Giraffe Cake Topper Tutorial

09/14

Here is a quick photo tutorial on how to make a Giraffe cake topper!

  1. You need a ball of yellow modelling paste.
  2. Break off a third to make the body, roll the top two thirds into a sausage shape and create a base.
  3. Roll two sausages for the legs and shape them. Do the same for the arms.
  4. Hold them against the body to check the size but don’t stick them on yet.
  5. Do the same with the arms.
  6. Roll a small ball for the head, elongate the front to make the nose. Use a smile tool and cel stick to make the face markings. Make to small triangle shapes for the ears. Use a small piece of brown modelling paste to make the horns.
  7. Stick a cocktail stick into the body to support the head. Roll out brown modelling paste and cut irregular shapes to make the giraffe markings. Stick these on with a little edible glue.
  8. Repeat the same markings on the legs and arms, including small brown circles for the bottom of the legs and arms.
  9. Glue the head on, continuing the markings on the side of the head. Cut two small white circles, two smaller brown circles and very small white balls for the eyes.

Happy baking!

Britt xo

Great British Bake Off – Extra Slice & Ferrero Rocher Cake

09/14

Those of you who were watching Great British Bake Off – Extra Slice last night, may have seen a familiar face during the show. That’s right it was me! Haha! Last Sunday, my good friend Colin (from Colin’s Time to Bake) and I went to the ITV studios in Southbank, London, to be part of episode 6 of Great British Bake Off – Extra Slice.

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I was asked to bake and bring along a cake fitting to the theme of the Great British Bake Off main show. This week, it was European Cakes! I made a triple layered Ferrero Rocher cake. And here it is;

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(You have to excuse the naked cake board. A cardinal sin in my eyes, however, it was purely for transport purposes and was transferred to a posh looking cake stand in the studio!)

Being in the studio was very surreal. For those who know me, will know when I was younger I appeared on all manner of TV programmes for one thing or another. I was frequently on CD:UK and SM:TV (for those of you born in the 90’s and after, google it.) and Extra Slice was filmed in the same studio! So being there brought out my inner teenager I’ll be honest.

Colin and I were treated so well by all the studio staff and production people. We got to hang out in one of the dressing rooms until the studio was ready for us, then as part of the ‘Bakers Area’ we got to sit on the cute little tables right at the front. Being front and centre was pretty awesome. We met Jo Brand first who was so lovely and hilarious. Also on the show panel was Richard Corrigan, Fay Ripley and Romesh Ranganthan. And the guests on the show were Diane from this series of Great British Bake Off, Francis Quinn and Glenn Cosby from last years series.

I think the hardest part of the filming was keeping the secrets. Colin and I knew the outcome of Great British Bake Off from Wednesday since Sunday 7th when the show was recorded and after signing an NDA, couldn’t tell a soul! The pressure!! I have no idea how the 12 bakers do it so easily!

We didn’t finish filming until quite late, so the sensible thing to do was have a slice of my cake on the last train home!

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The recipe for the cake was adapted from this recipe on Let The Baking Begin.

For the filling, I used a Nutella buttercream rather than fresh cream as I was travelling to London with it! I decorated it with piped swirls of chocolate Nutella buttercream, topped with Ferrero Rocher chocolates and 24ct gold leaf.

For the cake;

  • 100g caster sugar
  • 5 large free range eggs
  • 200g finely ground hazelnuts
  • 50g self raising flour
  • 25g cocoa powder
  • 3 tsp baking powder

For the buttercream;

  • 200g Nutella
  • 300g Icing sugar
  • 150g Softened unsalted butter

Also;

  • 100g crushed ice cream wafers
  • 100g chopped hazelnuts
  • Gold Leaf (optional)

Method;

  1. Preheat the oven to 170C.
  2. Line an 8″ tin with greaseproof paper.
  3. Whisk together the eggs and sugar until they have tripled in volume.
  4. Carefully fold in the flour, finely ground hazelnuts, baking powder and cocoa powder. (Be careful not to knock any air out!)
  5. Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 35 minutes.
  6. Once cooled, use a cake leveller to split carefully into three layers.
  7. Mix together the buttercream ingredients until you have a fluffy consistency.
  8. Spread your buttercream over your first cake layer and then sprinkle over 1/3 of your crushed ice cream wafers.
  9. Repat for the next two layers.
  10. Stack your layers on top of each other and coat the sides and top with your Nutella buttercream.
  11. Press the chopped hazelnuts onto the sides of your cake all the way around.
  12. Pipe small circles onto the top of your cake. Place your Ferrero Rochers into your piped circles and, if desired, add on some gold leaf for effect!

We had a fabulous day and are so grateful to have been part of the whole experience! For good measure, here are a few screen shots of Colin and I on Extra Slice.

 

 

Happy baking,

Britt xo

Throwback Thursday

09/14

It’s Throwback Thursday time!

The first picture is a cake I made in 2011. The second, last month (2014!)

I can remember making the first cake. I was so proud of it and I loved my penguins! Now, three years later, I still look upon it fondly. I would never have got where I am today without trying, practising and more importantly not giving up. 

Proud to say my latest igloo cake will be featured in a magazine this winter. More details to follow.

Britt xo

Your Floating Malteser Creations

09/14

Following on from the success of my floating Malteser cake tutorial, which can be found here, I was overwhelmed from the amazing response from you brilliant bakers. A big thank you to those who shared pictures of their creations with me, this post is dedicated to you! Can you spot your cake?

A massive well done and thank you to;

Adrianne Mittan, Amanda Landess, Andy Upton, Cakes by Caroline, Caroline O’Gorman, Catherine Blay, Catherine Wilkinson, Charlene Viscal, Cherry On Top, Chloe Hughes, Chloe Hughes, Clare Cakey Somerset, Dawn Jones, Donna Bypsy Butcher, Emma Farnell, Emma Griffiths Tysoe, Georgina Faulkner, Helen Lang, Helen Putterford, Hev Porter-Hornblow, Jane Gilbank, Janey Cook, Karen Brown, Karen Corkhill, Kathy Churchman, Kelly Rendall, Kelly Squire, Kelly Wadd, Kirstie McMullen, Lily Ryland, Lisa Morris, Louise Cross, Louise Darrington, Lynne Thomas, Melissa Stacey, Michelle Bagnall, Michelle Barry, Nicola Baird, Nicola Pocklington, Niki Bown, Rachel Croucher, Rhian Lewis, Sammie Corcoran, Sarah Greaves, Sophie Elizabeth Nicholas, Susie Pie Winfield, Teresa Lyn Streeter, Zoe Waud.

Have you made anything using one of my tutorials or recipes? I’d love to see! Or contact me on Facebook or Twitter.

Happy baking!

Britt xo

Owl Tutorial

08/14

1. You will need;

Your desired colour of modelling paste and yellow flower paste.

A selection of small circle cutters.

A heart, leaf and small blossom cutter.

A smile tool.

Edible glue and a paintbrush.

2. Roll a small ball of modelling paste and pinch the top to make the ears.

3. Shape the bottom to sit flat.

4. Cut out three leaves and glue them on top of one another, like so. These will be the wings.

5. Fix the wings onto the side of the owl’s body with a little edible glue.

6. Cut out a small heart shape for the owl’s tummy.

7. Using a smile tool, indent ‘feathers’ onto the heart.

8. Cut out two white circles for the outside of the eye.

9. Cut out a smaller circle in a desired colour for the inside of the eye. Also cut out a small diamond in yellow for the beak.

10. Cut out two yellow blossoms for the feet. Glue these to the bottom of your owl.

11. Roll two small balls of black and even smaller balls of white to finish the eyes and give your own character!

Hope it helps and make sure to let me know on Facebook or Twitter how you get on!

Happy baking,

Britt xo

Feast Festival of Food & Drink – Maidstone

08/14

This weekend, I was very proud to compere the live cooking stage at the Feast Festival of Food & Drink in Mote Park, Maidstone. On Saturday 23rd I was joined by Great British Bake Off finalist 2013 Kimberley Wilson and on the Sunday 24th I was joined by Masterchef 2013 winner Natalie Coleman.

Both ladies were absolutely brilliant. Kimberley baked a Lebanese-style Carrot Polenta cake which tasted amazing! The recipe for that bake can be found here. Natalie made two dishes, mussels with bacon, leek and cider and also a blueberry clafoutis. Both recipes can be found in Natalie’s upcoming book, details can be found here.

I also had another Natalie joining me on stage, from Easy Nuh. Natalie showed us how to make a caribbean classic of ackee and saltfish with sweet dumplings. Details of this recipe can be found in Natalie’s recipe book and you can find out more about it here.

As well as the chefs stage, there were pop up restaurants, street food vendors and stalls to satisfy a sweet tooth. There were also a few bars serving local beer and ale, champagne cocktails and alcoholic smoothies.

It was a fabulous foodie festival in my home town of Maidstone  that I am very pleased to say I was part of. Here are a few of my favourite pictures from the weekend.

Penguin Tutorial

08/14

You will need;

White, black and orange modelling paste.

Edible glue and paintbrush.

Heart and small circle cutter.

  1. For the body, roll a small ball of white modelling paste and shape into a sausage with flat ends. .
  2. Roll out some black modelling paste and cut out a small heart shape. Cut this in half and also cut the pointed end off. Glue these on to the body to create wings.
  3. Roll a small ball of black modelling paste for the head and fix onto the top of the body with edible glue.
  4. Roll a small ball of orange modelling paste and shape into a cone for the beak. Use a scalpel to cut ¾ of the way into the cone to open up the beak. Fix on with edible glue. Roll out your orange modelling paste and cut out a small circle, cut the circle in half using your scalpel, these will be the feet. Mark out three lines on each for toes. Glue these to the bottom of your penguin.
  5. For the eyes, roll out white modelling paste and cut out small circles, do the same with the black modelling paste but use smaller circles. Glue these on to the head of your penguin.

Give it a go and make sure to let me know on Facebook or Twitter how you get on!

Happy baking,

Britt xo

Thank you Bee

08/14

Oh my goodness!! I have just received the sweetest gift. Belinda Bassett drew me this fabulous picture to congratulate me on hitting 20K likes on Facebook. Thank you so so much! I LOVE IT!!!
(For those who don’t know just how obsessed I am with Doctor Who, which explains the 10th Doctor themed apron and SONIC WHISK!)

Britt xo

Q&A with Claire Goodwin from GBBO

08/14

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Joining me for todays Q&A is the lovely Claire Goodwin! Claire lives in Cheshire, where she works as a speech and language therapist. She has been baking since she was 11 years old. Both her mother and grandmother were wedding cake decorators and her father a chef.

Claire sadly left the tent in week one but left a fab impression with her sweet disposition and bright personality! 

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How has life been since leaving the tent?

As I left on the first weekend, I had the summer to myself really. Previous to the tent you do lots of recipe development once you know you are in the final 12. Prior to that it is all auditions and interviews. A really hectic time really. Between leaving the tent and the press releases a week before the first transmission it was quite a lull really with the exception of filming the final at Welford Hall and the filming of my Extra Slice. During the summer I was able to plan and design my website with a lovely web company and gear myself up for what the production staff kept saying would be the ‘madness’. It was only when the press releases came out a week before that everything started to get really hectic and the realisation of how big all of this was hit me. Even though I went in the first week, I was so proud to have been part of it. 

What one memory from being on the Bake Off will stay with you?

I have so many, but one that stands out involves Sue Perkins. When I had finished my Swiss Roll (which did not look like that at home) I stood back and looked at it. I wasn’t happy. I had battled with my ganache splitting and going bitty (I made that ganache five times in the tent, desperately hoping the cocoa content of the chocolate would miraculously deplete each time) I split the bloody thing rolling it up roll and then I had manically started tried to decorate with fondant what I hoped would be a beautiful rustic orange tree and a few leaves and oranges, dusted with lustre dust. Anyway, Sue came over and said ‘Why is there a Claw on your Swiss Roll’, accompanied by Freddie Kruger type movements and a few horror movie noises. I started laughing and joined in with the claw movements. Then, every time I looked down at my horrifying Swiss Roll, I knew I was going home. I’ll send you a pic of it!

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If you had stayed on GBBO, what week would you have rocked?

A few of them. I had a cracker of a recipe for bread week, which involved stuffing a full English breakfast into a loaf and calling it The Great British Breakfast Loaf. It’s bread week this week so I’m making it. I’ll put it up on my website when I have taken some pics. I really thought my pies were great too. I did a recipe for self saucing puddings that I was particularly proud of which was sticky toffee pudding with a melting penuche centre. I’ll pop the recipe up on my site on pudding week. I felt so disappointed that I didn’t get to show the judges what I really could do! 

Do you still keep in touch with the other contestants?

We talk every day. We have our own little virtual chatroom. We also meet up when we can and are going to meet up in September. Also I will be seeing them for the final Extra Slice filming too. It’s been an awesome experience. I have met so many lovely people and all of the bakers I admire individually for differing reasons. I suppose without Bake Off we would be a bit of a Motley Crew but we are a little bit like a family now. 

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Claire’s chocolate and cherry cakes.

What was the best thing that happened during your experience?

I think being able to have the opportunity to write has been awesome for me. The Bake Off has given me a little audience that likes to read my ramblings on my blog posts. There are only a few at the moment, but I am planning to expand my website as much as I can over the coming weeks. 

Take 5!

1. What is your favourite thing to bake?

A lovely fluffy white loaf

2. Define your baking style in three words.

Creative, inventive, therapeutic

3. What is the best advice you have been given?

Keep talking, no matter how small your problems may feel like they are to others, keep talking. 

4. Sweet or savoury?

A little from column A and a little from column B. Don’t restrict me!

5. Finish the sentence: “Baking, to me…”

Baking, to me, relaxes my brain and feeds my soul.”

Thank you so much for joining me Claire! You were awesome and I look forward to seeing what you get up to next!

You can keep up with Claire’s latest goings on at www.baketherapy.co.uk and on Twitter – @bake_therapist

Tonight is bread week on Great British Bake Off! I will be, as always, live tweeting throughout the show so join in the conversation with me here or on Facebook!

Britt xo

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