One of the main challenges for this week was trying to decide on the fillings for these retro classics.  Some of the contestants went with traditional retro fillings where as others, like Matt, really brought them up to date with his breakfast version.  Trying to use this as inspiration I decided to do three fillings instead of two. The reason for the third filling was because I was at My mums she couldn’t eat the Mushroom Duxelle filling, and her friend couldn’t have the Salmon Tartare so the third ended up being a whipped goat cheese filling with home grown beetroots.  With the filling finalised it was time to get on with the pastry.

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This week it’s sweet vs savoury, layers vs biscuit, and straight vs the collapsed, basically everything that comes with making and baking pastry.

Signature – Frangipane tart

Not something I have made before but certainly something I would like to try. I’m not a big fan of the popular pear, but Flora’s use of apricots is certainly appealing!

Key Points

1. Don’t over work the dough, you don’t want to activate the gluten too much as it will make the pastry tough and rubbery
2. Work the butter carefully into the dough, again don’t over work it. You want it to stay cold and not melt during the preparation in order to get a light biscuity dough
3. Blind bake in order to avoid the dreaded soggy bottom
4. To avoid shrinkage, cut the edges after the blind bake, or after the final bake.

Once again Flora was more about the style over the substance.  Her timings allow her to  manages making extraneous thing that are not required, irrelevant the task in hand.  this week was no different as she made amaretti biscuits to cover up her burnt and bitter pastry case. Maybe she should have concentrated more on her flavourings as the rosemary didn’t seem to add anything so her fresh apricot filling.  Mattt seems to have an obsession with coconut, as he’s used it for the past few weeks in some form or other.  This week though his Pina Colada inspired cake looked a little plan the filling seemed a little bland and lacking in the rum. Ian seems to be slipping on his executions. His flavour was ok, and the design good, but it looked unfinished without its glaze. Alvin overworked his pastry, making it tough to roll out and leaving him with a thick base.  The best base colour seemed to be on Tama’ls, and although his design was a little chaotic this frangipane was perfection! Nadiya brave choice to use subtle flavours was a bold decision that paid off, even if she had a soggy bottom. The best tart by far came from Paul’s festive creation.  He’s made this before and you could tell he know what he was doing, especially when it came to his design and decoration

Technical – Flaounes x12

First off, what the Flaounes are these?  I’ve never heard of the them, let alone seen them and quite frankly anything that is flavoured with tree sap resin is not something I’m going to jump at to eat.

The main problem with everyone’s bake this week on the  technical was the shape, but who can blame them when faced with something you’ve never heard of. They needed to have a thin crust with a high dome shaped filling.  Alvin seemed to be the furthest away from this with his pizza style base, along with Tamal who’s bake was a bit flat and with the sesame seeds on the inside. Ian managed to make his look like a cornish pasty and Paul had patchy glazed crowns. Overall everyones were baked with a good flavour and Matt managed to win the technical with the closest shape and good shine.

Showstopper – Vol Au Vent x48 (24 of each flavour)
I understand how to get lamination, multiple layers and good colour, but how on earth do you guarantee a straight rise for puff pastry?

Key Points

1. Don’t freeze the butter layer, it will cause the layer to crack and you’ll be left with small pieces of butter rather than an even single layer.
2. Let the butter chill solidly between each layer to get even layers.
3. Keep the edges tidy and as straight as possible.

I really felt sorry for Nadiya on this challenge, she had to make her pastry again due to the butter cracking and didn’t have time to chill it properly.  However instead of giving up she served it deconstructed, which meant the paul and Mary could see that she could make a good pastry, and show off the amazing flavour combinations of her fillings. That took confidence.  Flora finally got the hint that it is about quality not quantity on this challenge, although I’m not sure if it will stop her from adding non-essential flourishes in the future. Her cocoa puff pastry was a brave however both of the pastries were a little dense. Ian’s fillings were a little simple to be fair and certainly not up to his usual standard. Tamal’s may have looked messy but they were certainly generously filled

Pastry really was Alvin’s nemesis, form the beginning of the show he didn’t sound very confident. His pastry in the Frangipane was too thick and the tart filling underbaked.  The Technical was interpreted the wrong way and his puff pastry was raw and doughy.  As Mary said he was going to need a miracle to save him from leaving, but his flavours in the final challenge were just not enough to make the leap.

Matt’s vol-au-vents were truly inspired. He managed to bring finesse to the fry up, and really did deserve this week’s star baker.

Oneliner of the week:  “I probably should concentrate on the baking…oh well.” Finally the penny drops for Flora

For a showstopper that is half way through the series, I would have thought they could have chosen something a bit more tricky.  The main element, the ice cream, in itself isn’t technically difficult, with the only tricky bit, the freezing, being out of your hands.  Even the sponge isn’t particularly taxing, especially for this far into the series. But enough of that let’s see how tricky it actually could be.

This week we had a bank holiday so I managed to get a good head start on things by making 2 of the main elements almost a week in advance.  Plus the day was miserable and raining so what better way to spend it than making jam and ice-cream?!

This weeks flavour inspiration from one of my favourite drinks, the Mojito. Choosing to use coconut milk as the main carrier of the ice-cream it was a case of trying to get the other main flavours to balance along with it. Mojito has a lot of fresh lime in it,  and instead of adding too much of this to the ice cream I decided that this would used in the jammy glue.

Sticky Fix
The first part of this jam/marmalade was certainly the most arduous, and after cutting my finger half way through the most painful! The first thing to do was to cut the fruit in half then juice it into the water in the pan, then came the fiddly bit. Each half of the fruit needed the inside pith removed (and kept), leaving just the shell. This was easier with the lemons then with the limes, and it ended up taking well over an hour till both fruits were completely empty.  The kept pith then was tied in a muslin bag and tied to the side of the jam pan (keeping it in the liquid), and then the fruit skins sliced into ribbons and added to the pan  

Once all the jam prep was done, the pan was left on a medium heat for 2 hours. Which gave me enough time to prepare the ice cream.

Dairy free does not mean mess free!
The ice cream mix in itself is pretty easy, and as I mentioned in an earlier post, one that I wasn’t too phased about.  I had previously made an avocado ice for my ‘Not So Savoury Nacho’s’ dessert which used a few of the same ingredients. After a bit of reading there were a few suggestion that in order to get a creamier, silky ice-cream you should use just the cream content of the coconut milk.  The only way to do this is to stick the cans in the fridge for a few hours until you are left with the scoopable cream sitting on top of a minimal amount of liquid. Once I had scooped out 5 tins of cream, I added chopped mint, grated lime zest, the juice of 1 lime and about 6 tablespoons of white rum, and mixed it together until really smooth.  In theory you could just use this mix as a creamy adornment to any cake, chocolate would probably be nice, but that’s something to try another day. For ice-cream I needed to churn it in an ice-cream maker.  Sadly, I don’t have the fancy maker they had on the show, nor do I know anyone that does. I did however have the use of my sisters simpler version where you freeze the bowl first and churn until it is thickened before adding to the freezer.  I worked great for the avocado ice cream and I should see no reason why it would be any different for this one.

The mixture for the ice cream needed to be churned in 2 sessions as the bowl was pretty small. With double the mixture there was no way it would all go in, especially as the volume increases with the churning and freezing process.

Frozen pipes
In order for the ice cream to freeze in the shape of a log, I needed a mould.  Seeing as I didn’t have anything fancy like Ian had in the show, I fashioned one out of a plastic shopping mat, lots of sellotape and topped with plastic container either end.  Blue Peter check that out!

The churned ice cream then got poured in and laid in a now clear freezer drawer to freeze. As I had some left over I froze the rest in a tub for testing! During the freezing process I chose to break up the forming ice-crystals with a fork, but I only managed do this once but maybe I should have done it more but I hoped that the alcohol in the mix would help to keep it semi-soft.

Jamming it up
Once the jam had simmered for 2 hours, the sugar had to be heated in the oven before pouring into the liquid.  I’m not too sure about this method, but maybe it’s just to get it to the same temp as the liquid and guarantee that it will fully dissolve rather than crystalise. Once poured into the liquid it, the pith bag was removed and the pan left to boil. At this point Delia, kindly suggests putting some saucers in the freezer to chill, the reason will be explained shortly…

Taking the pith
The purpose of retaining the piths and boiling them in a muslin bag was that they contain the pectin which is the setting agent that is usually found in preserving sugar.  Lemons and limes create their own pectin which is great, it’s just a question of how do you get it out? The answer is to squeeze the bag until it seeps through the cloth, easy right?  No, it’s bloody ridiculous, hot, messy and icky!  In the end the only way I could get a grip on the wet, sticky  jelly bag was to put rubber gloves on and then, most of the pectin substance came out on my fingers! After about 40 minutes of gunk squeezing and scraping I decided I couldn’t get anymore out and carried on with the rest.  

Jamming it up 2
The jam pan now needed to boil, a fast rolling boiling, for about 15 minutes. After these first 15 minutes one of the saucers comes out of the freezer and it’s purpose made clear.  A small spoonful of the jam is poured onto the frozen plate and left for a few minutes to cool.  Once cool, you can find out if it is cooked enough to be set by pushing the jam with your finger tip.  If it produces a crinkly like skin when you push it it’s ready, if not continue boiling for another 10 minutes and test again.

While the boiling was happening I placed my collection of jam jars (lids off) into the oven to sterilize.

After another 10 minutes the jam was ready, so I turned off the heat and left it to cool for 20 minutes before pouring it into the hot jars.  Once I had poured out half of the jars, I decided to add a little chopped mint to the remaining mixture to heighten the mint flavour of the mojito for the dessert.  A last minute idea, which I didn’t know whether it would work, but it looked pretty and smelt good.

Print and pipe
With all the over elements for this showstopper made, the final bit was the sponge. Now last year I managed to learn how to make a swiss roll, and made loads of them, so this was a relatively easy task.  But this is  a showstopper so easy isn’t really allowed.  I chose to do a plain vanilla sponges, but the showstopper element would have to come into play with the design. The pattern on the sponge was made match the holiday tropical vibe of the flavours using palm trees and cocktail glasses. This printed design was placed under the baking sheet to be piped on top using a thicker cake paste, that the remaining fatless sponge mixture.

The cake paste was a mixture of egg whites, flour, butter and sugar, and food colouring, or cocoa for the trees. With a paste that was thick and pipeable, the piping of the pattern had to be strategic; green tree tops first, then the brown trunks and lastly the pink cocktail glasses.

Once everything was piped I had a pattern similar to a Hawaiian shirt! This was then left to harden up in the freezer before pouring over the rest of the sponge mix, and baking

Rolling, rolling, rolling
Once the cake was baked, it needed to be cooled but rolled up for the process so that it didn’t crack later. In order to do this I had to to tip it over and remove the baking sheet allowing me to see the piped design.  It looked good but had lost a little of it’s definition with the main sponge colour, but you could still make it out.

After the sponge was cooled it was time to put everything together. The jam (made 5 days before) was spread over the sponge and the frozen log of ice cream (made 4 days before) placed on top.  As you can see the sponge did overlap slightly but it held together.

Proof is in the pudding
It took ages for the ice cream to soften, even after travelling in a hot car and packed picnic ice box for 2 hours with ice packs, in still hadn’t softened.  We left it on the side, fully constructed, for another 2 hours, while we ate dinner, and even after that it was pretty solid still. In hindsight, I’d love to try making this in a proper ice-cream maker, like on the show, and see if this would still be the case. Plus next time I think I would use less of the coconut cream and instead use the whole tin, and churn it for longer.  If I haven’t got an ice-cream machine, I’m just going to have to remember to break up the crystals more during the freeing process. The flavour was good and you could taste the key elements of the lime, mint and rum. However the rum definitely did not make much difference in keeping the mixture soft, maybe next time I should add more!

The marmalade was tasty and I like the added texture that the rind gave it, but next time I might try a curd instead, it might be more subtle and less tangy.

Overall I’m happy with the way it turned out.  I’d definitely do the designed sponge again and the ice cream, but not so sure on the jam. It was a good flavour jam, but I prefer orange marmalade and my limes to be in my drink instead of on my toast! Now I’m left 5 jars that I need to  get rid of!

Now this is definitely a first for bake off.  Over the years the baker’s have dabbled in this area independently but never has there been a fully dedicated week to it.  I have a few family member that are food intolerant in someway so we’re used to adapting recipes and coming up with something everyone can eat, so it’ll be interesting to see what the bakers come up with. Hopefully there will be a few new bakes’ to try by the end of the episode

Signature – Sugar free cakes
Seemingly an easy idea, but the main question is what sugar substitue you use to create the same effect.  For this the bakers chose a number of natural ingredients varying from, honey, syrup, agave, nectar, molasses and even dates!

Key Points (not many this week)

1. Apple and pear do not carry too much flavour you need to use something that will overide the sponge flavour
2. If the mixture is too slack the fruit will sink to the bottom

Three time start baker Ian didn’t quite hit the mark with this one. According to Paul his choice of pears was not good, as their flavour wasn’t strong enough and the use of honey as the sugar substitute did not give the cake the sweetness that it needed. On first glance I was worried that Alvin was playing it too safe, especially compared to what Flora rolled out, but if anything it just proved that sometimes simplicity works. He turned out a beautiful pineapple upsidedown cake, that was glazed with just the agave syrup. Flora’s was more about style over substance as her choice of apples made the sponge soggy and dense. Matt choice of CArrot and date cake could have lead to something really stodgy, and although it ended up looking a bit like a christmas cake it certainly delighted Pauls palette.

Technical – Gluten Free Pitta Breads x12
Grey and dense, wet and smelly, of the joys of working with something new! They used psyllium powder to create the gluten, but I’m more interested to know what flour they used.

Key Points

1. Right consistency is a sticky dough, not a wet dough
2. Use of psyllium powder to give it the gluten and help to create the elasticity it needs to rise and help to create iconic pocket found in pittas.
3. They need to be nice, thin, and even to create a uniform envelope

What I found more surprising with this challenge that almost half the bakers didn’t know what shape they were. I have make these before, allbeit with regular flour and came out with some questionable shapes. I thought everyone knew what would look like, but maybe I’ve just had a few too many kebabs in my lifetime! I was good to see Nadiya finally do week at a technical with near perfect pockets that have had a good colour and texture. Alvin on the other hand just seemed to be getting confused with a pitta vs. a nan.  Tamal at least could still see the funny side and stayed upbeat for the next stage

Showstopper – Dairy Free Ice cream, sponge roll
If I’m completely honest this almost seems like a bit of a cop out, easy showstopper, but I may well eat my words after the weekend.  I recently made dairy free avocado ice cream, which came out really well so the idea of this doesn’t really worry me that much.  What was funny, though hardly surprising, to see was how the show made sure that there was not another occurrence of last years Bin-Gate, by supplying each of the bakers their own mini freezer.

Sponge element of this bake proved a little more taxing for the bakers, with trying to find new ways to make it a showstopper. I think Paul surpassed himself with the beach scene and fondant sunbather on the top. Ian stepped up his game for the last challenge with creating a sauce core that ran through the middle of his icecream, creating flavour that was a knockout. Flora, again seemed to be trying too much with her take on the roll, and Matt simply got the brief wrong. Tamal is becoming my favourite, and Alvin is still producing some impressive bakes.

Ugne was simply trying too much for every challenge this week, but although she had all the right intentions and the flavour was right in some cases, the final execution just let her down.

Nadiya was the most impressive by far. In everything in the series so far she has bought new flavour combos and been experimental, and this week was no different.  Blueberry jam, with basil seeds, a chocolate ice cream so rich it covered up the coconut milk not to mention the fact that she finally did well in the technical challenge.

Oneliner of the week, not really a onliner, more of an inspirational boost:
“If you play safe it will be boring. We can do boring everyday, but’s not an everyday bake, its Bake Off!”