Recipe No. 13 - Sticky Walnut Tart

Hmmm 13 is often considered unlucky and maybe in this case I think it could be true.

So far this is probably the only thing I wouldn't make again, The pastry for the tart was really nice and I had a little left over which was enough to make 2 little jam tarts. It was hard to roll out as it is quite short but I lined the tin with it in the way Mary Berry did on one of The Great British Bake off explanation episodes where she rolled out the dough into a large circle and folded the side into the centre. After that the edges that had been folded in were stood up and pressed into the sides - Very hard to explain! So I've found it on youtube, watch this video from 3minutes in to see what I mean:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YoQvPB61Do

Whilst the pastry is blind baking, the filling is made by placing all except the cream into a pan and heating to melt the sugar and butter. When this has happened the cream is added and left for a minute or two more. This is then poured into the tart base and cooked for about 15 minutes. 

Now it looks nice, and smells nice however the filling was just a bit too sweet, too syrupy and dare I say it.. too walnuty?! Im not the biggest fan of walnuts but I don't dislike them, the filling was pretty much just walnuts in a very sticky glue made of honey, sugar, butter and cream. Now to me I don't think this was worth the calories! Give me any other dessert but if it's a lot of calories I want to at least enjoy every single last mouthful! 

So, If you like Walnuts and things sweet enough to make your eyes water...Make this!! 

  

Recipe No. 12 - Banana and Almond Slice

Don't you just love walking into a warm house that smells like cake? I do!
Especially if it's Banana flavoured as my mum used to make Banana and Walnut loaf quite a lot. Also..you do almost feel a little bit healthy as the cake has fruit in!
As you might have seen Holly (recipes from a normal mum) posted a tip today about freezing those bananas that are past it so that you can make banana cake/loaf when it suits you and not just when you have an abundance of shrivelled black bananas.

Well that is exactly what I did just before christmas, there were way too many other things to eat in our house to even think about making a Banana cake so I peeled, mashed and froze them until this morning. They take very little time to defrost too which is great!

This cake came out so moist and delicious, it's not overpowering and is light almost like a sponge cake. The almonds on the top and bottom give it a really nice crunch. Perfect when it is still slightly warm out the oven. It also makes quite a lot, about 20 squares so great for making ahead of the weekend!

In future I would quite like to try a few variations, maybe with chocolate chips or with flaked almonds in the cake mixture too rather than only sprinkled into the tin before the mixture is added and sprinkled on top, maybe even a little Honey would be nice in it! all in all a very versatile cake!

Recipe No.11 - Very Lemony Cupcakes

Today is my dad's birthday and also my sister's friends 18th so we made them cupcakes (sorry dad you got pink ones too!)

I used the Very Lemony Recipe, I've never made cakes with buttermilk before and I thought they had an odd almost crust on the top..It wasn't hard but just a denser texture than the inside of the cake. They had a light lemony flavour. 

Harriet helped with the decorating by using a flower cutter from hobbycraft to cut roll out icing and then sticking a pale pink pearl on the top using glace icing whilst I piped a pink and cream swirl. This is achieved by lining the inside of the piping bag with food colouring and then putting the buttercream in. I was really pleased with the result! And so were the Birthday recipients!! 

I liked these very much however I think in future I will be sticking to my Delia Sponge recipe as I preferred the texture and they rise better too! 

Waiting to be Iced.

Sugar Flowers Drying.

Recipe No.10 - Chocolate Crackles

Last week an empty tin was left on my mum's desk at work...as a hint! My mum's colleagues know I bake and from time to time I supply them with cupcakes, this time I thought I'd do something a bit different and make cookies.

Before cooking the dough is rolled into a ball - similar looking to a truffle - and rolled in icing sugar. As they cook the ball flattens and then as they change shape the icing sugar cracks. These cookies look nice and all crack in a different way so they look quite interesting. This is a really simple recipe although I did have to batch bake in order to cook them all which is a bit time consuming. I also got to use my new cake stand which was a bonus!

Some in a tin for Mum...The others can stay at home with me!

Recipe No.9 - Monkey Bread

Don't you just hate it when you wake up and you feel rubbish, the weather is rubbish and all you want is a nice hot drink with a slice of something comforting. So, 3 cups of hot Ribena later I decided to make some Monkey bread as the thought of it warm out the oven was very comforting! (The recipe also said it was simple and great for kids which meant it couldn't be too difficult!)

First of all you make the bread dough and leave it to rise, then it is separated into 60 blobs and rolled into melted butter, sugar, pecans and cinnamon. These are placed in a loaf tin (or 2 as the recipe makes quite a lot of dough) and left to rise again before baking.

The sugar and pecans all caramelise and join all the little pieces together. Heavenly!

No Problems or changes necessary! A very simple and delicious recipe that would go down a treat at any time of the day! x

Recipe No.8 - Chocolate and Orange Mousse Cake

This was definitely a Labour of Love!
It was for one of my best friends birthday (Alex). I told her that she had to pick a cake out of my recipe book this year and she chose the Chocolate and Orange Mousse Cake.
This cake uses a LOT of ingredients including 13...yes 13!... eggs, and it also take quite a lot of preparation time and a wide variety of bowls, tins and utensils. However the result is definitely a crowd pleaser!

First all to make the orange swirls within the chocolate sponge you make an orange coloured paste which is piped onto a lined baking tray or 3 ( somehow you have to fit these into your freezer!) and then move onto the chocolate sponge which has 4 egg whites and 4 whole eggs in it. Meanwhile the orange paste will have become solid so you layer the chocolate mixture over the top and bake for 5-7 minutes. I was not brave enough to take mine out after 7 minutes so left them for a further 2 which I don't think harmed them! These sheets are then turned out and left to cool.

Once cool the sheets are cut into 2 lengths to become the sides and 2 circles which form a top and a base,  I lined a springform tin with one of the circles and both of the sides and packed it all up and drove down to Bournemouth which is where Alex lives ( I was worried the Mousse might not survive the 2 hour journey).

Once there, melted chocolate, more stiff egg whites, egg yolks, gelatine and orange juice and zest are combined to form the mousse. This is poured into the cake lined tin, the sponge lid is added and the whole thing chilled to set. I left it overnight. Finally the next day, I turned the whole thing out onto a plate which was surprisingly easy as the gelatine in the mousse produces quite a stable mass. All that was left was to heat arrowroot and orange juice to form a glaze for the top and after yet more chilling! Using a star shaped nozzle pipe the cream around the top to hide the join between the sponge sides and lid.

This was delicious, it was a cross between a cake, a mousse and a Terry's Chocolate Orange, the surprising middle accompanied by pretty swirls on the sponge (which is not very sweet making it less sickly) make it very impressive looking.  I already have another date in mind this year to make this again!
lastly, if you attempt to make this I have 3 tips:
1. Make sure you have plenty of room in your freezer,
2. Set aside a lot of time and get the necessary bowls etc out before hand,
3. Make sure you have a lot of people coming to eat it, otherwise you will end up eating a lot of it yourself!

Recipe No.7 - Pizza

Must...not....Bake....

Today I had no intention of baking, we were going to have sausages for dinner. Until about 2 o clock this afternoon that is. I couldn't stay out of the kitchen! I have found my new love - Bread making. I love the yeasty bready smell, cutting into the cooked loaf and seeing how it has turned out on the inside and most of all the excitement of checking on the dough and seeing how much it has risen.

So this evening we had pizza, I love homemade pizza and this is even quicker than normal dough as there isn't really a second rising time. Its left to rise for 10 minutes or so while the oven pre heats and gives you time to prepare the toppings. This is another great recipe to get kids involved making patterns or faces with the toppings.

This came out, as would seem usual for the recipes in this book so far, lovely! There are however 2 alterations I would make in the future, firstly increase the cooking time although this could vary between ovens and how thick you like the base but my pizzas took around 16 - 18 minutes. Secondly I would use 2 tins of tomatoes to make the sauce as i found that I didn't quite have enough for all 4 pizzas and had to - god forbid - use some out of a jar!

Made a nice change from the takeaway pizzas laden with so much cheese and grease. Yum :) x

Recipe No.6 - Focaccia

The smell of bread proving and cooking are two smells that I really like, probably because it means that soon i'll be eating some homemade fresh bread warm from the oven.

Being a bread novice I was a bit nervous about this recipe as I remember the confusion on GBBO amongst some of the contestants because of the dough. There is so much water in this recipe that for the first 10 minutes of kneading it is pretty much a soggy slop, once you turn it out of the bowl and onto the oiled surface it comes together better. If you decide to make this don't oil your work surface or board, I lined mine  with clingfilm and taped the edges down. Once your finished just screw the whole lot up and throw it in the bin - clean surfaces!!

From there on its pretty much the same as normal bread recipes.

...Before...

...After.

This came out with a lovely texture, again as I've done before I halved the recipe. although its hard to get perspective from the photographs this would probably be enough to serve 4 for dinner as an accompaniment to some zesty tomato and chicken pasta with about 1/4 left over as odds and ends for the birds. The only thing that brings this down is I think I was a bit over zealous with the sea salt shaker on the crust of the loaf before cooking.

Give this a go around your daily chores as it only takes about 25 minutes in total ignoring the proving times. Happy Baking!

Recipe No.5 - Somerset Pork and Apple Pie

I'm not a big fan of pies, mainly because I don't particularly like savoury pastry - However give me a danish pastry any day! So for the first time I deviated SHOCK HORROR! from the recipe. Not drastically but rather than line the dish with the pastry I just put on a lid purely because as afore mentioned savoury pastry doesn't do it for me. But because this recipe wasn't printed with a picture next to it there wasn't anything to compare it too so i'm not put to shame by a perfect image in the background!
That's another thing that often means I don't cook many recipes from a recipe book; No picture means a lack of inspiration.

Thankfully this recipe uses rough puff instead of traditional puff pastry so for a first attempt at least it was the simpler version. It takes only an hour and a half from start to finish however it came quite dense although the flavour was nice. The filling made from pork, onion, apples, celery and a can of cider. At first the smell of the cider wasn't very nice (enhanced by the fact I don't like cider - Sorry if you're starting to question why I chose to make this!) but as it cooked it did improve! The pork was so tender and literally fell apart as did the apples forming a pleasantly sweet and thick sauce.

Some final touches (to compensate for the simple alternative of a pastry lid) and an egg wash and it was ready for the oven!

After 40 minutes this is what came out...

The filling doesn't look that appetising but I think that happens quite often with pies (kidding myself?).

It was really nice with mash and peas and there were clean plates all round so no complaints from the rest of the family! 

Recipe No.4 - Golden Apricot and Marzipan loaf cake

Another day, another recipe completed!

Today I made the Golden Apricot and Marzipan loaf cake, mainly because I wanted to use up the leftover marzipan from the weekend. It is such a simple recipe that could be made with children, I used a loaf tin again and lined it with a loaf tin baking paper liner which makes life a whole lot easier when removing it from the tin.
Mine didn't quite rise to a nicely domed loaf, it was flatter on the top. I think this was because I put a little too much mixture in the tin.
The last step of glazing the loaf  and sprinkling flaked almonds onto it is such an easy addition but makes it look much more impressive!
This would be perfect with a cup of tea and keeps for 5 days so you can make it ahead of time. The little patches of marzipan are delightful making this into a sort of all year round stollen!

I don't know what else to write today as the whole thing went smoothly, the only thing is if you do choose to make this with children be extra careful when removing it from the oven as the marzipan oozes out the sides a little and is blisteringly hot.

Recipe No.3 - Mary's Coffee and Walnut Battenberg

"This could be a match made in heaven" is what went through my head when I saw this recipe. I like Coffee and Walnut cake, I love Marzipan. Perfect!

First of all I had to have a bit of a brainstorm with my mum about what to cook this in as I don't have a special tin. I decided the best thing to do would be to cook the two different flavoured sponges in loaf tins and then trim the sponge like the recipe stated into the long rectangles. 

I adjusted the recipe for the sponge slightly, increasing it by 50% to allow for the larger tins. 

After the sponges cooled and I had trimmed them came the bit I was dreading...Sandwiching them with the coffee buttercream, manoeuvring the whole lot onto the rolled out marzipan and covering it. All while hoping that the end result resembled a Battenberg or at least a square.

Thankfully the process went without any problems and after trimming the ends to neaten it, I stood back and breathed a sigh of relief! 

I think it looks impressive and wasn't very time consuming, from start to finish it took about 2 hours including the cooling time. It was light, the coffee flavour wasn't too overpowering and there was a pleasant crunch from the walnuts -  I will definitely make this again - although I still have a lot of other recipes to try before that!  

Recipe No.2 - Almond Tuiles

Today I made the second recipe from my book, with the weather so horrid I flicked through and found a few recipes with only basic ingredients that I already had in the cupboard so that I didn't have to set foot outside, settling on Almond Tuiles.

The recipe for these is great! It has several step by step pictures to guide you through what it should look like. The actual mixture is really simple to make but baking it takes a bit of patience and experimentation, the  mixture needs to be very thin on the baking sheet - at first I was worried that each were too thin and would break but once cooked they are quite stable. 

Secondly it is pretty time consuming as only 2 or 3 can be baked at a time. I halved the recipe as the recipe states that it makes 28 and I wanted to limit the amount of calories floating about in the kitchen! Even so it still took me about 45 minutes to bake and mould all of the mixture. I moulded some around an apple (I didn't have any oranges as the book suggests) to make a basket and a few around a rolling pin to form the classic tuile shape, within about 30 seconds they were hard enough to place on a cooling rack. 

To finish I filled the baskets with vanilla custard and topped with a strawberry and grated chocolate - a nice revision treat for my sister! The first few batches did have a softer centre but the later ones improved as I got the hang of it.

Recipe No.1 - Cheese and Onion Tear and Share loaf

It's officially begun! 
My challenge has now started, this afternoon I made the Cheese and Onion Tear and Share loaf.
I started with a lot of enthusiasm and determination to stick to every part of the recipe without any exceptions. Usually I don't bother to Sieve things but today of course I did, and as for the odd gram extra here and there today there was no such thing.

I was unsure about how this would turn out as I've only ever made bread with a bread maker, however it turned out really well if I do say so myself! It was really simple albeit time consuming but I'm sure that applies to most Bread recipes! I was glad that the book gave times for how long to knead the dough being a bread novice. The one thing that does not come across in the book is the size of the loaf, I suppose that if your going to go to the effort of making your own bread then there's no point making only a small loaf but I could only just fit it onto the largest baking tray in our house!

After the excesses of Christmas and the abundance of sweet things in our house at the moment something light and savoury went down very well, and I would definitely make this again if there are several people coming as bread is at its best when fresh and I'm not sure what it will be like tomorrow when its cold rather than still warm from the oven.  Perfect with some salad, cheeses and cold meat.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone!

My sister bought me The Great British Bake off book for christmas and so this week I begin my challenge: to cook every single recipe instead of cooking just the recipes which I'm confident will turn out at least ok. Each week for the next 18months or so I will turn my hand to a new recipe and hopefully push myself out of my comfort zone. As you can tell this is a similar project to that of Julie and Julia, which is what inspired me to have a go. Fingers crossed it goes well and also that I don't gain about 4 stones in the process!
See you soon

Jessica