Jessica's Bake Off Challenge

Hello everyone! I know it's been a quiet couple of months... I've been focusing a lot on my schoolwork, and haven't been able to post any of my bakes since Pi Day. Yes, I have been baking (albeit less frequently), but it is amazing how much time it takes to edit photos, write an article, and compile the recipe! Also, I bake for stress relief and for a break from writing. I have a little bit of a backlog of recipes, although I am going to post a "fresh" recipe today. I baked this rhubarb, cinnamon, and cardamom custard tart earlier today, and want to write about it while it is still fresh in my memory. I have been wanting to do this bake for quite a while, but couldn't do so until rhubarb was in season. I finally found it at the supermarket a few days ago, so here the tart is! This tart is my attempt at the signature bake from Series 5, Episode 5 of Great British Bake Off . The challenge is to make a signature family-sized custard tart. Due to the fact th...

I have been looking forward to this challenge for a few weeks. Now that I've completed it, I no longer feel so thrilled. The end result is tasty, although I got a little impatient with the decoration. The showstopper challenge from Series 5, Episode 7 was 24 eclairs- of two different flavors. I chose to make 12 lemon and lavender eclairs and 12 coconut key lime eclairs. One of my good friends specifically requested that I do this bake as soon as he saw the words key lime .  I wasted so many eggs trying to make my choux pastry. Making the choux pastry dough is not very difficult, but I kept messing up on the bake times. When choux pastry is properly baked, a nice hollow pocket will form, and the pastry will hold its shape for near-perpetuity. As I found out, the pastry will gradually deflate and the hollow pocket will collapse if the pastry is not baked long enough. I also found out- after finally making some decent choux one night- that the pastry will become soft and col...

Hello again! Sorry for the late update. I baked the ciabatta for this technical a week ago, but had a migraine all week. Since I am only now getting to post, I am going to give you two posts today. This week, I purchased a cake decorating set. Considering how poor I am at decoration, I need all the supplies I can get. It came with a rotating cake stand, various frosting application knives and scrapers, a wire cake cutter, a bunch of piping tips, some reusable piping bags, silicone cupcake liners, a silicone candy mold (unfortunately heart-shaped), and more. I am very excited to have it, and look forward to using it to its optimal capacity. On to the ciabatta... My challenge last Sunday was to make Paul Hollywood's ciabatta recipe from the technical challenge of Series 5 Episode 3. I did not follow the recipe precisely, but the bread turned out pretty well. It was a little flatter than I would have liked (although I don't really know how fluffed ciabatta should be), but ...