Week 8- Forgotten Bakes

It's that time in the week again! This week was a new week for Bake-off, forgotten bakes week. Technical challenge this week: A Cumberland Rum Nicky. To no one's surprise, I have not made this before, and I cannot say I was looking forward to it. However, this bake did pleasantly surprise me!

In actual fact I was dreading it, it looks old fashioned, boring and far too fruity for a chocolate lover like myself. Yet, I had to remind myself the whole reason I was undertaking these challenges was to break free of my chocolate cupcake rut, so a Cumberland Rum Nicky it was!

The Prep
I am going to admit, during my unenthusiasm for this bake I got slightly lazy. I did the worst thing a baker can do- I didn't follow the recipe. I substituted ingredients.. my friends reading this will know this is actually a rather common occurrence when I bake, however, they are also aware of how badly this can go. So I used raisins instead of dates and light rum instead of dark rum. What could go wrong?

The Bake 
First time making short-crust pastry and I was surprised at how easy it was! Compared to all the long kneading dough recipes this was a really nice change. And the lattice (square design on the top) was really not too bad. This bake was so easy. Too easy one might say...

The Result 
It actually went really well. It smelt good, and I was actually feeling proud of myself. I for once wasn't running around the kitchen like a mad woman. Maybe I am getting better? I thought it was so good I brought it to my boyfriend's house for dinner with his family.

A brave move...Once we sat down cutting the first slice, I realised my error. Without dates, it was primarily a raisin pie with few apricots. The standard of meals at their house are high, and this didn't really meet quite up to the usual standard. However, they were lovely, and his dad even said he would make his own pastry. A year ago my dog wouldn't eat my bakes, so I think I'm making progress!

...then I realised I only cooked 1 of the 2 requirements of the bake. I forgot the rum butter. Alas, some things never change!

Week 7- Settimana Italiana

Good afternoon all! Welcome back and yes, the week we have all been waiting for without knowing it, its Italian week! Now if there is one thing I do know ..its pizza, I feel like I have done a lot of research for this technical bake throughout my life. I, like any pizza lover (aka the rest of the world), am a harsh pizza critic so the pressure was on to get this right.

The Prep 
I have made pizza before so thought it would be relatively bog standard, I was wrong. Prue requested 00 flour, and let me tell you this was not easy to find. Turns out it's basically some extra white Italian flour, which came at a price. I was very tempted to just leave it, however, I thought if I am going to do this, I am going to have to do this right. (I forked out for a bloody waffle maker three weeks ago, the least I can do is spend a couple extra pounds on flour). So with my fancy flour and a lighter wallet, I was ready.

The Bake 
I am not going to lie, pizza dough is very easy. However, like any dough, it just takes a bit of time. Fortunately, the overheated house I live in did wonders for the rising. Who needs a proving draw when you have parents who wish to be living in the Caribbean?

My favourite part of this was tossing the pizza to shape it. I was swirling it around, at some questionable heights with some very funky traditional Italian music in the background of course.. have to get into the role.

The Result
For me, it was a disappointment. It was crumbly and didn't have a good chew that I usually enjoy when munching on these cheesy doughy delights. My family and friends, on the other hand, said it was good however they are kind which appears to be an issue when judging my bakes. I think next time around- more kneading, more garlic and more cheese (always more cheese).

Faff: 3/10
Taste: 5/10
Appearance: 7/10

Week 6- Pastéis de nata

We go to Portugal every year and every year I look forward to tucking into one of their pastéis de nata. They are creamy, puffy, Portuguese perfection and they far exceed our rather shoddy English custard tarts. So when I saw that these were the technical challenge for this week I was jumping for joy!

The Prep
Super easy, all the ingredients are very bog standard and would be found in any baker's cupboard. The only thing that slightly took me by surprise was the 7 egg yolks! So we will be having a lot of egg white omelettes as a consequence. And the amount of sugar, no wonder these little puffs of goodness taste so amazing, they are large sugar cubes disguised with eggs. Anyways, not that that is an issue, if you don't like sugar I don't think traditional baking would be for you.

The Bake
This was my first time making puff pastry, so I was going in blind. Paul Hollywood's instructions appear to be rather sparse at times, which shouldn't surprise anyone. However, I think my biggest tip would be to keep your kitchen cold (or put it in the fridge as much as you can!) It makes the pastry easier to work with.

Also this was the only bake where I was literally running around like a mad woman. I had flour all over me, temperature gauges beeping at me, meanwhile trying to separate seven egg yolks as fast as I could. I am not going to lie, I did love this. It felt very authentic and bake off worthy. And yes another milestone, first time I have ever used a temperature gauge while baking! Managed to avoid it during caramel week, but this week it was my time!

The Result
I think they went rather well! The only thing I was slightly concerned about was my oven seemed to give top heat only, so a few had very raw bottoms. But I just put them back in the oven with foil over which seemed to do the trick.

Faff: 7/10
Taste: 7/10
Appearance: 8/10

Week 5- 'Molt' in the middle peanut butter cake

 Another week, another blog post! This week melt in the middle puddings (also known as Molten puddings). This is the first bake which I actually have had some experience in! One of my favourite desserts is lava cake so I was feeling an odd feeling I have never felt in this technical challenge project... confidence? no surely not.

When I told my family of the bake, many weren't enthusiastic, 'peanut butter? in a pudding?!', others commented saying it was very 'American'- well regardless I think it would do them good to try more 'foreign food'. However, they were not alone, even Paul Hollywood the creator of this recipe criticised ex-baker off star Martha for exactly the same recipe? - well, love or hate it I was baking it.

Pre-bake
Ingredients were very easy to source, all the things you are likely to have in your cupboard so you would be able to just make this pudding whenever, which was nice... nothing worse than a bake having niche ingredients! However, that being said this bake required pudding holders. As you can imagine I was not best pleased to see this after spending 23 quid on a ridiculous wafer maker. So I rebelled, I refused to spend more money on bakes and decided the humble muffin tin would suffice.

The Bake
Relatively easy for once and so quick, at last! I think the only thing that went wrong with this bake was not accounting the different size pudding tins and muffin tins would be. So I ended up with tons of peanut butter and not enough chocolatey goodness. Equally, I baked them the same time do not all of them were molten.. which was a bit of an issue as that tends to be a requirement for these puddings. 

The Result
For me, they were too sweet and dry. I think too much peanut butter may have been the issue, however for my dad, the biggest critic of peanut butter in a pudding.. well he finished three in one night and is fully converted to the Reese's PJ cup life! You win some you lose some.

*Getting into the food photography