Jayne Cross - Great British Bake Off – Bake it Better (No.5): Puddings & Desserts

Would you like to learn to be a better baker?

We know that so many people watch The Great British Bake Off for the tips and techniques you pick up not only from the judges, but from watching the bakers too. We wanted to distil that knowledge into a library of cookbooks that are specifically designed to take you from novice to expert baker. Individually, each book covers the skills you will want to perfect so that you can master a particular area of baking everything from cakes to bread, sweet pastries to pies.

We have chosen recipes that are classics of each type, and grouped them together so that they take you on a progression from Easy does it through Needs a little skill to Up for a challenge. Put together, the full series of books will give you a comprehensive collection of the best recipes, along with all the advice you need to become a better baker.

The triumphs and lessons of the bakers in the tent show us that not everything works every time. But I hope that with these books as your guide, we have given you a head start towards baking it better every time!

Linda Collister

Series Editor

www.hodder.co.uk

First published in Great Britain in 2016
by Hodder & Stoughton
An Hachette UK company
1
Copyright Love Productions Limited 2016

Photography & Design Copyright Hodder & Stoughton 2016

The right of Jayne Cross to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

BBC and the BBC logo are trademarks of the British Broadcasting Corporation and are used under licence.
BBC logo BBC 1996.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

ISBN 978 1 473 61551 9

Editorial Director: Nicky Ross
Editor: Sarah Hammond
Project Editor: Laura Herring
Series Editor: Linda Collister
Art Director: Alice Moore
Layouts: Nicky Barneby
Photographer: David Munns
Food Stylist: Jayne Cross
Props Stylist: Victoria Allen

Hodder & Stoughton Ltd
Carmelite House
50 Victoria Embankment
London EC4Y 0DZ

www.hodder.co.uk

Contents

BAKE IT BETTER
Bakers Guide

BAKE IT BETTER
Recipes

Easy does it

Needs a little skill

Up for a challenge

What better way to end a meal than with a home-made pudding or dessert? Well, here are 40 delicious recipes to get you baking.

As well as being great bakes, the recipes have been carefully chosen to teach you all the key techniques, such as rubbing in, creaming, whisking and folding that will not only help you to make better puddings and desserts but will improve all of your baking.

Start with the Easy does it section to master the basics with recipes like Spiced Plum Crumble and Pear and Chocolate Upside-down Cake. As your confidence grows, move on to those recipes that Need a little skill Pineapple Tarte Tatin, Profiteroles with Salted Caramel and Chocolate Sauce or Brandy Snaps with Oranges in Caramel. The more you bake the sooner youll be Up for a challenge, whisking both sponge and meringue for a Baked Alaska and testing your puff pastry skills with Millefeuilles.

The colour strip on the right-hand side of the page tells you at a glance the level of difficulty of the recipe (from one spoon for easy to three spoons for a challenge), and gives you a helpful checklist of the skills and special equipment you will use.

Before you begin, take a look at the Bakers Guide at the beginning of the book. This will introduce you to the most important ingredients, tell you what equipment you need to get started (just a bowl, a spoon and a baking dish will do in some cases) and explain some of the terms and techniques in more detail.

Puddings can be a simple affair to round off a midweek family meal, or a stunning dinner-party dessert to impress your friends. Its amazing what you can bake when you set your mind, bowl and spoon to it so lets get baking.

HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

SECTION 1: BAKERS GUIDE

Read this section before you start baking.

The Bakers Guide contains key information on ingredients () relevant to the recipes in the book.

Refer to the Bakers Guide when youre baking if you want a refresher on a particular skill. In the recipes, the first mention of each skill is highlighted in bold.

SECTION 2: RECIPES

Colour strips on the right-hand side and 1, 2 or 3 spoons show the level of difficulty of the recipe. Within the colour strips youll find helpful information to help you decide what to bake: Hands-on time; Baking time; Makes/serves; Special equipment and the key skill used.

Refer back to the Bakers Guide when a skill is highlighted in bold in the recipe if you need a reminder.

Try Something Different options are given where the recipe lends itself to experimenting with other ingredients or decorations.

Easy does it

Needs a little skill

Up for a challenge

There is a huge variety of puddings and desserts that you can make, whether cake-based puddings, filled pastry tarts, or fruit or chocolate desserts. However, there are some key ingredients that you will use again and again. Knowing a bit about these ingredients before you start will help you to understand how they work and so avoid problems and become a better baker. This list will help you through the process of buying, storing and using the main ingredients that feature in the recipes in this book.