The semi-final of Great British Bake Off and indeed #greatbloggersbakeoff2014 – my kitchen will be distinctly less chaotic after the final this week.
This week I was caught up in the grilling frenzy that is the 20 layered Schichttorte. Developed from the traditional German Baumkuchen (tree cake), the cake is made by cooking thin layers of batter under the grill, to create the distinctive layered inside.
I followed the BBC recipe for my cake, although am a little dis-inclined to say that is Paul Hollywood’s as I’m certain he’s not a traditional German!
The recipe is certainly fitting for a technical challenge, starting with 10 eggs…
… and going through the stages of beating, sieving…
… whisking…
… and finally folding:
With the batter finished it was time to start layering up. Placing the bowl on the scales I calculated each layer should have about 50 grams worth, and barely covered the surface!
After a couple of minutes under the grill, it came out, resembling, well, a pancake!
The next layer and a little darker…
.. and the cats soon got to wonder what was going on in there.
I must admit I lost count of the layers around the 6 mark, as I was trying to do a million other things at once. I kept going until all the batter was used up, and finally reached the top.
A short while cooling and I was glad for it to come out in one piece, albeit looking slightly ombre…!
After all those layers the finishing and icing was surprisingly simple. A quick coat of apricot jam (to help the icing stick):
And a generous coating of dark chocolate glaze:
Finally, a finishing touch of piped white vanilla icing:
And the cake was finished! The sides I wasn’t particularly pleased with as the chocolate and icing didn’t stick particularly smoothly.
It was then rather a waiting game – I wanted the icing to set a little before slicing up, so put the cake in the fridge until it was ready to eat, and finally the moment of truth:
Hooray! I’m so pleased with the layers. And yes you can count them… there are in fact 22 :-) Big slices were enjoyed and I was pleasantly surprised by the taste – a delicate light cake with a slightly lemon tang, and wonderfully complimented by the chocolate and vanilla icing.
So much excitement for the final this week! Who do you think will win? And more importantly, what on earth will they be challenged to bake this week?!
Read more about #greatbloggersbakeoff2014 over on Mummy Mishaps.
