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.  

Chocolate and Raspberry Heart Brownies

The Hubby loves pen and paper roleplay games.  When I met him he was a part of his university roleplay society and it was a regular feature of his week to be away gaming with his friends.  When we finished university and first moved into our flat in Fife, he would travel up on the train for games.  He wasn't really able to play with the university anymore, due to timings of trains, but his friends still did a roleplay and he would go up for that.  Back in the early days of this blog, it became traditional for me to bake something for him to take along.  His friends are very willing guinea pigs and it really allowed me to stretch my creative juices and experiment.  No wonder 2012 and 2013 were such prolific years for the blog.
  
Then the Hubby changed from being a lifeguard with casual hours to one with part time hours.  And all those hours were in the evening.  And consequently, roleplaying had to be put on hold.  I felt so bad for him because it also put a big hold on getting to see his friends in general.  After we convinced him to quit because I was beginning my probation year, it became an issue of no one having the same free day for meeting up and limited funds.  Their game has been on hold for a couple of years now.

However, now the Hubby has passed his driving test and we have access to a (devil) car he is able to travel up to Dundee much more easily, with no restrictions on when he has to leave as he's not relying on trains.  He is so happy.  And there are plans to start the game up again, with some new people joining.  So once again he'll be regularly trekking up to Dundee.

That's where this bake comes in.  Last Saturday he went to Dundee.  I did not remember him telling me he was doing this until he mentioned it the preceding Monday.  So obviously I spent the week teasing him about abandoning me.  It was fine though.  I was glad he was getting to see his friends.  And at the fact I had guinea pigs to bake for again.  My day on my own was also enjoyable (despite feeling ill).  I bundled up under a quilt with my cats and watched a lot of movies.  It was lovely. 

I thought I would do something with a bit of a Valentine's theme, being that time of year and all.  Brownies seemed a good bet.  Traybakes are good to send along to a bunch of people.  I went with chocolate and raspberry because it's a classic, romantic combination.  Plus tastes really good together.  The brownie part was a Martha Stewart recipe, so there's a LOT of butter and sugar in these.  But that's what makes a good, moist brownie!  That and a good quality dark chocolate.  I added raspberries to the brownies (more moistness wasn't going to hurt) and then found a nice and simple raspberry ganache recipe that I thought I'd be able to pull off (since, ya know, ganache is one of my nemeses).  I have to say, I like using chocolate chips, it helps things to melt quicker.  I switched milk chocolate chips out for white chocolate in my version because I wanted a nice pink ganache and because white chocolate also combines well with raspberry.

The trickiest part of this was actually cutting out the hearts.  My cookie cutter was a bit shallow to go through cleanly and come back out again.  I need a fancy one with a handle.  So instead I pushed it in part way and used it as a stencil, cutting around the inside edge with a knife.  It gives the brownies a slight roughness but for the most part, they still looked pretty cute.

I packed both the brownies and all the remnants up and sent them along with the Hubby.  There was much excitement at the prospect when he had told them over Facebook.  Apparently everyone immediately started tucking into the leftover bits, saving the actual brownies for after tea.  Any brownies that remained at the end of the evening were divided up between them.  They are a wonderfully moist brownie but weren't too heavy.  They're very chocolatey and the raspberry is strong.  The Hubby describes it, "as being punched in the nose and tongue with flavour".  A weird way to put it but I'll take it.  Everyone really enjoyed them so I was happy.

Recipe - makes 12 brownies (plus leftover bits)

Brownie - adapted from Martha Stewart

• 225g/8oz unsalted butter
• 350g/12oz light muscovado sugar 
• 170g/6oz dark chocolate
• 4 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 240g/8.5oz plain flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 150g/5.3oz fresh raspberries 

Raspberry Ganache - adapted from Food.com

• 160ml/oz heavy cream 
• 60g/2oz butter
• 280g/10oz white chocolate chips
• 125ml/4.5oz seedless raspberry jam
• Pink food colouring (optional) 
• Sprinkles

1. Preheat the oven to 170C/325F/Gas Mark 3 and grease and line a 12x10inch, deep sided tray with baking parchment.  Make sure the parchment hangs high over the edge so that you will be able to lift the brownies out of the tray.
2. Put the chocolate, butter and sugar into a microwave-safe bowl.
3. Microwave for 1 minute and then stir.  Continue to microwave for 10 second intervals, stirring after each, until the chocolate is almost melted.
4. Beat in the eggs and vanilla extract, followed by the flour and salt.  Mix until just smooth.
5. Cut the raspberries in half and fold into the mixture.
6. Pour into the prepared tin and smooth the top.
7. Bake for about 35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  I recommend to start checking after 20 minutes because you don't want the brownie to overcook and dry out.
8. Leave in the tin to cool.
9. Whilst the brownie is baking, start making the raspberry ganache.  In a small heavy saucepan placed over a medium heat bring the cream to a simmer then remove.
10. Add the chocolate chips, butter and jam to the cream, making sure as much as possible is covered.  Let it stand until the chocolate has melted.
11. If using food colouring, add it here.  Whisk the mixture until it is smooth.  Chill in the fridge for about an hour.
12. Whip the ganache to soft peaks then spread over the top of the cooled brownie, smoothing over and making sure it goes right to the edges.  Sprinkle decorations over the top, cover with clingfilm and place in the fridge to firm up.
13. Once the ganache is fairly firm, use a 6cm/2.5inch heart cookie cutter to cut the brownies out.  (The scraps are worth keeping for nibbles).

Citrus Summer Fruit Drizzle Cake

Okay, well, long time no post, huh?  Last post was in December last year and now it's July!  This was a bit of an unexpected hiatus but a necessary one.  I became swamped with work after the Christmas holidays as I did not do so well in my first term at school and needed to make it up.  This got made worse by everyone getting sick or other things coming up which meant things were not getting done at reasonable times and ended up having to be done in a very short space of time.  Very stressful.  So much so that I ended up at the doctor's and have been given medication for anxiety, which I've always had but got worse these last couple of years.  Fun fun fun.  Anyway, the good news is that I did pass my probation year and I am a fully qualified teacher!  Bad news is that currently I don't have a job after the summer.  I didn't do so good in the interview as what I thought I was saying was not coming across.  Ah well.  I've just got to keep trying and see what comes up.

But we're not here to listen to me moan; we're here about cake!  Hectic work life meant there was little time for baking in the last few months but when I was doing reports it was something I just had to make time for.  Writing reports is so so dull and takes forever!  I had to break it into smaller blocks per day and then even smaller ones after that.  Baking was then fitted in between the blocks to keep me sane. 

 

This looked like a nice, summery bake.  I like baking with fruit, even if I am not keen to eat it.  I also think it looks aesthetically pleasing too without being too complicated.  I ended up making two of these; one for home and one for school.  I bought a mixed box of fruit from Sainsbury's which had strawberries, raspberries and blackberries in.  I then bulked it out a little with an extra tub of blueberries.  I also decided I would zest up the cake with some lime in the batter rather than just using the juice in the drizzle.  It worked really well.  It is a really moist cake with a nice tang to offset the sweetness of the fruit.  Both cakes were gobbled up very quickly.

And just before I let you have the recipe, I want to give a shout-out to my Hubby.  One of the biggest tragedies of not baking much has been the lack of food photography I have gotten to do!  Doubly so because that wonderful, sweet husband of mine gave me a DSLR camera for Christmas!  I was so surprised and felt so spoilt.  It has been so fun to use and takes such lovely pictures.  I am still getting to grips with it but I think I did a pretty good job with these snaps!

Recipe -  Adapted from BBC GoodFood
Makes a 2lb loaf cake


Cake:

• 175g/6oz butter
• 175g/6oz golden caster sugar
• 250g/9oz self-raising flour
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• Zest of 2 limes
• 100g/3.5oz mixed summer fruits 

Drizzle:

• 75g/2.5oz mixed summer fruits
• 1-2tbsp lime juice
• 140g/5oz granulated sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4 and grease a 900g/2lb loaf tin with butter.  Line the base with a long strip of greaseproof paper so that the ends hang out over the sides of the tin (it will help you remove the cake from the tin later).
2. In a large bowl mix together the butter, sugar, flour, eggs, lime zest and vanilla extract  until the batter is smooth, pale and creamy.  It will be very thick.
3. Put a third of the mix into the cake tin then scatter half of the fruit over the top.
4. Spread another third of the cake mix over the top and then scatter on the rest of the fruit.  
5. Finally top with the last of the cake mix and smooth over with a spoon.
6. Bake for about 1 hour, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
7. Put the fruit and sugar for the drizzle in a bowl with the lime juice and stir together, mashing the fruit a little as you do.
8. When you have removed the cake from the oven poke it all over with a skewer.
9. Spoon the drizzle over the cake then leave inside the tin until the cake is cool and the topping is set.  
10. Use the strip of paper to help remove the cake from the tin.

Peach Melba Ice Cream

I have been aware of various blog baking challenges existing for a few months now.  However I've not felt entirely keen on trying to sign up to any.  This is mainly down to their rules or how they work.  For example, baking a specific recipe and it being compulsory to take part in so many of the challenges each year.  As much as I would like my blog to get more traffic, I felt these kind of things were really restrictive.  What if I didn't like the sound of the recipe?  Or didn't have anyone that could eat it and therefore it would go to waste?  Or I just didn't have time to take part because my schedule got unexpectedly busy?  Then the challenge would feel like a chore and not something fun, which is what baking is for me.

So I cannot tell you how excited I was when I stumbled across The Lady Behind The Curtain's Dessert Challenge.  It sounded so wonderfully simple.  Each month you're challenged to bake something that includes two particular ingredients, and it has to be a dessert.  That's it.  Oh, and it can't have been on your blog before.  What's the fun in doing something you've already done?  Plus, there's no obligation.  If the ingredients aren't your cup of tea then no worries, just sit the month out.  I loved the sound of it so I had to sign up.

And that's what today's post centres around.  This is my first entry into the Dessert Challenge.  This month's ingredients: peaches and cream.  Admittedly, I was actually considering not doing it this month as I had no idea what I would do with those ingredients.  I am not that keen on peaches and pretty much everyone else I know was on holiday or I wouldn't see until after the post was due to go out.  It wasn't until Thursday last week that it hit me that I could make ice cream with it.  That way, even if the fiancé and I decided it wasn't our kind of thing, the stuff would keep and we could serve it up to someone who would like it at a later date.  It even turned out that my lovely ice cream book that I got for practically nothing at The Works had a recipe for peaches ice cream too, although I ended up mixing it together with the recipe for plum ice cream because, as always, I wanted a custard base.

I decided to add a little something extra to the recipe as well and put a raspberry ripple through it, which was inspired by the dessert Peach Melba (ice cream, peaches and raspberry sauce).  I used the same method as I had done with the blueberry ripple (though messed with the amounts slightly) and actually got an even better syrup than last time.  This one stayed syrupy even after sitting on the side for several hours whilst I waited for the ice cream to firm up.  I was quite pleased.  Maybe I slightly overcooked it last time?

Really, my only problem with this, again, was that my ice cream maker wouldn't freeze the mixture as it churned.  The kitchen wasn't even hot this time so I'm now wondering if the freezer isn't cold enough.  We adjusted the temperature for the fridge a couple of weeks ago because it kept freezing everything on the bottom shelf, but it seems that gauge is also connected to the freezer so it's now less cold in there too.  Still freezes things fine but apparently isn't so good for the ice cream maker's bowl, which is rather annoying.  So I had to do it the old fashioned way again and consequently ended up with a few ice crystals in my ice cream.  Oh well.

Despite the ever so slight crunch, it is still yummy.  The fiancé calls it refreshing because whilst it is creamy it is also juicy thanks to all the peach purée.  The peach and raspberry go really well together too.  All in all, a fairly successful recipe that will get eaten by us.

Recipe - makes 0.6L

Peach Ice Cream - adapted from Best Ever Recipes Ice Cream

• 400g/14oz tin peach halves in light syrup
• 65g/2.5oz caster sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• 150ml/5fl.oz whole milk
• 150ml/5fl.oz double cream

Raspberry Ripple:

• 150g/5oz raspberries (fresh or frozen)
• 2 tbsp caster sugar
• 3 tbsp water 

1. Put the peaches and syrup in a saucepan, along with 40g/1.5oz of the caster sugar.  Heat until the sugar dissolves, stirring occasionally to prevent burning.  Set aside to cool.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and remaining 25g/1oz caster sugar until the mixture is pale in colour and resembles mousse.
3. Put the cream and milk in a saucepan and heat until it just starts bubbling around the edges.
4. Slowly pour the cream mixture over the egg mousse, whisking as you do so.
5. Transfer back into the pan and place over a gentle heat.
6. Cook the mixture to a custard, stirring the whole time without letting it boil.  You either want the mixture to reach a temperature of 76°C/170°F or so it is thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon.
7. Strain through a fine mesh sieve into a clean bowl.
8. Once the peaches are cooled, blend them into a purée and add them to the custard.  Stir until they are fully combined then put the mixture in the fridge to chill for at least 2 hours.
9. Once the mixture has chilled, churn according to ice cream maker's instructions.
10. Meanwhile, make the ripple by combining the raspberries, sugar and water in a saucepan.
11. Cook over a medium heat until the fruit has broken down, stirring regularly to prevent burning.
12. Pour the mixture through a sieve into a clean pan to remove the seeds.  Press down on anything left in the sieve with a spoon to get as much liquid out as possible.
13. Return the new pan to the heat and bring to a boil.  Cook the mixture until it reduces to a thick syrup.  Set aside to cool.
14. Once the ice cream has churned but is still soft, put a third into a freezer safe container.  Drizzle on half the ripple syrup.
15. Repeat with a second third of the ice cream and the rest of the syrup, then top with the last of the ice cream.
16. Use a fork or butter knife to ripple the two mixtures together.
17. Put in the freezer and freeze overnight.

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