Author Archives: kimsideas

Week Seventy One – Mary Berry’s Apricot Swiss Cakes & Lemon Cream Tartlets

Posted on by
Reply

Week seventy one and this week’s venture into Mary Berry’s Baking Bible found these two recipes. The first was the lemon cream tartlets. This tartlet has a shortbread base so I followed Mary’s recipe and made the shortbread and then had to wrap it in cling film and pop it into the fridge for 15 minutes.

 Mary Berry's Lemon Cream Tartlet

When the time was up, Mary asks you to roll out the shortbread and use a cutter to cut out 12 circles and put them into the tin and bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown. Once cooked, Mary tells you to allow them to cool in the tin before attempting to get them out- wise advice, I only attempted one while they were warm and took part of the edge off!

Kim's shortbread cases

When they are completely cool, whip some double cream and add some lemon curd. This is the filling for the tartlet. Mary tells you one important thing here- only fill the tartlet when you are ready to eat it or the filling will make the crispy shortbread go soggy- and you do not want a soggy bottom here! Mary suggests adding a strawberry to the top. I decided to stick with the citrus theme and added a clementine slice.

Kim's lemon cream tartlet

The second recipe was the apricot swiss cakes. This is pretty much a mix all the ingredients together recipe and then add to a piping bag and pipe circles into 12 cake cases and bake for 15 minutes.

Mary Berry's Apricot Swiss Cakes

Once cooked and golden brown, allow to cool and add a spoon of apricot jam to each cake and sprinkle with icing sugar. These remind me very much of Viennese whirls.

Kim's Apricot Swiss Cakes

As usual, the hairy hoolies were in the kitchen while I was cooking. Hubby came in at the end to see if he could scavenge some remnants from the bowl- his favourite part and he allowed the hoolies to sample a little of the whipped cream- not all of it I hasten to add and then thank goodness for a dishwasher!

The Hairy Hoolies

Well I did a really silly thing just now- I decided to count how many recipes I had left to cook- I thought it would be significantly less by now but no …. I still have …..126 recipes to go….but at least I now have a countdown!

On a lighter note- Mary Berry is back on the television this week- yay!

Week Seventy – Mary Berry’s Irish Soda Bread & Bath Buns

Posted on by
Reply

Week Seventy and I am ahead of myself this week. As it was half term, I managed to get a few days holiday at the end of the week and decided to devote Friday to baking and was super excited about it too! I sat with my usual cup of coffee and browsed Mary Berry’s Baking Bible and settled on her Irish soda bread recipe and the bath buns.

Mary Berry's Bath Buns

I began with the bath buns recipe as it involves yeast and therefore rising time. I made the dough as per Mary’s instructions and left the dough in an oiled bowl covered in cling film.  My kitchen wasn’t overly warm but I hoped for the best.

After an hour, the dough had barely risen at all. I wasn’t sure if it was because my kitchen was too cool or the yeast pack past it’s best. I pondered for a while and turned the oven on low. I left the bowl on the oven door with the remnants of the oven heat coming out for another half hour. It didn’t really change. I kneaded it again and divided it into buns and put cling film over them and left them on the oven door which was still slightly warm. At this point I was rummaging through my cupboard. I found a newer pack of yeast and decided to make a second batch. I made the dough again and left it to rise. This time, it did rise but still didn’t double in size. I then divided the dough into buns and covered them with cling film and they did rise slightly again. I decided to bake both batches to see how they came out.

Kim's Bath Buns

The bun on the left is the second batch and the lighter smaller bun on the right is the first batch. Actually they both tasted okay but the second batch was better. I think I will ensure that I have really fresh yeast next time and ensure that the kitchen is warmer but I enjoyed making them and will probably make them again.

The irish soda bread in comparison was an easier bake. The dough was easy to make and no yeast or rising time to contend with. Mary tells you to shape the dough into a round and bake for about half an hour in the oven and then turn it upside down for about 10 minutes to ensure the bottom is baked- no soggy bottoms here!

Mary Berry's Irish Soda Bread

The result was a round rough looking loaf of bread. The weight of it compared to a normal loaf is astounding- really heavy. You could use this recipe to make bricks I think!

Kim's Irish Soda Bread

Anyhow, as my other dad isn’t supposed to eat anything with yeast in it, he got the whole loaf to eat. I did leave him some bath buns too!

Week Sixty Nine – Mary Berry’s Marmalade Tray Bake & Melting Moments

Posted on by
Reply

Well I am definitely back in the baking saddle this week, I was raring to go this morning and delved eagerly into Mary Berry’s Baking Bible to find 2 bakes that I could fit in today. I do like the tray bake section- have I mentioned that I am still recycling my Lakeland foil tray bake tins?! Well Mary’s recipe for the marmalade tray bake is a “no brainer”- throw all the ingredients into the bowl and mix. The only thing she warns you about is measuring the marmalade carefully as too much will make the tray bake sink in the middle.

Mary Berry's Marmalade Tray Bake

The finished tray bake looks like a mix between a fruit cake and a bread pudding but with a tangy orangy smell.

Kim's Marmalade Tray Bake

Mary’s next recipe should have been just as easy but either I was tired or not reading the recipe as carefully as I should have- and I wasn’t wearing my glasses. Mary tells you to add the butter, sugar, egg yolks, vanilla extract and flour into a bowl and mix into a dough- my HUGE mistake was at a quick glance I “misread” the golden (sugar) for golden syrup- and yes, that’s what I added instead of the sugar….. when I realised what I had done, I had 2 choices, continue and see how they turned out or throw the mix away and only have 1 bake this week…… so I continued…. and added the porridge oats to the dough and mixed them in when Mary clearly says ( on closer and second time of reading!!!…..Sigh…) make the biscuit dough, roll into small bowls and roll the balls in the porridge oats…. well at this point I was really kicking myself and decided to bake a batch to see how they turned out anyway- waste not , want not as my Nan would have said.

Mary Berry's Melting Moments

Well, given that I added golden syrup instead of golden caster sugar and mixed the oats into the mix rather than rolling the small dough balls in it, I didn’t think they turned out badly at all so I baked the rest of the batch and was rather pleased that my complete hash turned out okay after all.

Kim's Melting Moments

Note to self, ” read all recipes at least once and with glasses on before attempting next bake.” !!!!!

Illness stops play….but only temporarily!

Posted on by
Reply

It should be week sixty nine and I should be posting about the culinary delights that I have attempted from Mary Berry’s Baking Bible this week. Alas that is not the case as from Friday, I have had the sickness bug that has been going around and I have pretty much just curled up on the sofa most of the weekend and the thought of trying to bake something without either being sick or infecting any of my tasters was just too much to take.

I find myself missing the time in the kitchen though, just me and Mary’s book and getting lost in the moment, with the hairy hoolies waiting to see if I drop anything.

I found myself tucked up in bed rather early yesterday, a combination of being a winter Olympic/rugby union widow and just generally feeling wiped out. I put on a DVD that my friend at work had lent me when she heard about my challenge and blog and the dvd had sat on my kitchen table for some while. It was called “Julie & Julia” and within minutes I was captured and thoroughly enjoyed the tale of Julia Childs and Julie Powell who set herself a challenge to cook her way through Julia Childs cookbook and blogged about it. If you haven’t seen it, I would thoroughly recommend it and it has given me a real boost while flagging a little with my challenge. The only jaw dropping moment was when Julie heard that Julia Childs “hated” her blog and she was devastated. I was astonished given the kind of woman she was portrayed as that she would say such a thing. I researched this further and found an article here that explained it in more depth and that is wasn’t as harsh as the journalist in the film tried to portray.

The film reminded me of the day I read in the Daily Mail the article about Anneliese, a young mum who baked her way through Mary Berry’s Baking Bible and wrote “Rising to the Berry” , her blog of her adventures. This inspired me to begin this journey and I have seen others who have started this journey too.

Everyone needs to rise to a challenge sometimes and this has certainly challenged me. I have enjoyed every moment so far even with time restrictions and various health issues. The challenge continues until I had baked every single recipe in Mary’s book…but the bigger question is- what do I do then?

Link

Week Sixty Eight, I am a week behind with my previous blog and ahead of time with this one so I guess they kind of balance out….don’t they?! I haven’t got back into the swing of choosing two recipes a week yet so when I delved into Mary Berry’s Baking Bible, the iced lemon tray bake called to me!

Mayr Berry's Iced Lemon Traybake

It’s one of Mary’s throw all the ingredients into the bowl and mix, our into a tray bake tin- and my recycled Lakeland tray hasn’t bitten the dust yet! Into the oven it went for about 40 minutes and it was done. To make the topping, you mix lemon juice and granulated sugar. Mary as usual gives you a pretty meagre helping of the topping so I had to add to it to cover the top of the sponge.

Kim's Iced Lemon Traybake

Hubby and I couldn’t help but try a piece before we put it into a tin but we thought it was rather yum!

This time of year has brought an awful lot of rain and when I take my two hairy hoolies out, I come back with 2 swampy monsters! I have created a “mud” kit which consists of giant dog wipes and lots of extra towels, the dogs get wiped down before I bring them home but they are not overly keen as they go sliding everywhere too . Our mission is to try and find somewhere not too far away that isn’t too muddy! All this exercise though makes our older hoolie rather tired!

A Hairy Hoolie Fast Asleep

Week Sixty Seven – Mary Berry’s Almond Spice Cake

Posted on by
1

Week sixty seven and I needed a birthday cake idea  from Mary Berry’s Baking Bible for my chief taster ( AKA my lovely other Dad) and I wanted something that would cheer him up as he had been very poorly recently. I knew that he loved anything with almonds (yuk!) so this cake was perfect!

Mary Berry's Almond Spice Cake

The recipe was the usual easy Mary Berry throw every thing into a bowl and mix. The only slight variation of this recipe is that you roll out some marzipan into a circle the same size as your cake tin. Then pour half the mixture in, add the circle of marzipan and pour on top the other half of the mix. This had a long oven bake time so I had to be patient while I waited for it to cook. once it was done and cooled, the topping was made in a saucepan by adding brown sugar, butter and cream and bringing it to the boil to thicken it. Pour this over the cake and sprinkle with almonds.

Kim's Almond Spice Cake

Happy birthday to my chief taster, I hope it was a suitably worthy birthday cake for you- made with love xx

Week Sixty Six – Mary Berry’s Chocolate Chip Brownies

Posted on by
Reply

Week clickedy click, oops I mean sixty six. Anyone would think I played bingo – and actually I don’t- honestly!  I chose a chocolate fest of a recipe from Mary Berry’s Baking Bible – chocolate chip brownies.

Mary’s brownie recipe was really simple, add all the ingredients to a bowl and mix- not much to go wrong here! Then pour into a tray bake tin ( one of my trusty recycled Lakeland tray bake foil tins) and level. Pop into the oven and bake!

Mary Berry's Chocolate Chip Brownies

Once baked, allow the brownies to cool in the tin, then remove and cut into squares and store in an air tight tin. The smell of these cooking was mouth watering indeed and while they were cooling, my kitchen had the most amazing chocolaty smell about it.

Kim's Chocolate Chip Brownies

My chief taster was home from his stay in hospital so I packed some into his tin for him to try and also made him some cheese scones which he loves s much to welcome him home. It was his birthday yesterday and as we weren’t sure if he would be home, I didn’t get to make him his birthday cake, so watch this space, that will be next week’s challenge recipe!

 

Link

Week Sixty Five and what a week this has been! My chief taster has not been well and had to spend some time in hospital and although this cake was made, not all of it got eaten in the rush of all that happened last week!

I chose the lemon yoghurt cake from Mary Berry’s Baking Bible as I thought it sounded quite interesting and was a bit of a change. You need 2 mixing bowls for this as you beat the sugar, butter and egg yolks together, add the lemon and yogurt and beat until smooth. Then fold in the flour. In the other bowl, whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks and fold into the main cake mix. Pour into the tin and ……bake!

Mary Berry's Lemon Yoghurt Cake

The cake took about an hour and a quarter to bake and then once cool, Mary asks you to mix some icing sugar with some lemon juice and spread over the top. This cake is best kept in a tin in the fridge. I found it quite a dense cake and you didn’t want too much.

Kim's Lemon Yoghurt Cake

I thoroughly enjoyed watching the Sport Relief Bake Off episodes and mostly managed to predict who the winning celebrity would be each time! I made my donation, there is still time for you to make yours- go on, you know you want to!

Week Sixy Four – Mary Berry’s Potato Scones

Posted on by
Reply

When I delved into Mary Berry’s Baking Bible this week, I must admit that after the relative gluttony of Christmas food, I couldn’t face two recipes this week but mindful that I want to complete this challenge this year, I will aim to try harder next week!

Mary Berry's Potato Scones

Potato scones sounded unusual and it was nice to try something savoury for a change. The recipe is like Mary’s usual scone recipe except that you get to add some fresh mashed potato to it! Mary claims that you can make 12 scones out of this dough batch. Well I managed that but they were thinner than I would have liked so if I make these again or you decide to have a go, then roll the dough thicker if you like a deeper scone.

Kim's Potato Scones

They tasted very yummy when split and eaten with a dash of butter while still warm from the oven.

I was very excited to see that The Great Sport Relief Bake Off is coming tomorrow. I have already set all four episodes to record and will sit and watch each one avidly!  I have greatly missed The Great British Bake Off with Mary Berry’s kind words and Paul Hollywood’s stern looks.

Week Sixty Three – Mary Berry’s Date & Cherry Butter Bars

Posted on by
1

After a few weeks of not baking for my challenge of baking every recipe in Mary Berry‘s Baking Bible, it felt a little strange to get her book out again and look for something easy to ease myself back into this. This recipe is one of her tray bakes and as I had cherries and dates left over from Christmas baking , it seemed like a good one to re start the challenge.

Mary Berry's Date & Cherry Butter Bars

Mary asks you to rub the butter into the flour to make breadcrumb like texture, then add the chopped cherries and dates, some caster sugar and an egg. Bring it all together into a dough like ball and press it into a tray bake tin. Place it in a pre warmed oven for about 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, mark it into bars with a sharp knife and return it to the oven for another 10 minutes or until the bars are a lovely golden colour. Score through the bars again and allow to cool in the tin.

Kim's Date & Cherry Butter Bars

Once cool, keep in an airtight tin.

A quick and easy to get me back in the Mary Berry challenge saddle!