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!

Savarin

Ingredients

For the savarin

350g plain flour
50g caster sugar
10g instant yeast
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp milk
6 eggs
180g unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 lg orange, zest
1 lg lemon, zest

• For the syrup

300g caster sugar

Juice of 1 lemon

Juice of 1 orange

150mls water

For the caramel

150g caster sugar

4 tbsp water

For the Chantilly cream

300mls double cream

15g icing sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla paste

Decoration

Strawberries - quartered

Kiwi - quartered and sliced

Orange - remove as much of the pith as possible and chop the segments

Method

1 - Place the flour in a large mixing bowl and mix with the caster sugar and the instant yeast

2 - Beat the eggs in a bowl with the milk and salt

3 - Pour the egg mixture into the bowl and using a wooden spoon mix thoroughly until you have a thick batter

4 - Gradually add the butter mixing until you have a smooth batter, I will warn that this can be time consuming but stick with it!

5 - Fold in the lemon and orange zest, cover the bowl with cling film and leave to prove for an hour

6 - While the batter is proving prepare the syrup by placing the water, sugar, lemon and orange juice in a pan and gently heat to a simmer, stirring until the sugar has dissolved, once dissolved remove from the heat and allow to cool

7 - For the caramel place the sugar and water in a pan and bring to a simmer, stirring until the sugar has completely dissolved, bring the sugar to a boil and do not stir! Keep boiling until it reaches 170C then pour onto a baking tray that has been lined with baking paper and leave to cool.

8 - Once the savarin batter has doubled in size spoon into a greased bundt tin, cover and leave for another hour

9 - Pre heat the oven to 180C

10 - Once the batter has risen three quarters of the way up the tin remove the cling film and place in the centre of the oven and bake for 20 - 25 minute, or until golden brown

11 - Once baked remove from the oven and leave to cool for 10 minutes in the tin

12 - Once the tin is cool enough to touch gently remove the savarin and pour half of the syrup into the tin and replace the savarin and leave to cool completely

13 - Once completely cool, pour the remaining syrup into a roasting tin and place the savarin in the tin to soak up the remaining syrup. This should take about 15 minutes.

14 - Gently remove the savarin from the roasting tin and place on a plate

15 - Prepare the Chantilly cream by whisking the double cream with the icing sugar and vanilla paste until it sits in soft peaks

16 - Place the cream in a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle and pipe over the top of the savarin

17 - Decorate with the fruit

18 - Shatter the caramel and place shards around the edge

This cake is deliciously light and airy and the hint of citrus comes through with a lovely tang. The fresh fruit on the top makes it a little less guilt ridden but also compliments the flavours of the bake to perfection while the caramel adds a welcomed sweet crunch.

This cake was an absolute success and was definitely worth the time and effort. Patience certainly paid off with this show stopper of a bake!

The original recipe uses an orange liqueur however as I knew that the children would be eating it I replaced the liqueur with plain, freshly squeezed orange juice. I baked the savarin as per Paul Hollywood's recipe like the Great British Bake Off contestants did. You can find the original recipe at BBC Good Food.

Pin me for later!

I am sharing my savarin with Jenny at Mummy Mishaps who hosts the Great Bloggers Bake Off.

Disclosure: This post is in collaboration with Aldi