Mamma Mia!!

Hi guys

So with it being the summer holidays, finding things to do during in the holidays can be difficult. So one day for lunch I made pizza!! This was the recipe I used...

Mine happened to roll out to a heart shape

I couldn't roll out a circle :/

What Do I Need?

• 175g Plain White Soft Flour
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp  Dried Yeast
• 1/2 tsp Caster Sugar
• 1 tbsp Olive Oil
• 120ml Hand Hot Water
• Mozzarella Cheese
• Pizza Sauce
• Any Toppings of Your Choice

What Do I Do?

1. Sieve the flour, salt, yeast and sugar in a bowl and make a well in the middle. Then pour in the olive oil and water, mix with a wooden spoon and then using your hands when a dough has been formed. If the mixture is too dry add some water, if its too wet add some flour. 
2. Turn the dough onto a floured work surface and knead for 3 minutes. Return to the bowl and place a oiled layer of cling film on the top of the bowl.  Leave to prove until it's doubled in size.
3. Preheat the oven to 200c 
4. Roll the dough out on a floured work surface into your desired shape and thickness.  Then place onto your baking tray. Then spoon your pizza sauce and spread around the pizza leaving a crust at the edge. Sprinkle on your mozzarella cheese and add any toppings you want all over the pizza. I used sweetcorn and yellow sweet pepper. 
5. Place in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until the pizza has turned golden brown. 
6. Mamma Mia! What a beautiful pizza!!

I hope you enjoy your pizza and let me know how it went in the comments below, I would love to hear from you. 

Bye for now!!

Swan Lake

Hi guys!

This post is for the more experienced bakers...swans made from choux pastry. These look amazing when they are done!! Definitely a table center piece and the best thing it's dessert. 

Strawberries + Cream + pastry = Yum! 

Ta Da!!!

What Do I Need?

Choux Pastry-

• 100g Plain flour
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• 75g Unsalted butter, diced
• 175ml Cold water
• 3 Large eggs at room temperature, beaten

Chantilly Cream-

• 250ml Whipping cream
• 2 tbsp Icing sugar, sifted
• 1 tsp Vanilla essence

For The Swans- 

• 1 Quantity of choux pastry dough
• 1 Beaten egg, to glaze
• 10 Large strawberries, thinly sliced
• 1 Quantity of chantilly cream

Raspberry Sauce-

• 250g Fresh raspberries
• 1 tsp Lemon juice
• 4 tbsp Icing sugar

What Do I Do?

To Make The Pastry- 

1. Put the butter, salt and water in a medium sized pan and heat gently until the butter has melted- Don't let it boil!! Then quickly bring the mixture to the boil and add the flour in one go. 
2. Take the pan off the heat and beat furiously with a wooden spoon, the mixture will look like a lumpy mess but keep beating, you will get a smooth heavy dough.
3. Put the pan back on a low heat and heat gently to slightly cook the dough until the dough comes away from the sides and is glossy. 
4. Tip the dough in large mixing bowl and allow to cool until barely warm, then using a electric whisk add the eggs gradually. (A wooden spoon won't be effective enough.) You may not need all of the egg but the dough should be very shiny and almost paste like dough, if the mixture is too wet, it won't hold it's shape in the oven.

To Make The Chantilly Cream-

1. Whip the cream, sugar and vanilla essence together until soft stiff peaks form. 
2. Cover with cling film and place in the fridge until needed. 

To Make The Swans- 

1. Preheat the oven to 200c and place some of the dough into a piping bag with a plain nozzle and pipe 12 S shapes about 9cm long onto baking paper, allow room for expansion. Brush lightly with beaten egg to glaze. Bake for 15 minutes until golden brown, don't open the oven door! Allow to cool when baked. 
2. With any left over dough spoon the dough the make 10 oval shapes onto another baking sheet about 8cm long, 4cm wide and 2.5cm tall. Again allow room for expansion and glaze with egg and place in the oven for 30 minutes until a golden brown colour. 
3. Reduce the oven temperature to 180c and open and close the door quickly to let out steam, then bake for an extra 5 minutes. Once removed from the oven prick holes into the shapes to allow steam to esacpe and allow to cool. 
4. Cut the ovals in half horizontally then slice the top half lengthways to make the wings. Place the sliced strawberries in the base of each oval. Spoon the cream into a piping bag with a star nozzle and pipe over the strawberries. Gently stick the neck into one end of each oval then set the wings onto the cream each side of the neck and dust with icing sugar. 

To Make The Sauce- 

1. Put the raspberries, lemon juice and icing sugar into a food processor and puree. Press through a fine sieve to remove seeds. 
2. Taste and add more icing sugar if needed. The place a spoonful into a small bowl and place a swan on top and serve right away. 

Ta Da!!! You've made your own swan lake! Yes these do take a bit of time to make but they look really impressive. 

Let me know how your swan lakes turned out, I would love to know, comment below!!!

Lets Drizzle It All Over The Cake!

Hi guys

So it's been a while since I have posted, this is because of the lack of internet connection and illness I've had recently, but I'm back and I've been cooking up a storm, so I can share the recipes with you! 

So today this post is about a British classic, the Lemon Drizzle Cake. I personally don't like lemons but a lot of my family does. Lets get started!!!

What Do I Need?

• 8 x 21 cm loaf tin
• 225g unsalted softened butter
• 225g Caster sugar
• 4 eggs
• 225g Self Raising Flour
• finely grated zest of 1 lemon
• 85g Caster Sugar
• 1 1/2 juice of 2 lemons

What Do I Do?

1. Heat the oven to 180c. Grease the loaf tin and line with grease proof paper. Beat together the butter and sugar until its light and fluffy. Then add the 4 eggs one by one, stirring in between each egg. 
2. Sieve in the flour and add the zest and mix together until combined. 
3. Pour the cake mixture into the loaf tin and level the top with a spoon. Then place in the oven for 45-50 minutes or until golden brown. 
4. While the cake is cooling in the tin, mix together the caster sugar and lemon juice and then pour over the cake to taste. Leave in the tin until completely cool before serving. Your cake may develop a crusty layer on the top, that's fine, it's the sugar. 
5. Enjoy your cake!

Let me know how this turns out for you in the comments below or tweet me a picture @whatbennybaked

I would love to hear from you! 

Vanilla Ice Cream!!!

So recently Britain has had a heat wave and it feels like being abroad...yay! I thought it would be a good idea to make some ice cream!! I've used this recipe before and it worked really well. This recipe is really simple to follow, it just takes a bit of time to make.

Serves 4-6

You will need

• Saucepan
• Sieve 
• Glass bowl
• Whisk ( hand or electric)
• Wooden spoon
• 300ml single cream
• 300ml double cream
• 1 vanilla pod (you can buy these from most supermarkets or your local health store) 
• 4 large egg yolks
• 115g caster sugar

How to make it

• Put the single cream and double cream into a saucepan. Open the vanilla pod and scrape the seeds out and add them to the saucepan along with the whole pod. Heat the mixture up to almost the boil. Don't let it boil otherwise it will curdle.
• Leave to allow the vanilla to infuse the cream for 30 minutes. Whisk together the egg yolks and caster sugar together until the mixture is pale and leaves a trails when the whisk is lifted. Add the cream slowly whilst stirring into the egg mixture.
• Strain the mixture back into the saucepan and return to the heat for 10-15 minutes until the mixture has thicken and covers the back of  a wooden spoon. Remove from heat and allow to cool for at least 1 hour, stirring occasionally to prevent a skin from forming. 
• Pour into a container and freeze for 1-2 hours then mix the mixture to ensure it's smooth. Freeze the mixture overnight. Then Ta Da! You've made your very own ice cream!!

This ice cream is really creamy and best of all it's homemade!! Enjoy making and eating (the best bit of course) your ice cream. Leave comments below to let me know how you found this recipe.