Make Your Own Showstopper This Stir up Sunday

Around 7.5 million of us watched as Rahul was crowned the winner of the Great British Bake Off 2018. Research scientist Rahul wowed the judges with his final showstopper- a edible garden landscape complete with towering choux ‘rocks’.  The best thing about Bake Off though is the inspiration it gives us to get into our own kitchens and bake, and with Stir Up Sunday coming up on 25^th November we’ve got some top advice on making your own showstopper of a Christmas cake or pudding!

1) A Bake Off worthy kitchen. The gorgeous pastel colours of the Bake Off tent surely make it a dream to bake in, but you can still get your kitchen prepped for action this Stir Up Sunday says Jules Gilbert from Seasoned Cookery Schools: “To have an organised kitchen, keep surfaces as clear as possible with regularly used things close to hand.” Grab some ‘S’ Hooks and use them to attach utensils to the White Grid Mesh Panel above your work surface to free up space. Jules advises: “Organise your cupboards so it’s easier to get hold of what you need. Rather than filling drawers with random kitchen stuff, use them for saucepans and store baking tins on their side like a book.” We can just imagine our baking tins, scales and ingredients all lined up neatly on our Freestanding Kitchen Shelving!

2) Get the flavour. As any Bake Off contestant will tell you, flavour is everything. Kate Lyons from pudd’Eng urges us to be creative when it comes to flavour combinations: “Christmas pudding lends itself to considerable variety in choices of fruits, nuts, spices, liquor flavours and even the type of breadcrumbs.” For a traditional take on the Christmas cake, Alicia Léal Brighty of Crumb’s The Word Bakery says you’ll need: “500g of mixed fruit, 100g each of chopped dates, cranberries, walnuts and prunes, 200g chopped glacé cherries, zest of 2 oranges, 150ml cherry brandy (or fortified wine/sherry/port) plus extra for feeding, 250g pack butter (or dairy free spread), 200g light soft brown sugar, 175g plain flour and 1 tsp of baking powder (gluten free if required), 100g ground almonds (or 80g polenta for nut free), 1 tsp each of mixed spice and vanilla extract and ½ tsp each of ground cinnamon, ground allspice and almond extract, plus 4 eggs.”

3) Twas the night before. Baking the best Christmas pudding or cake starts even before Stir Up Sunday says Kate Lyons from pudd’Eng: “If you have time, soak all the dried fruit in your chosen liquor the night before. Alicia of Crumb’s The Word Bakery agrees: “Soak the fruit by placing in an airtight container and cover with the brandy, stirring to ensure the fruit is evenly coated. Set aside overnight or for up to a week, stirring daily.” If you don’t have time to do this then you can follow Alicia’s no soak traditional Christmas cake recipe below.

4) Avoid a baking fail. From Ruby’s collapsing cake during vegan week to Rahul’s exploding storage jar in the final, every baker wants to avoid a baking fail- especially with items destined for the Christmas table!  Jules Gilbert from Seasoned Cookery Schools explains: “One of the biggest problems with baking Christmas cakes is that people don’t protect the cake enough when it is baking. Due to the nature of the cake being lots of soaked dry fruit being held together with a small amount of eggs, fat and flour cooking times can vary significantly from oven to oven. It’s important to double wrap the cake tin in grease proof paper to help stop the cake from drying out/burning. It’s cooked once a skewer comes out the middle clean.”

5) And into the oven it goes. If you’re making Alicia from Crumb’s The Word Bakery’s traditional Christmas cake recipe, then now’s the time to get baking. “Put all the mixed fruit, dates, cherries, cranberries, prunes, orange zest, alcohol, softened butter and brown sugar in a large pan set over a medium heat. Bring to the boil, then lower the heat right down and simmer for 5 mins. Tip the fruit mixture into a large bowl and leave to cool for 30 mins. Heat oven to 150˚C /130˚C fan/gas 2. Line a deep 8”/20cm cake tin. Add the plain flour, ground almonds, baking powder, mixed spice, cinnamon, allspice, walnuts, eggs, almond and vanilla extract to the fruit mixture and stir well. Tip into your prepared tin, level the top and bake for approximately 2 hrs.”

6) Feeding and decorating. With the cake cooked, you can remove the cake from the oven, poke holes in it with a skewer and spoon over 2 tbsp of your chosen alcohol says Alicia. “Leave the cake to cool completely. To store, peel off the baking parchment, then wrap well in cling film. Keep in a cake tin with a tight-fitting lid, or wrapped in a large sheet of foil, in a cool, dark place for up to 2 months. Open the cake every week or two to feed with more of your chosen alcohol.” The result? A Christmas cake that’s definitely worthy of a ‘Hollywood handshake’.

Photo by Jill Heyer on Unsplash