Hello!!
So, I didn't get on to this years Great British Bake Off. I'm not going to go into details of the audition process partly because I signed a confidentiality agreement but also because I think some things are secret for a reason. And also I'm still a smidge on the bitter and twisted side that I didn't get to the next round and talking about it makes me sad.
I got great support from the chosen few who I told about the audition, including the above picture which my oldest friend, Abbie sent me on the morning and my best friend's mum sent me some official GBBO bunting which I'll hang in my bedroom to help keep the dream alive for another year.
But anyway!! Moving on. I applied because I love baking and so for my audition I decided to go a bit mental and make things I've never made before.
Now, I have made a large, lemon meringue pie before but I decided that I needed to be a bit different so I opted for individual orange and cranberry meringue pies (hence the recipes for orange curd and cranberry puree on my last blog).
Likewise, I've made cakes before - many, many cakes - but never a savory cake.
So for the pies you'll need a jar each of orange curd and cranberry puree.
For the pastry:
225g plain flour
110g cold butter cut into pieces
enough cold water to bind (around 75ml)
You'll note the lack of sugar - because the filling is very sweet and the meringue is also sweet, I didn't want a sugar overload so I kept the pastry sugar free but if you want to make a sweetened pastry, just add 50g caster sugar.
I used the lazy short cut of a food processor for the pastry using the excuse that I didn't want the heat from my hands to melt the butter. Of course, the old fashioned method works just as well.
So put the flour and butter in the processor bowl and pulse until you have what looks like fine breadcrumbs. Then VERY slowly drip the water through the funnel with the motor running, pausing every few seconds to see if the dough comes together. You'll hear the processor start to strain against the dough before you see it so be careful about adding too much water. Let the dough form a ball which will clean the inside of the processor bowl nicely leaving minimal washing up.
Wrap the dough in clingfilm and chill for 30 minutes.
Once it's chilled, pre-heat the oven to 170oC, flour your work surface and roll out to 2mm thick and use your mini pie cases as a guide to cut out circles of dough. I make the circles bigger so that the pastry can overhang to avoid shrinking when its blind baked.
Line the cases with grease proof paper and fill with baking beans. Bake for ten minutes then remove the beans and bake for a further 5-8 minutes until the pastry is lightly golden.
Wait until the pastry is completely cool before trimming off the excess pastry and filling the cases with the orange curd and cranberry puree. I wanted to see layers of filling so I spread two teaspoons of the the cranberry over the bottom of the pastry case and topped it with three teaspoons of orange curd. You don't want to over fill the cases else the filling will leak out when you bake the meringue so if your cases are 2cm tall, you only want 1cm of filling.
Turn the oven down to 110oC. Make sure you don't put the meringue in until it's reached this temperature. Leave the oven open for a minute or two to cool down.
For the meringue you'll need:
5 egg whites
250g caster sugar (general rule is 50g sugar per egg white)
1 tsp corn flour
My Kenwood comes into its own with meringue. I just turn it on and wander off while it whisks away. You're looking for a thick, shiney mixture which forms a straight peak when you lift the whisk out.
Working quickly, pipe or spread the meringue over the pies and whack them in the oven. The longer you leave meringue to its own devices the more air it looses and it loses its structure.
Bake at this low temperature for two hours. The meringue should form a dry, crisp outer shell. Once baked, turn the oven off but leave them in there until completely cooled.
Sadly, the batch I made to take with me for the big day, had a list of issues including, leaky filling which caused the pastry to stick to the tins, sticky meringue which was chewy rather than crisp and, the worst of all, the pastry on the bottom of the pies was.... was... SOGGY. Yep. I had soggy bottoms.
So that was what let me down - annoying as my previous efforts had been near perfection. But such is life.
And so we move on to the savory cake. I call it my Croque Monsieur cake as it has cheese and bacon in it.
You'll need:
100g cubed pancetta
Handful of black olives coarsely chopped
75g coarsely grated parmesan cheese
400g all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt
fresh ground pepper
100g cubed reblochon or other semi-soft cheese
2 tbsp freshly chopped herbs (such as parsley, thyme, and sage)
200ml milk
40g tbsp melted butter
1 large egg
175ml creme fraiche
Pre-heat the oven to 170oC.
Begin by browning the pancetta cubes and then allow them to cool.
Line a loaf tin with grease proof paper and sprinkle half the Parmesan in the bottom.
In a bowl mix the flour, baking powder, cayenne, herbs, salt, pepper, pancetta, olives and cheese. Allow the flour to stick to the cheese cubes so they they won't sink in the cooking cake.
In a large jug, beat the egg with the creme fraiche, milk and melted butter. Pour the wet mix into the dry and slowly mix together, wither with a wooden spoon or in your stand mixer on a slow setting.
When it's well mixed, spoon into the prepared tin. I find that with this mix, it's easier to use my hands to spread it into the tin. To avoid it sticking to your hands, rub a little oil onto your palms and then press the mix into the tin.
Finally, sprinkle the remaining Parmesan onto the top of the cake and bake in the pre-heated oven for between 1- 1 1/2 hours. The cheese keeps the cake moist and also makes it difficult to tell if it's cooked or not but a skewer should come out clean when it's done.
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