Eton Mess Cake

I took one look at this recipe and decided it had to be made. Immediately! I know it's winter and Eton Mess is a summer thing but who cares.

It was an almondy Madeira like sponge with fresh strawberries mixed in. Then, once you had poured the batter into the tin it was topped with more fresh strawberries and broken up pieces of shop bought meringue nests.

I thought the meringue might brown after being in the oven for 40 minutes and taste a bit burnt but it was fine it just went a little golden.

It didn't take very long to cool and it was easy to cut up into nice neat and chunky pieces. It was really yummy - quite a simple/plain tasting cake but nicely complimented with the sweet strawberries and sugary meringue. It definitely needs to be eaten with single cream to give it extra moisture. You can find the recipe here Eton Mess Cake

The only thing I would do differently next time is hide the strawberries from Tim (my husband) as I ended up being about 100g short after he sneakily helped himself!.

Me, The Macaron and I

Me and the Macaron have history, a very rocky and turbulent history. The Macaron is very high maintenance and hard to get on with. You have to persevere and take the time to get to know the Macaron but once you do you'll be best friends forever. 

Here's the photo story of our relationship.

My first attempt, they tasted nice but looked terrible.

Attempt 2 - I was prepared, I'd done research online and even printed out templates!

 I put the almonds and icing sugar into the mixer to make them really fine and sieved them.

 I whisked the egg for 10 minutes with the sugar 

 I added food colouring

 I piped them very neatly

 And then they turn out cracked, discoloured and minging! Sigh.

 Sooo I tried again but this time thought I would stir it for longer and turn the oven down.

Out of 30 Macarons - 1 yes just 1 turned out perfect!!!! 

At this point I was very close to ending it there (my attempts at getting the perfect Macaron not my life)  but I know I was going to need serious help and so typed into google 'Macaron classes in Cheshire' and it led me here http://sentfrommykitchen.com/ so I booked myself  (and two friends) onto this course in Altrincham.

It was great! 

Turns out I wasn't mixing it right, I was being too gentle.

And the oven has to be exactly 160 degrees (I have now purchased an oven thermometer).  And taaa daaa it is possible to make Macarons!!!!

 These were ones the Macaron teacher had prepared earlier, the brown ones are salted caramel and the white ones are white chocolate. Soooo yummy!

So the big test was when I was at work - would they come out like they did on the course? 

 Yes they did!! Woohooo I defeated the Macaron!!