Citrus "Botanical Week" Showstopper

So here we are at Botanical week. another new one for GBBO 2016 and I have to say I loved it. I was very drawn to the Signature this week.. A Citrus Meringue Pie! I smiled at this because for my own time in the tent, I made a lemon/lime meringue pie and it went down a treat..The rest of that week didn't, but I got good feedback on that bake. Focus on the positives right?

Not to be one to shy away from a challenge I decide to take on the three tier Flower Showstopper. What was I thinking? You know the way there are 24 hours in a day.. Loads of time sure! Yeah but but the time you factor in everything else that happens in life and actual cake orders that you need to get out, the decision to make a three tier cake, basically became "for the craic"!!

I decided on a theme. A citrus theme. It wasn't a massive cake either, I hate waste so there was no way I was making a giant cake with no one to eat it!

From bottom the top you have a Lemon and Raspberry, lemon curd and vanilla frosting filled 8 inch. On top of that is a 6 inch orange and almond buttermilk cake with an orange blossom honey buttercream filling. Then the third layer is a teeny tiny 4 inch, coconut sandwich cake, filled with a lime curd and coconut buttercream. (I wasn't happy with the coconut cake so have omitted the recipe until I Goldilock's the crap out if it!). I wrapped the whole thing in a basic high-crusting buttercream, left it semi naked because I am lazy and decorated with daisies and thyme.

I am also very glad that Tesco sent me a lovely voucher to help me buy everything  needed for this bake. I was also incredibly lucky to be able to spend the voucher on products that Tesco have sourced in Ireland and made a conscious decision to buy the Tesco own brand products, that helped Irish farmers and producers!

I have given you the measurements for 8 inch cakes, should you choose to bake them. I haven't downsized as I figured, no one really needs three tiers of cake at any one sitting.. save for wedding and birthdays so you won't have to worry about changing anything. Fire away as is.

Lemon and Raspberry Cake 

125g salted butter

225g caster sugar

275g self raising flour

2 large eggs

250ml buttermilk

1 teaspoon baking powder

Zest and juice of one lemon

Small punnet of raspberries

Preheat the oven to 350F or 180C or Gas mark 4. Line and grease two 8 inch pans.

Cream your butter, zest and sugar until light and fluffy and pale, I usually leave my mixer on for about 5 minutes. 

Add in an egg, one at a time until the yolks have been disappeared.

Dry whisk or sieve your flour and baking powder together.

Add half your dry ingredients to the butter/sugar/egg/vanilla mix and then half the buttermilk. Follow with the lemon juice. Mix until combined and repeat the half and half step.

Be careful not to over mix the batter here as you want the cake to stay light and fluffy. The buttermilk helps with that too. Just make sure all the ingredients have been mixed together.

Fill your cake pans and bake in a preheated oven. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Adjust your baking time to suit your oven. You'll know when they are done as the top is golden, has a slight spring in it when you gently push down on the top or a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clear!

Allow to cool for about 10 minutes, remove from the pans and cool fully before assembly.

Orange and Almond Cake

125g softened salted butter
225g caster sugar
225g self raising flour
50g ground almonds
2 large eggs

zest and juice of 2 oranges
125ml buttermilk
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Preheat your oven to 180C, 350F or Gas mark 4. Grease and line two 8 inch pans. 

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy and pale.
Add in an egg, one at a time until the yolks have been disappeared.
Dry whisk or sieve your flour, ground almonds and baking powder together.
Add the vanilla to the egg/sugar/butter combination.
Add half your dry ingredients to the butter combo and then half the buttermilk. Mix until combined and repeat. Just make sure all the ingredients have been mixed together.

Fold in the zest and juice.

Transfer the batter into a prepared tins and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, depending on you oven. You'll know it's done as the top will be golden, have a slight spring in them when you gently push down on the top or a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clear!

Allow to cool for about 10 minutes, remove from the pans and cool fully before assembly.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

225g soft, room temperature, unsalted butter
500g sifted icing sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste, or 1 vanilla pod
up to 60ml cream/whole milk

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter on high until it is very soft and pale. (TIP: pop the butter in the microwave for a few seconds until very soft.)

Add in the icing sugar a few cups at a time.
If the buttercream is very thick, add a tablespoon of cream or milk in until the desired texture has been reached. 
Add the vanilla bean or paste.


Mix the holy moly out of it until light and fluffy. The faster and longer you mix this, the lighter and fluffier it will be. 

Putting it All Together

Once the cake is cool add the first layer, top side down. The underneath part is flattest. Fill with a layer of buttercream and your filling. I used Tesco Lemon Curd in the Lemon and Raspberry cake an Orange Blossom Honey to flavour my buttercream in the Orange and almond cake. 

Add the next cake layer, again top side down. Fill in any gaps and smooth out your buttercream. Pop the cake in the fridge/freezer for a few moments, to harden the buttercream and make the cake more stable to work with.

Remove the cake from the fridge and add the buttercream to the top and sides and smooth out. I have left this semi-naked because a) I'm a tad lazy and b) that's how I like cakes to look. 

***

I reckon I fit the brief.. I will post some photos of the inside as soon as it's cut open and I have the day light back... I hate photographing at night, I really am no good it!

For more GBBO inspiration, head to Jenny's Blog and spy the other goodies the bakers whipped up.

And just to keep you all in the loop about things going on... The results of my Masters are back.... drum rooooollllll... I will be graduating in three weeks with a First Class Honours. Which is pretty damn special. Blowing my own trumpet here.. TOoT!! 

My bakewell tart from last week also earned me STARBAKER. So double win... TOoT ToOT!!

Oreo Churros

"But are there any oreos left after you made the poo's Momma?" Poo references a plenty folks, because there was no escaping it. It is what it is. The first line pretty much sums up my entire Batter Week experience.

Spanish Churros was the Great British Bake Off showstopper challenge for week 4 and thinking I could pull it off with a little razzmatazz thrown in, is how I approached it.

Now I don't know if it was the raz or the matazz but something went wrong along the way. Like really wrong. The batter looked like poo, but tasted like oreos, which conflicted all of us. The oil I think, was too hot when I tried to fry them, so kept burning them. Then I tried to bake them and they held their shape and genuinely baked up nicely but they tasted like nothing, even with the oreo cream dip. Nothing. Nada.

No bueno.

Maybe we had convinced ourselves they'd be poo, because that's all we could think during and after the bake. I don't know. My Spanish delicacy frying skills are clearly left to be desired.

Maybe you will have better luck.

The fried version... 

Piped lines for baking...

Oreo Churros

60g butter

350ml water

150g plain flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

2 large eggs

2 packets of Oreos

oil for frying

sugar and salt for coating

Separate the Oreos into two bowls by spliting each Oreo in half, scraping the creamy centre into one bowl and the pop chocolate biscuits into the other.

Put the biscuits in a food processor and blitz to a fine crumb.

In a saucepan, bring the water to a boil and add the butter until melted. Add the flour, baking powder, salt and half the Oreo crumbs and beat quickly until all is combined. Add the eggs one at a time and mix until fully incorporated, then set aside to cool slightly.

Bring a large saucepan of oil to the boil. Or preheat the oven to at 180C/350F or gas Mark 4.

On a baking tray or in a shallow dish, mix together the rest of your biscuit crumbs with 1 tablespoon caster sugar & 1 teaspoon salt.

Transfer your dough to a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle, pipe strips of the dough into the oil and fry until they are crisp and float to the top, remove with a strainer spoon and toss in the crumb/sugar mix. Alternatively pipe lines on to a baking tray and pop into the oven for 20 minutes. When out, allow to cool slightly, dip in some melted butter and then into the Oreo crumb mix.

Microwave your leftover Oreo filling for about 30 seconds until melted and dip in your coated churros.

The baked version...

I sincerely hope the other bakers joining in the Great Bloggers Bake Off, faired out better in their choices than I did! Be sure to check out what went down over at Jenny's blog MummyMishaps!

Have a great week folks!

Mango and Ginger No Bake Cheesecake

I should really fill you in, before you even read on any further; that this cheesecake is made with cake. An actual cake base, not biscuit. Cake.  

I don't like cheesecake with a biscuit base. Unless it's a baked cheesecake. I know that might sound mad, but I just think no bake cheesecakes are all kinds of gross if they have a biscuit base. 

I love the cheesecake toppings of a no bake. Just not the usual biscuit bases... You feel me? I just don't like them!  I will always, when I can, substitute the bottom of the cheesecake with a sponge type bottom. Red Velvet Cheesecake, Vanilla Cream Mascarpone Cheesecake, Baileys Chocolate Cheesecake and now Mango and Ginger Cheesecake... you get the idea.

It's also a no make, no bake, you just putting together ingredients kind of recipe so in all fairness, this could not be any easier! You buy a few small, readily available ingredients and bobs your uncle, you have a cheesecake. It's domestic god/goddess at it's finest and you really won't have lifted a finger!

Mango Cheesecake with a 

Mango Mirror Glaze on a Ginger Cake Base

Start off in the supermarket and grab yourself the following ingredients;

2 loaves of ginger cake

2 tubs of cream cheese

250ml single cream

1 vanilla pod

60g caster sugar

1 250ml bottle of mango puree

1 tsp from a sachet of gelatin powder

1 tbsp hot water

Cut up the two loaves of ginger cake and squash them into the bottom of an 8 inch round spring form tin.

Whip the cream cheese together until smooth and add the cream and vanilla seeds from inside the pod. Add the sugar and whip until soft and light. Be careful not to over whip. 

Fold in half the bottle of mango puree into the cream/cream cheese mixture until fully incorporated.

Pop half the mixture in on top of the ginger cake and smooth it out. Add the other half in and smooth out the top as best you can.

Put the pan in the fridge for at least two hours, or until set. Over night is best.

After about one hour, the cake should be firm enough to hold the mango mirror glaze.

Add one tablespoon of hot water into a bowl and sprinkle in the gelatin powder, stir around until it's fully dissolved. If it doesn't fully dissolve put the bowl into a hot water bain marie, and keep stirring until it does.

Pour in the rest of the bottle of mango puree into the dissolved gelatin and give it a quick stir. Pour that mixture than straight on top of the cheesecake mixture and smooth it out evenly.

Put the whole thing back in the fridge to set up, again, over night is best.

Removing the cake... 

To remove the cake from the spring form tin. Put a sharp knife under some hot water and run arounf the edge of the inside the tin, before popping the clasp. The cake will come away much cleaner from the sides.

The Great Irish Bake Off has started up again and this year I have a  friend baking in the tent. I got to know her through my own time on the Bake Off in Season 2 and I was delighted to see she got off on a very good start the other night!! This week was desserts, and the technical challenge was a very persnickety gelatin infused, biscuit baked, no bake mango and something or other (I really can't remember!!) cheesecake.

On account of my dislike for biscuit bases, I refused t follow the recipe exactly but have paid homage to the mango in the recipe above. So it's almost the same thing right? A no bake, cheats make, cheesecake that is genuinely great!!

One to pull out for the next dinner party... You're friends will love you for it!!