It was biscuit week on the Great British Bake Off two weeks ago, so to keep up with the Bake Off Bake Along that can only mean one thing; a kitchen full of biscuits. I’ve actually not had much time to get this done. I’ve had an exceptionally busy few weeks, with important family commitments, going to the filming of Bake Off Extra Slice, watching Progress Wrestling and Alexandra Palace and planning, then going on, a last minute getaway to Madrid & Barcelona. This means that I was up early on a Tuesday morning piping buttercream onto biscuits in my pyjamas. It was all going well until I realised the fridge had been on a high setting and the buttercream was too hard to pipe, leading to a stress while I tried to juggle photographing food and getting ready to work. It may also mean that I have to skip bread week and jump straight to caramel week!
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Blackberry, Lemon & Thyme Cake W/ Gin Drizzle
I had a couple of punnets of blackberries that I impulse bought when out getting supplies for breakfast on the Saturday of the bank holiday weekend. I started off with grand plans to make something like a blackberry meringue pie, but as the day drifted on, I decided to keep it simple. The sun was burning through the window and I wanted to make something equally fresh and summery, with simple flavours. I decided to combine the blackberries with a couple of things I had in the fridge; lemons & thyme sprigs. To keep the simple nature of this going, I pulled out a loaf tin and decided to make a drizzle cake. Read more
Cardamom & Chocolate Braid
I’ve just returned from a week up in Scotland at my parent’s on Mull. I’ll be writing up a travel diary of the week soon, after part 2 of my New York trip, but while I was away I baked a number of things. Rainy days on the Isle of Mull are ideal for baking. You’re not going to get much else done, apart from a quick walk of the dog around the loch all wrapped up in waterproofs, so what better way to spend a day than in the kitchen baking? I made a number of things on this trip, but with the Great British Bake off well underway (and the possibility that it could all go to shit with a move to Channel 4) and bread week featuring a challenge for baking chocolate bread, I thought I’d start with the Cardamom & Chocolate loaf we made on the first day.
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