Easter Lemon Pavlova

I love spring.  It is possibly my favourite time of year (although autumn is a very close second).  I just love the sunshine without it being too hot; I like that most of the bugs are still asleep; that there are daffodils and tulips and crocuses everywhere; the colours; and that all my favourite Easter chocolates are available to buy!  It just makes me so happy.

Okay, so spring in Scotland isn't entirely like that.  This last week we had several days where it alternated between sunshine and hail every 30 minutes.  We even got snow the other day.  Not really what you would expect at the end of April.  Well, that's not true.  Did you know it has snowed more times on Easter Monday than on Christmas Day in the UK?  So if Easter had fallen this week we would be continuing that trend.  However, it fell early this year (which made for a more bearable spring term at school) towards the end of March.  It was a lovely week.  Lots of sunshine, although there was the occasional early April shower.

As is becoming a bit of a tradition, the mother-in-law hosted an Easter lunch (which was also a last-time-we-see-you-before-we-go-on-holiday-for-10-days meal - they went away, not us).  I was in charge of dessert!  I love that.  I knew I wanted something light and happy looking.  I wanted to steer clear of chocolate cake because that is heavy and dark and not really suited to spring.  I wanted spring colours and flavours!  Lemon is definitely a spring flavour in my mind.  Spring colour too.  My sister had suggested a lemon drizzle cake (because that's her favourite sort of cake) but I ended up finding something I liked better: lemon pavlova.  It looked fancy, would be sweet and tangy and would be light...if I could do it.

Those of you that have stuck with this blog the last few years know that meringue is one of my nemeses when it comes to baking (ganache being the other).  I understand the principle of how it goes together and the cooking process but it has so often gone wrong.  I have been trying to practise it more.  Lack of this on the blog shows it is generally not very successful, though it is getting better.  I think I've got a handle on both Swiss and Italian meringue by now.  It's just been the French kind that still gives me trouble.  But I am nothing if not persistent.  I was going to give it a shot.  It was Mary Berry after all and there was a good chance she would not lead me astray.

And for the most part, this is true.  My meringue actually turned out really well.  It tasted AMAZING (sorry but I am going to boast about that because I don't get to say that about meringue too often).  It was crisp on the outside but so so soft and fluffy inside.  Dare I say, it was perfect?  The only thing that went wrong is that I broke a little bit of it when I was trying to see if it would come away from the paper (you can see the slightly collapsed side in the picture above).  I was beyond pleased.  Unfortunately, it does not mean I have finally mastered the elusive meringue.  Last week I tried making a meringue roulade and it collapsed on me, having clearly been undercooked and tasted like eggs. Bleh!

High off my successful meringue, I was hopeful going into the filling.  However, my luck started to run out here.  I ended up attempting it twice, and twice it did not turn out quite right.  For some reason, this lemon curd recipe would not thicken for me and I ended up with an awful lot.  And when I added it to my cream, everything just turned to liquid.  I tried firming it up in the fridge but to no avail.  In the end, I used what I had.  The meringue was reasonably well sealed so most of the filling stayed in.  It did set after an hour or so.  And it tasted great!  I was left with a fair bit of it though.  However, I realised it didn't need to go to waste as it was basically a custard ice cream mix so I threw it in the ice cream maker and the the Hubby has been happily devouring it since.

So despite a few hiccups, this turned out really well.  And it is DELICIOUS.  As I said, the meringue is crispy on the outside but beautifully soft inside.  The tangy lemon balances the sweet meringue perfectly and it is so easy to eat.  There were 5 of us at the meal and we ate the whole thing.  Yum yum!

Recipe - adapted from Mary Berry via BBC Food

Candied Lemon Peel

• 100g/3.5oz caster sugar, plus extra for covering
• Zest of 4 lemons cut into long strips

Meringue:

• 6 egg whites
• 350g/12oz caster sugar
• 2 tsp white wine vinegar
• 2 tsp cornflour

Lemon Curd Filling:

• 6 egg yolks
• 350g/12oz caster sugar
• Juice of 4 lemons
• 225g/8oz butter
• 450ml/0.75pints double cream

•  24 chocolate mini eggs

1. Make the candied peel first as it needs time to set.  Put 100ml/3.5fl.oz of water into a saucepan along with the caster sugar.
2. Bring to a boil and stir to dissolve the sugar. 
3. Add the strips of lemon zest to the pan and simmer for 2-3 minutes, until the mixture turns syrupy.
4. Drain the lemon zest and then lay out on a tray that has been lined with parchment and then coat in more sugar.  Leave to dry in a warm place for a couple of hours.
5. Preheat the oven to 160C/325F/Gas Mark 3, lay a piece of baking parchment on a tray and draw a 25cm/10inch circle on it.
6. Put the egg whites into the bowl and whisk on the highest speed of a hand whisk or stand mixer until they are stiff.  Then add generous teaspoons of sugar until the mixture is stiff, shiny and stands in peaks.
7. Mix the vinegar and cornflour together until smooth and then stir it into the meringue.
8. Spread half of the mixture inside the circle you drew on the paper.  Put the rest in a piping bag fitted with a rose nozzle and pipe 8 nests around the edge of the circle.  Make sure there are no gaps in between or the filling could leak out later.
9. Put the meringue in the oven and turn down the heat to 150C/300F/Gas Mark 2.  Bake for 1.5-2 hours, or until the meringue comes easily away from the paper.  It will be a pale creamy colour and may crack a bit but don't worry.
10. Turn the oven off but leave the meringue inside to get cold.
11.  Meanwhile, make the lemon curd by putting the egg yolks, lemon juice and sugar into a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water and whisking.
12. Gradually add the butter, still whisking, until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon.  Remove from the heat and leave to cool (It will thicken more as it cools).
13.  Whisk the double cream into soft peaks then swirl the cooled lemon curd through it. (Try not to overmix it or it will turn runny).
14. Spoon the filling into the base of the meringue and into each of the meringue nests. (If you end up with more filling than you need, you can put the rest into an ice cream maker to make lemon ice cream).
15. Decorate by putting 3 mini eggs in each nest and then sprinkling the candied lemon on top.

Chocolate and Raspberry Roulade

Being a teacher is a hard job.  It's all over the news these last few months that there is a shortage of teachers here in the UK.  That's because it's been getting more and more stressful with too much being expected of us.  Most people think it's easy taking care of about 30 kids from different backgrounds for 6 hours a day.  Most people tell us we're lucky 'cause of all those holidays we get.  Thing is, we work far beyond what we're paid for.  Planning, assessing and developing lessons for a wide range of abilities takes a lot of time.  And we fit all that around staff/cluster meetings, attending CPD training, running clubs, etc.  I love my job.  I do.  But I only work 3 days a week and am not tied down to a single class.  I don't have to do a lot of this extra stuff but I'm only paid for the hours I'm in school.  All the time I spend planning outside of school, I'm not paid for that.

What's the point of this mini rant?  Well, it was the starting point for this bake.  The mother-in-law is also a teacher and she's been feeling very down lately.  This is a big deal because she LOVES her job and this is the first time I've seen her so despondent because of it.  So on our weekly dinner at her house we were both ranting about our job and trying to cheer ourselves up.  The hubby bought us both some chocolate when he went out for bread, which was nice.  However, I was telling the mother-in-law about the brownies I made for the Hubby to take to his friends and she was quite disappointed that there weren't any leftover to be brought down for her.  So I decided I would bake her something just for her.  As long as there was chocolate, she would be happy.

I didn't want to do brownies again (I like having something new I can talk about) so I went hunting for a nice chocolate-y thing that I could bake.  Good old Pinterest is where I decided a roulade would be the way to go.  I always need more practise with those things, particularly getting a nice, tight swirl.  The recipe I found was also perfect, not just because it was simple and chocolate-y, but also because there is NO FLOUR in it at all.  Both the in-laws are trying to cut down on how much wheat they eat so this was fantastic.  An indulgent treat with no wheat in it.  Just sugar, eggs and lots of good quality chocolate.  And just for a bit of extra pizazz, I added raspberries into the cream.

I love this recipe.  You get a good amount of mixture to make a nice thick roulade with.  The number of times I've done a roulade recipe and the sponge is so so thin that I end up doubling the recipe up is ridiculous.  This filled the tray perfectly.  It rose well, and then sank slightly after it came out the oven but Mary Berry said to expect that.  She also said not to worry if it cracks, which it did, since that is part of the charm.  

Oh my goodness is the sponge on this delicious!  I'm not a big fan of chocolate cake but this was amazing.  SO LIGHT!  Seriously.  The Hubby compared it to eating a cloud.  The mother-in-law agrees.  And then the raspberry cream just melts in with it in your mouth and mmmmm!  It was loved and promptly demolished.  It was a perfect pick-me-up.

Recipe - adapted from Mary Berry via BBC Food

Makes 1 standard size roulade

• 175g/6oz dark chocolate
• 6 large eggs
• 175g/6oz caster sugar
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 300ml/10fl.oz double cream
• 125g/4.5oz fresh raspberries
• Icing sugar for dusting

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4 and grease and line a 33x23cm / 13x9inch swiss roll tin with greaseproof paper.
2. Melt the chocolate in a bowl placed over a pan of just simmering water, making sure that the bowl is not touching the water.  Once melted, set aside to cool.
3. Separate the eggs between two large bowls.  Whisk the whites until they are stiffed peaked but not dry.
4. Add the sugar to the egg yolks and whisk for a few minutes until it is thick, pale and creamy.
5. Pour the cooled chocolate into the sugar and yolk mix and fold in gently until well combined.
6. Add two spoonfuls of the egg whites to the chocolate mixture and carefully stir in to loosen the mixture before folding in the remaining egg whites with a large metal spoon.  Be careful not to squash out the air.
7. Sift the cocoa powder in and lightly fold.
8. Pour mixture into the prepared tin and move the tin around gently until the mixture reaches all the corners and is level.
9. Bake in the oven for about 20-25 minutes until the roulade is risen and feels firm and slightly crisp to the touch.  Remove from the oven and leave in the tin until it has gone cold.
10. Whip the cream until it just holds its shape.  Cut the raspberries into quarters and fold into the cream.
11. Lay out a piece of greaseproof paper on a work surface and dust with icing sugar.  Turn the cooled roulade out onto the paper.  Its lining paper should be on top so you can peel it off.
12. Leaving a border of about 2cm all the way around the edge, spread the whipped cream evenly over the roulade.
13. Make a cut along one of the short edges that goes about halfway through the sponge.  Roll the cut edge over tightly to start the roll and then use the greaseproof paper to help continue a tight roll.  
14. Finish with the join underneath and place on a plate.  Dust with icing sugar.  

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.