Coconut Pyramids

We had a few days away near Ross on Wye last week. It was very pleasant to have a break from baking, but since I got back I have been busy in the kitchen. I feel as if I am on the final push to get my challenge finished.
Ben and I made these on Friday evening - we had only got back in the afternoon, that is how keen I was!
They were very easy to make, and quite good fun. I left them mostly to Ben, and he decided on red, white and blue pyramids. Mary says you can you can colour them with a few drops of pink colouring, so we were just improvising. Actually, you cannot really from the photo tell that they were coloured, and I think if I made them again, I wouldn't put any colouring in them. The plain ones looked the best. We used an egg cup, and this worked fine.
Mary does not say to dip them in chocolate, but we thought that they were greatly improved with chocolate on. We gave them 8.0 ( but only with chocolate on, without it they would only be 7.0!)

Almond Spice Cake

I have made this cake this afternoon. For quite a while I had thought the recipe included fruit, but the other day, I read it through properly and realised that there is no fruit in it at all. It does have a layer of marzipan through the middle of it though, rather like the simnel cake.
The cake was easy to make, and looked great, however, we were rather disappointed with the taste. It was moist, and the texture was fine, it just had quite an unusual taste because of the dried cloves. Not sure we are going to manage all of this one! We gave it only 6.5
P.s For those of you who think, what a mess, when you look at the photo, the picture in the book looks quite like this. Mary says that the topping should run down the sides! There is clearly too  much of it, hence the big puddle!

American Chocolate Wedding Cake

I had been wondering when I would make this cake, and then I realised that I could make it for a friend's birthday. I had already decided long ago that I would not make the whole wedding cake, which has three tiers, requires 38 eggs and 1.6kg chocolate!
The top tier of the cake required a 6in round tin. Having looked unsuccessfully for one this size, I decided to make it 6in square using my multi size tin. It meant that the cake was slightly shallower than it was meant to be, but I thought 5 x 5 would make it too deep.
The mixture used no flour or butter, just chocolate, eggs, sugar and ground almonds. It was straight forward enough to make, but as it cooked, it created a crust on the top of the cake. Apparently this is because the sugar content is so high. It was rather like the top of a brownie.
I ended up removing the complete crust when it cooled as I knew It was too cracked to ice it. Thankfully it came off neatly!
The icing was made from butter and chocolate, and there was loads of it!
I decided to decorate it with fresias as they are the flowers that are in the photo. I was pleased with the finished product, and my friend was too. Not sure what the score was, but I  am pretty sure it is rich and chocolatey!

Cheese and Olive Scone Bake

Of all the chapters in the book, the one on Buns and Scones is the one with most recipes left undone. I thought I had better tick some off.
Olives are really quite popular in our house, in fact Nathan, who is not a fruit and veg fan, and doesn't even like grapes, loves olives! I can't explain that personally, but at least it counts as one of his 5 a day!
This recipe makes a lot of scone! If I were doing it again, I would make half the amount. Also, I would leave out the tsp of salt as the olives make it salty enough. I think I would also make small scones out of it rather than one large one. We gave it 7.75.

English Cherry Cake

I made this cake on Thursday as I was having my hair cut (at home), and every time I see my hairdresser, and talk to her about my baking, I have nothing to offer her!
This was so fresh that it baked as I had my hair done, and I was able to send her on her way with a nice large (still warm) wedge of cake!
It was an easy cake to make, and very tasty. I did wash and dry my cherries very carefully, as Mary suggests, but there were still more at the bottom than at the top.
We gave it 8.0, and it lasted no time at all in our house - always a good sign.

Shrewsbury Biscuits

I had a moment of madness yesterday, and was baking these and 7.30 in the morning. Tom was due to stay at school all day, and was not being picked up until 9pm as it was the open evening, and he was helping. I thought he and his friends would like some biscuits to keep them going. Yes, I know I am mad, but then, I think that's already obvious!
Thankfully they were quick and easy to make, and Tom thought they were really nice. They did not have much of a snap, so Paul Hollywood would not have approved, but they went down well with hungry teenagers apparently. They were pretty average, and I would give them 7.0
I think I  should say at this point, "congratulations" to Frances, who won the Bake off. I thought she thoroughly deserved it, and I loved her creativity. It was possible to have style and substance after all!

Swiss Wild Strawberry and Walnut Cake

On Tuesday we had friends for lunch. I knew it was our friend's birthday, what I did not realise was that it was a special birthday. However, I don't think the cake disappointed!
This is supposed to be made with wild strawberries, but as they are few and far between in October, I used ordinary ones. Thank you Aldi! Mary does say that you can do this, so that's ok!
The cake is another fatless sponge. This time, more due to lack of attention than to a deliberate plan, I left the eggs and sugar to mix for quite a while. The mixture was very mousse like, and when it was baked I got a good rise on it. I think perhaps in previous recipes, I have not beat the eggs and sugar for long enough.
I would definitely make this again. The walnuts are a nice addition, and as it has two layers, there is plenty of moisture from the cream and strawberries. What the sponge lacks in the way of fat, the filling makes up for!
Adam and I scored it 8.75. I should say that our guests gave it higher, but then as Adam says, they do not have all the other bakes to compare it with.