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 Seventy Five- Mary Berry’s Date & Chocolate Loaf & Iced Chocolate Tray Bake

Posted on Mar 31, 2014 by kimsideas

Week seventy five and I sat on Saturday with my coffee and my well used copy of Mary Berry’s Baking Bible to see what I fancied doing this weekend. I chose Mary Berry’s date & chocolate loaf firstly as I knew that my other mum would particularly like this and what else could I give her for Mother’s Day?!

Mary asks you to soak the dates in hot water for 30 minutes. Melt the chocolate and roughly chop the brazil nuts- they pinged every where! Add the dry ingredients to a bowl and pour in the egg and milk then everything else and mix well together. Pour the mix into a lined loaf tin and sprinkle some brazil nuts and sugar on the top. Put in the oven for about 1 1/4 hours.You might need to cover the top of it towards the end of the bake to prevent over-browning.

The second recipe was one of Mary’s tray bakes which always go down well in our house.

Apart from blending the hot water and cocoa together, it’s one of Mary’s usual throw everything in together and mix. Pour into a tin , level it and put it in the oven for about 40 minutes. Allow to cool in the tin.

Once cool, melt some chocolate- I must admit, that Mary suggests dark chocolate but I went with galaxy for this topping! Beat in some icing sugar and pour over the cake. Mary suggests covering the top of the cake with some melted apricot jam first which I did.

Once set, cut the cake into squares and serve.

So , 118 recipes to go, but there will now be a break for a week or maybe two as I go into hospital soon to have a procedure that should have been done last year. I will try and blog perhaps about the recovery and how I found it and also about my favourite bakes of the challenge so far.

Finally I would like to wish 2 special ladies a very happy mother’s day with love always. xx

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

Posted on Dec 29, 2013 by kimsideas

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 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.