The Pie You've Been Waiting For...

Let me first begin by explaining myself (tail between legs and head hung in shame.) For the last few months I have been experiencing what is commonly known as bakers block; a serious condition which I put down to a change in baking circumstances and an unfamiliar oven. Hopefully this is now coming to an end and I can resume my weekly baking blogs. Whilst I can report that I have still been baking cakes, I have been observing total radio silence. Those that have been baked shall remain anonymous, and sadly they met their sticky end without the documentation they deserved. For this, I apologise, and I ask you to join me in a two second silence to remember those who never made it onto the blog.

(Pause)

On a less sombre note, it's only 335 days till Christmas!

What better way to celebrate this uplifting fact than with mince pies. I confess that these mince pies were baked over the bakers block period, but lucky for them there is photographic evidence that they existed. There was I regret to say, another batch which did not make it out of the oven alive, due to red wine induced amnesia. Fortunately, these made an excellent coal substitute during the period over Christmas when I had no central heating.

The mince pies that survived were extremely yummy, and whilst I am not quite so dedicated as to make my own mincemeat, the pastry is my own. I favour putting a star on top instead of a complete lid. Not only does it look neater than when you get mincemeat juices escaping from the sides, it's also really quick to do.

In other news - if you thought the standard of my blog photography had improved, you're not wrong, and it's not me. I now have an official blog photographer who makes my cakes look as good as they taste. Prepare to be dazzled by scones in soft focus and pavlova in panorama.

In case you're wondering why I have a clip art picture of a mince pie, instead of the stunning photography I promised in my previous paragraph, I overlooked the fact that I am not in possesion of the photo. Please wait in anticipiecion while I contact my photographer about this matter. I thank you for your patience :)

Chocolate Whoopie Pies

Over the years I've made some splendid cakes, but the ones that always stay with me are the ones I wish I could forget. I call these the cakes from hell.

The first 'cake from hell' happened around 2007, when a sponge flan got stuck in the tin. Despite whacking the underside of the tin with blunt objects, the only thing that eventually released it was when it was subsequently flung against the wall.

The next 'cake from hell' is still a sore point, but they say it’s good therapy to write things down, so I’ve decided to share. It all happened a couple of weeks ago, when I was making a cheesecake to take to my friend Julie's house. I tried to be clever by using a low fat crème fraiche, not realising that it was too runny for the recipe. I knew something was wrong when I poured the topping over the base; it was like soup, and not at all what I had hoped for. I made many anxious visits to the fridge over the next few hours, in the hope that it would have miraculously set. It didn’t.

In a last desperate attempt to save my reputation, I put it in the freezer for a short while to try and speed up the setting process. I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best, but alas I was destined to fail. The result was a digestive base the texture of a frisbee, a topping the consistency of yoghurt, and four horrified faces round the dinner table.

After the trauma of cheesecake-gate I was a virtual recluse; sitting inside with the curtains closed, listening to Joy Division, and crying at re-runs of Animal Hospital. I had to do something to redeem myself, and make a spectacular culinary comeback. Then the idea came to me - Chocolate Whoopie Pies.

Ever since I jumped on the Whoopie Pie band wagon a couple of months ago, I have been looking forward to coming up with some new and exciting flavours. I decided to modify my existing recipe to make some decadent chocolate Whoopie Pies, with white and dark chocolate toppings. I used three types of yummy sprinkles - chocolate jazzies, chocolate crispies, and chocolate sugar strands. In the middle I put a big dollop of chocolate butter cream.

I took the finished Whoopie Pies round to Julie's house, to compensate for the previous week's cake disaster. They looked great and tasted delicious, so I think all is forgiven.

Some time in the future, I will be attempting to get over my cheesecake phobia by getting back on the cheesecake horse, so to speak. Maybe you can suggest some yummy cheesecake recipes? Preferably ones that set!

Blackberry Crumble

There's something about picking blackberries that is intensely satisfying and addictive. I think it stems from our cave man times, before Tesco's was invented, when foraging for nuts and berries was the in thing. Once I start picking the free fruit, I want to keep going until my fingers are red raw from bramble scratches and I'm covered in sticky bobs. This is a good demonstration of why communism will never work.

It's been a bumper crop of blackberries this year, and I just couldn't wait to get on my bike and start gathering. I had been waiting for the berries to be ripe for weeks, so as soon as the first of the crop turned black I set off to the cycle track with 2 plastic boxes in my bicycle basket.

When I was a kid, my Mum used to give me a margarine tub attached to a string round my neck, with a little hole in the top to post the blackberries through. This genius invention was to stop me spilling the freshly picked blackberries all over the floor.

The best of the blackberry bushes were around Blacon, so I decided to leave my bike on the grass beside the cycle path, and let the picking commence.

Predictably, the best of the blackberries were very high up and towards the back, which would have been fine if I had arms like Mr Tickle, but to really get the best fruit Blacon had to offer I had to be prepared to get submerged in the brambles. This kind of commitment really makes you feel that you have earned your crumble.

As it was a sunny day, a lot of cyclists went past, unaware that I was lurking in the bushes happily picking blackberries. It wasn't until two youths went past on a bike (one was having a seatie) that I sensed something was afoot. I watched in disbelief as the two youths walked over to my bicycle with the intention of stealing it.

Imagine the shock they got when I ran out of the bushes with stained red hands. They must have thought I was some kind of pervert/murderess, because they took off on their bike looking terrified. Let's hope this deters them from a life of crime ;)

Once I had filled my boxes, I decided it was time to go home and get baking. The dish of the day was going to be a crumble.

After I had thoroughly washed the fruit, I put it in a pan with sugar and simmered. Once the sugar was melted and the fruit had sweetened I poured into an ovenproof bowl. I then sprinkled the home made crumble mix over the top and pressed down lightly. Finally, I raked a fork over the top of the crumble in neat lines.

I like my crumble best with evaporated milk. How do you eat yours?

Pumpkin Pie - Sort Of

I know what you are thinking. “Another pie? Bridie’s going to need a shoe horn to get into her new Renault Twingo.” Well, think on – this pie contains a root vegetable high in vitamins and dietary fibre, so it can’t be bad for you.

After last week’s Pecan Pie, I started reminiscing about a pie I baked with my Mum for Halloween, back in the day when Gladiators was the must-watch Saturday night show, and you got bullied for NOT owning a shell-suit. It was a recipe that we found in a women’s magazine for pumpkin pie, which was the ideal way to ‘use that left over pumpkin’

However, living in Lancaster circa 1989 the most exotic thing we picked up from the fruit and veg shop was a red pepper…and even then you were the talk of the town. We searched high and low for a pumpkin, but in the end it proved vegless and we resorted to tinned pumpkin instead. I remember we topped the pumpkin pie with pecan nuts, and I felt very refined as I ate my slice.

This sweet memory, together with the fact that I got a butternut squash for 35p in the reduced section of Asda, was enough motivation to cook this American favourite. I know a butternut squash is technically not a pumpkin, but it was the closest I was going to get in July. One of these days, I might just cook a pumpkin pie from an actual pumpkin.

Unfortunately, the recipe from my childhood had long gone, and I didn’t have the networking skills to search the archives of Bella magazine for that 80's Halloween food feature. For this reason I did a bit of googling and had a browse of a cookery book or two, and loosely formulated a recipe that I thought might work.

I steamed the butternut squash, and then put into a blender with sugar and cream. When it was cooled slightly, I added three whisked eggs. I then poured into a sweet pastry case that I made earlier, and topped with pecan nuts just like I did all those years before.

The results of my cooking experiment turned out great! I had some while still warm, but it was even better when it had been chilled in the fridge overnight.

Next week I’ll try and cook something other than pies – promise :)

American Pecan Pie

You wouldn’t think that vampire series ‘True Blood’ would provide baking inspiration, but that is exactly what happened when I watched series one. The series is set in Louisiana, and is full of good old fashioned southern manners, traditional home cooking, sex, and vampires.

For those of you who haven’t seen the show, there is a sad scene where Sookie (one of the main characters) is eating her late Gran’s Pecan Pie. It may be an emotional scene, but all I could think of was the pie. Ever since I saw it I have been dying to bake one, but have been waiting for just the right moment.

So when my friend Bob, who happens to be a great photographer, offered to take some professional photos of my next baking creation - I knew that it had to be Pecan Pie.

This week I feel compelled to do a little history lesson, and tell you about the past of the Pecan Pie. Although the exact origins are unclear, it is said that this pie hails from the French settlement in Louisiana around the 18th century. Pecan trees grow in this area, and can produce edible nuts for more than three hundred years. It’s amazing to think that the Pecan trees that were first used to make Pecan Pie for those early settlers, could still be producing Pecans for pies now!

First I made the pastry for the crust, which was unusual in that it contained a good dose of sugar and four egg yolks. Then I melted the butter, sugar, and syrup, and added three whisked eggs before pouring into the pastry case. I know what you’re thinking, ‘heart attack food’, but my Grandma always told me that a little bit of what you fancy does you good, and my Grandma is right about everything.

The recipe didn’t tell me to blind bake the pastry case before putting in the filling, which made me as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room of rocking chairs (southern saying). I had visions of soggy pastry, but decided that if the recipe had been around for three hundred years I should trust it.

Once the filling was in the pastry case, I placed Pecan nut halves on top, in a neat circular pattern. The recipe suggested putting them in any old way, but there is no way I could have ruined the symmetrical look of the dish. OCD? Definitely.

After about forty minutes in the oven the pie had turned golden brown, and the filling had set completely. It looked fantastic, and I was especially pleased, seeing as it was going to be subjected to a professional photo shoot.

The next day my kitchen became a photographic studio complete with lights, and other paraphernalia that I can’t remember the exact name of. Bob, you are not included under the term ‘paraphernalia’ - I do remember your name!

I am sure you will agree that the photo looks fantastic. If Playboy did a pie centre fold - this would be it.

I was relieved that the pastry was not soggy as I had feared, but just right. The Pecan Pie had a surprising texture too, not at all what I had imagined. The texture of the filling was almost like custard, but the taste was of buttery sweetness. Of course the Pecan crunch topped things off nicely, and I have to say I think they are a real ‘nut’s nut.’

After the success of the Pecan Pie, I now have a bit of a fascination with American desserts. America offers a whole continent of cakes and pies to be discovered, and I’m sure it won’t be long before Mississippi Mud Pie and Pumpkin Pie make it on to here.

Thanks y’all for stopping by! You’ve made me as happy as a clam!

Cake 21 - Physics Themed Cakes

This week's special edition of 'What Bridie Baked' comprises of a joint effort between myself and my cousin Rosie, and involves the combining of our individual talents for a shared vision. Our mission was to bake physics themed cakes for Rosie's last day as a publishing editor at IOP Publishing; the creators of respected physics journals.

We set out to push the boundaries of cookery and science, and prove that the combination of physics and cake is less like chalk and cheese, and more of a marriage made in heaven. With my baking prowess and Rosie's physics expertise, surely this was a pairing that could take us all the way to the Nobel Prize, Masterchef, and beyond?

Before our cake partnership could begin, I first had to endure the 4 hour train journey from Chester to Bristol Temple Meads. Meanwhile back at the ranch, Rosie had bought ingredients, and selected an array of physics inspired decorations to knock the socks off even the most apathetic physicist. Unless they're Einstein - he didn't wear any socks.

After arriving in Bristol and having a catch up over a Chinese take-away, we got started with the cake baking. It's always difficult cooking away from home, as you never know where the utensils are or how to work the oven. Fortunately, I had Rosie on hand as my glamorous assistant.

In the absence of a food mixer, we took it in turns to mix all the ingredients together with a fork until we had something that resembled cake mixture. It looked and tasted very good, proving that if you've got a strong arm and a good whisk action, you don't need fancy utensils to bake a cake. We spooned the mixture into muffin cases and miniature cake cases, and put on a baking tray in a hot oven.

The next and most crucial stage was the decoration. This was the stage that was to turn our plain cupcakes into works of scientific art. At our disposal we had pink and blue butter cream, white chocolate stars, multi-coloured sugar stars, sparkle dust, and some strange spiky sugar balls that Rosie thought looked like exploding nuclei. While mixing together the butter and icing sugar, I also did a quick demonstration of Newton's Law of Gravity by knocking the blue food colouring all over the work surface.

Rosie had also bought some rum flavouring, which we added to the butter cream. We wondered what the secret ingredient must be in this flavouring to make it taste of rum, and upon reading the label discovered it was, in fact, rum. I was a bit concerned about the cakes stinking out her offices with their potent alcoholic scent, but we decided to throw caution to the wind and use it anyway. After all, it was Rosie's last day and the probability of her being sacked was low.

So, how does one represent the Universe in a Cake Case? Well, we have formulated some theories on that issue. Collectively, they represent chaos theory, especially when you take into consideration the tip we made in the kitchen. Rosie thinks that they evoke the notion of subatomic particles or atomic nuclei, and perhaps the most striking image is the one of a cake about to be swallowed up by my ‘black cake-hole.’

The cakes tasted out of this world, and the heavily decorated topping created a taste explosion. Kind of like the Big Bang, in a good way. Maybe it was the rum flavouring talking, but we also received a lot of compliments from Rosie’s colleagues.

So, did we succeed in our mission? Share your view and leave us a comment.

Cake 20 - Pineapple Upside-down Cake

This week I went retro, and decided it was time to bring back that old favourite ‘Pineapple Upside-down Cake’. This topsy turvy treat is one of my all time favourites, and I can remember my mother baking it when I was a kid. There’s nothing like a good slice of nostalgia!

After last week’s Whoopie Pies, I was looking for a cake that was a little less labour intensive, and not as messy. I was still picking up hundreds and thousands from the kitchen floor as late as yesterday, after my enthusiastic sprinkling. Poor Miffy (the house rabbit) must have felt like she was slipping on marbles all week!

The great thing about a pineapple upside-down cake is that it’s very easy to make. I don’t even need a recipe book to make this cake. It’s just a basic sponge recipe poured into a round tin over the pineapple rings, with cherries in the middle. So when Tobey woke me from my sleep to ask what I wanted from the supermarket on Sunday morning, I was able to rattle off a list of ingredients with the speed and accuracy of ‘The Rain Man.’

The preparation went according to plan, and I even got transported back to my childhood by drinking the pineapple juice from the tinned pineapple. Unlike my childhood, I risked life and lip by drinking it straight from the tin. What would my mother say?! After an hour of cooking on a low heat, the cake was ready, and the kitchen smelt like a tropical paradise.

Tobey had a slice or two, and I took a third of the cake to my friend Julie’s house. This is the same Julie who suggested Whoopie Pies, and who has been a loyal follower of this blog.

We had a wonderful dinner, followed by my pineapple upside-down cake, with strawberries on the side. It was delicious, and even Julie’s Dad who said he wasn’t keen on pineapple in cakes, was converted.

All that is left of the cake now is the rejected glace cherries on the cake board. I have a love hate relationship with glace cherries. Their radioactive glow is great from a decoration point of view, but they have a very over-processed sugary taste that’s a bit over the top sometimes.

Julie’s mum Doris very kindly gave me a fabulous ‘Cakes of the World’ recipe book, which I will be baking something out of very soon.

Next week though, we have a ‘What Bridie Baked’ extravaganza where I will be baking physics themed cakes, with my cousin Rosie in Bristol.

Watch this space!

Cake 16 - Whoopie Pies

When my friend Julie suggested I should make Whoopie Pies, I thought she was being vulgar and rude. The word ‘Whoopie’ hasn’t crossed my mind since my friend thought it would be funny to put one of those noisy inflatable cushions on my chair.

After a bit of googling, I found out that whoopie pies are the latest baking craze, and make cupcakes look like last year's jumper. I thought I was quite up to date on baking affairs, but it seems that the whole whoopie pie phenomenon has really passed me by - until now.

Let me start off by telling you that I love a good craze. All through my life I have become addicted to passing fads. When I was 9 it was WWF (Wrestling not Wildlife), when I was 15 it was Sun-In hair lightener (much to the detriment of my fringe), between the age of 19 and 21 I ate scampi in every single restaurant I went to (which was tricky at Chinese and Indians), and more recently I've embraced my inner teen by falling head over heels for the vampire craze.

These love affairs can be very intense, and although they don't last forever I always throw myself into them wholeheartedly. I suppose what I'm trying to say is that whoopie pies are my new best friend, and I might be blogging about them for a while. Cupcakes are dead, long live the whoopie pie!

I thought I'd start off with a recipe I found in a food magazine for Vanilla Whoopie Pies. To those of you who aren't sure what whoopie pies are, they're a cross between a macaroon and a victoria sandwich cake (but mini) - both of which are featured on this blog!

This particular recipe contained butter milk, which I have never used before. I had a little taste of it from the carton, but I have to say it was pretty revolting on its own. This didn't inspire me with much confidence, but I was determined to trust the recipe, and cooks usually swear by it, not at it.

After I had combined the butter, sugar, egg and buttermilk to form a batter I poured into a piping bag (as recommended by the recipe) and prepared for things to get messy. I'm still not very well practiced with a piping bag, so piping the little whoopie circles on the baking tray required full ‘mouth open’ concentration. To my surprise...it went well!

When they were baked and cooled, I sandwiched butter cream between the outer shells, and iced the top of the whoopie pies. A good sprinkle of hundreds and thousands added a little bit of crunch. The result had me shouting 'whoopie', and the butter milk added a different dimension to the recipe.

This week’s taste panel included Tobey, his Mum and Dad, and me. All agreed that Whoopie Pies are the sweet treat to beat.

That's all for now, but if you want more then you can now look at my cakes on Flickr!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/whatbridiebaked/

Cake 15 - Hazel's Birthday Cupcakes

On Saturday it was another beautiful sunny day in the North West of England. It's officially the season to show off sunburnt beer bellies, buy plastic cutlery, re-discover Nobbly Bobbly's, irritate the neighbours with excessive lawn mowing at anti-social hours, and drink Pimms while the ever present threat of a hose pipe ban looms over us.

On days like this, most of us make do with dipping our feet in a kids paddling pool or going swimming in the pond, but it just so happened that on this spectacularly sunny day I was invited to a party with a hired hot tub! Well, more of a cold tub actually, but that suited us just fine in the current weather conditions.




So what does one bake when going to a cold tub party? I couldn't think of any underwater snacks off the top of my head, so I decided that I would make some birthday themed cupcakes to mark the hosts, (Hazel's) birthday. Cupcakes are easy to eat, and although some crumbs will always find their way into the filter, I'm sure the hot tub company have encountered much much worse.

I made a basic sponge mixture, and spooned a couple of teaspoons into each cupcake case. I didn't want to over fill them, because I wanted room to do some fancy decorating.

I made two batches of butter cream, one pink and one white. I used my super-dooper new piping bag to ice pink strawberry flavour swirls on half the cakes, and sprinkled them with sparkly edible powder and pink and white sugar stars. On the other half, I spread the plain butter cream over the cupcakes with a device to create a wavy surface, and then piped Hazel's age on top in pink.

As I had one malformed rejected cupcake, and enough spare icing, I decided to make Tobey a cute little cake of his own. I have included the picture for your amusement. Not all cakes have to be perfect, we all like a bit of fun.

The car journey was a critical stage in the life of these cupcakes. The sun was beating down so hard, I thought they might melt before we got there. The many roundabouts and traffic lights almost saw them splattered on the windscreen a few times too. If someone invents seatbelts for cupcakes, contact me - I want some.

It was a lovely afternoon. Bubbles were added to the cold tub, clothes got soaked, the dog played football on the lawn, and spending time with friends was the icing on the cupcake. Thanks Hazel, and happy birthday.

Coming soon, another instalment of rate my apron! You won’t believe your eyes.

Cake 14 - Chocolate Celebration Cake

Hello, and welcome to a very very tired edition of ‘What Bridie Baked.’ This week’s blog is just a short one, on the basis that I am absolutely shattered from a bike ride in the sun. I am currently melting on the sofa with a towel on my head, feeling like sleep is imminent! Tobey has just made me a coffee, and I am hoping I can muster up the energy to put a brush through my barnet before my hair dries and I look like Russell Brand.

I may be tired, but there was no way I could refrain from telling you about my fabulous chocolate cake, which was a belated father’s day gift for Tobey’s Dad. The sponge was rich and choclately, and I covered the top, sides, and centre of the cake with chocolate butter cream. I was pleased with the swirly design, which I did with my new Ikea piping bag.

I managed to save the cake from the jaws of Tobey, and it made it all the way to his parents house on Tuesday evening, before he managed to wangle a piece off his Dad.

I’ll try to be wittier next week, when I have regained my strength!

Don’t forget to rate my apron if you haven’t already done so! Just leave your mark out of 10 on here, or on facebook.

Rate My Apron - Apron 2

Welcome to the much anticipated return of 'Rate My Apron.'

This week I marked the heat wave with a floral apron in the garden. It features another classic print from the 60's or 70's.

Is it better than the last? Could this be the winner? Please give me your marks out of 10 for the apron in the comments section.

Cake 13 - Korvapuusti from Finland

This week I put the ball in your court, and asked my followers via the medium of facebook “What should Bridie bake?” The response was overwhelming, and gave me a lot of food for thought.

Chris certainly wins points for the originality of his ‘4 and 20 blackbirds’ suggestion, but for health and safety reasons I won’t be climbing into hedge rows to deplete the local area’s bird population. I would also like to offer free counselling to anyone who has been affected by John’s suggestion of cottage cheese cake -it was acceptable in the 70’s.

In the end I decided to pick one that was a complete mystery to me – the Korvapuusti, suggested by my friend Marjo in Finland. Behold Finland! The country that brought us Eurovision 2006 winners ‘Lordi’, now brings us the Korvapuusti!

If you had asked me a week ago what I thought a Korvapuusti was, I probably would have guessed incorrectly that it was a small woodland animal. However, it turns out that a Korvapuusti is the tastiest roll you’ve never heard of. They’re also known as ‘Slapped Ears’, but I’m not going to go tell people I gave my boyfriend slapped ears, so for the sake of decency we’ll call them by their true Finnish name.

The only recipe I found for Korvapuusti on the internet was in American ‘cup’ format, which always confuses me. Do you use tea cups, coffee cups, or bra cups? To avoid disaster, I printed out the recipe and converted all the cup amounts into metric. Better safe than sorry I always say.

A Korvapuusti consists of bread dough flavoured with melted butter and cardamom. You roll out a sheet of the dough and then spread a filling of melted butter, sugar, and ground cinnamon on top. After this is done, you roll up the pastry like a swiss roll, cut into triangles, and put onto a baking tray so that the two dough spirals at each end face upwards. They look like a cross between a croissant and a cinnamon roll, but the taste is really quite unique.

The cardamom especially makes a Korvapuusti seem more Middle Eastern than European. It would be interesting to swap the cinnamon filling for pistachio for a real taste of the Middle East.

There is a lot of time spent waiting for the dough to rise in this recipe, but that is most often the case when cooking with yeast. This waiting game is torture for an impatient cook such as myself, but it did give me chance to hang the washing out. Once it’s in the oven it only takes 10 minutes to cook, and the result was delicious! I would be tempted to freeze them for future breakfasts if I made them again.

Join me tomorrow for ‘Rate My Apron.’ I warn you, bring sunglasses.

Cake 12 - Victoria Sponge Cake

On Saturday we went to Caerwys country fair for a fun filled day out. Although many of you may think of me as the glamorous cake baker with a jazzy apron, there is another side of me that loves getting up to my knees mud looking at old tractors and prize winning cattle, and I just can't resist the smell of an old steam engine. Oh yes, my name is Bridie and I am a steamoholic. This blog could just have easily been 'Bridie's life in Steam.' I'm just one flat cap away from owning my own steam engine. Well, maybe not.

Caerwys country show was an educational experience in many respects. The first thing we learnt was that if you own a Shetland pony you have to be under 5ft tall. The second thing we learnt was that being in a tent with 500 chickens and pigeons is a very claustrophobic and smelly experience. The third thing we learnt was that the competition for prize winning sponge cakes is very below par these days. Imagine my horror when I saw just four sorry looking sponge cakes through the plastic window of a 'closed for judging' cake marquee. If I'd have entered there's a chance I could have won first prize!

I'm going to make it my mission to enter one of these competitions and see if I can take home a red rosette! With this is mind, I thought I'd better get formulating my prize winning sponge cake recipe. No corners will be cut, tins will be lined, and doilies will be used. I'm sure that the Women’s Institute are quaking in their Scholl sandals.

As it happens, I have a small amount of experience in these type of competitions. Back in 1995 I entered my guinea pig in the Cheshire show. It was an ingenious way to get a day off school at poor Squiggler’s expense, and despite him spending the day hiding behind a piece of hay, pooping on the judge, and making an escape attempt that would make Houdini look like a Britain’s got Talent reject - he won first prize! I got 53p in prize money.

I'm hoping I can repeat this success with my Victoria sponge cake.
This week’s first attempt at a prize winning sponge was a valiant effort. The below picture may look like a rack on a cooling rack so to speak, but it is in fact my light fluffy sponge just out of the oven.

My top tip for sponge of epic proportions is extra egg white, and a lot of whisking! This week I filled the sponge with raspberry jam and fresh cream. For future competition purposes I might make my own raspberry jam, but for a Sunday night post-ironing treat, Harley’s will do just fine.

Rate My Apron - Apron 1

Hello and welcome to a fabulous new feature on 'What Bridie Baked' called, 'Rate my Apron.'

'Rate my Apron' is simple. I pose in one of my many Aprons, and you mark it out of ten. One being horrifyingly bad, and ten being the best apron of all time.

The mark you give is entirely your choice, and of course 'What Bridie Baked' promotes democracy. However, you don't want to give your 10's out willy nilly because the winning apron will be featured in my blog’s opening photo. There's everything to play for!

The first in the 'Rate My Apron' series is this fabulous orange and flowery number. The front of the apron has two deep pockets for keeping your wooden spoon, rolling pin, spatula, hip flask...whatever gets you through day. I'm guessing it's circa 1960. I'm no antique fabric expert, but maybe you are and you're thinking "That's a 1967" print. If so, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Please feel free to leave comments, and if you have an apron you would like me to model then please get in touch!

WBB Bonus - Macaroons and Cupcakes!

Welcome to a bonus edition of What Bridie Baked. I will be posting again on Sunday, but I decided to do an extra blog post this week, so I can tell you about my mid week macaroons and cupcakes.

On Wednesday, Tobey's mum invited me to a Strawberry Tea event at her golf club, and asked me if I could provide cake for the occasion. Of course I was happy for an excuse to bake something, and relished the prospect of showing off my cakes to the ladies of Harwarden Golf club. Tobey shudders at the very mention of golf clubs, but I think I could quite get into tartan trousers and plaid socks without much encouragement at all. My background is crazy golf; but I've had a go at putting a few balls on the 9th, and I can tell you that I now have The Open firmly in my sights.

I have never attempted to make meringue before, but I thought that macaroons were as good place to start as any. Using the whisk attachment of my ‘daddy’ of food mixers, I whipped egg white and caster sugar until I had fluffy peaks, and then stirred in the other ingredients. When I spooned the meringue on the baking tray, they looked more like scotch pancakes, but upon licking the spoon they definitely didn't taste like them.

They only took minutes in the oven, and looked quite spectacular when they came out - as you can see from the before and after pictures. I sandwiched white chocolate in the middle, and placed in the fridge to set. The cupcakes were very simple to make, but I experimented by icing them yellow and cutting out daisy's courtesy of my Mum's daisy cutter.

When I arrived at the golf club, I took my cakes across the sea of tartan carpet to the stall area at the back. The scones were all laid out ready to go, the strawberries were sugared, and the past Captains since 1971 looked on from their portraits in approval.

There were a selection of cakes on the table including coffee cake, chocolate cake, and some kind of cherry tray bake. I was chuffed that my cakes were deemed the 'high end' items, and therefore sold for the grand old price of 30p each. I looked around for a suitable plate to display them on, and found some nice silver ones in a cabinet. Unfortunately I was told these plates were competition prizes, and for display purposes only.

It was a great event, and my cakes were first to sell out which I was pleased about. I ate scones and strawberries, and won a bottle of sherry in the tombola that I suspect had been in someone’s liquor cabinet since 1975. I also had a unique opportunity to compare bunion surgery scars, and swapped scone secrets with a lady called Carol.

That’s all for now. Join me tomorrow for the new ‘Rate My Apron’ feature.

Cake 11 - Mint Choc Muffins

Hello, and welcome! This week I will be telling you the story of my delicious and delectable mint choc muffins. This recipe of my own creation was developed to raise money for the Parkinson’s Disease Society, and caused quite a sensation.

On 29th May 2010 the Parkinson’s Disease Society held an attic sale in the quaint village of Gwernaffield; North Wales, where even the constant drizzle couldn't stop hordes of people descending on the church hall. This day out provided much excitement for me given that my social life has been non-existent since my foot operation, and anyone who knows me knows I can't resist a bargain!

Like all attic sales, it proved to be an Aladdin’s cave of old tea pots, rejected teddy bears, Jilly Cooper novels, and once cherished Julie Andrews records. As well as the usual ‘bric a brac’ and the obligatory raffle, there was also a fabulous cake sale...which is where my mint choc muffins came in.

I was quietly confident that they would be a hit, as my taste panel of one (Tobey) had expressed that the mint aero pieces incorporated in the rich chocolate sponge, was a winning combination. Well, he didn’t use those words exactly, but you never hear them saying “Well nice” on Masterchef do you?

We arrived at the attic sale at half past ten. An ideal time to arrive at any destination with cake, as the Weetabix are wearing off and people are starting to think ‘elevenses’. I cut an odd figure with a flip flop on one foot and an ugly ass velcro shoe on the other, but I didn't let this hinder me in networking. I dropped off two bin bags of old clothes at one stall, greeted Tobey's Mum at another, and then used my crutch to part the crowds like Moses and the Red Sea, in order to get the shortest route back to the cake stall. Being an invalid does have its advantages.

I greeted the old lady who was in charge of cake selling, and gave her my muffins to arrange. She was a lovely old lady who reminded me of my own Grandma, but I eyed her with suspicion….I could tell it was going to be a case of cupcakes at dawn.

Ten minutes later, a scrum ensued around the cake table. At first I thought that a fight had broken out, but as I managed to force my way through the crumb cloud, I could see that my mint chocolate muffins had sold out, while the raisin shortbread and fairy cakes were still sitting there with jealous looks on their faces. My heart practically burst with pride.

This week a special thank you goes out to Lisa, for providing me with a variety of retro aprons. I am going to start modelling a different one each week, and you can rate them. I'm sure it wont be long now before the offers of merchandise deals start coming in!

Join me next week for a jazzy apron and yet more cake to go with it.

Cake 10 - Peach, Yoghurt and Almond Cake

After last week's attempt at emergency scones from my sick bed, I decided that this week I owed it to my loyal followers to make a spectacular comeback on a grand scale. I'm thinking Tony Christie, except with cake.

In case you were wondering about my health, the foot is improving, but I'm not able to walk very far. My ugly orthepedic boot wasn't made for walking, oh no. Therefore I have had another week of 1000 piece jigsaws, reading vampire novels, and pondering the meaning of life. The highlight of today was when Jehovah’s Witnesses knocked on my door. I was so excited to have company I offered them cake, and we talked at length about the prospect of an apocalypse. Uplifting stuff. Eventually they got bored, and made excuses to leave.

This week the featured cake is Peach, Almond, and Yoghurt Cake. I thought I would struggle to get fresh peaches this early on in the season, but Asda must have heard I was baking up a storm for my famous blog, and flew them all the way from Ghana for me. Good for the cake, bad for the carbon footprint.

The clue for the main ingredients for this cake are in the name. However, the secret ingredient in this recipe is amaretto liqueur. Just a dash of this in the cake mixture adds a hint of richness!

As luck would have it, Amaretto is the only liqueur I have in my cupboard - somewhere between the Strongbow and sweet sherry that expired in 2008. The amaretto was an expensive joke present from Tobey after the Disserano advert had us in stitches every time it was on telly. What really cracked us up was the gormless look on the bartender's face, as the beautiful woman gives him a wistful look as if to say “Oy Luv, Giz a refill of that Amaretto.” In the real world the bartender would not be so easily enchanted, and it would be a binge drinker pointing an acrylic nail in the direction of the WKD. Anyway, who am I to criticize - the ad worked on us, we bought the stuff!

The cake making process went according to plan, and the cake batter was the consistency of whipped cream. After I threw in the roughly chopped peaches, I poured into a lined tin (which took me forever to line) and sprinkled with flaked almonds. It was baked in just over an hour, and I left to cool.

When refrigerated for a few hours, the sponge took on a superb squidgy texture, with a little a bit of peach here and there. The crunch of the flaked almonds finished it off beautifully. For that real peaches and cream experience, I served with vanilla ice cream.

And now for a taste of what's to come. Currently cooling in the kitchen, and coming soon to a blog near you are Mint & Chocolate Muffins. We are about to enter the realms of baking with chocolate!

Cake 9 - Raisin and Sultana Scones

For the nine people in the big wide world who are avidly watching my blog, you may have noticed that last weekend 'What Bridie Baked' was a big fat zero. No one was more disappointed than me, and I kept having pangs of guilt from my sick bed thinking I had let my nine cake loving disciples down. I thought that I could probably bake most things sitting down, but if my foot wasn't elevated after having my foot operation, I would surely be in pain. I'm a bit of a messy baker too, and I was bound to end up dropping cake mixture on my bandaged foot or fall over my crutches on the way to the oven. Even my pain killers advised not to operate heavy machinery.......so I thought I'd better leave the hand whisk safely in the drawer, and hang up my oven glove for the time being.

Mid week, things were much improved pain wise, but boredom had well and truly set in. After clicking the refresh button on the facebook home page repeatedly, hoping for the latest news from other people’s status updates, I decided that my life was beyond sad. There was only one thing for it, I was going to drag my ugly orthopedic shoe into the kitchen, and by God I was going to bake something if it killed me.

As I hadn't bought ingredients in for a specific recipe, I had to work with the staple items I had on hand in the cupboards. Flour, tick. Raisins and sultanas, tick. Margarine, tick. The recipe was staring me in the face - SCONES!!!!
I love a good scone. It evokes memories of cream teas in Cornwall, and a wasp that wouldn't leave me alone. A wasp that met its sticky end in a pot of the finest strawberry jam I have ever tasted.

The best thing about a scone is its simplicity; you can rustle it up in no time. They don't call it the fastest cake in the world for nothing (get it? 'scone'). When put on a cake stand you could be having afternoon tea at the Ritz! Served with butter, jam, and clotted cream a scone makes you feel like royalty, but they also taste good scoffed straight from the oven making crumbs on the floor! It's also the law that any spare dough that you have left, you have to fashion into an unusual shape and bake along with the rest.

In a nutshell, this is the whole short process of perfect scone making. Rub the margarine into the flour and baking soda, add a spoon full of sugar, add raisins, milk to form a dough, roll out, cut into rounds, and bake for 10-15 minutes.
These particular scones were a delight. I always roll out the dough slightly thicker than recommended so I get scones like sky scrapers. They have provided me with lunch for the latter part of the week. Not exactly balanced I know, but hey cut me some slack...I am nursing a bad foot and an ugly ass shoe :)

Just to share my future plans with you, I am thinking of posting the recipes for everything I make on this blog. Let me know your thoughts!

Cake 8 - Bridie's Famous Apple Pie

This week’s addition has special meaning to me, because it is the first thing I ever baked for Tobey. I invited him round for dinner, which consisted of chicken fajitas, salad, and my famous apple pie. We ate it in front of the telly, watching some channel 4 programme about space. That's romance for you. I remember he really loved the pie, and was impressed that I made it myself. His praise made me think for the first time, that I might have a bit of a flare for baking. “It started with a pie…never thought it would come to this” – isn’t that the lyric?!

The first thing I did for this week's pie was to cook cooking apple with sugar, until soft. Not too soft mind, I didn't want apple sauce on my hands - or in my pie for that matter.

While this was cooling I moved onto the pastry. Making the pastry is an integral part of any pie, and I am going to tell you my secret for perfect pastry. My Dad once joked that I am genetically programmed to make great pastry, as both my Mum and Dad make it especially well. Over the years, I helped my Mum with her baking, and if there was one thing I learned it was (in my Mum's own words), "The less you mess with pastry, the better it is."

The half fat to flour method is the one I usually use, and I favour stork margarine over butter. It's a lot healthier, and tastes just as good. After you have rubbed the margarine into the flour so it resembles breadcrumbs, you then add water or milk and stir with a knife until it forms a ball. At this point you can use your preferably cold hands, to transfer the pastry to a floured work surface.

Try and roll the pastry out in one go, as a second attempt is usually, in a word - a 'faf'. I also try to roll the pastry lid at the same time as the base, so when I add the apples to the pastry case I can put the lid on in a jiffy, and return straight to the oven. I also used my new daisy cutter, to make some cute motifs for the top of the pie.

When the pastry base was safely in the pie dish, it was time to blind bake. I put the pie case in the oven, and turned a blind eye for roughly 10 minutes. I then removed the pie case from the oven, and added the prepared apple mixture. I sprinkled ground cinnamon over the scrummy apple filling, put the pastry lid on, followed by some strategically placed daisies, and returned to the oven for a further 20 minutes.... during which time the smell of apple pie filled the house!

This particular pie could not be eaten straight from the oven. It first had to make the 180 mile journey to Jen’s house in Bristol, and sleep in the fridge overnight. We had a slice straight from the fridge, after a rainy shopping trip to Bristol on Saturday afternoon. Every rainy shopping trip should be followed by apple pie. Jen and Tobey thought the pie tasted lovely, and Mutley the dog was only too happy to lick the crumbs off my knee. That was the biggest compliment of all - no one has ever gone that far before.

Cake 7 - Coconut Indian Sweet

This week's addition to the blog has been specifically requested by my Mum, and is non other than 'Coconut Indian Sweet.' We first made this Indian style sweet over ten tears ago, when we first started to visit Rusholme in Manchester on a regular basis, for all our Indian cooking supplies.

Most Saturdays we would go there to do our shopping, followed by a curry, and a trip to the Indian Sweet Shop. Rows of multi-coloured sweets filled the windows, and the wonderful smell of cardamom and sugar filled the air. It wasn't long before we wanted our weekend fix on say, a Wednesday. This is where we started to get creative.

This recipe is one that I remember very well from an Indian cookbook, and even though I hadn't cooked it for years it came back to me as soon as I started to melt the butter in the pan. Once done, you simply pour in dessicated coconut and stir, until it takes on the yellow tint of the butter. I then added condensed milk, and kept stiring for about ten minutes when the mixture starts to stick together...a lot like a fudge. I then proceeded to empty the coconut mixture in to a lined baking tray, and press down with a back of a spoon.

Once the cooling process was completed, all I had to do was cut the pieces into little rectangles and display. I chose to keep the coconut sweet in its original colour, although you can put a few drops of pink food colouring to half the mixture for variety.

The finished result was impressive without a lot of effort! It didn't taste exactly like the Indian sweets that you get on the curry mile in Manchester, but then it never did. What it did taste like was pure yummy coconut flavoured nostalgia! In the future I would like to have a go at making some Indian sweets that taste more authentic, but I imagine this takes years of practice. For a mid week Indian sweet fix though, this recipe scores very highly.

Next week I will attempting something more complex, as I will be back to my kitchen comforts in the UK.