Jessica's Bake Off Challenge

 A few weeks ago, I made Mary Berry's walnut cake. This cake was the technical challenge from Series 6, Episode 1 of The Great British Bake Off. The cake itself isn't tricky. It was my first time making caramel, but even that went surprisingly smoothly. The trickiest part was the boiled icing. I wasn't satisfied with my first attempt, so I ended up doing it twice. I also learned a little bit about food storage and sugarwork. The cake was positively simple. Of course it is important to start off by properly lining one's baking pans. I always line mine with carefully-cut parchment paper and rub the sides with butter. The batter was fairly straightforward. The wet ingredients and the dry ingredients need to be mixed separately, and then the dry ingredients must be folded into the wet carefully, so as not to lose volume. One of the aspects of the batter with which many of the show's contestants had difficulty was chopping the walnuts to the appropriate size. If the waln...

 Wow. I have had quite a hiatus from this blog... from baking as a whole, really. My entire world has turned upside down since October 2019. I got pregnant shortly after that point, and my early pregnancy nausea and sensitivity to smells definitely caused me to cut back on my baking for a little while. Once I was over that, the pandemic started. As much as I love baking, I prefer not to bake when I cannot give the finished products away. Now I have a wonderful 6-month-old baby, who takes up all my time. I made some cookies the other day, and it took most of the day to bake and decorate them due to the fact that I had to keep stopping to take care of the baby. I still am not baking that much. It's too much that I cannot share easily, and it typically takes more time and/or energy than I have. I will, however, try to make something and post it every once in a while. We just might not have any massive showstoppers until I can invite some people over to partake. I did, however, bake a ...

Today I am going to share with you three of the random-ish bakes I did over the summer. All three were meant to fulfill Bake Off challenges... Except I didn't write down the recipes. Regardless, one was nearly a complete failure, and only one came out amazingly well. Therefore, it is no loss that I shall have to try to recreate them, and in one case, very much improve on it. I will try not to distress you too much, dear readers, so I will start with the bake in the middle of the pack... a white peach and raspberry pie. This bake was meant to fulfill the double-crusted fruit pie signature challenge from Series 4, Episode 4. I was very excited about this pie because I love white peaches. They are only available during summer months, so I went a little crazy with them for a while. For the double-crusted white peach raspberry pie, the fruit is mixed with white and brown sugar, a little lemon juice, some spices, and a little cornstarch as a thickening agent. The slits are cu...

Orange French Silk Tart This Orange French Silk tart was made for the Series 6 Episode 9 signature challenge of Great British Bake Off- a signature chocolate tart. You may remember that I made this tart for my Pi Day party, but didn't remember the recipe I created for it. Vincent's coworker's boyfriend liked the tart so much that I decided to make the next rendition of the tart for just the two of them. Vincent's coworker, who is a self-proclaimed pie hater, texted me later to say it is the best thing she thinks I've made. The classic French Silk tart is made with a sweet shortcrust pastry crust, a silky smooth creamy chocolate filling, and a whipped cream topping. It is rich without being overpowering, it is creamy smooth, it is refreshing on a nice hot day. I altered the basic French silk pie only slightly, adding orange to the flavor profile. Orange and chocolate is a common flavor combination in England (such as in Jaffa cakes), and works much bette...

I am finally getting around to posting a little bit about my annual Pi Day party (March 14, 2019). Pi Day is my favorite secular holiday- and it might even beat out a few religious holidays. It is also Vincent's and my anniversary. And yes, we did have wedding pie instead of wedding cake. Be prepared to see more Pi Day party posts in future years. I made a lot of food. In previous years, I have served only pie, but I did set this party around suppertime. Therefore, I served some savory food as well... Including some savory pies. Since I keep kosher, and cannot serve dairy and meat products simultaneously, this was a fully meatless shindig (albeit with some fish). I served appetizers of mushroom and tomato basil bruschetta, inarizushi, sushi, three types of deviled eggs, and Greek salad. I also made a pasta primavera as a non-pie main dish and a side of asparagus. And then there were the pies (not all of which are seen above). Unfortunately, I was super busy and did not ac...

At my Dad's request, I made cream horns- the signature bake from Series 6, Episode 8. The challenge is to make 12 each of two different flavors of cream horns- 24 cream horns total. I chose to make tiramisu flavored cream horns and peach, blood orange, and basil cream horns. So what are cream horns? Cream horns are sort of like puff pastry cornucopias. The puff pastry is swirled around a conical mold before baking. After they are baked, the mold is removed and the pastries are completely filled with a cream filling. The traditional cream horn is merely filled with whipped cream, but the filling can be made with different consistencies and fillings.  The cream is quite simple to make; the more difficult part of this challenge is the pastry. Anytime there is a pastry challenge on GBBO, there is always the moaning and groaning about which pastry to use- rough puff or full puff. Rough puff pastry merely requires the incorporation of small chunks of butter into a flour dough b...

The signature challenge for Series 6, Episode 2 of The Great British Bake Off  is to make two dozen biscotti. Biscotti are traditionally an Italian cookie distinct for its twice-baked hard exterior. Fillings are somewhat variable. An eastern European Jewish variation of biscotti is called mandelbrodt. Mandelbrodt literally translates to English as "almond bread". Except for when I make mandelbrodt for my aunt, who is allergic to all nuts, I always include almonds and some almond extract. These biscuits are very hardy and are a good, easy crowd-pleaser. The recipe which I use calls for oil rather than butter, making them pareve (neither dairy nor meat). They are good to serve as a dessert for a crowd, or are good to bring as a snack on road trips. Due to the fact that they are rather hard, they do not easily go stale, and will stay fresh for a while. For once, I will not disclose the recipe which I used. The recipe is, I believe, my great-great-grandmother's; it ...