What have you baked today?

SilverBird_2

Yesterday afternoon...

Everyday Sultana Cake mixture divided up into a 12 hole muffin tin. (A nice'n'easy recipe that only uses 1 egg.)

2 x Mincemeat & Bramley Apple pies - had half a large jar of mincemeat lurking in the fridge, divided this between the 2 pies and added a finely sliced bramley apple with a little sugar and a tbsp of water to each pie before putting on the pastry lid then brushed the top with water and sprinkled with sugar.

2 x 6" Quiches to use up some home-baked ham (reduced, from Mr S, cooked on Tuesday, most of it then sliced and put in the freezer), a couple of soft tomatoes, some mushroom stalks and the remains of a packet of cheese, seasoned to taste then mixed 4 free range eggs with some milk and divided the mixture between the 2 quiches before baking.

Shared one of the quiches with DH for tea, with some left-over cauliflower and broccoli. Also did a couple of smallish baked potatoes (as the oven was on for the other stuff) to go with the quiche and veg. Had a slice of mincemeat and apple pie for supper.

Justamum

Four loaves of bread, 18 bread rolls, flapjacks, 24 choc chip buns, 23 sultana buns.

suzybloo

Loaf of bread, Tray of Mars Bar crispy cake (using Lidl 'mars bars) and a dozen fruit scones,

kah22

I'm having two Australian cousins around later on this evening so I've prepared Roast Chicken with herbs and Cadamon Carrots. (Gordon Ramsay Recipe)

For dessert I decided to go for an Old Style Irish Apple Tart with homemade ice cream. Started me to thinking though there is an awful lot of egg yolks used in homemade ice cream does anybody know if you can buy powdered yolks - or is there such a thing?

albacookie

Pizza for tea, followed by rhubarb crumble - yum!

Linzoid698

rhubarb crumble here too !

medsdemon

Chocolate brownies :D

Finefoot

2 dozen cupcakes for my friends mother's funeral tomorrow.

Stephen_Leak

Over the weekend, I baked my first thing - a Black Forest gateau. Very, very well received, too.

BLACK FOREST GATEAU

This is one of the world’s classic desserts. This one bears little resemblance to the poor imitations of the real thing that you can buy. It doesn’t use flour, so it’s unbelievably light. The sponges can be made in advance.

The name does not come from the Black Forest directly, but from the colourless cherry brandy, called “Black Forest cherry water” (Schwarzwälder Kirschwasser) traditionally used to flavour it. In Germany, it must contain this, to be legally marketed as a Black Forest gateau. However, in domestic recipes, the more readily available sweet cherry brandy and cherry liqueurs can be used. In Austria, rum is usually used.

Serves 6

INGREDIENTS

1 teaspoon of sunflower oil
6 large eggs
150g of caster sugar
4 tablespoons of cocoa powder
284ml (1 medium carton) of double cream
1 tablespoon of caster sugar
400g tin of morello cherries
50g of dark chocolate

SPECIAL EQUIPMENT

2 x 20cm (8 inch) sponge cake tins
Greaseproof paper

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 180°C, 350°F or gas mark 4. Line the bottom of each tin with a circle of the greaseproof paper and coat the paper and the sides of the tin with the oil.

One at a time, break the eggs into a bowl, and pick out any bits of shell. Separate the eggs by lifting out the yolks with a spoon. Put them into another bowl.

Add the 150g of caster sugar to the egg yolks. Beat with a fork or whisk with a whisk until they go pale and thicken. Sprinkle the cocoa powder onto the mixture, a little at a time, and gently fold it in (see below) with a spoon.

Beat or whisk the egg whites until they are stiff.

Add a tablespoon of egg white to the mixture and gently fold it in (see below) with a spoon. Then add and fold in the rest.

Put half of the mixture into each cake tin and smooth the tops flat.

Cook in the preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes until the tops are firm and springy to touch.

Turn the cakes out of the tins and leave to cool. When they are just warm, peel off the greaseproof paper.

When you are ready to serve, put the cream and the tablespoon of sugar into a clean bowl. Beat with a fork or whisk with a whisk until it is “floppy”. This is firmer than when you started, but not solid.

Open the tin of cherries and drain off the juice, keeping 3 tablespoons of it in a cup. If they still have the stones in them, remove them (see below). Keep 12 of the least mangled ones for decoration. Cut the rest into slices.

Put one of the cakes onto a plate. Pour the cherry juice over it. Spread half of the cream over it. Put the sliced cherries on top. Put the other cake on top. Spread the rest of the cream over it. Arrange the whole cherries around the edge. Grate the chocolate over the top.

ADDITIONS & ALTERATIONS

Add 2 tablespoons of cherry brandy, cherry liqueur, cherry water or rum to the cherry juice.

TIPS

You can also separate eggs by cracking them in half and then pouring the yolk from one half shell to the other, as the white falls into a bowl below. However, the yolk can get broken on the sharp edge of shell, and your hands will get covered in egg white. You can also buy egg separators, which look like a small egg cup with a built-in saucer with holes in. However you do it, the important thing is not to get any egg yolk in with the egg white as it will not beat or whisk properly.

“Folding in” is gently combining ingredients, at least one of which has just been beaten or whisked. The idea is not to burst all the little air bubbles, which you have just beaten or whisked into it.

You can get devices for removing stones from olives and these will also work with cherries. You can get devices for removing stones from cherries and these will also work with olives.

Finefoot

Two loaves of bread.