Challenge accepted: Petits Fours...

continuing the bake off theme, my next challenge was to create some petits fours.

i've made my fair share of madeleines before so this left like quite an easy one to do and i event managed to kill 2 birds with one stone! not only did this cover the bake of the week but it was also John Whaite's book club bake, so i entered it into a competition.

i was concentrating so hard on getting everything right with these that i completely forgot to take pictures of me making them, perhaps i shall revisit this at a later date.

the book club competition asked for you to create a bunch of John's rose madeleines. 

the recipe calls for them to be dipped in pink fondant and then drizzled with white chocolate. Personally i have to be in the right mood for white chocolate and this was not one of those times so i went for dark chocolate instead. i quite like the bold lines! has a bit more of an impact.

 i took lots of photos and entered them into the competition. sadly i didn't win the prize but i did win something...

...i won the prize of being able to eat them! SCORE!

Bread...a baffling thing...

...the next bake on my list was bread! now rather than following the technical challenge of the GBBO i felt i needed to do something much simpler.

i have never tried to make bread before but have always wanted to give it ago.

my first attempt was a successful failure. the bread itself was baked perfectly and the flavour was amazing BUT the ruddy thing stuck to the paper... i blame Paul Hollywood as it was one of his recipes and he didn't tell me to grease the paper...rude!

so this time i decided to stick to the baker that i knew would give full instructions *cough*

i went for John Whaite's "perfection in a plain loaf" recipe.

for this you will need:

500g strong white flour

10g salt

20g sugar

10g fast action yeast

100ml milk

240ml tepid water

40g unsalted butter, melted

vegetable oil

start by mixing the flour, salt and sugar in a bowl.

next add the yeast and mix it through...

as this was my second attempt at bread i decided to use my mixer with a dough attachment. (follow your mixers instructions if also planning on using the dough hook as it does say a maximum speed)

stir together the milk, water and butter in a jug and then turn on the mixer to the required speed. slowly add the liquid and allow the mixer to knead the dough for 6 minutes.

place the dough in an oiled bowl and cover the bowl with cling film, place to one side to rise for one hour or until doubled in size. (or if you are lucky like me, shove it in the oven with the prove function on..who knew it had that! not me!)

as you can see, after an hour it is a beast! tip it out and knock the dough back (this delates it so don't worry if it looses some of its beastliness!)

roll the dough into a sausage shape the size of the loaf tin you own. i only had 2 small tins so split the dough in half at this point...i made a bit of a mess also...

cover the tin(s) with cling film and set aside until doubled in size once again. 

Preheat the oven to 200ºc/Gas 6. once the dough is risen pop in the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes or until the bread makes a hollow sound when tipped out and tapped on the bottom.

and there you have it, a lovely white loaf!

what ever you do, do not ask me any questions about bread...as i really have no idea! its baffling!

Sinfully delicious chocolate cake...

as i mentioned earlier i'm trying to bake along side the GBBO series, partially as i would be baking something any way, but mostly to practice as i hope to enter into next years competition.

week ones episode was all about cake. i started by baking a victoria sandwich and it went down so quickly that i didn't even get a picture... apparently they liked it!

so the weekend after i finally managed to come true on my promise by making Emma a birthday cake, a belated one at that!

i decided to go for a chocolate cake with a white chocolate ganache filling. it really is an easy cake to make and i think it is probably one of the nicest i have made! 

you will need:

for the cake:
190g self-raising flour
150g caster sugar
2 level tbsp cocoa powder
1 level tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 level tsp baking powder
2 tbsp golden syrup
2 free-range eggs
150ml sunflower oil
150m milk

for the icing:
200g white chocolate
150ml double cream
125g full-fat cream cheese


the method really is simple...
pre heat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4 then grease and line your chosen tins. i used 2 8inch loose bottom tins.

simply sift all of the dry ingredients together and then make a well in the center. Add the syrup, eggs, oil and milk into the well and mix.

separate into 2 tins evenly and then bake for 25-30 minutes or until the cake springs back when you poke it with your greedy little finger!

remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool slightly before removing from the pans and placing on to a wire rack.

to make the icing simply break the chocolate into a bowl and then heat the double cream in a pan until its very hot (just don't let it boil).
pour the cream over the chocolate and stir, the heat from the cream will melt the chocolate. Set the mixture aside and allow it to cool slightly.

place the cream cheese into another bowl and gradually add the slightly chilled chocolate mixture. mix well until combined and then set aside to firm up.

once the icing has thickened up, build the cake...

and finally..

SCOFF!

cake wednesday transforms into bake off wednesday...

as you may well know every wednesday Fran and i battle it out at work with baked goods, filling the stomachs of our colleagues after a long evening.

the bake off has recently started and its taking the nation by storm once again. this in all honesty is the first year i've actually set it up to record, the other series i've watched snippets of...but shhhhhhh don't tell John! (i did watch that series the night before the bloggers bake day!)

i've been thinking about entering the competition myself for a little while now but i've always been a little concerned that there would be a lot of stuff i wouldn't have tried before, but as everyone at work is hooked on the show we decided to turn cake wednesday into bake off wednesday!

every tuesday night i watch the show and attempt to create something from the show on the wednesday morning to take in for my shift.

so far its going really well! the victoria sponge went down a storm,sadly i didn't get a picture of it..it went that quickly! But never fear i made another cake to show you for Emma's belated birthday. i've also tackled 2 types of bread and i have just finished a batch of madeleines.

i'm going to sort out the recipes and get them on later on today.

BRING ON THE BAKE OFF!

£1300

+£200

Total Saving

£1,500

Crab and sweetcorn soup..

...its been one of those weeks again. the kind of week where all you want to do it collapse in a heap when you get home.

today is my last day of work before a weeks holiday and i decided it was time to take action and have something warm and comforting as well as tasty and delicious.

luckily Ching He Huang took the effort out of it and posted a yummy recipe which was really quick and really tasty.

you will need:

1 litre of simmering water
2 tomatos
2 fresh corn kernels (or if tired like me, a can)
1 table spoon of vegetable bouillon
250g fresh crab meat (or canned..)
2 table spoons of light soy sauce
a pinch of ground white pepper
2 eggs
toasted sesame oil
1 table spoon of cornflour + 2 table spoons of cold water

firstly bring the water to simmering point, to me this seemed like a really alien way of starting a soup but trust me its awesome!

whilst the water is heating up cut each tomato in to 6 pieces.

once the water is simmering away, add the tomato...

if you have had a long week forget the fresh kernels of corn and go for a can! crack it open and drain the liquid..

add the corn and allow it to simmer away for 3 minutes to allow everything to soften up.

in the mean time prepare the spring onion, chopping them into small rounds. this will be used as a garnish.

after 3 minutes add the vegetable bouillon and give everything a good stir...

again if feeling lazy crack open the cans of crab meat and give them a quick fork, i found that the meat was very compact in the can so it needed to be broken up slightly...

add the crab to the soup and give it a good stir, from this point onwards everything moves quite quickly as the crab is already cooked so its just a case of heating through...

add the white pepper and light soy sauce and stir once again..

to thicken the soup you need to create a cornflour paste, mix one table spoon of cornflour with 2 tablespoons of COLD water.

whilst mixing the soup pour this mixture in, you should notice that the soup thickens almost immediately...

crack the eggs into a jug and whisk until combined...

with a fork stir the soup and gently pour in the egg mixture. you will notice that as the egg hits the soup mixture it begins to cook, forming a web like structure.

finally add the spring onions and a splash of sesame oil, grab a bowl and enjoy!

the soup takes minutes to prepare and it so delicious. once served you could even sprinkle on some toasted sesame seeds if you liked.

i would recommend this to anyone feeling a little under the weather or in need of a food hug.

give it ago, you will love it!

a little update..

...so as you may have noticed things have been pretty quiet on The Broke Boy recently.

i can't honestly give a reason why this is, its just been one of those months where the days seem to have merged and nothing is getting done.

i thought i would do a little update of some of the little things i have been doing with my spare time (or lack of it).

recently i have became a bit more adventurous in the kitchen, moving away from purely baking and trying my hand at roast pork. i have to say it was ruddy lovely, the crackling was amazing and the squash, carrot and leeks were cooked to perfection!

i ventured to Bath once again with Fran last thursday and we paid Jamie Oliver's italian a visit. i signed up for a gold membership card on my last visit to london so got £10 off the bill. 2 courses each for the grand sum of £28! lovely food, lovely view, lovely company, shame about the weather!

Ringo has been a very tired boy recently. i think he might have found himself a girlfriend. he is out all night and in bed all day. i found him like this in my parents bed..how cute?!

if you are walking down the road or sat on a train and see someone getting furious with their phone, its probably me! i've become so addicted to minion rush that its my go to thing at lunch time now...over food!

speaking of food, a customer at work came in with a pot of home made blackberry jelly for me the other day. now i know what you are thinking but no, it's doesn't contain any illegal substances that could knock me out...

but my god it makes a nice cake! i spread some between 2 layers of sponge and topped with some whipped double cream. beautiful!

i saw this online today and hovered my mouse over the buy button for quite some time before chickening out. the colour goes completely with my kitchen (i have the orange K mix toaster and kettle) and its a Kitchen aid..what more need be said!?! 

its just a lot of money to put out on a mixer at the moment.

on the Australia front i am still undecided as what to do. the more time i spend thinking about it the more and more i get into baking and cooking. what i really need to do is either book a plane ticket or find some way of getting some experience in a professional patisserie/kitchen.

i have been putting some feelers out with regards to work experience but no where seems to be offering kitchen experience, it all seems to be front of house. if you are reading this and can offer any kind of work experience in a kitchen please, get in touch!

and finally...

i haven't signed off a post with my savings for a little while but its about time i did...its grown a bit...

hopefully normal service will resume soon! i have some exciting recipes i want to try!

£900

+£400

Total Saving

£1,300

START THE BUS...

...but don't leave without me!

so last weekend was the bristol harbour festival. i had never been before so me and the lovely Emma (aka Boom Boom) decided we would venture up to bristol.

we got on the train with a lunch target in mind!

start the bus is an awesome little dinner tucked away by the bristol hippodrome. we have been talking about going for ages but only just got around to it.

i was extremely excited, mainly because of the chicken that Boom Boom had been going on about for months! 

the menu has lots of different options from burgers to sliders, fried chicken to macaroni cheese. with lots of sides, toppings and extras! check it out here.

 we both went for the hot and kickin' chicken. my god! it was amazing! 3 massive bits of chicken served with fluffy fries and a pot of glorious hot sauce. 
chicken is mine and Boom Booms down fall, if there is chicken on the menu we are going to order it! its a shame really as i would of liked to have tried the burgers and stuff but hey! theres always next time!

the chicken fell off the bone and was juicy and oh so tasty. the little pot of hot sauce was thrown over and it was a awesome!

i love spice but i don't like when it burns the mouth and leaves you gasping for water, i like it when you can taste the heat but the second it leaves your mouth you feel ready for more! this ticked all those boxes.

if you are in the bristol area i would recommend a trip! 

after we sucked the bones dry we headed over to queens square, grabbed a drink and watched the crowds dance around the stage. the heavens opened but if anything it made it even better!

such a wonderful atmosphere and a brilliant day with the bestie.

cannot wait for next year!