A few months ago, gripped by baking fever, I purchased Mary Berry's Baking Bible. I quickly decided to embark upon a mission to bake everything in the book, and turn myself from an occasional baker into a bit of an expert. My Grandad Ern was a Master Baker by trade; the man responsible for introducing Danish Pastries to England in fact, and I wish it had occurred to me to spend more time learning from him, rather than simply enjoying the fruits of his effortless labours. This project is almost a way of making amends for that; I'd like to follow in his footsteps (if not in my career, at least as a hobby) and continue the proud heritage of baking in my family.
I credit my friend Rachel with the idea to write a blog about my baking exploits, hoping that there will be more successes than failures as I attempt all 213 of the Queen of Baking's recipes.
So as not to bore the husband with a monotonous diet of sponges, followed by weeks of biscuits, I've decided to tackle the recipes by selecting the first bake from each chapter, followed by the second recipe and so on. I'm not going to pick and choose; I'm determined to face my baking demons and learn how to do everything baking-related, even if the consequences are disastrous!
Everything will be photographed, with comment about how I found baking it, and a husband rating (to be taken with a pinch of salt as he has a very selective cake-tooth).


Wednesday, 14 March 2012

10. Nusskuchen

This was one of the cakes I'd been putting off for a while, not because it looked difficult to make, but because there were a lot of processes, and I knew I'd need a full day to complete each element. As it was, I made it over two days: the cake on Sunday and the filling and topping on Monday. 'Nusskuchen' is German for 'Nut cake' and contains ground hazelnuts. Mission #1: toast the nuts in the oven; rub them in a tea towel to get the skins off; grind them in a blender. This was fiddly, but yielded something rather lovely; I've discovered something nice to sprinkle on ice cream in the future.
Nuts aside, the cake mixture was fairly standard, although I did have to separate the eggs and whisk the whites for adding later. I've now defeated my butter-softening demons: the solution was to cut the cold butter into smaller cubes and put them in warm water (I think my version of 'lukewarm' is more 'you could more or less say there was a bit of warmth in it'). The cake baked for about 25 mins, appeared to rise nicely, but then fell a bit flat when it cooled. I have no idea whether it was meant to be like this (about the depth of  a layer of a Victoria Sandwich) because there are no pictures in the book. It smelt nice anyway - the ground hazlenuts were distinct. Oh, there was coffee in it too, which managed not to be too overpowering.
The filling consisted of sliced apples, apricot jam and the rind/juice of half a lemon. I don't think I cooked them for long enough as some of the apples were still a little bit 'crunchy'. I'm usually an over-cooker, so I'm trying to avoid that and occasionally under-baking. Anyway, it tasted nice. The topping was simply melted plain chocolate. Mary recommends serving it in 6 portions, with cream, so Joe and I sampled it that way initially, but my colleagues had it without the cream. I was worried it'd be a bit dry, but I think it was reasonably moist - especially the next day when the apples soaked into the sponge a bit.
Baker's verdict: an interesting cake to make, with a variety of techniques to learn and master (some success here); the kitchen was a mess - utensils and equipment everywhere. Pretty easy to make; tasted good, but personally I felt it was a bit confused, with too many flavours at odds with each other.
Husband rating: 7.5 - liked the apple filling particularly; nice hazelnut flavour running through; liked the crunch of the chocolate on top. Could've been a bit lighter, but not sure what it's meant to be like.
German teacher colleague HJH: Ausgezeichnet! Sehr lecker! Make it again, please. Danke.

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2 comments:

  1. Self Raising Flower18 April 2012 at 04:24

    Just found your blog, I'm also cooking my way through The Bible! Have just made this and googled it as mine too is about the thickness of one half of a Victoria sponge. That's obviously how it's meant to be. Look forward to reading your blog and good luck.

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    1. Sally Jordan19 April 2012 at 10:18

      Thank you! I'm glad we've had similar experiences - I was disappointed with it and sure I'd done something wrong. Are you blogging about your baking too? I found someone else doing the same project as us - she's much further on than I am though.

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