Cherry, Chocolate & Almond Bread Ring

After watching Great British Bake Off this week, there was no doubt in my mind what I would be making. It definitely wasn't going to be the Dampfnudel technical challenge as they really didn't look very appealing, and the showstopper was a bit too showstopping for my liking. I love adding flavours to home made bread but I must admit that I used my bread maker to make the basic dough for this loaf (sorry Mr H), but I'll use my frozen shoulder as an excuse for that!

I knew that any type of bread with chocolate in would go down well with the kids, and this loaf, with it's crisp exterior and gooey filling, was no exception.

Cherry, Chocolate & Almond Bread Ring

500g Strong white bread flour

1/2 tsp salt

50g caster sugar

50g butter, softened

7g dried yeast

1 egg

225ml milk (room temperature)

filling

50g ground almonds

50g +20g butter

10g caster sugar

200g dark cherries (I used frozen ones), chopped

100g dark chocolate chips + extra for drizzling

• add the bread flour to a bowl (if you're using a breadmaker, add the ingredients in the order that your instructions state)
• add the salt, sugar, butter, yeast & egg 
• add approx 200ml of milk & start mixing everything together, adding more milk if necessary
• once the dough has come together, take it out of the bowl & knead for 10 minutes, until smooth & elastic 
• place in a large bowl & cover with clingfilm
• leave in a warm place to double in size
• once the dough has proved, turn out onto a lightly floured surface
• Roll into a large rectangle, approx 40cm x 30cm
• mix the ground almonds with 50g softened butter & spread over the dough
• scatter the chopped cherries and chocolate chips evenly over the dough
• roll up along the long edge into a tight sausage 
• form into a ring and pinch the ends together
• snip the dough with scissors approx every 2" around the ring
• place onto a lightly buttered baking sheet, cover with clingfilm and leave to rise for approx 1 hour
• brush generously with 20g melted butter
• bake in a preheated 200C oven for approx 15-20 minutes
• leave to cool on a wire rack before drizzling with melted chocolate

I am joining in with the Mummy Mishaps Great Bloggers Bake Off

Rhubarb and Custard Viennese Whirls

Great British Bake Off is back, and as I've been away for the first two episodes I haven't managed to join in with any baking until now. I may still bake something from the first episode (the kids are pretty keen on me making Jaffa Cakes) but I'm making no promises, especially as I'm keen to shift some holiday pounds and not put more on!

As I didn't have much time this weekend I chose to make Viennese Whirls, as iced biscuits are definitely not my forté, and there was no way I was going to attempt a gingerbread creation with only a few hours of free time available.

To my knowledge, I've only made Viennese Whirls (or it might have been fingers) once previously, and I'm sure it was when I was in my late teens. I don't remember it being particularly tricky so I was surprised that so many of the bakers on the show had trouble with them. After looking at a few recipes online I decided to go with the Mary Berry one, but I think I was feeling a little complacent and only refrigerated my unbaked biscuits for a few minutes, which resulted in them being a little flatter than I'd hoped, once baked. The dough was quite stiff to pipe too, despite my butter being very soft, so my 'whirls' didn't look too pretty.

With little time to spare, I decided that I would give the whirls to the kids to eat (who absolutely loved them) and bake a second batch, which would hopefully hold their shape better. This time I adapted a recipe for Viennese Fingers that I found in '1001 Cupcakes, Cookies & Other tempting treats', which calls for the use of caster sugar instead of icing sugar. I also rummaged around in my baking equipment for the largest star nozzle I could find, which seemed to help immensely with the piping, and placed the unbaked biscuits in the freezer whilst the oven was preheating. Having only a small amount of butter left I only made 8 biscuits (4 sandwiches) but have doubled the quantity in the recipe here.

Rhubarb & Custard Viennese Whirls - makes 8

200g butter, softened
100g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
180g self raising flour
30g custard powder (not the instant stuff)

filling
home made low sugar rhubarb jam
100g butter, softened
200g icing sugar
2 tbsp custard powder
1 tbsp water
1 tsp vanilla extract

• beat the butter and caster sugar together until creamy
• beat in the vanilla extract
• sift the flour and custard powder in, and mix well to combine
• fill a piping bag, fitted with a large star nozzle, with the mixture
• pipe swirls approx 4-5cm in diameter onto a baking sheet lined with baking paper
• place into the freezer for 20 mins whilst the oven preheats to 160C
• Bake for 12-15 minutes until starting to brown on the edges
• leave to cool on the baking tray
• make the buttercream by beating the butter with the icing sugar
• mix the custard powder with the water and vanilla extract and beat into the butter/icing sugar
• beat until the buttercream is pale and smooth
• spoon a teaspoon of jam onto one biscuit and pipe some buttercream onto another, before sandwiching together
• repeat with the remaining biscuits

I am joining in with the Mummy Mishaps Great Bloggers Bake Off, and Treat Petite which is joint by The baking Explorer & Cakeyboi & hosted on The Baking Explorer this month