Tag Archives: Great British Bake-Off

Week Fifty Seven – Mary Berry’s Ginger & Treacle Spiced Tray Bake & Anzac Biscuits

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Week fifty seven and with the clocks going back an hour, the nights are drawing in fast. What better to comfort you on a colder darker evening than a ginger and treacle tray bake? Mary Berry‘s Baking Bible hasn’t failed to inspire me yet. This is a classic Mary recipe where everything is mixed together all in one go.  No fussing or stages to make.

Mary Berry's Ginger & Treacle Spice Tray Bake

I used my trusty Lakeland tray bake tin to put the mixture in and into the oven. Job done and timer set. The ping of the timer went off about 40 minutes later and the tray bake was risen, a lovely brown colour and the smell was amazing. The cake was left to cool and then Mary asks you to add the juices from a jar of ginger to make your icing. I must say that the amount of icing Mary suggests was very pitiful. I doubled what she suggested and it only just covered the tray bake evenly.  I then sprinkled some chopped ginger from the jar over the top and after the icing had set, cut the tray bake into even slices.

Kim's Ginger & Treacle Spice Tray Bake

Anzac biscuits were next, these are an Australian biscuit also known as Digger biscuits. Mary asks you to put the treacle, butter and sugar into a pan and heat gently until melted. While this is melting, put the dry ingredients into a bowl which would be the flour, porridge oats and desiccated coconut. Add the melted mixture to this and mix well. Place teaspoons of the mixture onto a baking tray and press the middles down slightly.

Mary Berry's Anzac Biscuits

Mary’s recipe asks you to ensure the biscuits have room to spread so you can only add so many to a tray at a time. I managed a 3×3 square on each tray. Mary is right, they do spread so don’t be tempted to bunch them up. They go into the oven for about 10 minutes which isn’t long but long enough when you are cooking in batches. Leave the biscuits to cool on the tray for about five minutes before trying to move them, this allows them to cool and set together more. the result, an unusual, nutty, oaty, syrupy biscuit. I liked these and would probably make them again.

Kim's Anzac Biscuits

I am in seventh heaven this week as Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood are doing The Great British Bake Off Master Class programmes pretty much all week, woo hoo and it just helps keep the inspiration going! I have picked up a few hints and tips and have only watched 2 of the four programmes!

Week Fifty Six – Mary Berry’s Bishop’s Fingers & Viennese Fingers

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Week fifty six ….and this week it was all “fingers” and hopefully no thumbs! I had some work commitments on Saturday so I didn’t have a lot of time on Sunday to fit in cleaning, shopping, dog walking….and any kind of bake! A quick delve into Mary Berry‘s Baking Bible and I came up with these two recipes. What will I do when there is less choice and the recipe is complicated? I could see some late nights coming up!

 Mary Berry's Bishop's Fingers

Any how, I set to making Bishop‘s Fingers first. The recipe was a variation on the other shortbread recipes already done so I wasn’t daunted by that. However, Mary asks you to use a square shallow tin….slight problem and cash flow was a bit tight but then I had a revelation….my invaluable tray bake tins from Lakeland ( have I mentioned it’s my favourite shop?!). I re-use the tins where I can so I had an older one in the cupboard that I cut and shaped ( or cannibalised..) into what I hope would suit the job in hand! I had to add some almond essence (yuk) and then sprinkle the top with flaked almonds (double yuk!).  Into the oven it went and the timer set.

Kim's improvised Lakeland traybake tin

When the timer pinged, I checked the shortbread but thought it was a bit pale so I popped it back in for another five minutes or so. Finally it was done, out it came, I marked it into fingers and sprinkled it with caster sugar. I left it to cool in the tin and then cut it into the fingers as described!

Kim's Bishop's Fingers

The second recipe used my trusty mixer to make the mix, and I had to rummage under the stairs to find an icing bag and a suitable piping nozzle. I haven’t piped for a while so approached this in a slightly more nervous manner.

Mary Berry's Viennese Fingers

Mary asks you to pipe a “finger” shape about 7.5cm long- no pressure then…..I gave it a go and was quite pleased that they were mostly the same length and size, just a few wavy lines- I call them character! The fingers went in the oven and I needed to keep an eye on them as they could quickly change from a golden brown colour to ….burnt if you weren’t careful. The biscuits had to then go immediately on to a rack to cool. Then Mary asks you to melt some dark chocolate and dip each end of the biscuit into it and allow to cool. Well, by now you may have realised that I am not overly keen on dark chocolate but as the other tasters do, I compromised and did half in dark chocolate and half in milk chocolate (and a big thank you to my other mum and dad for coming to the rescue in getting some chocolate for this x).

Kim's Viennese Fingers

The biscuits look quite nice and I think the milk chocolate ones are nicer but that’s just my preference.

Oh no- it was the final of The Great British Bake Off tonight- what will I watch on a Tuesday night to keep me inspired now? I sat on tenterhooks for the whole hour and was so so pleased when Frances was announced as the winner- especially as I had been on Team Frances from day one! Well done Frances!

Week Fifty Five- Mary Berry’s Basic All-In-One Sponge Traybake & Walnut Teabread

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Week fifty five and I now can’t imagine a weekend without getting out Mary Berry‘s Baking Bible to look and see what I haven’t yet done and what I want to do this weekend with whatever time I have.

Mary Berry's basic all in one sponge traybake recipe

This week, I chose the basic tray bake that begins the tray bake section. I love the simple instructions that Mary gives you- pretty much throw all the ingredients in a bowl and mix thoroughly together. I used one of my foil tray bake tins from my favourite shop- you guessed it….Lakeland! I poured the mixture in, spread it as evenly as I could and put it in the oven. My how time flies when you are having fun and I used the time to get out all the bits and pieces I needed for the next recipe. Finally the timer pinged and I checked the sponge. I was evenly cooked and I was happy with it. The only “Kim ” addition was to add some basic icing to the top with some sprinkles instead of Mary’s suggested dusting of icing sugar– it brought out the inner child in me and reminded me of baking with my mum and nan.

Kim's basic all in one sponge traybake

 

The second recipe was Mary’s walnut tea loaf. This recipe starts in a pan on the stove by heating the sugar, golden syrup, milk and sultanas. Once the sugar has dissolved, you need to allow the mix to cool. Meanwhile Mary asks you to add the dry ingredients into a bowl and then add the cooled mix with a beaten egg until the mix is smooth and pour it into a bread tin. Not so tough! Into the oven it went and I used the time to tidy the usual mess in the kitchen where despite all efforts, flour goes everywhere but especially on the floor and on the dogs! The timer was set and I set to putting the kitchen back into some kind of order. Finally the timer pinged for the last time this weekend and I checked the tea loaf. It had a good rise and the testing skewer came out clean. I allowed it time to cool in the tin and then tipped it out to finish cooling on a rack.

Mary Berry's walnut teabread recipe

Mary suggests that it tastes good spread with some butter- I think it was so moist, it tasted good without anything on it!

Kim's walnut teabread

It’s The Great British Bake Off Semi Final- woo hoo. It comes to something when I delay my weekly blog in order to have some TV time with this. I enjoyed the show and was sad to see Beca go, I thought it would be a toss up between her and Ruby and by the tears and look on Ruby’s face, she thought it might have been her time. I am pleased that Ruby is in the final but also my favourite from week one -Frances. I hope she manages both style AND substance next week to give Ruby and Kimberley a run for their money!

Week Fifty Four – Mary Berry’s Mini Cakes, Mini Jammy Cakes & Danish Pastries!

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Week fifty four and this weekend I was on top form-well as good as it gets! Looking through Mary Berry‘s Baking Bible , I still haven’t got half way yet but this week gets me a bit closer to that goal!

Mini Cakes & Mini Jammy Cakes

I started with Mary’s mini cakes and mini jammy cakes in the children’s section. I have a mini muffin cooker gadget so used that to bake the mini cakes in batches. While the first batch was on, I made the mini jammy cake mix which is more of a dough and in between swapping batches in the muffin maker, I rolled out the cake dough into balls, used a wooden spoon end and made holes in them and added some jam into each one. I placed them onto the baking trays and popped those into the oven.

Mini Cakes

The mini cakes were done in about three batches so I mixed the icing and found some flavoured chocolate buttons for the toppings, they look very cute.

The mini jammy cakes came out looking like half doughnuts and I thought they were quite stodgy and I wasn’t overly keen on these.

Mini Jammy Cakes

The final recipe of the weekend was Danish pastries, as this involved fiddly pastry making, I begin that process before the other cakes and by the time I had finished the mini cakes, the pastry was pretty much ready and I decided not to do the almond filling as I am not overly keen on that so used Mary’s alternative fillings of a vanilla cream and also used apple.

Mary Berry's danish pastries

I folded them carefully into the envelope parcels as Mary describes and they finally went in the oven. When they came out, the pastry had certainly risen and I left them to cool. Then I mixed some icing sugar into a loose paste and drizzled it over the pastries and sprinkled some almonds over. They certainly looked lovely and tasted good but if I made them again, I would probably cheat a little and buy ready-made pastry!

Danish Pastries - Apple and Vanilla

The Great British Bake Off is nearly done now, I can’t wait for tomorrow’s instalment tomorrow. I loved Beca’s traditional welsh spring lamb and vegetable suet pudding last week and Frances’ musical pastries. She managed to combine the taste and the creativity! What will tomorrow bring?

Week Fifty Three – Mary Berry’s Macaroons & Coconut Pyramids

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Week fifty three and I am back on form after last weekend and thought I would try two recipes again this week. The first, Mary Berry‘s coconut pyramids was a very simple recipe from her children’s part of her Baking Bible. The recipe was the usual throw everything together mix which Mary is famous for and add some pink food colouring. Mary asks you to spoon the mixture into a dariole mould, press down gently, and then turn out onto a lined baking tray, repeat until the mixture is used up. The colour was quite eye catching!

Mary Berry's Coconut Pyramids

I put the coconut pyramids into the oven and set the timer. When it pinged, I had these umm interesting bright pink coconut towers! I must say though that they taste better than they look!

Kim's Coconut Pyramids

The second recipe was Mary Berry’s macaroons. I had managed to source some sheets of rice paper as I remember eating coconut macaroons on rice paper as a child . Even more amazingly, I couldn’t find these sheets anywhere, not in any of the supermarkets or even my favourite shop Lakeland. I had to resort to good old Ebay for this item.

Mary Berry's Macaroons

I mixed the ingredients together as Mary suggests but I did add some coconut to this recipe instead of so much almond as I am not a great almond fan. I cut out rice paper circles and put a spoon of the mixture in the middle of each circle and flattened them slightly. Into the oven they went.

After the allotted time, I checked the macaroons but I didn’t think they were ready and I ended up giving them an extra ten minutes. I allowed them to cool mainly on the baking tray and transferred them to the rack. Mary suggests you put an almond on each macaroon as a decoration (bleugh!) so I decided to “enhance” the coconut in the macaroons, that some chocolate decoration would look and taste nicer!

Kim's Macaroons

I am sitting writing this after watching this week’s episode of The Great British Bake Off and thoroughly enjoyed it as usual. I am pleased to see that Frances is still in there and her baking has found it’s flavour without losing too much of her artistic flair and I am also pleased to see Beca coming into her own too, I would be happy to see either of these two girls win!

Week Fifty One – Mary Berry’s English Madeleines & French Madeleines

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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.

Kim's madeleine tin and dariole mould

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!

Mary Berry's French Madeleins recipeKim's French Madeleines

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.

Mary Berry's English Madeleines recipeKim's English Madeleines

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 – Mary Berry’s French Apple Tart & Devonshire Apple Cake

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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!
Mary Berry's French Apple Tart

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.

Kim's French Apple Tart

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.

Mary Berry's Devonshire Apple Cake

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!

Kim's Devonshire Apple Cake

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.

Week Forty Nine – Mary Berry’s Focaccia Bread with Onion & Balsamic Topping

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Week forty nine and I think this has been the most technical of my bakes to date and the one that has taken most of the day as it’s bread and needed rising time. Mary Berry‘s Baking Bible has the nicest photo of hers and all through my bake, I just hoped that it turned out at least resembling hers!

Mary Berry's Focaccia Bread with Onion & Balsamic Topping

The beginning of the recipe asks you to add every ingredient for the dough into a bowl and mix either by hand or with a mixer with dough hooks. I had never used my dough hooks before and looked forward to playing with them. They made short work of the ingredients and no sooner had I started, than I had a dough bowl ready to start working on. I tipped it out onto my floured surface and set to work, it’s very therapeutic to work dough! Although my method is probably more old school as I was taught in my Home Economics lessons rather than the Paul Hollywood swing the dough around and whack it down method! Once kneaded, I put it in a clean oiled bowl and covered it with clingfilm. I left it for an hour and while it was “proving” I set about making the onion and balsamic topping. Mary asks you to add a teaspoon of olive oil to a pan, cut 2 onions and fry them for several minutes, then add thr lid and turn down the heat and leave for 20 minutes. The next step was to add some balsamic vinegar and sugar and thyme , fry again briskly and then season and allow to cool. Mary asks you to return to your dough and “knock it back” for about five minutes, roll it out and pop it on a baking sheet with the topping on it, place it in a bag and allow to proof again for half an hour…zzzzzz. Finally I could put it in the oven for about 25 minutes.

The final result, no soggy bottom! But the onion is lightly singed around the edges, but on the whole I am happy with it. The only problem is that it is HUGE!! Hubby and I can’t eat it all so we are going to cut it in half and take some to the parents!

Kim's Focaccia Bread with Onion & Balsamic Topping

I loved watching the Great British Bake Off this week with breads and maybe that’s what inspired me to do the Focaccia Bread. I must say, I was impressed with Frances’ matchbox and her bread sticks.

Week Forty Eight – Mary Berry’s Cherry Loaf Cake

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Here at last is week forty eight’s posting, we came back from holiday mid week and suddenly I had a pile of washing and ironing the size of Ben Nevis and all thoughts of updating my blog went out of the window! The apple and cinnamon cake from last week had just been polished off and we were feeling a bit “caked out” so I chose Mary Berry’s cherry loaf cake because I love cherries– hubby is not so keen, and I could freeze it to enjoy later.

Mary Berry's Cherry Loaf Cake

Mary’s recipe was straight forward, add all the ingredients in a bowl, except for the cherries and mix well. Fold in the cherries which I had to wash, dry and then quarter. Mary asks you to line a loaf tin, but on one of my shopping trips, the 99p store has loaf tin liners which I purchased and I used one of these. In to the oven it went for what seemed like forever- but was actually about an hour and a quarter. When taken out, it smelled lovely and was a golden brown colour. I let it cool and then popped it in the freezer for later enjoyment.

Kim's Cherry Laof Cake

I am loving Tuesday nights when The Great British Bake Off is on. As I said before, my skills are not up to the show’s expected levels but I love watching what they create or tackle the new challenges. I am particularly loving the artistic and creative talent of Frances, but it is early days yet!

 

Week Forty Seven – Mary Berry’s Apple & Cinnamon Cake

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Week Forty Seven and I chose Mary Berry‘s Apple & Cinnamon cake as the apples on my apple tree in the garden were ready and this is a perfect recipe for them.

Mary’s recipe asks you to add all the ingredients except the apple into a bowl and mix well for two minutes. Then add half the mixture into a cake tin, this is where my spring form cake tin came in handy, then spread the grated apple over the mixture, sprinkle with cinnamon and top with the other half of the cake mix. Decorate with some walnuts and sprinkle with some brown sugar. Into the oven it went for about an hour and a quarter.Mary Berry's Apple & Cinnamon Cake

 

The smell of apple and cinnamon was mouth watering and the cake smelt lovely when it came out but doesn’t look overly attractive. Hubby has had a slice already and says it’s lovely which is high praise from him!

Kim's Apple & Cinnamon Cake

I tuned into some of The Great British Bake Off tonight, managed to watch some of it and from what I saw, I know what I will be doing every Tuesday at 8pm for a while!