Food | Baking: Raspberry and Almond Traybake

January 12, 2015January 12, 2015 / Sam Siddique / Leave a comment

Hello everyone, I am back after a long *ahem* break! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas (or just enjoyed a few days off if you don’t celebrate) and had a fabulous New Years! I did stuff myself silly with plenty of roast chicken, yorkshire puds and plenty of potatoes – so I was in a bit of a food coma for about three days. Then it came to New Years. And I had the flu. Not only did I have the flu, I also managed to develop a lovely chest infection and tonsillitis along the way, so my New Year’s Eve consisted of being slumped over the doctor’s desk getting my germs everywhere as she prescribed me a lot of medication to take. So not a great start to the new year I must admit!

I visited my sister a few weeks back and she usually insists that I bake something (and I usually insist on not being forced to bake brownies for the umpteenth time) so we came to an agreement on a recipe she found on BBC Good Food for a raspberry and almond traybake.

Recipe

250g self-raising flour

50g ground almonds

200g butter, diced

280g golden granulated sugar

50g desiccated coconut

2 medium eggs

350-450g/12oz-1lb fresh or frozen raspberries

I preheated my fan oven to 160°C (180°C/gas 4 for other ovens) and then greased an oblong cake tin with a little butter and then set that aside. I then added the flour, ground almonds, butter and sugar into the food processor and then blitzed until the butter was evenly distributed. (If you don’t have a food processor you can just rub the ingredients together with your hands).

I took out 85g/3oz of the mixture and put it in a bowl and then stirred in the coconut. (I had to actually use my hands for this part as the mixture was quite tough to be able to stir in the coconut. I just simply rubs the ingredients together until they resembled breadcrumbs).

I added the eggs to the remaining mixture in the food processor and gave it a quick whizz (again, if you don’t have a food processor you can just use a good ol’ wooden spoon to give it a mix).

I took out the mixture from the food processor and then spread this in the base of the tin as evenly as possible before scattering half the raspberries on top, followed by the coconut mixture. I then baked it for about 45 minutes.

I then added the remaining raspberries over the surface and sprinkled some golden granulated sugar for extra crunch and then baked for a further 15 minutes until they were firm to the touch and golden.

Once the traybake cooled, I cut it into small slices and served with tea and coffee after dinner – it was so nice that everyone had seconds (and thirds!). This is such a quick and simple recipe to try with really yummy results – so if you are ever stuck for quick dessert ideas you should give this one a go. I might try it again but using different fruits – I’m sure it will be equally delicious.

Until next time! x

Food | Baking: Schichttorte

October 16, 2014October 16, 2014 / Sam Siddique / 2 Comments

So, I was actually deliberating on whether I was going to share my latest bit of baking with you lot because I was actually very disappointed by the results (as I am a bit of a perfectionist) but hey ho, here is my attempt at trying out a schichttorte (yes, that 20-layered German cake from The Great British Bake Off).

This recipe is from Paul Hollywood and can be found on the BBC – Food Website.

Recipe

Cake

10 large eggs, separated

100g/3½oz unsalted butter

150g/5½oz caster sugar

1 large lemon, zest only

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

150g/5½oz plain flour, sifted

65g/2¼oz cornflour, sifted

oil, for greasing

6 tbsp apricot jam

Chocolate Glaze

50g/1¾oz unsalted butter

1 tbsp golden syrup

1 tbsp rum

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

75g/2½oz plain chocolate (36% cocoa solids), finely chopped

Vanilla Glaze

250g/9oz icing sugar

1 tbsp rum

½ tsp vanilla bean paste

1-2 tbsp milk

After I managed to separate all 10 eggs after a little bit of difficulty, I then whisked the egg yolks using a hand-held whisk on high speed until the mixture became pale, thick and creamy.

In another bowl, I creamed together the butter and sugar until pale and creamy. I then added the zest of one lemon and 1 tsp of vanilla extract (but you can use vanilla bean paste if you have it) and mixed well.

I added the whisked egg yolks and mixed well. I then added the flour and cornflour (which I sifted together beforehand) in installments to make it a little easier to mix.

In yet another bowl, I whisked the egg whites until soft peaks formed.

I stirred one-third of the egg whites into the batter to loosen it a little and then I gently folded the rest of the egg whites into the batter.

(I do have to apologise for the poor lighting in most of these pictures, it started to get dark outside when I started this and so struggled to get enough natural light in order to take nicer photos!)

I preheated the grill to high and then greased a 20cm/8in round springform tin with a little oil and lined the base with greaseproof paper. I then spooned a little bit of the batter into the tin and spread it across the bottom evenly.

I then placed the tin under the grill and kept a watchful eye over it for a couple of minutes until it was a light brown colour. (As you can see, it went slightly darker than I wanted it to as my high grill setting was just TOO high so I had to turn it down).

I kept this up over the next couple of hours and noting down which layer I was grilling by marking 1L, 2D, 3L, 4D etc. (L = Light; D = Dark of course!)

(At this point, I was knackered and boiling hot from standing in front of the grill 99% of the time and some of my timings started to slip a little – I will say however, that I had enough batter for 20 layers, HURRAH!).

After I finished grilling all my layers, I absolutely started to hate this cake but I left it for a little while to cool down before turning it out on to a wire rack.

(At this point I was wondering what the heck happened to my 20 layers).

Nevertheless, I continued! I melted the apricot jam in a pan and then pushed it through a sieve (I actually think 6tbsp seemed a bit much so I lessened the amount). Using a pastry brush, I brushed the jam all over the top and sides of the cake.

For the chocolate glaze, I began by melting the butter, golden syrup and vanilla extract in a pan (didn’t use any rum of course!).
After the mixture incorporated together, I finely chopped the chocolate (I couldn’t find chocolate that was 36% cocoa solids and so went with 70%, but in hindsight, maybe I should have used milk chocolate!) and after the syrup mixture cooled a little I added the chocolate and stirred until it had melted. I then left the glaze to cool to a coating consistency.
I made sure to place some parchment underneath the wire rack holding the cake before pouring the glaze over the cake.

For the vanilla glaze, I started by sifting the icing sugar into the bowl to which I added the vanilla extract and milk (no rum) and began stirring until smooth. (For some reason I couldn’t get the glaze to thicken enough and in the end I was so hot, bothered and tired that I gave up and just used it.)
I then went a bit nuts with the drizzle, and because it hadn’t thickened enough, it sort of spread a bit too much…

So, all in all I was quite disappointed by the end result, especially when I finally tasted it. IT WAS SO DRY. Oh, I wanted to cry, all that effort! No need to eat your heart out just yet Paul Hollywood! I think next time, I’ll stick to something a little less ambitious!

Have you ever tried something as ambitious as this cake and how did it turn out? Let me know in the comments below!

Until next time! x

Food | Baking: Triple Chocolate Brownies

September 29, 2014September 29, 2014 / Sam Siddique / 1 Comment

As much as I love trying to bake new things, I still love going back to some old favourites. This particular favourite is something I have made since I was 18, living in a rickety house in the Mumbles in Swansea with my two cousins. The recipe is based on Antony Worrall Thompson’s Triple Chocolate Brownies found on BBC Good Food Website – Triple Chocolate Brownies.

Recipe
275g/10oz plain (dark) chocolate (70% cocoa solids)
275g/10oz unsalted butter
85g/3oz pecans
85g/3oz milk chocolate
85g/3oz white chocolate
175g/6oz plain flour
1tsp baking powder
4 large eggs
1tsp vanilla essence
325g/12oz caster sugar

I start by placing a bowl over a pan of water over the heat (make sure the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water. I break up my dark chocolate into pieces (I used 300g of chocolate – why waste any!?) and add to the bowl to melt along with the butter which I chop up into small cubes.

Once the chocolate and butter melted and I had stirred it through to combine, I removed the bowl from the heat (please be wary doing this, the bowl will be hot!) and added the sugar to the chocolate and stirred to combine.

Next I lightly whisked the eggs in a jug and added the vanilla essence to the eggs.

I then added the eggs to the mixture in installments and made sure to mix well after each addition (the mixture might start to separate whilst you’re doing this but don’t panic – it just involves a little elbow grease and continuous mixing!). After this I then lined a tin with greaseproof paper which I lightly greased with some butter and as I have a fan oven I preheated the oven to 150C (the original method says 170C).

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour and baking powder and then add this to the mixture in installments. Gently fold the flour into the mixture well after each addition.

Once all the flour has been folded into the mixture, chop up the white chocolate and milk chocolate roughly into different sized chunks (I used 100g of each – waste not want not!) and then add to the mixture and carefully fold them in. You can add nuts such as pecans like the recipe suggests but I tend to leave them out unless it’s requested.

With the help of a spatula, I pour my mixture into the greased tin and then using the spatula I attempt to even out the mixture in the tin.

I the put the tin in the oven and leave it to bake for about 20 – 25 minutes. You want to slightly undercook the brownies so that when you take it out, the top is firm but the inside should feel soft. The residual heat from the tin will help gently cook the rest of the brownie without the use of the oven and give you a nice fudgy/gooey brownie.

Leave the brownies aside while they cool and be sure not to cut into them straight away otherwise it will definitely fall apart.
Serve with a good helping of vanilla ice cream or double cream – YUM.

What brownie recipe do you use? Does it have lots of chocolate in it or do you use healthy ingredients like avocado? Do you put in nuts? Let me know! As you can see, there is no photo of me enjoying a midnight brownie as I made these quite late!

Until next time! x

Food | Baking: Profiteroles

September 13, 2014September 13, 2014 / Sam Siddique / Leave a comment

Ok, ok so I sort-of-but-not-really promised a post about making profiteroles almost a week ago now and as you may have noticed – no profiterole post. Oops.

In all fairness, I have been fairly busy this week and have been playing “mum” (my actual mum has gone to Pakistan). I have been looking after my little sister who had just started school again, and it has been somewhat horrific waking up at 7am to make sure she has everything she needs for the day. Also, I have been helping out with the school run with my dad to help take special needs children to school in the mornings and afternoon. On top of that I have been cleaning the house and cooking so we don’t all starve to death in a dirty house! I told you I was busy!

Anyway, back to profiteroles. I don’t know about you but I LOVE profiteroles – pastry = good, whipped cream = good, chocolate = GOOD.

I could probably eat a whole batch by myself. I’m not sure why, but I always thought it might be difficult to make choux buns for some reason (perhaps it’s the fancy French name that put me off) but after I read a couple of different recipes it didn’t sound so hard.

I typed “How to make profiteroles” into the search engine and BAM! There they were, recipes galore! I finally settled between two BBC Good Food recipes. The first was a recipe which included a step-by-step video with Lesley Waters and the second is a recipe from James Martin. I used the James Martin recipe to make the choux pastry and the Lesley Waters for the chocolate sauce as I thought it sounded nicer.

The Recipe:

Choux Pastry

200ml/7fl oz cold water

4 tsp caster sugar

85g/3oz unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing

115g/4oz plain flour

pinch salt

3 medium free-range eggs, beaten

Chocolate Sauce

100g/3½oz plain (dark) chocolate, broken into small pieces

3 tbsp golden syrup

½ orange, juice only

I started by putting the water, sugar and butter into a large saucepan and heated it gently over a low heat until the butter melted.

When the butter had melted, I turned up the heat and added the flour and salt straight into the saucepan in one go.

(The next few steps require some good ol’ elbow grease!)

I then removed the pan from the heat and using a wooden spoon I beat the mixture as thoroughly as I could until it became dough-like and came away from the sides.

I transferred the mixture to a large bowl and then left it to cool for about 10-15 minutes.

When cooking or baking, it’s always good to use a little bit of initiative rather than just following a recipe word for word as sometimes I find I need a little more or a little less of certain ingredients in order to achieve the finished result. For instance, in recipe here, it tells me I need 3 medium eggs (beaten) in order to achieve a “soft dropping consistency” but I found that I needed one more to get it just right.

I beat in the eggs a little at a time until the mixture was smooth and glossy and had a soft dropping consistency.

At this point I preheated the oven at 180C and placed a small roasting tin at the very bottom.
I lightly greased a baking sheet and then filled a piping bag with the choux pastry mixture and then began piping small balls in (very wonky) lines.

As you can see, I started off well(ish) but I probably shouldn’t have added the ones at the bottom as it didn’t leave enough space between them – what can I say, I had a bit trigger-happy!

Just before I placed them in the oven, I wet my finger in water and gently rubbed the top of each ball – as according the recipe this meant that the tops would be crisper.
I placed the baking sheet into the oven and just before I closed the door, I put in half a mug of water into the roasting tray I placed at the bottom – this helps create the steam needed to make the pastry rise. I then shut the door and baked them for about 30 minutes (or until they were golden brown).

In all honesty, I didn’t have any faith my pastry would rise as they started looking quite flat because of the heat, so I left them to it for about 15 minutes and when I got back…they had risen, HURRAH!

So my first batch didn’t turn out as greatly I was expecting, as you can some of the ones at the front were a little bit squashed looking, but I still had another batch to go so I wasn’t too worried.

I pricked a hole in the base of each profiterole with a skewer and returned them to the oven (which I had turned off for this step) upside down in order to help dry out the inside of the profiterole – I only left them in a couple of minutes here.

(I actually wish I skipped this step as I found that my nicely risen profiteroles came back out a little squashed – ho hum.)

At least the second batch turned out better! I put aside all the profiteroles to cool down while I made the cream filling. Instead of following any of the recipes, I just did some guess and taste work. I actually thought I had two pots of double cream but it turned out I only had the one and didn’t have time to go and get a second one, but nevertheless I cracked on.

I poured the double cream into a bowl and using my electric hand-held whisk I beat the cream until it formed soft peaks. Then using a metal spoon I folded in a little icing sugar (I didn’t really use measurements, I just sifted some in). I didn’t want the cream to be too sweet because of the chocolate I would be adding later on.
Once the profiteroles had cooled down, I spooned the cream into a piping bag (fitted with a small nozzle) and began filling the profiteroles.

In hindsight, I should have filled them from the sides but dopey me filled them from the bottom instead!

For the sauce, I placed a pan of water over the heat and placed a bowl over the top (make sure the water doesn’t touch the bottom of the bowl) and I added 100g of milk chocolate broken into pieces (I couldn’t find where the dark chocolate was stashed so again I improvised!).

(It was at this point that I uncovered some dark chocolate chips so I added that to the bowl to melt as well.)

I then added three tablespoons of golden syrup to the melted chocolate and began mixing until everything was incorporated.

As you can see from the recipe, it mentions adding the juice from half an orange, but I skipped this step – I wanted my chocolate sauce to taste chocolately and not orangey.

Instead of pouring the chocolate over a tower of profiteroles, I dipped the top of each one into the sauce so that each profiterole got an even helping. And here is the finished result – not bad for a first try, eh?

And as it is customary, I got the first try!

Have you ever tried to make profiteroles? If so I would love to know how yours turned out in the comments below and whether you tried anything differently or used different flavours.

Until next time! x

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