What are you baking?

[5t3IIa]

Thank you both BoatieBird & purenarcotic

I'll look into whipped cream and vanilla

I made the first two layers last night - purple and blue

Lessons learned; oven too hot and need more mixture Purple is biscuity, blue (done at 150*) is cakey but still too thin

 

[BoatieBird]

What method are you using to make the cakes 5t3IIa?
Creaming butter & sugar first and then adding other stuff, or all-in-one?
Getting air into the mixture is the secret of getting a good rise.

 

[5t3IIa]

What method are you using to make the cakes 5t3IIa?
Creaming butter & sugar first and then adding other stuff, or all-in-one?
Getting air into the mixture is the secret of getting a good rise.

Box mix

Will make real cake this evening. Need about 800g of mixture per layer, I think. 500g not enough. Amateur MiL lending me her hand mixer tonight tho!

 

[BoatieBird]

Hand mixer will help a lot with getting the air in

 

[5t3IIa]

Hand mixer will help a lot with getting the air in

I hoped so Getting the colour right meant beating it about for a lot longer so whisk will help a lot.

 

[Biddlybee]

This one was a bit of a cheat. Because I haven't quite got sourdough focaccia working yet. So gave it a bit of a boost.

The original recipe calls for 300g baker's yeasted sponge.

I use 300g starter (plus 5-10g of fresh yeast).
750mls water
50mls decent rapeseed oil
50g semolina
C.20g salt (or less if using a salted / yeasted sponge)
1kg strong white

Best crap out of ^^^ for 15-20mins using stand mixer w dough hook.

Bulk proof for c.2hrs, folding twice. (I use an oiled Homebase plastic lidded storage unit for this).

Flop out onto floured surface. Loosely roll / knock out any huge bubbles. Cut into ciabatta and / or press into round tins for focaccia (I'm using flan trays without the bottoms). Dibble focaccia with olive oil and / or toppings of choice.

Bake @225 w/ half a tonne of steam for c.20 mins.

I think this might not be simple enough for me but thank you.

 

[5t3IIa]

I think this might not be simple enough for me but thank you.

Mad recipe & mad results innit

 

[5t3IIa]

I have stopped worrying about the cake! I made two more layers last night - real cake that tastes like cake and in astonishing colours. And every layer is now a different thicknesss but THATS OK. The only person I want to impress is a 7 year old, and he can change his mind three times in one sentence so I'm confident he won't care

 

[BoatieBird]

I'm sure it's going to have the wow factor 5t3IIa
We'll need pics of course.

 

[mrs quoad]

I think this might not be simple enough for me but thank you.

Do you have a stand mixer? Or a bread machine?

I suspect that's the one bit that it'd be difficult to make that recipe without, because the dough starts out so wet that it'd be literally unworkable by hand. We also have a bread machine / "pizza base" / focaccia recipe somewhere that, TBH, was pretty darned good. And that probably could be worked by hand, as it was drier. Will have a quick hunt.

 

[Biddlybee]

Neither.

 

[5t3IIa]

OK. Here's is the cake:

Hummus for scale

 

[5t3IIa]

I'm actually a bit scared of it

 

[purenarcotic]

That looks brilliant! What did you go for as the filling in the end?

 

[BoatieBird]

I'm actually a bit scared of it

 

[Callie]

I'm actually a bit scared of it

That's one delicious monster cake. CUT IT! I WANT TO SEE ITS INSIDES!!!!

 

[5t3IIa]

That looks brilliant! What did you go for as the filling in the end?

Betty Crocker sweet crap >.<

 

[purenarcotic]

Betty Crocker sweet crap >.<

I love that stuff, can eat it out the tub. Good choice. [emoji41]

 

[toggle]

View attachment 95986 View attachment 95987

i should be able to find out if i can follow instructions in about half an hour.

 

[mrs quoad]

i should be able to find out if i can follow instructions in about half an hour.

Good luck!

The sponge, if being used, erm... Should be made the day before. Not sure I mentioned that

Though TBH, I'm not sure what impact it'd gave it was just thrown in there - slower rise, perhaps?

We've got a focaccia / ciabatta *entirely* sourdough ( ) mix on the go ATM, alongside 2kg of wholemeal. It's going to be a rayt big bake evening, lol.

Edit: oh! See the sponge has a comment about timings at the bottom. Good stuff!

Edit2: my top end proving boxes, lol:

 

[toggle]

Good luck!

The sponge, if being used, erm... Should be made the day before. Not sure I mentioned that

Though TBH, I'm not sure what impact it'd gave it was just thrown in there - slower rise, perhaps?

We've got a focaccia / ciabatta *entirely* sourdough ( ) mix on the go ATM, alongside 2kg of wholemeal. It's going to be a rayt big bake evening, lol.

Edit: oh! See the sponge has a comment about timings at the bottom. Good stuff!

Edit2: my top end proving boxes, lol:

yeah, i did that yesterday morning. some of it is now in the fridge, because i don't need that much bread, not even for 5 of us.half an hour was waiting for the end results to come out of the oven.

left it a bit longer because i know the kitchen was really cold. and it barely moved for hours.

i have a sneaking suspicion that this is going to have to happen more often.

thank fuck for the cheap secondhand kenwood chef i got a few years back.

maybee i should have done more bread for 5. 1/4 gone within 10 mins

 

[5t3IIa]

Ready?

 

[Callie]

YES!

 

[5t3IIa]

YES!

Innit

 

[BoatieBird]

It's a triumph!

 

[mrs quoad]

One veggie and one dirty as heck ham, bacon, gammon, chilli, black pepper, BBQ sauce, passata, roast tomatoes, fennel, red onion, red pepper, mozzarella and cheddar. On *100% sourdough* (only bc I'd run out of yeast!) herby focaccia. Deeply surprised at how well they came out, given the lack of additional yeast.

 

[5t3IIa]

Jfc Qoad how are you not 100 stone?

 

[Biddlybee]

Ready?

Fucking A

 

[bubblesmcgrath]

One veggie and one dirty as heck ham, bacon, gammon, chilli, black pepper, BBQ sauce, passata, roast tomatoes, fennel, red onion, red pepper, mozzarella and cheddar. On *100% sourdough* (only bc I'd run out of yeast!) herby focaccia. Deeply surprised at how well they came out, given the lack of additional yeast.

They look very delicious

 

[bubblesmcgrath]

Got this for Christmas shortbread . ... and I'm trying it out today.