Claire's Cake Bake & Other Foodiness

Last night I made our customery Christmas dinner. Very similar to previous years we started with a simple bruschetta, followed by a traditional turkey Christmas dinner and this year we finished with a Baileys chocolate mousse. It wasn’t bad and for once I didn’t get flustered in the kitchen and the gravey turned out OK (slighty salty but for me thats good!)

Baileys Chocolate Mousse Recipe (based on recipe from Waitrose)

175g Green & Black’s Organic Dark Chocolate, broken into small pieces
Knob of butter
5 large eggs, separated (3 yolks, 5 whites)
2 tbsp Baileys

Method
1. Place the chocolate and butter in a large heatproof bowl over a pan of gently simmering water. Leave to melt for 2-3 minutes – do not allow the bowl to touch the water. When it has all melted, remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly.
2. Using a wooden spoon, beat the egg yolks into the chocolate with the liqueur.
3. In a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt until they form stiff peaks. Using a large metal spoon, gently fold the whites into the chocolate mixture until completely incorporated.
4. Divide the chocolate mousse between 4 glasses and place in the fridge to set for at least 2 hours.

Just before Christmas Elodie learnt how to ‘turn’ whilst shuffling… there is no stopping her now!

This year I’ve been quite busy and have not had as much time in the kitchen as I had hoped for in my 12 months of maternity leave!

I did not get a chance to make the usual Christmas cake so my Mum made the cake and I offered to ice it. This is my third Christmas cake and I reverted back to a traditional Holly decoration… simple but I quite like it.

This months FFTO challenge was Stollen, a traditional German treat which is eaten at Christmas. I hadn’t tried Stollen before so I was looking forward to baking and sampling something new. I have to honestly say it was really delicous and something I’d like to bake again – I was going to make some smaller Stollen for gifts but ran out of time.

The recipe chosen for the challenge was a yeasted version based on a recipe by Simon Rimmer.

Stollen
based on a Simon Rimmer recipe

100ml/3½fl oz warm milk
6g (1 sachet) fast action yeast or 2 tsp dried yeast or 20g fresh yeast
pinch salt
1 tsp caster sugar
225g/8oz plain flour, plus extra for dusting
1 tsp ground mixed spice
200g/7oz mixed dried fruit (including glacé cherries)
25g/1oz flaked almonds
50g/2oz unsalted butter
1 free-range egg, beaten
250g/9oz marzipan

To finish
rum
25g/1oz butter, melted
50g/2oz icing sugar

Method
1. Place the milk and yeast into a bowl and mix well. Leave to sit for 5-6 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, sift the salt, sugar, flour and mixed spice into a large bowl. Add the dried fruit, almonds and butter and mix well then stir in the yeasty milk and mix well.
3. Add the egg and stir to form a dough. Knead the dough for 5-6 minutes, then cover and leave to prove for 20 minutes. Uncover the dough and turn out onto a clean, floured work surface. Knock the dough back to reduce the volume, then knead the dough for 3-4 minutes.
4. Push the dough out by hand into a flat oval shape about 23cm x 18cm/9in x 7in. Roll the marzipan into a sausage shape about 6cm/2in shorter than the dough. Place the marzipan into the centre of the dough, then fold over the sides of the dough to seal in the marzipan. Then fold in the ends of the dough to contain the marzipan and help give the dough shape. Place the stollen seal-side down onto a greased baking tray. Cover and place somewhere warm to prove for one hour.
5. Preheat the oven to 180C/365F/Gas 4. Place the stollen on the baking tray into the oven to bake for 40 minutes, or until golden-brown and cooked through (I think ours was cooked after 30 minutes).
6. To finish, remove the stollen from the oven, brush with the rum then melted butter and dust liberally with icing sugar immediately. Allow the stollen to cool, then serve in slices.