THE DARING BAKERS' JUNE 2012 CHALLENGE: 

Going Batty for the Jubilee

Mandy of What The Fruitcake?! came to our rescue last minute to present us with the Battenberg Cake challenge! She highlighted Mary Berry’s techniques and recipes to allow us to create this unique little cake with ease.


I had always looked at these cakes and thought "intricate" - "too hard" - "professional baker" ! So when Mandy challenged us with Battenberg Cake to coincide with The Queen's 60th Jubilee and highlighted Mary Berry's techniques I had to give it a go.


Recipe is here


There were a few hiccups and I ended up calling my posting on the site



Honey I Shrunk The Battenburg !


I used this tin that I have had for about thirty years and had never before used the divider - perfect I thought but didn't double my batter - hence the very shallow sponges. The tin was about 8 1/2 inches square.

I didn't use ground almonds (allergy) , so made the sponges plain - one vanilla, one coffee. Although small they were nice sponges. Had decided to make the white chocolate plastique and did - but it did not turn out well!

No amount of kneading was going to make this sorry mess pliable. In true British Commonwealth spirit I Kept Calm and Carried On! I decided to cover my miniature Battenburg in the Coffee Butter Cream ( as I don't like Marzipan and it contains almond)

Despite its size - almost Petit Four - the taste was excellent

Check out the site until about July 15 to see some of the wonderful examples of Battenburg

http://thedaringkitchen.com/

Wholemeal Ginger Crunch

from Jo Seagar's book The Cook School Recipes

This is a delicious slice, almost addictive, that I've been making lately - as with all Jo's recipes it is really easy with spectacular results.Extra nice because of the chopped crystallised ginger and wholemeal flour in the base.

Recipe

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and line a 20cm X 30cm slice tin with baking paper

Base

150 g butter

2 tablespoons golden syrup

3/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup long thread coconut

1 1/2 cups rolled oats

3/4 cup wholemeal flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

3 teaspoons ground ginger

1 cup chopped crystallised ginger

Melt butter, golden syrup and brown sugar over a low heat. Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl and pour in melted ingredients. Mix all together and press the mixture into the prepared tin.

Bake for 20 minutes.

Icing/Topping
100 g  butter
6 tablespoons golden syrup
2 1/2 cups icing sugar
3 teaspoons ground ginger

Melt butter and golden syrup, beat in ginger and icing sugar. Pour over still-warm base.

Chill before cutting into 24 pieces (I got 32 healthy size pieces!!)

Enjoy !