85. Key Lime Pie

Visitors over for dinner meant that finally I could make one of the desserty things, which I usually avoid owing to my Mum being on a diet, and them being difficult to take into work. We fancied something of a cheesecake sort of nature, so I decided to have a go at this. It was superbly easy to make, although the recipe asked for 'large limes', which I've yet to see in the supermarket. They're all the size of ping-pong balls!

Unlike the previous cheesecake recipes, there was enough base without me having to double up, which was great, although the mixture did seem a bit crumbly (and set crumbly too), so I might add more butter when I make it again. The filling was very easy, and after leaving the whole thing in the fridge for about 3 hours, it set nicely. It was meant to be topped with whipped cream; because I accidentally over-whipped, I decided not to risk butchering it by trying to spread it on, and just served it as a (superfluous, I think) accompaniment. I only covered half the pie in lime zest shavings, as we had fussy eaters to please (of the juvenile variety).
Baker's verdict: really easy to make and delicious. Nowhere near as sickly as the banoffee pie, and really doesn't need the cream on top. Will definitely make this again.
Husband rating: 9/10 - great taste, didn't seem too rich despite the amount of cream and everything in it. Probably didn't need the cream with it. Thoroughly enjoyable.

84. Gingerbread Traybake

Another one suitable for making with a little person, I also picked this traybake because I know she enjoys the taste of gingerbread too. We had particularly good fun measuring out the golden syrup and the treacle, and the obligatory sampling of flavours went down well too. It was actually a great one for baking together, as we could both participate in all stages of the process and it was a real educational experience to watch the butter melting into the gooey ingredients in the pan. She liked smelling the mixed spice and the ground ginger and managed to retain most of the names of the ingredients when we spoke to Daddy about it later.
I was a bit worried about the volume of mixture in the tin when I poured it in, so for safety, I put a roasting tin underneath it in the oven, in case of overspill. It was good fun watching it rise quickly and a bit of nervous tension ensued as we waited to see if it would indeed escape!
I kept an eye on the time; timed it for ten minutes less than Mary suggests, and kept probing the middle to see if the skewer came out clean. The edges started to brown/blacken before the middle was done, but I just kept checking until I thought it was cooked. It immediately sank when I took it out of the oven, which I initially attributed to the amount of treacle (a previous recipe had said that if it sinks in the middle, maybe you've been heavy-handed with the treacle). More on that later.
After leaving it to cool, I mixed up half the suggested quantity of icing, as I intended to drizzle rather than fully cover the cake (mainly owing to husband's lack of sweet tooth). The end result was a bit messy, but I think it looked appetising and 'jazzy' nonetheless! It sliced really easily - to start with I just cut some from the edges for us to sample.
It was only the next day, when I started slicing the rest of the cake for distribution to colleagues, that I discovered the centre of the cake wasn't properly cooked. Oops! This explained the sinking, and also confirmed my worries that it wasn't completely done in the middle. Cue much cutting around the soggy bits and salvaging as much as I could. Sadly there was still a lot which ended up in the bin. I'm getting very frustrated with this oven business. I've ordered an oven thermometer (which we've since tried out, but it doesn't seem to be a very good one); as we suspect the oven is getting hotter than you think it is. This would explain the frequently burnt edges, but lack of cooking through. Things are getting cooked to quickly rather than thoroughly. I really don't want to have to rely on guesswork, but I might experiment with dropping the temperature by 10 degrees, and see what that achieves.
Baker's verdict: easy and enjoyable to make and slice. Very nice texture and taste; went down well with my teaching colleagues!
Husband rating: 7/10 for the drier edge bit; 9/10 for the bit which was closer to the middle. Felt dry in the mouth at first, but then very quickly it wasn't. Lovely ginger flavour, not too strong. Not too sweet and went really well with ice-cream.

83. Almond and Chocolate Chip Cake

This looked like an easy one to knock out with my little helper, and it was. Very straightforward once the lining of the tin was done (always a faff), with lots of fun measuring of ingredients. The addition of ground almonds to the mixture inevitably made this very much like a madeira cake; the addition of the plentiful quantity of chocolate chips (I opted for dark chocolate ones) made this very enjoyable for my daughter! Mum sneaked a few 'stray' ones as well.

I'm still having oven issues; always setting the timer for several minutes less than the time stated in the recipe, but I still haven't quite got my eye in, or dare trust that the cake can possibly be 'done' with so many minutes apparently left on the clock. I suppose I worry more about things being undercooked than over. So, of course, it came out a little 'browner' than it should have, and unfortunately did carry a bit of a burnt flavour. Often these cakes look dry, but are actually fine; this was just on the edge, so I've made a note on the recipe what I think the baking time should be!
Baker's verdict: easy to make, with the potential to be a lovely cake. Will definitely make it again, and watch the timing!
Husband rating: even though I'm only a few weeks behind with the blogging bit, he still can't really remember, but...5 and a 1/2 - a bit dry but was nice with ice-cream.

82. Swiss Roll

Every so often I experience in my baking what many people these days call an 'epic fail'. This was one of them. Unfortunately, I'm not sure what went wrong, so if I attempted this bake again, I'm not sure how I'd guarantee a more successful (and edible) outcome. Frustratingly, my confidence and optimism was fairly high after managing to make the chocolate version without disaster at Christmas. I really didn't expect the dodgy result I achieved with its more basic counterpart. The only difference in the ingredients is the split of 65g self raising flour and 40g cocoa powder; this recipe called for 100g of flour. Perhaps the missing 5g was the issue, but it seems such a minor diversion that it's hard to believe that was the case. It's one thing I can try and tinker with next time though.
What I did notice as I mixed the 'batter' was that it was extremely wet; definitely liquid. Maybe I didn't whisk the eggs enough, but those vague descriptions (I feel) about the 'whisk leaving a trail' aren't always helpful. Baking is such a science, that the instructions need to be so specific, and when you' ve been whisking away and nothing much changes after quite a period of time, you think 'well, that must be it then'. Pictures would help.

Anyway, liquid mixture duly poured into the tray and 'levelled' (not much effort needed here), I popped it in the oven and set the timer for less than the suggested 10 minutes, as my oven seems to bake things faster (I really must get an oven thermometer, or a better oven). I was pretty horrified when I saw what was happening before the allotted time was up. The sponge had shifted itself so it was pitifully thin at one end, and very brown, and rather wan-looking at the other end. I had no choice but to take it out and then endured the ridiculous farce of trying to prize it off the baking parchment and make something useable out of it. It felt odd; very springy and rubbery (like the chocolate one but more so) and just smelt so eggy. I wonder if 4 eggs is too much, a bit like the extra egg in the muffin mixture. I tasted it; it was horrible. Nothing else for it but to give up and consign it to the bin. It was never going to be a swiss roll - certainly not of any reasonable proportions by the time I'd hacked the burnt bits off - and really it was inedible. It didn't even looked properly cooked when I dissected it. I was completely baffled by the whole thing and have yet to have another attempt!
Baker's verdict: just not right at all - yet to decipher what was amiss.
Husband rating: didn't even get a sniff of it!

81. Gingerbread Men

Having discovered that the (not so) little one quite likes ginger biscuits, I was quite excited about baking these. She's started to become a keen assistant of late, and particularly enjoys using the cutters, so I knew she'd find these fun to make. I did the dough bit, which was very straightforward, albeit a little on the messy side, and then we began the quite lengthy process of turning out our squadron of biscuity soldiers. Time became a bit pressing, with the fan over blowing impatiently away, so after a few toddler cut-out sessions, I took over and delegated the task of applying currant eyes and buttons to my assistant (ably supported by Grandma, who made sure an equal amount of currants found their way onto the gingerbread men after a few diversions to a little mouth). They had to be baked in shifts, due to the quantity (20) and number of baking trays needed, but it was good fun churning out man after man and piling them up on the cooling rack. There's something very satisfying about baking in large quantities!
Baker's verdict: easy to make and great for baking with children. I thought they could do with a bit more ginger to ramp up the warm spice.
Husband rating: unfortunately too long ago to be able to supply one (slapped wrist for the blogger).

80. Buche de Noel

I decided to bake this for Christmas, in addition to my usual traditional Christmas cake (this year taken from The Great British Bake Off book), and because we were entertaining at home and I wanted an alternative dessert to Christmas pud. I also had some chestnut puree which wanted using, so I adapted Mary's recipe to include just a filling of that instead of the whipped cream addition which would have presented fridge storage issues.
I was initially quite nervous about the whole swiss roll thing, having not attempted one before, but one must bite bullets in the baking world, and it was actually quite straightforward in the end. I figured that if the thing cracked when I tried to roll it, I could easily patch it up with icing. So, sponge made, the filling was cobbled together with most of the ingredients in Mary's recipe minus the cream. I also spread the sponge with brandy before adding the filling, just to enhance its boozy qualities.
Having not had a picture to go on, I used a bit of artistic license when assembling the 'log', and then instead of covering it with whipped cream, I made a chocolate buttercream and smothered it in that. We don't have a big fridge, and Christmas means a full one; I simply didn't have room to store a large dessert therein, so buttercream seemed the way to go, with a promise of prompt eating.
Baker's verdict: quite easy to bake and assemble; the sponge was a bit on the rubbery side, whether from over-baking I don't know. Tasted good, but I'd like to try it a Mary intended.
Husband rating: can't even remember trying it!