Sep | 2013 | Lewis & Kim

I was on a roll this week and full of enthusiasm and ready to bake. I had found a few bargains for these bakes and surprise surprise, they weren’t from Lakeland this week but from T K Maxx of all places! The tins were a fraction of the price they should be and the silicone dariole mould was from Ebay.

Mary Berry‘s Baking Bible lists both types of madeleines and I made the French madeleines first. The batter was easy enough to mix and I used a spoon to put some in each shell space and put the tray in the oven- oh I did oil and flour the mould first to try and ensure no sticking. The first batch came out soon enough and they came out of the tray fairly easily. The second batch went in soon after. The mould provides a shell shape with some ridges. I wasn’t overly keen on these, I thought they were quite plain and needed something to liven then up, perhaps dipped partly in icing of some flavour? I didn’t fancy dipping them in my tea as Mary suggests!

The second recipe, English madeleines looked lovely but I was a bit more daunted by these. I oiled and floured the silicone mould, made the batter and filled each dariole mould half way. I put the mould on a baking tray and into the oven it went. When this batch was done, I left the cakes to cool slightly and then had the fun of trying to get the cakes out of a floppy mould….it is a technique! I refilled the mould and put that in. Mary’s recipe asks you to cut the bottom of the cake so that it sits upright. Then push some jam through a sieve, heat it, put the cake on the end of a fork, roll it in the jam and then into a bowl of dessicated coconut. Finally top them with a cherry half and I found instead of normal cherries for cooking, I have found morello cherries- they are very tasty but are quite a lot darker as you can see in the picture.

The Great British Bake Off is getting more exciting by the week, I loved the traybakes this week and I though Christine deserved the Star Baker award this week, she was on top form. The tuiles were a challenge and a half…and there is a recipe for almond tuiles in Mary’s book that I have yet to do….gulp!

Week fifty -woo hoo I have nearly completed one year of this challenge and I have decided where I can to double up on Mary Berry‘s recipes from her Baking Bible otherwise it would take me two and a half years just to finish her book!

As you may have noticed from last week, I have an apple tree in my garden and due to the exceptional weather this year, I have an abundance of apples and despite giving loads away, I still have loads. The first recipe was Mary’s French apple tart which I started on the Friday when I made the pastry and the apple puree for the sauce and put together on Saturday.

I got to use my little ceramic blind baking beads for the first time in the challenge to bake the base of the tart before the filling went in. Next went in the apple puree that had taken ages to make because you have to cook the apples and then push it all through a sieve..zzzzz. such an exciting time! Finally I peeled, cored and sliced the top apple and arranged it like Mary’s tart and in it went for it’s final bake. I was pleased with the results.

the second recipe was Mary’s Devonshire apple cake which used up some more of my apples! Mary asks you to make a sponge mix and cut your apples into small pieces. I used a traybake tray from Lakeland ( my favourite shop) and poured half the sponge mix in, then added the apples and topped it with the rest of the sponge mix. Mary says that this cake doesn’t look particularly attractive but tastes nice warm with cream.

I topped it with some sprinkled almonds as per the recipe and set the timer. This was a long bake and I set to a little more baking ( not Mary’s recipes) while I waited. I set the bread machine off with a white crusty loaf, made some mini apple pies and some honeycomb.

The final result of the Devonshire cake was better than I expected. I thought it looked nice. I cut it in half, put half on the freezer and sent some slices of this and a slice of the tart to hubby’s parents who are also chief tasters!

I can’t wait for the Great British Bake Off this week, I am so enjoying this series and still support Frances in her creativity, although I think Ruby is shining through now too.