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!!

Lemon and Poppy Seed Macaron

The avoidance was strong this week folks.. We are now currently down to days in my thesis-handup-countdown and let me tell you this.. I am so over spellings and grammar and editing. Snooooooreee..

I needed a little break, just a teeny, tiny time to myself where I could be creative and productive and not have to think about the correct use of the oxford comma.

I had come across a really sweet, no wait for them to dry French Macaron Recipe and gave it a quick whirl last week. It worked out well. I was very pleased with the results, but needed to work out some kinks in my oven... namely hot-spots and my oven running a little too hot.

I tweaked about the recipe, changed about the oven timings, started all over again and WOW!

You guys... It's a keeper!

Lemon and Poppy Seed French Macaron

makes 50 approx...that's 100 shells!

recipe adapted from here

115g ground almonds

230g icing sugar 

140g egg whites, large free-range, room temp

70g caster sugar

pinch of salt

drop of yellow GEL food colouring

handful of poppy seeds

Pre-heat your oven to 140C/280F or Gas Mark 3.

Pulse together the ground almonds and icing sugar in a food processor, until very fine. If any big lumps remain, sift the mix through a sifter and set to one side.

Place egg whites, sugar and salt into a super clean bowl and whip with a whisk attachment on low speed (that’s 4 on my KitchenAid) for 3 minutes. It should look like foam by the end bubbly  and frothy.

Increase the speed on the mixer to medium-high (it’s about a 7 on my Kitchen Aid) for another three minutes. It should start looking like shaving foam. Finally increase the speed to high (which is an 8 on my KitchenAid) for another 3 minutes. It is going to really stiffen up and clumps into the whisk attachment.

Add in the gel food colouring and whip at the highest setting for another minute **Remember, by now if you have not reached a stiff meringue, dump the eggs  and start over with new egg whites and a washed clean bowl.**

Pop the dry ingredients into the meringue and using a rubber spatula gently fold the meringue in through the dry mix.

Use circular folding hand movements, bring in the meringue from the sides of the bowl through the powder mix and through the middle of the bowl. You will need a maximum of 25-30 folds. Stop after this, even it’s still a little lumpy.. it’s ok.

Fill up a piping bag with a couple of spoons on the batter and pipe circles onto parchment lined baking trays in small  discs with gaps of about 3-4 cm in between each.

Lift up the tray once piped and tap it against the counter tops twice, turn the sheet and give it another two good whacks. Sprinkle over a hand full of poppy seeds and pop the trays into your oven for about 12-14 minutes.

They’ll be done when the tops have crisped up and you can gently wiggle them from side to side on the parchment.

Once baked, pull them out and let the shells cool on their trays until cold. Gently remove and fill with your favourite fillings.

I filled mine with some LEMON CURD and swiss meringue buttercream I was practicing for a wedding but you could fill it with this BUTTERCREAM... and it'd be absolutely divine.

I was so impressed with the no wait version of the french macaron method this time around.

I have a super important wedding to bake for in two weeks and this recipe is going to be my life saver!!  Under 30 minutes and you have trays full of macaron... FOR REALS!! #macaronmonday is killing it this week.

Well if that doesn't bate Banagher...

Enjoy the week... I'll be keeping going with these edits. FOUR days and counting. Let's do this.

Lemon Curd

There are some things that annoy me when it comes to baking... like when I am making a batch of  meringue or macaron and I end up with a mass of leftover egg yolks.

I hate waste you see. Hate it.

There's only so much custard you can make with left over egg yolks, without wanting to never-eat-custard-again. And I am talking custard and all it's variations of pie, tart cake, cupcakes, fillings etc, etc, etc!

I decided this time to make Lemon Curd. Because in all fairness that stuff lasts forever if you need it too but also doesn't because it tastes soooo good on pretty much everything you put it on! Toast, scones, biscuits, bread, crackers, splodged through meringue and cream for a lemon fool, sandwiched in a Victoria Sponge for a change of pace on the jam.

Licked straight off the spoon as you look into the fridge hoping for dinner to appear magically before your eyes so you can just heat it up and head back to your book and the summer holidays... You feeling me.

This stuff is the bees knees.

Homemade Lemon Curd

I get 4, 250g pots out of this recipe.

4 lemons worth of juice ( and zest if you like, but I don't like it bitty)
400g caster sugar


200g unsalted butter, cut into cubes
6 free-range egg yolks 

1 tablespoon corn flour

Put the lemon juice, the sugar and the butter into a heatproof bowl. Sit the bowl over a pan of simmering water, making sure the water does not touch the bottom of the bowl. 

Stir the mixture every now and again until all of the butter has melted and you get this big gooey, lemon butter mess!
Lightly whisk the egg yolks, then add the corn flour and mix together. 

Stir them into the lemon mixture. 

Whisk until all of the ingredients are well combined, then leave to cook for 10-15 minutes, stirring the mixture every now and again, until it is thick and creamy. You'll know it's thick enough when it coats the back of a spoon.
Remove the lemon curd from the heat and set to one side to cool, stirring occasionally as it cools. 
Once cooled, spoon the lemon curd into sterilized jars and seal. 

Keep in the fridge until ready to use.

This photo, one more time.. because that gloopy goodness.... Oh my, you guys! All the heart eye emojis!

Have a super weekend whatever you plan on doing. I hope the weather is going to pick up.. I am not ready for Autumn just yet. Two weeks and counting for my Masters hand up deadline. Normality resumes thereafter. Right?

Lemon Meringue Fool Ice Cream

Lately I'm that friend. 

The one you don't talk to anymore. Who you contact but writes you back with short bursts of bleuuuggghhh... or thinks she's responded in her head only to realise three days later she never actually responded and is now too embarrassed to write back. That friend who is constantly busy, getting no where and trying to carve out any normal, real, meaningful time to spend with you so that when she is there she's not thinking about the million other things that "need" to be done.

Because let's face it, nothing actually really needs to be done. Right? Right now? 

No. Nothing.

The summer holidays arrived. The weathers being it's usual temperamental self and I am just floating along in this sea of to-do lists.

I do it to myself. I am my own worst enemy. I have always had a problem with the word 'no'. I never know how to say it. Especially to myself. "You can't burn the candle at both ends" is a phrase my Mom will say to me on an almost weekly basis these days. I try to prioritise, make life simpler and it works for a few weeks. But I have this constant internal battle between being efficient and getting everything done at once going on and it all piles up on top of me. 

And I bake and make and procrastinate. 

Then I go and make something too good not to share.. and I feel like I have this little splash of mojo coming back. Like I am headed on the right path. Like I am finally getting on top of things. Funny how ice cream could make me feel like that. But it wasn't the ice cream itself you see, I am not some magical ice cream making witch, but rather the reflective conversation had over ice cream with a dear friend. Perspective is a fine thing. Clarity is a fine thing.

Onwards and upwards to finer things.

The Lemon Meringue Fool Ice Cream is as luscious as it is delicious. There is a subtle hint of lemon helping to balance the creamy ice cream. What really makes it pop are the drops of homemade lemon curd, scattered haphazardly throughout. The meringue is crisp and sweet and adds another layer of texture. It's very rich and it contains a million calories. But it's a no churn, no brainer that is a cinch to make and makes you feel like you were born to be an ice cream maker!

Lemon Curd

4 lemons worth of juice
400g caster sugar

200g unsalted butter, cut into cubes
6 free-range egg yolks

Put the lemon juice, the sugar and the butter into a heatproof bowl. Sit the bowl over a pan of simmering water, making sure the water does not touch the bottom of the bowl. Stir the mixture every now and again until all of the butter has melted and you get this big gooey, lemon butter mess!
Lightly whisk the egg yolks and then stir them into the lemon mixture. Whisk until all of the ingredients are well combined, then leave to cook for 10-15 minutes, stirring the mixture every now and again, until it is thick and creamy. You'll know it's thick enough when it coats the back of a spoon.
Remove the lemon curd from the heat and set to one side to cool, stirring occasionally as it cools. You should totally go about your business during this time. 
Once cooled, spoon the lemon curd into sterilised jars and seal. Keep in the fridge until ready to use.

Lemon Meringue Fool Ice Cream

1 can sweetened condensed milk

250ml double cream
225g cream cheese
30ml lemon juice (about 1 small lemon)
1 tsp vanilla extract
As much lemon curd as you like
6-8 meringue nests 

Using a hand/electric mixer beat together the sweetened condensed milk, double cream, cream cheese, lemon juice and vanilla extract in a large bowl until smooth. Set to one side.
Break up your meringue nests, roughly, and add them to the mixture, folding through gently.
Dollop in the amount of lemon curd you like for taste and just fold through until evenly spread.
Pour the mixture into a standard loaf pan, or divide the mix between the two smaller loaf tins. Dollop a few more drops of lemon curd on top and cover with cling film.  Freeze for at least 6 hours, but being honest, overnight is best.
Lick the baking bowl clean. You will not regret that part.