Cake stall overkill...

My recent blog-silence doesn't mean I've fled the kitchen (although my attempt at croissants almost saw me flinging down the apron and abandoning pastry ship). No, it has been the busy day-to-day hustle of kids, work and even the occasional social event, that has put blogging way down the 'to do' list.

Any excuse to bake. I'll admit my contribution to our kids' Playcentre is rather weak - so when they announced they were having a cake stall, I saw it as a chance to redeem myself. Enter lemon yoghurt cake, banana coconut loaf, cupcakes and lemon meringue tartlets. That should definitely release me from playdough duties and sandpit volcanoes for at least another month.

 

And if that wasn't try-hardy enough, I made brioche and a banana passionfruit cake when it was our turn to provide morning tea at Playcentre recently. I say 'our' as Neil and I do the tag team parenting thing where he looks after the kids for the first few hours while I work and then I take over for clean up duties. You would think that two parents would be a real bonus for Playcentre, but the reality is we're both pretty useless. Actually one more productive parent would probably be more appreciated. Hence why I/we try to buy the love of the other parents with breads and cakes. Aforementioned brioche and cake...



The net result of all the try-hard Playcentre action was a prize for 'the husband/wife team who brings brioche for the morning tea' at the recent Playcentre AGM (yes, sadly this does count as one of the 'social' outings)... I think they may have seen straight through us.

 

When I'm not attending Playcentre AGMs I can be found catching up on The Great British Bake-Off on i-player (obviously all the other nights I can be found at clubs and hanging out with celebs). I like to try my hand at some of the things the contestants have to. This was the impetus behind the creme caramel, which turned out really well AND - definitely worthy of yelling that at you - ANNNND, I successfully made spun sugar. Yussss!

 

 

 

I also had a go at croissants, which were okaaaay, but didn't reflect the hours and hours that went into making them. They were served to a polite and receptive audience: aka Kylie, Harry, Sarah, Glenn and Neil. 

 

The above is yet more brioche (as I've mastered the brioche, it was my stand-by) and below are the croissants. Sadly a caption is necessary - hopefully next time there won't be need for one!

 







My name is Jude Barback and I'm a bake-aholic

Okay, so I know addiction is no laughing matter, but whenever there is a remote lull in the day (or night) I find myself gravitating towards the kitchen and reaching for the flour sifter. I started to recognise the symptoms when I discovered my birthday-new electronic scales were not working and felt mild panic wash over me. Even though I’d managed just fine without aforementioned scales for the last decade, I couldn’t imagine continuing my baking crusade without my scales (which are now working again, thank goodness).

So here are some of my efforts. I’ve had a concentrated effort on pastry over the last fortnight. My choux pastry, stuffed with a lemon curdy-creamy-white chocolatey filling was excellent. But I had hoped to drape it with spun sugar. Three attempts at making caramel, one whole bag of caster sugar and one rather disgruntled husband later, I was no closer to making spun sugar. I am still at a loss where I’m going wrong, even after consulting my epic culinary encyclopaedia (thank you Johanna and Aidan – I am so reliant on this now!) Anyway, dinner guests (and guinea pigs) Kylie and Harry appreciated the dark chocolate alternative.

The spun sugar-less profiteroles with Kylie and Harry looking on

I’ve also ventured into shorter pastry. Check out these tarts: unfortunately the photos don’t hint at the lemon curd and raspberry centre, topped with frangipane and raspberry drizzle icing. I know.

And these cute little tartlets with salted caramel and banana stars...

...and these lemon and chocolate tarts...

...and my first attempt at tarte tatin. After watching the current series of ‘The Great British Bake-Off’ (God bless i-player!) I decided to have a go at more unorthodox flavours. So this rather well-done looking specimen features pears with vanilla beans, cinnamon sticks, fresh ginger and hazelnuts. With the British bakers constantly berated for their “soggy bottoms” I was nervous about under-baking my pastry and therefore perhaps lurked a little too close to ‘burnt’ territory. However, it tasted a-mah-zing.

Beyond pastry I’ve also ticked off another ‘first’ that has been hanging out on my baking ‘to do’ list since I started this challenge – macaroons. They turned out really well. Unfortunately the chocolate I dipped them in was the cheap stuff – next time I will not offend such perfectly baked coconutty morsels: it’s 70% cocoa or nothing.

And finally, bread. Focaccia, naan, even a rather disastrous attempt at a hazelnut, apricot and honey plait – I’ve been there, done all that. The naan (not a huge Gordon Ramsey fan, but this is his recipe – credit where credit is due) was probably the highlight.

That brings us up to date. Congratulations if you made it this far!

TTFN x