Although I am sad the Bake Off is over for another year, it’s been hard work baking goodies each week … and then eating them. My stomach is looking decidedly large, and I am hoping that without the obligation to bake each week I’ll be able to shed a few pounds. It has been delicious […]
Great British Bake Off 2015
GBBO week 10 – chocolate: oaty millionaire’s shortbread chocolate tart
Mmmmmm, chocolate. One of my favourite things ever. However, I do often think a good cannot be improved by being baked – why mess with the perfectly portable and convenient bar of chocolate or do any more than pluck your favourites from an open box? Additionally, with Andrew not being a chocolate fan, there doesn’t […]
GBBO week 9 – patisserie: cream horns
Cream horns are the kind of thing I used to be given as a treat when I was little – a posh and indulgent cake from the local bakery. Sugar-encrusted puff pastry filled with whipped cream is a simple thing, but done well it’s a thing of beauty. Cream horns in themselves are not complicated: […]
GBBO week 8 – pie: chicken and leek pie
I had never made puff pastry before, but following some recent success with Arlettes (made with reverse puff pastry) I decided to give it a go so that I could make a pie for this week’s Bake Off challenge, and also make some cream horns for next week’s challenge, as I’ll be in Las Vegas […]
GBBO week 6 – frangipane: Chocolate Crunchie Frangipane Tart
Frangipane, frangipane, frangipane. How I want to like you, but I just don’t. The combination of sweetened ground almonds reminds me too much of the detestable marzipan. But as the GBBO alternative challenges this week were a complicated and difficult looking pudding, and a selection of vol-au-vents which I love but my tummy doesn’t need […]
GBBO week 5 – sugar free cake: table sugar free, gluten free, dairy free coconut and pineapple cake
First, before we go any further, let me just be completely clear that this cake contains coconut sugar instead of cane sugar. To me that’s not really sugar-free, although it does comply with the rules of this week’s Bake Off challenge. It may not be table sugar – the white, granulated stuff that we know […]
GBBO week 4 – baked cheesecake: Speculoos biscuit cheesecake (Lotus Biscoff)
Have you ever tried speculoos biscuits? If you have ever been to a little coffee shop on the continent and been served a lightly spiced, caramel biscuit with your coffee then chances are you have tried one. Or maybe you tried to recreate my homemade speculoos biscuits? My point is, if you haven’t tried them […]
GBBO challenge week 3: bread – soda bread and home-churned butter
I cannot start this post without commenting on Paul’s amazing lion bread sculpture. How impressive was that? I did briefly entertain the idea of making a bread sculpture of my own (obviously in the shape of a cat), but sometimes life is too short eh? Baguettes are something I would like to make one day, […]
GBBO challenge week 2 – Biscuits: oat shortbread Welsh dragon box with cat-shaped bourbon biscuits
I do love biscuits. My favourites, in no particular order, are chocolate coated malted milk biscuits, chocolate coated digestives, hob nobs, and boaster cookies. If we’re talking homemade then I love custard creams and shortbread (I don’t like shop-bought versions of these unless the shortbread is the proper buttery stuff), my nutella-stuffed chocolate chip cookies […]
GBBO challenge week 1 – Cake: Gin & Tonic madeira cake
I do love a bit of Bake Off, and Andrew even lets me watch it … although he only managed approximately 40 seconds of it before he stuck his earphones on. I genuinely don’t understand why he hates the show so much – it’s so relaxing to watch, and of course a great way to pick […]