Strawberry Torte

How very red.

October definitely seems to be the month for birthdays, as it is another of my friends' today! She said that her favourite things were strawberries and that she wanted something I believe is called an Erdbeer schnitten. I Tried to find a recipe for it, but alas! Could not find a definitive one. So I trawled the internet and came up with a mish mash of what I think would be tasty. I opted for a simple victoria sponge base and a layer of creme patisserie topped with strawberries and a jelly glaze. I was a bit worried about the warm jelly melting all the filling, so I waited a bit too long and it wasn't very pour-able...
I hope it's right. Happy Birthday!

Ingredients:
For the base
180g soft butter
180g sugar
3 eggs
130g plain flour
50g cornflour
vanilla extract

for the creme patisserie
150ml milk
100ml cream
40g sugar
3 egg yolks
10g corn flour
20g plain flour
100ml extra cream, whipped.
10g vanilla sugar

Plus a punnet of strawberries and a packet of red torte jelly powder (tortenguss)

Method:
- preheat the oven to gas 4/180C and grease a flan tin
- beat the butter till smooth, then cream in the sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat well.

-sieve over the flours and mix until just mixed. Pour in to the tin and level. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Remove from the tin and leave to cool. Turn which ever way up seems the most sensible (I went for upside down) and carve out some of the inside of the cake to make room for the filling.
- Make the creme patisserie as per the filling in these profiteroles, and cover the cake.
- slice up the strawberries and lay on top.  
-make the tortenguss to the pack instructions (if you can@t find it you could substitute some warmed up apricot jam). Once cooled enough, pour all over the top and leave to set!

Profiteroles with Creme Patisserie and Chocolate Fondant

Nom nom nom.

My Monday night baking class this week involved the production of some seriously delicious choux pastry treats. I made quite a few light and crisp profiteroles and some very large eclairs - still crisp and airy, but not unlike a slipper in their appearance ( no worry, more room for filling). I dipped the tops in to some melted fondant icing with chocolate and made some creme patisserie to fill them, which is basically a version of this custard thickened with cornflour and flour. I then folded in some whipped cream to make it a little lighter, piped it in and, voila! Tasty mouth sized desserts.


For the Pate a Choux
Ingredients:
250ml water
pinch of sugar and salt
100g butter
125g strong (not plain) flour
4 eggs, lightly beaten


- Heat the oven to gas mark 7 and lightly grease two baking sheets
- Place the water, butter salt and sugar in to a saucepan and heat on high. Do not stir. Hopefully the butter will have melted as the water starts to boil. When it boils, water will evaporate leaving you with less that you measured out = a potentially dry mixture before you've even started. Once the butter is melted and the water boiled, take off the heat.
- Add the flour in one go and mix with a wooden spoon until the paste leaves the side of the pan in a ball. Leave to cool.

mix until it comes away from the side

- Once cool add half the eggs in small amounts, beating in to the mixture after each addition. Only add half because you shouldn't have to use all of the eggs. Once half are in, assess the situation. The paste should be smooth. Use the handle of an eating spoon to test if its ready- when drawn through at a steady speed the channel created should start to collapse in then stop before it fills in.
- Keep adding egg until this happens. You should have a little left over- it should take about 3 1/2 eggs 
- once at the right consistency, fill a piping bag and pipe out on to the prepared trays. About the size of an amaretti biscuit. Dampen down the little peaks with a wet finger. Bake at gas mark 7 for 10 minutes then turn the heat to 5 for 20-25 mins. DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR! They could collapse- and what a shame that would be. 
Once cooked, leave on a wire rack after poking little holes in the bottom. When cold, fill with delicious filling.


Delicious filling
150ml milk
100ml double cream
20g plain flour
10g cornflour
3 egg yolks
40g caster sugar
100ml double cream extra
tsp vanilla
- heat the milk, cream and half the sugar until slightly frothy. Take off the heat and allow to cool. 
- whisk the eggs with the rest of the sugar till pale. Add in the flours and whisk. 
- Pour 1/3 of the milk on to the eggs and whisk, then add back in to the milk. Heat over a low heat stirring constantly. It will eventually go quite lumpy and look a bit like mayonnaise. 
- take off the heat and whisk till smooth.
- whip up the rest of the extra cream and then fold in to the mix with the vanilla. Pipe in to the profiteroles! Dip in to melted chocolate/chocolate fondant.

the ones with orange blossom creme patisserie and a chocolate sauce

I made these again last night for when my friends came round for tea. I used orange blossom water and zest to flavour the filling- extra delicious!