The Great British Bake Off

BBC 2 is currently showing The Great British Bake Off.... every Tuesday at 8pm.
http://www.greatbritishbakeoff.com/

This show is heaven for bakers out there, as I've not really ever seen a show that is dedicated to just baking. Interest in baking has seemed to increased over recent years, just look at the number of blogs about baking and the number of new entrepreneurs in the industry. I am sure this show will no doubt influence and inspire many people to start baking or bake even more. I know it has that affect on me.

This week's focus is on baking bread, an area that I have not yet experienced. I always imagined and thought of bread as a timely process with a lot of kneading, proving and waiting around. But most of all one that requires a lot of skill to get a good baked bread. The show has definitely confirmed these points but watching this week's show, its really tempted me to give it a try. I love the smell of freshly baked bread and it might be time to be brave and give it a go... watch this space!!!!

Can I have another cookie please????

I've been really lucky to sample a lot of my friends baking recently.... you can't get them better than homemade.

One of my friends made a chocolate cornflake cookie crunch..... When I first saw these I honestly thought they were shop bought. You can see why right??

These looked good for sure, and they tasted delish!!! After taking a bite, you are hit with a crumbly chocolate biscuit with a chocolate topping and then comes the cornflake crunch. A surprise in disguise!!!

This isn't shop bought either.. but made by the same friend. A good cookie with a chewy middle and choc chips... I could have easily eaten half a dozen of these. I've made a lot of cookies before, but they never turn out this shape, mine tends to spread out while baking and then either come out too chewy or crunchy!! whoopssss......

Coconut and Rum Macaroons

ummmm.... some more macaroons.... don't these look like the Laduree ones I raved on about before.... ???
These are in fact home made, not by me of course... I havent as yet gotten around to making these. These are made by a really good friend of mine. Coconut and Rum Macroons... these were really moist with a hint of rum flavour......melt in the mouth..... and completely delicious.....

As you can see the macaroons has the the rough edge, which is known as the foot. The macaroons were smooth on top, with a slight shine and no cracks at all. This may sound easy but it requires a lot of skill to get them to this perfection.

I'm hoping this post will award me another one... lol.... x

Pandan Chiffon Cake

I love the pandan cakes that you can buy from chinese supermarkets or bakeries. Pandan is of Malaysian origin and comes in the form of a leaf. The cake is made from the juice of pandan leaves, and so the colour of the cake appears light green.

I attempted to make this once before and failed considerable. The cake just sunk as soon as it came out the oven and so was not light and fluffy. My sister found a recipe on the internet and asked if I could make it for her. I was dubious but thought I'd give it a try anyway. U can find the recipe below, taken from http://nyonyafood.rasamalaysia.com/

Pandan Chiffon Cake Recipe

Ingredients

Step 1:

8 medium egg yolks
2oz  fine sugar
2oz Pandan /Screwpine Leaves Juice ( Made from blending 6 Screwpine leaves with 2 – 3 oz water)
3oz corn oil or olive oil
5oz self raising flour

Method:

1. Beat egg yolk and sugar lightly with a hand whisk till sugar dissolve.
2. Stir  in pandan juice and corn oil.
3. Fold self raising flour into egg mixture.
4. Set aside.

Step 2:

Ingredients:

8 egg whites
5 oz fine sugar
pinch of salt

Method:

1. Beat egg whites till frothy. Slowly add in sugar and pinch of salt while beating at high speed.
2. Beat until the egg white is stiff and shining but not dry. ( About 3 minutes)

Step 3:

1. Preheat oven at 175 degrees Celsius.
2. Use a spatula and gently fold egg yolk mixture into the egg white mixture(meringue).
3. Pour into an ungreased 25cm tube pan.
4. Bake for 40-45 minutes.
5. Once cake is cooked, remove cake from oven immediately and invert  pan onto wire rack. Let it cool before removing cake from pan.

I couldn't get hold of any leaves for this recipe so I used pandan food flavouring instead, you can buy this from chinese supermarkets. This seemed to work, although next time I might put a little more in the mixture. I was really careful of how much flavouring to put in, as the pandan flavouring tastes bitter and really strong. The last thing I wanted was to put too much in and have a bitter cake.

The cake was a success this time, although there are still areas to improve on. It was light, moist and fluffy with little sunkage... though the overall appearance of the cake could be better. But I was happy that it tasted good and had some good feedback from my sister and other guinea pigs I have!

Event Day

Arrived at about 9.30am to set up on the day of the event. Setting up the stall didn't take too long, as the cakes were packed in a way that the larger box contained a selection of cupcakes of all the designs and colours.

I bought a disposable three tier cup cake stand for the day, as this was light and easy to transport on the day. It was very easy to assemble and very sturdy. We placed about 35 cupcakes on the stand and replenished as they were sold throughout the day. I bought this online for about £6, easily found with a quick search on the internet, especially on sites like ebay stores. The only downside of the stand are the stain marks from the cupcakes itself.

I had positioned the cup stand on the right hand of the table, and the left was a little setting created with flowers, tea set, almost an afternoon tea setting.

Event Baking Day 2

I was really excited about day 2, because this is where the fun really starts. I love the decoration part of baking, it is where I can be creative and imaginative... and I love making things look pretty.

On this occasion, as there were 100 cupcakes to decorate and pack up, one of my close friends came over and helped. It was a really fun day, having a catch up, bouncing off ideas and all for chairty too. Its a lovely feeling to be able to do something that you enjoy and have the task done for a meaningful cause.

There were a lot of experimenting of colours and designs on the day, and so this batch of cupcakes I made looked a little different from the ones I made before.

All of the cupcakes were frosted with vanilla flavoured buttercream frosting. Food colouring were added to the buttercream to create a range of cupcakes in different colours. I used food colouring that came in a liquid form (pink/red colour), like the ones you find in the local supermarket and one in a paste form (purple), which is a lot more concentrated. They both produced similar results though I prefer to use paste as adding too much liquid to the buttercream mix can weaken its stiffness and affect the piped result.

Have a look at the photos below and see what you think....

Selection of decoration ingredients, food colouring and flavourings.

Packing up .... 35 cupcakes in this box...

The pink and white batches here, with different piping techniques. 

Event Baking Day 1

5 hours.....
27 eggs.....
5 blocks of butter.....
1.4kg of flour.....
1.5kg of caster sugar.....
and a bottle of vanilla extract later  .... equals.....

I used a basic cupcake mix, (I've blogged the recipe in a previous entry), which makes 12 cakes per batch. To make the baking process more efficient. I first made sure all butter and eggs were at room temperature, then batches of 2 were weighed and put aside ready for use.

I mixed the batter in batches of 2 and baked every 12 cakes at a time, as unfortunately my oven isnt big enough and I only have one cupcake tray. Nevertheless the whole process actualy went pretty smooth and took quicker than I had anticipated.



All cupcakes are packed away in air tight tuppleware boxes now... ready for Day 2... frosting and decorating!!!....

Just a little piece of card....

From my last blog, I mentioned about a cupcake stall for a charity event, well the time is nearing. So my baking schedule has been set up.... getting ready to bake 100 of these sugar things to help raise money. Everything is under control at the moment... only days away from my first event.

I got some business cards made to accompany my stall, as my boyfriend always says you have nothing to lose and you dont know what might come out of it. Sounds like some wise advice, so my business card was born ^^

Afternoon Tea at the Wyndham Grand, London Chelsea Harbour

Not long after visiting The Orangery, a group of friends and I headed to the Wyndham Grand for a birthday Afternoon Tea Party. The tea was served in the lounge of the hotel, and where we were sat we could see the marina outside. With it being a nice bright sunny day, it was a perfect setting for a group of 10 girls sipping away and secretly scoffing on the sweet delicates. 

We decided to share an afternoon tea per couple, but the tea sets were bought out in sets for four people to share. 

Traditional Afternoon Tea £15.00

Sandwiches  (seen on the bottom tier)

Scottish Smoked Salmon and Herbed Cream Cheese
Honey Glazed Wiltshire Ham and Grape Chutney
Cornish Yarg with Homemade Piccalilli
Free Range Egg and Chive Mayonnaise

Homemade Plain & Raisin Scones (middle tier)
Served with Clotted Cream & Fine Strawberry Preserve

Sweets and Pastries (top tier)

Elderflower and Gooseberry Fool

Cheeky Chocolate Bourbon
Strawberry Crumble Tart
Earl Grey Cream Slice
Cherry and Almond Cake
Fruit Cake

Selection of Coffees, Teas and Fruit Infusions

The experience here although the setting was perfect was not as good as some of the places I have been to before. We had to ask for milk when our tea arrived and only a small jug was brought over, so we had to ask for some more. The clotted cream portions were tiny and was not sufficient for four people sharing, the portion size is usually for one person at any other afternoon tea place. All in all it ruined the experience a little bit as we had to keep trying to attract the attention of the waitress. The service could definitely have been more attentive and better. And the fact that we were amoung a few other diners there, the service was very very slow. It took almost half an hour for them to prepare the table for us to be seated. Definitely will not be coming back here, its such a shame as the scenery was absolutely stunning. 

http://www.wyndhamgrandlondon.co.uk/food-drink.php