GBBO 2016 Week 7 - Lemon and Strawberry Cheesecake Roulade

It was all about desserts on this week on the Great British Bake Off. As I have a stockpile of cake in my house after making the three-tired cake from Week 6 (my recipe and pictures are here if you're interested), I decided to only bake one of the challenges - the signature roulade. I took inspiration from a couple of the bakers in the tent - Salasi and Andrew :)
Using a decorative paste, I piped strawberries onto the base of the cake, and the roulade itself is filled with strawberry jam and soft cheese that has been marbled through with home-made lemon curd.
If you don't fancy the cheese element, you could use lightly whipped double cream instead - I'm just not a huge cream fan...

Makes one roulade

Ingredients:

For the decorative paste:

• 40g butter, softened
• 40g icing sugar
• 40g egg whites (about 1 medium egg's worth)
• 45g plain flour
• Red food colouring (concentrated gel)
• Green food colouring (concentrated gel)

For the sponge:

• 4 eggs
• 120g caster sugar
• 100g plain flour
• 20g butter, melted

For the lemon curd:

• 175g caster sugar
• Zest and juice of 2 lemons
• 2 eggs
• 110g butter, cubed

To finish:

• 150g good quality strawberry jam (store-bought or home-made - my recipe is here)
• 200g soft cheese
• Icing sugar, to dust

Method:

1. Grease and line the base of a 30x24cm baking tray with baking parchment. Preheat your oven to 190c (170c fan)/ 375f/gas mark 5.

2. Make the decorative paste. Cream together the softened butter and icing sugar until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Add the egg white and flour, and beat until the mixture is smooth. Take about a tablespoon of the mixture and place in a separate bowl.

3. Colour the majority of the paste a deep red colour. Colour the reserved tablespoon green. Place the red paste in a piping bag, and pipe strawberry shapes all over the baking parchment lining the tin. Leave space to add green leaves.

4. Place the green paste in a piping bag, and pipe on leaves. Place the tray in the freezer for 10 minutes whilst you make the sponge.

5. Place a pan half-filled with simmering water on a medium heat, and place on top of it a heat-proof bowl. Make sure that the base of the bowl does not touch the water.

6. Crack the eggs into the bowl and add the caster sugar. Use an electric whisk to beat the egg/sugar mixture for 3-4 minutes, until it has doubled in size.

7. Take the bowl off the heat and whisk for a further 5 minutes on a medium speed.

8. Carefully pour the melted butter around the side of the bowl, and sift in the plain flour. Use a large metal spoon to quickly but carefully fold in the flour. As soon as no large flour speckles are visible, stop folding.

9. Take the tray out of the freezer and pour over the sponge mixture. Spread carefully to the edges of the tray using a spatula.

10. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the top of the cake is golden and springs back when lightly touched.

11. Carefully remove your sponge from the tray so that the greaseproof paper is touching the tabletop. Starting at the short end, roll up the sponge, leaving the greaseproof paper in place. Leave the sponge rolled up whilst it cools.

12. Make the filling. In a heat-proof bowl, add the sugar, lemon juice and zest. Beat in the eggs, then place the butter on top of the other ingredients.

13. As previously put the bowl on top of a pan half-filled with simmering water. Whisk continuously as the butter melts and the eggs begin to cook. Be careful to not let the mixture boil.

14. Keep stirring for 5-10 minutes, until the lemon curd has thickened enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon. Take off the heat and leave to cool - it will thicken as it cools down.

15. Marble the cooled lemon curd into the soft cheese, so that speckles of curd can still be seen.

16. To assemble, unroll the roulade carefully. Spread over the jam evenly, then top with the lemon soft cheese mixture.

17. Re-roll the roulade up, taking the baking parchment off the roulade as you roll. Dust with icing sugar.

18. Enjoy!

GBBO 2016 Week 6 - Summer to Autumn Botanical Cake

I know, I'm a week behind, but this cake took a while to prepare! The showstopper on this week of bake off was to make a three-layer botanical-themed cake. 
As it's just starting to get a bit chilly in England, I thought I'd make a cake to represent the changing of the seasons. The bottom layer is a spiced pumpkin and apricot cake - both ginger and cinnamon are botanicals :)
The middle layer is a rose and vanilla cake, soaked in a rose syrup. 
The top layer is my favourite - an orange Tunisian cake - this cake has an orange blossom glaze, making it botanical as well.
The cake is covered with a rose buttercream, icing and fondant rosettes (I know, I make them a lot!)
I also made my own crystallised rose petals - they are insanely easy to make - you just need to make them the day before to allow them time to dry.

The cake tins I used were 12cm (orange Tunisian cake), 17cm (vanilla & rose) and 23cm (spiced pumpkin). 

You will also need 8 straws to act as doweling rods - they help to prevent the layers of cake from collapsing.

For the buttercream roses you need a piping bag and a 2D piping nozzle.

Ingredients:

For the crystallised flowers:

• 1-2 rose buds - cleaned
• 1 egg white
• 50g caster sugar

For the orange Tunisian cake:

• 20g bread (white or wholemeal work well)
• 100g caster sugar
• 50g ground almonds
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 100ml vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• finely grated zest of one orange
• finely grated zest of one lemon

For the orange blossom syrup:

• 45g granulated sugar
• 1 cinnamon stick
• juice of one orange
• 1 tsp orange blossom water

For the rose & vanilla cake:

• 175g margarine (or butter)
• 250g caster sugar
• 3 eggs
• 100g natural yoghurt (I used fat-free and it worked well)
• 250g self raising flour
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp rose water

For the rose syrup:

• 70g granulated sugar
• 1 tsp rose water
• 50ml water

For the spiced pumpkin cake:

• 300g self raising flour
• 300g light soft brown sugar
• 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp allspice
• 175g dried apricots
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 4 eggs
• 200g margarine or butter, melted
• 500g butternut squash (or pumpkin), grated coarsely

For the buttercream frosting:

• 300g margarine 
• 600g icing sugar
• 1 tbsp rose water

For the buttercream roses:

• 150g butter, softened
• 300g icing sugar
• 1/2 tbsp orange juice
• orange food colouring (concentrated gel)
• purple food colouring (concentrated gel)

To finish:

• 500g fondant icing

Method:

Crystallised rose petals

1. Make sure the rose petals are clean and dry.

2. Whisk the egg whites until they have frothed up. Using a pastry brush, gently brush each petal with the egg white on both sides.

3. Dip the petals into the sugar, and tap off any excess sugar. Place onto a sheet of greaseproof paper, and leave until dry. This takes at least 3 hours, and preferably leave them overnight to dry fully.

Tunisian Orange Cake

1. Grease and line the base of a 12cm springform circular cake tin with baking parchment.

2. Blend the bread into fine breadcrumbs. Combine with the ground almonds and baking powder.

3. In a medium bowl whisk together the eggs, caster sugar, oil and zest of the orange and lemon. Add the dry ingredients (breadcrumbs/almonds/baking powder), and stir in briefly.

4. Pour into the cake tin, and place in a cold oven (do not preheat!).

5. Turn the oven to 150c/140c fan/gas mark 2. Bake the cake for 30-35 minutes, until the cake is golden on top and springs back when lightly pressed.

6. Towards the end of the cooking time, make the syrup. Place the granulated sugar, orange juice and cinnamon stick in a pan and bring to a simmer. Boil for 2-3 minutes, until reduced slightly.

7. Add the orange blossom water and remove the cinnamon stick. 

8. Once the cake is out of the oven, prick the top of the cake all over with a fork or skewer, then pour over the warm syrup. 

9. Leave to cool.

Rose and Vanilla Cake

1. Preheat the oven to 160c/140c fan/gas mark 3. Grease and line the base of a 17cm springform circular cake tin with baking parchment.

2. Cream the butter with the caster sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy.

3. Add the eggs, yoghurt, vanilla and rose extract, then sift in the flour. Gently fold in.

4. Pour into the prepared cake tin and bake for 35-40 minutes, until the cake is golden, and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.

5. Towards the end of baking, make the rose syrup by adding the water and granulated water to a pan and bringing it to the boil. Simmer for 2-3 minutes, until it has reduced slightly. Take off the heat and add the rose extract.

6. Once the cake is out of the oven, prick all over the top of the cake with a fork or skewer, then pour over the syrup.

7. Leave to cool.

Spiced Pumpkin cake

1. Preheat the oven to 180c/160c fan/gas mark 4. Grease and line the base of a 23cm springform cake tin.

2. In a large mixing bowl add the flour, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, allspice and salt. Break up the sugar so that no clumps exist and stir the dry ingredients together.

3. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in the butter and eggs. Beat until the wet ingredients are well-incorporated.

4. Add the dried apricots and pumpkin/butternut squash. Fold in until evenly throughout the batter.

5. Pour into the prepared cake tin. Bake for 45-50 minutes, until springy to the touch and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.

6. Leave to cool.

Buttercream frosting

1. Pour the icing sugar into a bowl, and add the margarine and rose extract. Beat until smooth and spreadable. Add a little hot water (a teaspoon at a time) if it is too stiff.

2. Use a palette knife the spread buttercream over the top and sides of each cake layer - this is a crumb coating, and will taste great and mean that the icing will stick to the cake.

3. Place each layer in the fridge to firm up for 30 minutes.

Icing the cakes

1. Prepare the fondant by kneading it lightly. For my fondant, I marbled the icing through with a little purple and orange food colourings - go wild with whichever colour(s) you'd like :D

2. Divide the fondant - you will need 250g for the bottom layer, 175g for the middle layer, and 75g for the top layer. Roll the fondant icing out to a few mm thickness, so that it can cover the respective cake's top and sides

This works best on a silicon mat, but if you don't own one, clingfilm works well. As to a rolling pin, plastic ones (rather than wooden ones) are vastly superior! If you don't have one, I can really recommend getting one - I bought a small one from Ebay, and it only cost a few pounds :)

3. Drape each piece of fondant over the cake, and gently smooth over. Cut off any excess fondant.

Assembling the cake layers

1. Place the bottom layer of cake on a cake board. Place four straws in the centre of the cake in a square, so that they are equal distant from each other and the edge of the cake. Press down until the straw touches the cake board.

2. Trim the straws so that the top of the straw just pokes out of the top of the cake.

3. Place the middle layer on the middle of the cake. Repeat the placement and trimming of straws.

4. Place the top layer of cake on to the centre of the middle layer. 

Buttercream roses

1. Cream together the butter and icing sugar with the orange juice until it is smooth and thick enough to pipe (practice piping a little onto some greaseproof paper. If it holds it's shape, it's ready. If the mixture is too slack, add more icing sugar. If it is difficult to add, add a little more orange juice a teaspoon at a time.

2. Once the buttercream is the correct consistency, colour it orange using the gel food colouring. This will slacken the mixture slightly.

3. Turn a piping bag inside out, and paint a purple line along the length of the bag. Gently turn the bag back out and place in a 2D piping nozzle.

4. Cut the end off of the bag and fill with the orange buttercream.

Finishing Off

1. Pipe roses onto the cake. To pipe a rose, pipe a small blob of icing in the centre of where the rose will be, then pipe around this blob in a spiral. Pipe the roses so that they look to cascade down the cake.

2. Add the crystallised flowers.

3. Enjoy!!

GBBO 2016 Week 6 - Lime and Ginger Meringue Pie

This week on The Great British Bake Off, the theme was botanicals. I was pretty confused leading up to the episode about what would actually be baked, other than flowers, but the first challenge was pretty straightforward - a citrus meringue pie.
I decided to make a lime and ginger meringue pie, which is lovely and sharp from the filling, with a sweet and fluffy Italian meringue topping. It's super yum, and was really simple!
I used a long tart tin with a removable base - it's 36cm (14 inches) x 10cm (4 inches). If you use a larger tart tin, double the quantity of the recipe.
I've also found that for the meringue, it is very important to use good quality fresh egg whites - otherwise the whites do not whip up well and you get a flat meringue :(

Ingredients:
For the pastry:

• 125g (1 cup) plain flour
• 30g (2 tbsp) icing sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 60g (1/4 cup) butter, chilled and cubed
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 & 1/2 tbsp water

For the filling:

• 1 tin (400g, 1&1/4 cups) sweetened condensed milk
• 120ml lime juice (I used bottled lime juice, but this would be 4-5 limes/1/2 cup)
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 tbsp chopped stem ginger

For the meringue topping:

• 300g (1 & 1/2 cups) sugar
• 2 tsp lime juice
• 140g (1/2 cup & 1 tbsp, about 5 medium eggs worth) fresh free-range egg whites 
• 180ml (1/2 cup) water
• Red food colouring (concentrated gel)

Method:

1. Prepare the pastry. Into a large bowl sieve the plain flour, icing sugar, salt, ginger and cinnamon.

2. Add the butter to the dry ingredients and rub together until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Be patient at this point and make sure no large clumps of butter remain.

3. Add the egg yolk and water. Bring the dough together with your hands. Knead lightly into a ball.

4. Roll the dough out between two layers of clingfilm, until it is around the thickness of a pound coin (2-3mm). Transfer to the tart tin. Trim off any excess pastry. Line with baking parchment, and fill with baking beans/rice/flour.

5. Chill the pastry for 30 minutes.

6. Preheat your oven to 180c (160c fan)/350f/gas mark 4.

7. Bake the pastry case for 10 minutes. Carefully remove the parchment and baking beans/rice/flour, then bake again for 3 minutes. Set aside whilst you make the filling.

8. Beat together the lime juice, sweetened condensed milk, egg yolks and chopped stem ginger. Pour into the pastry case, it will nearly come to the top of the tin.

9. Reduce the temperature of the oven to 160c (150c fan)/325f/gas mark 3. Return the tart to the oven for around 10 minutes, until the filling is set (it doesn't wobble when the tart is lightly moved).

10. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.

11. Make the Italian meringue. Pour the sugar and water into a medium saucepan, and place on a medium heat. Heat the mixture until it reaches 113c/235f.

12. Meanwhile, whip the egg whites using an electric whisk or stand mixer until stiff peaks form - this means that when the whisk is removed from the mixture, a peak of egg white stands, which doesn't tip over.

13. Once the sugar/water has reached 113c/235f, take off the heat. Whilst whisking the egg whites, gradually pour in the hot sugar syrup. Keep whisking until the meringue has stiff peaks - this takes between 7 and 9 minutes, so if you have one, use a stand mixer (or have a great arm work out!).

14. Turn your piping bag inside out, and paint a stripe of red food colouring up one side of the bag (about 1/2cm wide). Turn your bag back outside (so that the red food colouring is on the inside).

15. Place a 2D closed star nozzle into the piping bag. Trim the end off the bag, then fill with meringue. Pipe rosettes all over the tart, as neat as you can.

16. Return the tart to the oven for 10 minutes, until the meringue has lightly browned all over. Leave to cool.

17. Enjoy!