Location is everything. Phil and Kirsty know what they’re talking about. When we booked our mini break in Madrid (sorry, but I can never write ‘mini break’ without thinking of Bridget Jones) we were wowed by the star rating, roof top bar, architect designed rooms and the possibility of free chocolates. And where did such a vanity booking get us? In the arse end of town. READ MORE
Summer is coming so it’s time for a lemon and coconut cake. If coconut isn’t your thing then make a simple buttercream filling instead. I’ve kept the coconut away from the main cake as I know some folks aren’t keen on it. I however am a coconut fiend.
This recipe first appeared on ITV’s This Morning. You can find a video of the recipe being made here as well as the full recipe.
Like people, some bakes and plain and simple but reveal hidden depths. You know the type; the girl at school who sat quiet as a mouse but turned out to have the hot older boyfriend who picked her up in a battered 106 outside school. She clearly had hidden depths, and probably amazing underwear too. You just never know what’s going on underneath.
Here’s one such bake. These simple coconut rolls look so innocent – pure, little milk anointed rolls. Almost like those batch rolls sold in large supermarkets. They don’t look naughty, they look necessary. Something you might pop in the freezer for a sunny far away barbecue day. But underneath, upon taking that first bite, the bread tears apart like candy floss. Light, airy, ever so slightly sweet and just dying to be asked to swing both ways. You can take this roll down the savoury path; fill her with Thai chicken, crispy leaves and crunchy peanuts. Or take her hurtling towards the path of sweetness with some water icing laced with coconut – icing sugar, a little water and coconut shavings mixed up and piled on the top. Maybe even filled with jam and whipped cream. Go on…
Don’t expect all out coconut madness here, these ladies are too subtle for that. And please note these are at their most delicious warm from the oven. Or toasted.
One year ago: Love cupcakes and White chocolate, lemon and macadamia cake and Roasted celeriac, carrot and parsnip soupand My lightest Yorkshire puddings
Two years ago: Bake me not chocolate cake and Jelly and ice-cream meringue roulade and Good flapjack and Banana, butterscotch and fig traybake
Three years ago: Treasure hunt ice-cream and Rhubarb and ginger chutney and Carrot cake
Subtle coconut rolls
Makes 8 rolls
Ingredients:
Mix together the flour, yeast, salt, sugar and oil in a bowl. Pour the boiling water into a jug and add the coconut – stir until completely dissolved. Add the cold water and then allow to come to a tepid temperature. Pour into the flour mixture and knead well, either with your hands on an oiled work surface for about 7 minutes, or in the KitchenAid with the dough hook at speed 2 for about 4 minutes. Cover the bowl with clingfilm and leave until the dough has doubled in size.
Once doubled in size knock the dough back with your hands then tip onto a floured work surface. Divide into 8 equal pieces of dough and roll into balls. Place on a floured or non stick paper covered tray, barely touching, then leave until they have doubled in size. Paint with milk using a pastry brush, being careful not to deflate the dough, then bake in a preheated oven at 200C/gas mark 6 for about 20 – 25 minutes until well risen and brown. Eat warm or leave to cool on a wire rack.
Things haven’t been great recently. That’s an understatement. I want to be one of those women who’s brave and pulls stoic faces when asked if she’s okay. Instead I cry and rub mascara over my puffy red rimmed eyes. After possibly the Worst Weekend ever, yesterday I managed to lock myself in the back garden. Yep. Quite a feat. I was trying to be upbeat and happy at the rays of sunshine beating down and so with washing basket in hand began putting all the wet clothes out. Because when clothes smell of fresh air everything feels better.
Five minutes later I’m trying to force the back door. As I’d shut it somehow the key I’d left in it (stupid, stupid, stupid thing to do) had turned and then fallen to the floor – inside the house. Locked out, in the back garden, with no phone and the only exit a locked 6ft gate framed by thorny trees.
Well I surprised myself. For a girl picked last for every netball and hockey match of my youth I did a pretty good job of climbing and jumping and running to a neighbour’s house. I was wasted on netball. I did cry though. Stoic I am not.
Comments, as always, welcomed. And yes, this is the meringue layer cake I made on QVC. I think it would be perfect for Mother’s Day.
One year ago: Cranberry biscuits and Mother’s Day carrot cake in a cup
Two years ago: Walnut bread and Puff pastry
Lemon & coconut meringue layer stack
Whisk your egg whites until beginning to hold their peaks. Then whisk in 1 teaspoon of the castor sugar at a time. I know this is laborious but if you rush it and throw the lot in you’re less likely to make sure it all dissolves into the egg and you might end up with weeping meringue. Might.
Once the sugar’s all in, the mixture should look really white and glossy, then add in the cornflour and white wine vinegar. Whisk again. The combination of these ingredients makes for a mallowy chewy middle to your meringue so whilst they’re desirable they’re not a reason to run to the local shops if you don’t have them.
Pop some foil or baking parchment on 3 baking trays, fixing down with a little sticky meringue. Then spoon a third of the meringue onto each tray and use the back of a spoon to rub into a flat circle shape. Try to get the circles about the same size.
Bake in a preheated oven at 140C, as soon as they go into the oven turn it down to about 100C, or 90C for a fan. Then after 45 minutes turn the oven off entirely but don’t open it.
About 35 minutes into baking I tend to open the oven door and have a little prod to make sure the oven has worked it’s magic and the outsides of the meringue are hard. If not they need a little longer than the aforementioned 45 minutes. Then I DO NOT OPEN the oven for the last ten minutes of baking. I turn the oven off and then leave the little snowy meringues to slowly come to room temperature for a few hours. Easier to just make these last thing at night and leave them until the morning in your oven.
Once completely cold use a little lemon curd to fix the largest meringue to your serving plate, then spread with more curd. Whip the double cream and add a third of it then sprinkle with a little coconut. Pop another meringue layer on the top and add lemon curd, cream and coconut and then repeat with the last meringue. Add a few raspberries and serve at once. This dessert does not like to be left about – beware collapse! Happy Mother’s Day all you Mums. x
I did a bad thing this morning. I threw away a Thomas the Tank Engine bowl. I was trying to prove a point. It was the age old ‘there are children dying in the world and you won’t even eat your Cheerios’ speech when some strange urge came over me and I found myself throwing the uneaten cereal and the bowl into the bin. I didn’t actually mean to throw both away but given the flourish with which I executed the manoeuvre I felt I had to follow through. Like I meant to do it. So now my sons think their mother is crazy. Not crazy-good, crazy-bad.
To make everything better I took them to the zoo in the afternoon and spent £3 each on plastic crocodiles. The plastic Thomas bowl is forgotten and all is well in the world.
These Bounty bread rolls are possibly one of my favourite creations ever. Charlie prefers these over Cheerios for breakfast any day. They take ages though. I warn you now, they proof at their rate and nothing is going to speed them up. Weekend breakfast perhaps?
Makes 1 cake tin of rolls – about 8 individual rolls when pulled apart
Ingredients
Dough:
125g full fat or semi skimmed milk
250g strong white flour
1 tsp fast action dried yeast
1 tsp salt
20g muscavado sugar
1 large egg, beaten, at room temperature
Filling and topping:
25g demerara sugar
100g finely chopped Bounty bars (I used cheapo version from Aldi)
2 tsp icing sugar
tiny dot of boiling water
Make the enriched dough first (for it has an egg in it and butter too – so it’s enriched and therefore rises a bit slower and is also a bit sticky) by heating the butter in a saucepan/microwave until it’s melted, then adding the milk and heating until the whole lot is the temperature of a baby’s bath – ie/ lukewarm. If it overheats this is fine – just let it cool down before you add it to the dry ingredients.
Mix the flour, yeast, salt and sugar together. If the sugar has clumped up in storage then make sure you break it up finely before adding to the other dry ingredients. Use your fingers or a knife to get it back to it’s usual fine self. Then add the lukewarm butter and sugar mixture, knead together a little, then add the room temperature beaten egg. Knead by hand or in a machine until the dough is elastic, though beware it will still be sticky. Don’t add flour to aid the kneading – the bread will end up brick-like. Just go with the stickiness and remove jewellery beforehand if it really bothers you. (A scraper is very useful for kneading sticky doughs… or a machine.)
Pop the dough into a large bowl and cover with clingfilm. Let it proof until a finger pushed in about 3cm leaves a firm indent. It should be about double the size and take about 1.5 hours. In that time you need to line a cake tin (approx 20cm) with greaseproof paper as these rolls go all sticky upon baking. So sticky they can get stuck in a tin.
After the first proof knock the dough back and then roll with a rolling pin into a rectangle about 25 x 18cm, between two pieces of greaseproof paper (like I said, it’s very sticky dough so I wouldn’t attempt without the greaseproof paper trick.) With the rectangle length-ways in front of you, peel back the top layer of the greaseproof paper and then use a pastry brush to paint with the melted butter. Sprinkle the demerara sugar and chopped up Bounty over the top, evenly, then roll into a spiral, length ways.
With your roll of dough resting on the bottom piece of greaseproof paper as a disposable cutting board, use a serrated knife to cut slices of the dough about 2cm thick. Carefully lift the spirals (which are prone to dropping filling, beware) and place in your lined cake tin. Cover loosely with clingfilm and leave to proof for a second time. Mine took 2 hours to double in size.
Bake at 200C for about 20 – 25 minutes until golden brown on the top and looking thoroughly well baked, chocolatey and with toasted Bounty coconut having splurged onto the top. Mix the icing sugar with a dot of boiling water and paint the still warm rolls for a nicely frosted when cold appearance.
Holly Bell 