great british bake off: overall review

i think most foodies can agree great British bake of is what we look forward to every year and this year was the same. this years contestants were:

• Kimberly 
• ruby
• glen 
• Francis 
• Howard 
• Toby 
• Deborah 
• Christine 
• Rob 
• Ali 
• Lucy 
• Beca 
• Mark

Idont normally like to have favorites but this year it had to be ruby sorry people but i loved ruby. not all her recipes were perfect but i loved her personality. being from Sheffield i had to support Howard.

my favorite recipes from this year have been 

• Francis squirrel cake http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/secret_squirrel_cake_49338
• Rubys peacock bread http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/white_chocolate_and_69528
• Christine biscuit clock http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/bavarian_town_clock_63624
• Howards peach buns http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/peachy_buns_and_german_49575
• Mary Berrys http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/hazelnut_dacquoise_98875
• Rubys picnic basket http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/picnic_basket_pie_50454
• Francis wedding cake http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/midsummer_dream_wedding_07048
• Pauls apricot couronne http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/apricot_couronne_12975

i have yet to try these recipes but will let you know when i do. although ruby was my favorite, Francis deserved to win. Her creations were amazing and so creative. overall the right person won. 

it takes 3 attempts...

In my garden we grow quite a couple of fruits in our garden(blog post to follow). One of the fruits my dad grows are pears. however these pears arent very good to eat plain. so my mum found a recipe for a pear tart tartan. so this was the first attempt 

as you can see the first attempt didnt go well even though we followed the recipe. the recipe used a lot of butter. however my mum didn't give up and tried again.

 second attempt......

as you can see this time it went much better (even though the edge got a little burnt). My mum altered the quantities of butter sugar and pears and it turned out very well. 

And the third attempt you will have to wait and see till tomorrow to see how it turns out..... 

food tech lesson #4- cupcakes ' all in one method

Before you ask we don't just make cakes in food technology this is just the section where we learn about the cake method. this week we make cupcakes using the all in one method they we meant to be Halloween style but in the end i opted for chocolate orange cupcakes. i used butter cream on top but i think gauche would work well or a darker chocolate butter-cream.

ingredients 

• 2 eggs 
• 100g sugar
• 100g self raising flour 
• 100g margarine/ butter (stork is what i use)
• 1 tsp roughly of orange extract(could use orange zest)

butter cream 

• 200g margarine/ butter
• 400g icing sugar
• 2 tbsp rougthly of coco powder
• piping bag with star nozel (or what ever one you can find)fitted on it
• 12 cupcake cases placed in cupcake tray

Method 

1. Preheat a fan oven at 180 degrees.  
2. Put all the ingredients for the cupcake in a bowl and mix together either by electric mixer or wooden spoon. (remember the orange extract)
3. Once mixture is combines using a tbsp, spoon the mixture into the cases. ( i normally place a table spoon in each on first then if i have enough to go round again) try to get the even.
4. Place in the oven for about 15-20 minutes
5. While there cooling make the buttercream. by putting the margarine and icing sugar together and mix using an electric mixer.
6. When the buttercream had formed, add the coco powder( add more or less depending on you preference) 
7. Place the butter cream in the piping bag and push to the bottom twisting the bag to keep it tight.
8. Once cupcake is cool. this is where it gets fun! 
9. I attempted roses and flowers, but its up to you get creative 
10. To make the roses start in the middle and pipe in a circle round and round till you are on the outside of the cupcake ( sorry not a very good explanation) 
11. to make the flower things ( don't not what to call them) pipe small dots of mixture around the outside of the cupcake. then pipe the dots in the middle. to make them look more like flowers. using some gold balls put one in the middle of each flower like the center of a flower

sorry not good at explaining i you would like a tutorial of piping techniques comment below!! 

(these are my friends cupcakes using fondant icing :) ) 

food tech lesson #3- cake 'creaming method'

this week we were told to make a cake or cupcakes using the creaming method. the creaming method. The creaming method is where you first cream the sugar and butter together before you add the flour and eggs. i was tempted to go for a simple cake but i we are told to show skill in all our practical lessons so i opted for the great British bake off chess board cake. I'm waiting for my food tech teacher to send me a picture of the cake so will upload that with the recipe when she sends it me this week, but i do have some photos of this cake with a different design outside of it that i created for my dads 51st birthday. recipe and photos will be up later this week. if you would like information about the design on this cake comment below and let me no.

(dads birthday cake form this year in august, Thornton white chocolate truffles and rum truffles my mum and dads favorites)

(the inside of the cake, sorry chessboard went a bit messy)

Great British Bake Off week 7- pastry

Week seven of great British bake off and its getting intense as bakers tackle perfect pastry bakes. This weeks signature challenge was a suet pastry bake. Having never made suet pastry i was very intrigued to see how it went. Ruby opted for a plum jam  rolly polly with ginger ice cream ,Christine went for a simple spotted dick, Kimberly used her unique skills and opted for a twist on original spotted dick,Glens prune and aromatic pudding with a boozy sauce,Francis fig rolly polly,Beccas spring lamb suet pudding. All these suet puddings went down well with Paul and Mary surprise surprise. Suet success.

This weeks technical challenge was one of  Marry Berrys recipes, "la religieuse" which is in English called a nun. I've had one of these when in France and there yummy.There like two profiteroles on top of each other.
Unfortunately there are always a few disaster bakes. Christine did not rise, Glens creme patisserie was too thin and a few others.
order of place in this challenge:

1. Becca- evenly baked and neat piping
2. Ruby -all round good
3. Glen-too runny
4. Kimberly- range of sizes
5. Francis - too runny
6. Christine- burnt

This weeks showstopper was 3 types puff pastry treats. One batched needed to be iced, one needed to be filled and the last was left up to the contestants. The bakers did not disappoint with a range of different bakes .While 5 of the contestants opted for the traditional method of puff pastry. Glen thought he would try something different by using the 'inverted buff pastry'. All i can say is Paul looked "intrigued" from the start. however Francis really proved that its not all about the design by coming up with a music theme and delicious puff pastry's which i thought was a brilliant idea. 

Star baker this week was Francis. However someone has to leave and this week it was Glen. I have to say i am going to miss him on the show as he always made me laugh.now 5 women remain.



goodbye Glen :(

Food Tech lesson #2- swiss roll

For our second lesson we were told to bring a filling for a swiss roll. as i have never made a swiss roll i wanted to make it different to the usual jam and cream. So i opted for a citrus cream cheese filling

unfortunately if didn't go perfectly as i think i put to much filling and it kind of squirted out a bit but it still tasted good. 

citrus cream cheese swiss roll

swiss roll

• 2 eggs 
• 50g caster sugar 
• 50g plain flour 

filling

• 150ml double cream
• 100g cream cheese 
• half a lemon zest
• half an orange zest 
• 
  

1. preheat the oven at 200 degreese for fan and 220 for gass oven.
2. beat caster sugar ans eggs together till they are thick ( my food tech teacher says the best way to 
3. know if there thick enough is if you do an figure of eight and it stays on top of the mix for 3 seconds its ready.)
4. pour the flour in and gently mix the mixture being careful not to knock the air out of the mixture.
5. once mix is combined at 1 tbsp of water this loosens the mixture a little.
6. grease tin unfortunately i cannot give you a size at the moment for the mixture as we didnt measure it and we were not told but i will ask next lesson. anyway grease and line with grease proof paper.
7. gently pour mixture into the tin. and gently tip the tin till the mix is evenly spread try not to use a spoon to spread the mix as this gets rid of some of the air.
8. place in oven for 12 minutes. while in the oven. get a piece of grease proof paper that fits the swiss roll size sprinkle with a little caster sugar this prevents sticking once the cake is taken out of the tin. 
9. once taken out of the tin. tip onto the sugared geaseproof and gently peal the paper off. its best to rip the paper off in pieces
10. cut the edges of the cake.
11. using another piece of grease proof the same size. place on top of the cake. roll the cake up and leave to cool
12. while the cake is cooling make the filling by putting all the filling ingredients in a bowl and whip up using an electric whisk
13. once cake is cool roll out. spread filling you will probably not need to use it all. roll up and enjoy 

Food tech lesson #1 - Sticky Toffee Pudding

So as im 14years old, this September i started my GCSE's and when i had to choose a design and technology.There was no hard decision , it was always going to be food.
For our first practical lesson we were told to make something with a sauce. I was going to do a savory dish but in the end i opted for a sweet sticky toffee pudding with a toffee sauce. I looked through my cookbooks and i came across a this recipe in the great British bake off : how to turn every day bakes into showstoppers book.

These are the first sticky toffee pudding i've made and i was quite happy with them. Heres the recipe

Ingredients

For the pudding

• 175g/6oz soft butter, plus extra for greasing
• 160g/6oz medjool dates, stoned and chopped roughly
• 300ml/10fl oz boiling water
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 175g/6oz dark muscovado sugar
• 1 free-range eggs( the online recipie says 2 but the one in my book says 1, i used 1)
• 175g/6oz self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder

For the toffee sauce

• 100g/3½oz caster sugar
• 100g/3½oz unsalted butter
• 1 tbsp dark rum
• 2 tbsp ginger syrup (available online)
• 100ml/3½fl oz double cream
  
  

method 

1. For the pudding, preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4 and grease six ramekins with butter.
2. In a bowl, cover the dates with the boiling water. Add the bicarbonate of soda, stir until dissolved and set aside to cool.
3. In a clean bowl beat the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Gradually add the eggs and mix in well. Add the sifted flour and baking powder in batches and mix thoroughly.
4. Add the warm dates and their liquid and mix until combined. You should now have a wet batter that can be spooned into the ramekins (do not fill more than two thirds full).
5. Place the ramekins on a baking tray and bake in the centre of the oven for approximately 15 minutes, or until they are risen and firm to touch.
6. To make toffee sauce, in a pan gently heat all the ingredients except the cream. When the butter has melted whisk in the cream.
7. To serve, turn out the puddings onto serving plates and pour the toffee sauce into serving containers or drizzle over the puddings.

Black Forest Fudge Bites

Doesn't the name just sound so yummy. this recipe came with the watirose magazine in a small book called waitrose autum harvest 2013.
We made these yummy bites on Sunday and now there all gone...

There not the healthiest thing you could choose but oh well we all need a treat. Although these fudge bites are very rich,you only need a small piece to enjoy the taste. Unfortunately i can't take all the credit for making this as i haven't been very well and we needed to use up the condensed milk so my mum made this but i did assist.
Heres the recipe

Black Forest Fudge Bites Recipe 
Ingredients 

• 100g dried cherries roughly chopped
• 2 tbsp brandy (if you have younger kids you could leave this out)
• 225g caster or granulated sugar
• 396g can condensed milk 
• 50g butter
• 2 tsp vanilla extract 
• 200g bar continental plain chocolate broken up 

Method

1.  Using a 17-18cm square tine ( i used at 21cm tine) and line with cling film. Put the cherries and brand in a bowl and leave for 2 hours till the brandy has absorbed into the cherries
2. Put the sugar,condensed milk, butter and vanilla extract in a large,heavy-based saucepan and heat gently until the sugar dissolves. Bring to boil and cook until the mixture reaches 110 degrees on a sugar thermometer( i don't think you desperately need to do this) cook  until the fudge starts to darken but not burn. Remove from heat and stir in 150g chocolate and cherries, until combined.
3. Pour mixture into into the prepared tin and spread evenly. Leave until the mixture is set and cold. about 3 hours in the fridge.
4. Remove from the tin and melt the remaining chocolate. Using a teaspoon go back and forth across the fudge, leave the chocolate to set and enjoy.  
5. 
   

The Cake and Bake show Manchester review

In march me, my dad and my mum won tickets to the cake and bake show in Manchester. It was a fun experience. There were so many different stalls there. that range for all different types of foodie things. I also got to meet great British bake off contestant Brendan lynch and he signed my book!!

Although i didn't really get to speak to him as he was preparing for his demonstration he seemed nice and it was a pleasure to meet him. I watch his demonstration and i thought it was very good and sounded like something i want to make. here the link to his recipe http://www.greatbritishspeltrecipes.com/our-spelt-recipes/baltic-orange-cinnamon-kringle-bread . Although i have yet to try it im planning on making it soon.

I also went to see Peter Sidewell demonstration using his new bread mixes. After watching great British bakery which is his a judge on. i was so happy to meet him. Although i like making my own bread from scratch this bread mixes are so good and quick there perfect if you want fresh bread quick bread. I  brought the pumpkin mix in a pack of five and i was very impressed. I am yet to try the sourdough and brioche mix but i'm looking forward to trying them here's a link to the range of bread mixes http://www.lakeland.co.uk/p15977/Wrights-Ready-to-use-Bread-Mixes

My mum also subscribed to delicious magazine which has some great recipes in which i will be doing a review on soon. The last stall we went to was the Bonne Mamam stall as we won the tickets from them. The people at the stall were very nice and we couldn't resist buying there seasonal cookbook(Which i will also be talking about soon). The Bonne Maman people were also very generous and gave me a free new Bonne Maman 30 best recipes book. although it is small it has some very good recipes in and i really appreciate them for giving it to me for free.

I really enjoyed going to the cake and bake show and hope to go again. I know this is a really late review but i'd been wanting to write a blog for a while but never had enough courage to.