Join me as I bake through the Great British Bake Off.
Translated “old-fashioned nun,” the religieuse a l’ancienne is a towering feat of patisserie consisting of three tiers of éclairs stacked vertically, with disks of shortcrust pastry supporting each tier. On top are two cream puffs, one atop the other, representing the head of the ancient nun. Mine looked more like the Leaning Tower of Pisa!
Mary Berry’s mokatines feature a genoise sponge sandwiching a layer of coffee buttercream, surrounded by almonds and decorated with coffee-flavored crème au beurre, then topped with fondant icing. These tiny cakes pack quite a punch with coffee flavor. But for a coffee lover like me, that's not a problem!
Cream horns are so reminiscent of ice cream cones that I wanted these to reflect my childhood memories of licking ice cream, trying to catch every last drip before it slid down the side of the cone. My first flavor is a classic, Neapolitan. My second flavor is a personal favorite, peaches & cream, which we would make in an old-fashioned ice cream churn on special occasions in the summertime.
With chocolate ladyfingers enfolding a mango Bavarian cream, topped with a layer of passionfruit jelly, this Charlotte Russe would have been my entry for the showstopper challenge in Victorian Week on the 2015 season of The Great British Bake Off.
Tennis cakes were a big hit in the late 1800s, when lawn tennis became a popular sport that men and women could play together. The cakes were elaborately decorated with candied fruit or royal icing in the shape of tennis balls and racquets. This was the technical challenge for Victorian week in The Great British Bake Off 2015.
My elk and ale pie is inspired by the classic British steak and ale pie. In Victorian times, raised game pies made for elaborate feasts for aristocracy, but the invention of the sprung metal pie mold made them available to the middle class.
Vol-au-vents are delicate shells of puff pastry that can be filled with almost anything your tastebuds fancy. Some of these are filled with succulent beef tenderloin, and the rest with melted brie and cranberry chutney.
Flaounes hail from the island of Cyprus, where they were traditionally made at Eastertime. The sesame-covered pastry is filled with a golden mound of sharp, salty cheese and studded with plump raisins that give your tastebuds a burst of sweetness when you bite into one.
Taking advantage of seasonal fruits, I made a strawberry-rhubarb frangipane tart, trimming the rhubarb to make a pattern of squares with a strawberry border. To me, this tastes like a summer afternoon in a garden, surrounded by almond blossoms and fruited vines.
You'd never know this rich and creamy frozen dessert is dairy free! The pistachio ice cream is made with coconut milk and coconut cream. The hurricane roll is flavored with purple ube. And sandwiched between the two is a thin layer of blackberry jam, all topped off with luscious, marshmallowy Swiss meringue!
