Massive Baking Weekend Inspired by Martha

Ever since I got my copy of Martha Collison's Twist a few weeks ago (just £5 on Amazon at the time), I have been really keen to try some of the recipes.  It is a great book to have in a collection of baking books and, as the name suggests, you can try different things to create a 'twist'.  It is fast becoming a favourite.

The first thing I tried was the Mango and Lime Meringue Pie.  I love a Meringue Pie, the lemon variety was my absolute favourite dessert as a child and this version brought back memories of Sunday afternoons.  The recipe had different stages, as you'd imagine, plenty of chilling time for pastry and later for the curd.  It was my first time 'blind baking' even though I've had a pot of baking beads in the cupboard for several years, which meant the pastry was lovely and crisp (although the top edge was slightly overdone on one side and next time I would watch it more closely).  The curd was also a first.  Last time I tried a lemon one, I stood for ages stirring the mixture but it didn't thicken.  This was much better, I think because the cornflower is added early in the recipe.  The meringue was trickier than I'd imagined but I knew it was going ok when it started to look really glossy.  The final result was delicious.  Really zingy, with a crispy base and a deep meringue top.  I was really pleased with the final result.

I then tried the Peach Bellini Macarons.  Readers of this blog will know of my many attempts to create a decent macaron.  It turns out that the key is a sugar thermometer.  To begin with I read the thermometer wrongly and the mixture turned out runny.  But when I realized that the sugar should have been much hotter, I decided to have another go.  The sugar heating was really tricky and when I was balancing the electric whisk and the hot pan, I could have done with another set of hands!  I also whisked the meringue for much longer than I might have - using the temperature of the bowl was really useful.  Anyway, you can imagine my joy when my little macs came out of the oven looking like this:

I was thrilled to see the appearance of a little 'foot'.  I was a little disappointed with the color - I should have been bolder with the peach color and next time I will put much more in.  I did cheat a little bit with this recipe, I couldn't get ripe peaches for the filling (unsurprisingly - it is winter) so I used tinned ones.  I have no doubt that the fresh would have been much nicer but they weren't a bad substitute.  The buttercream, with the addition of two tablespoons of white wine was unusual but when combined with everything else was yummy.  Another big hit!

The final thing I tried from 'Twist' was the Rhubarb Crumble Choux Buns.  Again this had a number of stages but it was useful to balance all my bakes so that whilst something was cooking, something else was chilling.  The first thing to make was the crumble topping which needed to have some time in the freezer - this did make it easier to put on the buns later on.  Then it was the choux pastry, the rhubarb compote and finally the creme patisserie.  I had never made a cream pat before and again there was a lot of bowl balancing but it seemed to go well and had a good flavour and texture when finished.  Talking of texture, a choux bun with a crumble top is a glorious thing.  Combined with rhubarb and custard, I have to say, it was one of the nicest things I have ever eaten.

The last thing I baked on my massive baking weekend was not from 'Twist' but was from the Clandestine Cake Company book that I have mentioned before on this blog.  I decided to have another go at a Bundt, to see if I could get a better finish this time.  I didn't line the tin, but was very careful with greasing and it came out without any problems and with a better definition of the pattern.  This time though, I covered it in pink icing, so you can't really see the effect.  The Bundt cake is raspberry flavoured using raspberry yoghurt and a few fresh raspberries.  The texture is lovely and I think it will definitely improve further overnight.

Anyway, as the baker, I had to try all of these bakes to make sure they were up to scratch.  By the end of it I was craving anything savoury and was lucky that Mr B made a chicken risotto.  Overall, I learned loads during my baking weekend and feel that I may have mastered some tricky techniques - although who knows?  You're only as good as your next bake, right?