Myers Rich - GET BAKED Sensational Cakes, Bakes & Desserts

RICH MYERS

SENSATIONAL CAKES,
BAKES & DESSERTS

I have been a lover of food for as long as I can remember. Its a passion that I inherited from my dad, and when I was a kid, I loved nothing more than spending my Saturdays watching countless hours of cookery shows with him.

I am not a trained chef, or pastry chef, or even a baker. It has always been my intention that GET BAKED embodies a philosophy that spends less time focusing on complicated combinations and techniques that dont really matter and more time focusing on creating desserts that just taste delicious.

It might seem disingenuous to say this, considering this book contains a recipe for a preposterously large 24-layer chocolate cake, but Im really not one for novelty. Every component of every recipe exists because it makes sense and elevates the finished product. Theres a temptation in the bakery world nowadays to just shower everything with shop-bought chocolate bars and biscuits you wont find any of that here.

I am known on social media as being someone that has somewhat of an unusual writing style one thats particularly dry and, more often than not, a little bit out there. I have done everything I can, within the constraints of a recipe book, to impart as much of my personality as possible into the pages that follow.

Whether youre a die-hard GET BAKED fan, or youve never heard of us and have just picked this up because you think it looks tasty, I hope you enjoy reading this book as much as Ive enjoyed writing it.

That wasnt entirely honest because I havent enjoyed writing it.

Its ruined my life for the last 9 months, but its over now.

I dont mean my lifes over, I mean the books over because Ive finished writing it.

My life has just begun, and so has yours.

Before I carry on, youll notice that the liquid measurements in this book are given in grams rather than millilitres. At GET BAKED, we weigh everything, even water. This is more consistent and means you dont have to get down to eye level with a measuring jug every ten minutes of your life, which lets be honest nobody needs to be dealing with right now. So yeah, moral of the story, weigh your liquids. Weigh your eggs out of their shells (the average egg weighs approximately 50g/1oz if that helps).

Whenever youre doing anything that requires quite a few ingredients, its always best to weigh everything out at the beginning, rather than weighing some stuff, preparing it, weighing more stuff, preparing it, and so on. Being organised makes everything a lot more fun, and weighing ingredients separately is amateur. In professional cookery, youd refer to this as mise en place, which is French fancy talk for putting in place. Youre essentially a French patisserie chef now, so start acting like it.

Youll notice that all the sprinkles used in this book are my brand, expen$ive sprinkles. You could use any type of sprinkle in their place, but mine are superior.

Note that all recipes were tested in a fan assisted oven.

Most of the stuff on this kit list is available from your favourite online retailers.

Heatproof spatula (the bakery version of a spatula, not the thing you use to flip a burger)

Non-serrated cooks knife (make sure its sharp because dull knives are a lot more dangerous than sharp ones)

Offset palette knife

Box grater

Pastry brush

Ice cream scoop (extremely useful for stuff like cookies and truffles)

Silicone baking mat

Cake turntable

Cake drum

Food-safe gloves

Blowtorch

Piping (pastry) bag

Candy thermometer/temperature probe

Cake-release spray

Cake scraper

Food processor

Stand mixer (attachments: balloon whisk, dough hook, beater)

30cm (12in) fluted pie tin

30 x 40cm (12 x 16in) rectangular cake tin

23cm (9in) cake tins (7.5cm/3in deep)

A classic chocolate truffle, made with only a handful of ingredients. Nothing says, Oh look at me and my nice kitchen like pulling these out with some good-quality coffee when youre hosting a dinner party. What a load of nonsense that is though. I personally prefer making this sort of thing when Im home alone. Whats worse than inviting people to your house? Literally nothing.

Try steeping some Earl Grey tea bags in the cream overnight for a floral (and wholly unnecessary) middle-class addition to something thats already perfectly good as it is.

Also, theres no requirement to use cocoa powder to coat your truffles its just a classic way to finish them. You can use literally anything, within reason. Proceed with caution though: I once used French beans and it went down like a lead balloon.

MAKES

20 truffles

INGREDIENTS

600g (1lb 5oz) 5570% dark chocolate

600g (1lb 5oz) double (heavy) cream

5g (oz) sea salt (Maldon is ideal)

approx. 50g (1oz) cocoa powder to coat (enough to fill a small bowl and cover the truffles)

METHOD

Make the ganache exactly the same way its made in the recipe for .

Once emulsified, decant the ganache into a 5cm (2in)-deep tray and leave to cool at room temperature. Once the ganache has set, youre ready to make your truffles. You need to set up a little truffle station: place your cocoa powder (not French beans) into a small bowl, half-fill another small bowl with some warm water and place a teaspoon in the bowl of water to warm the spoon. Youre also going to want a clean towel to dry off your spoon in between truffle scooping.

Using the teaspoon, scoop a truffle ball and drop it straight from the spoon into the bowl of cocoa powder. Carefully roll the truffle in the cocoa powder, then remove it from the bowl and place it on a clean tray lined with foil or greaseproof paper. Repeat the process until the mixtures all used up, remembering to dry your teaspoon in between scooping so that you dont end up with any excess water on your truffles.

Your truffles are good to eat straight away, but if you prefer a firmer bite, you can place them in the fridge, where theyll keep ever so happily for up to one month.

Campfire is one of those pies thatll always be on the menu at GET BAKED. Its simple, looks impressive and tastes sensational. Its namesake takes inspiration from singing Kumbaya, my Lord while toasting marshmallows at Cub Scouts as a youth. I never actually went to Cub Scouts and Ive definitely never sung Kumbaya, but I feel like if I did, this pie would capture it exquisitely. If youve got friends coming over for drinks on a summers evening, and you want to impress them, then its Campfire, all day long.