Tarte au citron - Take 3

It had been at least a week since I last made a tarte au citron so I thought I'd have another attempt and enter it into the work bake off!

I decided to go for Raymond Blanc's simple but delicious recipe for the lemon filling whilst using Michel Roux's recipe for the Pâte Sucrée. However, as the pastry cooking instructions are to fully cook the case before putting the cream in I followed Raymond Blanc's recipe for the actual baking of the pastry, which I found worked fine.


I took the tart into work and found there were slightly more people in the office than normal, but still managed 11 servings and got a rather good score of 94%!!! As you can see from the scoreboard I've not had much competition so we'll see how long I last on the top spot. 

Here's the recipe for the filling and instructions for baking the pastry:

Lemon filling

INGREDIENTS

5 medium organic eggs

150g (5 oz.) powdered sugar

85ml (3 fl oz.) fresh lemon juice

2 tbsp. finely grated lemon zest

150ml (1/4 pint) double cream

1) In a large bowl, mix together the eggs, sugar, lemon juice and zest and whisk for a few seconds. Add the cream and whisk it in, then place in the fridge.

Cooking the pastry:

1) Line the pastry case with aluminium foil and fill with dried beans, pushing them against the side. Bake for 10 minutes, then remove from the oven and lift out both foil and beans.

2)Return the tart tin to the oven and bake for a further 20 minutes.

3)Brush the inside of the pastry with the remaining egg yolk and return to the oven for 1 minute (this creates a seal on the pastry and prevents it becoming soggy when the lemon cream is added).

4)Turn the oven down to 140°C (275°F).

Cooking the lemon tart

1) Pour the lemon cream mixture into a saucepan and warm it gently (this is to speed up the cooking time of the tart), being careful not to heat it too much or it will scramble.  

2) Pour the warm mixture into the pastry case and bake for 25 minutes, until barely set.

3) Remove from the oven and leave to cool for at least 1 hour, then dredge icing sugar around the edge of the tart.

4) Remove the tart from the tin and place on a serving plate.

Extra tips/info:

1) To avoid any spillage of the lemon filling over the sides of the pastry case gently pour the lemon filling into the tart case whilst in the oven. 

Bake off - banana lemon layer cake

After the tremendous interest at work in The Great British Bake Off on tv, we decided to have our very own bake off! 

As I am very competitive to a possibly unhealthy level this was a great challenge. However, after only one entry in several weeks things have died a bit of a death. So, last night I decided to have a go and was inspired by some very ripe bananas sitting in my kitchen - I'm a green banana person and they were only going in the bin otherwise! 

I set about finding a recipe for a banana based cake and came across a banana, walnut and lemon icing layer cake. I liked the sound of this sophisticated take on a banana loaf which also looks a lot more enticing that a plain banana loaf. The lemon icing really lifts the cake, and the walnuts add a good crunch. 

I actually halved the quantity of icing as the original recipe said to cover the whole cake which I thought would be a bit too sweet. If you did want to make it that way just double the quantity of the ingredients (increase icing sugar to 500g) and spread a third of the icing on the first layer leaving two thirds for outside.

The most important thing is it went down well at work and secured me a score of 53 out of 60!

Photo courtesy of David Smith - thanks Dave!

Banana lemon layer cake

INGREDIENTS
250g plain flour
1 1/2 baking powder
1/2 tspn salt
115g butter, softened
225g granulated sugar
75g soft light brown sugar
2 medium eggs
1/2 tspn grated lemon zest
2 very ripe bananas, mashed
1 tspn vanilla essense
60ml milk
75g chopped walnuts
pared lemon zest to decorate

For the icing
60g butter, softened
200g icing sugar
1/2 tspn grated lemon zest
25-45ml lemon juice

1) Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/Gas 4. Grease two 23cm round cake tines and line the bases with greaseproof paper and grease the paper. Sift the flour with the baking powder and salt

2) Cream the butter with the sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, then stir in the grated lemon zest

3) In a small bowl mix the mashed bananas with the vanilla essence and milk. Add the banana mixture and dry ingredients to the butter mixture alternately in two or three batches and stir until just blended. Fold in the nuts.

4) Divide the mixture between the cake tins. Bake for 30-35mins, let stand for 5 mins then turn out on to a wire rack.

5) Make the icing. Cream the butter until smooth then gradually beat in the icing sugar. Stir in the lemon zest and enough juice to make a spreadable consistency.

6) Out one of the cake layers on a serving plate. Cover with half the icing. Top with the second layer cake and spread the remaining icing evenly over the cake and decorate with the pared lemon zest.

The recipe is taken from Cakes and Cake Decorating, by Angela Nilsen, Sarah Maxwell and Janice Murfitt.

Extra tips/info:
1) Weigh the cake tins when dividing the mixture to get exactly equal quantities.
2) I used a Microplane fine grater for the zest which I recently acquired and I have to say it is amazing - extremely fine zest and a pleasure to use!

Tarte au citron - Take 1 and 2

Take 1
A few weeks ago I felt like something indulgent but didn't want anything too sweet so opted for a classic tarte au citron. I followed a recipe by Raymond Blanc and found his take on the tart fairly easy to make and delicious, except for the pastry. I'm still not sure if the recipe is right but it said the mixture should be a crumbly texture after mixing the butter, icing sugar, eggs and flour together. I found it to be very wet, nowhere near crumb-like, so I added a bit of extra flour and when it came to rolling out the pastry it was very fragile and I had to patch a piece. The proof is in the pudding though and it did taste good! The pastry was thin and delicious, and the lemon filling had a lovely texture and colour.

Take 2
As I like to get things right (I would say perfect but I don't think anything can be?!) I decided to have another attempt but using a different recipe. I opted for Pierre Hermé's recipe for the filling, but exchanged his method of making pâte sucrée for one by Michelle Roux as it was late and I didn't have the ground almonds! 

I tried to follow the recipe for the lemon cream religiously and things were going well until I had to whisk the sugar, eggs, lemon juice and zest together until they reached 82°C/180°F. I used a jam thermometer which I realised afterwards wasn't going into the mixture deep enough to get a true reading. The recipe which is written by Dorie Greenspan says that it is important to get this temp. so I persevered for 50 l-o-ong minutes.  I whisked for as long as my arm could take the heat - I was beating with one hand and trying to hold the thermometer out of the way and in the mixture with the other, all the while being blasted with hot jets of steam escaping between the bowl and saucepan. In the end the room was so full of steam that one of my recipe book's pages wrinkled. Very, very sad.

Finally I think the lemon cream got to 74°C/165°F which I LATER read was ok - http://www.doriegreenspan.com/print/2008/05/the-most-extraordinary-lemon-tart-re-thunk.html

Hhhmmmppphh. So after adding the butter and chilling, and making my pâte sucrée I assembled the tart and found it was still very tasty, whether it was lemon curd or cream. I will attempt this again I'm sure when my NEW food thermometer arrives, to see if it was just my thermometer causing problems, and to see if a shorter cooking time results in a lighter cream. I'm sure it does!

Here are the recipes for Dorie Greenspan and Pierre Hermé's lemon cream and Michel Roux's pâte sucrée. http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2008/04/lemon-lemon-lemon-cream-recipe.html

Lemon Cream

INGREDIENTS
1 cup sugar
Finely grated zest of 3 lemons
4 large eggs
3/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (from 4 to 5 lemons)
2 sticks plus 5 tablespoons (21 tablespoons; 10 1/2 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature and cut into tablespoon-sized pieces

1) Preparation: Have a thermometer, preferably an instant-read, a strainer and a blender (first choice) or food processor at the ready. Bring a few inches of water to a simmer in a saucepan.

2) Put the sugar and zest in a large metal bowl that can be fitted into the pan of simmering water. Off heat, work the sugar and zest together between your fingers until the sugar is moist, grainy and very aromatic. Whisk in the eggs followed by the lemon juice.

3) Fit the bowl into the pan (make certain the water doesn’t touch the bottom of the bowl) and cook, stirring with the whisk as soon as the mixture feels tepid to the touch. You want to cook the cream until it reaches 180°F. As you whisk the cream over heat—and you must whisk constantly to keep the eggs from scrambling—you’ll see that the cream will start out light and foamy, then the bubbles will get bigger, and then, as the cream is getting closer to 180°F, it will start to thicken and the whisk will leave tracks. Heads up at this point—the tracks mean the cream is almost ready. Don’t stop whisking and don’t stop checking the temperature. And have patience—depending on how much heat you’re giving the cream, getting to temp can take as long as 10 minutes.

4) As soon as you reach 82°C/180°F, pull the cream from the heat and strain it into the container of a blender (or food processor); discard the zest. Let the cream rest at room temperature, stirring occasionally, until it cools to 60°C/140°F, about 10 minutes.

5) Turn the blender to high and, with the machine going, add about 5 pieces of butter at a time. Scrape down the sides of the container as needed while you’re incorporating the butter. Once the butter is in, keep the machine going—to get the perfect light, airy texture of lemon-cream dreams, you must continue to beat the cream for another 3 minutes. If your machine protests and gets a bit too hot, work in 1-minute intervals, giving the machine a little rest between beats.

6) Pour the cream into a container, press a piece of cling film against the surface to create an airtight seal and chill the cream for at least 4 hours or overnight. When you are ready to construct the tart, just whisk the cream to loosen it and spoon it into the pastry case.

7) Serving: The tart should be served cold, because it is a particular pleasure to have the cold cream melt in your mouth.


Pâte Sucrée

INGREDIENTS 250g/ 1¾ cups plain flour
100g/ ½ cup butter, cubed and slightly softened
100g/ 1 cup icing sugar, sifted
Pinch of salt
2 eggs, at room temperature

1) Put the flour in a mound on a work surface (ideally marble) and make a well. Put in the butter, icing sugar and salt, and mix these ingredients together with your fingertips.

2) Gradually draw the flour into the centre and mix with your fingertips until the dough becomes slightly grainy.

3) Again, make a well and add the eggs. Work them into the flour mixture, using your fingertips, until the dough begins to hold together.

4) When the dough is well amalgamated, knead it a few times with the palm of your hand until smooth. Roll the dough into a ball, wrap in cling film, and rest in the fridge for 1-2 hours before using.

5) When the dough is rested and you are ready to use it, unwrap and roll out on a lightly floured clean surface to a 2-3mm thickness. 

6) Use the rolling pin to roll up the pastry and lay it in the flan tin without stretching. Trim off the excess pastry by simply rolling the pin across the top, and lightly press the edges into the tin. Pop it in the fridge for 30mins to avoid any shrinkage.

7) Take out the tart case and prick the base. Line the case with some foil or greaseproof paper and fill the bottom with baking beans. Bake at 190°C/374°F for 20mins. 

8) Remove from the oven and take out the foil and beans and put back in the oven for 10mins to colour the base. 

When the pastry had cooled completely I spooned in the lemon cream filling and spread it out evenly, before putting in the fridge to chill. In the DG/PH recipe there is a glaze to add to give a more pristine finish, but I again didn't have some of the ingredients. C'est la vie, it still tasted good!

Felt strip cushion

I completed my felt cushion today and here are a few photos!

I bought the felt strips as a mini roll made by The Button Company, which I found in John Lewis. They come in several colour ways and I chose the aqua/blue one to pick out the colours in the first cushion I made. 

Opposite is a pic of the mini roll from the website,
which seems to have been updated since I bought it,
as it has a dark green felt instead of the dark
blue.






For the piping and back of the cushion I used a turquoise/aqua plain cotton. I positioned the zip close to the edge as I was a little worried that the felt might get stretched when inserting the very plumpious cushion if I had the zip midway down the back. This (I found) was a lot trickier than the previous cushion I made as there are more edges and flaps to contend with! I looked at quite a few tutorials on youtube but in the end I just decided to have a bash and unpick if necessary! Below is a view of the zip end.

Here's a quick guide for sewing the cushion:
1) Sew the felt strips together and iron the seams open
2) Make the piping (this is job in itself!)
3) Attach the piping to the felt or front piece of the cushion using a piping foot
4) Get the back piece of the cushion now and place the two pieces of fabric together, right sides facing and pin in place at the ends on one side.
5) Still with the piping foot, sew 5cm in at each end, attaching the two pieces together and leaving a space for the zipper. Sounds complicated but it isn't, see the diagram below.



6) Using the zipper foot sew the zip on to the felt side by laying the zipper teeth over the piping
7) Sew the other side of the zip on to the cotton back still using the zipper foot
8) Change back to your regular foot and sew the zip down onto the right side of the cotton back of the fabric and across ends the ends of the zip, then snip off the excess zip. This should be a nice straight line as it will be visible.
9) Make sure the zip is open, and pin the front and back together (still inside out!)
10) Using the zipper foot sew the front and back together, along the edge of the piping, starting on the 5cm edge that you sewed earlier. Make sure the fabric with the piping attached is on top so you can sew inside the stitching and then it won't be visible when turned inside out.
11) Turn the cushion inside out, put in a cushion pad and it's finished!

A venture into the kitchen..

Apart from the sewing I've also been venturing into the kitchen to cook up some treats! I know this started out more as a sewing blog but I think I'm going to include my other interests too - I am a Gemini after all and like to have my fingers in all the pies, literally!

Greatly inspired by the program, The Great British Bake Off, which is on TV at the moment, I've experimented with focaccia, chelsea buns, cornmeal sticks (recipes courtesy of Dan Lepard, who is an incredible baker), along with chocolate chestnut cake (Hugh Fearnley-Whitingstall), a tarte au citron (Raymond Blanc), a chocolate roulade (Mary Berry), cheese souffles and apple muffins - which I adapted from several recipes I found online. Here's my version for the apple muffins:

Apple muffins (makes 8):

200g plain flour

90g caster sugar

50g soft brown sugar

2 1/2 tspn baking powder 

1/2 tspn salt

tbspn water

2 eggs beaten
75ml sunflower oil

5 drops vanilla essence

150g eating apples, grated

for the topping:

handful of pumpkin seeds

1 tspn cinnamon

1) Preheat the oven to 200C and place muffin cases in muffin tray.

2) Mix all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl; flour, sugars, baking powder and salt.

3) Add wet ingredients and combine; water, eggs, oil, vanilla essence. Don't worry if there are a few lumps.

4) Gently fold in the apple and put the mixture in the cases.

5) Sprinkle some cinnamon over the muffins along with the pumpkin seeds.

6) Cook for 15-20mins until golden brown and a skewer comes out clean, then leave to cool on a rack.

I confess I did mean to put the cinnamon in the mixture but forgot! I found sprinkling it on top actually worked quite well though, as well as added to the nice brown colour. If I make them again I'll try adding the cinnamon to the mixture instead and let you know how it works!

Aside from the above photo I've only managed to grab some snaps of the crispy cornmeal sticks and focaccia as everything else needed to be eaten right away!

Back to the blog

I've been very neglectful with my sewing and blog, but I'm back with something new!

This year has really flown by since we moved into our house in February as we've been working hard to get it ready for the winter. The existing heating was really kaput, but now we're ready to take the winter on with a beautiful Morso woodburning stove, and less lovely gas central heating system.

But back to the sewing...  I felt I needed something to motivate me to get back into it, so I found a great course to make a log cabin cushion. This is really useful for using up all your scraps of fabric and pretty simple to make once you get the idea! I picked the colours to go with the other cushion I made, and another one I've half done.

Lil' toxic flame plush..

Here's the first in my series of lil' flame plush! More lil' flames will be on their way soon...