Technical Thursday: Back to Basics & GBBO Giveaway

I can't believe this series of the Great British Bake Off is over.

It seems like just yesterday we were watching the contestants discover for the first time that crying over cake isn't that weird in the GBBO tent, and a Mel & Sue sandwich really can heal all pain. It's been an educational series: we've learnt that using shop bought fondant is an unforgivable sin; Baked Alaska should have stayed in the 1970s; and icing sugar can cover a multitude of sins (or the entire bake à la Norman).

Although I'm not thrilled with the result - I was routing for Richard for weeks! - I loved the final. From the Signature Bakes of two types of Viennoiserie to the stunning Showstoppers in the form of intricate and beautiful pièce montées the bakers were really put through their paces.

Theoretically, the Technical Challenge was the easiest yet in a return to the absolute basics with 12 mini Victoria Sponges, 12 mini tartes au citron and 12 scones. However, the 2 hours in which the bakers were allocated made the whole thing a fiendishly difficult task.

I've never stuck to the time allocations for any of my attempts at the Technical Challenges, but even with unlimited time this one broke me. I second-guessed myself at each stage, questioning each and every crumb of baking knowledge I possess and convincing myself that I was getting everything wrong even when it was going exactly to plan.

Paul and Mary really know how to mess with your head, and I was a nervous wreck all weekend with this challenge!

(GIFS SOURCED FROM www.bbcone.tumblr.com)

The BBC website has recipes for Mary Berry's mini Victoria Sponge cakes, mini Tart au Citron, and Scones, but didn't really use them all. I went with my instincts and used my own tried and tested recipes, just adapting the quantities to roughly match those in the links above (except for the tartes au citron, as weirdly I'd never made them before).

Apologies for the below-par photographs this week - it turns out doing a million things at once and mentally going round and round in circles meant I totally forgot how to use my camera properly!

12 MINI VICTORIA SPONGE CAKES

Ingredients:

For the jam:
500g strawberries, hulled and halved
500g jam sugar

For the sponge:
6oz unsalted butter
6oz caster sugar
3 eggs
6oz self-raising flour
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
300ml double cream

Method:

For the jam, place the strawberries in a large saucepan and crush with a potato masher. Add the jam sugar and heat gently, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Bring to a full rolling boil - one that bubbles vigorously, rises in the pan and cannot be stirred down. Start timing and boil for four minutes only. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

For the sponge, preheat the oven to 190C (170C fan) / 375F / Gas 5. Lightly grease a mini sandwich tin with butter. I bought a Mary Berry one from Lakeland and unfortunately it's absolutely awful. The silicone loose bases left the bottom of the cakes completely raw which drove me absolutely insane over the weekend. I threw away two batches of these sponges before resorting to using a deep muffin tin instead (although initial photos below are from my first attempt with the dodgy tin). The sides weren't perfectly straight but at least the cakes were cooked properly and actually rose! I'm going to buy a Lakeland My Kitchen mini sandwich tin soon and give these another go: hopefully I'll eventually get them to be the right shape!

Cream the butter and the sugar together. Add the eggs one by one, with a few tablespoons of flour to ensure the mixture doesn't curdle. Add the remainder of the flour and mix thoroughly to combine. Stir in the vanilla essence.

Divide the mixture between the 12 muffin/ mini sandwich cups and level with a teaspoon.

Bake for about 15 minutes until the tops are golden brown and well risen. Leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to allow to cool completely.

Whip the cream to soft peaks and place in a piping bag fitted with a small plain nozzle. Cut each cake in half horizontally. Spread a teaspoon of the jam onto the bottom half, then pipe dots of cream on top. If there's ever a time for excessive piping it's in the GBBO final…

The quanities for jam and cream in this recipe are a little bit silly: this made 2 jars of strawberry jam and a huge mountain of cream, which is completely unnecessary for 12 mini Victoria sponges. Luckily they can be used with the scones too, but if you're only making these cakes then I'd half the quantities (at least).

Finish with the tops of the sponge and lightly sift icing sugar over the cakes.

12 MINI TARTES AU CITRON

Ingredients:

For the pastry:
175g plain flour
100g cold butter, cut into small cubes
25g icing sugar
1 free-range egg yolk

For the filling:
4 large free-range eggs
100ml double cream
150g caster sugar
3 lemons, juice and zest

For the decoration: 
100g plain chocolate (36% cocoa solids), chopped

Method:

For the pastry, place the flour, butter and icing sugar into a food processor, and pulse briefly until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. If - like me - you don't have a food processor then rub in the butter by hand, but make sure you have cold hands!

Then add the egg yolk and one tablespoon of cold water. Pulse/mix again until the mixture sticks together in clumps then tip onto a work surface and gather it into a ball with your hands. Knead the pastry just two or three times to make it into a smooth ball. Wrap it in cling film and place in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.

Grease 12 x 7.5cm/3in fluted tart tins. I used these Small Tartlet Tins from Lakeland, but I wish I'd been able to buy the deep ones instead - the shelf was empty - as these ones are so small there's over half of the lemon filling left over at the end. Roll out the pastry to a thickness of 5mm. Cut out circles with a 10cm/4in round cutter and line the tins, re-rolling the pastry as necessary. Prick the base of the tarts with a fork. Place the tart cases in the fridge to chill.

Preheat the oven to 200C (180C fan) / 400F / Gas 6. Cover the base of the tartlets with foil and fill with baking beans. Bake blind for seven minutes then remove the foil and beans.

Return the pastry cases to the oven for another 4-5 minutes or until they are light golden-brown and completely dry. There's a thin line between light golden-brown and over done, and I was too overly cautious so my pastry wasn't as crisp as it should be. This task totally messed with my head! Set them aside to cool while you make the filling.

Reduce the oven temperature to 170C (150 fan) / 325F / Gas 3. For the filling, break the eggs into a large bowl and whisk together. Add the rest of the filling ingredients and whisk again until they are all well-combined. Pour the filling mixture into a jug, then into the cooled baked pastry cases.

To prevent it spilling onto the sides of the  pastry cases as they go into the oven, pour in most of the filling so it almost fills the tarts, carefully sit the baking tray on the oven shelf, then top up with the rest of the filling to completely fill the tarts.

Bake for about seven minutes, or until just set but with a slight wobble in the centre. I had no idea what this meant so just guessed, and they turned out okay! They looked a little overdone, but weren't scrambled eggs like a couple on the show! Leave to cool slightly then carefully ease the tartlets from their tins and place on a wire rack to cool completely.

For the decoration, melt the chocolate and spoon into a small disposable piping bag. Snip off the end and either attempt to pipe the word ‘citron’ or if you think this is as impossible and unnecessarily stressful as I did (I tried, and failed, on a spare tart), just pipe a random decoration of your choice on top of the tarts.

12 SCONES

Ingredients:

225g self-raising flour
50g unsalted butter
Pinch of salt
25g caster sugar
1 medium egg, beaten with sufficient milk to make 150ml liquid
(Ignore the baking powder in the picture: Mary Berry uses it in her recipe but I changed my mind at the last minute and went for my trusty Be-Ro one that I've used for years instead!)

Method:

Heat the oven to 220C / 425F / Gas Mark 7 and line a baking tray with baking parchment.

Mix the flour and salt, and then rub in the butter (you can use a food processor for this if you'd prefer, as with the pastry for the Tartes au Citron).

Add the egg and milk mixture, reserving roughly a tablespoon for brushing the tops with later. Knead lightly on a floured surface and roll out to 1.5-2cm in thickness. Cut into 5cm rounds.

Re-roll the trimmings and cut more rounds.

Brush the tops with the egg and milk mixture and bake for about 10 minutes, until well risen and golden-brown.

Good lord that task was horrid.

I felt more confident making that stupid Povitica, grilling the Schichttorte and attempting to make a cream dome on top of the Prinsesstårta than I did making things I've baked quite literally hundreds of times before. I can make Victoria sponges and scones in my sleep, but for some reason it felt as if I was making them for the first time with a recipe hundreds of lines long that required an intricate knowledge of baking techniques even a professionally trained pâtisserie chef would struggle with. How ridiculous is that?!

Behold, the power of GBBO.

As much as they've stressed me out, I've loved doing the Technical Challenges each week. I feel much more confident in my baking having now tackled recipes I'd normally avoid and bakes I couldn't even pronounce. It's been an complete departure from my comfort zone, and I think it's done me a world of good! Now Series 5 has finished, what's next?

I'm taking a break for a couple of weeks, but I'll be back on Thursday 6th November with yet more technical bakes. I have a couple of the GBBO books from previous series', and the BBC website is bursting with GBBO recipes, so I'm going to start working my way through the technical challenges from the last few years. I haven't decided on an order yet, but it's definitely happening every Thursday and I hope you'll all stick with me for the next chapter!

**GIVEAWAY**

To celebrate the end of this series of The Great British Bake Off, I'm doing a giveaway! I have a brand new copy of the Big Book of Baking to give away to one of you lucky readers! It contains over 120 original recipes from both Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood, and many of this year's contestants.

To be in with a chance of winning, comment below with your name, a way to contact you (preferably an email address) and your favourite Technical Challenge of the series. I'll put all the entries into my favourite mixing bowl and pull out a winner at random in three weeks' time, on Thursday 6th November 2014.

For extra entries to increase your chances of winning, follow me on Bloglovin (+1), share this post on twitter (+1) and/or repost the square picture directly above with the hashtag #GBBOgiveaway on Instagram (+1) (tag me too!). Make sure you let me know which ones you've done in your comment below!

Good luck!