Bakewell tart for the Daring Bakers

The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England.

Sadly the crust fell off.

Bakewell Tart…er…pudding:

Makes one 23cm (9” tart).

(Prep time: less than 10 minutes (plus time for the individual elements)Resting time: 15 minutesBaking time: 30 minutesEquipment needed: 23cm (9”) tart pan or pie tin (preferably with ridged edges), rolling pin.)

One quantity sweet shortcrust pastry (recipe follows)Bench flour250ml (1cup (8 US fl. oz)) jam or curd, warmed for spreadabilityOne quantity frangipane (recipe follows)One handful blanched, flaked almonds.
Assembling the tart, place the chilled dough disc on a lightly floured surface. If it's overly cold, you will need to let it become acclimatised for about 15 minutes before you roll it out. Flour the rolling pin and roll the pastry to 5mm (1/4”) thickness, by rolling in one direction only (start from the centre and roll away from you), and turning the disc a quarter turn after each roll. When the pastry is to the desired size and thickness, transfer it to the tart pan, press in and trim the excess dough. Patch any holes, fissures or tears with trimmed bits. Chill in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 200C/400F.
Remove shell from freezer, spread as even a layer as you can of jam onto the pastry base. Top with frangipane, spreading to cover the entire surface of the tart. Smooth the top and pop into the oven for 30 minutes. Five minutes before the tart is done, the top will be poofy and brownish. Remove from oven and strew flaked almonds on top and return to the heat for the last five minutes of baking.
The finished tart will have a golden crust and the frangipane will be tanned, poofy and a bit spongy-looking. Remove from the oven and cool on the counter. Serve warm, with crème fraîche, whipped cream or custard sauce if you wish.
When you slice into the tart, the almond paste will be firm, but slightly squidgy and the crust should be crisp but not tough.

Sweet shortcrust pastry:

225g (8oz) all purpose flour

30g (1oz) sugar

2.5ml (½ tsp) salt

110g (4oz) unsalted butter, cold (frozen is better)

2 egg yolks

2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract (optional)

15-30ml (1-2 Tbsp) cold water

Sift together flour, sugar and salt. Grate butter into the flour mixture, using the large hole-side of a box grater. Using your finger tips only, and working very quickly, rub the fat into the flour until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Set aside.
Lightly beat the egg yolks with the almond extract (if using) and quickly mix into the flour mixture. Keep mixing while dribbling in the water, only adding enough to form a cohesive and slightly sticky dough.
Form the dough into a disc, wrap in cling and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes

Frangipane:

125g (4.5oz) unsalted butter, softened

125g (4.5oz) icing sugar

3 eggs

2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract

125g (4.5oz) ground almonds

30g (1oz) all purpose flour

Cream butter and sugar together for about a minute or until the mixture is primrose in colour and very fluffy. Scrape down the side of the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. The batter may appear to curdle. In the words of Douglas Adams: Don’t panic. Really. It’ll be fine. After all three are in, pour in the almond extract and mix for about another 30 seconds and scrape down the sides again. With the beaters on, spoon in the ground nuts and the flour. Mix well. The mixture will be soft, keep its slightly curdled look (mostly from the almonds) and retain its pallid yellow colour.
Annemarie’s notes:• Add another five minutes or more if you're grinding your own almonds or if you're mixing by hand (Heaven help you).

Iron Cupcake Earth: Berries

Here in Kyrgyzstan June is the best month to find all kinds of berries and fruits. Raspberries have just come into season and strawberries just keep on coming and getting sweeter. At the local market the babushka's (grandmothers) sell their jars of fresh raspberries picked from their own garden. You can buy kilo's of strawberries, cherries, apricots, peaches and numerous other fruit for incredibly cheap.

I've been eating so many fruits and berries lately that when I get back to Finland I won't even go look at the strawberry field or the raspberry bushes. But while i'm still here enjoying all the plentiful sweetness i'll be baking something every week or making ice-cream. Can't decided what ice-cream will be churning in my ice-cream machine next, peach, apricot, raspberry..??

I still had some strawberry ice-cream left in the freezer from when I made ice-cream and I decided that it would be a good opportunity to make room for the next batch of ice-cream. I hadn't made ice-cream cupcakes before and with the hot weather here I thought that they would be the perfect thing to enjoy on a blistering hot day.

Strawberry ice-cream: recipe below

Vanilla Cupcakes:

Makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients:

86 grams butter, room temperature

150 grams sugar

160 grams flour

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup milk

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C.

2. In a bowl mix the flour, baking powder and salt. set aside.

3. Cream the butter and the sugar in a bowl until light and fluffy. beat in the egg and vanilla, mix until well incorporated. add the flour and milk, alternating and ending with the flour. Don't over beat.

4. Baked for about 20-25 minutes until golden brown or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool in the pan 5 minutes before transfering to a wire rack to cool completely.

5. Once the cupcakes have cooled completely cut them horrizontally through the middle with a sharp knife. Place the cupcake bottom on the bottom of the cupcake pan and scoop in soft ice-cream. add the cupcake top and put in the freezer to set.

I just added a little lemon quark mix as the frosting. quark, lemon and strawberry go really wel together so this was a good pearing.

What you do with fresh strawberries...

...make strawberry ice-cream! The best strawberry ice-cream, creamy, sweet and best of all full of strawberry flavor! I had just bought some fresh strawberries from the market here in Kyrgyzstan and they are at their best right now. I have been waiting for almost an entire year to use my ice-cream machine, which has been sitting here in Kyrgyzstan in its box. I've been making a list of all the ice-creams I want to try out this summer and it isn't short. First on the list are all of the classic ice-creams, such as strawberry, cherry, coconut, raspberry and blueberry. Next on the list are the more interesting and adventurous flavors, such as apricot strawberry and green tea and mint, although not as adventurous as for example, chocolate bacon ice-cream, which is something I would someday like to try.

In Kyrgyzstan you can find the best and freshest fruit, especially now when all the amazing fruits are in season. I've been eating strawberries and cherries everyday now and apricots and peaches are just arriving at the market. Next week is apricot strawberry ice-cream time!

There's nothing like a nice scoop (or three) of ice-cream when it's +35 degrees outside and so sunny to make you blind. I love it! I just like to sit outside on the terrace and eat my ice-cream with a book in hand and enjoy the afternoon.

Homemade ice-cream is so easy to make, doesn't take a lot of time and is simply delicous to eat. I'll be churning ice-cream in my ice-cream maker all summer long..!

Strawberry ice-cream:

adapted from Ice cream by Pippa Cuthbert and Lindsay Cameron Wilson

350 grams strawberries hulled

300 ml full cream milk

4 egg yolks

150 grams caster sugar

150 ml double cream

1. Put the strawberries in a food processors and blent to a puree. Pass the strawberries through a sieve if you wan to remove the seeds. I prefer the seeds for abit of crunch.

2. Pour the milk into a medium saucepan and heat to near-boiling point. while the milk is heating, beat the egg yolks and sugar in a heatproof bowl using an electric whish until thick and pale. Place over a pan of simmering water and stir in the warm milk. stir occasionally until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon. remove from the heat, cover and allow to cool completely.

3. Add the cream and the strawberry puree to the cooled custard. Churn in an ice-cream maker, according to the manufacturer's instructions. Serve immediately or transfer to a freezer container.

Happy lemons

I've started using a lot of lemons now that it's Spring. For me lemons are some of the many things that represent Spring, their sunshine yellow color and their bursting fresh acidic flavor. You can do so much with lemons; make a lemon curd for a tart filling or lemon sorbet or anything. Lemons are such a great ingredient for the creative mind, you can play with lemons and create great new and exciting recipes.


These cookies are great to go with a cup of coffee or for the british in you a nice cup of tea. These cookies are rather quite crumbly so you'll definitely get crumbs all over the place.
It's the first time I decided to try making a buttercream. I've always turned away from making buttercream because I feared it would taste of nothing but butter. Although this was a swiss lemon meringue buttercream I could still taste the butteriness and wasn't quite taking a liking to my taste buds. This however does not make me give up searching for the perfect buttercream recipe. I will have to go through a lot of butter to find the buttercream that i'm looking for.

Recipe coming soon!