Challenge #8 Bakewell Tart

 My mac has died and so my blog updates are a little behind :-(. I'm having to use my phone camera instead of my SLR because it's easier to upload onto my borrowed PC. Anyway! This week I made bakewell tart mmm. We had dinner at the in laws and I was in charge of puds.  I've just started a new job - as a baker in a lovely coffee & cake shop in Chester and the lady who I bake with made bakewell tarts this week and they looked so good that it was an obvious choice for this occasion.  So step one was make pastry...

I used my friend Jen's kitchen, she had invited some of us round for a girlie film - so I baked whilst Bridget Jones was on in the background. Good times. Next step spread raspberry jam onto the pastry base...

Step three...make almond sponge...

Step four spread batter onto jam and pastry base and sprinkle flaked almonds on top. Then bung in the oven...

180 degrees for 25mins. Jen's oven has a light that actually works - what a novelty.

Ta daaaa

Le Creuset 7-oz. Petite Tart Dish - Cherry - Le Creuset Stoneware (Google Affiliate Ad)

Challenge #6 Bling Bling Millionaires Shortbread

This is number 6 in the Mary Berry Challenge (I'm going through Mary Berry's Baking Bible....... just for fun!). But I decided to bling it up a bit.

  I saw someone else do something similar using gold and I had some silver edible paint and so thought I'd go for it.

I really like the splattered effect - it makes it look that bit more professional and special. The recipe is super unhealthy using a whole 2 tins of condensed milk for the caramel. 

 I used 70% dark chocolate for the topping which made the silver stand out really well. You can use milk chocolate if you prefer but don't use dairy milk as the American's have made it un-meltable! and it separates it into a sticky mess. Which is really sad. 

Definitely a recipe I'll be making again - really tasty and looks great.