Bake Off Bake Along: Week 8 - Cherry, Marzipan & Pistachio Cake

If you haven't already guessed I wasn't entirely enamoured with Tudor week. I didn't fancy making a pie, knotted biscuits or fussing around with twiddling some marzipan over a cake. So I took it upon myself to boycott Henry VII and made a cake instead, with marzipan baked in. Sorry Henry. But...this cake is super moist as it uses ground almonds, and is the perfect balance to the cherries and pistachio. 

I couldn't find any fresh cherries in my local supermarket so opted for frozen ones and left them to defrost and dry out, before a good flour coating in a bid to stop them from sinking to the bottom of the cake as much as possible. I even added some on the very top, but they still sunk a little. Any tips to stop this baking experts?

C H E R R Y,   M A R Z I P A N   &   P I S T A C H I O   C A K E
(Recipe adapted from Delicious, serves 12)

300g cherries, pitted and finely chopped

150g marzipan, chopped into small chunks

150g self raising flour, plus 1tbsp extra

225g unsalted butter, softened

185g caster sugar

zest of 1 lemon

1tsp almond extract

4 eggs

100g ground almonds

1tsp baking powder

50g pistachios, roughly chopped

icing sugar to dust

1. Heat the oven to 170 degrees and grease and line a 20cm springform cake tin.
2. Mix both the marzipan and cherries with the 1tbsp of flour, this will help them to not sink in the cake during baking. Set aside.
3. Beat the butter, sugar and zest together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
4. Gently fold in the flour, ground almonds, baking powder and a pinch of salt. Fold in half of the cherries and marzipan and pour into the prepared springform tin. Add the remaining cherries and marzipan on the top and gently press into the top of the mixture.
5. Bake in the centre of the oven for 20 minutes before turning down the heat to 160 degrees and baking for a further 50 minutes. Once cooked, a skewer inserted into the middle will come out clean.
6. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for at least 10 minutes before turning out and leaving to cool fully.
7. Top with chopped pistachios and dust with icing sugar to finish.

F O L L O W   M Y   B A K E   O F F   B A K E   A L O N G...

     

Week 1 - Jaffa Cakes
Week 2 - Iced Doughnut Biscuits
Week 3 - Chocolate Twist Babka
Week 4 - Giant Churros
Week 5 - Cherry Bakewell Tart
Week 6 - Brownie Bottomed Coffee Mousse Cake
Week 8 - Cherry, Marzipan and Cherry Cake

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Bake Off Bake Along: Week 5 - Cherry Bakewell Tart

Another week in the tent of dreams, and another bake that usually wouldn't phase me...but did. Its as if the baking Gods (i.e. Paul) knew I was using shop bought pastry and let me down. This week saw a patchwork of pastry and a leak. Pastry week was a flop.

A flop until I got some treats from the lovely Debenhams gang from their Tala range. My baking armoury is ready Paul, bring on botanical week! There's everything from icing nozzles to pastry making tools - star baker I'm coming for you.

But for now, I tried every which way to ensure that there were no soggy bottoms. With the blind bake, I pricked the base and loaded up with baking beans in a bid to dry out the pastry. My mistake was in chopping surplus pastry off before the blind bake rather than after, and it shrunk down the sides of the tin. I tried to patchwork in some new sides but it didn't work so much. Mary would have called in informal and Paul a mess. And ultimately it sprung a leak!

C H E R R Y   B A K E W E L L   T A R T
(Recipe adapted from BBC Good Food, serves 8)

1 block of shop bought shortcrust pastry (sorry Mary and Paul!)

2-3tbsp morello cherry jam

125g unsalted butter

125g caster sugar

125g ground almonds

1 egg, beaten

1tsp almond extract

50g flaked almonds

80g icing sugar, sifted

2tsp cold water

• Heat the oven to 180 degrees. Roll out the shortcrust pastry on a well floured surface until its the thickness of about a pound coin. Use the pastry to line an 8 inch tart tin. Prick with a fork to avoid any air bubbles, line with baking paper and baking beans and bake blind for 15 minutes to dry out the base.
• Spread the base evenly with the cherry jam.
• Melt the butter in a small pan over a low heat. Add the sugar, almonds, egg and almond extract and stir well. Pour into the pastry tin and cover with the flaked almonds.
• Bake for 35 minutes until golden and the frangipane is mostly firm.
• Make the icing with the icing sugar and water, pour into a piping bag before drizzling over the top of the tart once slightly cooled.

Thanks to the fab guys at Debenhams for sending over some Tala baking treats. Will certainly keep me going with bake off bake along! Check out their range here.

F O L L O W   M Y   B A K E   O F F   B A K E   A L O N G...

     

Week 1 - Jaffa Cakes
Week 2 - Iced Doughnut Biscuits
Week 3 - Chocolate Twist Babka
Week 4 - Giant Churros
Week 5 - Cherry Bakewell Tart
Week 6 - Brownie Bottomed Coffee Mousse Cake
Week 8 - Cherry, Marzipan and Cherry Cake

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Recipe: Flourless Almond & Amaretto Chocolate Cake

I'm always in the mood for a slice of chocolate cake, or two.

Recently I've been trying to curb my sweet tooth a little. Chocolate and biscuits are the first thing I reach for when I'm hungry rather than having a proper balanced meal. Oops.

Surprisingly (or not) I only managed a week before baking a chocolate cake for the weekend. And I'll skim over the fact that I only lasted a few days before pouring a whole bag of mini eggs into my mouth. Because, well mini eggs!

And, another surprise, as much as I LOVE mini eggs, there's nothing that can beat homemade. Have 2, 3 or even 4 slices and I'm pretty sure it's 'better' than having something shop-bought with all those suspect ingredients.

Well that's my reasoning anyway. Seems a bit rich blogging about a recipe for chocolate cake and healthy food choices. But that's my life!

And now to the point. This cake is deliciously nutty, moist and a little boozy. Feel free to swap ground almonds for hazelnuts and Amaretto for Frangelico or whisky. Whatever takes your fancy. The cake can be stored for 4-5 days in an air-tight container so can be made ahead of time if you need.

Flourless almond and Amaretto chocolate cake
(Recipe adapted from Scandicilous Baking)

4 eggs
250g caster sugar
100g unsalted butter, melted
50ml Amaretto
50g cocoa powder (plus extra to finish)
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp vanilla salt (see note)
200g ground almonds

Heat the oven to 180 degrees and grease and line a 23cm round cake tin.

In a mixer, whisk the eggs and caster sugar together until pale and fluffy, approx 5 minutes. Continue to whisk on a low speed whilst adding the butter, Amaretto and cocoa powder in stages, alternating between each until incorporated. Tip the baking powder, vanilla salt and ground almonds in and fold in with a spatula until just combined. Don't fold too much and overwork the mix.

Pour into the prepared tin, smooth the top and bake in the centre of the oven for 35-40 minutes. Once cooked, the edges should start to come away from the sides and a skewer inserted into the middle will come out clean. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 10 minutes. Remove from the tin and place on a wire rack to cool fully. Dust with a generous helping of cocoa powder or icing sugar and serve with strong coffee and Amaretto spiked cream!


N.B. Vanilla salt -  great to balance out sweet flavours when baking, but its not completely necessary. Feel free to use a small pinch of salt and a dash of vanilla extract instead. Alternatively, make a jar ahead and use in everything you bake! Recipe here from Joy the Baker.

Here's some other great recipes using nut flours from some blogger friends...

Chocolate and chestnut torte from Franglais Kitchen, here.
Popping candy brownies made with almonds from Emily's Recipes and Reviews, here.
French chocolate cake from Vagabond Baker. here.

Recipe: Crumble-topped Pear & Almond Slice

Another week, another recipe to use up what's lurking around my fridge. This week, pears.

After getting Ruby Tandoh's book Crumb the other week I've bookmarked a few recipes to try. You may remember rye & caraway bagels, they went down very well. This recipe is essentially a sweet bread topped with honeyed pears, almonds and crumble. Great with a steaming mug of coffee for breakfast.

Although there was no picture in the book, it did state to roll out to a rectangular shape...I went for more of a pizza slice, no one complained!

Crumble-topped pear & almond slice
(Recipe from Ruby Tandoh's Crumb, serves 8).

300g strong white flour
1 1/2 tsp instant yeast
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp honey
190ml milk

For the pear topping:

4 firm dessert pears, such as Williams, Comice or Bosc (although I used Conference and they were fine)
30g unsalted butter
4 tbsp honey
1/4 tsp ground allspice
70g flaked almonds

For the crumble topping:

50g unsalted butter, room temperature
50g white flour
40g soft light brown sugar
30g flaked almonds, finely chopped

Combine the flour, yeast and honey together in a mixing bowl. In a small pan, heat the honey and milk on a low temperature until tepid. Pour into the dry ingredients, mix and knead for 5-10 minutes. The dough will become less sticky. Loosely cover with clingfilm and leave for an hour at room temperature. The dough will double in size.

Meanwhile, prepare the pears. Peel, core and slice. Melt the butter with honey and allspice on low in a large pan. Once melted, increase to a medium heat and add the pears to caramelised. They will soften and turn golden after 5 minutes if stirred regularly. If they start to disintegrate, remove from the heat. Stir in the flaked almonds and leave to cool.

For the crumble, rub together the butter, flour and sugar between your fingertips until the mixture clumps together. Add the chopped almonds and chill in the fridge.

Lightly flour a work surface and turn out the risen dough. Roll to around 20x30cm. Place on a large, lined baking tray and prove for 30-45 minutes. Heat the oven to 200 degrees.

Once proved, arrange the pears on the risen dough with a 1cm border. Sprinkle over the crumble and brush the edges with the leftover honey from the pears. Bake for 10 minutes. Turn the oven down to 180 degrees and bake for a further 20 minutes.

Wheat Free Almond & Coffee Cake

I was so happy with the results of a recipe from one of my favourite new books I decided I wanted to be able to use it for a base in future wheat free cakes. 

So here's my almond chocolate cake, with coffee buttercream. 

Wheat-free Hazelnut Cupcakes

When one of your favourite London bakeries publishes a book, you get it. 

The secret recipe of my favourite brownies in Town and of course the Curly Wurly cake that stole the show on Eurovision this weekend are now mine!

In a conscious bid to add more wheat-free recipes to my blog I chose to try out this hazelnut cupcake recipe. Completely and utterly worth it. This is by far the most moist cupcake you'll ever find and I'm enjoying the left over buttercream for breakfast, its that good.

So here's the recipe...