Pistachio & Fig

We dedicated this bake club to Nana whose birthday it was on this glorious day in September. I'm not bitter that it wasn't dedicated to me. Not to boast or anything but I did complete a 20 mile walk that night...

...and that's right, September! That makes this blog post more than three months late. I've been busy alright. Shut up.

Did I mention that the night before I did a 20 mile walk around London in aid of Maggie's Cancer Caring Centres? I got home around 07:00 and I had a wee snooze. I don't know where I got the energy to do anything that Saturday. I zonked like a conker that evening.

You might think that this is me, shattered and resting after completing a 20 mile walk but actually it isn't me. Anyway it was her birthday so we let her off.

We decided on this rather lovely looking cake from Design Sponge - I can't remember who found the recipe but the princess of the day (not me) was quite happy to have it as her birthday cake. I'm quite glad she agreed or I was going to rohypnol her ass.

Shelled pistachios are hella expensive. So we opted for cheap far east labour instead.

Our designated ball busters. I mean nut crackers. I mean pistachio shellers.
Also known as Chinese to you and me.

Once the pistachios were shelled and finely chopped we had to give them a good beating. The pistachios fool, not the Chinese people. This ain't that kinda website.

I tried explaining to the pistachios that my mamma said a good beating never did no one no harm but they wouldn't listen. Anyhoots don't be fooled by their crocodile tears, give 'em a good beating. However don't go overboard like our bondage loving friend Haryo.

This is not cat sick.

Gawd, he's got his small prick out again. Always one to prove a point.

I think I was praying for a Christmas miracle and guess what folks it came true. I prayed that I would upload the blog around Christmas time and lo-and-behold. See this blog post isn't late. It's perfectly on time. Just like our baby Jesu. Well he ain't ma baby, maybe he's yours.

I got my prick out for a reason you know. Perfection y'alls is the name of the game.

They got me doing the work again. It's like they forgot that I had just completed a 20 mile walk. I don't think I've mentioned that I'm not bitter for like five minutes at least.

I guess they just know when to hand over to perfection. That's it. Yeah, I is perfect bitches. Except for that thin bit in the corner.

Here is some fig compote we made earlier. Proper Blue Peter style ... well minus the three middle-England white presenters. Just four Konni (chiwa -bitches) Huqs!

Lick it now...

Spread it good...

I don't think I can sing the rest of that song. We are family friendly peeps.

What a convenient time to wake up
I will admit that she had the hardest task - sharing. I'd have stabbed everyone and gobbled that mother by now.

It was hella freakazoid good
Now that's what I called service

Kueh Lapis Legit

Gosh.. This blog is more than 2 months overdue! Many apologies for all the Bake Club members and 2 of our followers.

So here is the tale of the laborious Kueh Lapis Legit. We googled the recipe online and stumbled across Rose's Kitchen and decided to try it out.

http://www.roseskitchenette.com/2007/01/11/kueh-lapis-legit

Majority of the Bake Club members fell ill at the initially planned Bake Club so it was postponed (And no.. It wasn't because of the Coconut Cake from the previous Bake Club). Faced with 25 eggs to use up before it expires, I decided to be really brave and bake it alone. I started at 8pm on Sat night and thinking that it would be done by midnight, I actually finished baking at 2am! Yup.. Took me 5 hours to bake it!

Being the amateur baker that I am, I followed the recipe to the letter. The cake didn't turn out as it should. The recipe asked me to grill each layer for about 3 mins or less. They should have changed it to 3 mins or until it turns brown. All my layers ended up very light in colour and not very cooked. It was still a bit wet when I put on each layer. As you can see below, it didn't turn out well. It still tasted good though :P

The not-so-perfect Kueh Lapis (top view)

The failed Kueh Lapis Legit (side view)

So when the Bake Club heard about my 5 hours of baking, we decided to be really cheeky and bake it on a really wide rectangular pyrex tray instead of an 8" square tin so that it will take lesser time to bake due to the fewer number of layers we have to do.

Joyce arrived at mine first, followed by Yusuf. Nana texted to say she was still at work and would be coming later on to pick up her portion of the cake (The cheek of it!). So we divided the tasks and cracked on..

Supposedly the best butter for baking

Only free range organic eggs of course!

30 eggs for the 25 egg yolks

(just in case some gets mixed with the egg whites)

Yusuf, the expert egg yolk separator

25 egg yolks!!!

Yummm.....

Heart attack & diabetes in a bowl.

Tin of condensed milk with half a kilo of butter

&

2 tablespoon of golden syrup.

The finished mixture

Spreading a very thin layer before putting it in the oven

for another 15 times!

It is worth noting that the first layer is baked while all subsequent layers are grilled with the final layer covered to make it completely baked. Having a really thin layer each time is also crucial as it affects the final taste.

Taking a small break while keeping a close eye on the oven

We also find that we have to keep a very close watch on the oven as the thin layer can burn very easily. 2 minutes on the grill is about the right amount of time but different ovens vary so keep a close watch on it!

The finished product!

It took us about 3.5 hours from preparation to finish, 1.5 hours less than when I did it on my own. I guess it helps having 2 extra pairs of hands. It definitely helps that we were using a wider tray.

A perfect slice!

We were impressed with the results. We didn't think we would survive with a 180-degrees oven in the kitchen and it being 30-degrees celsius outside. There were times when I felt like passing out! We actually had a fan in the kitchen blowing to our faces to keep us cool.

Thank you Rose!!!

What can I say? The final product is just so yummy (It has to be with a whole tin of condensed milk!). Everyone in Bake Club agrees. My younger brother and his flatmate came over to try the cake and his flatmate, Jack, requested it to be made for his birthday. Not sure we would make it again though..

Coconut Cream Cake with Lemon Curd

Haryo's cute apron. 

The first session of Bake Club kicked off to the sound of whirring hand mixers. Yusof, Nana and Haryo met up at Joyce's (that's me!) flat to embark on their first challenge - Coconut Cream Cake with Lemon Curd. The recipe came from The Noshery's blog (click here for recipe) and actually asked for lime curd. Since none of us had time to make it beforehand, Haryo and I went to Sainsburys to search for it. They didn't have any lime curd, although they did manage to have three different brands of lemon curd. So we ended up subbing that instead. 

Brandishing his weapon of choice

Ingredients

The recipe itself was fairly easy, although we ran into a bit of bother when we couldn't find the right sized tins to put the batter in. All turned out fine in the end though. It was great having two teams to prepare separate parts of the cake, as it turned out to be half the work (a quarter of the work, maybe) for everyone involved.

Discussing the finer points of cooling a cake

"Is that enough curd?"

Okay, you probably want to know how the cake turned out. Not bad, not fantastic (my personal opinion, the others may beg to differ). Why? Well, it was really sweet, even for my sweet tooth. I think we could have done with cutting down a quarter or even half the sugar in the recipe. The tanginess of the lemon curd did help to cut through the sweetness, though, and the toasted coconut was a nice touch. Made it smell delicious. 

The cake itself was pretty dense and wet though, I wonder if it's because of all that heavy buttercream and coconut cream asked for in the recipe? Then again, it could be because we only left it in for 35 minutes, as opposed to the 45 minutes specified in the recipe. Our skewer came out clean anyway. 

Ta-da! Result!

Eating time

Innards - gooey and tasty

All in all, I think it was a pretty successful first meeting, and we even managed to make some plans for future meet-ups. Did I leave anything out? Let me know!