Week Eighty Nine, Mary Berry’s Almond & Cherry Tray Bake & Florentines

Posted on Aug 16, 2014 by kimsideas

Week 89 took over where week 88 left off, halfway through managing hubby’s leg burn and various trips to hospital for leg dressings and caring for him at home. I used Mary Berry’s Baking Bible as a bit of respite and my challenge as an excuse to do something normal for an hour or two. I chose Mary’s almond and cherry tray bake and the Florentine biscuits. I had caught up on the Great British Bake Off and saw that they contestants would be making Florentine biscuits so thought I would give them a go as they were in the bible and I hadn’t done them yet.

I started with the tray bake which is the usual Mary’s easy recipe of throw all the ingredients in a bowl and mix and pour! I put the tray bake in the oven and sat and read the Florentine recipe carefully.

The tray bake baked well and smelt amazing. I left it to cool while getting on with the biscuits.

Mary’s Florentine recipe asks you to put the sugar, butter and golden syrup into a pan and heat gently, allowing it all to melt. Allow to cool slightly and add the rest of the ingredients and stir well.

Add spoonfuls of the mix to the baking trays and bake. Watch the biscuits carefully as they can go from under baked and a bit soft to burnt very quickly- this didn’t happen to me thankfully but Mary adds this warning to her recipe! Once bakes, allow to cool slightly and transfer to a baking tray. Then melt some dark chocolate and spread over the back and make a zig zag pattern with a fork in the chocolate.

I watched the Great British Bake Off this week and thought that they all did a cracking job with the technical challenge of Florentines and was pleased that mine had gone well- the only downside was that hubby and I didn’t like them very much!

Week Eighty Eight – Mary Berry’s Come and Come Again Cake

Posted on Aug 16, 2014 by kimsideas

No apologies for this late blog I am afraid other than life gets in the way and it has been a pretty bad two weeks but I don’t want to get into that now , it will distract you from the bake! We were going away in our caravan with the hairy hoolies and I wanted a bake that I could take with me so Mary Berry’s Baking Bible had this come and come again fruit cake which i decided to make.

It’s one of Mary’s easy recipes with the directions of put all the recipes in a bowl, mix and bake! I love these! I set the timer and went off to pack all the stuff needed for our trip. I always have the plan to take minimal stuff and the car is always packed to the ceiling….sigh! The timer pinged and the cake was done. I let it cool down and then cut a quarter for my chief tasters -(after all, they are on strict diets!) and put the rest in a tin to take with us. I must say that although it was a nice fruit cake, some of her other fruit cake recipes have been nicer. It was a great bake for a van though and went down well with a cuppa once we had set the van up!

I only managed one bake this week due to …umm I want to put due to our holiday but it turned into a rescue mission. Without going into too much detail, hubby dropped a kettle of boiling water over his leg, major trauma, taken to local hospital to where we were staying, there for about 8 hours, transferred to Bristol burns unit, kept in over night, I had to manage dogs and caravan and then do a 140 mile round trip to collect him the next day, pack up the van and tow home…… I felt like this:-

But looked like this:- !

Week Eighty Seven – Mary Berry’s Raspberry Meringue Roulade & Date & Walnut Tray Bake

Posted on Jul 28, 2014 by kimsideas

I really don’t know where the weeks go you know, I plan my bakes for the weekends but sometimes life generally just gets in the way. This is my bake from last week, a little late and no bake from this week so far as I have had a cold, studying to do and a birthday to celebrate so I will try to make something in the week to “bank” for the blog! My delve into Mary Berry’s Baking Bible dug out the roulade recipe and a tray bake. I made the roulade first. It was Mary’s usual whisk the egg whites together and add the caster sugar – but one teaspoon at a time. Really? The amount of sugar for the recipe, I would have been there all day, adding a spoon at a time and whisking well in between, so I am guilty of not following Mary’s recipe to the exact letter this week- tut tut!

Once I had added all the sugar- and yes it was slowly, I poured it into the lined tray, covered the top with flaked almonds and baked for the recommended time. Half way through, you have to turn the oven down and this needs careful timing. Once baked, remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly then turn out onto greaseproof paper. While waiting for it too cool a little more to roll, whisk the double cream and mix the fresh raspberries into it. Spread the cream and raspberry mix onto the meringue and use the greaseproof paper to help roll the meringue into a roulade. I thought this would be tricky but I didn’t find it too bad at all. Leave the roulade wrapped in the paper and put into the fridge. The roulade was really long!

The second recipe was the date and walnut tray bake. Slightly more fiddly in that Mary asks you to cut up the dates, put them in a bowl with the softened butter and some boiling water and allow to cool. In the meantime, put the rest of the ingredients into the bowl and mix, then add the date mix when cooler.

Line a tray bake tin and pour the mix in. Cook as per Mary’s recipe. Once cooked, allow to cool in the tin and make the icing topping. I must admit I was a bit dubious about making a lemon icing topping on a date and walnut tray bake but it seemed to compliment it well. Finally decorate with walnut pieces.

I divided my bakes as usual and gave some to my chief tasters ….who have now informed me that they are on strict diets so I may have to half Mary’s recipe amounts or I will have to resort to feeding the neighbourhood by putting a table outside!

My hubby informs me that our blog has now had over 50, 000 views since we started it – not just for my cake adventures, but also our photography, and Canadian adventure too so thank you all for helping to build up this figure!

Oh and my countdown continues…..93 to go….and having a week’s break isn’t helping…..but on a brighter note- the Great British Bake Off starts next week- I will be there, watching every bake!

Week Eighty Six – Mary Berry’s Mushroom & Garlic Stuffed Picnic Loaf & Cheese Straws

Posted on Jul 17, 2014 by kimsideas

Week eighty six and I thought I would be a little adventurous this week and attempt something with yeast! I delved into Mary Berry’s Baking Bible and found the mushroom and garlic stuffed picnic loaf and to complete the savoury theme, cheese straws to compliment.

I made the bread dough as per Mary’s instructions and left it to rise or prove for two hour. With the lovely weather we have been having, this wasn’t an issue for me this time! I read the recipe carefully and Mary suggests either making one whole loaf that is stuffed or rolls so I opted for rolls as they are shared more easily.

Mary Berry's Mushroom & Garlic stuffed picnic loaf

The only issue I had was following the instructions for filling and folding the dough which proved to be tricky as it isn’t a sealed loaf. I added the filling and molded, coaxed, prodded and poked the dough until it resembled a roll rather than a wreck and left them to prove for a while longer. Then finally they went into the oven for about 15 minutes. When they came out, I had to brush them with some of the mushroom oil from the recipe and leave them to cool.

The second recipe was for cheese straws. This was an easy dough to put together and then wrap in clingfilm for half an hour. Time ran out and the dough wasn’t used until the following day and needed to be worked a bit as it was a solid block!

I rolled it out and cut the dough into straws and brushed them with egg and sprinkled with fresh Parmesan cheese. Into the oven they went for a short while until golden and brown.

I have been trying to catch up with the Celebrity Master Chef – the episodes are currently stacked up ready to watch but I was pleasantly surprised to see how well Wayne Sleep did and how much he learned in such a short space of time.

I treated my kitchen this week too. I have seen some wall signs where the words are transferred directly onto the wall and found a lovely kitchen sign that reflected my love of baking! It was a bit of a pain to put up but worth it and I love it!

Week Eighty Five – Mary Berry’s Chocolate Chip Cookies & Lime Lattice Cookies

Posted on Jul 9, 2014 by kimsideas

Week eighty five and I delved with my usual glee into Mary Berry’s Baking Bible – I thought that perhaps with less than 100 now to go, that my choices would be getting more limited but not yet. There are I must admit some recipes I keep passing over, yes I know I have to do them all eventually….

Any how, I decided this week would be a bit of a cookie fest and I began with Mary’s Chocolate Chip Cookies. The way Mary describes them is that they should be soft and chewy, a bit like Millie’s cookies was what came to mind. I made the dough which was simple enough and then Mary asks you to put large teaspoons of the mixture on to baking sheets, fairly well spaced apart. I managed this and placed the trays in the oven to cook and set the timer.

Once the timer had pinged, I removed the cookies from the oven and allowed them to cool on the tray for a few minutes before transferring them to the cooling racks. I was pleased with how they came out and even if I do say so, they were as good as Millie’s cookies.

the second batch of cookies were Mary’s lime lattice cookies. Mary’s recipe for this is very simple and the hardest part was finely grating two limes. Mary suggests using a skewer to create a lattice pattern on top of these cookies but I used the wires from an egg slicer instead.

Mary asks you to add “walnut” sized pieces of dough onto the trays, create the lattice effect on top and bake. These were zesty and tangy, a lovely contrast to the rich chocolate chip cookies.

I am avidly awaiting the new series of The Great British Bake Off which is going to be shown this summer on BBC1. There was an article in The Metro about there being a spin off series on BBC2 called An Extra Slice to show more of the footage etc so I will have more to watch-yippee!

Week Eighty Four- Mary Berry’s Brandy Snaps & Chocolate Chip & Vanilla Marble Cake

Posted on Jun 30, 2014 by kimsideas

Week eighty four, or should I say week eighty four and a half as this week’s bake was done in two halves. I actually made the brandy snaps last weekend but didn’t find the time to blog about it so incorporated it into this week’s bake and blog.

I was inspired to try the brandy snaps after watching one of the celebrity master chef episodes where each celebrity was given the challenge of producing a brandy snap, with quite hilarious results. So I delved into Mary Berry’s Baking Bible and found the recipe and off I set.

On celebrity master chef, the celebrities were given a dough and asked to make it into a brandy snap. Mary’s mix is quite liquid in comparison. So much so that I thought I had done it wrong initially but when I put teaspoons of the gloopy mix on the baking tray, it produced the desired effect and I was able to roll them into a brandy snap and leave them to cool.

I served mine with ice cream and yes, they did “snap” when bitten into!

The second recipe, made this week was Mary Berry’s chocolate chip & vanilla marble cake which is made into a tray bake. The basic cake mix is one of Mary’s mix everything together all in one mix ….but with a variation. Mary then asks you to place spoons of half this mixture in random places in the tray and then add the cocoa and hot water and chocolate chips to the other half of the cake mix and mix again, then place spoons of this in the spaces left in the tray. I then used a spoon to ripple it all together.

One tip I have learnt with adding chocolate chips is to roll them in flour before adding them to the mix and this should prevent them all sinking to the bottom which has happened to me so many times. It definitely seemed to work this time. Once the cake was baked, I left it to cool.

Mary asks you to then melt some dark chocolate- I substituted milk chocolate for this and some white chocolate and drizzle them over the top to finish the cake. I decided to created a ripple effect on mine and loved the effect

The countdown continues…and YAY! I have now got 99 left to go- down to two figures at last!

Week Eight Three – Mary Berry’s Double Orange Cake, Chocolate Victoria Sandwich Cake & Almond & Chocolate Chip Cake!

Posted on Jun 15, 2014 by kimsideas

Week eighty three and a mega bake this week. On Friday, I got home from work, all hot and bothered because of the heat and a hectic week and dove into Mary Berry’s Baking Bible for inspiration. On Saturday, hubby and I were going to see some friends who had recently moved house and thought a couple of cakes would make a nice house warming present.

So with that in mind, I chose the double orange cake which was the usual put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well.When all blended well, pour into a deep round tin and bake for about half an hour until risen and golden.

Once the cake was cooked, Mary asks you to heat some apricot jam and spread over the top then mix some icing sugar with some orange juice and pour over the cake. Then finely grate some orange zest to decorate.

The second recipe for the house warming was Mary’s chocolate sandwich cake. Again Mary asks you to put all the ingredients together and mix well, then divide equally between 2 sandwich tins and bake.

Once the cakes were risen and brown, allow to cool and then make Mary’s white butter cream and use this to make the filling and topping and then sprinkle with chocolate bits.

Once my two house warming cakes were done, I then thought ahead to Sunday, it would be father’s day and as my chief taster is my other dad, i thought he might be upset at missing out on a cake this week so I made him the almond and chocolate chip cake.

Mary asks you to mix the ingredients together and then pour into a deep round tin. This is where i got a little creative. i had recently bought a giant cupcake tin -one of my bargain buys. I decided to use this to make this cake in and divided it equally between the two sections and baked it. Once it was baked, I put the two halves in a tin to decorate on Sunday to give it to my chief taster with his other Father’s day bits.

Off we went to see our friends who had recently moved and we had a tour of the house and garden. We met these friends when we got our first hairy hoolie after losing my old girl and have been good friends since- and we got our second hairy hoolie from them a few years later. We helped our friends to take down a tree in their garden but unfortunately at the end, a rather large branch hit my wrist when it came down and a rather large egg shaped lump came up almost immediately on it and it was painful. Luckily after a trip to the Urgent Care Centre to get it looked at, it isn’t broken, just soft tissue trauma but sore!

Sunday came and I wasn’t sure how I was going to decorate my chief taster’s cake with such a sore wrist and it’s on my left wrist and I am left handed. I managed with the help of my lovely hubby to mix together a vanilla butter cream and put this as the filling and topping, sprinkling flaked almonds and chocolate bits on the top. I then put some coloured cellophane around the base to make it look like a cup cake case. Not quite how I wanted it to be but hopefully it looked ok.

The chief taster was pleased with his cake and we all sat on their patio with the chimnea lit and his other gift of an axe to chop his logs!

Happy father’s day to my other dad and as always, my thoughts are with my Dad who passed away on Father’s day eight years ago, gone but always in my thoughts.

I know I always go on about The Great British Bake off but I was so excited to see the adverts telling me that the series is back this summer- yippee! Oh, and I really laughed at the World Cup advert that Mary did with the rest of TGBBO team- so so funny! If you haven’t seen it, you can see it here.

Oh and the countdown? 101 left to go……

Week Eighty Two – Mary Berry’s Little Gems & Oat & Sunflower Squares

Posted on Jun 10, 2014 by kimsideas

Week 82 and time flies when you are having such fun! I delved into Mary Berry’s Baking Bible and found the little gems and oat & sunflower squares. The first recipe of the little gems was really simple, it’s one of Mary’s throw all the ingredients in the bowl and mix.

Then put roughly a teaspoon of the mix into tiny cases and bake! Once cooked, the cakes become risen and golden. Allow them to cool on a rack and when cool, mix some lemon juice with some icing sugar and top the cakes with a little icing and a sweet to decorate.

The second recipe of oat & sunflower squares was not all that difficult either. Mary asks you to heat the butter and golden syrup together and add the large oats and sunflower seeds and mix well.

Mary suggests using a 7″ square tin but I found that my mix wouldn’t even cover half the bottom of this so I put mine in a smaller tin which was better.

The squares are very crumbly and I would suggest keeping them in the fridge as in this warm weather , they just fall apart.

I was pleased to read a news article this week about Mary Berry being awarded the Freedom of Bath. Bath city officials said she had “always been an exemplary ambassador” and was a deserving recipient of the the city’s highest and most prestigious award. I was really pleased for her as she was born and raised in Bath so a lovely honour for her.

I have missed The Great British Bake Off so imagine my surprise when I found a repeat of I think the very first series on free view which I hadn’t seen before, and no bake off tent in site. It looked a little different then. It was the final and the contestants were asked to bake for an English tea party for family, friends and former contestants who had been knocked out earlier. They each had to bake white and brown bread, make 40 finger sandwiched with these, bake 40 scones, 40 tarts and 40 choux pastries- no mean feat! I was gobsmacked at the pressure they were under and did so well.

I am pleased that Celebrity Master Chef is on tonight, I am especially looking forward to seeing if Todd Carty can bake better than he can ice skate!

Week Eighty One – Mary Berry’s Shrewsbury Biscuits & Crunchy Orange Syrup Loaves

Posted on Jun 1, 2014 by kimsideas

Week 81 and a later than usual blog- the reason? Hubby, the hairy hoolies and I managed to get away for a few days in our caravan- a well earned rest for all – but as is the norm for us, a trip to A&E for hubby at the end of the week!

I had intended to do a bake to take with us but time just ran away, packing and ensuring we had everything we needed so I knew what I wanted to bake, I just had to wait a week to do them and no, I wouldn’t be baking in the van! So I chose crunchy orange syrup loaves from Mary Berry’s Baking Bible. The recipe was really easy, it’s one of Mary’s throw all the ingredients together and mix and bake so off I set. I used liner cases in two loaf tins and into the oven they went.

While the loaves were baking, I had to mix the juice of one orange with some granulated sugar so that when the loaves are baked, Mary asks you to brush this mix over the top of the loaves while they are hot, then leave to cool.

The second recipe I chose was Mary’s Shrewsbury biscuits which again, were fairly simple to make and the dough came together easily. Once the dough is made, roll it out to about half a centimetre and use the cutter to cut out as many biscuits as you can. Bake in the oven for about 8 minutes then remove, brush with some egg white and sprinkle with caster sugar and return to the oven for about another five minutes until nicely golden.

The resulting biscuits I was rather pleased with, I just hope they stay crisp enough in the tin until they are all eaten.

Hubby and I found a lovely cottage while we were away, tucked away along a bridle path. I had my little point and shoot camera with me and had to take a photo or two. It looks idyllic to me and I could picture hubby, the hairy hoolies and I living here quite happily. We didn’t get to see the inside of it and in some ways I am pleased about that as it is likely that it wouldn’t live up to the dreamy picture of what it should be like. I could definitely picture me baking in the kitchen and cream teas on the lawn with the hairy hoolies running around.

Oh, and the countdown continues- with 106 recipes left to bake……

Week Eighty – Mary Berry’s Strawberry Meringue Nests & Rock Cakes

Posted on May 21, 2014 by kimsideas

Week eighty already and I didn’t know what I fancied attempting this week – sweet or savoury? I dipped into Mary Berry’s Baking Bible and surfaced with strawberry meringue nests and rock cakes!

The meringue nests would make a nice pudding after the planned weekend b-b-q and so I began. Mary asks you to whisk the egg whites until frothy. Then you add the icing sugar but interestingly Mary then asks you to whisk the mix over a pan of hot water until the mixture is stiff and ready for piping. No easy feat but I had a pan of hot water on anyway boiling some eggs for a salad so I used that pan and juggled the bowl over it while whisking until I thought it was set…… then Mary asks you to put the mix into a piping bag and pipe into basket shapes. Mary estimates that the mix will make 6 baskets but mine made four- they were huge though!

My piping skills obviously need a lot of practice ! I was ok with the base but when it came to the basket sides, I wobbled all over the place! When all were piped, they had to go into the oven for about 45 minutes. Once cooked and cooled, Mary asks you to put strawberry pieces in and glaze with some melted strawberry jam. This is where Mary and I agree to disagree as I am a purist with strawberries and thought they didn’t need to be spoiled with a glaze. I also added some raspberries and served in the basket with some cream.

The second recipe was rock cakes. The last time I made rock cakes was when I was in home economic classes at school. Mary asks you to weigh out the flour and add the butter , rubbing it in until it resembles breadcrumbs. Then add all the other ingredients and mix together.

Use 2 teaspoons to put amounts of the mix into small heaps on the tray and sprinkle with brown sugar and bake for 15 minutes. The finished cakes kind of resemble rocks I guess. All I can say is that they tasted good!!

Well the countdown continues with 108 recipes left to bake….

M	T	W	T	F	S	S
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30	31

Lewis & Kim

Lewis & Kim Brown's blog of Baking, Photography, Dogs, Canada and whatever takes our fancy…

Author Archives: kimsideas

Week Eighty Nine, Mary Berry’s Almond & Cherry Tray Bake & Florentines

Week Eighty Eight – Mary Berry’s Come and Come Again Cake

Week Eighty Seven – Mary Berry’s Raspberry Meringue Roulade & Date & Walnut Tray Bake

Week Eighty Six – Mary Berry’s Mushroom & Garlic Stuffed Picnic Loaf & Cheese Straws

Week Eighty Five – Mary Berry’s Chocolate Chip Cookies & Lime Lattice Cookies

Week Eighty Four- Mary Berry’s Brandy Snaps & Chocolate Chip & Vanilla Marble Cake

Week Eight Three – Mary Berry’s Double Orange Cake, Chocolate Victoria Sandwich Cake & Almond & Chocolate Chip Cake!

Week Eighty Two – Mary Berry’s Little Gems & Oat & Sunflower Squares

Week Eighty One – Mary Berry’s Shrewsbury Biscuits & Crunchy Orange Syrup Loaves

Week Eighty – Mary Berry’s Strawberry Meringue Nests & Rock Cakes

Rate This

Share this:

Rate This

Share this:

Rate This

Share this:

Rate This

Share this:

Rate This

Share this:

Rate This

Share this:

Rate This

Share this:

Rate This

Share this:

Rate This

Share this:

Rate This

Share this: