Strawberry Meringue Layer Cake, Not So Good Chocolate Muffins, and My Very Own Banana Muffins

Fancy, no?

As promiced, I have been up to more baking ^_^ Yup, I had a free Saturday and the need to bake, so I got going for some Sunday dessert.
I decided that I haven't really done anything new or interesting for a while, so I decided to try this from Nigella's 'Forever Summer', not exactly the weather for it, I know but it looked pretty.

Mmmm, cake!

Ingredients:

• 125g plain flour
• 25g cornflour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 100g soft, unsalted butter
• 300g caster sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons natural vanilla essence
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 50g flaked almonds
• 375ml double cream
• 250g strawberries (I used raspberries)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Line, butter, and flour 2 X 22 cm Springform tins.
2. Weigh out flour, cornflour, and baking powder in a bowl.
3. Cream butter and 100g of the sugar in another bowl until light and fluffy.
4. Separate the eggs and beat the yolks into the butter and sugar.
5. Fold in the dry ingredients, add the vanilla, stir in the milk.
6. Divide between the two tins.
7. Whisk the egg whites 'til soft peaks form. Then add the remaining 200g egg whites. Spread meringue on top of sponge in each tin, sprinkle with almonds.
8. Bake for 30-35 mins until meringue is dark golden brown. Let cool in tins, and spring open at last minute when ready to assemble.
9. Whip double cream, hull and slice strawberries.
10. Invert one cake and pile with cream and berries. Place the second cake on top, meringue side up.

All in all, I think this turned out quite well. I was a bit nervous about there being a really small amount of sponge, I was aftaid that it would just burn and be, shall we say, not so good. Then there was the whole problem with me not actually having two springform tins, but I did have once springform and one loose-bottomed, and that turned out okay. It is a bit delecate, but not half as fragile as I thought it would be. I could'nt get hold of any fresh strawberries, so I had to do with frozen raspberries, which were still pretty damn good.
Taste wise it was pretty much what you would expect, classic taste really. Meringue, raspberries, cream, and almonds, but I think the sponge gave it a little extra something, definitly worth the effort, and I think it looks pretty good too (thought my photos aren't so hot, I really have to try and take them before 12 at night >_<)

YUCK!

Then my sister, not being a fan of cream and fruit, asked me to make here some big ol' chocolate muffins with big, crusty tops and squishy insides. This all sounded pretty tasty to me, but I've yet to find a good chocolate muffin recipe in my cookbooks, so I went online and found one that I thought looked promicing. The results? Not so good, not worth posting the recipe. I mean, they were palatable, but you wouldn't buy them. They stuck to the wrapper, were quite dry (though I might have overbaked them a tiny bit) The only thing I can think of is that, since I ran out of coca powder half-way through, I had to use 25gs of drinking chocolate and reduce the sugar, but I don't think that could have effected them that much. All in all, I was none too happy. So, now I'm asking, anyone out there found their ultimate chocolate muffin recipe? And, if so, would you be willing to share your secrets?

My Very Own!

Finally, I decided to go on a baking adventure of my own! (wow, I sound really lame). I've been making recipes out of books for a long time now, and although I do modify them, I've never made my own. I had a craving for banana muffins and thought: Hey, let's try making up a recipe!
The results weren't bad. I decided to make them healthy, so there is wholemeal flour and not a lot of sugar. I think their lack of 'oomph' was due to this, I've had tastier, sugar-packed ones, but they had a wholesome quality and I'd have them again. Next time I would love to try substituting bran for some of the wholegrain flour, but I didn't have any at the time.
By the way, did you notice my adorable little muffin cases? I got them in habitat in Dublin, only one euro for twelve cases! I was DELIGHTED ^_^

Unfotunatly, in all my enthusaism I forgot to actually write the recipe down >_<>

How could you resist?

Lemon Meringue pie has to be one of my favourite desserts, especially when made with a biscuit base. Pastry is good and all, but there's something about the crumbly texture that just works so well with the puffy meringue. The one thing I hate about making this dessert is that the meringue always ends up sliding away from the filling when you put a slice on a plate, and it ends up looking like a big mess >_< The recipe I used was adapted from Williams and Sonoma's 'Essentials of Baking'. Originally it had a pastry crust, but I substituted this for a biscuit base. Other than that I didn't make any changes. I like this recipe a lot, the lemon filling isn’t too sweet and the meringue is light and fluffy :)

I love the way droplets of water form on the meringue after it's cooled

Recipe: Lemon Meringue Pies

Base:

Ingredients:

200g crumbed digestive biscuits
4-5 tablespoons butter

Method:

Grease and line a 23cm ceramic pie dish. Mix together the biscuit crumbs and melted butter and press evenly into the base of the prepared tin. Baking in oven at 150 degrees Celsius/ 300 F for about ten minutes, or until golden brown. Transfer to fridge to cool

Lemon Filling

Ingredients:

6 tabelspoons/45g cornstarch

1 1/2 cups/ 375ml water

5 large egg yolks

1 3/4 cups/440g granulated sugar

1/2/ cup/125ml fresh lemon juice

2 teaspoons grated lemon zest

Method:

In a small bowl, combine the cornstarch and 1/2 cup/ 125 ml of the water and stir until the cornstarch dissolves.
In a saucepan, whisk together the egg yolks, granulated sugar, lemon juice, and remaining 1 cup/ 250 ml water until well blended. Whisk in the cornstarch mixture and bring to the boil over a medium heat whisking constantly, about 8 minutes. Boil for a further 1 minute until the mixture thickens and looks clear. Remove from heat and stir in the lemon zest. Using a rubber spatula, scrape the filling into a medium bowl and place plastic wrap directly on the surface of the filling to stop a skin from

Meringue:

Ingredients:

6 large egg whites, at room temperature

½ teaspoon cream of tartar

6 tablespoons/ 90g caster sugar

Method: In a large bowl, combine the egg whites and cream of tartar. Using a hand-mixer beat on medium speed until the whites begin to thicken. Increase the speed and beat until soft peaks form. Slowly and the caster sugar and continue to beat until stiff, shiny peaks form.

To assemble:

Remove the plastic wrap from the lemon filling and pour over pre-baked base. Using a rubber spatula, distribute the meringue evenly over the filling, moulding it upwards towards the centre, and forming swirls and peaks. Bake until meringue is lightly browned, about 12-17 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and cool for one hour. Refrigerate until cold, at least 5 hours or up to overnight. Serve cold.

It’s really, REALLY important to keep it in the fridge for long enough, the lemon filling needs to get good and solid. It’s meant to be supported inside a pie-crust, but seeing as how I use a biscuit base it tends to ooze once cut, but in my opinion it’s worth it.

Heaven With Strawberries

Hello! First post in my new blog! I guess I should say some inspirational words about why I made it etc. Let's cut to the chase; I like to bake and take pictures, that's why I made it. I want to try and develop my skills and get feedback and comments from people who actually know what they're doing, and I just like to go on and on about things. So enjoy!

In honour of my new blog I baked a strawberry tart, it seemed appropriate. I have wanted to bake one of these for ages and now seemed as good a time as any, especially since they were selling two packets of strawberries for five euro in Dunnes. The recipe is taken from Williams and Sonoma’s ‘Essentials of Baking - which is one of my favourite baking books that I own. The recipes are really good and deliver exactly what they pro mice, plus the step by step instructions are really clear and easy to follow.
I altered the recipe slightly, using patisserie cream instead of the suggested mascarpone cream filling and I had to use vanilla essence rather than a pod as they are IMPOSSIBLE to get.

Filled tart case

The jam glaze really helps to brighten up the fruit

And a shot of the yummy, if not slightly squidgy, inside.

Recipe: Strawberry Tart with Patisserie Creme

Rich Tart Pastry:

Ingredients:

1 ¼ cups (200g) all-purpose flour

½ cup (60g) confectioners’ sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

½ cup (125g) unsalted butter, cold, cut into 2 cm pieces

2 large egg yolks

1 tablespoon cream

Method:

In a food processor combine the flour, confectioners’ sugar, and salt. Pulse one or two times to mix. Add the butter pieces and pulse 7-8 times until the mixture forms large, coarse, crumbs the size of large peas.

In a small bowl, lightly beat the egg yolks with a fork, then stir in the cream until blended. With the motor running, add the egg mixture and process until the dough begins to come together, but does not form a ball.

On a work surface, shape the dough into a 6 inch (15cm) disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 45 minutes.

Remove the disk from refrigerator. If it is too hard to roll out leave it to stand at room temperature for 10-20 minutes. Lightly dust a rolling pin and work surface with flour.

Roll out the dough and line a 9 inch (23cm) tart pan, using a double crust on the edges. Freeze tart until firm, about 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius (400 Fahrenheit). Line the frozen tart shell with aluminium foil, fill with dried beans/rice/baking weights.

Bake until crust dries out, around 15 minutes.

Reduce heat to 180 degrees Celsius (350 Fahrenheit)

Remove foil and weights. Bake until the crust is golden brown, about 10 minutes. Transfer to wire rack and cool.

Pastry Cream (Créme Patisserie):

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups (375 ml) whole milk

1 vanilla bean, halved length ways and scraped

4 large egg yolks

½ cup (125g) sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Method:

In a saucepan over a medium heat warm the milk and vanilla bean pod and scrapings until small bubbles appear along the edges of the pan. Remove from heat, then remove the pod.

In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, cornstarch, and sugar until smooth. Slowly whisk in the hot milk until blended. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and place over a medium-low heat. Cook, whisking constantly, until mixture comes to the boil and thickens, about three minutes. Cook for a further minute. Pour through a fine-meish sieve into a clean bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, poke a few holes in the wrap. Refrigerate until well chilled, at least 2 hours.

3 tablespoons seedless strawberry or raspberry jam.

About 25 strawberries, hulled.

To assemble:
Melt the jam in a microwave on medium power. Fill the tart shell with the pastry cream. Carefully arrange the strawberries, pointed end up and close together, on top of the filling. Brush strawberries with melted jam. Refrigerate until cold.

I thought this was a really, really nice tart, and was quite proud of it if I do say so myself. The cream wasn't too rich but still creamy and satisfying. I would have perhaps liked it to be a little more solid to prevent the contense of the tart sliding out of the case once cut, but sacrafices must be made.