Bake-a-Long Week 7: Desserts Week!

The Bake-a-Long continues with Desserts Week, and this week you get two for the price of one! You'll be pleased to hear I'm over the moon with how this week's bakes turned out, so let's not waste any time before getting into it! 

For Desserts Week, the bakers were task with preparing a Creme Caramel Signature, an Orange and Ginger Treacle Pudding Technical, and a Meringue Bombe Showstopper to finish. 

I really couldn't decide which challenge to to choose this week. I ruled out the showstopper this week, for, as much as I love love love meringue, I've attempted the showstopper three times in a row now, and ingredients are getting expensive! If you've checked out my Instagram lately you'll see that I've been practicing steaming puddings for some time now, so imagine my delight when a steamed treacle pudding technical came up! I knew instantly I had to give this a go. But, not too long ago I also attempted coffee flavoured Creme Caramels, and I was so eager to give them another go! 

A steamed pudding, the syrup topping, 
and the crème Anglais to accompany! 

Firstly, I decided to tackle the steamed puddings! I'd very recently attempted to make both a Lemon and Summer Berry Steamed Pudding, and a Steamed Chocolate Pudding, so I decided to try and put my newfound skill to the test. But before we get to the steaming part, the first thing to do was prepare the syrup. Sugar and water are combined in a pan until an amber caramel forms. Then, boiling water, lemon, and more sugar is added. Once the mixture has reduced to a syrup, one tablespoon is spooned into the pudding basins for the sponges. To the remaining syrup in the pan, orange juice and stem ginger syrup are added, and the syrup is set aside! 

For the sponge batter, butter and sugar are creamed together, before eggs and orange zest are added. Then, self-raising flour, ground ginger, and finely chopped stem ginger are all added to the mixture, and the resulting batter is then spooned into the pudding basins. To steam, the bases of the basins are covered in a circle of tinfoil and baking paper, and the basins are arranged on a roasting tray. The tin is then filled up with boiling water so that the water level sits 2cm up the side of the basin. The steaming then takes place in the oven. 

When steamed, the puddings are turned out and drizzled with the orange and ginger syrup and served with a homemade crème Anglais! Not to toot my own horn, but I think the puddings worked out perfectly! 

Up next are the Baileys Coffee Crème Caramels! To prepare the ramekins, a simple syrup is made by combining sugar and water in a pan. This mixture is then boiled until the caramel turns a deep amber colour. Once at the desired colour, the caramel is poured into the ramekins and left to harden. 

For the custard mixture, eggs, coffee powder and caster sugar are whisked together in a bowl until they reach the ribbon stage. Then, whole milk and Baileys are warmed in a pan, before being whisked into the egg mixture. The mixture is then added to the ramekins, before the ramekins are then placed onto the roasting tin. As with the steamed puddings, boiling water is poured in so the water level sits at roughly half way up the ramekin. This helps the caramels cook evenly, as the heat is more evenly distributed. The crème caramels are then baked in the oven! 

Silky Smooth! 

I'd go as far as to say the steamed puddings were perfect! The syrup had the perfect balance of orange and ginger, the sponges were light and fluffy, and the crème Anglais was perfectly smooth. It's a shame the Creme Caramels weren't quite up to standard, but I'm still happy with them flavour wise. The Bailey's, coffee and caramel all compliment each other perfectly, and despite the weird holes on the outside the baked custard was delightfully silky! 

With the Creme Caramels, I know now what went wrong. During the episode, I'm pretty sure Paul critiqued Christie on her Creme Caramels, with the gaps on the sides indicating they were overbaked. This was a problem I also encountered, despite baking the Creme Caramels for considerably less time than the guide recipe called for. As it turns out, the moulds I used were quite a bit smaller than those the recipe called for, which probably accounts for the slight overbaking.      

On the whole then, a brilliant week for me this time! Finally, a challenge that I have absolutely smashed! Up next it's Party Week, with some interesting results! 

Gibby x