Bakewell Tart

I have a confession to make... I love nuts! 

I love walnuts, pecans, peanuts, cashews, hazelnuts, brazil nuts... all kinds of nuts! BUT... my favourite has to be the humble almond. Almonds are so shy in taste and flavour, yet have such a sweetly satisfactory after taste. They leave a scrumptious marzipany flavour in your mouth and  their shape just pleases me so - symmetrical and tear drop like. Lovely! (Shocking to think that as a child I hated nuts... at Christmas I used to bite all of the chocolate off of them and place them back in the box they came from... what a delightful child I was!)

Anyway, with such a confession for the humble almond, I thought it was about time that I actually did something with them (instead of gorging on a whole packet of them, on their own!) and what recipe is more perfect to express my love of almonds than the classically traditional Bakewell Tart (please note that I have said, "Bakewell Tart" NOT "Cherry Bakewell" ... no, none of that shop bought Mr Kipling stylee stuff).  

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Ingredients

I used my 22cm loose bottomed flan dish for this recipe.

Pastry:                                                    Filling:

175g Plain Flour                                120g Butter

2 tbsp Caster Sugar                           120g Caster Sugar

115g Butter                                           2 Eggs

1 Egg Yolk                                              60g Self Raising Flour

2 tbsp Cold Water                               1/2 tsp Baking Powder

A pinch of Salt                                     100g Ground Almonds

3 tbsp Raspberry Jam                       3 drops of Almond Essence/Extract

To decorate: 

Icing sugar and water mixture and scattered flaked almonds on the top.

1. Sift the flour, sugar, salt into a large bowl and add the diced butter.

2. Using your finger tips, mix the ingredients until they resemble bread crumbs.

3. Beat the egg yolk with the cold water and pour into the dry ingredients, little by little, mixing as you go. The mixture should soon come together to form a pastry ball. Wrap this in cling film and allow to chill in the fridge for at least 30mins.

4. Meanwhile, begin to make the filling for the tart. Place the butter, sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder, ground almonds and almond extract into a large mixing bowl. Beat altogether with a wooden spoon. (This mixture will have the consistency of a thicker than normal cake mix, which will be hard to spread.)

5. Preheat the oven to 180degreesC.

6. Remove the pastry from the fridge and roll out on a floured work surface until it is large enough to fit the size of your flan dish. 

7. Gently pick up your pastry (it's very fragile) by flinging it over your rolling pin and press it to fit your dish. Mould the pastry with your fingers to fix any gaps or breaks in the dough. Prick the base all over with a fork.

8. Dollop and spread the jam all over the base. I like quite a thick layer of jam, but make sure it is spread evenly to prevent burning/under cooking/soggy bottomed pastry!!

9. Now, this is the tricky bit!! What you have to remember about jam is that it has an extremely high sugar content and therefore burns VERY easily. You need to spread the filling mixture all over the jam, without mixing the two together. The easiest way to do this, I found, was by spooning a little bit of the mixture on top of the jam at a time, using a plastic spatula. Take your time with this.

10. Once you are happy with how your Bakewell Tart looks, place it in the oven to bake for about 40mins or until the top is golden, springy but firm to the touch and the pastry is crispy. 

11. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

12. Once the Bakewell Tart is completely cool, remove is from the flan dish and decorate with icing and flaked almonds. 

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Hands down, this is the BEST thing I have EVER made!! Absolutely gorgeous and to be honest, I was sooo shocked with how well it turned out! The pastry was bang on the correct thickness and crispiness, the jam was the perfect amount and the soft almondy filling was just DEEEEE-LIGHTFUL! With so many tricky elements to this dessert (in particular the testing pastry!) there was no way I was expecting it to turn out that well, but O MY WORD!!! 

Admittedly, the icing doesn't look too great, but I didn't want the tart to be completely covered in icing. Overall, I am very happy with how the tart looked, as I think when sliced and served, it actually looks quite professional (not as rustic and 'home made' looking as most of my creations!) and could easily be sold at a school bake sale or something! 

I took half of the Bakewell Tart in to school for the lovely ladies and it went down a treat! Everyone seemed to enjoy it and there was not a single crumb left. (I did have to explain the difference between a Bakewell Tart and a Cherry Bakewell to some of the 'cherry phobics' among the group though!) 

This was a proper Bakewell Tart. One in which I think I will be baking on a regular basis and hopefully one that will be enjoyed for many more years to come. 

Bon Appetit!!

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Regular readers and friends of mine will know that my Mum was the cake baker in our family! And amongst many of her lovely delights was this very special recipe; Carrot and Pineapple Cake. I tend to find with carrot cake, people either love it or they hate it. When I was really young, I could not bare myself to try this creation.... carrots? in a cake? with fruity pineapple? Who on earth thought up that idea?! But as I got older and became more adventurous, I gave it a go. Ever since, I have had an addiction to carrot cake. Every time I go out for coffee to somewhere new and I see that they serve carrot cake, I HAVE to try it....it has become an obsession of mine to find one better (if not just as good) as my Mum's. To this day, I have still not found one that even rivals it!! 

This is the perfect cake for when you are in the mood for a bit of summery, zesty escapism.... perfect for January!

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Ingredients

200g peeled carrots, grated

200g tinned pineapple chunks

100g chopped walnuts (or other variations if you fancy)

300g plain flour

200g light soft brown sugar

4 eggs

250ml sunflower oil

Zest of 1 lemon

Zest of 1 orange

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp bicarb of soda
300g full fat cream cheese
60g icing sugar
150g butter

1. Preheat the oven to 130degreesC. This cake is a low and slow bake!!

2. Find and line a cake tin... I used a 24cm one for this recipe.

3. Sift the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, bicarb of soda and sugar into a large mixing bowl and stir until completely combined.

4. In a measuring jug, pour the oil, beaten eggs, lemon and orange zest as well as grated carrot. (This is my favourite part of the recipe, as the smells and textures are amazing.)

5. Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients. Mix until it resembles cake mixture and none of the dry ingredients are viewable.

6. Add in the pineapple and walnuts and fold until combined.

7. Pour into your cake tin and place on a baking tray in the oven. Allow to bake for about 1 hour and 15mins. (Keep checking on it depending on the size of your tin - the deeper the tin, the longer the cake will take to cook.)

8. Meanwhile, make your cream cheese frosting. Beat the butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy. Fold in the cream cheese and cover. Place in the fridge until hard, but pliable.

9. Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool for 5mins. 

10. Remove from the cake tin and place onto a wire rack until thoroughly cool.

11. Once the cake is completely cool, use a pallet knife to smooth the cream cheese frosting all over the cake. Decorate as you wish, I chose to use some left over walnuts to make it look pretty!!

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I am soooooo proud of this cake!! It was absolutely scrummy and tasted just like my Mum's used to. I took half of it into school...little sceptical of how it would go down, but man, everyone loved it! Some people even had seconds...made me very happy. Found it such an easy cake to bake and was really impressed with the results. Don't think it looks half bad either, even if I do say so myself!! Go on, give it a go!!

Bon Appetit!!

Happy New Year!!

I love New Year. For me, and for my family, it has ALWAYS been about New Year. We were never too keen on Christmas, Mum was more than likely working Christmas day, or either the night shift before/after and to be honest, Christmas was not a happy time full of fond memories for us. But New Year...that's another matter. My sister's birthday is New Year's Eve so it was always special and important to us, but as the years have gone by, to me, it has become increasingly more poignant. 

As a child, New Year meant...staying up all night, (well, as late as you could) having a house full of people, (my sister's friends, relatives and neighbours) and eating cocktail sausages and generic party food until you could no longer move. However, as an adult, it means sharing a very special day with my sister, (whether it be in person, or on the phone) showing those I love, just how much I love them AND....fresh starts, new dreams and positive hopes.

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Now, I am not one for 'summing up the year gone by', infact, I can't stand it. So, for me, this blog post is all about what I want to do in 2012 and what it means to me. 

There is no denying it, 2012 is going to be immense. I will hand in my dissertation in the not too distant future, I will finish my final teaching practice ever, I will graduate as a Primary School teacher, I will move out and find my first ever non student property, I will apply for jobs, attend interviews, get a job (fingers crossed) and teach my first term as a Newly Qualified Teacher. These are some of the most stressful things you can do (besides get married and have a child!!) yet the only feeling I am experiencing at the moment is an excited itch to get this year well under way. BRING IT ON!! I know it is going to be tough, hard work and well, financially exhausting but I am just sooo ready to move on and make a fresh start.

In terms of foodie things, there are a few things I would like to attempt/achieve this year:

1. I have not made Choux pastry since I was about 16. I completely messed it up and ruined a perfectly decent pan last time. I would love to try it again...and perfect it!!

2. I would love to cook a 3 course meal from start to finish. I have done this before, but always depended on some element of shop bought product. This time, I want to do it on my own.

3. I would like to find and start using a good quality butcher. Many of my friends have started doing this lately and it turns out, that if you do get to know your butcher, you can always be guaranteed a bargain. 

4. I would like to cook a fresh joint of meat. Whenever I cook a roast, I always use a frozen cheap joint. I would love to try and do it on my own without burning it/making anyone poorly/making it taste bland. 

5. I MUST bake a decent sponge birthday cake without burning it.

6. I would love to successfully ice something...cake, biscuits, cupcakes, cookies...ANYTHING (!!!) without getting the icing everywhere and nowhere/bursting the icing bag/having the icing set in the bag/making icing the consistency of water.

7. I have never made a meringue based dessert - I would like to change this, this year.

8. I would like to try a macaron. Shockingly, I have never had one. Shop bought, or home made.

9. Generally, I would like to try more adventurous foods. I will try to do this at every opportunity I can.

10. At some point this year I would like to indulge in some fine tasting cheese and wine in somewhere other than my living room...France, Greece or Italy..not fussy!! 

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Steffie Jay's Bakes would like to wish all of her friends, family and followers a very Happy New Year!!

Bon Appetit dans 2012!!