Tuesday 26 August 2014

Great British Bake Along: Apple and Pear Green Tea, Cinnamon and Raisin Rye Rolls


Well, we're only on week 3 and already my schedule is getting messed up.  I was expecting a little bit of disruption but not this much.  I am currently drowning in work as I get settled in at my new job.  Being a teacher is hard!  And being a new teacher is harder!  There is still so much that needs organising and I am currently struggling to stay on top of things.  That being said, it should hopefully get a little easier (just a little) and I'll be able to establish a routine for myself that allows me time for work and rest.

Anyway, that is the cause of the delay for this Bake Along Challenge!  I was desperate to get it up before the next episode though so Tuesday night was spent rapidly editing photos (which ended up being taken without natural light, boohoo!) and typing things up!  So without further ado I present this (or last) week's:



As always I'll give my thoughts on the episode, which this week featured bread!

Admittedly, I don't have a lot to say this week.  This is in part to having a bad first proper day of work (kids started back on the Wednesday) and was feeling tired and miserable and wasn't taking notes.  So unfortunately there is little commentary.  That should hopefully not be the case with the next one.

Anyway, I will say I was surprised at Norman.  As I said last time, I was expecting him to do well this week but he's still being too simple.  I get that that is what he likes but this is GBBO!  You have to work outside the box.

Luis gets it!  It's no surprise he won star baker this week.  He created some spectacular things.  Even his signature rolls looked ridiculously impressive with their two colours and the swirl.  Very cool indeed.  Of course, Kate also did amazing.  It's just such a shame her showstopper did not cook properly and turned out raw because it looked stunning.  Quite a few did actually.  I really liked Richard's.  I want to try making something like that some time, when I'm not so busy.  Ham, cheese and spinach maybe?  Yum yum!  I also wouldn't mind attempting ciabatta, even though I'm not the biggest fan of it.  It's all right but just a bit flour-y for me.  I dislike overly floured bread.

And Jordan went out!  There was a massive chorus of 'Noooooooooooo!' at the mother-in-law's house (since we all gather there to watch it) when they announced it.  We all loved Jordan.  We didn't think he was the best baker but he was fun and inventive!  I still need to watch him on Extra Slice.  We all thought Norman was going to go because he keeps being criticised for being too simple.  He's really going to have to step it up because we're delving into the fancier categories now.  It's desserts next after all!  But we shall see I guess.



So I decided to keep with doing the signature challenge and hence I tried to make 12 rolls that used rye flour in 3.5 hours.  I'm going to admit this right off the bat: I did not finish these in the time limit, though I do think it would be entirely possible to do it.  I just happened to be distracted by building furniture and then the need to have tea. We do have a really nice new bed now though!  But that's getting off track.

I really wasn't sure where to start.  I knew I wanted to add some flavour to my rolls because you never do plain and simple of Bake Off.  The question was, what do I add?  I was at a loss and the internet was not being terribly helpful.  I knew I didn't want to include cheese, since the Hubby doesn't like cheese, and I didn't want to do anything that the contestants had done.  After much searching and consideration, I thought I would try cinnamon and raisin.  But I wanted to go one step further than that because that still seemed a bit of an obvious choice.  So I was hunting around for flavours that go with cinnamon and raisin.  This was even less successful than the original search.  The two were rarely combined with anything.  It was pure chance that I stumbled onto a listing for tea which was 'Apple, Cinnamon and Raisin'.  Now that sounded interesting; apple tea.  Another search yielded that Twinnings sold an apple tea.  It was too late to order it for the Friday shop but we would be going to town on the Saturday and I figured I would find it in the supermarket or the health shop.

Turns out neither had purely apple tea.  There was apple and cinnamon but I wanted to add the spice separately.  So I ended up opting for Apple and Pear Green Tea instead.  I know pear can work with raisins and cinnamon too, so figured that would be fine.

The next job was finding a recipe which would allow the incorporation of tea.  This was much easier though, since really I just needed to find a recipe that used water, which could be substituted with tea.  Stork's website yielded such a recipe and I just made the necessary adjustments to incorporate the flavours I wanted in place of theirs.

The rye rolls turned out pretty well, if a little inconsistent in appearance (I gave up on weighing all the different bits of dough).  The tea part is subtle but still noticeable.  The most prominent flavours though are the cinnamon and raisins.  They tasted good.  The Hubby is enjoying them.  He compares them to cinnamon and raisin bagels and says they are very good toasted.


Recipe -inspired by Stork
Makes 12 rolls
  • 4 Twinnings Apple and Pear Green teabags
  • 375ml/13.2fl.oz warm water
  • 40g/1.5oz butter
  • 340g/12oz rye flour
  • 340g/12oz strong white flour
  • 2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 3/4 tsp salt
  • 3.75 tsp fast action yeast
  • 3 tsp caster sugar
  • 2 tbsp olive oil 
  • 155g/5.5oz raisins
  • 1 egg
  1. Steep the teabags in the warm water for 2-5 minutes.
  2. Melt the butter.
  3. Put the flours, cinnamon, salt, yeast and sugar in a large bowl and mix together.
  4. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and add the tea (without the teabags) and the melted butter.
  5. Mix together to form a dough.
  6. Knead the dough until it is nice and smooth (about 10-20 minutes).
  7. Coat the dough in the olive oil, place in a bowl, cover and leave to rise until doubled in size (about 1.5 hours).
  8. Stretch the dough out into a rectangle shape, place the raisins in the middle and then gather the dough up around them.
  9. Knead the dough for at least 5 minutes to evenly disperse the raisins throughout.
  10. Divide the dough into 12 equal sized pieces.
  11. Divide each piece of dough into 3 pieces.  Roll each of these pieces into sausages about 25cm/10inches long.
  12. Plait the three pieces together then pinch the two ends together to form rings.  Place the rings onto two trays coated with greaseproof paper.
  13. Cover the rolls and leave to rise for about 30 minutes.  Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 210°C/410°F/Gas Mark 7.
  14. Beat the egg and brush over the top of the rolls.
  15. Bake the rolls for 10-15 minutes until they are golden and sound hollow when tapped underneath.
  16. Leave to cool on a wire rack before serving.

Lemon and Blueberry Mousse Cake


My husband is the main person who eats my baking.  He is always my primary taste tester and he is also the person to comfort me when things go horribly wrong.  He is the best and I adore him (well obviously, since I did marry him).  So when I can I love to spoil him with things that are especially made with him in mind.  His birthday is always the perfect opportunity for this and I try to make him something special every year.  Of course, I also like to make something different each year so I can have something to put on my blog.

Now as you may know if you've been following my blog for any length of time, one of his favourite flavour combinations is lemon and blueberry.  I did also use that combination last year so had to think of a new way to use them this time.  In that sense the Hubby is a bit unhelpful.  If I ask him what he would like he says I need to present him with options.  So I had to sit and think for a while to come up with something.  And that something was a mousse cake!  Initially I wanted to see if I could do a blueberry version of a frasier.  But given how small blueberries are, it didn't seem feasible. 


So I figured a mousse cake would be more feasible.  Then I realised I had only ever made a mousse cake with a chocolate collar for support (see here and here).  I didn't want to do that this time but was then faced with a new dilemma: how do I support the mousse whilst it sets?  Research revealed that I either needed a spring-form tin or acetate.  I had neither.  I did try ordering acetate but it wasn't the right size.  So I had to think of some other way of doing it.  My solution?  Line a bowl with clingfilm, put the mousse in and then place the cake on top and leave it to set before turning it out the right way up.  I had no idea if it would work and did have to trim the cake so it would fit my bowl. (Oh no, exposed sponge! Paul Hollywood would not approve).

Lucky for me, it worked great so I have that method to fall back on if I want to try making something like this again.  I cannot tell you how pleased I was with how it looked.  It's just so pretty!  Especially with all the blueberries on top!  It received a lot of compliments.  And then a lot of second helpings once it was served up!  The mousse had the perfect balance of lemon flavour.  Not too strong but not subtle either.  The hubby compared its texture to soft serve ice cream, though it was firmer than that.  It does hold its shape and doesn't melt.  The cake was soft and spongy and the blueberries were so juicy.  It was a cake that did not last long at all!  And the Hubby especially loved it, which was the most important thing!


Recipe:
This cake needs to be left overnight in the fridge to set.


Blueberry Cake - inspired by The Good Food Channel
  • 2 egg
  • Caster sugar equal to the weight of 2 eggs in their shells
  • Salted butter equal to the weight of 2 eggs in their shells
  • Self-raising flour equal to the weight of 2 eggs in their shells
  • 1 vanilla bean
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 115g/4oz blueberries
Lemon Syrup - adapted from Cook Lisa Cook
  • 2 lemons
  • 250ml/9fl.oz water 
  • 100g/3.5oz sugar
Lemon Mousse - adapted from Cook Lisa Cook
  •  2-3 lemons
  • 1.25 tsp powdered gelatin
  • 200g/7oz white chocolate chips
  • 3 tbsp sour cream
  • 250ml/9fl.oz double cream
  • 115g/4oz blueberries
  • Icing sugar for dusting
  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4.
  2. Grease and line one 18cm/7inch round cake tin with baking parchment.
  3. Separate the eggs and whisk the egg whites until they reach the soft peak stage. 
  4. Remove the seeds from the vanilla beans.   
  5. Put the butter, sugar and vanilla seeds into a large bowl and beat until really pale and fluffy.   
  6. Whisk the egg yolks and vanilla extract together and add to the butter mix a little at a time, folding it in to add air to the mixture. 
  7. Reserve 1 tbsp of the flour, sift the rest into the batter and fold that in also. 
  8. Add the egg whites and fold those in too until you cannot see any white in the mixture. 
  9. Toss the blueberries in the remaining flour and then fold them gently into the batter.
  10. Pour the mixture into the tin and use a spatula to make sure it is evenly spread.
  11. Allow to rest in the tin for about 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack and removing the paper.  Leave to cool completely.
  12. Juice the lemons for the syrup then remove as much of the remaining pith and flesh from the rind as possible.
  13. Slice the rind into strips.
  14. Bring the water to boil in a saucepan and then add the lemon peel.  Boil for 5 minutes until tender.
  15. Remove the peels from the water and then add the sugar.  Stir until dissolved.
  16. Bring the syrup back to a boil and add the peels back in.  Reduce to a simmer and cook the peels until transparent and tender (30 minutes to 1 hour).
  17. Remove the peels, lay out on a tray covered in greaseproof paper and leave to dry. 
  18. Juice the other lemons for the mousse and add to your existing lemon juice. (You need 125ml/4.5fl.oz of juice).
  19. Put 1.5 tbsp of the lemon juice into a small bowl and add the gelatin.  Set aside for about 10 minutes to allow the gelatin to soften.
  20. Combine the remaining lemon juice with the syrup in the small saucepan.  Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally, until they have combined.
  21. Add the gelatin mix to the lemon syrup mix and stir to dissolve.
  22. Add the white chocolate chips and whisk over a gentle heat until they have just melted.
  23. Remove from the heat and whisk in the sour cream.  Pour into a medium sized bowl and put in the fridge to chill.  You want the mixture to cool and start to thicken but not set.  This should take about 2 hours.
  24. Line a straight edged bowl that is the same diameter as your cake with clingfilm (if cake is too big, trim it around the edges so that it can fit snuggly into the top of the bowl.
  25. Put the double cream into a bowl and whisk to stiff peaks.
  26. Fold the cream into the lemon chocolate mix until smooth.
  27. Pour the mixture into the prepared bowl and level the surface.
  28. Place the cake on top of the mousse, pressing down slightly to make sure there is no gap between the two.
  29. Cover the bowl with clingfilm to prevent the cake drying out and refrigerate overnight to set the mousse. 
  30. Carefully remove the cake from the bowl onto a plate.  Remove the clingfilm.
  31. Decorate with blueberries and the candied peel and then dust with icing sugar to finish.

Sunday 17 August 2014

Great British Bake Along: Paprika Thins


It's the weekend so we know what that means!  It is time for:


We're now two weeks into the Great British Bake Off and round 2 was biscuits.  It came up much sooner than the past couple of years but I was rather thankful it fell on this week as biscuits take less time than most things and I had a second bake planned since it is the Hubby's birthday this weekend (post to come later this week).  But before we get into the bake, let's talk bakers!

Once again, we had three interesting challenges.  The signature bake was to produce 36 savoury biscuits.  Admittedly I don't feel I can comment much on this one as I am not an eater of such things.  I am not a crackers and cheese girl, despite my love of cheese.  So I couldn't say if what they were doing was anything special.  Admittedly, I thought Martha was mad to make sandwich biscuits because then she was making 72 not 36 but good for her for pulling it off.  I didn't think Diana's really counted as biscuits given they were made with pastry, though again she was also mad because she made her own puff pastry and they only had two hours?!  I remember thinking Norman's were a bit boring and simple as well.  In fact, most of the things Norman did this episode were too simple.  It was a bit disappointing.

The technical challenge was florentines.  Now, I've made florentines before but don't make them very often because they always cause me bother.  Every time I have made them they have adhered to the paper they were cooked on and I've had to painstakingly remove it after baking.  It is so frustrating so I was watching intently to see if any of the bakers had the same problem.  Apparently not!  I want to know what paper they were using!

Then there was the showstopper.  Oh, I would be quite frustrated with this one because it is so fiddly!  A scene constructed entirely of biscuits is not an easy task, but this is the showstopper so it wouldn't be.  I wouldn't even know where to begin.  Some of the designs though!  Just...wow.  Luis's was ridiculously good.  Especially since he chose fiery flavours for the dragon.  That was clever.  Richard's was also amazing.  That interlocking sea monster was just a work of genius.  It's not really a surprise he won this week.  These two are definitely ones to watch.  I'm also keeping an eye on Chetna and Jordan because I really like them!  And I think Martha is due a win (even though I'm still horribly envious).  She doesn't seem to have done anything wrong so far and yet has been beaten out of Star Baker each week.

As for who left this week, I admit I did not think it would be Enwezor.  I really thought it would be Norman, though the Hubby pointed out that Norman had received compliments in the first round.  Enwezor had not had much in the way of praise.  It was sad.  I liked his rocket!  And props to him for baking with children attached to his legs when he is at home.  I don't think I would have the patience for that!

Next week is bread.  I'm thinking Norman may do rather well on this one.  He strikes me as a bread man.  Guess we shall find out on Wednesday!


Right, so onto this week's bake.  Like last week I decided I would take on the signature challenge.  I rarely make anything savoury so this would make a nice change.  Luckily, my lovely yellow biscuit book has a section on savoury biscuits so I ran options by the Hubby and his mum and sister, since they would be the ones eating them, and these paprika biscuits won.

A biscuit dough often is, this wasn't too tricky to put together.  I had it made in 15 minutes.  In fact, the whole process was actually pretty quick.  Even though I could only fit 12 biscuits in my oven at one time, I was still finished all 36 well before the 2 hour limit was up.  I even ended up redoing the first 12 after I'd initially cut them out because I realised I had split the dough wrong (and I'm supposed to be good at maths!).  So this is a fairly quick bake.  And very simple.  I always appreciate something quick and simple, especially when I am pressed for time because there are other things to be making.

They turned out rather well though I don't think I would be complimented on my presentation.  Whilst the bake seemed to be fairly even, they do vary in thickness ever so slightly.  The thickest ones could have done with a couple more minutes baking, but it was hard to tell since they are still soft when they come out the oven and firm up as they cool.  Some also went a little wonky when baking.  Other than that though they were okay.  The paprika was not as strong as I thought it would be but I discovered my paprika was out of date...and as we learnt on GBBO this week, that weakens the flavour.  Should have opened my new packet.  They were still enjoyable though and go very well with cheese.  I'll be making them again with in date paprika and they should be even better!  


Recipe - adapted from Home Baking Biscuits and Cookies
Makes 36
  • 345g/12oz plain flour, plus extra for dusting
  • 170g/6oz oatmeal
  • 3 tsp paprika
  • 3 tsp baking powder
  • Pinch of salt
  • 170g/6oz butter
  • 6 tbsp soured cream or yoghurt
  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4 and line 3 baking sheets with greaseproof paper.
  2. Put the flour, oatmeal, paprika, baking powder and salt into a bowl and mix together.
  3. Rub the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
  4. Gradually add the soured cream (or yoghurt) and bring the mixture together to form a smooth but firm dough.
  5. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to about 0.5cm/0.25inches thick.
  6. Use a round 7.5cm/3inch diameter cutter to cut out the biscuits and place onto the prepared trays. 
  7. Prick each biscuit with a fork.
  8. Bake for 15-20 minutes until a light golden brown.
  9. Allow to rest on the trays for a couple of minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling. 

Sunday 10 August 2014

Great British Bake Along: Matcha Green Tea and Peach Swiss Roll


The Great British Bake Off (GBBO) is back on our televisions again!  The nation rejoices with much tea (apparently there was a power surge equal to 260,000 kettles during Wednesday's episode) and, of course, baking!  As an avid watcher and baking blogger I thought it might be fun to join in.  So the blog is engaging in a bake along!  


The GBBO has a theme every week and thus, if all goes to plan, I will be posting a new recipe each week based on the theme.  Ideally, I'll be doing my own take on the signature bake challenge, though none of my recipes are going to be signature because, like I said, I'll be posting something new.  This blog doesn't do repeat posts after all.  I'll also be giving my thoughts on that week's episode.  Thus, tentative schedule will be: 
  • Wednesday - A new Great British Bake Off episode airs on BBC1 at 8pm.
  • Saturday - Becca bakes along (because she starts her first full-time job in a week and so Monday to Friday are taken up with the teaching of children).
  • Sunday/Monday - Becca posts her Bake Along recipe and thoughts on the episode.
So hopefully that means there'll be a new post every week for the next 10 weeks.  Let's see if I can stick to it!

And with that introduction out of the way, we dive straight into episode 1 and the first theme: Cake!   


So it's a brand new series and we have 12 new bakers!  And they all seem so lovely!  Admittedly, that's par for the course with GBBO.  Everyone is always lovely on this show.  It's a little early to pick definite favourites yet but usually if I can remember a name by the end of episode 1 that usually means they've made an impression.  By that logic, bakers that currently stand out are Chetna, Luis, Nancy, Norman, Jordan and Martha.  I must confess though, Martha sticks in my head for completely petty reasons.  I am sorry Martha but I'm afraid I am going to harbour slight dislike for you because I am a jealous person.  I have a tendency to automatically resent anyone who does something I love to an amazing degree who is younger than me.  I had the same issue with Ruby last year.  And you are 8 years younger than me!  You make me feel old!  Especially as you are clearly very talented.  It's nothing personal.  Like I said, I'm petty.

Actually, everyone seems to be ridiculously talented and creative.  There were some seriously beautiful bakes and it is only episode one!  Kate's Swiss roll looked gorgeous, as did Chetna's.  And the minature cakes Nancy and Luis made for the showstopper looked amazing.  I also thought Iain's looked rather lovely, despite being a bit big.  Maybe if they'd had one less layer they'd have looked better.  Admittedly though I was looking at some of the showstopper cakes and wondering what British classic they were supposed to be.  And despite what Mary Berry thinks, I believe lemon and blueberry are a fantastic combination of flavours that compliment each other (they are the Hubby's favourite after all) and I couldn't see how one drowned out the other in Jordan's bake.  As for the technical, I thought it looked okay for a first challenge.  I knew the flour trick and had been explaining it when Nancy mentioned it.  I felt so pleased with myself.  Maybe I'll try to make that cherry cake at some point.

I also want to say I am seriously coveting the gadgets that appeared this week.  I am so jealous of these bakers who can make (or have spouses to make) cool little kitchen tools.  I want Nancy's guillotine, and Norman's...I'm not sure what to call it actually.  But it removed 12 cakes from a loose bottomed muffin tin all at once.  It was amazing.  I want it!  I wonder if anything else will crop up as the series goes on.

Overall it was a really enjoyable episode but as will be the case every week, there was the inevitable sadness that comes when they have to announce who is leaving.  I have to say, it was pretty clear who was going though it was such a shame.  I thought Claire was so adorable!  It would have been nice to see more of her but everything just seemed to go wrong for her.  And she asks the question about why is she crying over cake but it's obvious!  It's the GBBO!  Anyone and everyone will cry over cake.  I know I would.  So it was sad to see Claire go but I found her blog Bake Therapy so I'll be keeping an eye on that.


Okay, now I have told you my all important thoughts on the first episode of the series, I can now get onto talking about this week's bake.  So I decided I would do the signature challenge and make a Swiss roll in two and a half hours.  The basic plan for it was developed in discussion with the Hubby's sister, since it was her I was watching the episode with.  I honestly cannot remember exactly whose idea it was but we decided green tea would be interesting.  Since it was Wednesday I was pretty sure I would be able to get the matcha powder before the weekend (thank you eBay).  Deciding what to fill it with took a little longer as we were not sure what would go with it.  So we hit up Google and there were a few suggestions.  I did consider adzuki beans as red bean is a popular Japanese flavour.  Strawberry was a popular suggestion and blackcurrant also came up.  However, I decided peach would make for an interesting accompaniment.  So matcha tea and peach it was.

Saturday rolled around and the tea finally arrived in the post.  The other ingredients had come in the grocery delivery the day before.  I had found a couple of recipes to adapt to my needs and was set.  At 1:30pm my challenge started and I had until 4pm to complete it.

Now if this had been the actual GBBO I would have practised and perfected this recipe beforehand.  However, this was a brand new bake and I was going in blind.  The recipe I'll be writing below will not take 2.5 hours.  The only reason I was working down to the last second was because I kept changing my mind about some things and others just went wrong and had to be altered.  The mind changing was mainly to do with the visual aspect of the thing.  Everyone on GBBO goes all out in their presentation.  As Sue pointed out, a traditional Swiss roll is not decorated but most of the bakers had chosen to ignore that.  As I previously mentioned, there were some stunning bakes.  So I thought I should try and add a little something to my own bake.  Originally I tried colouring some of the batter to pipe a decorative pattern (similar to how I decorated my first ever roulade).  However it was too runny for my first idea of making flowers.  Instead I did wavy lines but after I baked and turned the roll out I decided they looked silly, so they're on the inside of the roll.  Then I thought I might try and make little blossom flowers out of chocolate.  That just ended up looking ugly so I scrapped that too.  The icing sugar decoration was a last minute decision.  I knew I had stencils and figured I could at least make a pretty pattern.  Turns out I had an ideal looking blossom stencil and it did add a nice visual to the finished roll.


But the thing that ate up most of my time was the filling.  Oh the filling.  Originally I was attempting this mousse thing with gelatin.  I figured it would hold its shape better.  However, when I added the peach purée to it, it ended up too runny.  This was about an hour before my time limit was up so I figured I would put it in the fridge for about half an hour and see if it would firm up.  It didn't.  So I tried whisking it a bit more to see if that would help.  Nope.  It turned to butter and buttermilk, as cream does when you overwhip it.  So that was ruined and I only had 20 minutes.  There was no time to attempt this version again so I hit Google to see if I could find something similar but far simpler.  The one I found could be made in 5 minutes.  Perfect.  And it worked thankfully.  So in it went and I was able to finish it in time.  Hooray!

I wasn't sure what to expect when I presented it to the Hubby, and later his family.  I didn't know if it was going to work, if the flavours would go, if the textures would be okay.  I was dreading that it would be 'dry' because that is something no GBBO contestant wants to be told (poor Kate).  It was a big hit.  The Hubby said it was 'refreshing' and his sister thinks it would work really well as a palette cleanser.  The flavours are there but are maybe a little subtle and it's not particularly sweet.  Still yummy though.  I think I would have definitely lost points for the roll.  It probably wasn't as tight as it could have been.  It looked better once it was cut into though.  I don't know if Paul and Mary would have enjoyed the flavours but my personal judges certainly did so that makes me very happy.


Recipe - makes one Swiss roll:


Sponge - inspired by James Martin via BBC Food
  • 4 eggs
  • 115g/4oz caster sugar
  • 75g/2.5oz self-raising flour
  • 1 tbsp matcha green tea powder
  • Icing sugar for decorating (optional)
Peach Cream - inspired by Gino D'Acampo via BBC Food
  • 1 peach
  • 150ml/5fl.oz double cream
  • 1 tbsp icing sugar
  1. Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/Gas Mark 5 and grease and line a 23x33cm/9x13inch swiss roll pan with baking parchment.
  2. Put the eggs and caster sugar into a large bowl and beat together until they are pale in colour, fluffy and have thickened.  
  3. Sift in the flour and the matcha green tea powder and gently fold into the egg mixture.
  4. Pour the mixture into the prepared tray and tip around to ensure the mixture is evenly spread.
  5. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the sponge is only just cooked.
  6. Remove from the oven and turn the sponge out onto a sheet of baking parchment.  Remove the parchment used during baking.
  7. Score a line along one of the short sides about 1cm in from the edge.  Do not cut all the way through.
  8. Roll the sponge up tightly into a spiral with the baking parchment (parchment will be inside the roll) and then leave to cool completely.
  9. Peel, de-seed and chop up the peach.
  10. Put into a blender and reduce to a purée.
  11. Whip the cream with the icing sugar until it reaches the soft peak stage.
  12. Gently fold in the peach purée until the mixture is smooth and of a spreadable consistency.
  13. When the sponge has cooled, unroll it.
  14. Spread the peach cream evenly across the cooled sponge, leaving a 1inch gap from the far short side.
  15. Roll the sponge back up tightly, finishing with the end at the base.
  16. Cut off the end on each side with a serrated knife for an even finish.
  17. If desired, dust with icing sugar.  I used a cake stencil to create the pattern on top of mine. 

Friday 8 August 2014

Neapolitan Stacked Book Wedding Cake

 

This is going to be a long one, folks.  This cake took 2 days to make and decorate after all.

Well.  This year certainly has been busy, something a lack of posts can testify to.  I completed a post-graduate course in Primary Education and as a result will be starting a new job as a primary school teacher in a little over a week.  Admittedly, that means next year is going to be busy too but hopefully in a more manageable way because there is no erratic schedule to deal with (and no essays too I hope).  But university was not the only thing demanding my attention.  Oh no.  We had also decided that this would be a good year to get married.  As if there wasn't enough work to do!  Especially since we were planning to do a lot of things ourselves to save money.  And by 'we' I mean 'me' because I'm a control freak and didn't want to let anyone help me.

All that work culminated on July 27th and I am now married to the fiancé!  Well, he's earned an upgrade now so henceforth he is the Husband.  Or Hubby....hmm.  Possibly both.  I like both.  The wedding was just perfect.  The food was amazing!  So so good!  And there was much ceilidh dancing, even if some people never joined in!  As far as I understand it, everyone had a good time.

But your not here for the wedding.  Well, you are but it's a specific part.  A very important part.  One of those jobs I decided to take upon myself.  My pride as a baker demanded it!  As did the fact that I'm rather picky about my desserts.  And because we wanted to save money wherever we could.  You're here for the wedding cake! 


The wedding cake was the absolute last thing that had to be done before the wedding because we wanted it to be as fresh as possible on the day.  This wouldn't have been much of an issue if it had been a traditional fruit cake.  Those things keep well apparently.  Trouble is, we hate fruit cake.  So we had had a different plan.  We decided we wanted to have three tiers to our cake, but each would be a different flavour: vanilla, chocolate and strawberry.  Not only was it slight nod to the Hubby's Italian ancestry, but it would also mean that there would be something that everyone would like (with the exception of people like my brother who do not like cake at all), including us.  But, like I said, they would not keep as well as fruit cake so it had to be a day before thing.  Admittedly, yes, I could have made them earlier, frozen them and got them out the day before to decorate but 1) there was no room in the freezer due to space being taken up by the 460 biscuits I had made for favours and 2) I wouldn't be able to freeze any leftovers after the wedding.  And there would be a lot of leftovers because this cake is big.  Much bigger than our small wedding needed but when I think wedding cake I think big.  So big it was.

The plan was simple.  I would bake all the cakes on Friday.  I would then decorate and stack the cakes on Saturday, in between going to lunch with my family, who were travelling up from England, and looking after Jess when she was dropped off at my flat in the evening.  For the most part, this plan was fairly successful.  The only hiccup was that I slightly underestimated my amounts when scaling my recipes for each cake.  I had initially planned for two layers per cake, but they ended up a bit thin and I had to make extra.  Hence why the vanilla and strawberry cakes have 3 layers rather than 2.  I readjusted my estimates for the chocolate one before I attempted to bake it and they turn out fine.  At least I had bought plenty of ingredients, with the exception of strawberries.  The Hubby had to be sent out to the shops on Saturday morning for more before I could make the final strawberry layer.


So there are 8 layers spread amongst three tiers in this cake.  And all 8 layers were baked in one tin, one at a time (with the exception of the strawberry because they were smaller) because my oven is tiny.  Once again, I will need to gush about how much I love my Alan Silverwood Multisize Foldaway Cake Pan.  It is the most fabulous cake tin!  I can use it to make cakes of all sizes (such as all three sizes for this wedding cake) and it stores flat so it does not take up space in my cupboard.  AND, because it can be taken apart, removing the cakes from it is ridiculously easy.  The only thing you have to be careful of is making sure all the edges are well covered in parchment as the inside dividers have slats on the base to help them fit together and if you are not careful, batter will escape.  The pan did a great job with all my cakes.  I am so grateful I had it.  Aside from that slight hiccup I mentioned, the baking went well.  I had not really been worried about the baking.  It was the decorating that I was dreading.

Whilst I will always appreciate a beautifully decorated cake, I find I often have little patience for anything overly fiddly.  I like things simple.  The original plan for the wedding cake was simple.  Basic covering of fondant and then maybe some flair added through stripes, textures and very simple icing work.  However, about 2 months before the wedding I had a thought.  Said thought had stemmed from a discussion with the Hubby about what our wedding topper should be.  We'd been entertaining the idea of chess pieces at the time but then it was suggested (I forget who by) that we have penguins.  Specifically, the penguins featured on our invitations which I had made to imitate Penguin Classics books.  It seemed perfect and tied in wonderfully, though it added to my list of jobs as I was the one who was going to make them.

But with penguins for toppers and a book theme to our invitations I started thinking 'what about books for our wedding cake?'  It could be a stack of white books.  In theory it wouldn't be much harder than the original plan.  It was still basically an all over cover job with fondant.  I would just have to do some things a bit different.  It didn't seem like it would be too hard but just in case, I kept it secret from most people.  That way, if it didn't work out, I could go back to the first plan and no one would be any the wiser.  Sneaky, I know.


I admit, I have forgotten how frustrating fondant can be.  Despite my best efforts and liberal applications of icing sugar it would stick to EVERYTHING except the cake.  And it would stretch out of shape after I had cut it to size so in the end I just got it roughly the size and shape I wanted and then trimmed it once it was in place on the cake.  This was trickiest on the sides but I managed.  Once I was able to complete the first tier, the others did not look as daunting and, whilst not perfect, the effect looked rather good.

The bottom tier was by far the best.  I really should have cut the other two so they were flat.  The curving on the chocolate cake meant the strawberry didn't sit properly on it when stacked and I was annoyed with it for ages.  However, I was impressed that I managed to stack it at all (having never done it before) and it stayed intact on the journey between the flat and the hotel.  Having never stacked a tiered cake before I had been fearful it would get damaged in transit.  But nope!  It made it all the way.  And then the hotel did an excellent job of presenting it on the actual day, making it look like the slanted placement was deliberate.  So I was much happier with it after that.    As I said, it was by no means perfect.  The finishing could be smoother but hey, I'm not a professional cake decorator.  I loved it and everyone thought it looked good too (though obviously they have to be nice to me because I was the bride).

But you know me.  I am always concerned about taste as well as appearance.  I was so anxious when it was finally served during the reception.  There was a lot more than necessary so there was plenty of choice.  And clearly all flavours were enjoyed as many people tried all three and went back for more.  I only had the vanilla but it was the BEST vanilla cake I have ever made.  All those vanilla beans really improved the flavour.  According to the Hubby, the strawberry cake tasted much more of strawberries this time around and the chocolate cake was wonderfully fudgy.  All in all, I was pleased and proud of this cake.  It looked good and it tasted good!  I couldn't really ask for more.  And there were plenty of leftovers which have gone into the mother-in-law's freezer, so that's a bonus! 


Recipe:
Serves 226 (1x1inch slices) or 113 (1x2inch slices) 


Bottom Tier - Vanilla Bean - adapted from The Good Food Channel:
  • 12 eggs (approximately 750g/26.5oz)
  • Caster sugar equal to the weight of 12 eggs in their shells
  • Salted butter equal to the weight of 12 eggs in their shells
  • Self-raising flour equal to the weight of 12 eggs in their shells
  • 4.5 vanilla beans
  • 1.5 tsp vanilla extract
  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4.
  2. Grease and line three 30x23cm (12x9inch) cake tins with baking parchment. (You can do this with one tin, you'll just have to bake each layer one at a time). 
  3. Separate the eggs and whisk the egg whites until they reach the soft peak stage.
  4. Remove the seeds from the vanilla beans. 
  5. Put the butter, sugar and vanilla seeds into a large bowl and beat until really pale and fluffy. 
  6. Whisk the egg yolks and vanilla extract together and add to the butter mix a little at a time, folding it in to add air to the mixture.
  7. Sift in the flour and fold that in also.
  8. Add the egg whites and fold those in too until you cannot see any white in the mixture.
  9. Pour one third of the mixture into each tin and use a spatula to make sure it is evenly spread. (If using one tin, cover the rest of the batter with clingfilm between bakes).
  10. Bake each layer in the oven for about 1 hour.  The sponge should be springy to the touch and a skewer inserted into the centre should come out clean.
  11. Allow to rest in the tins for about 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack and removing the paper.  Leave to cool completely.

Middle Tier - Chocolate - adapted from Mary Berry's Baking Bible:
  • 115g/4oz cocoa powder
  • 12 tbsp boiling water
  • 6 eggs
  • 100ml/3.5fl.oz whole milk
  • 350g/12oz self-raising flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 200g/7oz salted butter
  • 550g/20oz caster sugar
  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4 and grease and line two 25x18cm/10x8inch cake tins with baking parchment. (Or one tin and then do it again for the second layer).
  2. In a large bowl, combine the cocoa powder and the water into a paste.
  3. Add the rest of the ingredients and beat the mixture until it becomes smooth and thick.
  4. Divide equally between the two cake tins and smooth the surface.
  5. Bake for about 45 minutes, or until risen and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
  6. Allow to rest in the tins for a few minutes before turning out onto a wire rack, removing the parchment and leaving to cool completely.

Top Tier - Strawberry - adapted from Smitten Kitten:
  • 370g/13oz plain flour
  • 60g/2oz cornflour
  • 400g/14oz caster sugar
  • 3.5 tsp baking powder
  • 225g/8oz slightly salted butter
  • Approximately 350g/12oz strawberries
  • 6 egg whites
  • 120ml/4fl.oz whole milk
  • A couple of drops of pink food gel (optional)
  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4 and grease and line three 20x15cm/8x6inch cake tins (again, it is possible to do this one at a time with one tin).
  2. Sift the plain flour and cornflour together into a large bowl, add the sugar, baking powder and salt and give everything a good mix.  
  3. Purée the strawberries and add them and the butter to the dry ingredients and beat until light and fluffy.
  4. In a separate bowl beat the egg whites with the food gel (if using).
  5. Add the egg whites a little at a time to the batter, beating after each edition until just incorporated.
  6. Divide the mixture between the pans.
  7. Bake for at least 35 minutes but cakes may take as long as 50 minutes.  Cakes should be risen, springy to the touch and a skewer inserted into the middle should come out clean.
  8. Allow to rest in the pans for about 15 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.  Cool completely before frosting.

Vanilla Buttercream:
  • 250g/9oz salted butter
  • 500g/18oz icing sugar
  • 2 tbsp whole milk 
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
You will need to make two batches of this.  One batch is enough for the bottom tier whilst the other batch does both the middle and top tiers.  It's just easier to do it as two as it is easier to divide up the mixture, and puts less pressure on your mixer.
  1. Beat the butter until it is very pale and creamy.
  2. Sift in the icing sugar and add the milk and vanilla extract.
  3. Beat the ingredients together until well combined and you get a smooth buttercream. 


Decoration:
  • 4kg/9lbs ready to roll fondant icing
  • 1 jar of strawberry jam
  • Gold lustre dust (optional)
  • Cold water
  • Icing sugar
  • Cake boards (one thick 12x12inch, one thin 10x10inch, one thin 8x8inch)
  1. Cut the two thin cake boards to match the dimensions of the middle and top tiers of cake.  Set aside.
  2. Dust a cool surface with plenty of icing sugar and roll out about 500g fondant icing into a rectangle that is just slightly bigger than the base area of the bottom tier.
  3. Place icing rectangle onto the centre of the 12x12inch cake board.
  4. Place one layer of vanilla cake on top of the icing rectangle so that one long edge of cake is lined up exactly with one long edge of icing.  The rest should poke out like the cover of a book.
  5. Coat the top of the cake layer with 1/4 of the first batch of vanilla buttercream, leaving a slight border around the edge. 
  6. Coat the underside of another cake layer with jam and then sandwich on top of the first layer, jam side down.
  7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 with the third layer.
  8. Reserve slightly less than half of the remaining buttercream and then use the rest to thickly cover the top of the third layer.
  9. Measure the height of the cake.  Roll out and cut three rectangles of fondant.  Two will be for the short sides of the cake and one for one of the long sides.  I recommend making them slightly bigger because fondant can stretch out of shape and I found it easier just to trim it once I had it where I wanted.
  10. Cover the sides of the cake in the remaining buttercream and use it to help fix the fondant to the cake.  Trim any excess.
  11. Use a tiny bit of water to fuse the joins at the corners together.
  12. Use a straight edged object, like a clean ruler, and press lines into the covered sides to create the effect of pages.
  13. Now you need to roll out a piece of fondant big enough to cover the top of the cake, with a slight overhang, and the remaining long side.
  14. Gently lay over the top and down the side of the cake and press into place.  Trim off unwanted excess.
  15. Use a dowel rod to make an indentation about 1inch in from the the book's 'spine' on the top of the icing.
  16. If you want, you can use a lustre dust mixed with a tiny bit of water to paint decoration onto the book.  You can also use fondant to make raised decoration, like book seals, spine decoration and bookmarks.  Patterned rolling pins can be used to add some texture.
  17. The steps for the middle and top tiers are practically the same.  However, the filling for the chocolate cake is just buttercream, no jam.  Also, I did not put fondant on the thin cake boards.  I added the 'bottom cover' of the books after they were stacked.
 

Assembly:
  • White plastic dowel rods
  • Some fondant icing
  • Cold water
  • Icing sugar
  1. Place a dowel rod into the centre of the bottom tier, pushing it all the way through.  
  2. Mark where the top of the cake meets the dowel rod and remove.
  3. Cut the dowel rod to size.  This can be done by sawing through it with a serrated knife.
  4. Cut about 8 dowel rods to the same size.  You can cut more if you want.
  5. Place these into the bottom tier within the area you want the middle tier to sit.  
  6. Dust the area with icing sugar.
  7. Place the middle tier on top of the dowelled area.
  8. Dowel the middle tier in the same manner as the bottom tier.  You can use fewer dowels as the top tier is not as heavy.
  9. Sharpen the end of a dowel rod that is equal to the height of all the cakes and push it through the top tier, through the cake board and into the middle tier, through the second cake board, through the bottom tier until you hit the cake board at the base.  If you don't have a long enough dowel (I didn't) do this once for the bottom and middle tiers and again for the top and middle tiers.
  10. Cover the hole the dowel made in the top tier with fondant, using a little water and icing sugar to hide the patch.  If you want to be fancy, you could make a little 'cover' decoration to hide the dowel.  Otherwise, if you are having a topper that can also disguise the patch.