Baking Bo

It's back! Bake Off is finally back on TV and I could not be more happy about it. I may have mentioned that I have been re-watching previous series, to ease my disappointment that Covid would ruin ANOTHER thing this year. But Channel 4 have come through and I am loving the series so far already!  We decided to do a little Bake Off sweepstake in my office this year. So we divided up the bakers and when your baker is eliminated from the competition you have to bake (or buy) something for the office that week, which relates to that week's theme.  I ended up with 3 bakers some how... Loreia, Hermine and Lottie. Unfortunately poor Loreia was the first to leave the competition so I decided to have a go at this week's signature bake... Battenberg Cake! I used this recipe  as I had never made one before!  Ingredients  For the sponge: 125g butter 125g caster sugar  2 eggs 2 drops almond extract  100g self raising flour  pinch of salt  50g ground almonds  2 tsp milk a few drops of re

I saw this recipe on Instagram and knew I just HAD to try them. This recipe is by Bread God Richard Bertinet. If you are more of a visual learner, watch this video of how to make them. I couldn't get my head around how to shape the buns without seeing it.  Ingredients for the dough: 200ml full fat milk 2 eggs 600g strong bread flour 7g dried yeast 50g caster sugar 2 tsp salt 200g butter, softened  For the filling: 150g butter, softened 250g dark soft brown sugar 2 tsp cinnamon For the glaze: 1 egg 2 tbsp full fat milk  Icing sugar to decorate  Method: 1. To make the dough, put the milk and eggs into the bowl of a food mixer then add the flour. Put the yeast on one side of the bowl. Then put the sugar, salt and butter on the other side. Mix on a slow speed for 4 minutes. Turn it up to a medium speed for 10-12 minutes until a smooth soft dough forms.  2. Form the dough into a ball and place in a clean bowl. Cover and leave for 45 minutes to prove. 3. For the filling, beat the butte

  It was my wonderful friend Gus' birthday at the beginning of September. I offered to make him a birthday cake and he requested a classic Victoria Sponge with strawberry jam and buttercream. My go-to Victoria Sponge recipe is the classic River Cottage recipe. The trick is to weigh your eggs and then match your butter, flour and sugar to the same value.  Ingredients for the cake:  4 eggs  Self raising flour  A pinch of salt  Caster Sugar  Butter, softened  1 tsp vanilla extract  To decorate:  Strawberry jam 8 fresh strawberries  300g icing sugar  150g butter, softened Method: 1. Heat the oven to 180 fan. Lightly grease and line two 20cm cake tins.  2. Weigh the eggs in the their shells and then weigh out the same amount of sugar, butter and flour. Beat the butter until creamy, then add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add 1 tbsp of your flour with your last egg to prevent the mixture curdling. Add the vanilla