First Daring Bakers' Challenge!

The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England.

Firstly, thank you to Jasmine and Annemarie for a great challenge! This was my first DB experience, and is exactly the sort of thing that I was hoping for - a variety of techniques, something I enjoy eating but would never have otherwise made myself, and most of all something challenging without being too daunting!! And my first time making pastry, which I think I worked a bit too much and it ended up being a little denser than it should, but not too much of a disaster.

The only deviation from the provided recipe (given at the bottom of this post) was that I used 100g rather than 125g ground almonds in the frangipane, since that was one packet's worth! The jam layer was a homemade raspberry jam, the recipe for which can be found here.

I found that there was some pastry left over after making a 9-inch tart, so made a batch of smaller ones in a muffin tin, with half quantities of Victoria Sponge a la Delia instead of frangipane, as I didn't have any almonds to hand. For these, the fillings were (from left to right): Lemon curd, raspberry jam and apple sauce. The lemon ones were pretty good...

Overall, I thought that the recipe and hints were easy to follow. I'm pleased with the result of my debut challenge, and am really looking forward to next month's! Any comments/suggestions are always welcome!

David
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Bakewell Tart…er…pudding

Makes one 23cm (9” tart)
Prep time: less than 10 minutes (plus time for the individual elements)
Resting time: 15 minutes
Baking time: 30 minutes
Equipment needed: 23cm (9”) tart pan or pie tin (preferably with ridged edges), rolling pin

One quantity sweet shortcrust pastry (recipe follows)
Bench flour
250ml (1cup (8 US fl. oz)) jam or curd, warmed for spreadability
One quantity frangipane (recipe follows)
One handful blanched, flaked almonds

Assembling the tart
Place the chilled dough disc on a lightly floured surface. If it's overly cold, you will need to let it become acclimatised for about 15 minutes before you roll it out. Flour the rolling pin and roll the pastry to 5mm (1/4”) thickness, by rolling in one direction only (start from the centre and roll away from you), and turning the disc a quarter turn after each roll. When the pastry is to the desired size and thickness, transfer it to the tart pan, press in and trim the excess dough. Patch any holes, fissures or tears with trimmed bits. Chill in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 200C/400F.

Remove shell from freezer, spread as even a layer as you can of jam onto the pastry base. Top with frangipane, spreading to cover the entire surface of the tart. Smooth the top and pop into the oven for 30 minutes. Five minutes before the tart is done, the top will be poofy and brownish. Remove from oven and strew flaked almonds on top and return to the heat for the last five minutes of baking.

The finished tart will have a golden crust and the frangipane will be tanned, poofy and a bit spongy-looking. Remove from the oven and cool on the counter. Serve warm, with crème fraîche, whipped cream or custard sauce if you wish.

When you slice into the tart, the almond paste will be firm, but slightly squidgy and the crust should be crisp but not tough.

Jasmine’s notes:
• If you cannot have nuts, you can try substituting Victoria sponge for the frangipane. It's a pretty popular popular cake, so you shouldn't have any troubles finding one in one of your cookbooks or through a Google search. That said, our dear Natalie at Gluten a Go Go has sourced some recipes and linked to them in the related alt.db thread.
• You can use whichever jam you wish, but if you choose something with a lot of seeds, such as raspberry or blackberry, you should sieve them out.
• The jam quantity can be anywhere from 60ml (1/4 cup) to 250ml (1cup), depending upon how “damp” and strongly flavoured your preserves are. I made it with the lesser quantity of home made strawberry jam, while Annemarie made it with the greater quantity of cherry jam; we both had fabulous results. If in doubt, just split the difference and spread 150ml (2/3cup) on the crust.
Annemarie’s notes:
• The excess shortcrust can be rolled out and cut into cookie-shapes (heck, it’s pretty darned close to a shortbread dough).

Sweet shortcrust pastry

Prep time: 15-20 minutes
Resting time: 30 minutes (minimum)
Equipment needed: bowls, box grater, cling film

225g (8oz) all purpose flour
30g (1oz) sugar
2.5ml (½ tsp) salt
110g (4oz) unsalted butter, cold (frozen is better)
2 (2) egg yolks
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract (optional)
15-30ml (1-2 Tbsp) cold water

Sift together flour, sugar and salt. Grate butter into the flour mixture, using the large hole-side of a box grater. Using your finger tips only, and working very quickly, rub the fat into the flour until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Set aside.

Lightly beat the egg yolks with the almond extract (if using) and quickly mix into the flour mixture. Keep mixing while dribbling in the water, only adding enough to form a cohesive and slightly sticky dough.

Form the dough into a disc, wrap in cling and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes

Jasmine’s notes:
• I make this using vanilla salt and vanilla sugar.
• If you wish, you can substitute the seeds of one vanilla bean, one teaspoon of vanilla paste or one teaspoon of vanilla extract for the almond extract

Frangipane

Prep time: 10-15 minutes
Equipment needed: bowls, hand mixer, rubber spatula

125g (4.5oz) unsalted butter, softened
125g (4.5oz) icing sugar
3 (3) eggs
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract
125g (4.5oz) ground almonds
30g (1oz) all purpose flour

Cream butter and sugar together for about a minute or until the mixture is primrose in colour and very fluffy. Scrape down the side of the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. The batter may appear to curdle. In the words of Douglas Adams: Don’t panic. Really. It’ll be fine. After all three are in, pour in the almond extract and mix for about another 30 seconds and scrape down the sides again. With the beaters on, spoon in the ground nuts and the flour. Mix well. The mixture will be soft, keep its slightly curdled look (mostly from the almonds) and retain its pallid yellow colour.

Annemarie’s notes:
• Add another five minutes or more if you're grinding your own almonds or if you're mixing by hand (Heaven help you).

Buttermilk Scones

Happily, I'm quickly realising that part of the joy of trying new recipes and wanting to bake more is that leftover ingredients make a great excuse to just, bake something else! There was some buttermilk left over from the egg-free cupcakes, resulting in these scones coming into existence. Best eaten within 24hrs (or preferably still warm. Photo is with lemon curd and vanilla ice cream). The following recipe makes just two scones, but is easily scaleable:

• Heat oven to 220oC
• Rub 25g butter into 75g self raising flour to get breadcrumbs (or pulse in a food processor)
• Mix in 20g golden caster sugar
• Mix in about 3tbsp buttermilk until you get a workable, soft-but-not-wet dough; then bring together with hands
• On a floured surface, roughly press out to 1 inch thickness and mould into desired shape (no need for rolling pins/cookie cutters unless you really want to...
• Brush with buttermilk and bake for 10-12mins, until well-risen and golden on top

Variations: I made this batch with 1tsp cinnamon and four chopped dates, but the basic mix would work well with pretty much anything I reckon. For example: blueberries; raisins; choc chips; orange/lemon zest etc. etc. Or try savoury alternatives like grated cheese & onion; olive & feta... Use your imagination ;) .

Egg-free Chocolate Merlot Cupcakes

I quite often bake something to take for my rowing crew to munch on as a post-outing snack. However, one member of the boat is allergic to eggs, and hence often misses out. To try to rectify this, I modified a recipe for Chocolate Merlot Cupcakes from this Blog. Basically, I approximately halved the recipe and replaced the egg with some non-fat yoghurt. I was pleased with the texture and moistness of the cakes, but a little disappointed with the flavours. I couldn't really taste the Merlot, and they weren't all that chocolatey... If I were to make them again I might try using the same quantity but of reduced Merlot to concentrate the flavour a little, and perhaps add some melted chocolate to the mix? Having said that, given it was my first attempt at egg-free baking, the recipient seemed fairly pleased!!

Modified recipe:

• Heat oven to 190oC
• Stir together 1 1/4 cups plain flour; 1/3 cup cocoa powder; 3/4 cup caster sugar; 1/4 cup dark brown soft sugar; 1tsp baking soda; 1/2 tsp baking powder; 1/4 tsp salt
• In a separate bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup Merlot; 1/2 cup buttermilk; 1/3 cup non-fat yoghurt; 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• Make a well in the dry ingredients, add liquid ingredients and mix well
• Spoon mix into greased/paper-cased cupcake tin (fill to about half full. Recipe makes ~12 largeish cupcakes)
• Bake for ~25mins (until top springs back when lightly pressed)
• Cool in the oven with the door open for ~30mins before moving to a wire rack
  

Easiest Raspberry Jam

Unfortunately I don't currently have access to much home-grown fruit and veg (although hopefully my Dad's allotment might help on that front soon). However, lots of the big supermarkets have offers on various summer fruits and berries at the moment, and I decided to try a very simple jam recipe to see how it turned out. And I mean really simple:

• 400g raspberries (makes about 1 standard jam-jar's worth)
  
• 200g jam sugar (caster sugar with added pectin)
• 1tbsp lemon juice
  

• Heat gently to dissolve sugar
• Turn up the heat and boil for 5-6minutes
• Take the pan off the heat, test for setting by dropping a little on a cold plate. After 1min in the fridge it should crinkle when pushed with a finger
• Transfer to a sterilised jar (washed with hot water and placed in an oven at ~100oC for 10mins)

Done! In the photo above it's put it to use in a variation of the lemon curd sponge, by adding a spoon of the jam to the centre of the sponge mix. Served with a butterfly tuile.

Butterfly Tuiles

While waiting patiently for the reveal date of this month's Daring Bakers Challenge, I thought I'd have a go at some of the previous challenges that have been completed to see the sort of thing that I might find myself being faced with in the future...

The first one I've tried is a recipe for Tuiles (thin, crisp biscuits), and was the January 2009 challenge hosted by Karen (aka Baking Soda) at Bake My Day! and Zorra (aka Kochtopf) at 1x umrühren bitte.
The recipe is available in PDF here.

I picked this Challenge as it looked like a relatively straightforward recipe with standard ingredients that wasn't too complex. Sadly I underestimated my ineptitude both at tuiles-batter-spreading with a butterfly-shaped stencil (cut from a margerine tub lid) and at piping, and it took several attempts to get anywhere near the right sort of thickness or even vaguely presentable decoration (which I guess is why they're called challenges...). Regardless, I really enjoyed experimenting withthe recipe, and they tasted ok! Below is a picture of the eventual result in its not-so-natural habitat ;) !

Chocolate Hazelnut Meringues

Another recipe currently on the go called for 2 egg yolks, so the two lonely egg whites found a home in an experimental meringue:

• In a clean bowl, whisk 2 egg whites until soft peaks form
• While whisking, gradually add 100g golden caster sugar until stiff peak stage
• Gently fold in 1tbsp cocoa powder and 30g chopped hazelnuts
• Pipe / spoon onto a greased or non-stick baking tray
• Cook at 140oC / 280oF / Gas 1 for ~35mins or until solid enough to remove from tray to cool, but still soft in the centre
  

Luscious Lemon Curd and Gooey Golden Syrup Sponges

With some lemon curd to use up and looking for a way to try out some individual pudding bowls I bought with no purpose in mind, I decided to make some steamed sponges for pudding this evening. Incredibly simple, but they were very light and tasted pretty good :) . The following makes 2 tall or 3 medium puddings:

• Using a hand whisk or otherwise, cream 50g sugar with 50g butter/margarine.
• Beat in 1 egg.
• Mix in 50g self-raising flour and 1tbsp lemon curd.
  

• Grease a small pudding bowl (mine are ~175ml) and put about a tablespoon (or to taste!) of lemon curd in the bottom. Fill to roughly 2/3 height, top with a pleated square of foil and tie with string.
  

• Steam over boiling water for ~45mins, or until the sponge is... spongey! Turn out and enjoy!

Left, lemon curd and right, golden syrup steamed sponge puddings (for the latter just replace the lemon curd with... golden syrup).

Sizzling Stir Fry

From left-to-right: Peanut sprouts, Chinese chives, Asparagus, Pak Choi, Chinese kale (top) and Bok Choi (bottom), plus red chillies. Well done Sainsbo's :)

Last week I discovered an unexpected revelation in pre-packed stir-fry veg. Sainsbury's Taste the Difference tender shoot stir-fry is a mixture of yummy veg including two new ones on me - chinese chives (also known as garlic chives) and peanut sprouts.

With some thinly sliced rump steak and a black bean sauce, this makes a fantastic stir-fry!

A Sunny Cam Weekend

The last weekend in May had been set as a date for an informal Cambridge get together for a while, and luckily the weather gods were smiling on us as the Sun shone down. It also gave me an excuse to practice some more baking, with varying degrees of success (the treacle-tart-that-shall-not-be-named, for example, was an utter disaster!).


The favourite recipe by all accounts was for Baked Rhubarb and Ginger Cheesecake. This was taken from the Waitrose website, and can be found here. The pic really doesn't do it justice, and it should be a touch more golden on top, but it really does taste fantastic and is incredibly more-ish!

Some very easy-to-make Shortbread Biscuits also went down well with some whipped cream and fresh strawbs:
Beat 110g butter until light (1-2mins with an electric hand whisk) then beat in 50g caster sugar. Mix in 175g plain flour and form the mix into a dough with your hands. Chill for ~30mins then roll out to about 5mm thick and cut desired shapes. Cook on a greased or non-stick baking tray at 150oC for 25-30mins until just golden, and sprinkle with golden caster sugar while warm. Leave for 5mins then cool on a wire rack. Simples!

Finally, a Carrot Cake recipe taken from The Essential Guide to Cake Decorating made a good impromptu birthday cake when iced with a Cream Cheese Frosting and very ameteurish writing icing!

Thanks to everyone who came down to visit - it was great to see everyone again, and I hope you enjoyed it!

The Daring Bakers

The Daring Bakers, based in the Daring Kitchen, are a group of people from around the world who take part each month in a challenge to follow a common recipe and produce some fantastic baked goods. The challenges are announced on the 1st of each month, but kept secret until the 27th when the finished products are revealed on members' blogs. This blog's primary purpose is to allow me to join this group, to have some fun learning new recipes and techniques in the kitchen. My very first challenge has just been announced, and all will be revealed on 27th June! I'm looking forward to it. Watch this space!!