Mary's Tarte au Citron

Well bakers!!!! I haven't written in ages and now spoil you with two posts almost at once!
I hope you have all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year and have spoilt yourselves with baked treats!!! (I know I have)! I received the fab gift of many cake tins in their varieties which inspired some new bakes!


 To start the New Year in fabulous style I decided to bake Mary's Tarte au Citron! Now I must confess this recipe is in the British Bake Off Cook Book rather than Mary's Baking Bible...although I haven't checked but I am sure it will be in the Bible too!! Now this tart is a firm favourite with my family and as it was my first attempt at ever making it, I thought the best occasion was our family day on the 1st Jan!


I cheated slightly, I must admit as I was short on time I used bought pastry, the just -roll variety. I have also not made or used pastry very often! I followed Mary's recipe as always but a scare came along... I completed the 'blind bake' and took out my pearl barely (I don't have baking beans!) I then returned the pastry to the oven and within minutes it had started to balloon in the middle!!! A panic call to my Bakey Aunty was made and I was assured that as long as I pushed down the pastry when the case came out the oven it would be fine!!!

Very happy to say my Bakey Aunty was 100% right! Although I was stilled terrified it wouldn't work right, I let the case cool an it started to look normal!!!


The filling for this one, (like the cheesecake) was very simple. One bowl of ingredients transfered into a jug and poored into the pastry case. I used the Bake Off great tip of pouring the mixture when the case was resting on the oven shelf... that way no spillage!




The tart was taken out the oven when it held the slightest wobble in the centre. I was really happy with how the filling looked!

I took the tart to the family gathering and my Nan and Bakey Aunty both checked out a slice in true Bake Off style! (Tapping the base and everything)! The test taste went down very well, with my dessert offering being all eaten up and 2 other puddings left on the table! Not bad for a first attempt! And next time I will tackle pastry myself!




Happy Baking,

Cakey Bakey xxx

American Chocolate Ripple Cheesecake

Well I have been getting slack and not baked as frequently as I had been!


 The other week however I decided to bake Mary's chocolate cheesecake.
Now I am a massive fan of chocolate cheesecake and I was very nervous about baking my own...I was worried it wouldn't taste right!


Mary's recipe is quick and simple, but I have to say I did make an adjustment to her recipe (shock, horror!!!) As I started to crush the chocolate biscuits and then mix them with melted butter and well there just didn't seem to be enough!!! So I made an extra amount to create a slightly bigger base then perhaps Mary intended. But I am sure any bake is also down to personal taste!

Once the base was done, the filling really was very simple to make. All ingredients in a bowl, mixed, then added to the base. Put in the oven and baked!




I have to say I was so impressed with this recipe! It tasted absolutely amazing and I would suggest everyone make it!!! Even house mate, who doesn't like cheese cake ate a slice!! I was also very good and did give slices to friends...who also enjoyed it!!

Not sure what my next bake is, but be sure to check it out when blogged!!!


Happy Baking!


Cakey Bakey xxx

Scones

Apologies for my delay in typing up my recent baking endeavour!

I thought it time to try a classic and being such a big fan of Afternoon Tea , I decided to attempt home made scones!

Now thinking that following the recipe exactly would only lead to success is unfortunately not always true. Not knowing how things are meant to mix and feel can make it quite difficult to know if you are on the right track. This is the problem I had as I started out confidently mixing the dry ingredients and then started to add the wet, mixing with my wooden spoon. The dough started to come together but when all the ingredients were added it was rather wet and sticky! Now Mary has mentioned it should be a sticky dough but as i plonk it in the floured service I can't help but think it shouldn't be so sticky it doesn't come off the surface!

I would love to say I am calm and collected as things start to appear wrong, but I have an increasing sense of panic, it has not helped that I have invited my Aussie friend and Mum round to try the scones!  I have decided to add a touch more flour and the mixture finally begins to look and feel right (by my reckoning)!

So they finally make it into the oven and out onto the cooling rack!

I must say despite my panic call to Mum telling her she must by some scones because mine are rubbish and I very happy with how they have turned out. We have a lovely Afternoon Tea with sstrawberry jam and real clotted cream! Yummy!!!

The scones went down a treat with my guests so i guess I will be making them again soon...well after my next task!

Happy Baking,

Cakey Bakey xxx

Devil's Food Cake

Well the last few weeks have been very exciting in the Bake Off!!! I am so glad Jo won, it was well deserved and hopefully she will now have confidence in her baking! Following the empty slot of the Bake Off the BBC has cunningly put on The Great British Bake Off Masterclass! In this show Paul and the wonderful Mary show you tips on how to create some of the shows recipes and I must say I feel more confident about making a Battenberg now!!!

So last week I was meant to be contemplating making a chocolate mousse cake...however after watching the final of The Great British Bake Off, I quickly realised that a mousse cake could quite possibly take me all day and with my limited skills not turn out right!!!

Therefore the Housemate chose Devil's Food Cake, which I haven't made before but thought I'd give it a whirl!
The sponge mix worked really well, although no real chocolate in it just cocoa, which surprised me as I was expecting plenty of chocolate! But the sponge was really light and after baking was a lovely texture and shape.

The tricky part came when making the icing, I should add at this point there were no pictures of this cake in Mary's Bible so I wasn't too sure how it was meant to look! I followed the recipe which required mixing sugar and egg white over hot water until thick. I was dubious of this and although my mixture thicken slightly, I felt it wasn't quite right. After the suggested timings I then iced the cake, with my slightly sloppy icing mix.

The taste test: All who have tried it agreed the icing was not quite right as the sugar granules had reformed slightly and therefore the icing had a crunchy texture...the sponge however was highly praised and was wonderfully light and fluffy!!!

I will have to try the icing again and this time play around with the heat! As for this week, I am going to make scones to Mary's Very Best Scones recipe...fingers crossed!!!

On another note, Housemate and I watched a different cookery show last night, Lorraine Pascale's easy cook show and although some of the recipes looked fab, I can't quite get to grips with the presenter, She appears continually Smug?! Let me know what you think?!

Happy Baking!!!

Cakey Bakey xx

Apricot and Cranberry Cake

Well it has been a very busy week with work but last night I finally got round to baking the cake!!!
The task this week was Mary's apricot and cranberry cake. I have to say this must surely be a very healthy cake because it has a serious amount of fruit in it! Sultanas, apricots, pineapple, cranberries and then almonds and lemon rind!!! It was immense!!!

The combining of all the ingredients went well, although it took a while to beat the cake mix together to combine the butter...i even got a blister below my baby finger from the wooden spoon!! (If anyone would like to get me a Magi Mixer for Christmas I would love it)!

Then the cake went into the oven for 2 1/2 hours on a low heat, due to the massive mix I also made four cupcake versions to use it all up.

The cake was finally baked and the house smelt wonderful! It cooled and then me and my housemate had a tester!
Result: Easy to make, very fruity and very tasty!!!


Next weeks cake is being decided by housemate and we are thinking the chocolate mousse cake (which looks complex)!!

Happy Baking!

Cakey Bakey xx

The first blog...

It is fair to say that like others in the Land I have fallen in love with the Great British Bake Off !! And as the glorious contestants make it look so easy, I thought why not try and bake a few things? This then lead to... maybe I should try and bake all the recipes in Mary Berry's Baking Bible, a kind of Julie and Julia challenge.

It is fair to say that although I can bake the odd cupcake and Betty Crocker cake packets, that overall I am certainly not a skilled baker, although I hope I at least prove to be enthusiatic.

In preparation of the task ahead, this week I have brought a 2lb loaf tin and a round 8" cake tin, not to mention a sieve (I am not too sure how my housemate and I have managed without one for this long)?! And after flicking through The book, have decided to start with a Cranberry and Apricot fruit cake!

The shopping list has been written, the task has been written on the chalk board pig, the only thing left now is to bake the cake later in the week... whether a success or not!

Happy Baking!

Cakey Bakey xx