GBBO 2018 Week 8 - Danish - Cumberland Rum Nicky Danish Swirls

For the quarter-final of GBBO 2018, the bakers were tasked with three Danish bakes. The signatures were Danish open sandwiches, made from rye bread. Although I want to make rye bread someday, it wasn't really enticing me last weekend. The technical challenge looked simple enough but required a fancy pan - Aebleskiver - like doughnuts with an apple and cinnamon filling.

I decided to instead make a basic version of the showstopper - kagekone - a Danish birthday "cake", where Danish pastries are shaped to be a boy or a girl. Some of the baker's creations were really impressive, I particularly loved the appearance of Kim-Joys. Due to time constraints and being unsure whether the recipe would work, I decided to make the Danish pastries only. I have made Danish pastry once previously - two years ago in fact (see here for the White Chocolate and Blueberry Danishes I baked then) - but I thought I'd try out one of the baker's recipes, and see if I had better results.

I filled the swirls with a filling I made a few years ago for a technical bake made in the tent - Cumberland rum Nicky (see link here for that recipe). This tart has a filling of dates, ginger and apricots with lots of spiced rum, and I remembered it really packed a punch of flavour. To add a more traditional note, before spreading over the spiced rummy fruits, I made a creme patissiere and spread that on first.

I used Briony's recipe for the dough itself, with one alteration (because I can't read recipes sometimes...). The dough was lovely to work with, and I think they worked really well! I checked on them in the oven after 12 minutes, and they'd already gone a bit browner than ideal, and so I covered them with foil and baked them for 8 more minutes. Next time, I'll check them sooner, but I don't think they're so dark to be unappealing :)

The pastries taste amazing - I was pretty impressed with the lamination! They've so far kept for 4 days without going soggy/stale, and this is definitely a recipe I'll return to (and maybe make the whole Kagekone one day!).

Makes 12

Ingredients:

For the dough:

• 345g strong white bread flour 
• 35g caster sugar 
• 2 tsp fast-action dried yeast  
• 1 tsp salt 
• 240g butter, chilled 
• 125ml whole milk 
• 50ml warm water 
• 1 large egg 
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 

For the rum Nicky filling:

• 125g dried dates, pitted and coarsely chopped
• 50g dried apricots, coarsely chopped
• 25g crystallised ginger, finely chopped
• 30ml (2 tbsp) spiced dark rum
• 25g soft dark brown sugar

For the creme patissiere:

• 50g caster sugar 
• 1 tsp ground ginger 
• 2 egg yolks 
• 20g cornflour 
• 250ml whole milk 

For the glaze:

• 3 tbsp granulated sugar
• 6 tbsp water

Method:

1. Make the dough. Sift together the flour, sugar,  yeast and salt into the bowl of a stand mixer (with the dough hook attachment), and stir briefly. Add 1 tbsp (15g) of the butter and rub in until there are no lumps left.

2. In a jug, whisk together the egg, milk, water and vanilla, then pour over the flour mixture. Turn the stand mixer on to a low speed and knead for 5 minutes, until the dough is smooth and sticky.

3. Halve the remaining butter and roll out between two sheets of baking parchment (or clingfilm) to a rectangle around 15 x 23cm. Place in the freezer, and then repeat with the other half of the butter.

4. Flour your work surface, then tip the dough out onto it. Dust with flour and then roll out the dough to a rectangle roughly 30cm x 60cm. Turn so the long side is closest to your body.

5. Unwrap one of the halves of butter and place in the centre of the rolled out dough. Dust off any excess flour from the dough, then fold the right side over the butter. Dust off excess flour, and then fold over the left side. Seal so that no butter is visible.

6. Turn the dough 90 degrees, and then roll out to a rectangle 30cm x 60cm. Place the remaining half of the butter in the centre of the rolled out dough, and cover the butter with the dough as in step 5.

7. Turn the dough 90 degrees and again roll out the dough to a rectangle around 30 x 60cm. Fold one-third of the dough into the centre, and then fold the other third on top (like if you make an A4 leaflet). Cover with cling film and freeze for 20 minutes.

8. Whilst the dough is chilling, make your fillings. To make the rum Nicky filling, pour the dates, crystallized ginger, dried apricots into a bowl along with the rum and brown sugar. Stir to ensure all of the sugar has dissolved and then set aside.

9. To make the creme patissiere, place the egg yolks, sugar, cornflour, and sugar into a small bowl and whisk until well combined. Meanwhile, heat the milk in a saucepan until it is lightly simmering.

10. Whilst whisking, pour the milk over the egg mix. Once all of the milk has been added, return to the pan and cook for a few minutes (on a low heat) until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Pour into a clean bowl, cover with cling film (to prevent a skin forming), and set aside.

11. Take the dough out of the freezer and unwrap onto a well-floured work surface. With the short side nearest to you, roll the dough out to a 25 x 60cm rectangle. Fold one third on the centre, then the other third on top (as previously). Cover and return to the freezer for 15 minutes.

12. Unwrap the dough and roll out to a 30 x 30cm square. Spread over the creme patissiere evenly, and then sprinkle over the rum-soaked fruits. Roll up into as tight a spiral as you can.

13. Gently divide the roll into twelve even spirals, and transfer to two baking trays lined with baking parchment, leaving plenty of space between each spiral.

14. Cover lightly with clingfilm/a tea towel, and prove for around 45-60 minutes, until doubled in size.

15. Preheat your oven to 220c (200c fan)/428f/gas mark 7.

16. Bake the spirals for 18-20 minutes. After around 10 minutes, check on the pastries - if they are getting very brown, cover with kitchen foil and return to the oven for the remainder of the cooking time.

17. In the last 5 minutes of baking, make the glaze by pouring the sugar and water into a saucepan and bringing to a boil. Boil for a few minutes until the liquid has reduced slightly and is syrupy.

18. As soon as the pastries are out of the oven, use a pastry brush to brush over the glaze. Leave to cool (although they would taste great warm!).

19. Enjoy!

GBBO 2018 Week 7 - Vegan - Chocolate Hazelnut Cake

I was so excited for this week's GBBO, and it didn't disappoint at all!! There were so many recipes I wanted to give a go, and am sure I will bake in the coming weeks. The first, however, was Briony's showstopper - a lovely looking chocolate coffee hazelnut cake, filled with raspberry jam, and coated in a vegan chocolate ganache. Due to time constraints, I didn't make all the elements she did, and I had to alter the recipe slightly, as I couldn't find a few ingredients.

Despite these alterations, the sponge is amazing - like a brownie, you wouldn't know it contained no dairy or eggs! As I've mentioned in previous posts, I try to not eat anything cream-based and have always struggled with ganache. Previously, I've tried water-based ganache, but Briony used full-fat coconut cream instead, and as a coconut lover, I gave this a go. My ganache firmed up a bit too much, but after adding a bit of hot water, it spread really nicely and the recipe made plenty for the whole cake.

Also, when picking a dark chocolate, don't just look in your dairy-free aisle. Good quality dark chocolate should never contain milk, and therefore is vegan without saying it directly on the packaging. I used a Tesco cooking dark chocolate, after checking the ingredients and finding no dairy. This saved me quite a bit of money due to the premium shops put on some vegan foods.

Now, I have to admit I am not a lover of vegan buttercream - I've yet to find a recipe where the frosting pipes to make lovely crisp flowers and leaves. This could be due a lack of decent vegan butter available in the supermarkets I frequent, so I'm going to keep an eye out and keep trying different brands. Briony's recipe does work and makes fairly stiff buttercream, but it still doesn't work quite as well as "real" buttercream. It does look pretty though, just be careful to keep the cake cold after piping so the buttercream doesn't soften too much.

This cake will easily serve 10 :)

Ingredients:

For the cake:

• 565g (4 & 1/2 cups) self-raising flour
• 600g (3 cups) granulated sugar
• 125g (1 cup) cocoa powder (I used Dr Oetker)
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 200g (1 & 1/3 cups) hazelnuts, roasted, peeled and roughly chopped*
• 200g (7/8 cup) dairy-free spread, melted
• 400ml (1 & 2/3 cups) hazelnut milk (I used Innocent)
• 250ml (1 cup and 2 tsp) walnut oil
• 1 tsp xantham gum
• 3 1/2 tbsp instant coffee granules
• 50ml (3 tbsp and 1 tsp) boiling water

For the vegan ganache:

• 300g (around 1 & 1/5 cups) coconut cream (NOT creamed coconut)
• 300g (1 cup and 2 tbsp) dairy-free dark chocolate (I used an 85% but 70% would work well)
• pinch of salt
• 2 tbsp Kahlua

For the vegan buttercream:

• 50g (3 tbsp) vegan margarine
• 200g (2 cups) sifted icing sugar
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• Red and green concentrated gel food colouring (I use Wilton)

To finish:

• Around 200g (5/8 cup) raspberry jam

*It tends to be much cheaper to buy whole hazelnuts and roast them yourself. Simply preheat your oven to 200c (180c fan)/400f/gas mark 6, and cook the hazelnuts for 5 minutes. Pour into a sieve and shake to peel off the skins. Pick out all of the peeled hazelnuts, cool, and then roughly chop.

Method:

Ganache

The ganache takes a few hours to firm up so I would suggest making this first.

1. Chop all of the chocolate roughly and pour into a heatproof bowl.

2. Heat the coconut cream in a saucepan over a low heat until it is bubbling. Take off the heat and pour over the chocolate. Stir until all of the chocolate has melted.

3. Stir in the Kahlua. Cover with cling-film and chill for around 2 hours, or until it is spreadable (a Nutella-like consistency would work well).

4. If the ganache becomes too firm, don't worry! Boil a kettle and add boiling water, half a teaspoon at a time, beating well after each addition, until it is back to the ideal spreadable consistency.

5. Before using, whisk the ganache to aerate it, using a hand-whisk or in a stand mixer. It will become a light brown colour and increase in volume.

Cake Layers

1. Make the sponge. Preheat your oven to 180c (160c)/355f/gas mark 4. Grease the base and sides of three 20cm circular cake tins, and dust with flour (I find this gives a better result than using baking parchment).

2. In a large mixing bowl, pour the self-raising flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, roasted hazelnuts, and salt. Briefly stir together.

3. In the bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, pour the melted spread and hazelnut milk, and start whisking on a medium speed. Add the boiling water to the instant coffee, mix until smooth, and then pour into the spread/milk mix, along with the walnut oil and xantham gum (whilst whisking). Whisk for a few minutes to aerate.

4. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, and pour in the wet mix. Beat until all of the dry ingredients have been incorporated. My batter ended up very thick. 

5. Evenly divide between the three cake tins, and bake for around 35 minutes, until firm to the touch and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Once cooked, leave to cool for a few minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool fully.

Vegan "Buttercream"

1. Beat the margarine with the icing sugar and vanilla extract until smooth.

2. Spoon out one-third of the buttercream, and colour this green. Colour the remaining buttercream a red/pink colour. Chill until ready to use.

Assembly

1. Place a tablespoon of ganache on your serving dish. Place the first sponge on this ganache and press down lightly. This sticks the cake to your dish, making it easier to decorate.

2. Spread over a thin layer of the ganache, and then spread over half of the raspberry jam - you want there to be a visible layer of raspberry as the chocolate and coffee flavours are so strong.

3. Top with the next layer of sponge. Spread over another thin layer of ganache, then the remaining raspberry jam. Top with the final layer of sponge.

4. Cover the top and sides of the cake with ganache - take time doing this, it can take a bit of patience to make sure all of the cake is covered neatly. I found I got a neater finish by dipping a palette knife (or you could use an icing smoother) in hot water, drying it, and then smoothing over the top and sides of the cake.

5. Place a 2D Wilton nozzle (large rose tip) into one piping bag, and a large leaf nozzle (Wilton 366) into another. Spoon the red buttercream into the piping bag with the 2D nozzle, and the green buttercream into the other piping bag.

6. Snip off the ends of each piping bag, and pipe roses and leaves onto the cake as desired.

To pipe roses - hold the piping bag vertically over where the middle of the flower will be, and then pipe a spiral outwards. 

To pipe leaves, simply use even pressure to pipe around 2cm lines on the cake - the nozzle gives the leaf effect. 

7. Enjoy!

GBBO 2018 Week 6 - Pastry - Chicken Curry Banquet Pie

 

Now, I'd be the first to pipe up and mention how I never make savoury food. Never is an exaggeration, but only a slight one in comparison to how many sweets I bake. It's an area I lack confidence in, so when this week's GBBO had a showstopper challenge of banquet pies, where the pies couldn't be baked in a mould, I wanted a go!

Ruby's chicken curry pie, with turmeric hot water crust pastry, a completely home-made chicken curry and spiced rice, looked delicious, and I was really happy to find the recipe :)

I only made a few tweaks, and sadly, did cook my pastry for a little too long - I even reduced the time the recipe stated - so lesson learnt, after 45 minutes, check the pie often so it doesn't catch! Still, even with the browner bits, the pie tasted amazing, and works really well for lunch as well as dinner :)

Makes 1 big pie (easily serves 6-8)

Ingredients:

For the chicken curry:

• 225g (1 cup) new potatoes, quartered
• 1 tsp ground cardamom
• 2cm cinnamon stick  
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 star anise  
• 2 1/2 tsp ground cumin 
• 4 cloves 
• 2 tbsp coconut oil 
• 2 bay leaves 
• 350g (3 & 1/3 cups) onions, roughly chopped 
• 1 heaped tsp ginger & garlic paste 
• 1 heaped tsp hot chilli powder 
• 1 heaped tsp ground coriander 
• 1 heaped tsp ground turmeric 
• 1 1/2 tsp garam masala  
• 250g (1 & 1/4 cups) tomatoes (I used plum tomatoes), chopped 
• 2 tbsp tomato purée  
• 2 tsp salt, plus extra to taste 
• 900g (around 8 cups) diced chicken breast
• 1 bunch of coriander, chopped 
• 1 1/2 tbsp chopped root ginger 
• 50g (1/4 cup) frozen spinach leaves 

For the rice filling:

• 1 tbsp coconut oil  
• 25g (2 tbsp) sliced onion 
• 1 1/2 tsp salt  
• 1 1/2 tsp garam masala  
• 2 tsp ground coriander 
• 1 tsp ground cumin 
• 200g (1 cup) basmati rice, rinsed in cold water  

For the turmeric dough: 

• 450g (3 cups) plain flour 
• 100g (2/3 cup) strong white bread flour  
• 1 tbsp ground turmeric 
• 200ml (around 4/5 cup) water
• 1/2 tsp salt  
• 175g (3/4 cup) lard 
• 1 egg, beaten, to glaze  

Method:

1. Make the curry. Boil water in a pan and add the potatoes. Cook for 10 minutes, then drain and set aside.

2. Prepare the spice blend by grinding the star anise, cinnamon and cloves in a spice grinder/high powered blender until a fine powder. Stir in the ground cardamom, black pepper and ground cumin.

3. Heat the coconut oil in a large pan and add the spice mix and the bay leaves/ Fry for 1-2 minutes, until they are sizzling. Add the onions and a splash of water, and then cook for about 5 minutes (until the onions have softened).

4. Add the ginger and garlic puree, chilli powder, ground coriander, ground turmeric, salt and garam masala and stir to coat all of the onions in the spices. Cook for another 2 minutes.

5. Add the tomato puree, chopped tomatoes and another splash of water, and then cook for around 8 minutes, checking often that the pan doesn't get too dry. It wants to be fairly dry but I was worried about burning, so added a splash of water now and again to keep the mixture a little wet.

6. Stir in the chopped chicken and cook for a further 5 minutes, stirring regularly to make sure all of the chicken is cooked evenly.

7. Add the chopped coriander, chopped ginger and spinach. Allow the spinach leaves to defrost, stir well, then turn off the heat. Transfer the curry to a large baking tray to cool quickly.

8. Make the rice. In a saucepan (that you have a well fitting lid to!), melt the coconut oil, then fry the onions with the salt, garam masala, ground coriander, and ground cumin for 1-2 minutes.

9. Rinse the basmati rice well in cold water, then add to a saucepan with 350ml water. Cover with a lid and bring to the boil. Simmer with the lid on for 10 minutes, until the water has evaporated and the rice is tender. Pour onto a large baking tray and leave to cool.

10. When the curry and rice have cooled, it's time to make the pie! Preheat your oven to 220c (200f)/430f/gas mark 7. Grease the base of an around 28cm pizza dish (or a large enough square dish to fit a 28cm circle on), and line with baking parchment.

11. Make the pastry. Sift together the plain flour, strong white bread flour and turmeric. Meanwhile, pour the water, lard and salt into a saucepan and place on a medium heat.

12. Heat the water/lard/salt until all of the lard has melted and the mixture is bubbling. Take off the heat and pour over the flour mix.

13. Carefully (as at first it will be very hot), bring the dough together with your hands/a wooden spoon (depending on how hot the dough is). Take a third of the dough.

14. Line your surface with clingfilm, and place the 1/3 dough on it, Cover with another layer of film, then roll out until it is bigger than the base of the pizza dish/a 28cm circle. Use a template to evenly cut a 28cm circle, and place the offcuts back with the remaining unrolled dough.

15. Take the top layer of clingfilm off, and then flip onto the prepared tray. Remove the base layer of clingfilm.

16. Spoon the rice on the pastry circle, leaving a 2cm rim around the edge. Spoon over the curry - use a slotted spoon if there seems to be a lot of liquid. Use your hands to mould into a dome.

17.Reserve 100g of the remaining dough, and then roll the remaining dough out as before until it is around a 35cm circle. Carefully transfer over the curry mound, and seal to the dough base. Brush the entire pie with egg wash.

18. Roll the remaining dough out until it is about 35cm long and 5cm wide. Cut into 6 long ribbons, and make two three-strand plaits, and stick to the rim of the pie. With any remaining pastry cut out whatever shapes you like - I went for hearts and people, but it's up to you :)

19. Brush the whole pie (including the decorations) with more egg wash. Bake for 45 minutes.

20. Turn the heat of the oven down to 180c (160c fan)/355f/gas mark 4. Cook for 15 minutes. Check the pie, covering it with foil if it's browning very quickly. Cook for around another 15 minutes until the pastry feels crisp and is golden all over.

21. Leave to cool for a few minutes before serving.

22. Enjoy!

GBBO 2018 Week 5 - Spice - Ginger and Lemon Cake

Sorry, this week's bake is a bit late!!! It was Spice week on GBBO last week, and I made a variation of Manon's signature - a ginger and lemon cake. The sponge (which I adapted slightly from Manon's recipe) is lovely and soft, and deep with ginger - I never would have thought to use fresh ginger, but it worked incredibly well! The sponges are sandwiched with Manon's recipe for lemon and ginger curd - I do like this but it is VERY strong in ginger, so I only used a thin layer to sandwich the cakes, but you could use more if you like.

Her recipe also makes a lot of curd, so pour the rest into a sterilized jar and it can be spread on toast or used in other bakes!

I covered the cakes with an Italian meringue (as Manon did), but I flavoured it with a touch of chilli - this is controversial, but I like the slight heat in the meringue (where the heat isn't just more ginger). If you don't want this heat though, you could any other spices you like, or just something like vanilla extract or lemon rind.

Now, I'm not sure I'm super keen on how I coloured my meringue so I won't put that in the recipe below. If you're interested, I used Wilton's concentrated gel colourings to colour some of the meringue red and orange, then spread this on the cake to try to give an ombre effect - if you have tips on how to get stronger red/orange colours that'd be really good (I always end up with pastel shades...)

Makes one 20cm cake (serves 10-12)

Ingredients:

• For the sponges:
• 200g baking margarine
• 250g dark soft brown sugar
• 100g black treacle
• 100g golden syrup
• 100g root ginger, fresh (I washed but didn't peel mine), finely grated
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• pinch of salt
• 250g plain flour
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 150ml skimmed milk

For the curd:

• Juice of 4 large lemons (around 150ml)
• Zest of 2 large lemons
• 2 sheets of gelatine
• 150g caster sugar
• 100g fresh ginger (this is really strong, so if worried, cut down to 50-75g)
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 3 eggs
• 3 egg yolks
• 100g baking margarine (I found this worked just fine, but you could use butter instead)
• pinch of salt

For the Italian meringue

• 3 egg whites
• 300g granulated sugar
• 2 tbsp water
• 1/2 tsp chilli flakes (to taste/optional)

Method:

1. Make the cake. Preheat your oven to 180c (160c fan)/350f/gas mark 4. Grease the base and sides of two 20cm cake tins (preferably with loose bottoms/springform), and dust with flour.

2. In a saucepan, melt together the margarine, brown sugar, treacle, golden syrup and ginger, stirring regularly until all of the margarine has melted. Set aside to cool for a few minutes.

3. In a large mixing bowl sift together the plain flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder, ground ginger and cinnamon and add the salt. Pour over the melted margarine mixture and then add the eggs and the milk. Whisk together just until all of the flour has been incorporated.

4. Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tins and bake for 20-25 minutes, until just firm to the touch and the edges are slightly coming away from the sides of the tins. Leave to cool for 5 minutes, and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool fully.

5. Make the curd. Pour the lemon juice into a pan and add the leaves of gelatine, fully submerging them. Leave for 5 minutes for the gelatine to soften.

6. Add the lemon zest, ginger, caster sugar, ground ginger, eggs and egg yolks and start to stir. Place on a very low heat and keep stirring for 5-7 minutes, until the curd thickens enough to cover the back of a wooden spoon (do not let it boil or the eggs will scramble!)

7. Add the margarine, spoonfuls at a time, mixing well between each addition. Season with salt to taste. Leave to cool to room temperature, and then place in the fridge to fully set.

8. Make the Italian meringue. Pour the granulated sugar and water into a small saucepan and place on a low heat.

9. Meanwhile, place the 3 egg whites into a grease-free bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, and start whisking on a low speed.

10. Once the sugar and water reach around 110c/230f, turn the speed of the mixer up to whisk the egg whites until they are white and frothy. Keep heating the sugar/water until the temperature reads 119c/248f. At this point, take off the heat and turn down the speed of the stand mixer. 

11. Gently pour the VERY HOT syrup over the egg whites whilst whisking on a low speed. Once all of the syrup has been added, turn the speed of the mixer up and whisk until the meringue is glossy and holds stiff peaks.

12. To assemble the cakes, place one sponge on your cake board/serving tray. Spoon over a few tablespoons of the curd and level out. Top with the other layer of sponge and then cover with the meringue.

13. Enjoy!!