Ruby Wedding Anniversary Cake - Great Bloggers Bake Off Final

That is it. The Great British Bake Off is over for another year, and sadly over for the way we know and love it. This year I was not surprised that Candice won, she always seemed to go the extra mile despite it costing her bakes along the way. But her final bake was outstanding. I have loved watching Great British Bake Off grow from a little show on BBC2 featuring an unknown baker and a legendary cook to moving to BBC1 and making Paul Hollywood the celebrity he is now and rekindling our love for Mary Berry. But for me the two people who transformed the show from just a baking show to a comical, entertaining baking show has to be Mel and Sue. They are hilarious with their quips and baking innuendo. I simply cannot imagine Bake Off without them! But I understand why each have done what they have. Mary, Mel and Sue have remained loyal to the BBC while Paul has remained loyal to the team and show which made him. What the show will be like on Channel 4 is yet to be seen!

Anyway, now onto my final bake.

This weeks bake came along at a perfect time. My parents celebrated their ruby wedding anniversary last weekend and an occasion like that certainly deserves a show stopper of a cake. They deserved a cake fit for a Queen and her King.

This is what I did...

Great Bloggers Bake Off - Savarin

As much as I love the Great British Bake Off I will admit that this year I have been a little disappointed with the themes *sorry* and I have found that on a number of weeks I have not been inspired to bake along. However as soon as I saw the technical from patisserie week I knew I had to have a go. I have never made a savarin before or, if I am honest, ever heard of it before. But I love yeast, sweet bread style cakes so knew that it would go down well here.

As always I was able to source all of the ingredients from my local Aldi. The ingredients are great and are low in price which is an added bonus! At the moment Aldi have got a lot of baking product that are on special buy and it was there I found a lovely non stick, premium bundt tin and an icing bag and nozzle set at a bargain price!

I will warn you that the savarin is a long bake. I started mine in the morning and it was finished in the evening. But it is a great bake and well worth the extra effort. As it needed a lot of time between steps I was able to do a bit, leave it and get on with other jobs and keep returning to the bake.

This is how I got on...

*UPDATE* Look what I received for my savarin!!!

Yes! I got a star baker award which I am over the moon about especially as I have never made one before and it was the technical challenge! Thank you Jenny for selecting my bake and for hosting the Great Bloggers Bake Off!

Mary Berry's Bakewell Tart

Last weeks Great British Bake Off was all about pastry. The technical challenge was a Bakewell tart. I love traditional Bakewell tarts so could not resist making one.

So I found Mary's recipe on BBC Good Food and got baking!

For this weeks Bake Off post I have used some great ingredients from Aldi. Like other produce from Aldi they are all at prices which you simply cannot go wrong with. There are also many baking products that are available at Aldi on their Special Buys. Their The Pantry range consists of various different flours, sugars, food colourings, nuts, dried fruit, baking chocolate and many other items to help you bake. Baking is such an enjoyable pastime and one that does not need to cost a great deal. Last week I even found some jam sugar which has come in handy as we have got a lot of raspberries to harvest!

This is how I got on making Mary Berry's Bakewell Tart...

Coconut Churros with Rachels Greek Style Yogurt

Whilst living in Gran Canaria I fell in love with churros. They were the perfect sweet treat to start the day with a good strong cortado. Churros are traditionally served with either coffee or hot chocolate and are dipped into the drink. I have fond memories of sitting in bars, seeing the churros batter piped into the oil and watching them cook, waiting in anticipation for them to be freshly served. So you can just imagine my excitement when I found out that they would be making them on Great British Bake Off. This is the first time that I have made this much loved treat of mine and I am sure that it will not be the last.

When Rachel's Organic asked me if I would like to try one of their recipes for GBBO batter week I was delighted to see that they had a churros recipe featured along with some waffles and pancakes. Needless to say the churros recipe won and is the recipe that I will be featuring today. I have added a twist of my own. Instead of dipping the traditional way I have used Rachel's Organic Greek style coconut yogurt for dipping and have rolled my churros in desiccated coconut instead of cinnamon sugar.

This is what I did...

Cinnamon Crisp Viennese Fingers

As you no doubt know, I love the Great British Bake Off! A couple of years ago I even applied to be on the show, but got no further than an interview. I have not applied since and do not think that I will but that does not stop me baking along with the show.

While the show is on Aldi have challenged me to bake along using their ingredients. So for the next few weeks my regular Aldi posts will all be around the baking theme. Last week I shared my Honey and Lemon Cupcakes for week one of the bake off. This week I am baking for biscuit week. Last week I made Viennese Whirls and we all loved them. I am not a big biscuit maker as I have never really had much success with them, until I made Viennese Whirls last week! After realising how easy they were to make. This got me thinking about how I could adapt the recipe to add extra flavours. So when I was doing my weekly shopping trip last week I was on the look out for ingredients that I could use for this weeks recipe. I found some lovely Belgian chocolate that had flavours that really stood out to me. The Cachet chocolate bars come in four tempting varieties Cinnamon Crisp, Caramel and Sea Salt, Peppermint and Cocoa Nibs. Today's recipe features the Cinnamon Crisp but I am already planning how I can use the others so keep an eye out! But first let me show you how I used the Cinnamon Crisp in my biscuit bake.

This is what I did...

Chocolate, Apple and Cinnamon Couronne

This week on the Great British Bake Off it was bread week. Bread week has to be my favourite week. I love to bake bread, I love the whole process of seeing the separate ingredients come together to create a loaf. I love how you literally feel the ingredients coming together and changing as you knead. There is something so therapeutic about bread making. Tesco asked me if I would like to take part in the Great Bloggers Bake Off using their products for bread week. As it is my favourite I jumped at the chance!

This week Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry challenged the bakers and really put them to the test. For the signature bakes they were asked to make a sweet dough with a twist that must contain chocolate in some way or another. The technical was a new one to me and the bakers. Paul asked them to make a German dumpling style bread called dampfnudel. Then for the final showstopper they were asked to make a plaited bread centre piece that uses four different flours.

I immediately knew that I wanted to make the signature bake. I always enjoy the challenge of making an enriched dough, plus they are so delicious!

This is what I did...

Honey and Lemon Drizzle Cupcakes

As I was away when Great British Bake Off started and I missed cake week I thought that I would have a go at making some drizzle cakes. Aldi have challenged me to follow along with Bake Off and make a series of bakes using their products. I love to bake so love having an excuse to bake even more! Yesterday I shared my delicious Viennese Whirls so for today's recipe I made some cakes. I am still yet to catch up with the episode that I missed but I have seen a lot of people sharing drizzles cakes. But I have not made your average drizzle cake, I have decided to make mini versions that are great to put in the kids pack ups for school!

I have combined two classic flavours of honey and lemon. The two compliment each other perfectly and have made a cupcake that keeps you wanting more! I have not used regular honey, I have gone for Aldi's Specially Selected Manuka Type Honey.

Aldi have a great range of baking products and as the Great British Bake Off goes on I will be showing you how you can save money on your ingredients and create the best bakes.

This is what I did...

Viennese Whirls and Catch Up

Wow what a busy weekend!

Earlier in the year we had a flood thanks to J leaving the tap running in the bathroom upstairs while we were out. Since this disaster we have been getting the house redecorated. We had the hall, landing and stairs decorated while we were away in May then during our cruise we had the lounge ceiling done. Seeing the new ceiling next to the tired and water stained walls gave us the decorating bug. I actually got my Viennese Whirl biscuits made last week but due to painting all weekend I am a bit later than planned posting my recipe. Tomorrow the children are going back to school and the twins will be starting full time. I am hoping that this will allow me to be more organised, give me more quiet baking time and finally get ahead with my jobs! I am also planning to continue decorating downstairs and even thinking about doing the kitchen so there are lots of exciting times coming!

The Great British Bake Off returned to our screens while we were away with Carnival Cruise Lines and the Great Bloggers Bake Off also returned to bake along with the show. I missed cake week as we were sailing in the Mediterranean, but I am planning on catching up while the kids are at school! Last week was biscuit week. I am the first to admit that biscuits are not my thing. I have never been great at making biscuits so this week I knew that it would be a challenge. I decided to have a go at the technical challenge which was to make Viennese Whirls. I love the creamy biscuit of Viennese Whirls so I wanted to get them perfect. 

I actually surprised myself and was delighted with the results. As I have never made them before I did follow a recipe from my trusty Be-Ro baking book. However I did not use self raising flour as the recipe states, I used plain flour as I did not want them to rise.

This is what I did...

Chocolate Cake with Added Goodness

I love chocolate cake, but I do not love the guilt that comes with it. That is why I decided to make a chocolate cake which has a bit more goodness in. If it contains a few super foods it cannot be all bad now, can it?

When I decided what ingredients to use for this cake I decided to use chia seeds. Chia seeds are one of the healthiest seed there are, they are not only full of nutritional goodness that have important benefits to your body and brain. Cranberries are full of antioxidants and even contain anti inflammatory properties. Then the raw cacao contains many essential minerals, helps increase alleviate fatigue. The creme patissiere is dairy free and made using coconut milk.

This is what I did...

Apple Frangipane Tart with a Cider and Elderflower Syrup - Great Bloggers Bake Off

Last week the bakers in the Bake Off tent faced the pastry challenges. I have to admit I do like making pastry, I love getting my hands in a feeling the ingredients come together. So when I was not feeling up to making pastry, thanks to a bad back, for my bake off tart I was disappointed. But I knew I had to still take part. So I did use shop bought pastry for this bake *sorry*.

This is the first time that I have made frangipane! I know I could not believe that I had never made it either! So this was totally new bake for me and one that I was delighted with! This tart was so delicious and the creme patissiere base worked so well with the almond frangipane and the apples. The flavour combinations in this tart simply go hand in hand with each other.

For the basic frangipane and creme patissiere recipes I used Paul Hollywood's How To Bake.

This is what I did...

Great Bloggers Bake Off - Free From Week - Coconut Bounty Cake

When I saw that the week that I would be hosting the Great Bloggers Bake Off linky party was free from week to say I was excited (and pleased!) is an understatement!

I have recently been baking and eating more free from foods. This have been a journey of food discovery. Free from baking is completely different from traditional baking. All of the weights that you regularly follow go out of the window. It is like learning all over again. Different flours and ingredients act in different ways so some research needed to be done.

This week, in the tent, the bakers had the following challenges...

• The signature challenge saw the bakers create a variety of sugar-free cakes. They used honey, agave syrup and fruit, but there's more to replacing sugar than just adding sweetness.

• Paul's technical challenge was gluten-free pittas, which are made with a very sticky dough which really tested the bakers' skill.

• For their show-stopper, the bakers made dairy-free ice cream rolls. Mary and Paul were looking for silky-smooth ice cream, surrounded by jam and a light sponge. 

After seeing what the challenges were I decided to make a cake which is not just a sugar free sponge, but is also gluten and dairy free. The chocolate ganache does contain sugar in the dark chocolate but is also dairy free.

This is what I did...

Nutty Smoked Soda Bread

Even though I was on holiday, I was glued to last weeks Great British Bake Off and I knew that I would love it. Last week was bread week. Before I lost my baking mojo thanks to depression, bread was my favourite thing to bake. I had been looking forward to last week as I am wanting to fall in love with bread making again, this was to be the push that I needed.

In the past I have baked baguettes and bread art was not for me. So that left me with soda bread.

Soda bread is normally my hubby's bake so I was excited to have a go. I love to experiment with new and different flours and while we were away we found a lovely little deli which had a wide stock of flours so before leaving for home I had to buy some for my soda bread. In this bake I have used three different flours along with a peat smoked salt and the flavours went together perfectly.

This is what I did...

Amaretti Biscotti - Great Bloggers Bake Off

When I saw that biscotti was one of the challenges for this weeks bakers on the Great British Bake Off I knew I simply had to have a go at it. My husband loves biscotti so how could I not bake them.

I have decided to use amaretti with my bake to make them a naughty but good!

I got the basic recipe from Great British Bake Off Everyday but have changed it from chocolate biscotti to my own amaretti biscotti.

This is what I did....

Lemon and Rooibos Madeira Cake

You know when the Bake Off has returned when you wake up in the middle of the night and start planning a cake to bake! Yes after a year the Great British Bake Off has returned as The Great Bloggers Bake Off has also returned!

Recently (since my depression began) I have completely lost my baking mojo. You may have noticed that the number of bake posts has gone down. I am hoping that GBBO will give me a kick up the bum and get me baking again. I have always loved baking and I cannot wait to get baking as I did before.

This cake was thought of in the middle of the night. But it was thought of in a different way first. The first cake that I made was a lemon and lemon rooibos tea. However I brewed the tea first and added the liquid to the cake. It did turn out too moist so a second cake, as per the hubby's request, was made with different measurements and using plain rooibos leaves.

This is what I did...

Chocolate and Vanilla Schichttorte - Great Bloggers Bake Off 2014

This week was a hard choice. I will be honest I really did not know what to bake. I changed my mind half a dozen times until I finally settled on the schichttorte.

This year I have enjoyed the challenge of doing the technical bakes and pushing myself.

I was amazed when I looked at the original recipe by Paul Hollywood that it contained 10 eggs! So I have reduced the amount of eggs and put my own twist on this new cake. As it was the first time that I have ever baked a cake like this I was excitedly nervous watching it cook.

You can  find the original recipe here.

This is what I did...

Schichttorte

Ingredients

Cake

8 eggs, separated
80g baking spread
120g caster sugar
120g plain flour
50g cornflour
1/2 tsp vanilla paste
25g cocoa powder

Topping

150mls double cream
1/2 tsp vanilla paste
10g dark chocolate, grated

Method

1 - Before you start weigh a large mixing bowl and the bowl of a freestanding electric mixer and make a note of their empty weight, you will need this later!

2 - Place the egg whites in a bowl of a mixer and whisk until they make stiff peaks and the bowl can be held upside down

3 - While the egg whites are mixing whisk the egg yolks until light coloured, thick and creamy

4 - In another bowl cream together the baking spread and caster sugar together

5 - Mix in the egg yolks

6 - Sift in the plain flower and cornflour and mix thoroughly

7 - Gently fold in the egg whites a quarter at a time

8 - Weigh all of the mixture and take off the weight of the bowl, divide the mixture into 2 equal measures using the 2 bowls that you weighed

9 - In one bowl add the vanilla paste and in the other bowl sift in the cocoa powder and mix

10 - Grease a 20cms cake tin, line the bottom and grease the side

11 - Turn the grill on to a high heat

12 - Weigh each of the bowls of mixture, after taking away the weight of the bowl divide the mixture weight by 10 and this will tell you how much mixture you will need to weigh for each layer

13 - Starting with a vanilla layer weigh out the required amount and place under the grill for 2 minutes

14 - Remove and place on the scales and weigh out the required amount of chocolate mixture, place under the grill for 2 minutes

15 - Keep repeating this process until you have 20 layers, as the cake gets taller you will need to reduce the grilling time gradually by 10 seconds each time

16 - When all the layers have been baked leave to cool for 5 minutes in the tin before gently removing, you my need to slide a pallet knife around the sides to loosen

17 - Finish cooling on a cooling rack before adding the topping

18 - For the cake covering whip the cream with the vanilla paste until thick

19 - Cover the cake with the cream using a pallet knife

20 - Once the cake is covered in the vanilla cream sprinkle the grated chocolate over the top and serve

This cake was so much easier than I expected. I will definitely be baking more flavour variations of the cake. I love the stripes in the middle and this cake has certainly impressed when served.

As always I am joining in with Mummy Mishaps - Great Bloggers Bake Off and Supergolden Bakes - My Great #GBBO Bake Along and Supergolden Bakes - #CookBlogShare and Casa Costello - Bake of the Week.

Paul Hollywood's Povitica - Great Bloggers Bake Off

This week was advanced dough on The Great British Bake Off. I love working with dough so decided to have a go at the Povitica.

I have followed the recipe that was used on the programme as it was a bake that I have never heard of before let alone made. I used the recipe that is featured in The Great British Bake Off - Big Book of Baking or you can also see the recipe here.

This is a loaf that I have never made before and I love to have a challenge!

This is how I did...

Paul Hollywood's Povitica

Ingredients

For the dough

300g plain flour

40g caster sugar

7g salt

10g fast action yeast

30g butter, melted

1 egg

150mls warm full fat milk

1/2tsp vanilla paste

For the filling

60g butter
60mls full fat milk
280g walnut pieces
100g caster sugar
2tbsp cocoa powder
1/2tsp vanilla paste
1 egg yolk

For topping

15g butter, melted
1 egg white
100g icing sugar

Method

1 - To prepare the dough use an electric mixer with a dough hook. Take the bowl and add the flour and sugar. Place the salt on one side and the yeast on the other side. Add the melted butter, milk, egg and vanilla paste and mix on a slow speed until you have a rough dough.

2 - Increase the speed to medium and leave to mix for 8 - 10 minutes or until you have a smooth elasticated dough.

3 - Tip the dough into a large oiled bowl, cover and leave to prove for about an hour or until the dough has doubled in size.

4 - To prepare the filling place the butter and milk in a pan and heat until the butter has melted then remove from the heat. Stir in the vanilla paste.

5 - Place the walnut pieces, sugar and cocoa powder into the bowl of a food processor and blitz until you have a smooth powder.

6 - Pour in the butter, milk and vanilla paste and blitz until you have a paste and leave on one side at room temperature.

7 - Cover a table or large section of worktop in either a smooth table cloth or bed sheet and flour well.

8 - Remove the dough from the bowl and without knocking it back roll out the dough into a large rectangle.

9 - Using your hands stretch out the dough into a rectangle that is about 1 metre long.

10 - Take the filling and spread over the dough evenly.

11 - Take the long side closest to you and roll the dough tightly like a Swiss roll.

12 - Gently lift the rolled dough and place in a 1kg loaf tin in a U shape, continue laying the rolled dough over to create a second U shape.

13 - Place the tin in a large bag and leave to prove for about an hour.

14 - Pre heat the oven to 180C.

15 - Place the tin in the centre of the pre heated oven and bake for 15 minutes on 180C then reduce the temperature to 150C and bake for a further 45 minutes. Keep a close eye on the bake and once it gets a nice golden colour on the top cover with foil to prevent it burning.

16 - Once thoroughly baked leave to cool for 30 minutes in the tin before removing and finishing to cool off on a cooling rack.

17 - Once cooled completely mix the icing sugar with a little water and drizzle over the top.

This is a delicious bake with a Nutella flavoured filling. This was a bake that was enjoyed by everyone and I will be baking it again. I may even try some new flavour combinations next time!

I was delighted when I cut into the loaf to find that it was baked though and was a lovely, light dough..

Enjoy x

As always I am joining in with The Great Bloggers Bake Off that is hosted by the lovely Jenny at Mummy Mishaps and My #GBBO Bake Along that is hosted by the lovely Lucy at Supergolden Bakes.

I was kindly sent vouchers for Kerrygold butter which I used in this recipe.

Paul Hollywood's Kouign Amann

This week I have decided to bake Paul Hollywood's technical challenge of Kouign Amann. Like the contestants this was a bake that I was not familiar with. I had never heard of it or even seen one. However I did like the look of them! Thankfully the hubby recently bought me The Great British Bake Off Big Book of Baking and it contained the recipe! I was pleased I wasn't going into this one blind!

If you do not have the book you can find the recipe here.

This is how I got on...

Paul Hollywood's Kouign Amann

Ingredients

300g strong white flour
5g fast action yeast
5g salt
200g warm water
25g butter, melted
250g block of unsalted butter
100g caster sugar

Method

1 - Place the flour in a bowl with the yeast on one side and the salt on the other

2 - Pour over the water and melted butter and mix (this can either be done by hand or by machine)

3 - If doing by hand gather the ingredients together until you have a rough dough and have collected all of the flour

4 - Remove from the bowl and start to knead, this starts as a sticky dough and will need a lot of stretching to build up the gluten

5 - After kneading for about 10 minutes you will have a smooth dough, place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover and leave to prove for about an hour

6 - Once the dough has doubled in size take the block of butter and roll it out into a square that is roughly 18cms x18cms then place in the fridge to keep cool

7 - Place the dough on a lightly floured work top and roll out into a square that is about 20cms x 20cms

8  - Place the butter square on top of the dough and fold over the corner to the centre so that the butter is encased in the dough

9 - Roll out into a rectangle and fold the bottom third up and the top third down, wrap in cling film and return to the fridge for half an hour

10 - Repeat the process two more times

11 - Remove the dough from the fridge and roll out into a rectangle, sprinkle over the caster sugar leaving a little for dusting

12 - Fold up the bottom third and fold the top third down, roll out into a rectangle

13 - Sprinkle over the remaining sugar

14 - Cut the dough into 3 even strips

15 - Divide the 3 strips into 4 so you have 12 mini squares

16 - Take each square and gather the corners into the centre and place in a well greased muffin tin

17 - Pre heat the oven to 200C (the recipe says 220C but I found this to be too hot so reduced the heat)

18 - Once the Kouign Amann's have puffed up place in the centre of the pre heated oven for 30 minutes, check them every 10 minutes as the tops brown very quickly due to the sugar. When the tops are brown enough cover with foil to prevent burning

19 - Once baked remove from the oven and allow to cool for a couple of minutes in the tray as the sugar is extremely hot, do not leave in for more than a couple of minutes are the sugar will stick them to the tray!

20 - Leave to cool on a cooling rack

These delicious little pastries are perfect when eaten fresh and have been a huge success in our house. I will definitely be making them again and may even add some fruit with the sugar next time!

Enjoy x

As you can see my little helpers couldn't resist tucking in once I'd taken my pictures!

As always I am joining in with the Great Bloggers Bake Off 2014 hosted by the lovely Jenny at Mummy Mishaps

I am also sharing with the lovely Supergolden Bakes My Great #GBBO Bake Along

Toscakaka - Great Bloggers Bake Off 2014

This week on the Great British Bake Off it was European Cake Week.

This week I was really stuck for choice. I couldn't decided what to bake out of Toscakaka, Kringle or Bica Gallega.

A Scandinavian Kringle is very similar to a couronne that I made for last years Great Bloggers Bake Off so didn't want to bake something similar.

A Bica Gallega is a favourite Spanish cake that I used to enjoy when I was living there. It is a delicious sponge with a crispy sugar topping (I will be making one soon!).

But the Toscakaka won this week. Toscakaka is a Scandinavian vanilla sponge cake which is topped with crunchy praline. I love a traditional sponge, nuts and praline so this is a winner.

I found the recipe in one of my favourite baking books Scandilicious by Signe Johansen. If you haven't seen this book I thoroughly recommend that you do, it contains so many delicious recipes.

I have changed a couple of ingredients but have followed the directions.

This is what I did...

Toscakaka

Ingredients

150g butter, melted
3 eggs, at room temperature
150g caster sugar
1/4tsp vanilla paste
150g self raising flour
25g whole almonds, lightly crushed
25g almond flakes
100g peanuts
125g light brown muscovado sugar
125g butter

Method

Pre heat the oven to 150C fan

1 - Place the eggs, caster sugar and vanilla paste in a bowl and whisk until light, fluffy and airy

2 - Gently pour in a little of the melted butter and gently stir in

3 - Gently stir in a little flour, continue alternating between a little butter and flour until all of the ingredients are evenly combined keeping as much air in the mixture as possible

4 - Pour the mixture into a prepared cake tin and place in the centre of the pre heated oven and bake for 30 - 35 minutes or until golden and firm to the touch

5 - About 10 minutes before the cake is ready prepare the praline by placing the nuts, butter and muscovado sugar into a pan over a medium heat

6 - Melt the butter and sugar stirring continuously, bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes

7 - Once the cake is ready remove from the oven and turn the heat up to 220C fan

8 - Pour over the praline mixture and return the cake to the oven for 5 - 10 minutes or until the topping is golden crispy

9 - Remove from the oven and leave to cool a little before running a knife around the edges and removing from the tin and cooling on a cooling rack

This is a delicious cake which combines the softness of the vanilla sponge with the sweet brittleness of the praline.

Enjoy x

As always I am joining in with The Great Bloggers Bake Off 2014 which is hosted by the lovely Jenny at Mummy Mishaps.

I am also sharing with Supergolden Bakes - GBBO Bake Along and CookBlogShare