Great Bloggers Bake Off - Final Week Porkie Picnic Pie & Mickey Mouse Birthday Cake

I am so pleased that I have had the chance to bake this week for the Bake Off. We returned from our much deserved holiday yesterday so I have washing galore and jobs a plenty but I have prioritised!
Baking first!!!
My bake this week is inspired by a pork pie. I love pork and pickle pies but I wanted to do something a little bit different. My Porkie Picnic Pie is layered with ham, chutney, sausage meat and red onions with a layer of black pudding running through the middle. The pastry is a plain flour crossed with a sage pastry. After seeing poor Kimberley's picnic pie with a soggy bottom, I have played it safe and pre cooked my meat before putting into my picnic pie.
This, as other weeks, has been a first bake for me. This is something that I have never baked and have spent a long time thinking of the flavours to add together. I am loving the challenges that I have faced each week and have certainly risen to the challenge.
For my showstopper bake I am using the twins birthday cake that I made this year. This is a cake that I made before I started my blog and it was my first "novelty" cake and am proud of the results and really wanted to share it!

 

Porkie Picnic Pie

 

Ingredients

 

Sage Pastry

 

125g plain flour

65g chilled butter cubed

Pinch of salt

2 tspn dried sage

1 egg yolk

30 mls water

 

Plain Pastry

 

125g plain flour

65g chilled butter cubed

Pinch of salt

1 egg yolk

30 mls water

 

Filling

 

Ham

Sausage meat

Real ale chutney

Black pudding

Red onions

 

Method

 

1 - Make the plain pastry by adding the flour, butter and salt to a food processor and blitz until you bread crumbs consistency

2 - Add the egg yolk and water and blitz until it is starting to come together

3 - Remove from the food processor and form a ball, wrap in cling film and flatten into a disc

4 - To make the sage pastry do as before but add the sage with the flour

5 - Place both pastry discs into the fridge and chill for at least 30 minutes

6 - To prepare the filling heat the oven to 180C

7 - Take the sausage meat and divide into two pieces and shape into rectangular shapes that will fit into the loaf tin that you will be using for the pie

8 - Place into the oven on a grill rack so that any fat juices are drained away from the meat

9 - Once cooked on both sides remove from the oven and leave on one side

10 - Take the black pudding and slice, then place into the oven until cooked on both sides and place on one side

11 - Take the pastry from the fridge and roll out

12 - Do the same with the sage pastry, then cut out even strips

13 - Lay the strips, evenly spaced over the plain pastry and roll so that the two pastries are mixed but still visibly different
 

14 - Line the loaf tin with baking paper this will make it easier to remove the pie

15 - Place the bottom pastry into the loaf tin
 

16 - Add a layer of ham, a layer of chutney, a layer of sausage meat, a layer of red onions, the black pudding, a layer of red onion, a layer of sausage meat, a layer of chutney and the final layer of ham
 

17 - Top with the sage pastry, glaze and place in the oven for 45 - 60 minutes
18 - For the handle roll some pastry and wrap with a thin roll of sage pastry, glaze and place in the oven with the pie 

 

 

 

 

Mickey Mouse Novelty Cake

 

Ingredients

 

300g self raising flour

300g butter

300g caster sugar

6 eggs at room temperature

1 tspn vanilla paste

Royal Icing - white, red, black, yellow and blue

Apricot jam

 

Method

 

Pre heat the oven to 180C

1 - Cream the butter until smooth

2 - Add the sugar and mix until light and creamy

3 - Gradually add the eggs along with a spoon of flour each time to prevent curdling

4 - Sift in the flour and mix

5 - Divide the mixture into two cake tins of different sizes

6 - Bake for approx 45 - 60 minutes or whenever a slim knife comes out clean when placed through the centre

7 - Once the cake is cooked leave to cool completely. I made the cakes the day before decorating and kept them in an air tight container overnight

8 - To decorate, heat the apricot jam in a saucepan

9 - Roll out the white royal icing to the size that you need to cover the cake

10 - Slice off the top of the cake so that it is flat and turn over, use the flat bottom side as the cake top

11 - Smooth over the hot apricot jam over the cake

12 - Gently lay on the royal icing, ensuring that there are no air pockets

13 - Repeat for the other cake

14 - Place the smaller cake on top of the larger cake

15 - Using the yellow and blue icing I stamped out the twins names and placed them around the outside of the cakes

16 - Roll out the black royal icing and stamp out Mickey Mouse head shapes and place around the outside of the cakes using the hot apricot jam as an adhesive

17 - Do the same with the red icing and place 4 Mickey Mouse head shapes on the top

18 - Make small balls using the red icing and secure around the join of the two cakes

19 - I also added two red number 1's around the outside as it was their first birthday

 

 

 

 

The Great Bloggers Bake Off is hosted by the lovely Helen and Jenny at:

http://www.thecrazykitchen.co.uk/p/the-great-bloggers-bake-off.html

http://www.mummymishaps.co.uk/category/gbbo