Here at Eat Marketing, we're beyond excited... The Great British Bake Off is back! To celebrate, we think it's time to get our bake on so we've picked our top 3 favourite Great British Bake Off recipes, so why not join us and try them out? C'mon, let's get bakey in time for the first episode of the The Great British Bake Off...
No top recipe pick list is complete without a chocolate number and this choc-loaded roulade recipe ticks all the right choccy boxes so put your pinny on and let’s bake!
Ingredients
175g plain chocolate
175g caster sugar
6 large eggs, separated
2 tbsp cocoa powder, sifted
300ml double cream and icing sugar
Instructions
Serves 8 - 1
Preheat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4.
Lightly grease a Use a 33cm x 23cm Swiss-roll tin; lightly grease and line with non-stick baking parchment, making sure you pushing it right into the corners.
First, you need to melt your chocolate. Break it into small pieces over a bowl and stand the bowl over a pan of hot water but make sure the bowl does not touch the water or the chocolate may overheat. Place the pan over a low heat until the chocolate has melted.
Pour the specified amount of sugar and egg yolks into a large bowl and whisk with an electric whisk until the mixture is light and creamy. Add the cooled chocolate and stir gently until all the ingredients are evenly blended.
In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff (but not dry). Stir a large spoonful of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture. Mix gently, then fold in the remaining egg whites and the sieved cocoa powder. Spread evenly in the prepared tin. Bake in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes until firm.
Remove the cake from the oven, leave in the tin, cover with a dry tea towel and leave until cold.
Now for the tricky part! Whip the cream until it just holds its shape and dust a large piece of greaseproof paper with sifted icing sugar. Turn out the roulade and peel off the paper. Spread with the cream. Score a mark 2.5cm in along the short edge, then roll up very tightly so that it resembles a Swiss roll. Use the paper to help and don’t worry if the roulade cracks… all the best ones do!
Dust with more sifted icing sugar to serve.
Using an AGA?
Place your cake mix on the grid shelf on the floor of the roasting oven with the cold plain shelf on the second set of runners. Bake for about 20 minutes, turning after 12 minutes.
Preparing ahead?
Complete the roulade but without the final dusting of icing sugar up to 24 hours ahead, cover and keep in the fridge. Or you could freeze the roulade, again without the final dusting of icing sugar, for up to 1 month.
Ah… Lemon drizzle… Here at Eat Marketing, we’re big lemon fans, we have it in our tea, on our food and we especially like it in cake! This lemon tray-bake recipe is great as it is so simple to follow that even the kids can help!
Just remember, add the topping when the cake is still warm (not too hot though as the syrup will just run straight through, give it about five or ten minutes) so that it absorbs all that lovely lemon syrup… yum!
Preparation time: about 10 minutes
Cooking time: about 35-40 minutes
Cuts into about 30 squares
Ingredients
225g (8 oz.) butter, softened
225g (8 oz.) caster sugar
275g (10 oz.) self-raising flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
4 eggs
4 tablespoons milk
finely grated rind of 2 lemons
Syrupy topping
175g (6 oz.) granulated sugar
juice of 2 lemons
Special Equipment
A tray-bake or roasting tin 30 x 23 x 4 cm (12 x 9 x 1 ½ inches).
Instructions
Cut a rectangle of non-stick baking parchment to fit the base and sides of a tray-bake tin or roasting tin, 30 x 23 x 4 cm (12 x 9 x 1 ½ inches). Grease the tin and then line with the paper, pushing it neatly into the corners of the tin. Pre-heat the oven to 160°C/325°F/Gas 3.
Measure all the ingredients for the tray-bake into a large bowl and beat well for about 2 minutes until blended, an electric mixer is best for this but of course you can also beat by hand with a wooden spoon. Turn the mixture into the prepared tin, scraping the sides of the bowl with a plastic spatula to remove all of the mixture. Level the top gently with the back of the spatula.
Bake in the middle of the pre-heated oven for about 35-40 minutes or until the tray-bake springs back when pressed lightly with a finger in the centre and is beginning to shrink away from the sides of the tin.
Allow the tray-bake to cool in the tin for a few minutes then lift the it out of the tin still in the lining paper. Carefully remove the paper and put the tray-bake onto a wire rack placed over a tray (to catch drips of the topping).
To make the crunchy topping, mix the lemon juice and granulated sugar in a small bowl to give a runny consistency. Spoon this mixture evenly over the tray-bake whilst it is still just warm. Cut into squares when cold.
If you’re a budding Great British Bake Off contender you’ll love our last but not least recipe pick. This creamy, dreamy dessert is a decadent combination of poached meringues and creamy custard, all finished with a ball of spun sugar. This is the perfect show off dessert when you want something special and it tastes divine too…
Ingredients
For the crème anglaise
300ml/10½fl oz. whole milk
300ml/10½fl oz. double cream
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
6 free-range eggs, yolks only
100g/3½oz caster sugar
For the meringues
6 free-range eggs, whites only
150g/5½oz caster sugar
For the spun sugar
100g/3½oz caster sugar
Instructions
Serves 6
To prepare the poaching liquid (and what will become the crème anglaise), heat the milk and cream in a large lidded pan or deep-sided frying pan. Stir in the vanilla bean paste and bring to a simmer over a low heat.
For the meringues, in a large grease-free bowl use an electric hand whisk to whisk the egg whites together on fast speed, until stiff peaks form when the whisk is removed. Add one tablespoon of the sugar to the egg whites and continue to whisk until the mixture comes back to stiff peaks. Keep adding sugar one tablespoon at a time until 150g/5½oz has been used, and the meringue is thick and glossy.
Using two large tablespoons or serving spoons dipped in cold water, shape six large quenelles from the meringue mixture and place in the poaching liquid, over a very low heat for about 9-10 minutes, flipping the quenelles halfway through. Cover the pan with a lid while poaching. Make sure the poaching liquid doesn’t boil or the meringues will puff up then collapse.
When the quenelles are really puffed up and cooked, transfer them to a wire rack to drain.
For the crème anglaise, pass the poaching milk through a sieve into a large jug.
In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks and caster sugar together until pale and fluffy. Pour over the warm poaching milk, whisking continuously. Pour the mixture into a clean heavy-based pan and cook over a very low heat for 3-4 minutes stirring continuously until smooth and thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from the heat and set aside.
To serve, pour a little crème anglaise into each serving bowl and float a quenelle of meringue on top.
We hope you love our Great British Bake Off recipe picks and that you have fun making them and come back soon for more recipes from us here at Eat Marketing! We’re off to do some baking…
