All posts for the month July, 2012

Cherry Bakewell Tart

Ben’s been asking me to make a Bakewell Tart for ages, so I finally decided to give in and do a bit of research.  Originally, I was going to make individual tarts a la Mr. Kipling, but the pastry recipe I used was just terrible. It kept ripping and tearing and just wouldn’t cooperate. In fact, the recipe was so awful that the first tart I made completely fell apart!

So for this week’s recipe, I won’t be posting the pastry recipe. It would just be cruel. Luckily, the second tart turned out beautifully and tasted AMAZING.

Ingredients

  • 500 grams shortcrust pastry
  • 100 grams butter
  • 100 grams sugar
  • 2 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 50 grams ground almonds
  • 50 grams flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon almond extract
  • strawberry jam
  • 175 grams icing sugar
  • 1 – 2 Tablespoons milk
  • glacé cherries

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400° F (approx 200°C). Lightly grease your pie tin, then roll out the pastry until it is about 1/8-inch thick. Gently lay the pastry over the tin and press into place. Lightly poke the pastry with a fork, being careful not to go all the way through the pastry. Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes to set, then remove from the oven and set aside while you make the filling.

2. In the bowl of your mixer, beat the butter and sugar until fluffy, then add in the eggs followed by the ground almonds.

3. Next, add the flour, baking powder, and almond extra. Mix to combine.

4. Spread the bottom of the baked pastry with a generous layer of strawberry jam, then fill with the almond batter. Bake for approximately 20 minutes.

5. Remove the baked pie from the oven and set aside to cool on a wire rack. Once it is completely cool, it’s ready to ice.

6. Make the icing by combining the icing sugar and milk, adding the milk slowly and only adding enough to make a thick but still runny icing. Pour over the cooled pie, being sure not to let it run over the sides, then dot the top with the glacé cherries.

3 Comments
by Ashley on July 22, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Pies
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Posted by Ashley on July 22, 2012

https://pajamabaker.com/2012/07/22/cherry-bakewell-tart/

Lemon Angel Food Cake

 

Last week was rough. There’s simply no other way to put it. My grandfather passed away on Thursday after falling and breaking his hip a few days earlier. As sad as it is, he lived for 91 amazing years and he’d been in poor health for the last few, so it’s good to know that he’s no longer suffering.

When it came to baking this weekend, I wanted something simple. I was so tired and I just didn’t want have to really think about what I was doing. So the first thing I thought of was angel food cake, it’s basically three ingredients (egg whites, flour, and sugar) plus some flavoring. To be honest, it took longer to bake than it did to whip up the batter.

I adapted this recipe from Mother Thyme, as I didn’t have any cake flour. The key is to make sure you whip all of the egg whites into stiff peaks, and then not overmix it when you add the flour. Mixing too much at that stage would get rid of all the air whipped into the egg whites and result in a flat, dense cake.

 

Ingredients

For the batter:

  • 10 egg whites, room temperature
  • 16 Tablespoons flour
  • 2 Tablespoons corn starch
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon extract
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon zest
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
For glaze:
  • 1/2 cup icing sugar
  • 1 1/2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • lemon zest

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350° F (approx 175°C). Grease a ring or bundt pan, making sure you get into all of the crevices as well as coating the center tube. Your cake needs to have the center tube to cook evenly as well as maintain its height.

2. First, sift together the flour and corn starch several times to ensure that they’re evenly mixed together. Set the mixture aside.

3. In a large bowl, whisk together the egg whites, lemon extract, cream of tartar, vanilla, salt, and lemon zest until the mixture reaches stiff peaks. This should take about 5 minutes on a medium-high speed.

4. Reduce the speed on your mixture and gradually add in the sugar until it just comes together. Be sure not to overmix!

5. Using a spatula, gently fold in the flour mixture – sprinkle a bit of the mixture over the top, fold in, then repeat until everything is just combined.

6. Pour the batter into your prepared bundt tin, making sure that you keep the batter even around all sides. Gently shake the pan to even it out if necessary.

7. Bake for 35-40 minutes until the top just starts to turn golden and the cake springs back a bit when you touch it. Let it cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

8. To make the glaze, mix together all of the ingredients. You can add in the lemon zest if you’d like, or save it to garnish the top like I did. Once everything is combined, pour over the cooled cake and serve.

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by Ashley on July 15, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Cakes
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Posted by Ashley on July 15, 2012

https://pajamabaker.com/2012/07/15/lemon-angel-food-cake/

Peanut Butter Cheesecake Brownies

It’s been a busy couple of weeks, and after missing baking last weekend, I was really looking forward to getting back in the kitchen today.

Last week, Ben and I went to the (hopefully) final wedding of the year. Three within about three month is quite a lot, considering Ben was best man in two of them! It was a wonderful weekend in Dorset, where we stayed in a B&B in a village called Shitterton (I kid you not). I think one of the best parts of the wedding day was the wedding cake. The couple, whose last name is Cheesman, decided to go with a stack of different kinds of British cheeses as their tiered wedding cake. It was such a great idea! They had real wedding cake as well, but it wasn’t the focal point. Needless to say, I tried quite a few types – including one wrapped in nettles!

This week was Independence Day in the US, but while my friends and family back home were celebrating by lounging poolside and having massive cookouts, I was busy running my first-ever 5K along with some of the other ladies from the office after a long day at work. It was for a great cause though, and gave me a bit of a boost in wanting to get back in shape! And while there were no beers, hot dogs, or fireworks, it was a great day!

Originally I wanted to bake something to celebrate Americana in honor of the 4th, but then I do that just about every time I bake. So instead, I decided to celebrate my personal achievement by making something with my all-time favorite flavor combination: peanut butter and chocolate. I figured I’d then squeeze in the Americana bit by making it in brownie form.

So off I went to find a recipe, but surprisingly not that many recipes came up! I found plenty of cheesecake brownies, and other flavor brownies, but the only one I came across for peanut butter and chocolate used a box-mix for the brownie batter. And while I have no problems with a good Betty Crocker box mix, I’m determined to make everything for my blog by scratch. It was time to experiment.

This recipe comes from combining two other recipes and making a few adjustments. What came out was a rich, decadent brownie that just begs to be eaten with a tall glass of cold milk. My only caveat was that I wish I had swirled in the cheesecake batter a bit deeper, as the brownie batter rose quite a lot – but otherwise I’m happy.

Ingredients

For the brownie mixture:

  • 200 grams dark chocolate, chopped
  • a bit over 1 cup (250 grams) butter
  • 1 3/4 cup (300 grams) brown sugar
  • 4 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 1 1/3 cup (200 grams) flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/3 cup (30 grams) cocoa powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 cup milk (or buttermilk)
For the cheesecake mixture:
  • 1 8-ounce package of cream cheese, just barely softened
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 2 Tablespoons icing sugar
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten
  • 1/2 cup, plus 1 Tablespoon smooth peanut butter
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 Tablespoons milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350° F (approx 175°C). Butter two glass 8×6-inch baking dishes, line with baking paper and grease the baking paper as well.

2. First make the brownie mixture. In a heat-proof bowl over simmering water, place the chopped chocolate and butter and gently mix until everything melts and the mixture is smooth.

3. In a large bowl, whisk together the melted chocolate, eggs, and sugar until combined. Then add in the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Whisk until smooth then distribute the batter evenly between your two prepared dishes.

4. Next make the cheesecake mixture. Beat together the cream cheese, eggs, and both types of sugar using an electric mixture. Add in the peanut butter, then add in the milk as needed to make the mixture smooth, but still thick. Finally, add in the vanilla and salt and stir to combine.

5. Drop spoonfuls of the cheesecake mixture over the brownie batter,and use a butter knife to swirl it into the batter.

6. Bake the brownies for approximately 40 minutes, until the center is set. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Remove from the pan by lifting the baking paper and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before slicing.

1 Comment
by Ashley on July 8, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Brownies
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Posted by Ashley on July 8, 2012

https://pajamabaker.com/2012/07/08/peanut-butter-cheesecake-brownies/