GUEST POST, written by a certain duck..'Who ate all the pie?'

As mentioned, guest post (not hard to tell due to the very different writing styles!). The first of many I hope, as that also means I get to taste the delights of sugar, chocolate a buttery goodness before deciding what is worth writing about!

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With winter here it is the perfect opportunity to make the ultimate comfort food: a scrumptious banoffee pie! That is a buttery biscuit base covered in caramel and banana slices topped with cream.

I began by crushing a pack of hobnobs placed in a sealed bag with a rolling pin. A fun way to release any pent up anger! I then combined the biscuit crumbs with melted butter, pressed the mixture into a cake tin with a removable base and after placing it on a baking sheet, cooked it in the oven for 10 minutes.

So far so good...

Now after allowing the lightly toasted mixture to cool I was supposed to gently release it from the tin, instead I choose to throw it on to the plate. Result: the biscuit base shatters and with it my dreams of producing a perfect banoffee pie.

But of course I won’t be beaten. The only option was to break up the base into crumbs, press it into the tin and cook in the oven again. Once it had set for the second time, I decided to leave the biscuit base on the base of the cake tin so it would not crumble and not risk making the same mistake again.

OK so disaster adverted for now...

Next it was time to make the caramel. Easier said than done. I needed to use a tin of condensed milk to make this. It soon became apparent to me that there was no ring pull to open the tin so a tin opener would have to be used – something, I, a recent university graduate, had never done before.

I rang around for advice on how to use a tin opener (I have no shame) and even tried to get Google to help me but still I was unable to get the tin open. A corkscrew, a knife and scissors were also tried to get the tin open but still no joy.

Eventually I managed to cut a hole in the tin using the tin opener and was then able to pour the milk out through this hole. Success! Unfortunately, an hour had now passed. Clearly I am embarrassed at my ineptitude and I realise this inability to use a tin opener probably technically makes me retarded.

Anyway now I could actually make the caramel by stirring butter and brown sugar on a medium heat then adding the condensed milk and stirring continuously until the first bubbles appeared, removing from the heat once it came to the boil. The caramel was then spread over the top of the biscuit base and chilled for an hour. Sliced bananas were then arranged evenly over the caramel.

We are getting there... Remember, you cannot rush perfection.

The last stage was to make the cream. I decided to add a little twist here and make a marbled chocolate cream as I did not think the banoffee pie was sickening enough yet. This was done by whipping together double cream and icing sugar until soft peaks are formed then adding melted milk chocolate with a spoon to create a marble effect. The chocolate cream is then placed on top of the caramel and sliced bananas.

Adam’s Banoffee Pie. Done.

Verdict: Not bad for my first attempt at a banoffee pie. It did not look hugely appetising but looks can be deceiving as the taste was pretty good. The biscuit base was a little too crumbly for my liking but we know where that went wrong. The caramel was definitely toffetastic and worked well with the biscuit and bananas. The milk chocolate cream was probably a bit too much but it was meant to be comfort food so I can be forgiven for that. Tasters seemed to enjoy it - “très bien” was one response, “j’aime” another and “j’adore” a third but most importantly I have now been shown how to use a tin opener. Now the world is my oyster...

Victoria Sponge

Hello my TWO followers, oh yes, I know who you are ;-). Boy do I have a surprise for you, a guest post written by one of my readers which I have been requesting for a few weeks now, as well as a baking update from me.

Victoria Sponge:

The first cake was executed with as much precision as I could muster. I must admit I did make a tiny mistake (which I rectified!) but had not mentioned this at all during the all-important tasting period. Hmm, thinking about it my guinea pig tasters would be any wiser if I didn’t make this public knowledge. HOWEVER, this is a baking blog and I intend on being honest so this was the mistake: Instead of adding four eggs I added two to the mixture. I only realized this after putting the cake mixture into the cake tins and realizing that it was lacking in moisture. I then proceeded to beat the two missing eggs and mix this into the cake mixture. Not a pretty sight I can tell you, I lost all hope that this stage of the cake being a success. The other mistake I made (which was known at the time) was forgetting to oil the sides of the cake tins. At this point I decided to keep my fingers crossed and thanked god for ‘practice runs’.

The smell from the oven did a good job in masking my mistake(s), and actually you couldn’t have told the difference. The cakes smelt divine and were removed from the pans easily enough! With assistance from a Duck, the jam (Hartleys Rasberry) and Buttercream (I think it is worth mentioning the interesting sieving technique I saw here. Instead of shaking the sieve against one hand, I saw the art of pushing icing sugar through the sieve. Hilarious!). Finishing touches were made and the resulting cake eaten.

Result: YUM YUM YUM

The second cake was made identically, the ‘learning from your mistakes’ somewhat worked when it came to the amount of eggs needed and the oiling the pan sides not so much. I was nervous as that cake smelt quite eggy, but was reminded that it was no different from the first attempt.

Result: I wish I could say something, but as I didn’t taste it due to being a present I can only go from the feedback received….No one died. Take that how you wish!

Muffin Maker Mei

To make up for being lazy, I am recalling a couple of baking stories before getting on with the Muffins...

1) Brownie Attempt 3. It looked like a brownie, it smelt like a brownie. HOWEVER, I could only call it a brownie 2 days after because I think it was a bit undercooked. Having said that, it was edible and definitely a success. I will be trying to bake brownies using another recipe to see if I can get a better result.

2) Chocolate and vanilla shortbread rolls. - Let's not even go there! Another case of not following the recipe. Taste tester quote after shoving a shortbread cookie in his mouth: Its like a dry wall blocking my mouth!

I should mention that the above two were make using the Green and Blacks Recipe book. I will be sticking to my Children's Baking Book from now on..

Muffin Attempts - Lemon and Blueberry
After a shaky start, and adding a few more minutes cooking time (I have yet to master the big fan oven) I am proud to call this best muffins made yet. The blueberries were not as sweet as I hoped, but this may be due to it being winter, or being bought from Waitrose instead of Tescos as per last time. The muffin itself was light and fluffy, and had a hint of lemon and blueberry but could definitely done with more lemon and sugar to create that taste bud explosion.

Conclusion: Call me Muffin Maker Mei from now on! Seriously though I need to try different blueberries, and add a smidge bit more of sugar. Also sort out the oven as half of the tray were looking amazing, and the rest rather anaemic!

p.s. A certain duck like friend made very good truffles today, probably on par with the muffins. I need to get cracking with perfecting these recipes otherwise title of pastry chef may be lost forever...

I think before I recall my recent brownie making tale, I should describe my history with making brownies. So here we go..

Brownie Making Attempt 1 (3 years ago):

Definitely not successful, in fact it shouldn't really be classified as baking let alone a brownie making attempt. I distinctly remember measuring everything correctly, and then adding more flour because I decided the mixture looked too 'wet'.

Mistake number 1. Thinking I could do better than the recipe, leading onto
Mistake number 2. Too much flour.
Mistake number 3. Adding more eggs to make it the 'right consistency' after looking too 'floury'.

Result: I remember thinking, 'I wonder how this is going to turn out!', so to have it be edible was success in my eyes, even if it was tasteless. My two food critics thought that it was alright as a cake, but being my sister (who is bound to say good things) and a very hungry uni student, I am somewhat inclined to say there was some bias, even if the 'brownie' cake did eventually all get eaten.


Brownie Making Attempt 2 (1 month ago):

Thought it best to play it safe this time with Ghirardelli's Triple Chocolate Brownie Mix. You would have thought if a Costco Demonstrator could whip up a batch of brownies with minimal effort, then where could you possibly go wrong?! That my friend, is where it all goes down hill..or at least for me. I'm not even sure where I went wrong.. all you needed to add was water, oil and eggs!
I did grease-line the baking tray with butter instead of using the old greaseproof paper, and I must admit I misjudged the baking tray size. The baking tray did look like some very thin brownies would be coming out of the oven..

Mistake number 1. Greasing the baking tray (?)
Mistake number 2. Wrong sized baking tray/not using an additional brownie mix packet.

Quote: They're brownies? OH I thought they were cookies'

Result: A 'Brownie' cookie that you could just about eat immediately from the oven. Eating them two hours later..hello cement-like cookie, goodbye teeth!