Back for real? With a "Waffley" Good Baked Alaska. They're "Waffley" versatile...

Oh dear!

I've been busy. I really have, I'm sorry. I've started my full time job, I'm travelling up to 6 hours a week to visit my boyfriend (and living out of a rucksack while doing that), and in the meantime I'm trying to cram in catching up with friends, catching up with family, and trying to not gain too much weight by baking (failing so far, much to my chagrin and my family's delight...). However, the biking (both mountain and, to a lesser extent, motor) keeps me in shape. The motorbiking may just provide willpower because if I gain even a few pounds I will not fit in my leathers.

Getting up at 6.30 to get to work on the train is sort of worth it for views like this, though. I do get to go on one of the best train journeys in the country, I think.

So, anyway, waffles. Erm, yeah, they're not good for the diet.

But, against all my expectations, they make an AWESOME base for a baked alaska!

It wasn't my idea. The credit goes entirely to my boyfriend, who mentioned it several times over, and I repeatedly sort of shrugged and went "meh, maybe".

I will trust your baking instincts more now, my dear, I swear!

Waffle Based Baked Alaska

For the waffle base:
1 waffle made with your favourite recipe. Our best recipe is this one.

For the meringue


2oz of sugar to 1 egg white

We usually use 2-3 eggs, so 4-6oz of caster sugar respectively (granulated sugar also works in a pinch)

To assemble


Fresh fruit (strawberries are the classic)
Ice cream (vanilla is classic, but whatever takes your fancy and goes with the fruit you choose!)

1. Make your waffle as per your normal method. Preheat the oven to gas mark 7/220C+... basically, as hot as it will go!

2. To make the meringue, whisk the egg whites, preferably with an electric whisk unless you want a good workout, until stiff. Gradually beat in the sugar until smooth and glossy.

3. Place the waffle on a baking sheet/tray and assemble the fruit on top. Place scoops or chunks of ice cream on top of the fruit, with more in the centre so you end up with a dome shape. The ratio of fruit to ice cream is personal preference!

4. Cover your concoction with the meringue mixture. You can make the little peaks using the spoon and pulling it away from the meringue. Make sure it is fairly thick and work quickly - AND MAKE SURE THERE ARE NO GAPS or you will have an ice cream crisis!

5. Cook in the very hot oven for 4-6 minutes, until the meringue is browned (we slightly overdid ours...)

Herman the German Friendship Cake & His Friend the MUTANT STRAWBERRY

My Mum received a Herman!

Herman is a sourdough starter. You feed him for several days, until he's ready to raise a moist and delicious cake for you. 

But not just for you. Oh no. You see, you divide your ready-to-bake Herman into 4 and send 3 parts on to your friends!

(Easier said than done. Have you got multiple friends who will accept a bubbling pot of yeasty goo from you?)

Anyway, there are millions of Herman variations out there to keep you occupied should you decide to be greedy (or lonely) and keep Herman all to yourself. Or give 2 away, keep 1 to recultivate, bake 1, et voila! Infinite Herman?

Anyway, I went for a chocolate Herman with white chocolate chips and strawberries. But not just any strawberries...

I couldn't believe my good fortune. A mutant strawberry! Surely that must be good luck?

He didn't get chopped up and baked in a cake. He got nommed and lived happily ever after.

Yeah, he's dead.

And sadly, Herman is now dead too. Mum kept him alive for a while, intending to make a carrot cake out of him, but the regular feeding of ingredients he required became too much. But we can make our own little Herman's out of those piles of yeast we have in the cupboard! Herman shall rise again when we need him.

There's no point in me putting a Herman recipe on here when, really, the place to go for all your Herman-ing needs is here! Herman central! Herman-ville!

The one I made, as I sort of said, was a variation of the raspberry and chocolate cake, as after an unfortunate accident which led to the raspberries somehow going mouldy overnight in the back of my Dad's van, strawberries had to step up to the bowl. I also chose white chocolate chips instead of plain. You can find millions of recipes on this page, within the Herman website.

It was a bit too moist. I loved it; the yeasty flavour is incomparable and delicious, almost beery. In a good way. Mum's was less moist, with nuts and chocolate chips, and better for being a little less gooey. However, Herman actually improves with a few days rest! He cuts better. I swear the beery yeasty flavour increased too, but I may have been imagining that...

So whether you've received a Herman, or want to set a Herman on his journey, Herman cakes are the way to go!

My Birthday Cake 2012: 4 layer chocolate caramel cake

I maintain that "it is a blogging baker's privilege to make their own birthday cake". We get to choose exactly what we want and make something bigger and more special than we can usually justify.

My Mum called this my best cake yet. I think I agree!

I'm afraid that I did this so long ago now (and have only just got around to coming back to write the post) that I've forgotten anything useful to say about this cake! So I'll send you on your way with a linky. I can't really think of anything that needed changing about it anyway...

Get the recipe here.

Nan's Birthday Cake: 10 billion parts icing sugar to one part cream cheese...

The cream cheese icing WOULD NOT THICKEN!!!!!!!!!!!!

This wasn't the most beautiful cake, though Mum and Brother did a very good job with my terrible cream cheese icing that just seemed to get progressively runnier (multiple fruitvalanches followed because of this fact), but people came back for seconds and it meant that, for once, Nan didn't spend all of her birthday stuck in the kitchen. That's still a success.

For the Victoria Sponge


10oz caster sugar
10oz margarine/soft unsalted butter
10oz self raising flour
4 room temperature eggs#

HOLD YOUR HORSES BEFORE BAKING THIS, I NEED TO DOUBLE CHECK THE RECIPE!

1. Whisk the butter and sugar together for as long as you can bear.

2. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing in between, and add a little bit of flour to stop it curdling if needs be.

3. Sift in the flour and fold it in gently.

4. Divide between two prepared 8 inch sandwich tins, preferably quite deep ones (but not 8 inch CAKE tins, there is a difference...)

For the cream cheese icing


Go find your own cream cheese recipe. The one I used from the cake decorating book didn't work. At all.

To assemble


A variety of summer fruits
Icing sugar

1. Just prior to serving, artfully arrange the fruits on the top of the cake.

2. Sift icing sugar over the top.

There. That wasn't so difficult, was it?

Well, it IS difficult if your cream cheese icing has gone wrong and everything keeps sliding off...

But the victoria sponge recipe is definitely a keeper. It was moist, fluffy, and deep! And the cream cheese icing was a winner taste-wise; it always has such a lovely tang to it. A hit in all but the looks department!

Nan's Baked Alaska

This is so good that we've made it 3 times in the last week!

For the sponge base

Either:

1 premade flan base

OR 

2oz SR flour

2oz caster sugar

2oz butter/margarine

1 egg

Vanilla essence

7 inch sandwich tin

For the meringue

2oz of sugar to 1 egg white

We usually use 2-3 eggs, so 4-6oz of caster sugar respectively (granulated sugar also works in a pinch)

To assemble

Fresh fruit (strawberries are the classic)
Ice cream (vanilla is classic, but whatever takes your fancy and goes with the fruit you choose!)

1. If making the sponge, cream the butter and sugar in a small bowl until light and fluffy. Whisk in the egg, adding a little flour if it looks like it's curdling, then add the vanilla essence. Sift in the flour and fold it in gently, then pour the mixture into a greased and lined sandwich tin. Place into an oven at around 180C and cook for 15 or so minutes, until it springs back when prodded and is slightly brown. Let this cool in the tin until you can remove it. Preferably, you want it completely cool before you assemble things, but we've chucked it in the fridge when we've been in a hurry before.

2. To make the meringue, whisk the egg whites, preferably with an electric whisk unless you want a good workout, until stiff. Gradually beat in the sugar until smooth and glossy.

3. Place the sponge or flan on a baking sheet/tray and assemble the fruit on top. Place scoops or chunks of ice cream on top of the fruit, with more in the centre so you end up with a dome shape. The ratio of fruit to ice cream is personal preference!

4. Cover your concoction with the meringue mixture. You can make the little peaks using the spoon and pulling it away from the meringue. Make sure it is fairly thick and work quickly - AND MAKE SURE THERE ARE NO GAPS or you will have an ice cream crisis!

5. Cook in the very hot oven for 4-6 minutes, until the meringue is browned. Serve it all - it won't keep!