What have you baked today?

thenanny2die4

A white loaf, a mushroom and spinach quiche (using the on-date tub of ricotta from the fridge :j) and cheese straws.

I could never justify making a whole batch of cheese straws but I love making a few from leftover pastry. There always seems to be enough for a dozen or so.

Need2bthrifty

kingkano wrote: »

Swiss roll with italian buttercream filling :beer:

If you dont mind me asking - what is italian buttercream filling? Im not a fan of ordinary butter icing - I find it toooo sweet

thenanny2die4

I've made a batch of cheese and onion flavoured bread rolls.

kingkano

Need2bthrifty wrote: »

If you dont mind me asking - what is italian buttercream filling? Im not a fan of ordinary butter icing - I find it toooo sweet

Same here - way too sweet hurts my teeth. I was trying to find a substitute and stumbled on it and wouldnt go back now I've made it

Its a meringue based butter cream. You whip some egg whites upto peaks and add some little sugar to get a meringue type mix, then make a sugar syrup and cook it upto soft ball temp (115c/240f) and add that to you meringue while whipping, keep whipping till luke warm - then whip in your butter. It makes a really soft smooth and delicious cream for inside cakes. Much less buttery and sweet than regular butter cream.

I used 4 egg whites with 2oz sugar, syrup was 1/4 cup water and 8oz sugar, and 1 and a half blocks of butter (recipe said 2!). That would make enough for a 2 layer cake but I froze half.

If you hit youtube you can see a few demos of making it.

I admit it sounds complex at first but its really simple once you have a go

recovering_spendaholic

Need2bethrifty - Have you ever made marshmallow butter cream? It is far less sweet than traditional buttercream and so easy to make:

You need 100g any marshmallows
50ml milk (semi skimmed or whole)
125g of very soft unsalted butter (I used regular butter and it was fine)

You just put the milk and marshmallows in a pan over a low heat and leave until the marshmallows have melted. Stir and remove from heat and allow to cool to tepid. Then whisk the butter for about 2 minutes with an electric whisker thing and slowly add the milk/marshmallow mixture. You will think that it won't work but by some magic it turns into lovely thick cream!! Then you chill it and use it on or in cakes. You can add some vanilla extract or coffee to the milk if you want, or you can stir 2tbs of softened jam into the finished cream too, or you can mix cocoa powder into the milk before melting also.

suzybloo

Islandmaid the recipe I use is 12oz pinhead oatmeal, just over quartepint hot water, pinch salt, 3/4tsp bicarb soda, 2oz of any hard fat (I use trex) pour water over oatmeal and stand for few mins. melt trex, add salt & bicarb to oatmeal, then trex, mix thoroughly until it all starts to come together,roll out onto board sprinkled lightly with plain flour and more oatmeal.cut into desired shapes, I use an old saucer, then quarter the circle. This should make about 16 rough thick oatcakes. Pop in oven at 190 for about twenty mins on a greased tray. Allow to cool slightly before moving to a wire rack. total cost roughly would be bout 60p depending on oatmeal used. You could do variations, I have tried cracked black pepper ones too - brilliant with cauli cheese soup!

Need2bthrifty

kingkano wrote: »

Same here - way too sweet hurts my teeth. I was trying to find a substitute and stumbled on it and wouldnt go back now I've made it

Its a meringue based butter cream. You whip some egg whites upto peaks and add some little sugar to get a meringue type mix, then make a sugar syrup and cook it upto soft ball temp (115c/240f) and add that to you meringue while whipping, keep whipping till luke warm - then whip in your butter. It makes a really soft smooth and delicious cream for inside cakes. Much less buttery and sweet than regular butter cream.

I used 4 egg whites with 2oz sugar, syrup was 1/4 cup water and 8oz sugar, and 1 and a half blocks of butter (recipe said 2!). That would make enough for a 2 layer cake but I froze half.

If you hit youtube you can see a few demos of making it.

I admit it sounds complex at first but its really simple once you have a go

Oh wow, that sounds great.

I have seen James Martin on Saturday Kitchen making Italian meringues so have a good idea of what your saying, will give it a try on my next sponge. Thanks

Need2bthrifty

recovering_spendaholic wrote: »

Need2bethrifty - Have you ever made marshmallow butter cream? It is far less sweet than traditional buttercream and so easy to make:

You need 100g any marshmallows
50ml milk (semi skimmed or whole)
125g of very soft unsalted butter (I used regular butter and it was fine)

You just put the milk and marshmallows in a pan over a low heat and leave until the marshmallows have melted. Stir and remove from heat and allow to cool to tepid. Then whisk the butter for about 2 minutes with an electric whisker thing and slowly add the milk/marshmallow mixture. You will think that it won't work but by some magic it turns into lovely thick cream!! Then you chill it and use it on or in cakes. You can add some vanilla extract or coffee to the milk if you want, or you can stir 2tbs of softened jam into the finished cream too, or you can mix cocoa powder into the milk before melting also.

Again this sounds really nice, am now in a quandary as to which one to try out first, but have taken notes for future use, have some visitors coming to stay next month so may end up needing both,

Thanks so much.

kingkano

recovering_spendaholic wrote: »

Need2bethrifty - Have you ever made marshmallow butter cream? It is far less sweet than traditional buttercream and so easy to make:

You need 100g any marshmallows
50ml milk (semi skimmed or whole)
125g of very soft unsalted butter (I used regular butter and it was fine)

You just put the milk and marshmallows in a pan over a low heat and leave until the marshmallows have melted. Stir and remove from heat and allow to cool to tepid. Then whisk the butter for about 2 minutes with an electric whisker thing and slowly add the milk/marshmallow mixture. You will think that it won't work but by some magic it turns into lovely thick cream!! Then you chill it and use it on or in cakes. You can add some vanilla extract or coffee to the milk if you want, or you can stir 2tbs of softened jam into the finished cream too, or you can mix cocoa powder into the milk before melting also.

This sounds very interesting I might give it a go - thanks!

thenanny2die4

Well, I went the whole hog and, instead of plain old fairy cakes, whipped up a bowl of buttercream for today's cakes and topped them off with a malteser each. How very decadent.

I've been meaning to make scones all week. Perhaps now I've declared my intent, I might get around to it tomorrow.