Cake forty - one alias Bread Two - Bread Bunny & Sheep

Get inspired 

Bread making needs time and patience. Waiting time is often long and it’s of highly importance for the good result of our bread. I particularly like to make bread as it’s a type of dough which leaves free space to your fancy, you can use any kind of mould or if you’re more like an artist type you can model it any shape you want. This is one of the many recipes for white bread which is good with the big variety of ham and salami we have for lunch at Easter in Tuscany. 

This year I added some sheep to the traditional rabbits. 

500g flour

15g yeast

300ml lukewarm water

60ml lukewarm milk

a pinch of salt 

Put yeast and 150ml lukewarm water in a small bowl and mix until dissolved, then add remaining lukewarm water Sieve flour and salt in a large bowl and make a well in the centre. Make a small dough using your hands Rest 20 minutes or until mixture resembles a creamy foam. Put small dough back into large bowl and pour in the lukewarm milk. Bring the dough together. Turn dough onto floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes until it looks smoothy and silky. Sit the dough in a clean, lightly oiled large bowl. Cover with cling film and a tea towel and put it somewhere warm for it to rise for an hour and fifteen minutes. It should double in size. Now knock back the dough, knead the dough again for a couple of minutes. Roll dough to 18cm x 35cm rectangle, roll up from short side like a Swiss roll, place on greased moulds. Cover with oiled cling film and stand in warm place for further 30 minutes. Remove cling film, cut a diagonal slash across top, dust with flour. Stand 15 minutes, then bake at 230° for 15 minutes, then reduce temperature to 200° and bake for further 20-25 minutes. Turn bread onto wire rack to cool.

also visit: http://time-for-a-cake.blogspot.it/2014/06/cake-forty-one-alias-bread-two.html

Cake forty - Easter basket and decorations

Get inspired 

Appearance in baking is of top importance, cakes look different but recipe maybe the same! Shape and decoration deceive our sight and sometimes a different shape may also result in a different taste. 

I particularly like the idea of an edible basket and I’ve tried several recipes, over the years, I made it using same recipe as for a stand up bunny, which is another must on my table, but this is the one which gives the best result. It’s more like a sweet bread than a real cake. 

You can try them both and see which one you like best!

Easter Basket 

500g flour 

25g yeast

1 glass warm water

1/4 luke warm milk

50g almonds

100 g diced orange and lemon peel 

150g raisins

1cl rhum

100g butter (melted)

50g sugar 

1 egg

1 pinch salt

grated lemon rind

Combine yeast, sugar and warm water in small bowl, whisk until yeast is dissolved. Cover bowl, stand in warm place about 10 minutes or until mixture is frothy.

Combine fruit and almond with rhum in small bowl. Cover stand 30 minutes.

Place flour in large bowl, make well in the centre and add yeast mixture. Make a small dough. Cover and stand about 15 minutes. Add melted butter salt, egg, salt and lemon rind. Beat dough vigourously. Stand about 20 minutes. Stir in almonds and fruit. Cover and stand further 15 minutes. Grease a round shaped pan. Place dough. Put a small round saucepan in centre. Bake at 180° about 40 minutes. Remove saucepan after 20 minutes.

When basket is still hot melt 25g butter, brush top of basket and sprinkle with 25g sugar. 

I’ve found it difficult to find the right mould for the basket and even more difficult to make it hollow inside! After many trials I got it right!

I made a small Easter wreath with some leftover dough! 

Stand up Bunny

1 egg

70 g butter or margarine

70 g sugar

a pinch of salt

90 g flour 

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

for procedure please see: 

http://time-for-cake-making.blogspot.it/2013/05/cake-twenty-four-bunnies-bunnies-bunnies.html

also visit http://time-for-a-cake.blogspot.it/2014/06/easter-baking-cake-forty.html

Easter baking - Cake thirty nine Chocolate eggs, chocolate lollipos

Get inspired

I’m certainly not a maître chocolatier and I still have to learn a lot about the universe of chocolate making. Anyway I love working with chocolate and every year I make something new. I use pure chocolate for the animals and the small eggs and food colouring to make a change. As for the bigger eggs I like to mix it with cereals - rice Krispies for dark chocolate and coco pops for the milk and white one. You need a lot of time and patience, you work and work for a whole afternoon and what do you get at the end? Only a handful of chocolates and an Easter egg! Rather frustrating if you consider quantity but fully satisfying for quality and good smell!

Colourful Tiny Chocolate Eggs

200g white chocolate

pink, green and purple food colouring

200g milk chocolate

200g dark chocolate 

Melt chocolate carefully over a bain marie, to prevent it from seizing through overcooking. If you want to make colourful eggs, add some food colouring to the white chocolate to reach the colour you like. Pour chocolate into mould while it’s still hot. Fill the mould to its rim, use the back of a spoon to smooth the chocolate into the corners, tap the mould briskly on the table to settle the chocolate into designs in the cavity and to force out bubbles. Scrape off the excess using a knife. Tap the mould once again. Put mould in the freezer for five minutes. Turn eggs over on parchment paper slightly tapping on the bottom  of the mould to help release them. Eggs should just fall out of the mould.

Use some melted chocolate to join the egg halves, scraping off the excess chocolate. 

Easter Chocolate Egg

see recipe http://time-for-cake-making.blogspot.it/2013/04/cake-twenty-three-easter-eggs.html

Chocolate lollipos

see recipe http://time-for-cake-making.blogspot.it/2013/05/cake-twenty-five-choco-lollipops.html

also visit:http://time-for-a-cake.blogspot.it/2014/06/easter-baking-cake-thirty-nine.html