I’m a little late but…
we are hitting that Almond Croissant trend this week with my Almond Croissant & Pistachio Chiffon Cake. Is it double the carbs with cake & croissant? You betcha. And it is SO WORTH IT.
Hey Friends!
I know it has been a real minute since I haven’t shoved an ad plugging my book at the start of the newsletter, but I thought I would give you all a break from it for now (although it is out in the UK TWO WEEKS TODAY!!). Just a quick moment to say thank you for all the support and the love for One Bake Two Ways – it truly is my literary baby and as someone who loves to bake and write, it is a total dream come true so thank you immensely and here’s to hoping it does well so we can all get our hands on the book we all really want (you don’t need to say it, I already know it), the ‘Around The World’ book. Here’s to hoping!
In other news, life and work have been crazy manic and trying to find some steady ground has been incredibly hard and quite trying on my mushy brain. Baking has been my therapy for the last 6 years (turns out it’s just as expensive as the actual in person therapy) and I will forever be grateful for the quiet in my brain whenever I’m in the zone.
So, with that being said, there are a TONNE of things going on right now so apologies for the tardiness with the newsletter delivery of late – I promise once the next few weeks are over, I will be better. More baking, more yapping, more fun newslettery bits, more videos and most importantly, more yums. Before all that, I have UK publication, my cousin’s hen TOMORROW, her wedding in 3 weeks where I am also making the cake, the US publication and amongst that another exciting new work project so until someone finds me a coupla more hours in a day, we are swamped people. SUHHHWAMPED.
But the above does all mean a lot of fun, a lot of excitement, a lot of newness and A LOT of delicious food which I am incredibly grateful for. I am away in the South of France this weekend which is why I am up at midnight despite having to be up at 4am to catch a flight trying to get this newsletter done. SO, FORGIVE ME FRIENDS if any of the following doesn’t make sense. She’s sleep deprived and counting down the hours till I have to be up again which is truly a terrible combo.
So, I think we can all agree that enough with the rambles cause none of the above even makes any sense anyway, does it?
Let’s get to the good stuff.
p.s there is currently 10% off the book on Amazon for my US friends. Last plug this week, promise!
This week we have two little morsels ready to tickle everyone’s pickle. Two totally different bakes, both requiring different levels of skill and a varying amount of prep. Don’t be intimidated by the main bake this week. It sounds fussy (it kinda is), sounds tricky (it kinda isn’t) and sounds utterly delicious (which it totally is). Patience is definitely needed with the latter but makes for a perfect weekend bake whilst the former takes no time at all and could be put together, baked and on your plate within an hour I SWEAR.
First up, we have a Boterkoek aka Dutch Butter Cake. This was the latest ‘Around the World’ bake and one that I am not wholly convinced I have done correctly but I stalked the crap out of google for a good rated recipe and cross checked pictures at all points to ensure I was on the right lines and…my research says I am?? I am sorry for any Dutch friends who I unknowingly insult with the execution of this bake but…can we call it a cake? CAN WE????? OR IS IT JUST A SOFT VERSION OF SHORTBREAD. Idk
And then finishing up the sweet stuff this week, we have my take on the two latest viral trends of the almond croissant and chocolate pistachio bars with my Toasted Almond Croissant & Pistachio Chiffon Cake. Why have just one when you can have it all? A motto I will strive to forever live by but on a serious note, this may sound like a real hodge podge of ingredients, but I promise you, it truly works. If you still aren’t entirely sold right now, no stress, I’ll convince you by the time we get to the recipe, I am certain of it.
So kicking off the recipes this week, we are diving head first into the world of Dutch baking with a recipe for a classic but simple Boterkoek, otherwise known as a Butter Cake (if you couldn’t guess). This is the latest bake from my insta series ‘Around the World in 80 Cakes’ and was honestly thrilled and generally buzzed at coming across a bake on the list which a) didn’t have ten million ingredients and b) also didn’t take ten million hours to make.
This easy bake comes together in less than 10 mins and bakes in about 25 so if you ever find yourself going full Jekyll and Hyde mode cause you NEED SUGAR PRONTO, then this is the bake for you.
I am going to preface this and say I am not entirely convinced I made mine correctly but as mentioned previously, I did a whole lotta research as I wasn’t so sure after my first attempt. Second attempt down and it came out the exact same as the first so to prevent myself from drowning in Boterkoek, I sacked off attempt number 3 and have made peace with the fact that…this is just how it is.
It’s simplicity and then some. A bake with no more than 6 ingredients (I cheated and added some lemon zest cause I’m all for butter but like…pls gimme more than just that ya know?) and requires zero skill to put together so if a little bit of meh is your thing, then this is the one for you. I can totally see how with some additions this could be a really lovely bake but then those additions would make it unrecognizable from the traditional sort and I am sure any future visits to the Netherlands would be immediately revoked and I would be placed on a Do Not Allow list and guys, I just can’t risk that.
Despite my gripes and groans, it is a very tender, moist, delicate bake but for a cake? It’s as flat as a pancake. Back in the day, this would have been a Kelly B special (my mum who cannot bake to save her life) but what I will say is, this is PERFECT DUNKING MATERIAL. Dunk into coffee, into tea, into custard (oh how I wished I had dunked it into custard) or slather it with curd, jam, chocolate hazelnut spread, Biscoff but don’t go as far as peanut butter (I tried and that was not a vibe).
I know I haven’t done a good job at selling this but if you like simple, easy, low maintenance, fuss free baking, then this is your baby. It has a forgiving base so you can overmix, undermix, add in some additions which tickle your pickle (some fresh berries on top? Some amarena cherries even? Or even a jam rippled through before baking could be nice?) but this could also work well as a kid friendly bake. Something for them to get involved with and you can reap the rewards.
The below recipe is based on one found on Baking Sense but slightly tweaked and amended.
Recipe Makes: 1 x 25 cm / 10 inch ‘cake’
Recipe Serves: 8
Y O U – W I L L – N E E D –
225 g Icing/Superfine Sugar, sifted
Zest of 2 Lemons
½ tsp Vanilla Bean Paste
280 g Plain/AP Flour, sifted
Pinch of Salt
225 g Unsalted Butter, room temp
1 Large Egg, whisked
M E T H O D –
Preheat the oven to 180C Fan/200C/400F/Gas Mark 6 and line the base of a 10 inch tart tin (ideally a springform tin or one with a removable base at least). NOTE: You can bake this in a 9 inch tin, just remove the bake from the oven a few minutes earlier than listed below.
Add your icing sugar and lemon zest to a mixer bowl and use the paddle attachment to combine the two together for 5 minutes. This will help release the oils from the zest and make your bake taste lemonier.
Next, add the flour, pinch of salt and vanilla bean paste. Give that a little mixy before going in with all the butter.
Use the paddle attachment to mix again until the butter has combined. Keep mixing until the mix starts to look like rubble.
Reserve 1 tsp of whisked egg and pour the remaining into the bowl. Mix again until the dough comes together.
Press the dough into your base lined tart tin and use the back of a spoon or offset palette knife to smooth until even and flat. NOTE: Alternatively you could also place a sheet of greaseproof/baking paper on top of the filling and use your hands to press down.
Add a splash of milk to your reserved whisked egg and use a pastry brush to brush over the top.
Use a fork or knife to create a lattice pattern on the top and pop into the oven to bake for 20 to 22 minutes until golden brown.
Allow the cake to completely cool in the pan before removing and slicing into 8.
And moving onto the main bake of the day, my Toasted Almond Croissant & Pistachio Chiffon Cake. Yup, you read that correctly. A toasted almond croissant cake. How? I don’t know either to be honest. This came to me as a random brainwave and then took me a good few hours to figure out how exactly this was going to work.
Like…is the sponge going to be almond flavoured? How were we including pistachio? Was it also going to have the shredded filo in it like the viral chocolate bars? How are we going to add frangipane to a cake? Will it be rippled through the sponge? Will that work with a chiffon sponge? Can I add it to whipped cream? What about the croissants? FOR THE LOVE OF GOD WHAT ABOUT THE CROISSANTS.
I had a gazillion questions as to how this could work and yes, I very much could have just chosen to do something a lot simpler this week but ya know, my brain just has this thing that when I am super pushed for time, it really likes to push me back. Only have half a working week this week Rubes?? Pah! No problem, let’s make two cakes, take a whole day out for meetings, another day to write a newsletter, magic up a third day out of thin air for social media editing and then shovel on top some new projects you want to start. I don’t quite know why my brain thinks now is the time to start over-achieving and working like I have 48 days in a single day but here we are. That my friends is how we came to a cake I had no idea we were going to do until…I wrote the title for this newsletter. It comes as a surprise to us all my friends.
Thankfully the brainwave was more than just a pipedream and ended up coming out beautifully. Thank goodness because I had no time for this to not work this week and I think I would have gone full meltdown mode (anything will do it this week, I am waiting for my headphone wire or bag strap to get caught on a door handle for an almighty blow out). Here we have a delicately soft, tender and moist vanilla chiffon sponge (this is a great base recipe as doesn’t call for you to use an angel cake tin), sandwiching a pistachio chocolate crumb and almond cream (frangipane-esque) filling and smothered in a *drum roll please* whipped toasted croissant cream. Yes folks, A WHIPPED TOASTED CROISSANT CREAM. I mean drown me in it. Let me just face plant it. I do warn you, a spoon of this cream and it, too, will make you a little bonkers like I am but just wow, ya know?
Make a part of it, make a bit of it, make all of it. However you choose to proceed, let me just say you are so bloody welcome for being introduced to the new LOYL. I gotta get this toasted croissant cream bottled and sold somewhere pronto. But until then…
Recipe Makes: 3 x 18 cm / 7 inch sponges
Recipe Serves: 8
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