Rainbow Rippled Meringues

It's crunch time in the Bake Off tent this week, which means that the bakers need to pull off something spectacular if they want to impress the judges, and become series champion. According to reports, the final will feature a 'royal' challenge,  and will also see the return of meringues; a dessert which can often trip up the bakers.

To tie-in with this week's challenge, we've decided to feature this eye catching meringue recipe, taken from the brilliant Good Food website. This particular recipe was created by Cassie Best, a senior food editor for BBC Good Food. Cassie has created so many great recipes for BBC Good Food over the years, and her latest recipe - Toffee Apple Bread & Butter Pudding - is no exception.

You can find out how to make to make these Rainbow Rippled Meringues below, but be sure to visit BBC Good Food for the full details, and nutritional break-downs.

Ingredients:

  • 4 Large Egg Whites
  • 225g White Caster Sugar 

Choose three of the following flavours:

For Lemon Meringues

  • Very Finely Grated zest of 1 Lemon 
  • Yellow Food Colouring Paste 

Orange Meringues

  • Very Finely Grated Zest of 1 Orange
  • Orange Food Colouring

Pistachio Meringues

  • 2tbsp Finely Chopped Shelled Pistachio 
  • Green Food Colouring

Blueberry Meringues

  • 2 tbsp Freeze-Dried Blueberry, pounded to a dust using a pestle and mortar
  • Blue Food Colouring Paste

Lavender Meringues 

  • 1/2 tbsp Dried Lavender, pounded to a dust using a pestle and mortar
  • Purple Food Colouring Paste 

Raspberry Meringues 

  • 2 tbsp Freeze-Dried Raspberries, pounded to a dust using a pestle and mortar 
  • Pink Food Colouring

You will also need:

  • Disposable Piping Bags
  • Small Paintbrush
  • Extra-Large Round Piping Nozzle

Makes 21 meringues (7 each of 3 different flavours).

Method:

Step 1 - Begin by heating the oven to 140°C/120°C fan/gas 1, and then lining 2 large baking sheets with baking parchment.

Step 2 - Next, set up your piping bags. You will need 3 disposable piping bags for the three flavours. Using a wet paintbrush, paint lines of undiluted food colouring along the inside of the piping bags. Be generous, because you want the colours to be bold and wash the brush well between each colour so they don't mix.

Step 3 - Snip off the end of 1 bag and add your piping nozzle to each bag and put them to one side.

Step 4 - Tip the egg whites into a large mixing bowl or table-top mixer - ensure it is grease free before starting. Whisk the eggs with an electric hand mixer or in your mixer, until they hold soft peaks.

Step 5 - Begin adding the sugar 1 tbsp at a time, whisking continuously, until you have a thick glossy meringue, which will hold up in a stiff peak at the end of the whisk. 

Step 6 - Divide the meringue between three bowls and swirl through your chosen flavours that correspond with the piping bag colours. You would want to achieve a marbled effect rather than thoroughly mixing it all in. 

Step 7 - Put the the piping bag that has your nozzle fitted into a tall glass or jug, and roll the piping bag down over the lip of the jug or glass, to hold it in place. Fill the bag with the flavour meringue that matches the colour in the bag. Lift up and twist the end to seal.

Step 8 - Hold the piping bag about 2cm vertically above the baking tray. Apply an even pressure to the bag, slowly lifting the bag as you squeezed, to make a smooth round meringue approximately 6cm wide. To finish with a nice peak at the top, push down a little on the mixture then quickly pull the nozzle away.

Step 9 - Continue until all the mixture in the bag is used up but make sure you've left enough room for the meringues to spread.

Step 10 - Remove the nozzle; wash it and dry well, then place the next bag in. repeat until you have two trays covered with three meringues.

Step 11 - Bake for 1hr, turning the heat down to 120°C/100°C fan/gas 1/2 for the final 30 mins. Remove from the oven an cool on wire racks.

Step 12 - Once cooled, there ready for you to enjoy!

 

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Vanilla Cupcakes & Marzipan Bees

Vanilla Cupcakes & Marzipan Bees

It's a special week on Bake Off this week, because for the very first time, it's Botanical Week! The bakers must complete three challenges inspired by nature and are allowed to use any ingredients that grows to use in their bakes. Keeping with this theme, we thought we'd share a flowery based recipe that you can bake at home.

This week, why not have a go at making these spectacular Vanilla Cupcakes? Created by the extremely talented Jamie from Jamie's Cookery, each of these fantastic cupcakes has been topped with a beautiful buttercream rose and features a marzipan bee. They're a great way to celebrate the last few days of summer. 

Not only do these cupcakes look great but they're also extremely easy to make! For more tasty recipes that are really easy to follow, we highly recommend that you head over to Jamie's blog; it's brimming with spectacular recipes!

Ingredients:

Makes 12 cupcakes

For the Cupcakes

  • 175g of Butter
  • 175g of Caster Sugar
  • 175g of Self-Raising Flour 
  • 3 Eggs
  • 1tsp Vanilla Extract

For the Buttercream

  • 180g Butter
  • 450g Icing Sugar
  • 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
  • 2 tbsp Milk, if needed

For the Marzipan Bees

  • 1 Egg Yolk
  • 1 tsp Honey
  • 1tsp Fresh Orange Juice (or apple juice)
  • 100g Ground Almonds
  • 50g Chocolate, melted
  • Some Flaked Almonds

Method:

Step 1 - Pre-heat the oven to 175°C and place 12 cupcake cases into a cupcake or muffin tray, and set aside.

Step 2 - Then, add the butter and caster sugar in to a bowl and mix well until they have all combined.

Step 3 - Add the vanilla extract and the eggs - one at a time - mixing well after each egg.

Step 4 - Finally, add the flour to the mixture and mix well - ensuring that you get all the flour off the edges of the bowl! This should provide you with a nice smooth batter.

Step 5 - Spoon an equal amount of batter in to each case and pop them into the oven for around 12 - 15 minutes or until they are firm and golden brown. Once baked, put aside to cool.

To make the Buttercream

Step 1 - Put icing sugar, butter and vanilla into a mixing bowl and beat until a smooth thick buttecream is formed. If the buttercream is too stiff, then add a little milk to loosen it. If you want to do different coloured icing, divide your buttercream and use food colouring to reach your desired colour for each batch.

To make the Marzipan Bees

Step 1 - Put all of the marzipan ingredients into a bowl and mix them until a firm ball is made.

Step 2 - Then, roll twelve individual balls from this mixture - this will be your bees.

Step 3 - Stick two flaked almonds into each bee to make the wings.

Step 5 - Put your melted chocolate into a piping bag, snip off the end and use it to create stripes and eyes to complete your bees.

To decorate

Step 1 - Spoon the buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a Wilton 2D nozzle, then use it to pipe buttercream roses. To do this, start from of the cupcake and make a couple of outward circles, stopping when you reach the edge of the cupcake.

Step 2 - Place a marzipan bee on to each cupcake.

Step 3 -Enjoy!

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Bakeware Giveaway: Win 2 Non-Stick Tart Tins!

Win 2 Tart Tins

It's Wednesday again, which can only mean one thing: a new episode of The Great British Bake Off! This week is Pastry Week, which is always a big challenge for the contestants - pastries can be fiddly customers, and if you want to impress Mary Berry then everything needs to be spot on!

Our sources tell us that tonight's technical challenge will see the remaining bakers making classic British tarts for Mary and Paul to inspect. This week's bakeware giveaway is inspired by that task: we've got a pair of non-stick tart tins up for grabs, but only one lucky winner will get their hands on 'em!

Non-Stick Tart Tin

If you fancy winning these tins and cooking up some tarts of your own, here's what you need to do (please note: you will need a Twitter account to enter):

  1. Follow @BakewareUK on Twitter.
  2. Retweet the competition tweet (pinned to the top of our page).

Once you've completed those two steps, all that's left to do is sit back and wait - we'll draw a winner and notify them via Twitter at noon on Tuesday the 27th of September. Good luck, and don't forget to tune in for tonight's episode of Bake Off!

Giant Yorkshire Pudding

The Great British Bake Off is well underway, and to say we're loving it, would be an understatement. It's week 4 of the show and - for the very first time - it is batter week! So, with that being said, we've decided to share with you a batter based recipe that you can have a go at making at home.

The recipe we're featuring on our site today is a Traditional Yorkshire Pudding, but this Yorkshire pud isn't like your normal puddings - this one is a giant Yorkshire pudding! This recipe is from BBC Good Food, and is by the legendary Delia Smith! If you're looking for a Yorkshire pudding to accompany your Sunday roast, you won't find one better than this one.

Ingredients:

  • 175g/6oz of Plain Flour
  • 2 Free-Range Eggs
  • 175ml/6fl oz of Milk (Whole or semi-skimmed)
  • 110ml/4fl oz of Water
  • 2 tbsp of Beef Dripping
  • Salt and freshly milled Black Pepper

Method:

Step 1 - Preheat your oven to 220°C/425°F/Gas 7.

Step 2 - Begin by sifting the flour into a large mixing bowl. Hold the sieve up high to give it a good airing as it goes down into the bowl.

Step 3 - With a back of a table spoon, make well in the centre of the flour and break the eggs into it. Add the salt and pepper.

Step 4 - Mix the water and milk into a measuring jug, and then begin to whisk the eggs with an electric whisk. As the you beat them the flour around the edges will slowly be incorporated.

Step 5 - When the mixture begins to become stiff, add the milk and water gradually, keeping the whisk going.

Step 6 - Scrape the sides of the bowl with a spactula, so that any lumps can be pushed down into the batter, then continue to whisk again until it's smooth.

Step 7 - Now that the mixture is ready you can begin cooking. Remove the meat from the oven (or if it's not ready, place it on a lower shelf) and turn the oven up to the above temperature.

Step 8 - Spoon two tablespoons of beef fat into the roasting tin and allow it to pre-heat in the oven.

Step 9 - When the oven is up o temperature, remove the tin and place it over a direct heat (turned to medium). Once the fat begins to shimmer and smoke a little, pour the batter evenly around the tin. 

Step 10 - Place on the high shelf in the oven and cook the Yorkshire pudding for 40 minutes or until golden brown and crisp. To serve cut into squares or you could use it as a Yorkshire pudding plate for the rest of your roast dinner.

 

This terrific recipe and image is from BBC Good Food.

Looking for the perfect roast to go with this superb Yorkshire pudding, take a look at this Roast Leg of Lamb Recipe.

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Bakeware Giveaway: Win a Pair of Non-Stick Loaf Tins!

Loaf Tin Giveaway

The seventh series of The Great British Bake Off continues apace, and with another episode airing tonight, we've got another great giveaway to share with you all. As it's bread week, we're giving away not one but TWO of our popular 2lb loaf tins to one lucky Twitter user; the tins are dishwasher-safe, and each one has a non-stick coating to make your baking life just that little bit easier.

If you fancy getting your hands on these two loaf tins, here's what to do:

How to enter (you'll need a Twitter account!)

  1. Follow @BakewareUK on Twitter.
  2. Retweet the competition tweet (it's the one at the top of our feed).
  3. Cross your fingers, grab your four-leaf clover, and make sure your horseshoes are turned the right way up - only one entrant will be lucky enough to win the loaf tins!

You must enter before 12 noon on Tuesday the 13th of September, at which point the competition will close, we'll pick a winner at random, and announce the result on Twitter. Good luck, and enjoy tonight's episode of Bake Off!