
I thought there was some lard in the fridge, but it turned out to have been a trifle imaginary, so I used dripping instead.<br />
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I made it in a tin, which I thought was kind of cheating when it comes to "raised" pies, but everyone on the television did the same, so presumably it isn't too terrible a sin.<br />
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Mine was NOT beautifully decorated with dolphins or anything else - Mary would have been very disappointed with me.<br />
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In addition, due to unforeseen time constraints, we were forced to eat it while it was still warm, so there are no lovely pictures of beautifully cut fridge slices and it was a bit, well, juicy...</div>
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It was a good pie, though - as evidenced by the fact that, when I went to bed there was still half a pie left and when I got up in the morning, there was almost none. Big win for game!</div>
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Stayed tuned for cream horns!</div>
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Miss Whiplashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17170690244653668290noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2411983185139415318.post-49536396710432901852015-09-16T21:28:00.006+01:002015-09-16T21:41:35.224+01:00GBBO 2015 Bakealong: Week 6: Pastry Week<div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">After the stresses and strains of Alternative Ingredients week, Pastry week last week was a great relief.</span></div>
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Like bread, I think pastry has a pleasing "something from nothing" quality - to be able to create a delicious whatnot from just flour and butter is really quite magical, with the added benefit that, to me at least, pastry basically means Tarts (and who doesn't love a Tart?).</span><br />
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Despite the fact that the show's researchers are clearly scraping the barrel a bit to find technical challenges that the bakers (and audience) have never seen, or indeed heard of, I thought the flaounes looked quite fun, in a cheesy kind of way and although we can doubtless all agree that making puff pastry with a time limit is a *little* bit ridiculous, vol au vents are basically an awesome thing!</span><br />
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The frangipane (not frangipani, dudes, those are flowers) signature bake was a lovely one, though - it's one of those infallibly delicious things that you really just can't make often enough.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I thought that all the tarts on the show with pretty fruit arrangements looked beautiful as well as delicious, but for me, there was really no other choice than Bakewell Tart - the king of frangipane.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><u>Jennie's Bakewell Tart</u></b></span><br />
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For the shortcrust pastry:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">300g plain flour</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">150g butter (cold)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">pinch of salt</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">water</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">(As long as you have approximately twice as much flour as fat, you can't go wrong here. Normally, I'd use half butter, half lard - I think it makes a better pastry - but since I was planning to foist this one on a Rosh Hashanah dinner, I thought just butter might be a bit more appropriate!)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">For the tart:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">180g butter</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">180g caster sugar</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">3 eggs</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">almond essence</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">180g ground almonds</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">1 tsp baking powder</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">pinch of salt</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">raspberry jam (if I was a real bake off person, I'd probably have made it, as they seem keen on that stuff now, and if I had, it would probably have been rhubarb jam instead of raspberry, because yum, but, given that this was real life and not a bake off bubble, I just used a jar that I found in a cupboard)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">flaked almonds</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">For the pastry - I mixed the flour and salt together and rubbed in the butter. I'm not necessarily that big on doing things by hand - I love my Kenwood - but pastry is one of those things which is quite fun to do the "proper" way, I think.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I added a little bit of cold water and mixed it in until the whole thing just came together and stuck it in the fridge for an hour or so to firm up.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">When it was cool (and I had finished doing whatever it was that I was doing in the non-baking World), I took it out, rolled it as thinly as I could and used it to line my tart tin. I left some overhang round the edges. It's not the easiest thing to roll, as it's quite a "short" pastry, but as long as you don't mind doing a bit of patching if necessary, it works out ok.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I stuck in some baking parchment, filled my tart case with baking beans and blind baked at 180 for about 15-20 minutes (taking the beans/paper out for the last 5 for a bit of crispiness).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">While the tart case was baking, I mixed up the frangipane.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I creamed the butter and sugar until it was white and super fluffy, then beat in the eggs and almond essence (adding a bit of almonds where necessary, to stop it curdling).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I folded in the almonds, salt and baking powder until it was all just combined.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When the tart has had cooled a teeny tiny bit (for maybe 5 minutes or so), I spread the jam into it (thickly - I think the jam is an important tart component, particularly when using unsweetened pastry like this) and dolloped the frangipane mix over it in as even a way as I could manage (this is the hardest part!) and spread it out smoothly.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I sprinkled lots of flaked almonds over the top and stuck it in the oven.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">As soon as it hit the oven, I turned it down to about 160 and baked for probably 35 minutes (until it looked cooked).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I realised when I saw the b<a href="http://ginandcrumpets.com/gbbo-bake-peach-cardamom-frangipane-tart/" target="_blank">eautiful pistachio frangipane created by Gin and Crumpets</a> (she is much posher than I am...) that a "real" bakewell tart would probably have had drizzled icing over the top.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">You will just have to use your imaginations to provide that.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">It was pretty good, even without the icing, and wasn't even too soggy bottomed (which I think is a danger with extreme jam).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">We were all obviously far too full even to contemplate pudding after the many courses of challah, salads and amazing chicken, but were able to force down a *small* assiette of desserts (the two frangipane tarts and the chocolate chip Rosh Hashanah style honey cake - photographed here with Much Cream by the v clever <a href="https://twitter.com/ShedLikesFood" target="_blank">@Shedlikesfood</a>). What sacrifice...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I think it's some kind of historic baking episode next time? I thought that I hadn't seen a trailer, but there are game pies in my head, which I assume means that I have subconsciously absorbed one from somewhere.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Hopefully I'm not wrong about it - pie is one of my favourite things!</span></div>
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Miss Whiplashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17170690244653668290noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2411983185139415318.post-80296333928940189842015-09-12T22:20:00.000+01:002015-09-12T22:22:57.318+01:00GBBO 2015 Bakealong: Weeks 4 and 5<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">I have been nobly baking along to Bake Off in the background all this time, but I've not actually managed to tell anyone about it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">First up - Dessert Week! </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">I thoroughly enjoyed the desserts, despite the splendid ridiculousness of the Spanische Windtorte technical challenge, which seemed like an awful lot of very complex stuff to make something which ultimately looks quite a lot like a pavlova (a delicious pavlova, no doubt - is there any other kind? But a pavlova nonetheless).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">The cheesecakes also looked great - who doesn't love a baked cheesecake? But lest I ever forget and think that I might like to make one, please remind me that a three layered cheesecake is a foolish endeavour that will inevitably lead to tears.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">Creme brulee, on the other hand, is a perfect pudding in almost every way.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">It is straightforward to make, can be formulated in advance (so that there's no need to hide in the kitchen for hours while your dinner guests get drunk without you a la Come Dine With Me) and, most importantly, is delicious.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">I made a pretty simple version, with blackberry and apple puree underneath my custard and an unashamedly blow torched crunchy caramel topping (grilling - honestly!!)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">I had just come back from a holiday in Suffolk and had a million garden tree apples and a whole load of painstakingly picked blackberries (the nettle and bramble scars have faded now, but those blackberries have very effective defensive systems in place).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">I don't usually bother with the whole bain marie thing, but I did it this time, out of a sense of GBBO duty. I think I won't bother again - the overflow custard that I just baked was just as nice, if not better.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">Otherwise, they turned out pretty well - delicious and just a bit of nice bleeding between the puree and the custard (I can't imagine why this was something the judges complained about on the show - it's so PRETTY) and a delicious just-the-right-side-of-burnt scrunchy topping!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">And so - onto the following week - Alternative Ingredients.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">I am completely on board with feeding people things they can eat. Gluten free pitta breads (and other such things) are perfect for people with coeliac disease and allergies and dairy free ice cream is entirely approriate for vegans and the lactose intolerant (though why did nobody make sorbet? I'd have made arctic sorbet rolls - surely they would be delicious..). Ditto alternatives to the many other things that people are allergic to - it is reasonable and desirable to find good alternatives, and it provides an entertaining baking challenge.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">However (and there was bound to be one coming), correct me if I'm wrong, but I have NEVER met or indeed heard of, anyone who is allergic to sugar. From a bag.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">In fact, as many people will already know from my extensive ranting on Twitter/swearing at the television etc, this is a subject that is pretty close to my heart (and pancreas).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">I don't think that there is one among us who would dispute that too much sugar is not a Good Thing for any of us. In fact, there are entirely valid debates to be had over what Too Much is represented by, and whether it might actually be "any at all", but that is a question for a blog that is not mainly about cake.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">What is not in question, however, is that there is any difference at all, from the point of view of "health" (meaning, in this case, how it acts in and with your body) between sugar from-a-bag (as prohibited in the episode in question), sugar in honey, sugar from syrups/nectars and, indeed, sugar from fruit (or anywhere else). Substituting one of these things into your cake may make it taste better (and will almost certainly make it different), but will not make it any more or less acceptable from a physiological point of view to anyone - there is nobody for whom this cake will be a more "better" thing, unless they happen simply to like the taste (or have some kind of ethical reason for not eating sugar-from-a-bag, perhaps). It is a pointless (if not actually fruitless...) exercise. This was the crux of the first element of my TV-ranting.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">The second is a little more specific to my own situation. If it were possible to make an actual (palatable) cake with no sugar at all, it would STILL be a futile exercise from my own point of view as someone with T1 diabetes (which seems to be a fairly frequently cited "reason" for making things - the same also applies to T2 and other types - it's not all about me). This could be done fairly easily if desired, by using one of the genuinely sugar free sugar substitutes (aspartame/xylitol etc), and I was a bit surprised that none of the GBBO people mentioned or tried it. Anyway, the point is that this cake would still be chock full of other carbohydrates (most commonly flour) which would, on eating, be turned to glucose extremely swiftly in the body, which would raise blood sugar levels almost as much as if it had been full of sugar in the first place. Unless you go the whole "low carb" hog (hogs, of course, being about as low carb as they come), the diabetes argument simply doesn't hold water - it might be a little less extreme, but eating (sugar free) bread will spike blood glucose levels in exactly the same way as eating cake. The spikes may be less extreme, but, fundementally, the effect is the same. This forms the basis of rant element number two.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">As well as it being a bit annoying, the propagation of misinformation about "sugar free" stuff can be actively quite dangerous. Most (though not all) people with T1 diabetes are aware of how food (specifically carbohydrate in food) affects their blood glucose levels, but many many people with T2 and other types are still not given such good information and are not provided with the means to test the effect on their blood and make their own, informed, decisions - there is a very real danger (and, as someone who hangs out on quite a lot of diabetes forums and things, I can see this happening right now to real people in real life) that people are damaging their health because the media and public understanding of what "sugar free" means is not in line with what it *actually* means.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">This obviously extends to people without diabetes too - the effect is similar - it's just that their bodies are equipped to deal with the rises in blood glucose which makes them less immediately damaging, but still likely to contribute to insulin resistance in some people in the long term.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">All this aside, I still made a cake with no sugar-from-a-bag in it, and it was very lovely (though didn't *work* as well as a normal cake - that sugar is clever stuff, innit) - husband was pleasingly utterly delighted with it. The orange blossom water gives is a slightly aromatic (non honey aromatic - it obviously already has the aroma of honey) frisson - it actually tastes quite a lot like those delicious honey balls that we used to get from the Greek bakery when we were little.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">It is absolutely dripping with honey and will raise your blood glucose levels no end!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span class="353483309-10092015"><strong><u>Jennie's No-Sugar-From-A-Bag Honey Cake</u></strong></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">180g (ish) honey plus a load more to "ice" - I used set honey because I felt like it would give me a less runny mixture - this might have been a delusion</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">a splodge of yogurt</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">I creamed the butter and honey together, like a "real" cake and beat in the eggs and orange blossom water a bit at a time (adding some of the flour where necessary to stop it curdling) and then folded in the flour and yogurt.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">I baked it at about 160 (fan) for probably 25 minutes or so.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">While it was baking, I melted a big load of extra honey and a little bit of extra orange blossom water in a wee saucepan.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">When the cake was coolish, I poured the warm honey over the top.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">Thus concludes the catch up. Apologies for incoherent ranting.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">Normal service should resume next time with frangipane (bakewell tart FTW), which I am much looking forward to!</span></div>
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Miss Whiplashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17170690244653668290noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2411983185139415318.post-65229465784235087022015-08-20T00:16:00.001+01:002015-08-20T11:44:43.744+01:00GBBO 2015 Bakealong: Week 3: Bread WeekSo, Bread Week...<div><br>
I believe I have expressed my opinions on Bread Week before, so perhaps I won't go into it too much here, but suffice to say, I think there have been problems with realistic timings in the past.<br>
Trying, for example, to make brioche or ciabatta in the time allotted is clearly ridiculous - either they have WAY more time than it looks like on television, or they are just tasting 12 (11?) inedibly undercooked loaves.<br>
In any case, enough of that, and I shall move on to say that I think the signature bake thus week was, under the circumstances, an extremely sensible choice - lovely soda bread - no silly proving time, no fuss over whether of not it is "better" to knead things by hand etc etc...<br>
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Personally, I am extremely fond of soda bread - a perfect compromise between breadiness and cakiness, as well as being super swift and easy to make (honestly, SO quick - I easily made it AND my dinner whilst actually watching the episode).<br>
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Now, I have a large (some might say excessive) number of books about how to make bread, many of them written by v wise people with much science, cleverness and lovely pictures.<br>
However, the book that I use the most and the one containing the basis of the soda bread recipe I used today is this - the Christian Aid Book of Bread. It has no pictures and no famous master bakers, but I love it dearly, use it extremely frequently, and thoroughly recommend it to all of you.<div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEnzhJVYbjoRvq4qqUFAQyGUGvA1cXzYGEKrJYBu4l1-jCwZsALJ-OWFn2KhJd5YWjkJILKgry6TgQsesJYIDcTp0Ds0KTEbFwnljgpqRu51Td7Kq_K5EfJXW5S5Pe5-l-xLBuaX2ZZIHy/s640/blogger-image-1082648179.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEnzhJVYbjoRvq4qqUFAQyGUGvA1cXzYGEKrJYBu4l1-jCwZsALJ-OWFn2KhJd5YWjkJILKgry6TgQsesJYIDcTp0Ds0KTEbFwnljgpqRu51Td7Kq_K5EfJXW5S5Pe5-l-xLBuaX2ZZIHy/s640/blogger-image-1082648179.jpg"></a></div><br><div><br></div><div>I didn't have any proper buttermilk, so I chucked in a bit of yogurt and some slightly Heath Robinsonesque "buttermilk" made of milk and vinegar.</div><div>I also (rather uncharacteristically) signatured up my bread with pumpkin seeds, as a) they are delicious and b) I happened to find some in a drawer.</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgow64Ug6oEuQywhA60V4P9j5u7ljQqrFUKGnfwKrc_EwiR90hc997DgLPvueYqQrPNEPdSkjr1jh1vV9JqeKQWcXq0cQUzaI5EYn6TSKL3B_MTbpYvEcTRycQMRxCmxtZ3oQaG-vPnmgR8/s640/blogger-image-1094260148.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgow64Ug6oEuQywhA60V4P9j5u7ljQqrFUKGnfwKrc_EwiR90hc997DgLPvueYqQrPNEPdSkjr1jh1vV9JqeKQWcXq0cQUzaI5EYn6TSKL3B_MTbpYvEcTRycQMRxCmxtZ3oQaG-vPnmgR8/s640/blogger-image-1094260148.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div><br></div><div>And here we go - pumpkin seed soda bread. Good eaten warm slathered with butter!</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-ZY6wiYDKMA-6mD3tW5vSXhelfZIQm90sQV1hI89jRuRwBm0YG-xDAnsyNKGHeeYB-yuRP7UPCtD5gRuYdbhNqTi5IObLh3VZtw0bacaSJzl5H0eiXyovwvNKU3Qdact2TuCBiPzjTNs4/s640/blogger-image-1011891859.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-ZY6wiYDKMA-6mD3tW5vSXhelfZIQm90sQV1hI89jRuRwBm0YG-xDAnsyNKGHeeYB-yuRP7UPCtD5gRuYdbhNqTi5IObLh3VZtw0bacaSJzl5H0eiXyovwvNKU3Qdact2TuCBiPzjTNs4/s640/blogger-image-1011891859.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div><br></div><div>I vaguely heard someone mention Desserts in a next episode type context, as I was taking my loaf out of the oven, which is an extremely cheering prospect.</div><div>I'm on holiday next week, though, so my dessert making facilities may be somewhat limited. I guess we'll see what happens...</div><div><br></div></div></div>Miss Whiplashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17170690244653668290noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2411983185139415318.post-21571855175272063832015-08-16T15:39:00.000+01:002015-08-16T19:35:56.351+01:00GBBO 2015 Bakealong: Week 2I missed the second episode of GBBO on Wednesday evening, due to an overdue appointment with some nice people and a <a href="http://sodopizza.co.uk/" target="_blank">great big pizza.</a><br>
I was a little worried that I might never see it, due to the tragic broadband drought that was going on at my flat, but happily BT came up with the goods and I managed to catch up last night.<br>
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Biscuit week seems a bit unpopular on the Social Meejas - I'm not really sure why - I love a nice biscuit.</div>
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I'm a little less certain about boxes/structures made of biscuits, tbh, but I can only assume that some people love them (and consider them a worthwhile endeavour).</div>
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Biscotti, I am happy with - they can appear a slightly odd beast, I think, until (rather like last week's cake, in fact) you realise that they are much improved by an accompanying glass of something (vin santo if you can find a nice one - I might just reuse the Madeira) to dip them in!</div>
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My recipe was a slightly bastardised version of the one from "<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/500-Cookies-Philippa-Vanstone/dp/1845430735/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1439735649&sr=8-1&keywords=500+cookies" target="_blank">500 Cookies</a>", a slightly eccentric but very heavily used book that I have had for a fair chunk of forever.</div>
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I was a bit unsure about the wisdom of putting dried fruit in biscotti, what with the twice cooking and everything, but it seems to be A Thing, so I went for sour cherry and almond, with a wee bit of orange zest and extract.</div>
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They were super easy and came out beautifully, if a touch on the large side - I've made quite a few biscotti in my time, and never quite got the hang of making the initial "loaves" a sensible size.</div>
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I confess that I don't really understand the obsession on GBBO with making things a uniform size - part of the joy of things like these biscotti is that they are cut from a loaf, which, by its very nature, is likely to taper at the extremeties... What do they expect you to do with the ends (the Best Bits!)? Throw them away?</div>
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Anyway - mine are large and unwieldy, in no way the same size as each other and (as far as I can tell) just tooth-breaking enough and, in my opinion, that is exactly how they should be.</div>
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Next week is, apparently, Bread Week - officially the stupidest week to try to squash into two short days of baking... I clearly wasn't really paying attention as I have no clue what the signature bake is going to be - I guess it will be a nice surprise when I find out!</div>
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Miss Whiplashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17170690244653668290noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2411983185139415318.post-56912472426071627122015-08-06T10:41:00.001+01:002015-08-06T10:41:29.488+01:00GBBO 2015 Bakealong: Week 1It can hardly have escaped your attention that the Great British Bake Off is back on our screens (though actually, I almost missed it yesterday, so perhaps that's not *entirely* true) and it began in style last night with Cake Week.<div><br></div><div>In my excitement, I decided that a new year of Bakealongs would be appropriate, so I have dredged up the password to this blog from the deep recesses of my mind to bring it to you - don't all thank me at once!</div><div><br></div><div>For variety (and because I thought the technical challenges were getting a bit, well, desperate last year), I have opted to bake along with the signature bakes this time (though happily, because I am not being judged, I do not have to add any of my own "twists") so here we go - Madeira cake...</div><div><br></div><div>And just for added excitement (and because I didn't have any), I also candied some lemon peel.</div><div><br></div><div>I have no idea where this recipe comes from - it's just one I know (I'm pretty sure it's fairly standard) - so apologies if it's yours and I haven't credited you!</div><div><br></div><div><b>Ingredients</b></div><div>175g butter</div><div>175g caster sugar</div><div>Zest of one lemon</div><div>220g SR flour</div><div>50g ground almonds (for added niceness)</div><div>Pinch of salt</div><div>3 large eggs</div><div>Optional candied peel to decorate.</div><div><br></div><div><b>Method</b></div><div>I preheated my (fan) oven to about 160.</div><div><br></div><div>Although the recipes seem to say that you should just chuck everything in together and mix it, I can't quite bring myself to do that, so I creamed my butter, sugar and zest together first.</div><div><br></div><div>The I just chucked everything else in and beat it for a minute or so to make sure everything was nicely combined.</div><div><br></div><div>I greased and lined a 2lb loaf tin, chucked the mixture in it and baked for an hour.</div><div><br></div><div>If I had been super organised, I'd have taken it out half way and stuck my candied peel on top, but I wasn't and the candying (that must be the right word?) was still underway at that stage.</div><div><br></div><div>When I took it out of the oven, I glazed it with the syrup handily left over from my candied peel exploits and stuck a couple of bits on top.</div><div><br></div><div>And here it is!</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaDnhKgHYSek3roBFyzLRO8du_-ww8IB-lwUpzTyuqD5vvOfYyIvvv8n8oojqvsQhYblDK9A-QwP82TzfJw_96PjRG26sBZjSCg6w10BMIaFYrFzBkoGl4VUukbCqkZ6xDv2Il6rnap2EP/s640/blogger-image--1343441116.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaDnhKgHYSek3roBFyzLRO8du_-ww8IB-lwUpzTyuqD5vvOfYyIvvv8n8oojqvsQhYblDK9A-QwP82TzfJw_96PjRG26sBZjSCg6w10BMIaFYrFzBkoGl4VUukbCqkZ6xDv2Il6rnap2EP/s640/blogger-image--1343441116.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div>It looks fairly convincing, I think, and it does indeed have the requisite crack in the top (I had no idea this was such a stringent requirement till watching the show last night - I just thought it was a thing that happened).</div><div><br></div><div>Madeira cake by its very nature tends to be a bit "boring", I think - which I guess is where the actual Madeira comes in (though I think that slices with jam and butter are also a valid option).</div><div>Shockingly, our wine cellar is a total Madeira desert at the moment, but I feel reasonably sure that can be addressed.</div><div><br></div><div>Now - anyone for some candied lemon peel?</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjevu-aoaQAuipHKiuwlQ0xLAK7H-sYmPmcBgAkj7_NK2IuwlqHjwdZ35w3d7w3KwhZPDO2E_i31pdcq6SyJDhzkrpmv4Enq_t2oM5eLf8-rAgk1G0k_X9dM-lmrqvT-C1uRA4Qh4pfFpw_/s640/blogger-image-2047118348.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjevu-aoaQAuipHKiuwlQ0xLAK7H-sYmPmcBgAkj7_NK2IuwlqHjwdZ35w3d7w3KwhZPDO2E_i31pdcq6SyJDhzkrpmv4Enq_t2oM5eLf8-rAgk1G0k_X9dM-lmrqvT-C1uRA4Qh4pfFpw_/s640/blogger-image-2047118348.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div><br></div>Miss Whiplashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17170690244653668290noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2411983185139415318.post-62913058568143506492014-10-15T21:45:00.002+01:002014-10-15T21:45:33.792+01:00Baking Along With GBBO: Weeks Eight and Nine: Povitica and Schichtorte<div class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Again - a bit of a late catch up here - despite having been fairly conscientious about the baking, I haven't done a brilliant job of writing anything about it in any kind of timely way, but here goes...</span><br />
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<span class="407412015-09102014"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Povitica - I put off making this one for AGES, as it looked so terrifying on television.</span></span></div>
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<span class="407412015-09102014"><span style="font-family: Arial;">However, when it came down to it, it was actually pretty straightforward.</span></span><br />
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<span class="407412015-09102014"><span style="font-family: Arial;">I made it on a bedsheet as instructed (though I'm pretty sure that Mr H didn't have fitted sheets in mind when he came up with this one), which was reasonably humorous, though I'm pretty sure I didn't manage to get the dough quite as crazily thin as recommended.</span></span></div>
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<span class="407412015-09102014"><span style="font-family: Arial;">I did a bit of extra stretching, though, after I has rolled it up into a snake, which I fondly imagine might have made up for it a bit.</span></span><br />
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<span class="407412015-09102014"><span style="font-family: Arial;">I didn't have enough walnuts for the recipe knocking around at home, so I just chucked in all the nuts I did have (a mix of lots of things, including walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts and other things).</span></span></div>
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<span class="407412015-09102014"><span style="font-family: Arial;">It was delicious - like a lovely nutella sandwich. I'll definitely do it again. It disappeared extremely quickly.</span></span><br />
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<span class="407412015-09102014"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The schichtorte, on the other hand, was a completely different story.</span></span></div>
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<span class="407412015-09102014"><span style="font-family: Arial;">First of all, the recipe requires ten eggs. TEN. Crazy.</span></span><br />
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<span class="407412015-09102014"><span style="font-family: Arial;">It was pretty easy to mix, but then, as noted on television, grilling each of up to 20 layers was an extremely long and boring job.</span></span><br />
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<span class="407412015-09102014"><span style="font-family: Arial;">It came out looking pretty and the apricot jam/glaze thing worked very well and gave a nice finish, but, honestly - what a lot of faff for something that is fundenentally just a normal sized cake or a single flavour.</span></span><br />
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<span class="407412015-09102014"><span style="font-family: Arial;">I took it to the office and people ate it, because people will always eat cake. I don't think it tasted that great, though - the actual flavours were fine, but the whole thing, though attractive, was a little bit dense and boring (I think more the fault of the recipe than my execution, though I could be wrong - I don't really see how it could fail to be that way, with the gazillion layers and all).</span></span></div>
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<span class="407412015-09102014"><span style="font-family: Arial;">I don't think I'd bother with this one in normal life (though I might nick the glaze for other things) - there are other things that look just as nice, taste better and take a fraction of the time to do.</span></span><br />
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<span class="407412015-09102014"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Just one more technical challenge to go now (again, very late - maybe there might be a suitable moment at the weekend) - I wonder what my life will become when it's all over!</span></span></div>
Miss Whiplashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17170690244653668290noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2411983185139415318.post-28953795422971309142014-09-23T22:58:00.000+01:002014-09-23T23:00:54.433+01:00Baking Along With GBBO: Week Six and Seven: Prinsesstårta and Kouign AmannI've been doing a bit more catching up this weekend - two quite fun technical challenges in the most recent episodes, I thought...<br />
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Week six brought us the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/prinsesstrta_17336" target="_blank">Prinsesstårta</a> (Swedish Princess Cake, as seen in Ikea and also, presumably, Sweden), a rather bizarre looking green monstrosity - sponge, jam and creamy stuff covered with green marzipan and a pink rose, said to have been invented in the 1930s for some actual Scandinavian princesses.<br />
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The GBBO recipe for this is (and clearly was on the actual programme too) completely bonkers, requiring that you not only make the cake and the cream and creme patissiere fillings, but also the jam and the marzipan. I'm pretty sure that in Real Life, I wouldn't bother with many of these things, but, for the sake of authenticity, I did as I was told this time.<br />
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I definitely wouldn't have wanted to do this one in the time - I did mine over two days - I made most of the bits and pieces on day one and then the final cream whippage, marzipan and assembly on day two.<br />
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Next time, I would definitely make my creme patissiere a bit thicker - it would be easier to deal with and would give thicker layers.<br />
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I *might* also consider making the green a bit less green for authenticity, but I quite like my leafy colour - those gel colours are just too awesome to waste on pastel shades!<br />
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Again, not great for taking to work, but I shall see what I can do, as I don't think it's really reasonable to expect poor husband to eat the whole thing.<br />
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The Breton <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/kouign_amann_09102" target="_blank">Kouign Amann</a> from episode seven, on the other hand are an entirely different prospect.<br />
Nice and straightforward to make, the main problem they seemed to create on TV was just the fact that nobody had any idea what they were making!<br />
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I, obviously, having seen their efforts, didn't have the same problem, so breezed through the recipe (admittedly at a far more leisurely pace).<br />
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They seem a bit like making croissants - bread dough with layers of butter - rolled and folded in the manner of puff pastry, with a bit of caramelly added sugar.<br />
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These are MUCH more transportable, and I'll have to hide them from husband, as they are utterly delicious.<br />
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I will definitely make them again - sweet and flakey, they would be ideal for breakfast or elevenses.Miss Whiplashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17170690244653668290noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2411983185139415318.post-71676621862146069412014-09-14T20:38:00.000+01:002014-09-14T20:39:03.545+01:00Baking Along With GBBO: Weeks Four and Five: Tiramisu Cake and Wee PiesHusband makes a fuss about having to watch the Bake Off with me - he would prefer to mainline Game of Thrones (it's as well that we have to ease off that sometimes, in fact. We're coming ominously near to running out of episodes).<br />
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However, he is more excited about the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/tiramisu_cake_13686" target="_blank">Tiramisu Cake</a> from the Puddings episode than he has been about any foodstuff for a long time...<br />
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What with that and <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/28965236" target="_blank">Ice Cream-gate</a>, it was a pretty exciting episode all round.<br />
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Now, I can take or leave tiramisu, generally - I don't really like coffee and chocolatey puddings don't do that much for me, but any recipe which has the nerve to include THREE entire tubs of mascarpone has to be tried at least once in a lifetime, I reckon.<br />
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Turns out I don't have a square tin (hard to believe, I know), so mine is round.<br />
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Also, who can be faffed with making silly chocolate decorations? Honestly... *sigh*<br />
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Because of being on Champagne Holiday last week, I have a bit of catching up to do, so I have also shoehorned Pie Week into this post.<br />
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I love pie. I love making pie and I quite like eating it too.<br />
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I was hoping that the custard tarts would be the technical challenge of the week, as I am partial to a bit of tartage (as many people that have been here for <strike>force feeding</strike> dinner here can testify). However, it was clearly not to be, and <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/mini_pear_pies_77186" target="_blank">pear mini pies</a> were the order of the day.<br />
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When I saw these on TV, I thought that they were a bit lame, but now that I have made them myself, I am COMPLETELY in love with them - they are gorgeous. Simple and gorgeous.<br />
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Definitely one to make again and again (possibly with apples, which are a good deal yummier than pears in my humble opinion).<br />
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I'm going to make my family eat all these things at a barbecue this weekend, as the technical challenges are becoming increasingly impractical for transporting into work (BBC, please take note ;) ).<br />
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Tune in again for (equally, if not more, impractical) princess cake.Miss Whiplashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17170690244653668290noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2411983185139415318.post-37792008519077821662014-08-29T00:00:00.001+01:002014-08-29T16:13:10.931+01:00Baking Along With GBBO: Week Three: CiabattaI always think that "bread week" is a bit of a scam on GBBO and this season was no exception.<br /><br />I mean, HOW long did they give them to knock out those ciabattas? The only recipes I've used have been ones that take literally days. Days.<br /><br />I don't know what kind of trickery they use to make it work on TV, whether it's editing magic, secret advance preparation or just inedible over yeasting, but I'm not altogether sure I approve.<br /><br />Interesting, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/ciabatta_05418" target="_blank">Mr H's recipe, per the BBC website</a>, which at least *looks* like the one used on the show, also purports to take at least six (likely way more) hours.<br /><br />I usually use a recipe from my most utilised and bizarre bread book, <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Christian-Aid-Book-Bread/dp/1853116262" target="_blank">The Christian Aid Book of Bread</a> (which I thoroughly recommend, if you want a really clear easy book full of bread recipes), but instead, in the interests of Doing Things Properly, I used the one linked above for this.<br /><br />Do to a slightly hectic schedule and a general lack of organisation, both proves of this loaf were a little (or a lot - these things are all relative, right?) longer than intended and the final stage stretch and fold was a little half hearted.<br /><br /><br /><center><a href='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiRVgoYlFsLA4qNHpEUEt9GJRwCaxcR68fNW7KHZHVGiVqkfkkQyz9EYvVLwkjq01SFBcPLb9GbsnvmULoRlQwg1zUt6HaojeTnH8B8zcPyMN5aVAXa7pC6h-uWakeYSGFME4QMOmnru4u/s288/iphone_photo.jpg'><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiRVgoYlFsLA4qNHpEUEt9GJRwCaxcR68fNW7KHZHVGiVqkfkkQyz9EYvVLwkjq01SFBcPLb9GbsnvmULoRlQwg1zUt6HaojeTnH8B8zcPyMN5aVAXa7pC6h-uWakeYSGFME4QMOmnru4u/s288/iphone_photo.jpg' border='0' width='280' height='210' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br /><br />I also made it into one loaf instead of two, which meant that it was bigger and less flat than the recipe intended, but more practical from a household bread perspective.<br /><br /><br /><center><a href='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhKUYWhGO2XB9GXVGxDpNc9FE0b7H39_t_sajLcr8Q2Hny3zcVTradFbDR5ERTQCmkveM8fLOXhBPoY-m0rnluDgp1Y5FHyZ3xBkpC3P5q3XM57RR8wRG578bUpzrLmbTjbyXNQiQJiVKG/s288/iphone_photo.jpg'><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhKUYWhGO2XB9GXVGxDpNc9FE0b7H39_t_sajLcr8Q2Hny3zcVTradFbDR5ERTQCmkveM8fLOXhBPoY-m0rnluDgp1Y5FHyZ3xBkpC3P5q3XM57RR8wRG578bUpzrLmbTjbyXNQiQJiVKG/s288/iphone_photo.jpg' border='0' width='280' height='210' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br /><br />It turned out ok - I think I probably could have cooked it for a teeny tiny bit longer and better folding would have made nicer bubbles.<br /><br />I'm probably not going to ditch the Christian Aid recipe in favour of this - I like it better - it's a wetter dough and gives an airier, more ciabatta-like texture, but this one was better than I expected.<br /><br />I still wouldn't want to do it in an hour, though, or whatever the silly TV time is.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone<br />Miss Whiplashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17170690244653668290noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2411983185139415318.post-39693277391759563432014-08-15T09:18:00.001+01:002014-08-15T09:28:06.914+01:00Baking Along With GBBO: Week Two: Florentines<div><br></div>I confess that I wasn't massively excited about biscuit week - I have a few nice biscuit/cookie recipes that I use over and over again, as they clearly represent a handy portable baked item, but I can't say that I find them very, well, exciting.<div><br></div><div>Anyway, the technical challenge turned out to be florentines, which I'm not certain I'd ever really considered even to be a biscuit, but I'd certainly never made before.</div><div>http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/marys_florentines_49833</div><div><br></div><div>Not super challenging, I think, other than the tempering of the chocolate (I used a nasty cheap chocolate for the first lot that entirely refused to temper and switched to some kind of Aldi dark for the remainder which worked much better), but a bit of microwaving took care of that.</div><div><br></div><div>They turned out pretty well, though I was far too lazy to make the proper zigzags that the judges were so inexplicably keen on :)</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFAzXJSYbOn4B7bXVikmZjSEgy6t_60TyCR8WqYYTbOO61GGJvfvYW5y_2ihL9FTnXA0CzK8FK0B0e46m2bOFn5ItOQEIxtrnb8zIGjV0Qf_O1LuZ39ezOj6JMuJpn_iLUsQ52Gn3obWAf/s640/blogger-image-340872587.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFAzXJSYbOn4B7bXVikmZjSEgy6t_60TyCR8WqYYTbOO61GGJvfvYW5y_2ihL9FTnXA0CzK8FK0B0e46m2bOFn5ItOQEIxtrnb8zIGjV0Qf_O1LuZ39ezOj6JMuJpn_iLUsQ52Gn3obWAf/s640/blogger-image-340872587.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div>Husband conducted a taste test during a period of extreme hunger when I was late home for dinner last night.</div><div>He declared them "OK - tasty (and crisp like Mary Berry wanted), but not really a biscuit", which, I think pretty much sums them up.</div><div><br></div><div>I might make them for Christmas - they seem festive.</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4HUK_-0z2ZtbHDstDiRdyeJlszdDifzqb42iLLDNMPn2QVenyicbYhbyMMMzVB6Jzgf9D1ncnvuDSYztzccbMlxmctR2PZa3bgTjiQBmz4rE6wxiBvCYSHNh5zodUp1JeYzWpkmEjRP99/s640/blogger-image-899304493.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4HUK_-0z2ZtbHDstDiRdyeJlszdDifzqb42iLLDNMPn2QVenyicbYhbyMMMzVB6Jzgf9D1ncnvuDSYztzccbMlxmctR2PZa3bgTjiQBmz4rE6wxiBvCYSHNh5zodUp1JeYzWpkmEjRP99/s640/blogger-image-899304493.jpg"></a></div><br></div>Miss Whiplashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17170690244653668290noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2411983185139415318.post-23548651368879597322014-08-11T10:08:00.001+01:002014-08-11T10:10:28.943+01:00Baking Along With GBBO: Week One: Cherry CakeLike much of the rest of the country, I tuned in to watch the first episode of the Great British Bake Off last week.<div><br></div><div>I'm not certain I love it that much as a concept - it's all a bit "reality TVish" what with the tears and recriminations and whatnot - but I do like cake and, as with all these things, they are very good at making it compelling viewing, even if it makes the viewer feel a bit grubby 😀.</div><div><br></div><div>Anyway, I thought that maybe I could use it to channel my baking energies and become an Awesome Baker, so I'm going to try to "bake along" with the technical challenges.</div><div><br></div><div>(In all likelihood, this will only last for a week or two - I have a very back track record with consistency...)</div><div><br></div><div>Here's the first one, then - the Mary Berry Cherry Cake, which can be found here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/marys_cherry_cake_17869</div><div><br></div><div>It seems like a pretty straightforward one to start with - I don't think it was too challenging for the TV people, or, happily, for me...</div><div><br></div><div>I've never washed glacé cherries before, though - that seems like utterly bizarre behaviour to me.</div><div><br></div><div>Here is my cake. I think MB would be disappointed with the consistency of my icing, but otherwise pretty good (and it was her recipe, after all 😉).</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaZuOpQdFuHiNaVWro9Ud47AWzA_VBoRWHNka9FCON_IdtFJF3S6l87aF7Sfw19NZ4dCpqkJov4dKafrk5Msd_v9iWUQbqSQ661bcBBK7WVDu1dNwPCPl68Ex3T5N3xwRoS6o44lXQ5AWw/s640/blogger-image--219841958.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaZuOpQdFuHiNaVWro9Ud47AWzA_VBoRWHNka9FCON_IdtFJF3S6l87aF7Sfw19NZ4dCpqkJov4dKafrk5Msd_v9iWUQbqSQ661bcBBK7WVDu1dNwPCPl68Ex3T5N3xwRoS6o44lXQ5AWw/s640/blogger-image--219841958.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div>And here is the inside - good distribution of cherries, I'd say, though a wee bit dry for my taste, perhaps.</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSSntlWE6GqkcKpOlcv8FDUCbgvKyWDl4MsYFcM7bjt8KGBKexKMcRg76hf34HABIKRVFgc7hmyHxqVoeSiE5LRlJNSzxJ614nE-Xl2micyqcGkx_AZGTHtmUIrseaEwDHtR2YPUyYi6JO/s640/blogger-image--961047404.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSSntlWE6GqkcKpOlcv8FDUCbgvKyWDl4MsYFcM7bjt8KGBKexKMcRg76hf34HABIKRVFgc7hmyHxqVoeSiE5LRlJNSzxJ614nE-Xl2micyqcGkx_AZGTHtmUIrseaEwDHtR2YPUyYi6JO/s640/blogger-image--961047404.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIubVB8L6r5MRzpg_5L7izr1_vY1fxn8Bxr3HQQlC_gAMR-qnOa4vYq50YU50YmA3vROebXYUjFnullTzJwu_nc4_LcZTSYdRuwhaYEVjMj2RREWQd8kOunsodtiX44IpmeXQkNodLEpwl/s640/blogger-image-427658517.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIubVB8L6r5MRzpg_5L7izr1_vY1fxn8Bxr3HQQlC_gAMR-qnOa4vYq50YU50YmA3vROebXYUjFnullTzJwu_nc4_LcZTSYdRuwhaYEVjMj2RREWQd8kOunsodtiX44IpmeXQkNodLEpwl/s640/blogger-image-427658517.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">I also made a big (entirely unnecessary) pile of doughnuts from the Justin Gellatly book of loveliness.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigFJHgiSQ-gf2PUwlAUHbi_-5vMM9zLSmrwqO4_yiFrcR9BCjTl0lPU3hyphenhyphenppXSqa5Uo_Fr454KeO1x0sp5SZqQkTzDK1afxGMfxDGxpCMkio-N14Pno2BC63_nObfIWokPEwh5CugPXpue/s640/blogger-image--1096909783.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigFJHgiSQ-gf2PUwlAUHbi_-5vMM9zLSmrwqO4_yiFrcR9BCjTl0lPU3hyphenhyphenppXSqa5Uo_Fr454KeO1x0sp5SZqQkTzDK1afxGMfxDGxpCMkio-N14Pno2BC63_nObfIWokPEwh5CugPXpue/s640/blogger-image--1096909783.jpg"></a></div><br></div>And a birthday Iggle Piggle cake for the lovely charity that is Free Cakes for Kids Hackney.</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRLtrVG4tytedSuwBiPPinDFgu32Ymq9mCxWACQr-ejeOuc-j1x9k1NLQxg0qHpiiJvAZcBl_VPMZyeXKMjdjqNQflGw2C56sFqBOm4etJ3DxD83oDss6sDpIqVWYxOSpg-qg5B26rxGEw/s640/blogger-image--1006841569.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRLtrVG4tytedSuwBiPPinDFgu32Ymq9mCxWACQr-ejeOuc-j1x9k1NLQxg0qHpiiJvAZcBl_VPMZyeXKMjdjqNQflGw2C56sFqBOm4etJ3DxD83oDss6sDpIqVWYxOSpg-qg5B26rxGEw/s640/blogger-image--1006841569.jpg"></a></div><br></div>Miss Whiplashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17170690244653668290noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2411983185139415318.post-56646420905120794572013-12-11T08:21:00.000+00:002013-12-11T08:21:49.746+00:00Simple Shortbread Cookies and the Great Food Blogger Cookie SwapThis year, whilst mindlessly flicking through Twitter, my attention was drawn to <a href="http://www.fbcookieswap.com/" target="_blank">this</a> - the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap.<br />
<br />
Of course, I signed up immediately and spent the next few weeks constantly plotting what kind of utterly mind-blowing cookie I could come up with.<br />
<br />
My workmates came up with all kinds of wacky suggestions, some of which we actually experimented with, but, in the end, it was all too complicated and I plumped for something a bit more classic - I'm sure my cookie giftees were relieved!<br />
<br />
Shortbread seemed practical for posting - it lasts well and is delicious. The addition of sour cherries and almonds seemed kind of festive to me - also, sour cherries are kind of unbelievable - they taste quite a lot like tangfastics :)<br />
<br />
<b><u>Sour Cherry and Almond Shortbread</u></b><br />
<b><u><br /></u></b>
Ingredients:<br />
<br />
- Butter (at room temperature)<br />
- Caster sugar<br />
- Plain flour (I like the superfine stuff)<br />
- Ground almonds<br />
- Pinch of salt<br />
- Dried sour cherries<br />
- Blanched almonds<br />
<br />
Method:<br />
<br />
- Preheat the oven to about 150.<br />
- Mix together the butter, sugar, ground almonds, flour and salt - I did this in an electric mixer - you can also use a wooden spoon or your hands. Don't overmix - just do enough to make sure that everything is properly combined.<br />
- Gently mix in the sour cherries and almonds (I kept the almonds whole - I like the great big chunks in the cookies - but there would be no harm in chopping them up a bit if you preferred).<br />
- Roll the whole lot out into a big sausage, wrap it in greaseproof paper and stick it in the fridge for at least half an hour (overnight is totally fine).<br />
- When you're ready to bake the cookies, take the dough-sausage out of the fridge, chop it into (fattish) rounds and arrange on a lined baking sheet. They don't spread much, but worth leaving a bit of space between them just in case.<br />
- Stick them in the oven and bake for about 25 minutes. They won't colour much and might look undercooked (always the way with shortbread), but you just have to believe.<br />
- Take them out of the oven and cool on wire racks.<br />
<br />
Super easy, no?<br />
<br />
You can decorate them with drizzled white and dark chocolate if you want, or try to make pretty icing patterns on them for extra bakewelliness, but I chose to leave mine plain - I like them better than way.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivj5DgMnJEkItLmuEorMIK7F23CoMpA0LHhUN9bVhZ5D9lGAicXj9-w-GyWCazQFFjmanw2Ro7LmvNMlBXy3_ts90URoWsfI5VNQyfFkGZH7d0d657KKsNVP3oq_mzPUUKQkGGiuL5Yad-/s1600/shortbread+cookies.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivj5DgMnJEkItLmuEorMIK7F23CoMpA0LHhUN9bVhZ5D9lGAicXj9-w-GyWCazQFFjmanw2Ro7LmvNMlBXy3_ts90URoWsfI5VNQyfFkGZH7d0d657KKsNVP3oq_mzPUUKQkGGiuL5Yad-/s320/shortbread+cookies.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
The best part about the Cookie Swap was that I also received THREE batches of delicious cookies from three other lovely bloggers - I'll update on those later.<br />
<br />
Happy baking, everyone!<br />
<br />
<br />Miss Whiplashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17170690244653668290noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2411983185139415318.post-46230185246974918712013-11-16T18:58:00.000+00:002013-11-16T19:36:33.878+00:00Birthday CakeI haven't written anything here for several hundred years (again), so here's a quick something that I did a couple of weeks ago.<br />
<br />
For a few months now, I have been occasionally volunteering for a very very lovely charity called <a href="http://freecakesforkidshackney.com/" target="_blank">Free Cakes For Kids in Hackney,</a> which is the local branch of a <a href="http://www.freecakesforkids.org.uk/" target="_blank">small national charity</a> which provides cakes (mostly birthday cakes) to children who wouldn't otherwise get them - local bakers bake things and deliver them to schools, nurseries etc - all very simple.<br />
<br />
It seems a small thing, but for most of us (certainly for me), birthday cakes and parties as a child were genuinely formative events, and there are few of mine that I don't remember extremely clearly*.<br />
It is a sad fact that, actually, birthday cakes are expensive (in cash and time terms) to produce or provide, and there are people for whom they are an unaffordable luxury.<br />
For someone like me, who obsessively bakes unnecessary things and is always on the lookout for new cake victims, this is really a pretty obvious collaboration.<br />
<br />
My most recent cake was for a fifth birthday party and had a Rainbow Dash (nope - I didn't know either) brief.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/Rainbow_Dash" target="_blank">Rainbow Dash</a>, as it turns out, is one of the new breed of My Little Ponies (pretty sure they didn't have names when <i>I</i> used to have them), as husband discovered during extensive "research" through the medium of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2iMDpldfYg" target="_blank">YouTube</a> (thus becoming a member of a <a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=bronies" target="_blank">slightly odd new social group</a>).<br />
<br />
Anyway, since she is a rainbow character, a rainbow cake seemed like the way to go.<br />
I toyed with the idea of making a sugarpaste pony or piping her onto the top, but, honestly, life is too short, and I figured that, if it was MY fifth birthday, I'd probably prefer a Rainbow Dash that I could actually keep afterwards, in any case.<br />
I was also tempted to cut out the middle of the cake and fill it with (rainbow themed, obviously) skittles or similar, so that they would all come pouring out when it was cut, but, as I had to deliver first thing in the morning, I was a bit worried about leaving them in there overnight in case the colour ran and made some kind of unholy sludgy mess, so I wimped out. I still quite fancy this for another time.<br />
<br />
So - here's how it all went down (I wrote this recipe out, fairly hurriedly, for the FCFK website - I hope it makes sense)...<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><b>Ingredients:</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">6 eggs<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">Weight of the eggs in butter (or
margarine), caster sugar and self raising flour<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">Vanilla extract (for the cake)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">Pinch of salt<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">Rainbow coloured gel food colours (I
used red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple – no indigo – I’m not totally
sure I know what indigo even is) – these are fantastic – much better than the
liquid colours of my youth – unbelievably strong colours even when baked.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">Jam<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">250g block of butter<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">650g icing sugar<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">Vanilla extract (for the icing)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">Edible lustre sprays in pearl and sky
blue (optional)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><b>Method:</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">I made the cake in three batches
(mainly because I only have one set of sandwich cake tins and one oven).</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;">*Weigh two eggs and preheat the oven
to 180 (165 fan).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;">Weight the same amount of butter
(margarine) and sugar into a bowl and add a splodge of vanilla extract. Cream
this until it goes white and fluffy (I did it with a stand mixer, but a hand
whisk or wooden spoon is also totally viable).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;">Measure out (separately) the same
weight of flour and add the pinch of salt.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;">Add the two eggs to the butter/sugar
mix gradually and beat in (not too much, just till it’s all combined well).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;">If the egg/butter/sugar mix starts to
look a bit curdled, just chuck in a little handful of the flour between egg
additions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;">Chuck in the flour and fold it in to
the mix – keep it quick and only fold until combined – don’t overmix.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;">Split this mixture in half and colour
each half with one of your rainbow colours.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;">Stick these two coloured batters into
your sandwich tins and stick in the oven for about 15 minutes till they are
cooked – they will be fairly thin cakes – this is a good thing – you are going
to end up with six layers, after all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;">When the cakes are cool enough, turn
them out onto racks and leave to cool completely.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtXdHJPXJyBwZkzjYwyx5ybt7PGB-heYamjWce3mV6Ko9AqFz69CwJ94rTgVRid_BV-4iucR3ovZsKSNZwsUTiGlUy95B9piZgmAMisq6IwimUI9iVZxjmk9kPb5X1wsGoBZOlL8T6oE3V/s1600/cooing+cakes.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtXdHJPXJyBwZkzjYwyx5ybt7PGB-heYamjWce3mV6Ko9AqFz69CwJ94rTgVRid_BV-4iucR3ovZsKSNZwsUTiGlUy95B9piZgmAMisq6IwimUI9iVZxjmk9kPb5X1wsGoBZOlL8T6oE3V/s320/cooing+cakes.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;">Frantically wash your bowls and tins
and start again from * with the next two colours until you have six lovely
layers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;">When all your cakes are cooked, level
them off as necessary (it matters more with more layers – you don’t want a
Leaning Tower of Pisa cake for this one) and layer them up on a board with jam
in between to stick them together nicely.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVVyYEW3FnO2bUAAixqQNlBECZtG_WbSgU5YppBZv89skKh02Fww_ockk-X0eEtSxroOBv0vldaA85xf5mYB0xDUqmxSkiUpcVjBV8Fix-qMDJelsyMt4Tv41L_6T7MGojP_tNQsLeskje/s1600/stacked+cakes.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVVyYEW3FnO2bUAAixqQNlBECZtG_WbSgU5YppBZv89skKh02Fww_ockk-X0eEtSxroOBv0vldaA85xf5mYB0xDUqmxSkiUpcVjBV8Fix-qMDJelsyMt4Tv41L_6T7MGojP_tNQsLeskje/s320/stacked+cakes.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;">Refrigerate while you make the icing
(for an hour at least).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;">To make the icing, stick the butter
(at room temperature) and icing sugar into a bowl and beat (slowly at first –
icing sugar is messy stuff) until all incorporated (it might be a bit crumby –
that is fine at this stage). Again – you can do this by hand if you’re feeling
strong, but icing is where those stand mixers really come into their own.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;">Add a good splodge of vanilla and
possibly a splash of milk if things are looking a bit dry and beat frantically
until it’s lovely and fluffy – it takes about 5 minutes in the stand mixer –
probably more by hand.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;">Use up to half the icing to crumb
coat your cake, making a nice smooth layer and locking all the crumbs in – it’s
fine if it doesn’t look nice – it just needs to give a good base.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;">Refrigerate the whole thing overnight
(or at least for a couple of hours) for the icing to set and chill.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;">The next day, spread the rest of the
icing over the crumb coat – this time, make it as beautiful as you can!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;">I decorated the whole thing by
spraying the icing all over with pearlescent lustre and then using stencils
(cut of old bits of paper) to make clouds and spraying with blue. This is
obviously optional, but I thought that since Rainbow Dash is a proper flutter
pony, she’d probably quite like a sky background and it makes the cake a little
bit interesting on the outside as well as being a rainbow inside.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtQxjSmHpcD2ba6Afbq7FQ9h6wiy5qjAXaajToxg4m80RG74cnRvwp78kiFQemlbv2jtVVoseg3g7Mpu9jAmqSHKb1HPZ1SWzSmiLapsGgLQEkMSfLJ511dyV9LOp_YGJMq77b5RS6Fz-T/s1600/boxed+cake2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtQxjSmHpcD2ba6Afbq7FQ9h6wiy5qjAXaajToxg4m80RG74cnRvwp78kiFQemlbv2jtVVoseg3g7Mpu9jAmqSHKb1HPZ1SWzSmiLapsGgLQEkMSfLJ511dyV9LOp_YGJMq77b5RS6Fz-T/s320/boxed+cake2.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;">Finally, I stuck my Rainbow Dash
figure on top (she’s just plastic – I contemplated icing her on, but thought
that, if it was my birthday, I’d probably prefer something I could actually
keep afterwards) and chucked a couple of packets of Skittles round the cake to
reemphasise the rainbow theme.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%;">Et voila – Rainbow Dash rainbow cake!
Obviously these are at their best when they’re actually sliced and you get the
whole rainbow effect, but I didn’t get to see that here (it always looks
awesome, though).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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(This is a previous, not so neat, sideways, but seven layered example).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9ov4tOZg9yGT32iFwSqdXnKovF0kRkfsPgKgTEB0nM41ZAAIroZgNgRR3Zv6DTJYxw7XAls7yHfxvfkeVmph_ejK2ZauJXyy7zN6v2QegeM-TIyJAlXliR_L2E57S_P_QmP1MVoA6rCJR/s1600/inside+cake.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9ov4tOZg9yGT32iFwSqdXnKovF0kRkfsPgKgTEB0nM41ZAAIroZgNgRR3Zv6DTJYxw7XAls7yHfxvfkeVmph_ejK2ZauJXyy7zN6v2QegeM-TIyJAlXliR_L2E57S_P_QmP1MVoA6rCJR/s320/inside+cake.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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*We had a LOT of good birthday cakes - pianos, trains, swimming pools, castles - you name it. Mainly down to hard work from my mum, dad and granny, and in no small part, thanks to the magic of the (slightly odd, but also awesome) <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Childrens-Birthday-Australian-Womens-Library/dp/0949128031/ref=pd_cp_b_0" target="_blank">Australian Women's Weekly Birthday Cake Book</a>.<br />
There must be photos of loads of them - some time I'll try to find and post them.Miss Whiplashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17170690244653668290noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2411983185139415318.post-90803602413282375632013-09-08T22:01:00.001+01:002013-09-09T14:21:55.786+01:00Bakeoff Bakealong: Week 2: BreadSo - week 2 - English muffins. Or just "muffins", as they were called when we used to eat them growing up.<br />
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I'm on holiday this week, so my kitchen setup is a little more, well, "basic" than usual.<br />
Don't worry, though, I'm not going to regale you with tales of baking on the boat-based primus stove or anything, though I'm pleased to report that I DO still know how to light it - always a challenge from year to year.<br />
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I made<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/english_muffins_56640" target="_blank"> these muffins</a> today, despite the fact that it's only me here and that I'm going home tomorrow - always the sensible one.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWRbFd6rOqgQl_qCPIHrFXOZKyWleUNMKjLlIqUOV7IAirRQPxCHbAHzmWJhnT6-8w9lrVfar5Osvciw_Bt6wQr_FoeqGDyjgmdWqVOoRY3Y_pN75s2tOqaQj8h1XVJ8xImiDaTTJHQPwD/s1600/IMG_4500.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWRbFd6rOqgQl_qCPIHrFXOZKyWleUNMKjLlIqUOV7IAirRQPxCHbAHzmWJhnT6-8w9lrVfar5Osvciw_Bt6wQr_FoeqGDyjgmdWqVOoRY3Y_pN75s2tOqaQj8h1XVJ8xImiDaTTJHQPwD/s320/IMG_4500.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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They were pretty easy, as it turned out, and obviously a fairly robust recipe, since I left the dough to prove for about 5 hours longer than necessary (I got trapped out by an unexpected rain shower - the kitchen is pretty cold - I reckon it didn't overprove *that* much) and I didn't have a griddle. Or a heavy based frying pan. Or any cutters. Or all of the right ingredients. Oh - or any remotely accurate scales.<br />
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Still - they look pretty good, I'd say, despite the lack of roundness. And they taste muffiny. I know this, having eaten one or two*.<br />
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Rustic. I think that's the word.<br />
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[EDIT] This morning, I bacon-and-egg-ed them up in the style of Maccy D... I think you'll agree that this is extremely pleasing.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3jOT-SJYRFpC-5Hoz6wktARtmD3fSGEwBSU9WbV2PcYryeq0wkJqZBLzukahzB8zzOm9Uv_lW03y8NxjJoBqSP8c35H2A61unqieKsOnXyxRp07OSa1eUaw-RNZKn9gYBe0-_QOLPvDk-/s1600/IMG_4506.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3jOT-SJYRFpC-5Hoz6wktARtmD3fSGEwBSU9WbV2PcYryeq0wkJqZBLzukahzB8zzOm9Uv_lW03y8NxjJoBqSP8c35H2A61unqieKsOnXyxRp07OSa1eUaw-RNZKn9gYBe0-_QOLPvDk-/s320/IMG_4506.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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I watched week three in the garden on my laptop yesterday - iles flottant it is, I guess - those are going to be DIFFICULT to get into work in the morning :)<br />
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Also - just for a bit of extra holiday vibe - there were some amazing rainbows here yesterday - I honestly don't think I've ever seen one so bright.<br />
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* A big big lot.<br />
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<br />Miss Whiplashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17170690244653668290noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2411983185139415318.post-56449075943251404292013-08-27T22:30:00.001+01:002013-08-27T23:14:44.691+01:00Bakeoff Bakealong: Week 1: CakeI thought it might be fun to bake along with this season of the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b013pqnm" target="_blank">Great British Bake Off</a> (or <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23GBBO&src=tren" target="_blank">#GBBO</a>, as it's "colloquially" known).<br />
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Who knows how far I'll get (hopefully a little further, as I'm looking forward to the muffins), but here's last week's technical bake - <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/angel_food_cake_with_04002" target="_blank">passion fruit and lemon style angel food cake.</a></div>
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It's a proper fatless American sponge - no butter or egg yolks - and it came out much better than I was expecting - actually quite moist as well as being fluffy.<br />
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I'm going to take it to work in the morning and force feed it to my colleagues - I shall report back on the results.</div>
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I obviously didn't have the right kind of tin and my only ring cake tin was much too small, so I just stuck a tumbler in the middle of my usual 10 inch loose bottomed tin.</div>
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There were two bonuses to this recipe. The first is that there's loads of lovely lemon curd left (probably for some kind of <a href="http://cloudfront.learc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Lea-Autumn-2013-poster-v2.pdf" target="_blank">regatta</a> cake later in the week) and the second is that it turns out that passion fruit is delicious :)</div>
Miss Whiplashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17170690244653668290noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2411983185139415318.post-56529861331144636892013-07-25T14:39:00.001+01:002013-07-25T14:46:46.019+01:00Everything But The DuckIt was my birthday last weekend (or possibly the one before), so husband and I went to Duck and Waffle and ate (and drank) everything.<br />
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It was awesome. We ordered a million things and mysteriously acquired some bonus extra things too (one of many reasons to love D&W) - we basically waddled out at the end - probably just as well we don't have birthdays more than once a year.</div>
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Here is a selection of pictures of what went down...</div>
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Pretty drinks in the (lovely lovely air conditioned) bar.</div>
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Crispy pigs' ears - like slightly chewier pork scratching a covered with magic dust. I knew these were good. Husband got to enjoy the revelatory experience of eating them for the first time.</div>
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Dates wrapped in bacon - I think I'd call these Devils on Horseback.</div>
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I don't like dried fruit mostly. I love these.</div>
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Octopus - I'm pretty sure this remains my favourite thing at D&W (and possibly in the World). Just delicious. Those crispy capers! Mmmmm...</div>
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Raw fish selection. Scallops, halibut and tuna. So pretty. So tasty. We *might* have eaten one of the scallops prior to photographing.</div>
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Beetroot with goat cheese and what are, to all intents and purposes, hunks of crunchie bar. I've wanted to order this before, but never managed it. It was very sweet. Husband did not love. I liked it quite a lot, but think I might have it for pudding next time...</div>
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Ox cheek doughnut. I deliberately didn't order this, as I thought husband would turn his nose up at it (and it we had been a bit sweet for my taste last time), but it arrived as a tasty bonus. It was much better than last time - really nice and spicy. And husband LOVED it. His (savoury) dish of the day, I think.</div>
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And puddings. We ordered torrejas to share - basically delicious maple caramelly apples with golden toast (made of brioche) and cinnamon ice cream. It was everything we dreamed it would be - husband was smitten. I'm definitely going to try to recreate this one at home!</div>
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And a bonus dessert (in case we hadn't eaten enough already) or vanilla baked alaska. With strawberry sauce and lurid green mint oil. </div>
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I liked this both because it tasted good AND because it looked a bit like an alien.</div>
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And the sunset through the window. Most spectacular restaurant setting ever.</div>
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AND in case that wasn't enough birthday fun for one year, on the way home, there was A KITTEN ON THE TRAIN.</div>
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Best day ever.</div>
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Miss Whiplashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17170690244653668290noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2411983185139415318.post-45752257978649920442013-07-23T11:10:00.001+01:002013-07-23T11:10:23.654+01:00SteakI am officially the worst blogger ever.<div><br></div><div>In case anyone still occasionally stumbles upon the blog, here is a picture of my steak/salad dinner last night - featuring delicious aged rump from the nice people at the Ginger Pig...</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1DDTRVZKoVPkQB4vG3lGdodapyVETReu_i2tA1yNMWM3cwczvhoyyD5ofOlLZnjK0vN0gao20CDJQgnZdHOiaHbE7T0eP4YrWU6IhZbRzWjfPOHym3uQbY6hUtYQGh_NhXCKN9QxVTU4i/s640/blogger-image--1533137797.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1DDTRVZKoVPkQB4vG3lGdodapyVETReu_i2tA1yNMWM3cwczvhoyyD5ofOlLZnjK0vN0gao20CDJQgnZdHOiaHbE7T0eP4YrWU6IhZbRzWjfPOHym3uQbY6hUtYQGh_NhXCKN9QxVTU4i/s640/blogger-image--1533137797.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div>I also made pastrami and tangfastic ice cream (two separate things - that would NOT be a nice combination) at the weekend, but haven't photographed them, so you'll just have to use your imaginations.</div><div><br></div><div>And last week, we went out in Camden with my parents, and I ate this splendidly smiley-faced pudding.</div><div>I assume it MUST have been deliberate - I don't think you could accidentally smiley so very obviously.</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB_vrNnqCv65TMVRePBft5FE1HVSKlotKqaXibTYmuvGJlDQiKxGUs_Xpfwm12Y0yff1M7_LzIjPyyIjUed3iBCjk711GPMHvttjE6bOCScSZnootPe5IZRFqyJ7SxRMpnorpP9WX-mIPY/s640/blogger-image--680896240.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB_vrNnqCv65TMVRePBft5FE1HVSKlotKqaXibTYmuvGJlDQiKxGUs_Xpfwm12Y0yff1M7_LzIjPyyIjUed3iBCjk711GPMHvttjE6bOCScSZnootPe5IZRFqyJ7SxRMpnorpP9WX-mIPY/s640/blogger-image--680896240.jpg"></a></div><br></div>Miss Whiplashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17170690244653668290noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2411983185139415318.post-81086667447136566962013-05-29T21:30:00.002+01:002013-05-29T21:30:32.820+01:00Garlic GluttonyA little while ago, I had a bit of a garlic glut.<br />
Not a real glut, I guess - it's not as though my personal garlic farm had been ridiculously productive or anything - more just a spate of overenthusiastic buying - gluttony as opposed to gluttery, if you will.<br />
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Now, I'm a pretty keen eater of garlic, but even I would find it difficult to work more than a couple of heads a day into our dinner, so I needed a solution.<br />
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I racked my brains and managed to dredge up from some of the darker recesses that garlic is both nice and also pretty when one confits it, so that's what I did.<br />
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I peeled about a million cloves and poached them really gently in olive oil (with a bit of basil, salt and peppercorns) and then stuck them in a sterilised jar.<br />
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Et voila - confit garlic.<br />
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It obviously lasted about three and a half minutes before I ate it all.<br />
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<br />Miss Whiplashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17170690244653668290noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2411983185139415318.post-56735355221721157302013-05-28T22:31:00.003+01:002013-05-28T22:31:20.745+01:00Just One Cornetto...<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nSRsyKrJ-U" target="_blank">Or maybe a few, actually, now that I think about it...</a><br />
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I made some ice cream cones - I used <a href="http://www.joepastry.com/2011/making-ice-cream-cones/" target="_blank">the recipe here,</a> which I believe originated with <a href="http://www.davidlebovitz.com/" target="_blank">David Lebovitz </a>(hardly surprising really!).<br />
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And once I had the hang of it, they weren't even too hard to "cone up", though it's lucky I have asbestos-like fingers.<br />
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They were nice - we ate some of the ones that didn't make it - very very sweet - like a cornetto, so we did a bit of research.<br />
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I made a vanilla condensed milk ice cream - I used a bit more cream than condensed milk this time (probably 60:40 instead of the usual 50:50) so as to minimise the sweetness and work better with the sugary sugar cones.<br />
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For added cornettoness, I froze some of the ice cream inside the cones and added some dark chocolate and chopped toasted hazelnuts.<br />
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We also made a few different cone ideas - some with chocolate and nut rims and some with chocolate coating inside, mainly just as a bit of practice for next time (I'm definitely planning a next time - I have a few 'soirees' coming up - these would be a perfect pudding).<br />
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These are in honour of <a href="http://www.kaveyeats.com/2013/05/may-bsfic-cones-cups-biscuits-baskets-wafers-waffles.html" target="_blank">this month's BSFIC challenge</a>.<br />
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<br />Miss Whiplashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17170690244653668290noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2411983185139415318.post-47420512749753744912013-05-06T16:57:00.000+01:002013-05-07T14:30:45.529+01:00Familiar ScenesIt's been a while since I <strike>forced upon</strike> shared with you anything that I've been eating, so here's a very small update.<br />
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An unnamed evening last week I got home late to find that husband had already eaten a frozen pizza, so I cunningly grabbed the opportunity to make something he would turn his nose up at (as well as something that could be ready in super-quick time by a very hungry person) and made this vaguely Sichuan style tofu with green beans, which I, slightly randomly, ate with avocado.<br />
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Which, as an added bonus, provided leftovers for lunch the next day.<br />
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I have also eaten an amazing giant sirloin (I reluctantly shared with husband, but it was still Very Large).<br />
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And made (and piggily ate) some awesome fish fragrant aubergine a la Fuschia Dunlop.</div>
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Today, I celebrated the bank holiday by going to my <a href="http://www.yelp.co.uk/biz/newington-green-fruit-and-vegetables-london" target="_blank">very favourite shop in the World</a> to forage for asparagus (mmmmm - asparagus...), where I bought more things than I could carry, including not only the asparagus, but two amazing goose eggs, one of which I boiled and ate for my lunch.<br />
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Looks good, no?<br />
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Looks like you're in for another month or so of pictures of me eating asparagus.<br />
Sorry*.<br />
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*Not really.Miss Whiplashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17170690244653668290noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2411983185139415318.post-70087768519480642042013-04-27T20:52:00.001+01:002013-04-27T20:52:45.757+01:00Hot 'n' ColdSo as well as generally being a bit rubbish at the Whole Blogging Thing recently, I have been more specifically rubbish at the Ice Cream Blogging thing and totally neglecting <a href="http://www.kaveyeats.com/" target="_blank">lovely Kavey</a>'s <a href="http://www.kaveyeats.com/2013/04/april-bsfic-baked-alaska.html" target="_blank">BSFIC challenges</a>.<br />
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Actually - it's even sadder than that - in some cases, I've gone as far as to make the ice cream (see my lovely raspberry, chocolate and pistachio number here), but still not managed to get around to the actual blog part. I know, I know - I am a bad person!<br />
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Anyway, this time round I was super keen and might even have been the VERY FIRST person to throw my hat into the baked alaska making ring, though you'll have just to take my word for that, as, despite making (and eating) it weeks and weeks ago, I've only just got around to writing it up for your reading pleasure!<br />
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One of the reasons for my extreme enthusiasm about the theme this month is that I have never before eaten baked alaska. Never. Not in my whole wide life.<br />
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I looked up a few recipes and things and, contrary to my expectations, they all used French meringue (just eggs whites whisked cold with sugar) and were really and truly baked.<br />
Being the lazy and disobedient person that I am, however, I opted for Italian meringue and very little baking.<br />
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I whipped up a quick condensed milk ice cream using a mixture of cream and yogurt (again, super lazy, but having learnt how to do this in an earlier BSFIC, I've really never looked back) and swirled it with lemon curd (simply because lemon curd is delicious) into a kind of lemon ripple monstrosity.<br />
When the ice cream was set, I scooped out the roundest, prettiest scoops that I could manage and stuck them back in the freezer to harden up (overnight, I think).<br />
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I made a quick Italian meringue by beating up some egg whites and very gradually whisking in some hot sugar syrup until the whole thing was cool and glossy.<br />
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I cut flat circles out of a madeira cake and spread them with a little bit more lemon curd, then cunningly balanced the ice cream balls on top.<br />
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I had planned just to blowtorch the tops, but, in fact, I found that it worked better to stick them into a hot hot oven for a couple of minutes.<br />
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And lo, they were everything I dreamed they would be. Hot and cold at the SAME TIME - genius!<br />
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Now that I know how easy and delicious it is, I am definitely going to bake further alaskas - pink fruit addict that I am, I might try some sorbets/swiss roll combinations next time - I reckon that would be pretty nice and, since it's officially<span style="font-size: xx-small;">*</span> summer now, totally seasonally appropriate too :)<br />
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This is my entry to the <a href="http://www.kaveyeats.com/2013/04/april-bsfic-baked-alaska.html" target="_blank">BSFIC April roundup - check it out!</a><br />
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*In my house, at least...<br />
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<br />Miss Whiplashhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17170690244653668290noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2411983185139415318.post-52770146478724698442013-04-26T13:49:00.005+01:002013-04-26T13:55:10.864+01:00World Baking Day: Coffee Cake for Booze Free Days<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">On Sunday, 19th May this year, it is apparently </span><a href="http://worldbakingday.co.uk/#/en" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;">World Baking Day</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> - a global event in which everyone, no matter what their skills and experience, is invited to join in the baking fun and "Bake Brave" by baking something that is out of their usual comfort zone.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">In order to facilitate this, they have provided 100 lovely recipes (I'm definitely trying a few - maybe even this weekend) of varying levels of difficulty for you to play with, one of which (eeeeek) is </span><a href="http://worldbakingday.co.uk/#/en/how-to-bake/coffee-cake" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;">MINE</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">So here's the story of the cake - I've been sitting on it (waiting for the website to go live) for a little while now, so some bits are probably a *teeny tiny* bit less current than they might once have been.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">When I was asked for a good baking recipe for World Baking Day, I wasn't really sure what people would want to see - there are a million recipes out there anyway, and mine are probably little different to most of the others, so I decided not to worry about making it too radical or different and just to share the thing I've been making most frequently for the last month or so.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">As anyone who's reading carefully will know, my husband is in the midst of a booze free month (actually, a pretty long month, now - it's been going for, I think, about five weeks so far, and we're not quite at the end yet), which, whilst doubtless being good for him (and, by proxy, me) in many ways, has lead to a marked increase in his requirement for baked goods.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Actually, this suits me pretty well - the late night baking sessions when he looks around and wonders if there are any 'snacks' are a pretty good fit for my well documented penchant for such things, and I'm getting really good at baking things based on whatever ingredients we happen to have lying around.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Given the choice, though, what he really wants (and ALWAYS requests when asked for an opinion) is coffee cake. Preferably in the format of a round sandwich cake with lots of filling, though he'll take it however he can get it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">So here it is - if you ever fancy a go at a dry period, this is exactly the cake you need to get you through it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">And if you make anywhere near as many as I have in the past month or so, you'll get really good at it really quickly!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">And </span><a href="http://worldbakingday.co.uk/#/en/how-to-bake/coffee-cake" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;">here</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> it is on the actual World Baking Day website.</span><br />
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<span class="338050109-14032013"></span><span class="338050109-14032013" style="font-family: inherit;"><strong><u>Coffee Cake for Booze Free Days</u></strong></span><br />
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<span class="338050109-14032013" style="font-family: inherit;"><strong><u>Ingredients</u></strong></span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">4 eggs (lightly beaten)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">The equivalent weight of the four eggs in:</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Margarine</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Caster Sugar</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Self raising flour (or plain flour and a bit of baking powder)</span></li>
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<li><span class="338050109-14032013" style="font-family: inherit;">About 25mls cold coffee - made up as strongly as you can (instant is fine - I used aeropress espresso style, as that's what I had in the house). You could use a few drops coffee extract or similar instead, but that way, you don't get the nice dark colour.</span></li>
<li><span class="338050109-14032013" style="font-family: inherit;">Pinch of salt</span></li>
<li><span class="338050109-14032013" style="font-family: inherit;">100g margarine (or room temperature butter) for the icing</span></li>
<li><span class="338050109-14032013" style="font-family: inherit;">320g icing sugar</span></li>
<li><span class="338050109-14032013" style="font-family: inherit;">Cocoa powder, walnuts or chocolate buttons (or some combination of the three) to decorate</span></li>
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<span class="338050109-14032013" style="font-family: inherit;"><strong><u>Method</u></strong></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><ul>
<li style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span class="338050109-14032013" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">First of all, weigh your eggs and try to remember the number - this is the amount of margarine, sugar and flour that you will need.</span></li>
<li style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span class="338050109-14032013" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Preheat your oven to 180 (or 160 fan).</span></li>
<li style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span class="338050109-14032013" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Cream together the margarine and sugar until they're light coloured and fluffy - I use my lovely electric stand mixer for this, which makes it easy, but you can do the same with a wooden spoon and some frantic beating. This is probably the most important bit and makes for a nice light sponge, so it's worth putting in a bit of time/elbow grease at this stage.</span></li>
<li style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span class="338050109-14032013" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Add the lightly beaten eggs, one at a time and beat in quickly until combined - you don't need to spend too long on this - it's better not to overbeat. If the mixture looks like it's curdling, then add a few tablespoons of the flour between eggs.</span></li>
<li style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span class="338050109-14032013" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Add about a tablespoon of the coffee and beat in quickly.</span></li>
<li style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span class="338050109-14032013" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Chuck the flour and salt (and baking powder if applicable) into the bowl and fold in with a spatula or metal spoon - again, you don't want to spend too much time here - just the minimum amount of mixing to get everything combined.</span></li>
<li style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span class="338050109-14032013" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Spread the mixture gently into greased sandwich cake tins (this also works well as a flat slab cake in lined brownie style tin, though you obviously sacrifice the buttercream filling that way) and stick them in the oven for about 25 minutes or until a knife or skewer poked into the middle of the cake comes out clean. You might want to turn them once half way through, but, other than that, it's generally best to avoid opening the oven door too much - particularly near to the beginning.</span></li>
<li style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span class="338050109-14032013" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Remove the cakes from the oven and leave on a rack to cool.</span></li>
<li style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span class="338050109-14032013" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">When the cakes are cold enough to handle (and not to disintegrate), remove them from the tins and leave to cool completely.</span></li>
<li style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span class="338050109-14032013" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">For the icing, beat the margarine or butter (personally, I'd go for butter here - whilst margarine makes fluffier cakes, I think butter makes for a tastier icing, though that's obviously fairly subjective) with the icing sugar until it's sort of crumby - the stand mixer or an electric whisk makes this pretty easy, but, again, a wooden spoon and some hard work will also do the job.</span></li>
<li style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span class="338050109-14032013" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Add the rest of the coffee and beat fast and crazily until the icing is as fluffy as you can possibly make it (I usually do about 5 minutes on a fast speed in the stand mixer). You have to keep an eye on this, though, as it can go a bit gloopy if you beat it for too long.</span></li>
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<li style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><span class="338050109-14032013" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Ice to taste - I tend to favour a generous layer of icing sandwiched between the layers, then either piped splodges on top topped with walnuts (or chocolate buttons) or another thin layer spread over the top dusted with cocoa powder/icing sugar or chocolate curls/sprinkles, but, honestly, the World is your oyster here - do whatever you most want to eat!</span></li>
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