Recipe: Mackays Strawberry & Champagne Mousse Tart

For the past few weeks I've taken some time away from blogging. It all started with my annoyance at Google by changing some account settings and all the effort it took to get things back exactly the way they were. Then, the Winter sniffles came and, amongst other things, I found it increasingly more difficult to get back into my routine. 

It has been a novelty to me to be able to watch a whole episode of Game of Thrones without the need to rewind and rewatch as I'd previously been too engrossed in Bloglovin' or keeping up to date with my Twitter feed. 

It also got to the point where I didn't enjoy it much. Not even baking. And really what's the point of churning out posts that I'm not happy with?

So instead, I've been out for lots of nice meals, discovered new places and even met some blogger friends and chatted about life apart from blogging. 

My favourites include,

Meeting Flick and Frankie for dessert - and establishing that staying in is the new going out! Frankie's review of the evening had me giggling for ages. 

Drinking Butterbeer in the snow with Boy at Harry Potter film studios. We won't count how many times I've been over the years, all I care is that it snowed in Hogsmeade and I got a Gryffindor scarf.

Going to Waitrose Cookery School with my Mum and Grandmother for a Festive masterclass. Not only were the food and drinks incredible, everyone was so lovely, we all enjoyed ourselves so much. Even the brussel sprout haters were swayed!

Any blog posts that may have appeared have been scheduled from earlier bakes in the year. 

Including this little number. Perfect to make ahead if you've guests coming over of if you're popping over to a friends. I made this the day before serving and saved the pyrotechnics for the dinner table. Its a relatively straight forward tart, even more so if you buy a pre-made tart case from the supermarket (no one will know any different).

This recipe was made for Mackays as a way of showcasing my favourite of their preserves, strawberry and champagne. But I love it just as much on toast in the mornings, any day of the week.

Mackays Strawberry & Champagne Preserve Mousse Tart
(Makes a 22cm tart)

Sweet pastry tart:

375g plain flour, sifted + extra to dust
60g caster sugar
250g unsalted butter, chopped

Strawberry mousse filling:

220g Mackays Strawberry and Champagne Preserve
150ml whipping cream
1 packet of powdered gelatine (or 4 sheets)

Strawberry glaze:

120g Mackays Strawberry and Champagne Preserve
1 tbsp water

Garnish:

200g fresh strawberries

To make the pastry tart, add the flour and sugar into a food processor. Add the butter and process until the mix looks like breadcrumbs. Add 40 ml chilled water and process once more until the dough just comes together. Wrap the dough and chill for 30 minutes.

Roll out the chilled pastry and line a 22cm loose-bottomed tart tin. Chill the tart for a further 20 minutes whilst you heat the oven to 1800c.

Using a fork, prick the base of the pastry case so any air is released whilst baking. Line the pastry case with baking paper, fill with baking beans and bake blind for 10 minutes. Remove the beans and cook for a further 10 – 15 minutes and leave to cool in the tin.

For the mousse filling, bloom the gelatin following the packet instructions and set aside.

Heat the jam in a small pan on a low heat until it starts to loosen, add the gelatin and quickly stir through before removing from the heat and leaving to cool on ice. Whip the cream and gently fold into the cool jam mix.

Fill the cooled pastry case with the mousse, using a palette knife or the back of a large spoon to smooth over the top.

Place in the fridge to set whilst you make the strawberry glaze. Heat the jam in a small pan on a low heat and stir in the water until the jam has loosened and is slightly warm.

To finish the mousse tart, decorate the top with sliced fresh strawberries. Pour over the still-warm glaze and leave to firm up at room temperature before returning to the fridge to set 30 minutes before serving. Or, if making the day before, leave it in the fridge until needed.

Happy New Year to you all, for the end of the week! May your 2015 be filled with peace, love and happiness.

Onken: Strawberry Yogurt Eton Mess

When the invite slipped into my inbox for a second, more intimate, masterclass with Onken and Lisa Faulkner I was more than excited. After the last event in April myself and fellow foodies learnt some simple and inventive ways of using yogurt in everyday cooking. Some of the recipes we learnt have even become weekly staple meals for me!

This time round we gathered at the gorgeous Ham Yard Hotel for an indulgent 'Treat Yourself' evening in which Lisa showed us how to make seasonal dessert dishes with the Onken fruits range. These included Creme brulee, Eton mess, smoothies and ice lollies.

Its always lovely to have everything perfectly prepped and ready for you...with a glass of Prosecco!

You can find all of the recipes (including the Creme Brulee shown above) on the Onken website, here.

My favourite recipe of the evening was Eton Mess made with Onken fat free strawberry yogurt. A lighter, fresher twist on the traditional using yogurt instead of cream. Perfect for summer evenings and it looks great served in wine glasses.

After a long day travelling back from the Cotswolds on Sunday, I made my own to enjoy.

Onken Strawberry yogurt Eton Mess
(Recipe from Onken, serves 4)

3/4 punnet of strawberries (roughly 180g)
3/4 punnet of blueberries (roughly 180g)
25g sugar
1 lime
1 pot (450ml) Onken Fat Free Strawberry Yogurt
6 readymade meringue nests
100g chopped hazelnuts

Place two thirds of the hulled strawberries and two thirds of the blueberries in a small pan with the sugar and a squeeze  of lime. Warm slowly on a low heat until soft. Crush with a fork until smooth and chill.

Mix the remaining fruit, chopped, in a bowl with the yogurt and two crumbled meringue nests.

Divide the chilled puree between four glasses and layer over the yogurt mixture.

To finish, crumble over the remaining meringue nests, some fruit and a sprinkle of hazelnuts.

Feel free to use other fruit or any nuts of your choice. I used strawberries and raspberries in mine and some desiccated coconut.

Strawberry & Champagne Duffins

   I find Twitter to be one of the most useful blogging enablers. I get the sense of being in a little baking community where I can quite easily while away an hour or so chatting, exchanging tips and inspiration. But mainly, drooling over everyone's latest bakes that help to add to a never ending 'to-bake' list and an ever expanding bookmarks folder on my phone.

   So when I saw a tweet from the lovely people at Mackays asking for some bakers to join them and get baking with jam, I couldn't wait to join in. After an email suggesting a few ideas, a lovely stash of jams and curds arrived on my doorstep the very next day. At the very top of my 'to-bake' list was Duffins. One of those hybrid style bakes that people rave about. And because they sell them at my favourite cake place, I just had to give them a go.

   And now I know exactly why people rave about them. These are quite possibly the best things I have ever baked. Ever. I baked them last night and filled them this morning to take into the office but I'm already plotting alternative filling combinations. Custard and lemon curd. Apple and ginger. Lime and chocolate.

   I'm a little bit of a jam doughnut fiend. A popular choice for office birthday celebrations and also a reminder of eating them as a little person at my grandparent's. These Duffins, in case you didn't know, are a hybrid of a jam doughnut and a muffin. And because Mackays make an awesome strawberry and champagne preserve, they're just that little bit fancier!

Strawberry & Champagne Duffins
(Makes 22, recipe from Afternoon Tea with Bea)
     420g plain flour
     4tsp baking powder
     1/2 tsp salt
     1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
     330g caster sugar
     2 eggs, lightly beaten
     375ml sour cream/buttermilk
     2tsp vanilla extract
     130ml sunflower oil
Coating & dipping
     250g unsalted butter, melted
     300g caster sugar
     1/2 jar of Mackays Strawberry preserve with champagne

• Heat the oven to 180 degrees and grease two 12 hole muffin trays.
• Put all the dry ingredients in a bowl.
• Add all the wet ingredients and stir until just combined. Don't overmix.
• Spoon the mixture into the muffin tray, filling them three quarters of the way up.
• Bake for 22-30 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean.
• Whilst the Duffins are baking, put the melted butter and sugar in their own shallow bowls and set aside.
• Once ready, remove the Duffins from the oven and tip out.
• Immediately dip the muffins in the melted butter, then roll in the sugar to liberally and evenly coat.
• Fill a piping bag with jam. Push the nozzle/tip through the top (or bottom if you want it to look neater) of the doughnut, up to midway. Pipe about 1 tbsp of jam inside each doughnut.

   I'm now left with one question...is it acceptable to have only champagne preserves from now on? To follow other jammy bakes, keep an eye on #bakingwithmackays

Strawberry & Elderflower Chiffon Cake

Cheesy family photo!

   Like many, I've had my heart set on a Kitchen Aid stand mixer for some time. Forever jealous of those who already own one, I finally decided to 'invest' in my future bakes.

   I ordered my wee little robo-mixer online last night and collected from my local Waitrose this afternoon. It was all loaded up for me in a trolley ready to wheel to the car park. I transfered the royal cargo into the boot of my noddy car and poodled off home dreaming of the chiffon cakes I could now bake, for now I can whip up as many egg whites as I fancy. (Otherwise, I'm just too impatient to whisk 9 egg whites to stiff peaks by hand!)

   Although my recent purchase of American measuring cups has proven helpful when baking from online recipes, I decided that I felt more confident baking something I've not made before in metric. Far too excited to bake and too impatient to convert cups to metric, I was lucky to stumble across a lemon chiffon cake recipe on The Cake Hunter...another Sophie, of course!

   I decided to make a strawberry version, seeing as its 'summer' and Wimbledon fortnight. Inspired by Steph from Riverside Baking's recent bakes with cordial I used strawberry and elderflower cordial to flavour the cake.

Strawberry & Elderflower Chiffon Cake
(Adapted from The Cake Hunter)
     9 large eggs, separated
     375g golden caster sugar
     270ml water (with Bottle Green Strawberry and Elderflower Cordial diluted)
     1 1/2 tsp baking powder
     2 tsp salt
     430g plain flour
     180ml sunflower oil
     zest of 1 lemon
     Fresh fruit to decorate
     Strawberry jam
     Cream cheese frosting

• Heat the oven to 150 degrees. Grease and line 2 x 9 inch springform cake tins.
• Beat the eggs whites in a stand mixer until stiff. 
• Mix together the remaining ingredients in a LARGE mixing bowl (I had very little room to fold in the egg whites in my mixing bowl, oops!)
• Fold in the egg whites with a large metal spoon.
• Divide the mixture between the two tins, pouring from a low height to ensure no air is knocked out.
• Bake for 1 hour, until golden and a skewer comes out clean.
• Remove from the oven and place tins upside down on wire cooling racks for 10 minutes.
• After, take the cake out the tins and leave to cool completely.

   To make the frosting, I improvised...feeling a little over confident with my new robo-mixer I threw the remnants of a box of icing sugar, a large spoon of margarine and a whole tub of regular Philadelphia into the mixer and gave it a little whizz. Of course, I had to be a little girlie as usual and trickled in a few drops of pink food colouring!

   Once cooled, I sandwiched the cakes together with a layer of strawberry jam and some frosting. To finish, I topped the giant cake with fresh fruit and some gold dust...naturally.

   10 minutes later, the cake started sinking...overconfident was I no more! Half way through baking, I swapped shelves as these giant sized cakes wouldn't fit side by side on the same shelf in my oven. Lesson learnt. 

   I took a slice out and drove it over to Harriet to give her a cakey boost to her busy week. The slice, or wedge, just about managed the giant roundabout between our houses. I got home a further 10 minutes later to find that the middle of the cake had sunk some more, and pink frosting was oozing out.

   Sinking strawberry cake tasted good but never, ever, again will I open the oven door half way through baking! I've also since noticed that I forgot to read the end of Sophie's recipe where it mentions to freeze the cake for 10 minutes before icing to firm up. Doh!