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Great British Bake Off Finale 2015
In less than twenty four hours time, we’ll know who will be the winner of The Great British Bake Off 2015.
The downside of this is that this year’s series of Bake Off will come to an end, so we’ll have to say goodbye to Mary, Paul, Mel and Sue, cakes, pies, biscuits, meringues, pastries and breads until we see them again next summer – though sadly we’ll have to bid farewell to the 2015 contestants forever!
I get lost in my own little world when The Great British Bake Off is on. I actually feel as though I’m in the midst of the tranquil English countryside where the Bake Off tent is pitched. All those pastel, candy shades of iced goodies appeal to the kid in me. And even though the bakers often feel flustered and panic-stricken, there’s something so calming about the gentle pursuit of baking. It also invokes memories of home life and family time because let’s face it, who didn’t have a mother, aunt or grandmother who didn’t whip up baked delicacies, and I remember that growing up, teatime was a pretty big deal. And of course, the show celebrates that great British tradition, afternoon tea – which I’m sure you all know I’m a huge fan of. And best of all, for one deliciously decadent hour every week, we can forget that healthy eating ever mattered!
I think it’s fair to say that The Great British Bake Off is my very own televised Disneyland!
Mr.D and I have loved this year’s series – not to mention it’s sister program An Extra Slice with the hilarious Jo Brand. I often find that when I’m hooked on one year’s series of any show, the following year’s will fall a little flat so I wasn’t expecting to enjoy this series so much as I thought 2014 was brilliant. But this year has been equally fantastic and we thought the contestants were a delightful and mega-talented bunch. It was so hard to pick a favourite because I had a soft spot for so many of them including Alvin, Sandy, Nadia, Tamal, and Paul. We’ve been watching Bake Off since the third series and one of the things that I love about the show – apart from it developing my love of baking and further increasing my love of all things sweet – is the sense of camaraderie among the contestants and the way they’re always willing to pitch in and help each other out even though this is a competition, and this year’s series has been no different.
Everyone has their own idea about who will win the title of Great British Bake Off Winner 2015 but I personally cannot make my mind up between the finalists Ian Cumming, Nadia Hussain and Tamal Ray. A lot of the work they’ve done has been highly original and really had the wow factor. Some people may have thought that Ian’s chocolate well last week was too simplistic but I thought it was amazing and showed that he really thought outside the box. All three have worked hard to secure their place in the final, and they’re all so likeable that it’s impossible to decide who to root for, so I’m cheering them all on!
Tomorrow’s final is going to be a real show stopper in itself. It’ll be interesting to see what culinary creations Ian, Nadia, and Tamal conjure up. I cannot wait!
Afternoon Tea Christmas Style!
Christmas day may be over but that doesn’t mean that the fun times should stop!
I absolutely love Christmas. It’s my favourite time of year and I don’t care what anyone says – it’s not just for kids! One of the things I love about Christmas is the chance to eat, drink and be merry (is that three things?) It’s also great that you have the chance to catch up with people you might not see a great deal of throughout the year, and that you have time to relax. Furthermore, could there be a more aesthetically pleasing time of the year than Christmas? This year I’m super lucky that I will have two glorious weeks off work. Yes, I know it’ll fly by but right now I’m just going to wallow in my super relaxed state of bliss!
So I think that the Christmas break is the perfect opportunity to indulge in a festive themed afternoon tea party. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m a huge fan of afternoon tea. In fact, I’m a huge fan of anything that involves, food, drink, people and conversation. But there’s something extra special about having afternoon tea. I suppose that it’s because we don’t often find the time to have a real, proper afternoon tea so it’s become something of a treat.
And when you combine afternoon tea with my most favourite event of the whole year, Christmas, then you have a delightfully themed tea.
Of course, I’m not suggesting you have a Christmas afternoon tea on Christmas Day itself. By the time you’ve devoured the turkey with all the trimmings followed by a helping of Christmas pudding, tea will be the last thing on your mind! But the good news is that you can hold your Christmas themed tea at any time during the Christmas holidays which generally last for twelve days beginning on Christmas Day.
The beauty of hosting a Christmas afternoon tea during the season is that many of your family and friends are likely to be in town in order to celebrate the holidays, so it will be a lovely way to spend more time with them before they go home. There’s also no need to buy decorations for your tea – because it’ll already be there: the tree and other decorations will still be up; you might have poinsettias on the table; your fancy Christmas table cloth is likely to be adorning the table, and you may have lots of accessories in traditional Christmas colours.
Furthermore, it’s also a great way to use up any leftovers that you might have. Everyone knows that when it comes to Christmas, we really go town, buying/baking/cooking as though we’re facing the apocalypse. So there’s no need to prepare too much food, and in addition, any Christmas type food items that need to be bought are likely to be reduced in supermarkets after Christmas.
The list below gives food ideas of what you can include on your afternoon tea party menu which include typically Christmassy give festive flavours of Christmas:
SANDWICHES
Smoked salmon and cream cheese
Turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce
Ham and chutney
Ham, brie and apple
Bacon and chipolata
Cream cheese and cranberry
Cheddar cheese and chutney
Ricotta and orange marmalade
SAVOURIES
Mini sausage rolls
Mini Yorkshire puddings with turkey, stuffing and gravy
Filo parcels with cheese and cranberry sauce
Pigs in blankets
Baked brie with cranberries
Cheese scones
Cheese and bacon vol-au-vents
SWEET SCONES/TOASTED BREADS
Fruit loaf
Teacakes
English muffins
Slices of Panettone
Cranberry and dark chocolate scones
Orange and cranberry scones
CAKES, TARTS AND OTHER SWEET TREATS:
Christmas cake
Rum cake
Ginger cake
Mince pies
Spiced apple pies
Stollen
Mini yule logs
Orange and walnut cake
Cranberry and orange jelly in shot glasses
Sherry trifle served in teacups
DRINKS:
Mulled wine
Spiced tea
Ginger and cinnamon tea
Apple and cranberry fruit tea
Eggnog
Hot apple toddy
Spiced pumpkin latte
Shot glasses of thick hot chocolate flavoured with rum or Bailey’s
Remember to serve butter and jams such as fig, mulled plum or orange curd to go with the toasted breads and scones, and you might need some clotted cream if you’re serving scones which you could flavour with spices, orange zest or brandy if you wish. You might also need some chutneys and sauces to go with the savouries.
I found a delightful recipe for chocolate and orange scones, by Ellie Simmonds, which I have tried before so know it’s delicious and would be perfect as part of your Christmas tea.
CHOCOLATE AND ORANGE SCONES
Ingredients
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700g/1lb 9oz self-raising flour
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150g/5½oz butter
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150g/5½oz caster sugar
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2 large oranges, finely grated zest of both and juice of one orange
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150g/5½oz chocolate drops
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200ml/7fl oz whole milk, plus extra for brushing
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To serve
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clotted cream
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2 satsumas
Preparation method
- Preheat the oven to 210C/400F/Gas 6.
- Lightly butter two baking trays.
- Sift the flour into a bowl.
- Rub in the butter using your hands until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
- Stir in the sugar, chocolate drops and orange zest.
- In a measuring jug, mix the milk with the juice of one orange.
- Add to the flour mixture gradually until the dough just comes together.
- You may not need all the liquid. Be careful not to overwork the scone dough.
- Roll out the dough to approximately 2cm/1in thickness and cut out scones using a 5-6cm/2-2½in cutter.
- Transfer the scones to the buttered baking trays, brush the tops with milk and bake in the centre of the oven for 10-12 minutes, or until risen and golden-brown.
- Remove from the oven and cool on wire rack.
- Serve with clotted cream and satsumas.
Enjoy!
The Great British Bake Off: Beca’s Grapefruit Sandwich Cake
Another one of our guilty viewing pleasures is The Great British Baking Off – I suppose you could say that Mr. D and I are huge fans of any kind of culinary competition. During the first episode which focused on scrummy cakes, I was particularly fascinated by the grapefruit cake whipped up by contestant, Beca. I’m a huge fan of cakes made using lemon, orange, or lime but it never occurred to me that I could use grapefruit – which just happens to be one of my favourite citrus fruits. So here’s Beca’s recipe for her grapefruit cake. I love mascarpone and any kind of fruit curd so I’m going to have a go at making it myself but somehow I doubt it’ll be as great as Beca’s!
Ingredients
- For the grapefruit curd
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- 80g/3oz unsalted butter
- 80g/3oz sugar
- 3 large free-range eggs
- 125ml/4fl oz grapefruit juice (around 2½ grapefruits)
- 1 grapefruit, zest only
- For the candied grapefruit peel
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- 1 grapefruit
- 75g/2½oz caster sugar, plus extra for coating
- For the cake
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- 200g/7oz caster sugar
- 200g/7oz baking spread
- 210g/7½oz self-raising flour
- 4 large free-range eggs
- 25g/1oz ground almonds
- 1 grapefruit, zest grated and half the juice
- For the grapefruit sugar syrup
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- 75ml/2½fl oz grapefruit juice (around 1½ grapefruits)
- 75g/2½oz caster sugar
- For the mascarpone cream
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- 100g/3½oz mascarpone
- 200g/7oz double cream
- 50g/1¾oz icing sugar, sifted
Preparation method
- For the grapefruit curd, place a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Melt the butter in the bowl before adding all the other ingredients and whisk with an electric hand-held mixer until thickened. Remove from the heat and cool to room temperature before placing in the fridge to set further. (You will make more grapefruit curd than you need for the cake. Refrigerate the rest and eat within a week.)
- For the candied grapefruit peel, peel the grapefruit and cut the peel to the desired length and width. Place in a small saucepan, cover with water and bring to the boil. Boil for 10-15 seconds and then drain the peel. Return the peel to the same saucepan and add the sugar with 75ml/2½fl oz of water. Bring to a boil and cook for 8-10 minutes, or until the liquid is syrupy. Drain the peel and coat in more caster sugar before leaving to cool and dry on a wire rack.
- Preheat the oven to 180C/160C(fan)/Gas 4. Grease and line 2 x 20cm/8in sandwich tins.
- For the cake, mix all the ingredients together in an electric mixer. Divide the mixture equally between the two tins and bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 25-30 minutes. Allow to cool in the tins for five minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.
- Meanwhile, for the grapefruit sugar syrup, place the grapefruit juice and sugar in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil for around five minutes, or until the syrup begins to thicken. Remove from the heat and cool slightly.
- While the cakes are still warm, pierce the surface with a cocktail stick all over. Drizzle the syrup evenly over both cakes. Allow to cool completely.
- For the mascarpone cream, whisk the ingredients together until thick and airy, but not too stiff.
- To decorate the cake, place the bottom layer of the cake onto a serving plate.
- Transfer a quarter of the mascarpone cream into a piping bag fitted with a 1cm/½in plain nozzle, and set aside. Then spread on half of the remaining mascarpone cream onto the cake. Spoon over a generous amount of the grapefruit curd – some curd may spill over the edges but don’t worry about this.
- Place the other cake on top and spread the remaining cream on top of the cake, smoothing it all over so that it is evenly distributed.
- Using the piping bag, pipe balls of icing around the edges and centre of the cake. Place a few strips of the candied peel on each ball of icing. Serve straight away, or refrigerate until ready to be devoured.