Fat Friday #31 Basic Brioche

Welcome to Fat Friday number 31! Its been 31 weeks of Fat Friday, this week I'm looking at a sweet bread called Broiche. This is a sweet enriched bread which originated in France. Its consumed at breakfast and can be baked with a variety of fillings. This bread is easy to make but its very time consuming, so make sure you are around to complete the process.

 

brioche dough (recipe from Great British Bake Off Showstoppers by Linda Collister):

·375g strong bread flour, plus lots of extra for dusting
·1 teaspoon seasalt flakes, crushed
·1 tablespoon caster sugar
·1x 7g fast action yeast
·4 tablespoons milk, chilled
·4 large eggs, chilled
·175g unsalted butter, diced

Equipment:

·Bowl
·(optional hand mixer with the dough hook attached)
·450g loaf tin lined with baking paper
·Large plastic bag
·Pastry brush
·Knife
·Wire rack
·Jug
·Fork
Method:

 

1.Mix together the flour, salt, sugar and dried yeast in a bowl. Combine with your hand.
2.    Add the milk and eggs to the flour and work in with your hand. Or use a mixer with a dough hook attachment to make a soft and sticky dough.
3.    Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 10 minutes by hand (or an extra 6 minutes in a mixer). 
4.    Start to work in the butter, a few pieces at a time, to make a soft and still sticky dough.

5.    Scrape the dough into a mixing bowl and place in a large plastic bag. Place the dough into the fridge for 1-2 hours until about double in size.
6.    Flour your hands and punch the dough down, cover again and chill for another hour. After the hour the dough should be ready to shape.

 

Basic loaf
1.Turn out the chilled dough and, with floury fingers, flatten out to a rectangle shape.

2.Roll up from a short end and pinch the seal. Place the seal at the bottom of the loaf tin. Slip the tin into a large plastic bag and pop in a warm place to rise for about 1-1 and 30 minutes, until doubled in size.
3.Towards the end of rising, put the oven on 220C/425F/Gas Mark 7.
4.Uncover the brioche and lightly brush the top with beaten egg to glaze.
5.Bake for 15 minutes. Then reduce the oven temperature to 180c/350f/ Gas Mark 4 and bake for a further 25-30 minutes until a deep golden brown.
6.Cool completely on a wire rack before slicing.

Have an excellent weekend!

White & Dark Chocolate Layered Cake with White Chocolate Buttercream

It was this time last year when I made my other half, a Burger cake because of our love of good humour and food. This year due to the amount of university work I've had to make a simple chocolate cake...with a twist! This cake is not for the faint hearted. Its a chocoholic's dream and its so rich and full of buttercream. Diet watchers-stay away from this. 

Lucky for me then because I don't like diets and neither does my other half. Happy Birthday Rob! Hope you enjoy the cake...please let me have a slice I did make it!
My mother came up with this suggestion for the name which made me laugh: Snowed Twirl Dark White Chocolate Cake. I rejected that name for obvious reasons. Its just silly... 

Recipe: The White Chocolate Cake (Adapted from Primrose Celebrations)

·       115g white chocolate

·       115g plain flour, sieved

·       100g unsalted butter, at room temperature

·       100g granulated sugar

·       2 large eggs, separated

·       1 teaspoons vanilla extract

·       1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda, sieved

·       110g semi skimmed milk with 5ml lemon juice added (that’s about 1 tsp lemon juice)

Recipe: The Dark Chocolate Cake (my own recipe)

·       225g unsalted butter, room temperature

·       225g caster sugar

·       160g self raising flour, sifted

·       50g dark cocoa powder

·       1 teaspoon of baking powder

·       2 large eggs

·       1 teaspoon vanilla

·       15ml semi skimmed milk

Recipe:White Buttercream (Adapted from PrimroseCelebrations)

·       100g white chocolate

·       55g unsalted butter, at room temperature

·       30ml semi-skimmed milk, at room temperature

·       ½ teaspoon good-quality vanilla extract

·       250g icing sugar sieved

·       3 tablespoons double cream

Recipe: Dark Chocolate Buttercream (Adapted from Cupcakes from Primrose )

·       175g dark chocolate, at least 70% cocoa solids

·       225g unsalted butter

·       1 tablespoon semi-skimmed milk, room temperature

·       1teaspoon vanilla extract

·       250g icing sugar, sifted

Options:

·       Chocolate decorations or sprinkles

Equipment:

·       Bowl x 4

·       Electric hand-held whisk

·       Sieve

·       Saucepan filled with water

·       Heat proof bowl

·       2 cake tins lined with silicone paper and then wash them up / 4 cake tins lined with silicon paper

·       Wooden spoon

·       Metal spoon

·       Palette knife

·       

To make White Chocolate Cake:

Step 1. Grease the cake tins

1.    Pre-heat oven to Gas Mark 4/350f/180c. Grease the cake tins.

Step 2. Melt the chocolate

2.    Break the white chocolate into small pieces and place into a heatproof bowl over a simmering water on the hob, making sure that the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water. Stir occasionally until smooth, creamy and melted. Set aside to cool.

3.    Sieve the flour and bicarbonate of soda together in one bowl and set aside.

Step 4. Cream the butter and sugar together

4.    Cream sugar and butter together in a separate bowl, until creamy. Add the egg yolks one at the time.

5.    Add the melted white chocolate and vanilla extract to the creamed mixture.

6.    Gradually beat in the dry ingredients and milk and lemon juice alternately mixed until just incorporated. 

Step 7. Whisk the egg whites until stiff

7.    In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form with clean beaters.

8.    Fold in the egg whites, with a metal spoon, into the cake batter until all the white streaks are gone.

Step 9. Cooling on the wire rack

9.    Pour the cake batter into the prepared tray and bake for 20 minutes. Once baked leave in the tray for about 15 minutes and transfer carefully, to a wire rack.

For the Dark Chocolate cake:

Step 1. Cream the butter and sugar

1.    Cream the butter and sugar in a bowl until pale and smooth.

Step 2. All the dry ingredients 

2.    Sieve all the dry ingredients in a bowl.

Step 3. the cake batter with the added egg

3.    Add the eggs, one at a time, into the creamed mixture and beat after each addition. Add vanilla extract.

4.    Add the dry ingredients and the milk in alternating order and mixing until all incorporated.

Step 4. The baked cakes

5.    Divide the mixture into the 2 cake tins and bake for 25 minutes. To check if its cooked place a toothpick in the middle of the cake and if it comes out clean-its cooked.

Its best to make the dark chocolate buttercream first as the white chocolate buttercream goes solid really fast.

Dark Chocolate Buttercream: (Go to this link for the pictures and method... again...)

1.    To make the chocolate buttercream, melt the chocolate as in step 2. In a large mixing bowl beat the butter, milk, vanilla extract and the icing sugar until smooth-this can take several minutes using an electric hand mixer. Add the chocolate and beat until all of the chocolate has been incorporated. This should be easy to pipe in a piping bag or spread with a palette knife. Sieve the icing sugar into a big bowl and pour the chocolate butter mixture into it.

For the White Chocolate Buttercream:

Step 1. Melted white chocolate

1.    Break the white chocolate into small pieces and place into a heatproof bowl over a simmering water on the hob, making sure that the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water. Stir occasionally until smooth, creamy and melted. Set aside to cool.

Step 2. Add the icing sugar a little at a time

Step 2.  Almost finished buttercream...

2.    Combine all the ingredients, apart from the melted chocolate and cream and beat until smooth and creamy. I found that its loads easier if you add the icing sugar a little at a time or it flies all over the place!

3.    Add the melted chocolate and cream  and beat well again.

Step 5. Finished buttercream

4.    Ice cake straight away (If it gets really solid, microwave it so its liquid and beat again and let it set out for a little while).

Finishing off the cake off

1.    To assemble the cake, place the white chocolate cake and smooth the dark chocolate buttercream on top.

2.    Place the dark chocolate cake on top of the white cake and spread some more dark chocolate buttercream.

Step 5.  The cake layers

3.    Repeat with the next 2 layers so you’ve got alternating layers filled with dark chocolate buttercream.

Step 4. Dont be tempted to leave the cake like this...

4.    With the white chocolate buttercream spread all around the cake with a clean palette until you get the desired finish. Decorate as you like!

Theres on more thing I'd like to say: 

Have a great weekend baking lovers 

Bake On!

The Hidden Heart Cake

Right first real post to do with baking! Woo!
I do my fair share of reading baking and cooking blogs, but I saw this oh so cool Hidden Heart tutorial from i am baker.

It was a case of what occasion I need to make such a cool cake? Then I get invited to a friends birthday dinner. Perfect!
I made her a birthday cake that I know that she would love!
It was the first ever time that I made this cake and I've NEVER made a layer cake like this. So, first time effort plus never made a cake like this, I'd like to think deserve a little pat on the back.
Here is the batter photo's. I used a victoria sandwich sponge recipe which turned out really light and delicious. (This is at the bottom of the post.)

I made 4 cakes (the recipe below makes 2 cakes if you split them into 2 tins. I used 7 inch tins.)

After all the cakes were cooled I popped them in the freezer to firm up and make it easier to level. Below, are the pictures of leveled cakes. Of course I had a cake lever to give me a hand.

Next you need I put a thick layer of buttercream between two of the sponges. This is one of the most important lessons ever: double check you've got the right ingredients. I say this because I ran out of ingredients to make my own buttercream, so I had to use buttercream from a can, homemade tastes nicer. So what's that rule again? double check you've got all the right ingredients.

Once the cakes were firmly 'glued' together with the buttercream, by being in the freezer for a couple of hours, I tied erm... dental floss to two toothpicks to create a guideline around both cakes. (I couldn't find string, dental floss did the trick.)

Next was the super hardest bit, the carving out. One cake needed to have a 'V' in the middle and the other needed to have a volcano and canal (see below. However, I can see that now it was too domed shaped rather then volcano shaped.) I find the best thing to do is carve with a knife and then  spoon out any extra bits.

Next I crumbed up the red velvet cake, and then filled it into the carved gaps with the white cake.

Next both cakes went into the freezer overnight with a thin layer of buttercream also called a crumb coat. Then the fun part, the decorating. Essentially I covered the whole cake in vanilla buttercream and used some basic piping skills to do the edges. Then dyed the sugarpaste red and stamped out letters and butterflies. Then I added some the leftover red velvet crumbs around edges.

You know, it looks like a pretty birthday cake.

The point is, that the birthday girl loved the cake.

Personally, I thought it looked more like a smile then a heart. But not bad for a first try. But the top layer, the 'volcano and canal' carved cake needs to reassemble a volcano rather then a dome shape. Remember to try this for yourself check out i am baker's tutorial.

Recipe time:

Victoria sandwich from "Saved by Cake" by Marian Keyes 

•        200g unsalted butter
•        200g caster sugar
•        4 eggs
•        1 tea spoon vanilla extract
•        200g self raising flour

1.    Butter two 7cm tins and line the bases with baking paper. Pre-heat the oven to 190c/375f/Gas Mark 5.
2.    Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs, one by one, beating between each addition. The mix may curdle a little but add a tablespoon of flour if this happens.
3.    Stir in the vanilla extract and sieve in the flour and fold through.
4.    Divide the mix between tins and bake for about 20 minutes.

 Red velvet cake from "Cakes Galore" by Valerie Barrett

•        75g unsalted butter, soften
•        300g caster sugar
•        2 eggs, beaten
•        1 teaspoon vanilla extract
•        225g plain flour
•        3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
•        1 ½ teaspoon red food colour paste
•        125ml buttermilk
•       1 tablespoon white vinegar
•        a pinch of salt 
• 
  

1.     Preheat the oven to 180c/350c/ gas mark 4. Grease and flour two 23cm round sandwich cake tins.
2.     For the cake, cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl, then beat in the eggs and vanilla extract. 
3.     Sift the flour, cocoa powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a separate bowl. Stir in the food colour paste into buttermilk.
4.     Alternately add the flour and buttermilk mixtures to the creamed mixture. Stir in the vinegar, mixing well. 
5.     Pour the mixture into the prepared tins, dividing it evenly. Bake in the oven for 30-35 mins or until firm to touch. 
6.     Cool in the tins for 10 mins, then turn out onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely.

I hope you give this try!

Bake on!

Penny