Mary Berry's Baking Bible: Sachertorte

Mary Berry is pretty much the British doyenne of home baking. She started out as an oven tester for the gas board and has gone on to write a huge number of recipe books and become a successful television personality. There's no denying she was a big part of why Great British Bakeoff was so successful, tempering Paul Hollywood's more scathing remarks with comments that your grandmother might make to make you feel better about a cake that was otherwise a bit, well, rubbish.

I only own two Mary Berry books, and the one I decided to use this week was a much later addition to my library than the first but it's certainly comprehensive. Mary Berry's Baking Bible is a comprehensive compendium of stalwart baking recipes. Nothing is revolutionary but everything is well thought out and nigh-on foolproof. Which is good because when I decided that what I wanted to make for a Fuddle (food huddle, don't google it, Urban Dictionary does not agree) at work was a Sachertorte I didn't anticipate being struck down with a stinking cold. But very little will get between me and my baking plans so despite feeling a bit like death warmed up I spent the evening making a Sachertorte.

I've never actually eaten a Sachertorte before. It probably wouldn't even be my first choice of cake to eat out if presented with it alongside other cakes. I am a little on the fence about the idea of jam being involved in a chocolate cake - though not quite as much as my brother who's worst nightmare is to discover a one has been sandwiched with jam (well, maybe not his worst nightmare but he's vocally anti fruit and chocolate). However it was something I had never baked before and it could also be easily adapted to fit the two dietary restrictions at the fuddle - citrus free and coeliac friendly.  Of course then my German colleague extolled her love of a Sachertorte, so no pressure there!

Despite not having eaten one before I had a pretty good idea of how the Sachertorte should look and what the textures would be like. I knew I would want good quality but not too high cocoa solid chocolate and the best apricot jam I could easily acquire. Helpfully there is an Aldi on my way home from work and being a German chain chocolate and jam are something they excel at.

After a rest and some more sudafed I set about making the cake , starting with the chocolate. There's something slightly soothing about melting chocolate - the velvety texture and the rich aroma wafting up from the double boiler.  This was then left to cool slightly as I creamed the butter and sugar. The chocolate is then added followed by the egg yolks and vanilla and then ground almonds and a small amount of (gluten free) flour are folded in

There are no raising agents in the cake with the only lift coming from the eggs. The  whisked egg whites are gently incorporated, taking care to knock out as little air as possible. This light yet rich batter is baked in a 9inch baking tin to create a relatively shallow cake with a tender crumb. A lot of recipes have you sandwich two such cakes with the apricot jam but Mary keeps things simple with just one.

Once cooled, I coated the cake in apricot jam and then realised to my horror that in my cold muddled state I had used far more chocolate than I meant to in the cake batter leaving me with in sufficient for the ganache. Whilst some were quick to point out that surely the increased chocolate content in the sponge could not be a bad thing I was also worried what effect this would have on the sponge - would it be denser than hoped? It looked OK and it wasn't like I could start over.. but what of the ganache?

Fortunately I remembered that that previous weekend we had been to the new local zero waste food shop, the Bishy Weigh, and as luck would have it I had bought a jar full of chocolate chips.  Not because I needed them, just because I could. Thankfully there were enough to make up the amount needed for the ganache which is made by melting chocolate with double cream to a pouring consistency. Unfortunately I think due to the lower quality of the chips the ganache did split slightly with the fat from the chocolate pooling out but it was just about salvageable. This was poured over the cake to coat the top and sides in a thick layer, smoothed with a palette knife and allowed to set.

The final step was to write the traditional 'Sacher' on top with milk chocolate. My piping skills are amateur at best (decorating is not really my forte) and the chocolate was very liquid so I decided I just had to go for it and hope for the best.

And what was it like? Despite my concerns about the extra chocolate the cake was lovely and light and the apricot jam gave a subtle tang that cut through the richness. My colleagues demolished it at high speed despite having indulged on all sorts of other delicious things at the fuddle so it was definitely a success!

James Martin, My Kitchen: Scallops with black pudding and apple & Caramelised quince and apple tarts

Certain ingredients always seem like a real treat. Scallops is one - they are the sort of thing that is mostly encountered in restaurants and seem that bit too expensive to buy fresh. When I was still living on the south coast I remember my mum and I being the unexpected beneficiaries of glut of scallops. A family friend, who is a boat builder, had been paid for some work he had done for a fisherman with the most enormous sack of fresh scallops still in their shells. As his wife was away and there was no way he could possibly tackle such a feast on his own he gifted us some. I don't remember how we ate them - likely very simply pan fried. I do remember they were delicious.

The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook: Coconut Meringue Cake

I've always read a lot of American food blogs, particularly baking ones. I think partly because the things they were baking were not necessarily part of the every day British baking lexicon - there were key lime pies, lemonade bars, tres leches cakes... I could go on.

What often baffled me a little about some of the blogs I read was the prevalence of using box mixes to make cakes. It must be a difference in culture because over here my impression has always been that box mixes are mostly deployed by parents to placate children who want to bake looking for an easy option. In the States, however, it seems like it is commonplace to bake from these rather than 'from scratch' and often a box of  cake mix will be the starting point for a recipe that then goes on to add extra eggs, milk, butter. You know, the things that would go into a normal cake.  It always seemed like an oddly lazy option to me, particularly for people who were supposed to be keen bakers. Maybe these cakes turned out to be delicious though, who knows? We don't get 'white cake box mix' here so I will never find out.

Easy Soup - Tuscan Bean Soup

On a week that has ended with me feeling distinctly under par due to catching the stomach bug that has been going around at work (worse still not even in the office I actually work in but one I had to spend some time in this week) cooking has not exactly been at the forefront of my mind. Meals have been necessarily beige, convenient and heavily toast based. Drained of energy I have spent most of my time lying in bed reading Little Women or watching the latest series of Grace and Frankie on Netflix, everything has revolved around comfort.

Feeling a little better last night I went to a friend's Birthday party and sipped tonic water whilst catching up with colleagues from my previous role. It wasn't a late night but today I feel a bit worse for wear again so another day curled up on the sofa beckons whilst eating English muffins and sipping tea. 

Sundays, however, are also the day of the week where I try to sort out my lunches for the work week. This time of year this mostly means cooking up a large batch of soup.

Tokyo: Cult Recipes - Ramen with Pork Simmered In Star Anise

One of the many 3D signs in Dotonburi, Osaka

Most people have a bucket list destination, somewhere they have always wanted to visit. For me this is Japan. My oldest friend's mother is Japanese and I grew up with her incredible cooking, watching Japanese cartoons (some of which it turns out sound terrifying when you explain them to British friends), playing the latest Nintendo releases in Japanese and being incredibly jealous every year when my friend and his family went to Japan every Christmas to see his family. Last year my husband and I were fortunate to be able to go there on honeymoon and it definitely lived up to my childhood expectations.

Recipe Book Magpie

Just a small sample of my collection

I am a bit of a magpie when it comes to recipe books. I am magnetically drawn to the cookery section of bookshops where I would happily spend ages flicking through the newest, beautifully put together, tomes of recipes with their richly coloured photographs and lists of exotic (and not so exotic) ingredients. When a new book comes home it becomes my bedtime reading - and then often stays by my bed for some time before find its way onto the shelves in the kitchen. This does have the slight drawback that I often go to bed with a massive craving for some elaborate feast.